Do you believe in the supernatural?

Carl Sagan · 02-07-2010 07:52PM

Mary loves Dick.

Mike 1972 · 02-07-2010 07:53PM

Because the perceptive instruments have been created to detect them.

My senses have no more reason to believe instrument readings than a Ouiji board though.

Oh, and Fatima, 100,000 witnesses spread over a huge area, having simultaneous hallucinations. You're going to tell me that's not a phenomenon in itself?

Must have taken a long time to interview 100,000 "witnesses" ???

starbelgrade · 02-07-2010 07:56PM

I had some very strange experiences in a house I lived in as a kid - you could possibly call them halucenogenic - as they were visual, but in all the years I spent in college, taking acid & mushrooms, I've never seen anything like it.

So yes, I believe that supernatural things can & do occur.

Caoimhín · 02-07-2010 07:56PM

Abrasax wrote: »

Oh, and Fatima, 100,000 witnesses spread over a huge area, having simultaneous hallucinations. You're going to tell me that's not a phenomenon in itself?

Crazy old delusional catholic nutters.

ICE HOUSE · 02-07-2010 07:59PM

No I have a life

Ruu_Old · 02-07-2010 08:02PM

Woooooooooooo oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh. *pulls sheet off head* Hah, it was only me!

Abrasax · 02-07-2010 08:03PM

Mike 1972 wrote: »

My senses have no more reason to believe instrument readings than a Ouiji board though.

Eh?

Must have taken a long time to interview 100,000 "witnesses" ???

That's the stated number of witnsses. 70,000 at the event including scientists and reporters and 30,000 scattered throughout the countryside, who all claimed to have seen the same thing.
Whether there was an external cause or it was mass hallucination, that's pretty phenomenal to my mind.

Mike 1972 · 02-07-2010 08:03PM

Caoimhín wrote: »

Crazy old delusional catholic nutters.

Get enough of them in one place and anything can happen.

Hence the term critical mass :pac:

Abrasax wrote: »

That's the stated number of witnsses. 70,000 at the event including scientists and reporters .

Do you know the difference between "were there" and "saw something" ?

Abrasax · 02-07-2010 08:09PM

Mike 1972 wrote: »

Do you know the difference between "were there" and "saw something" ?

I do, yes.
Funny that, I was going to cite the same article.

admiralofthefleet · 02-07-2010 08:10PM

yep, stuff has happened to me that goes beyond logic

Prof.Badass · 02-07-2010 08:32PM

admiralofthefleet wrote: »

yep, stuff has happened to me that goes beyond logic

Human brains are not perfect, they make mistakes from time to time (in some people moreso than others). Many optical illusions show us that the brain cuts loads of corners, particularly with perception. This makes it liable to being tricked once in a while.

There's a lot of work linking in spritual experiences with temporal lobe anomalies, in particular temporal lobe epilepsy, in fact these experience can be recreated in some indivuals with electromagnetic waves (see: the god helmet).

Also, the high prevalence of shizophrenia (1% of the population) a disorder which is particularly highly genetic and the lack of any single "schizophrenia gene", suggests that there are several "shizophrenia genes", widespread throughout the population, each making a small contribution.
In this case, these genes could possibly have benifits (such as better creative thought) which could explain their prevalence.

Just because you're sane enough to not need medical help, doesn't mean you're 100% there, all the time (i don't think anyone is).

Btw, It's strange that ghosts are associated with the night. First of all- fear of the dark but also, half-asleep brain= much more vunreable to hallucinations.

Caoimhín · 02-07-2010 08:38PM

Mike 1972 wrote: »

Get enough of them in one place and anything can happen.

Enough auld wans in the one place and it stinks of cabbage and pee.

Princess Consuela Bananahammock · 03-07-2010 01:29AM

Mike 1972 wrote: »

My senses dont tell me there are atoms, bacteria, radiation, or odourless gasses but I know theyre there

Ah, but are you sure?

Bajingo · 03-07-2010 01:37AM

I'm into the whole idea of the paranormal and i'd love to do one of those ghost hunt trips, as in just walking around looking for ghosts.

However, I don't believe in ghosts I think there is some explanation to all these experiences people have had, and honestly I think it's lazy to just put it down to ghosts and spirits. Get up and make a scientific discovery damn it!

Hank_Jones · 03-07-2010 02:00AM

People just let their imaginations run away with them.

Some people want to believe something so bad that they see and think things.

Think religion, except with ghosts...

bleg · 03-07-2010 02:17AM

Anybody that votes yes should be neutered.

mcmoustache · 03-07-2010 02:50AM

There's lots of stuff that I can't logically explain but that doesn't mean that there isn't a logical explanation. And blaming the unexplained on religious entities is just intellectual laziness.
This cr*p's been around for ages and in all those years, nothing has been proven. You'd think that by now at least one ghost would stop with all the cryptic nonsense and just communicate properly. I mean why do they appear faintly, make incoherent noises and throw stuff around? If they can manipulate our physical world, then they can communicate if communication is what they're trying to achieve. With all the people who have died since humans first appeared*, there should be a good few ghosts speaking clearly to sane people, making themselves visible for long periods of time and explaining what it is that they're up to by tapping people's keyboards and saving spooky files every night. We don't have that. Just vague sounds, faint apparitions and objects moving,

It's all bollox.:mad:

*If ghosts are dead people, at what point along our evolutionary journey did our ancestors start becoming ghosts? Are there ghost primates, ghost mammals, ghost fish, ghost micro-organisms, ghost proteins and amino acids, ghost atoms or ghost quarks and leptons? Where's the line?

