Do you believe in ghosts/spirits? Share your experiences!!

While I agree with your sentiment that absence of proof does not necessarily lead to proof of absence, I have to take issue with the examples you used to support your position. Nobody ever had to accept "on faith" that the Earth wasn't flat or the center of the Universe. It was possible to scientifically prove both by using repeatable experiments that could be performed by anyone. And that's the problem with ghosts - you have to just "believe" what other people say. There's no way to independently verify them.

None of that means that ghosts are not real or that all of this eyewitness testimony is faulty. Just that it's really not open to the scientific method, which will always leave skeptics unconvinced.

So are you saying that when we die, our souls will die also & that there is no such thing as eternal life? Sorry but I think science & religion are like oil & water that can never be mixed.

no, that's not what he's saying. he's saying that you cannot scientifically prove that there is an afterlife.

Well since there are dozens of people on this thread who have been observing ghosts, it should be very easily to use the scientific method to prove that they do exist. Except as soon as an objective scientist gets involved, the ghosts will get scared away.

On a more serious note though.... If you are experiencing a ghost right now, it's always nice to tell them to "go toward the light". Whether you believe in "the light" or not, what can it hurt? If anything, you'll probably just get rid of your ghost. I don't know, just something in me hates to think of someone "stuck" here when they could move on to other things.

Please don't respond with any hate to the above paragraph. I got my beliefs and you have yours. If you don't agree, carry on. Thanks.

I'm thinking 'the light' is all a bit media-esque and any ghosts will already know it. After all, we all do.

the phone at my parents house would ring off the hook.......oh and there was no phone at my parents house, no phone lines for about 5 miles to.

bump I'll throw one in later

On a more serious note though.... If you are experiencing a ghost right now, it's always nice to tell them to "go toward the light". Whether you believe in "the light" or not, what can it hurt? If anything, you'll probably just get rid of your ghost. I don't know, just something in me hates to think of someone "stuck" here when they could move on to other things.

Please don't respond with any hate to the above paragraph. I got my beliefs and you have yours. If you don't agree, carry on. Thanks.

I'm thinking 'the light' is all a bit media-esque and any ghosts will already know it. After all, we all do.

Maybe. But people have a hard time letting go. Or maybe they feel guilt about leaving. Maybe they need someone to tell 'em. Who knows.

And with that, I'm done. No point arguing when no one knows for sure.

Not sure if this fits exactly, but I do believe that spirits linger long after the physical body has passed.

My mom died of a very rare cancer at the age of 47 (too young!) on July 22, 2001. I was 28 when she died.

In late November/early December of that same year, I became pregnant and found out right away. In the very beginning (like 6 or 8 weeks) I had a LOT of irregular bleeding and after a visit to my doctor, I was assured that a miscarriage was pending and that I just had to wait it out. That night, I went to bed early...obviously in tears and extremely upset. I was sleeping alone when I felt someone grab my leg near my ankle. Of course, I shot straight up and there was my mom...holding on to my leg...caressing me...smiling. And when she spoke to me, all I could do was cry:

"Jennifer, don't be upset and don't worry. This baby boy is going to be fine. You're fine. He will be born healthy. Just stop stressing."

When I reached for her, she was gone. I didn't have any spotting a single day after that during my pregnancy.

Nolan was born on August 17, 2002...just two days after my mom's birthday. He has been a healthy ball of energy since day one. He'll be 10 this year.

I love a good ghost story! Bump for later

I love these stories! Just wasted a couple hours at work reading this whole thing.

The one about the white blob with red eyes... holy freaky!

The one about the sheets leading to the burning candle... so awesome!

Those are just a couple that I remember right now, but seriously, these are some great stories.x

I definitely believe in ghosts/spirits, but haven't had any of my own incidents to talk about. When I worked in Maryland, I worked on the grounds of an old state hospital. It used to be the "Hospital for the Negro Insane". Nice. Some nights, I would work until 10 or 11 at night catching up on cases. I never "saw" anything, but sometimes I would just start hearing more noises than usual, and there would just be a "feeling" that I was not alone. I usually booked it out of there when that happened.

