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Do you believe in ghosts?

Snake

Personally.. I think it's sh1te, but always wondered how many people do.

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rovoagho

What you saw was a figment of your imagination.

Akrasia

Everyone, during the course of their lives, will have at least one moment where something 'inexplicable' happens to them.

Only the credulous leap from 'inexplicable' to 'paranormal'

We've all seen movies where spooky things happen that are so wierd and unusual that the logical conclusion is that it was definitely a ghost.

In real life, the 'spooky things' that happen are orders of magnitude more mundane. 'The door closed by itself, it must have been a ghost' The broken clock started ticking again, it must have been a ghost'

A friend of mine swears he saw a ghost when he was a small kid. He saw it in the middle of the night. He's told me about it loads of times, the story keeps changing, the first time he told me, the figure was just a shadow, then it became a white floating figure at the end of his bed. He's remembering his own story as if it really happened. Obviously it was just moonlight playing with a little boys imagination but he has created a ghost story out of it.

He's a nice guy but he's not the sharpest tool in the box

Akrasia

franklyon wrote: »

Em yes I have, now you can choose to disbelieve all you want, but I know what I saw with my own eyes, was very much wide awake and not under the influence of any drugs.
Still if I had never seen a ghost, I would be scornful too.
Seeing is believing.

Seeing is not believing. Often believing is seeing. Our brain doesn't see what is there, it sees what it believes is there. There are hundreds of examples of optical illusions where our brain fills in the gaps to make sense of a strange scene resulting in a completely imagined version of what is really there.

This doesn't mean we're mental or mad or on drugs, it's the brain doing exactly what it has evolved to do. Filter out noise and find patterns and so that we can navigate the world, find food, and avoid getting eaten by tigers.

Arthur Beesley

franklyon

Akrasia wrote: »

This doesn't mean we're mental or mad or on drugs, it's the brain doing exactly what it has evolved to do. Filter out noise and find patterns and so that we can navigate the world, find food, and avoid getting eaten by tigers.

That is very true, if it was for a fleeting second I would probably have put it down to that, but my experience lasted about 5 seconds, surely enough time for me to do a double take, the funny thing is I didnt realise it was a ghost until much later.

kneemos

Akrasia wrote: »

Seeing is not believing. Often believing is seeing. Our brain doesn't see what is there, it sees what it believes is there. There are hundreds of examples of optical illusions where our brain fills in the gaps to make sense of a strange scene resulting in a completely imagined version of what is really there.

This doesn't mean we're mental or mad or on drugs, it's the brain doing exactly what it has evolved to do. Filter out noise and find patterns and so that we can navigate the world, find food, and avoid getting eaten by tigers.

Totally agree.I've often seen things on the telly for the second time and some moments that I remember clearly and would put very large amounts of money on turn out to be different than I remember.
There's always a reasonable explanation for the unexplained but there's also quite often some truth in mythology.For something that's been occurring throughout human history I don't think should be
dismissed out of hand.

Davidius

darkpagandeath wrote: »

No because if they were real we would not just see Victorian ghosts for example we would see cavemen and other species of early humans as well.

Maybe in ghostland everybody just wears the same clothes. And of course there are other species of ghost. Ever hear a buzz in your ear from nowhere? Ghost flies.

So are ghosts bound to the gravity of the Earth or do they just sit somewhere in space most of the time?

Red Nissan

First off, I'm an idiot, I voted for No.1.

Secondly one does not actually have to see a ghost to me impacted by one. I won't tell my idiotic story, but it leaves a trail of real death in its wake, to this very day.

o1s1n

Red Nissan wrote: »

Secondly one does not actually have to see a ghost to me impacted by one. I won't tell my idiotic story, but it leaves a trail of real death in its wake, to this very day.

You can't say that and not tell your story

I've voted no. Have had some strange things happen over the years, but would still look at it being either my imagination playing tricks, my brain spazzing out or something explainable if I had the full facts.

Leaping to the conclusion that it's an entity floating around because I can't explain it is just ridiculous really.

Akrasia

kneemos wrote: »

Totally agree.I've often seen things on the telly for the second time and some moments that I remember clearly and would put very large amounts of money on turn out to be different than I remember.
There's always a reasonable explanation for the unexplained but there's also quite often some truth in mythology.For something that's been occurring throughout human history I don't think should be
dismissed out of hand.

You're right, it shouldn't be dismissed out of hand. Some of the most interesting psychological and neurological research of the last century has been investigating why our brain seems to play tricks on us.

Our understanding of how the brain works has been informed by studies into optical illusions, errors and mistakes in memory recall, pareidolia and cognitive biases.

I think saying 'it was a ghost' is much more dismissive than actually trying to find out what the real phenomenon is.

The reality is far far more interesting and better understanding how our visual system intereacts with our brain to create convincing mental images is the key to developing truly immersive virtual reality technology which will be unbelievably awesome when they finally manage to work out the bugs

Akrasia

Davidius wrote: »

Maybe in ghostland everybody just wears the same clothes. And of course there are other species of ghost. Ever hear a buzz in your ear from nowhere? Ghost flies.

So are ghosts bound to the gravity of the Earth or do they just sit somewhere in space most of the time?

If they go outside of the house they used to live in they get eaten by sand worms

Sarky

No. I've seen my mind misinterpret things often enough to know better than that. Brains are actually terrible for this sort of thing, particularly with vision; while you focus on one small area in front of you, your brain fills in the gaps around it. Anyone who's looked at one of those magic eye things or the little trick that shows up your blind spot should know that it makes things up to fill the blanks, and as your blind spot proves, it makes mistakes all the time.

iDave

Its impossible for ghosts to exist.

