Do ghosts exist?
- Thread starter Warbler
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Euronymous
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No
Desert Orchid
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I have no reason to believe they don't so I have an open mind about it.
I suppose it might depend on how you define 'ghost'.
I suppose it might depend on how you define 'ghost'.
Yes
There is certainly something to the spirit world. It gets slagged off with people running around with their fingers in their ears because the spiritualists can come across a bit daytime tv
My late mother was neither sceptic or believer but twice went to meetings and at one in particular the contact made to her was absolutely extraordinary. It was so detailed and was someone that only she knew . the message was something she had wanted to hear all her life
There is certainly something to the spirit world. It gets slagged off with people running around with their fingers in their ears because the spiritualists can come across a bit daytime tv
My late mother was neither sceptic or believer but twice went to meetings and at one in particular the contact made to her was absolutely extraordinary. It was so detailed and was someone that only she knew . the message was something she had wanted to hear all her life
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When scientists and the likes of Richard Dawkins dismiss all this then quite clearly they never studied even o level maths. The probabilities of such exchanges being "made up" would be millions to one
The other aspect is that like so many little boys in so called professions, they can't bear to admit there is something they do not understand. A very childish male thing. women are far more receptive
The other aspect is that like so many little boys in so called professions, they can't bear to admit there is something they do not understand. A very childish male thing. women are far more receptive
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icebreaker
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No.
Forgot to mention - I share my house with one. Never seen him and told him I do not want to, but those who have read the Very, Very Spooky thread will know what my house guest gets up to.
Sadly, he has started to tease my poor Tilly cat. He moves her bed, and sometimes her food gets tipped out on the floor.
There will be months with no sign of him, then suddenly there will be a flicker of movement at the other end of the sitting room, or sounds of someone moving around my bedroom (I live alone). I just tell him "It's bedtime. Good night" and generally things settle down.
He likes the shredder and has just discovered the coffee grinder - though does not do anything so practical as shred the junk mail or actually grind any coffee. I have started to load the coffee grinder - just in case he feels helpful. Nah. Prefers to make me or the cat jump by tapping on the sitting room door.
He is a definite presence who is aware of me and of the cat. My brother once saw the shape of a man in the back bedroom, and my eldest niece got told off by a man at the top of the stairs.
Sadly, he has started to tease my poor Tilly cat. He moves her bed, and sometimes her food gets tipped out on the floor.
There will be months with no sign of him, then suddenly there will be a flicker of movement at the other end of the sitting room, or sounds of someone moving around my bedroom (I live alone). I just tell him "It's bedtime. Good night" and generally things settle down.
He likes the shredder and has just discovered the coffee grinder - though does not do anything so practical as shred the junk mail or actually grind any coffee. I have started to load the coffee grinder - just in case he feels helpful. Nah. Prefers to make me or the cat jump by tapping on the sitting room door.
He is a definite presence who is aware of me and of the cat. My brother once saw the shape of a man in the back bedroom, and my eldest niece got told off by a man at the top of the stairs.
icebreaker
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A most strange household.
That, or overly vivid imagination.
That, or overly vivid imagination.
Grasshopper
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I expect you're partner sees a ghoul pretty-much ever day, clive. 
EC1
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He woke me up one night when someone was trying to break in - no imagination there. Did something useful for once!
Oddly enough, I tend to lack imagination in that sort of thing. Don't need it. Things are there, some people see, some don't. Not a problem, just to do with one's chemical make-up. If that changes, perceptions and experiences change. I think that is going on with a lot of people who report changes of personality or of outlook after an organ transplant. Nothing spooky there, just the chemical balance of that person's body has changed due to the importation of a "foreign" organ.
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G-G
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My brother punched one one who was leaning over him in bed one night, and then watched 'it' walk out of the room through the window and he's not given to flights of imagination.
My father, likewise my brother, had a conversation with my grandmother ( not his mother) who was standing at the foot of the bed one night, and then proceeded to walk through the bed and out of the room. My grandmother died in our house.
On several occasions after my father died, I smelt something which reminded me of him. It would only be in one room and not through the whole house and it couldn't have been anything outside coming in. I have never smelt it since I sold that house. He died at home.
Along with other examples, I could cite, yes I do.
My father, likewise my brother, had a conversation with my grandmother ( not his mother) who was standing at the foot of the bed one night, and then proceeded to walk through the bed and out of the room. My grandmother died in our house.
On several occasions after my father died, I smelt something which reminded me of him. It would only be in one room and not through the whole house and it couldn't have been anything outside coming in. I have never smelt it since I sold that house. He died at home.
Along with other examples, I could cite, yes I do.
My dad "sends" mum roses on her birthday every year. She suddenly gets surrounded by a strong scent of roses. Sometimes it is so strong that other people can smell it too. It only happens on her birthday and her furniture has changed since Dad died, so it cannot be something clinging to the fabric that gets released by a change of temperature or sunlight or the like.
Our physics lessons taught us that energy never dies, just changes form. So energy with a consciousness attached...? So much more to explore and discuss than a flat "yes" or "no". Fascinating stuff.
Our physics lessons taught us that energy never dies, just changes form. So energy with a consciousness attached...? So much more to explore and discuss than a flat "yes" or "no". Fascinating stuff.