K-9 · 03-07-2010 03:04AM

Overall I think it's bollix, but I don't discount it.

On a general level, far too many hucksters preying on the vulnerable for stuff like this. Clairvoyants, Derek Acorahs etc. Some people and it is bye and large women, spend fortunes on soothsayers like this. They become addicted to it. Snake oil salesmen, pure and simple.

Dave! · 03-07-2010 03:09AM

Load of me hoop

Abrasax · 03-07-2010 09:05AM

My martial arts coach, a friend of four years, related a story to me about a house where his then girlfriend, now wife, was living.

A house somewhere on a street in Ranelagh, Dublin.

He's an architect and the lady works in social services, two very sane and sensible people and he's never one for the outlandish, so it surprised me to hear him telling a ghost story in the first place.

There was the usual ghostly occurences, freezing room, objects flying around, this was as related to my friend by the occupants but he's not really buying it at this stage.

Then one of the girls says she's being felt up at night and there's a few scrapes on her body. The plot thickens.

Then he's staying over one night, not long after, the room goes freezing again, something goes flying across the room, a glass I think, and after they go to sleep the two girls get felt up and both of them had huge scrapes on their faces.

Exit stage left. They stay with another friend up the street. The marks on their faces, prominent the night before disappeared the next day.

Now a visit to the local priest to ask for an exorcism. 'That house?', he says. 'No way. Forget about it.' He just advised them to move out.

Spooky.

I'm just relating that from memory, so there'll be an element of chinese whispers but the same lad is an occasional poster on here, so I've pm'd him to ask him to confirm it.

Sam Vimes · 03-07-2010 10:15AM

Abrasax wrote: »

The fundamentalist rationalists, such as CSICOP, tend to dismiss such things out of hand, even where no rational explanation can be found.

So what if no rational explanation can be found? If we can't explain something all that means is that we can't explain it. By jumping from that to the conclusion that it had a supernatural cause what you're actually saying is "I can't explain it, therefore I can explain it".

this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T69TOuqaqXI

CPI · 04-07-2010 08:51PM

Cork paranormal investigators are looking for new members, anyone interested?

Biggins · 04-07-2010 08:53PM

Do you believe in the supernatural?

I believe the programme exists!

caseyann · 04-07-2010 08:53PM

Hank_Jones wrote: »

People just let their imaginations run away with them.

Some people want to believe something so bad that they see and think things.

Think religion, except with ghosts...

Incorrect,when you feel it you will know it,if you dont whats it matter to you who or what anyone believes or knows for themselves.Just because you dont believe doesnt make it not real.

galwayrush · 04-07-2010 08:54PM

I believe in what I see
I believe in what I hear
I believe that what I'm feeling
Changes how the world appears

Angels and demons dancing in my head
Lunatics and monsters underneath my bed
Media messiahs preying on my fears
Pop culture prophets playing in my ears

I've got celestial mechanics
To synchronize my stars
Seasonal migrations, daily variations
World of the unlikely and bizarre

I've got idols and icons, unspoken holy vows
Thoughts to keep well-hidden
Sacred and forbidden
Free to browse among the holy cows

Abrasax · 04-07-2010 09:02PM

Sam Vimes wrote: »

So what if no rational explanation can be found? If we can't explain something all that means is that we can't explain it. By jumping from that to the conclusion that it had a supernatural cause what you're actually saying is "I can't explain it, therefore I can explain it".

I didn't jump to any conclusions. I finish the post by saying there 'may' be supernatural forces out there.

The CSICOP people seem to believe that no such thing as the supernatural exists. There are those who believe in the supernatural. And then there are the agnostics (that old chestnut again, Sam), such as myself, who waver between varying degrees of probability.

Jako8 · 04-07-2010 09:06PM

galwayrush wrote: »

I believe in what I see
I believe in what I hear
I believe that what I'm feeling
Changes how the world appears

Angels and demons dancing in my head
Lunatics and monsters underneath my bed
Media messiahs preying on my fears
Pop culture prophets playing in my ears

I've got celestial mechanics
To synchronize my stars
Seasonal migrations, daily variations
World of the unlikely and bizarre

I've got idols and icons, unspoken holy vows
Thoughts to keep well-hidden
Sacred and forbidden
Free to browse among the holy cows

Oh you and your Rush lyrics.

AMIIAM · 04-07-2010 09:12PM

CPI, Do you believe there is normality and the paranormal? Is there any difference? To me, there is no such thing as "para"normal. It is something that is totally natural like everything in life, but grossly misunderstood by the masses! Any bets on the pheadophilia mob throwing any light on the subject? No. they are too preoccupied with covering their henious crimes towards innocent children.

monkeyfudge · 04-07-2010 09:13PM

"I don't want to see a ghost,
It's the sight that I fear most,
I'd rather have a piece of toast"

CPI · 04-07-2010 09:28PM

there is a difference.. Paranormal is beyond the range of normal experience or scientific explanation.

Do you believe in the supernatural?

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