Do you believe in ghosts?

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Replies

  • ReenieHJ
    ReenieHJ Posts: 9,724 Member
    LoveyChar wrote: »
    J_NY_Z wrote: »
    I do not believe in ghosts but my personal opinion does not really matter.

    There seems to be a lot of circumstantial and anecdotal evidence that can never be reproduced to a level a scientist would accept as proof. Until that condition is satisfied the answer is no there are no ghosts.

    Oh I like your opinion and I wish it was mine. I really do. I wish I wish I wish I didn't believe in ghosts. But sadly, I do.

    Now, what about those detectors they show on the paranormal shows, like the ones that beep when you're in an active energy area or where the voices can be played back, synthesized I think somehow?

    I've never seen any of those shows but I'd suspect it's all theatrics? IDK.
    The world can definitely be a very strange place with unexplained things galore. But I'm not sure if I'm a true believer in ghosts.
    I do believe in 'signs' from spiritual energy. But not ghostly apparitions.
  • J_NY_Z
    J_NY_Z Posts: 2,535 Member
    LoveyChar wrote: »
    J_NY_Z wrote: »
    I do not believe in ghosts but my personal opinion does not really matter.

    There seems to be a lot of circumstantial and anecdotal evidence that can never be reproduced to a level a scientist would accept as proof. Until that condition is satisfied the answer is no there are no ghosts.

    Oh I like your opinion and I wish it was mine. I really do. I wish I wish I wish I didn't believe in ghosts. But sadly, I do.

    Now, what about those detectors they show on the paranormal shows, like the ones that beep when you're in an active energy area or where the voices can be played back, synthesized I think somehow?

    Well I will say this: Many of the items described in those shows are "detectors" but for what? EMI, electromagnetic radiation? Well there's plenty of that surrounding us every day (TV signals, radio waves, cosmic rays, cell signals, etc.). Thermometers? Fluctuations in temperatures are ubiquitous and not due to something paranormal. Recording devices both audio and visual? I've often heard noises that don't show up in a recording. Is that my grandfather trying to talk to me from the grave? Probably not.

    If I was trying to find evidence for a fish that was rumored to exist but nobody saw it, I would employ techniques that have attracted other fish because they work and we already know fish do exist. To look for evidence of something that is suspect requires a rigorous design of experiment to know what you are looking for and how it will present itself. It may be that ghosts are real but we currently don't have the technology to see them. That's real and happens all the time.

    Until then....a ghost or spirit would have to present themselves to me while I am in sound mind and convince me they are such. Even then one case does not indicate proof.
  • Hiawassee88
    Hiawassee88 Posts: 35,754 Member
    Alrighty then. This is for Char.

    I'm making it vague because this place is too small. There are many old original buildings downtown, established
    since the 1800's. One was the old funeral parlor with an old elevator, still usable. It's all metal. The sinks and original tables are still in the basement. Use your imagination.

    People from all over the world visit here. It's nothing but a clearing house for tourists. They see a little boy dressed in a navy sailor suit with a ball, 1800's style. He just shows up on the balcony above the main floor. He peers down upon the people as they come through the door. People see him and ask who he is. There are others still hanging around but it's all a mystery.

    There's another old town with a compass built into the sidewalk. It's made out of glass and quite beautiful. It's on a corner but people show up and disappear right at that very spot. Dogs, too. A woman owned a business there for 30 years. She used to tell us of the things she witnessed at the compass. One day, I was right there.

    I saw 3 woman hoist themselves upon the sidewalk. They were right in a row and looking forward. They disappeared into thin air. My friend was there watching. I said, did you see that? She smiled and said, that's what I've been telling you all along. She would see dogs running as fast as they could go and then disappear.

    I know all about familiar spirits and that takes it right to the razor's edge with religion. Thousands of people have witnessed these things over the past 120 years or more. I don't know if it's a time warp but it is a mind warp.
  • LoveyChar
    LoveyChar Posts: 4,335 Member
    ReenieHJ wrote: »
    LoveyChar wrote: »
    J_NY_Z wrote: »
    I do not believe in ghosts but my personal opinion does not really matter.

    There seems to be a lot of circumstantial and anecdotal evidence that can never be reproduced to a level a scientist would accept as proof. Until that condition is satisfied the answer is no there are no ghosts.

    Oh I like your opinion and I wish it was mine. I really do. I wish I wish I wish I didn't believe in ghosts. But sadly, I do.

    Now, what about those detectors they show on the paranormal shows, like the ones that beep when you're in an active energy area or where the voices can be played back, synthesized I think somehow?