Interesting. My father loved his garden and especially the bird table (adored robins) which was made of heavy stone and had been there for many many years. On the day he died, it collapsed. Crumbled. Coincidence? No. There were some other things too
Since you two have been open will tell my mothers story
Went to a spiritualist in Hounslow. Large audience etc. mother was brought up 200 miles away and she was over 60
her name was called and the contact was a tall single old lady who always dressed fully in black, described perfectly.She remembered the incredible feeling when hearing this. Then the spiritualist described how this lady loved to tease and play with the kids on the street and they all loved her. Her fav trick was to gently trip them up with her stick. The name was given and the street was described, in detail
The old woman died and my mother regretted for the rest of her life that she never made the funeral. my mother was her favourite
The message was comprehensively reassuring
It changed my mothers life
Since you two have been open will tell my mothers story
Went to a spiritualist in Hounslow. Large audience etc. mother was brought up 200 miles away and she was over 60
her name was called and the contact was a tall single old lady who always dressed fully in black, described perfectly.She remembered the incredible feeling when hearing this. Then the spiritualist described how this lady loved to tease and play with the kids on the street and they all loved her. Her fav trick was to gently trip them up with her stick. The name was given and the street was described, in detail
The old woman died and my mother regretted for the rest of her life that she never made the funeral. my mother was her favourite
The message was comprehensively reassuring
It changed my mothers life
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FWIW, I think Clive is likely to be right and for reasons close to this explanation. There are simply far too many incidences now both annecdotal and those caught on camera for us to say that something must be happening that science hasn't explained to us yet. That science can't explain it is just that. It's not evidence of its non-existance, just evidence that we don't understand it
Sadly science requires an explanation before something is consider existential though
icebreaker
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That's all that they are -- incidences with a dodgy provenance.
Incidences that are down to auto-suggestion, self-persuasion, and psychosomatic episodes being suffered by the "visitees".
In this enlightened age, anyone believing in a supernatural entity such as a ghost is a couple of ectoplasms short of a graveyard, imho
icebreaker
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I don't know, Clive, ......... I don't know an explanation for your mother's particular experience. I wasn't there (obviously) at the seance. Were you?
I do know, tho', that "spiritualists" do have an assortment of "tricks" in their armoury. They can be very covert -- unbeknown actually -- in wheedling out titbits of info to use later to dupe. You know it, I know it. They're professionals at their game; and they are masters of deception.
I do know, tho', that "spiritualists" do have an assortment of "tricks" in their armoury. They can be very covert -- unbeknown actually -- in wheedling out titbits of info to use later to dupe. You know it, I know it. They're professionals at their game; and they are masters of deception.
Not a chance. It wasn't a seance anyway. it was in front of an audience and as I said, my mother barely said anything other than to acknowledge whilst the medium went into extraordinary detail.
Absolutely impossible to make up such a scenario from anyones past.
Why did i have to be there?
If people want to get all scientific then work out the odds. millions to one.
Frankly that isnt the point. She knew it was real and that it was significant and was also something that had been on her mind all her life and i could go into the reasons why
Absolutely impossible to make up such a scenario from anyones past.
Why did i have to be there?
If people want to get all scientific then work out the odds. millions to one.
Frankly that isnt the point. She knew it was real and that it was significant and was also something that had been on her mind all her life and i could go into the reasons why
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I also remember a BBC documentary on the history of an airfield many years back. I cant recall who it was but either BBC team member or RAF staff had an encounter in the traffic control tower with another controller, who had a surprisingly old fashioned look about him. They actually talked etc and he gave his name
When they tried to enquire who he was he was not on the records anywhere in the RAF. Nothing
Until someone decided to have a look at old records going back decades. They found him. Full details. Same person. Killed in the second world war. On that very airfield
I think they actually found a photo of him too
To re emphasise...this wasn't a ghost hunters documentary
When they tried to enquire who he was he was not on the records anywhere in the RAF. Nothing
Until someone decided to have a look at old records going back decades. They found him. Full details. Same person. Killed in the second world war. On that very airfield
I think they actually found a photo of him too
To re emphasise...this wasn't a ghost hunters documentary
Bar the Bull
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I would love to get all scientific, Clive, but you haven't really given me much to go on.
Were you at this event? Or are you relying on someone else's account? Just because you loved somebody or just because they are otherwise very grounded and not gullible doesn't mean that they don't have their weak spots.
To me, this incident sounds like a classic case of cold reading, but it is way too difficult for me to be "scientific". Something like "I can tell you regret something very much from your childhood...somebody you never said goodbye to properly" can kick it all off. Seeing a 60yo lady would lead a skilled cold reader to think this as a very good starting point.
Of course, I don't know whether this person had a sixth sense or not. I wouldn't rule it out, but the way you describe the incident makes me think it is shorter than a million to one that it was just so.
There is a very interesting book I read about it a good while ago. Titled something like "How to Make Money out of ESP"
Were you at this event? Or are you relying on someone else's account? Just because you loved somebody or just because they are otherwise very grounded and not gullible doesn't mean that they don't have their weak spots.
To me, this incident sounds like a classic case of cold reading, but it is way too difficult for me to be "scientific". Something like "I can tell you regret something very much from your childhood...somebody you never said goodbye to properly" can kick it all off. Seeing a 60yo lady would lead a skilled cold reader to think this as a very good starting point.
Of course, I don't know whether this person had a sixth sense or not. I wouldn't rule it out, but the way you describe the incident makes me think it is shorter than a million to one that it was just so.
There is a very interesting book I read about it a good while ago. Titled something like "How to Make Money out of ESP"
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