One of the detectives I worked with told me that, one night, when he was working the 3-11pm shift, he was the last one to leave the building. He said he knew he was the last one out. He said that he unplugged the Christmas tree, turned the lights off, and set the alarm before he walked out. As he got into his car, he could see into the office from the parking lot, and the Christmas tree lights were back on. He decided to leave them on for the night.

Okay, one other story... my best friend in high school moved into a house that my adult cousin had previously lived in. The man who owned the house had died in the room that became my friend's. My cousin had told me stories about waking up in the middle of the night to their Simon game playing by itself.... with no batteries in it. When my friend moved in, she started noticing things right away. My favorite story she tells is about this one time that she was home alone. She was taking a shower, and left the bathroom door open. All of the sudden, she heard their smoke detector going off. She ran out to the dining room, naked, holding her towel to fan the detector and make it go off. This happened about 3 times total during her shower... and each time she ran out naked to fan the detector. She said that she noticed a battery sitting next to the detector, but just figured someone replaced it and forgot to get rid of the old one. When her family got home, she told them her story... and they informed her that there was no battery in the smoke detector. She made them get it down and open it to prove it to her. :laugh:

On a more serious note though.... If you are experiencing a ghost right now, it's always nice to tell them to "go toward the light". Whether you believe in "the light" or not, what can it hurt? If anything, you'll probably just get rid of your ghost. I don't know, just something in me hates to think of someone "stuck" here when they could move on to other things.

Please don't respond with any hate to the above paragraph. I got my beliefs and you
have yours. If you don't agree, carry on. Thanks.

I wish I could say I want whoever is in my house with us, to go away...but honestly..I don't. As crazy as it may sound...it is actually comforting to have the awareness that someone else is here..someone from the past..one of the original owners maybe. Sometimes, even though the sudden sounds and smells of cigar..or missing items, etc.....startle me, the house would feel kinda empty without that feeling. Whoever is here, I feel that this is their home as well..and they don't want to leave because they love it just as much as I do.

I've never been up in the attic. When we moved in, we pulled the door down to go up...but the ladder was missing. Eventually, we got up there..and found 7 really old, small, wooden chairs..circa 1800's. The wood was so old, you could rub your finger over it..and bits would just flake off. We took one of them to the local antique shop for display...the shop keeper wanted to buy the entire lot...but I refused. We put the other chairs back in the attic..minus the one...and we put the ladder against the wall at the far end.......compketely away from the doorway, because I didn't want the kids up there treasure hunting.

At around 1:30 or so the next afternoon...We heard a tremendous crash. I was downstairs in my bedroom..which was originally a study or library...my son was home..his noon class had been cancelled...and my daughter was home sick. When I heard the crash..I immediately thought a tree had fallen onto the house (we have huge, old trees all over the yard). I called upstairs to ask what the noise was..neither of them know..my son said it came from the attic. I went upstairs and pulled the attic door down..and there, lying across the doorway...a good 40feet from where I put it..was the ladder. It somehow picked itself up, and flung itself across the attic and landed where I would be certain to see it.

First thing my son said..out of the clear blue was " you'd better get that chair back".

I was horrified!!! I couldn't get it back.....but I spoke out loud and said "I promise to not remove anymore of YOUR belongings from this house"...... and I haven't.

3 days ago, my daughter awoke with an urge to clean her room.......which I believed to be a nursery many, many years ago. She wanted to clean her room....WHAT!? ..without being TOLD!?

But, Someone had apparently told her..while she slept.....because in the house there are 100's of "hiding places"..loose floorboards..false wall sections...the whole 9. She woke up and went to a false wall section behind her bookshelf..and pulled out an old...very old cigar box....full of old coins.

Months ago, my youngest son dropped his toothbrush on his bathroom floor...bent down to get it..and saw something shiny beneath the one of his floorboards (original floors throughout most of the house). We lifted the board...it was NOT easy to do..but we did it, without damage...and retrieved a solid silver, women's handmirror.....it was absolutely gorgeous..even through the tarnish. It's from the early 1800's. I never cleaned it..but I never put it back.....I keep it on one of the shelves in my room.

I love my house..and my ghosts.

Probably shouldn't be reading these since I am moving into a 115 year old house next week and if anything happens I will never sleep.