    I've never seen any of those shows but I'd suspect it's all theatrics? IDK.
    The world can definitely be a very strange place with unexplained things galore. But I'm not sure if I'm a true believer in ghosts.
    I do believe in 'signs' from spiritual energy. But not ghostly apparitions.

    I know Paranormal Adventures (I think that's the name of the show, with Zach, a former Penn State student) is staged. I have seen others, though, and I've wondered.

    Almost 2 1/2 years ago, I booked a haunted tour in Austin right before Halloween and for my daughter's birthday. Our tour guide was fantastic, truly he was. But the one we requested was unavailable when we wanted to tour. She had one of those voice recorder gadgets and one of those beep beep beep gadgets, or so I was told, and her tours got tons of customers.
  • LoveyChar
    LoveyChar Posts: 4,335 Member
    J_NY_Z wrote: »
    LoveyChar wrote: »
    J_NY_Z wrote: »
    I do not believe in ghosts but my personal opinion does not really matter.

    There seems to be a lot of circumstantial and anecdotal evidence that can never be reproduced to a level a scientist would accept as proof. Until that condition is satisfied the answer is no there are no ghosts.

    Oh I like your opinion and I wish it was mine. I really do. I wish I wish I wish I didn't believe in ghosts. But sadly, I do.

    Now, what about those detectors they show on the paranormal shows, like the ones that beep when you're in an active energy area or where the voices can be played back, synthesized I think somehow?

    Well I will say this: Many of the items described in those shows are "detectors" but for what? EMI, electromagnetic radiation? Well there's plenty of that surrounding us every day (TV signals, radio waves, cosmic rays, cell signals, etc.). Thermometers? Fluctuations in temperatures are ubiquitous and not due to something paranormal. Recording devices both audio and visual? I've often heard noises that don't show up in a recording. Is that my grandfather trying to talk to me from the grave? Probably not.

    If I was trying to find evidence for a fish that was rumored to exist but nobody saw it, I would employ techniques that have attracted other fish because they work and we already know fish do exist. To look for evidence of something that is suspect requires a rigorous design of experiment to know what you are looking for and how it will present itself. It may be that ghosts are real but we currently don't have the technology to see them. That's real and happens all the time.

    Until then....a ghost or spirit would have to present themselves to me while I am in sound mind and convince me they are such. Even then one case does not indicate proof.

    All good points, truly, they are! My husband doesn't believe in ghosts and he lives in the same house as me.

    Now as far as the "fishing" part, I'm sure as hell not going to "fish" for ghosts. I want whatever spirit, soul, energy (that doesn't have a physical body) that is here gone.
  • LoveyChar
    LoveyChar Posts: 4,335 Member
    Alrighty then. This is for Char.

    I'm making it vague because this place is too small. There are many old original buildings downtown, established
    since the 1800's. One was the old funeral parlor with an old elevator, still usable. It's all metal. The sinks and original tables are still in the basement. Use your imagination.

    People from all over the world visit here. It's nothing but a clearing house for tourists. They see a little boy dressed in a navy sailor suit with a ball, 1800's style. He just shows up on the balcony above the main floor. He peers down upon the people as they come through the door. People see him and ask who he is. There are others still hanging around but it's all a mystery.

    There's another old town with a compass built into the sidewalk. It's made out of glass and quite beautiful. It's on a corner but people show up and disappear right at that very spot. Dogs, too. A woman owned a business there for 30 years. She used to tell us of the things she witnessed at the compass. One day, I was right there.

    I saw 3 woman hoist themselves upon the sidewalk. They were right in a row and looking forward. They disappeared into thin air. My friend was there watching. I said, did you see that? She smiled and said, that's what I've been telling you all along. She would see dogs running as fast as they could go and then disappear.

    I know all about familiar spirits and that takes it right to the razor's edge with religion. Thousands of people have witnessed these things over the past 120 years or more. I don't know if it's a time warp but it is a mind warp.

    I'd go nuts there, hit up all history and tours of the town. I have never been to the wild, wild west. I believe you, because I don't discount claims of encounters anymore. I know it's real.

    Mentioned above to Reenie, that almost 2 1/2 years ago, I booked a haunted tour in Austin right before Halloween and for my daughter's birthday. Our tour guide told us of the murder history of Austin, super interesting and fun to walk downtown Austin with thousands of crazy, drunk college students in Halloween costumes having the times of their lives, music and bars and streets crowded. Halloween vibes everywhere.Our tour was creepy and guide hit all the corners, darkest parts of the murders and recalled other peoples' accounts of hauntings there.

