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Previous question continued: "in honor of the spooky time of year: Do you believe in ghosts? (...communicating with the living?)"

Because l'm no longer allowed to add to the original thread (and some others may have wanted to say something and weren't able to), a feature that bugs the crap out of me, l'd like to share my thoughts on this one.

While a fairly spiritual gal, l'm also pretty pragmatic and objective when it comes to what l choose to believe. Some of that is a choice, and some of it simply isn't. l realize that the minute l say things like what l'm about to say here, my credibility goes down with certain members who may have considered me to be generally sane. l accept that, because generally speaking, l am sane, but l have had experiences l can't begin to explain either.

l have had several experiences with ghosts or spirits or what-have-you. l've spent a great deal of time wondering if they were figments of my imagination, and after a serious amount of reflection and consideration, l've decided that they were not. l just can't explain them.

The first was when l was about eight or ten, and l was visiting my grandmother, who was out with my mother shopping while l stayed home and watched TV. l heard the fridge/freezer door open and close, but it didn't register until a few minutes later, since l was engrossed in whatever l was watching, and it took a minute to remember that l was there alone. When l got up to investigate, there was a freezer dinner sitting on the counter that hadn't been there before. Fairly innocuous, not earth-shattering, just random and weird. l'm not sure why, but it didn't frighten me much.

The next time, l moved in with a work friend (we were both 19 at the time), her sister, her brother, and their dad. They had an extra room, they were a pretty cool family unit, and l needed a place to stay. Prior to moving in, Maria (my friend from work, name changed for privacy) informed me that there was something in their house, and l needed to know about it before moving in. Whatever it was, it was malicious; it had mauled her 15 year-old sister in the middle of the night, leaving scars down her back that she showed me shortly after l moved in. What was interesting is that when l spoke to the men of the family, they didn't deny it. All were there to witness the girl being mauled by something unseen. None of them were crazy by any means, and it was a loving and healthy family despite the desertion of the wife and mother several years before.

l moved in out of sheer curiosity, l admit it. A whole, relatively normal family testifying to a ghost? l couldn't pass it up, and l'm a glutton for punishment, l guess.

l had been informed that whatever it was, it sounded like a large (as in tall) man, and that he/it would occasionally walk around upstairs, and the reason they believed it was a tall man was because the footsteps were so heavy and loud. About two months in with no incident, l was home alone watching TV, and l heard someone walking around up there. l went and checked, but of course, nobody was there. The living room was directly off the kitchen, which was where everyone entered; the front door was never used, so there was no way anyone could have sneaked in without my knowledge.

About two weeks later, l was again watching TV with the younger sister, and we heard him/it walking around again. She rolled her eyes at me and said she was used to it. lt stopped after that and we forgot about it. Shortly afterwards, we heard the kitchen door to the garage open, and continued watching TV until we realized no one had come in. Marie was due home from work about that time, so l got up and checked the door, which was standing wide open. l called Maria to ask her if she had come home, but she was just leaving work. Thing is, that door stayed locked, and we had heard the key turn in the lock in order to open. Brother and Dad were both out of the house when it happened.

About four weeks or so after that, l was doing laundry in the basement, and l felt someone come up behind me, chest to back, and just stand there. lt was a bit terrifying, and finally, l spoke to nothing in particular and said l had no beef with it, and it needed to leave me the fuck alone. While it continued to mess with everyone else in the house, l never had an incident again.

l don't believe these are just coincidences or things l made up in my head. l've never been prone to hallucination (at least not without ingesting something), and even after the first incident, experiencing the exact same thing with another person -and a whole family corroborating each others' stories, which none seemed to take any pleasure or pride in- seemed to be proof to me that l wasn't simply imagining things on their own.