MRnotlob606

yes I doo

[Deleted User]

Sacramento wrote: »

That thing where there's no evidence that it exists? Sure why would anyone believe in that...

Is there any proof that they don't exist? There's a lot of strange occurrences that cannot be explained for the most part.

iDave

Deleted User wrote: »

Is there any proof that they don't exist? There's a lot of strange occurrences that cannot be explained for the most part.

The burden of proof is on those to prove they do exist not the other way around.

c_man

Deleted User wrote: »

Is there any proof that they don't exist? There's a lot of strange occurrences that cannot be explained for the most part.

Right, well that's me believing in the Loch Ness monster.

Oh wait no, ghosts. Or the ghost of Nessie perhaps?

Akrasia

Deleted User wrote: »

Is there any proof that they don't exist? There's a lot of strange occurrences that cannot be explained for the most part.

None of those were caused by ghosts, Everything that can not be easily explained was caused by the invisible dragon

maccored

Akrasia wrote: »

None of those were caused by ghosts, Everything that can not be easily explained was caused by the invisible dragon

Theres the issue you see. Too many people make sweeping statements without any kind of research to back it up. "Ghosts don't exist and I know this because i never bothered my arse ever trying to find out".

I cant say I believe in ghosts, as I don't know what a 'ghost' is, considering its a very wide reaching word. I have though had more than a few inexplicable experiences which - though I did try to explain and figure out - never could.

In saying that though, I couldn't really give two figs about trying to prove anything to anyone - it just bugs me to see so many people nay saying on a subject they more than likely have never researched.

endacl

franklyon wrote: »

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2054896242
112 pages of dribblin 'idiots' right there, I have seen one and my sister and parents too. nothing frightening though.

That sure is a lot of dribblin'! I've read through it before. Sometimes you can't give honest contributions to threads in particular fora. You get carded. They exist inside a protected unreality zone.

It's nice when one pops up here and you can say it like it is. Glad your misinterpretation of stimuli and/or suggestibility didn't frighten you, by the way.

endacl

franklyon wrote: »

Em yes I have, now you can choose to disbelieve all you want, but I know what I saw with my own eyes, was very much wide awake and not under the influence of any drugs.
Still if I had never seen a ghost, I would be scornful too.
Seeing is believing.

No it's not. Seeing is interpreting visual stimuli. Believing is believing.

Canis Lupus

To paraphrase another boardsie the last time this sort of thread showed up in AH: 'It's strange how ghosts never show up in the day time with lots of people about to witness it'.

kneemos

endacl wrote: »

No it's not. Seeing is interpreting visual stimuli. Believing is believing.

What do you interpret as true then?Just things that don't interfere with your view of the world?

c_man

Canis Lupus wrote: »

To paraphrase another boardsie the last time this sort of thread showed up in AH: 'It's strange how ghosts never show up in the day time with lots of people about to witness it'.

They did once in Dr Who.

Oh wait no, they were Cybermen.

I Heart Internet

I don't, not really.

But, like many people, alone in an old, dark, strange house at night I'd doubt myself. I think it's more interesting, the things our mind convinces us of...

I like to hear stories from people who claim to have seen ghosts. I think deriding them as stupid is, for the most part, an asshat thing to do. More interesting to sit and listen.

endacl

kneemos wrote: »

What do you interpret as true then?Just things that don't interfere with your view of the world?

The point is, I suppose, that if I see something that doesn't make sense I don't jump to 'that's a ghost'. My default go to position is to start from 'that doesn't make sense to me'.

Just because I don't have an explanation for something, doesn't mean it's inexplicable. If I don't have a rational answer, I accept the not-knowing. 'It was a ghost' would close down the wondering process.

Akrasia

maccored wrote: »

Theres the issue you see. Too many people make sweeping statements without any kind of research to back it up. "Ghosts don't exist and I know this because i never bothered my arse ever trying to find out".

I cant say I believe in ghosts, as I don't know what a 'ghost' is, considering its a very wide reaching word. I have though had more than a few inexplicable experiences which - though I did try to explain and figure out - never could.

In saying that though, I couldn't really give two figs about trying to prove anything to anyone - it just bugs me to see so many people nay saying on a subject they more than likely have never researched.

I have researched ghosts
I've seen all 3 ghostbuster movies
I've even watched the film 'ghost'

Parapsychology is a pseudo science. Pseudo science can produce as many theories and do as many studies as they like, but in the end, they're worthless if they don't follow the scienfic method

There's no prior plausiblity to the claims made about ghosts. All the evidence that we have about the world is that physical effects require a physical cause, and physical causes are measurable and subject to normal scientific procedures

endacl

Canis Lupus wrote: »

To paraphrase another boardsie the last time this sort of thread showed up in AH: 'It's strange how ghosts never show up in the day time with lots of people about to witness it'.

Would explain why only isolated rednecks fall victim to alien abduction too. And why Bigfoot and Nessie are never photographed using a camera with a descent autofocus capability and a quality long lens...

I Heart Internet

Akrasia wrote: »

There's no prior plausiblity to the claims made about ghosts. All the evidence that we have about the world is that physical effects require a physical cause, and physical causes are measurable and subject to normal scientific procedures

Tell that to the sad lady with no head standing behind you now, stroking your hair. She wants you to come with her.

endacl

I Heart Internet wrote: »

Tell that to the sad lady with no head standing behind you now, stroking your hair. She wants you to come with her.

*puts AH hat on*

She wants him to what?