    The Menger Hotel is a very famous hotel in Austin with many people claiming they saw a bouncing ball with nobody who could've thrown it or a rocking chair (President Eisenhower's or President Roosevelt's, I can't remember) with nobody in it or a little girl that appears and disappears.

    He took us under dark, shady trees next to an alley with almost no streetlight and told us a story about murderous thieves and then told us they were hung there.

    He took us to a haunted photo studio.

    There was a murderous rapist and it all occured within a small stretch of downtown Austin, which he said led people to believe that the murder walked amongst everyone in that small section, since they never caught him.

    Super creepy. I'm sure some of it was fictitious. Some of it wasn't.
  • LoveyChar
    LoveyChar Posts: 4,335 Member
    The first two nights after my friend visited were the roughest that I've had in a long time. She believes in spirits, having seen them, and having been raised in Mexico and Catholic she told me of some of the customs she witnessed her grandmother doing to ward off malevolent spirits and to show peace with benevolent ones so I don't know if it's necessarily cultural or religious, or both. But all of them were things I'd never heard of, except for crosses up on walls everywhere.

    She is concerned she's got a demon attached to her, since she's got health issues and depression. So I'm sure there's energy, definitely, connected with that. Whether she does or doesn't, she's extremely anxious to even think that she does.
  • ReenieHJ
    ReenieHJ Posts: 9,724 Member
    edited March 2022
    J_NY_Z wrote: »
    LoveyChar wrote: »
    J_NY_Z wrote: »
    I do not believe in ghosts but my personal opinion does not really matter.

    There seems to be a lot of circumstantial and anecdotal evidence that can never be reproduced to a level a scientist would accept as proof. Until that condition is satisfied the answer is no there are no ghosts.

    Oh I like your opinion and I wish it was mine. I really do. I wish I wish I wish I didn't believe in ghosts. But sadly, I do.

    Now, what about those detectors they show on the paranormal shows, like the ones that beep when you're in an active energy area or where the voices can be played back, synthesized I think somehow?

    Well I will say this: Many of the items described in those shows are "detectors" but for what? EMI, electromagnetic radiation? Well there's plenty of that surrounding us every day (TV signals, radio waves, cosmic rays, cell signals, etc.). Thermometers? Fluctuations in temperatures are ubiquitous and not due to something paranormal. Recording devices both audio and visual? I've often heard noises that don't show up in a recording. Is that my grandfather trying to talk to me from the grave? Probably not.

    If I was trying to find evidence for a fish that was rumored to exist but nobody saw it, I would employ techniques that have attracted other fish because they work and we already know fish do exist. To look for evidence of something that is suspect requires a rigorous design of experiment to know what you are looking for and how it will present itself. It may be that ghosts are real but we currently don't have the technology to see them. That's real and happens all the time.

    Until then....a ghost or spirit would have to present themselves to me while I am in sound mind and convince me they are such. Even then one case does not indicate proof.

    Listen to the Physics guy. :)

    I guess it all comes down to 'if I don't see something for myself, I haven't come to believe in it yet'. Yet, being the key word. And yes, there are tons of things I believe in, even if I haven't seen them myself, in person. :) It's not like I don't want to believe because I really do want to see ghosts, apparitions, proof of something. That's why I do believe in signs because I've had a couple experiences with those.

    I agree, people can and definitely should believe in what they feel is right and true for them.

  • Mangoperson88
    Mangoperson88 Posts: 339 Member
    edited March 2022
    LoveyChar wrote: »
    The first two nights after my friend visited were the roughest that I've had in a long time. She believes in spirits, having seen them, and having been raised in Mexico and Catholic she told me of some of the customs she witnessed her grandmother doing to ward off malevolent spirits and to show peace with benevolent ones so I don't know if it's necessarily cultural or religious, or both. But all of them were things I'd never heard of, except for crosses up on walls everywhere.

    She is concerned she's got a demon attached to her, since she's got health issues and depression. So I'm sure there's energy, definitely, connected with that. Whether she does or doesn't, she's extremely anxious to even think that she does.

    Most ancient cultures of the world believe in the same theory. In Islam it's jinn(demon) in Hinduism it's pret atma( troubled evil spirits) and also sometimes when our ancestors are unhappy with how we are living our life we face the consequences. It's like we become cursed. We actually have a whole appeasing period usually in the month of September to please the dead ones by offering them their favorite foods via Brahmins and animals. Its a popular belief when a crow comes to eat instantly as you place the food then your ancestors are happy with you.
  • J_NY_Z
    J_NY_Z Posts: 2,535 Member
    @ReenieHJ

    "I agree, people can and definitely should believe in what they feel is right and true for them."