My current client, who is in hospice, recently began talking to someone l determined to be his grandmother after a few pointed questions. Other caregivers have reported the same thing, and every single hospice client l've worked with has begun having conversations with the dead in the last few weeks of their lives. That could easily be qualified as dementia if all of them had dementia when they died, but not all did. They were sharp and psychologically together other than these moments. Aside from my own experiences, watching otherwise mentally healthy people have conversations with the dead, and then go back to being alert and aware makes me wonder if we have any business assuming this stuff DOESN'T happen.

Anyway, l think it's an interesting conversation, so l wanted to get it going in a form where all could respond. Carry on.

freikja asked in Whatever about 1 year ago | Report

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4 Answers

  • Gold-head_small
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    Nope. The paranormal and the supernatural do not exist and cannot exist.

    Fnarf answered in Whatever about 1 year ago | Report
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  • Medium_2868373187_b2c11c89cf_o_small
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    Basil

    I do believe in the power of suggestion, and the power of the human mind to alter memories through hindsight.

    I think in every case, the power of the human mind and the subjective nature of memory and perception are much more likely explanations than an entire mythos of ghosts that have never been certifiably seen or experienced.

    I have experienced things that could be considered supernatural, and it was fascinating to me in that situation the way my perceptions and thoughts would work. It is a self-perpetuating loop - you hear something strange or weird, you start thinking of supernatural things, and then you start hearing or perceiving things that fit that conception you've made. But in each case, I would actively go and investigate until I had an answer and every single time I could track it down to sounds in my walls - images in a dark room - upstairs neighbors - creaking windows - etc.

    Like a good hypnotist knows, the power of the human mind to create is limitless.

    I think the logic of this comic also clearly explains why ghosts aren't real:

    http://xkcd.com/808/

    It's presented in a humorous way, but I think it makes a very valid point.

    Basil answered in Whatever about 1 year ago | Report
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  • Enso_circle_small
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    ozchick

    I also think of myself as pragmatist, and try to keep a "believe in everything and nothing" attitude.

    I've had at least two experiences of a non tangible malignant presence. The first was in a house that I was told was haunted. There was a corner in a room that was definitely not a good place to be around. Although I had been told of a haunt, I had not been told of the location. Was later told that the corner I'd taken a fearful aversion to was the one reputed to be where the ghost hung out.

    The second was in a flat that I used to live in. Every now and again there was a very nasty presence, in a particular spot. Nothing physical happened, but I'm not a fanciful person and stand by what I felt.

    More positively, my father transported a large obelisk shaped rock from a local hill to our yard. That rock has a benevolent and powerful presence unlike any other I've been near. I do not think it is a ghost, rather something like an energy build up, similar to whist one experiences in an old church. Or maybe it is a stone Shen.

    ozchick answered in Whatever about 1 year ago | Report
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  • Sacri_ordines_by_charism_small
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    Rev.Enant

    In general:
    I don't believe in 'ghosts' specifically.

    I think a fair amount of ghost stories are based on -at the very least, partial- real events, yet have some form of 'projected story' attached to them.

    But I vehemently believe that humanity would be pretty fawking arrogant to think we've discovered (and retained/comprehended at one time & place), all there is to know about the world and how everything works.

    Invisible energies? Yes, I believe in those, or at least suspect there's something out there yet to be explained/measured properly. We live in the future now: There's WIRELESS ELECTRICITY* ffs, and intangible computer keyboards made of laser light. (* your rechargable sonic toothbrush likely uses it)

    You bet there might be that which we haven't been able to prove via science.

    There will always be.
    Science doesn't know all. And not all discoveries of modern science are actually new. Not that many years ago, the earth was flat, after all. Even fewer years ago, Capt. Kirk's communicator was pure fiction... and Enterprise D's replicators too. Yet now we have ear-worn phones and 3D printers. The form changed, but the basic content bore out to become true.

    I don't believe in Ghosts, but yes, I think there are things that we haven't been able to explain and some ghost stories, like yours Freikja, will someday fall under a yet-unnamed category.

    Rev.Enant answered in Whatever about 1 year ago | Report
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