But it does remind me of a couple things:

In the house I grew up in my mother would hear someone weeping - she would think it was us kids but when she checked we were playing, happy and ok.

Late at night you could hear someone moaning, it was a really creepy, awful sound. My sister who has always been tough as nails made a recording of it one night. We played it at a family party and it freaked everyone out, including my two uncles who were veterens of the Russian army during WWII were so creeped out they had us erase it.

In the apartment I just moved out of I constantly felt like there was someone standing behind me. I would turn and of course no one was there. One time I felt a touch on my shoulder. And shortly before I moved out, pictures were falling off the wall and magnets off the fridge.

bump

I absolutely believe in spirits! Both of my parents died within the last 10 years, and have both visited me. When my mother was alive, she would yell "AME!!!" from across the house if she needed me...I would respond "MOM???" because the yelling beckon annoyed me.

I watched this woman die, and stayed at her house that morning waiting for her body to be picked up.,.etc...my step-father and I were getting ready to leave for the funeral home, I had gone downstairs to tell my kids I would be back soon, my aunt was staying with them. I was running up the stairs and heard "AME!!!!!", so I responded as I always have, "MOM????"..... I got to the top of the stairs and realized what had just happened. I asked my aunt, "did you hear that??" She was crying and shook her head no...

My mom has scared the hell out of me a few times since her death, but that was the most memorable. My dad interacted with my dogs alot, since I took on his dog after his death.

Ohhh I totally believe. I have dreams that usually (80-85%) of the time come true. My daughters talk to people who are not there and know family members who have long past and dont see pictures or hear stories about.

I have had many experiences, like some of you.

2 of my friends and I went to Prospect Place in Dresden Ohio at the end of October a few years ago and we were able to get some pictures and EVPs while we were there.

I think its exciting. One evening, my youngest daughter,2.5, woke up and I could hear her talking to someone in her room. She was telling them to go. To leave. I walked in to her room after hearing her start to yell this over and over. He room was freezing. She was in her crib pointing to "man". I asked her who the "man" was and she said "Uncle Uncle Scott. Look-e like Un Gee Gee".

I called my husband in to tend to our daughter and went to the phone and called my mom and told her. She attemped to call her brother, but could not get him to answer. Scott was her brother and my brother, gregory aka un gee gee to my girls, looks like my uncle Scott. Well my mom continued to call, then called his ex wife and she went to check on him. He had passed overnight and no one knew it.

My daughter had only met her Great Uncle Scott once, when she was just over a year old. Waay to young to remember him. I just know it was him, trying to let us know he had passed so someone could find him sooner.

THat is just one of many events that have happened. I truly believe.

I think its safe to say there is no such thing as ghosts.

With out getting overly defensive... can you prove it?

The burden of proof is on the one making the claim that they exist.

The burden of proof is on the one making the statement, surely? You asserted they do not exist. Prove that please...

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. It is a fallacy to make the argument "prove God doesn't exist." I could easily turn that around and say that I believe in little blue men who steal bread when you're not looking. I challenge you to prove that these little blue men do not exist.

I would not go so far as the person above and make the positive statement "ghosts do not exist." Why? Because you can't *prove* they don't exist and there exists a ton of anecdotal evidence (as compared to my little blue men example). As such, I remain agnostic about it - I believe it's impossible to *know* definitively one way or the other.

I think given there is ton of anecdotal evidence and still no scientific evidence, I would say that increases the likelihood that they do not exist. The argument from anomaly fallacy is the most plausible reason why there are so many anecdotes of experiencing ghosts, yet no ability to repeat these observations under scientific scrutiny.

without quoting the dozens of quotes, i'm just going to throw this into the mix:
you cannot prove the nonexistence of something. i can prove that there are sunglasses in my house by looking around and finding sunglasses. i cannot prove that there is not an invisible pink unicorn prancing around my house because the unicorn would be invisible and therefore i cannot observe its absence.
likewise, those claiming that there is such a thing as spirits/ghosts/an afterlife DO hold the burden of proving the existence of these things, because one cannot prove the nonexistence. without any scientific proof, it's merely a proposition.

yes, I also believe in the easter bunny, santa clause and jesus.