    Absolutely 100% agree. You always should do what's best for you.
  • Hiawassee88
    Hiawassee88 Posts: 35,754 Member
    edited March 2022
    @LoveyChar For weeks, months and now years, I've wondered why O why did I see that. They were as real as you and me. :D The women had on cotton, short sleeved blouses, pastel colors with plaid polyester type pants. Their hair was from the 70's or 80's. They were all in a row, staring straight ahead and did not look at us. Once they stepped up on the curb, they passed through the compass and disappeared.

    I'm here to report that my friend did not see any cats but witnessed many dogs running through the compass. I take comfort in this now, knowing that our dogs will be there waiting for us. o:) Apparently, cats don't need any directional tools. They're so darned independent. They'll mosey on home when they're good and ready.

    When I go into that other store, I never ever look UP at the balcony. I don't want to see that kid. When the bookkeeper is alone after closing time, there's more. B) There's 4 floors. I do get the creeps when I go to the top floor and I'm always looking behind me. The old elevator is a pulley system. If I'm lyin', I'm fryin'. I do pray for myself before I go because I don't want to bring anything or anyone home with me. B)
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  • Mangoperson88
    Mangoperson88 Posts: 339 Member
    edited March 2022
    My dad and I were talking about my hallucinatory problems the other day and the guy didn't know I have been suffering from it since birth and he casually said oh yeah most people in the family have experienced it but they're not as intense as yours. So he said after his mother passed away, He woke up in the middle of the night because the stray dogs were going wild with their barking around a tree and there he saw his mom's spirit hanging from the tree and he prayed to God to show his mom's spirit her true path and then I had a dream about her sitting in old people heaven-I think it was maybe just a sitting area in afterlife where decisions are made about where you're headed. I kept calling to her asking her whether she's ok she just kept staring at me. She was a nasty old woman and then there's also karma....
  • Hiawassee88
    Hiawassee88 Posts: 35,754 Member
    Char and Mango, for some reason, the 1000's of people who've witnessed these events I'm talking about become dumbstruck. You don't reach out to touch them and you don't ask them anything. You don't say, how in the world did you get here and what are you doing. You're simply an observer and your mouth is shut like you're in one of those dreams that many have. It is a time warp and a mind warp.

    I don't want to see any family members after they're gone and I haven't. It makes me truly happy knowing they've found peace.
    For me, karma is only wishful thinking. I've never witnessed any karma coming to pass in my family so I leave all of the consequences to the top brass.
  • LoveyChar
    LoveyChar Posts: 4,335 Member
    edited March 2022
    I don't discount anything even though I can't understand some of it. @Mango88 , what does "mom's spirit" look like? It has an appearance, a feeling, a taste, an imagination. I know you're not crazy. Years ago, I envisioned my deceased aunt and her son, whom I've never met, when I was giving birth, a birth where my son and I both almost died (cord wrapped around his neck and 18 hours of excruciating birth with what ultimately ended in c-section, severe blood loss, almost 36 hours no sleep so severe fatigue, and my blood pressure crashed twice to excruciating low levels, twice revived). My cousin died with the cord wrapped around his neck and my son was born with the cord wrapped around his neck but he didn't get strangled down the birth canal, the major difference, thanks to modern technology and attentive doctors). I felt them on my left hand side near the heartrate monitor. It was a comforting, yet, heartbreaking feeling because I knew the terror that my baby could die. Her baby did die. She never recovered from that.

    Editing to add: Modern technology was heart rate monitors and c-section. Surprise c-section!
  • Hiawassee88
    Hiawassee88 Posts: 35,754 Member
    edited April 2022
    My neighbor was a curator of civil war cemeteries. B) He has some stories, now. Holy Smokes. I think the soldiers are suffering with PTSD. Undiagnosed, of course. :D
  • LoveyChar
    LoveyChar Posts: 4,335 Member
    @Washboard12 has been listening to this for a few years now, before this thread existed when she carried her own and I was a lone crier and she heard me over and over again. Super small place, eavesdroppers I'm sure, but few willing to share. It's real. I've got more weirdo, spooky stuff.
  • Hiawassee88
    Hiawassee88 Posts: 35,754 Member
    edited April 2022
    LoveyChar wrote: »
    @Washboard12 has been listening to this for a few years now, before this thread existed when she carried her own and I was a lone crier and she heard me over and over again. Super small place, eavesdroppers I'm sure, but few willing to share. It's real. I've got more weirdo, spooky stuff.

    So do I. :D:D Now what. Are we gonna spill our guts? :D
    I lived in a civil war army fort and guess what. They had another funeral parlor.
    tumblr_mm2tq7IIYg1s72t6jo1_500.gifv