Do you believe in Ghosts?

I leave a sliver of speculation open that there may be something paranormal that I don’t understand in this regard. But mostly, no.. because I’ve yet to experience anything remotely ghostly and the accounts of those who have are always sketchy.

I think there may be something currently unexplained out there that we perceive to be ghosts. But I don’t believe that they are the souls of the dead. I think there may be time distortions or anomalies and occasionally, you can see an image of another time. Most ghost sightings I’ve read about are usually beings going about their usual business and not acting very ghostly.

I have nothing more than a hunch for my opinions—but I can accept time anomalies more easily than departed souls.

I’ve witnessed poltergeist activity first hand. I don’t necessarily think it’s anything to do with the spirits of the dead. Not sure what it could be though.

No, not really. Mostly, I think it’s all just a bunch of hocus pocus. I haven’t ever experienced anything that would lead me to believe in ghosts, and the TV shows about hunting them certainly don’t convince me.

I’ve never had an experience with a ghost (that I know of) but I believe that some people have (a few of my friends and family claim to have had experiences) so I definitely keep an open mind about their existence.

Nope.

No, I’ve never had a ghost experience or seen anything out of the ordinary that would suggest a ghost presence, I just don’t have any reason to believe they exist.

I would have to administer a lie detector test to said ghosts before I can answer this question…

Spirits of the dead, definitely. Experienced them at least twice; probably four times once with a witness!
No; I don’t want to go into it. It’s too complex and most people wouldn’t believe it anyway.

I used to joke about my office building being haunted. I’ve heard all kinds of noises, but it’s a big old building. A few days ago, something looked into my office, from the left side of the door.I saw it clearly, it was 5’8” or so tall, cream colored, human shaped but no facial figures, no ears and no hair. It looked in really quickly and then pulled back. I was puzzled and I rushed to the door and looked into the hallway. Nothing. Then only way out is through one door that’s really noisy. I still don’t know what I saw. I’ve drawn pictures for others and they can’t believe all the details I can remember. I’m a little more open minded now.

Ghosts in one form or another seem to appear in every human culture worldwide and throughout history. Scientific enquiry tends to be highly sophisticated, limiting and reductive, possibly affecting the very substance of research at times.

I don’t personally believe in disembodied spirits that have in some way survived death, but the power of the human personality, will or mind can be very great. Impressions may survive where repeated activity, or ritual have taken place. Also, wherever humans have experienced great depths of feeling, like battlefields or hospitals, prisons etc, I see no reason why there may not be some resonance or echo of that experience.

Personally, I have felt the presence of someone who died, very strongly. My first Husband’s first wife died tragically young and she came to check on things when I moved in with him! I reckon that as some science becomes more subtle, and those who have had odd experiences become more articulate in describing them, it will happen that there will be better explanations for these phenomena and perhaps some support for a world where traces of lives lived previously are accepted. Treating this stuff as ordinary and maintaining some humour is also essential.

No.

I’ve never seen one, never expect to see one and I never want to see one.

You can smell roses; you don’t have to actually SEE one. LOL ! Seriously!

I believe in them. I have seen them. Not only people, ghosts of my pets, too. Seeing a ghost is not a scary as many people think, especially when they are ghosts of beloved family members, or of beloved pets.

Nope. I have no evidence—observational or otherwise—to support the existence of ghosts, and I have a modicum of evidence against the existence of ghosts.

No. To me ghosts represent fear, sorrow and regret and ways to deal with them, and these are portrayed in such simple contexts that it reeks of human nature. Coming back from the dead to give a warning, a farewell message, fix something that ain’t right, or making realizations. It’s kind of like getting drunk, only it has a happy ending, and thus, it is where the concept errs, at least, if it wanted me to believe in ghosts. Because in how I think people kept and keep on with ghosts (not talking about when many really did think that swamps were their loved ones, or their enemies, coming back) seems a way to to deal with reality without having to face it directly.
Fuckin’ Poe, no wonder he was such a genius lol. Psychological trauma or intense grief can do a lot to a person.

What I’m trying to say is that I think the idea of ghosts is closely related to things like gods, an afterlife and all, and are ways to better face adversity, even if ghosts these days are basically just entertainment. A form of denial turned real for the person seeing a ghost. On the other hand, that I think ghosts are born of man’s need for guidance and reassurance, even if through fears and hauntings (always better than death, ya know) and as such represent man’s nature in certain areas, ghosts could easily exist, since the idea has been around everywhere, and for centuries. Who am I to argue an entire history of peoples and beliefs?

Still, if there are real ghost sightings and experiences, I’m guessing it’s not actually what we think it is. I also think science, sociology and psychology could explain it.

@Symbeline I’m fluthering with a friend, no issues to deal with, and it appears? Why?

You mean like, glitches in the matrix?

It was a glitch in the matrix or a light trick. But why the color?

Oh, you were talking about the ghost. I thought you were making a joke. Sorreh. My post is just what I think though, I can’t explain it. If ghosts show up without the credentials I’m suggesting, no idea.
Something interesting though, I read this in a book about ghosts. Apparently, ghosts require certain sources of energy to be able to manifest themselves. Huge sums of electricity, so that’s why there are a lot of big places like hospitals, schools or theaters said to be haunted. That same book also said that teenagers or pregnant women are the most likely to see ghosts, because of the active hormones and all that help the ghost to manifest itself. this is just for visuals though…I don’t remember what it said much for hearing ghosts.

Nothing can take the place of my own personal experiences, as well as other people that I know so I’ll say yes as a former sceptic myself. I do think that ghosts are real entities which are trapped on the earth plane for one reason or another.

The laws of quantum mechanics do allow for ghosts in a manner of speaking. I could appear out of nowhere and stand right next to @Paradox25 and a moment later I’m somewhere else. @Paradox25 would think that I was a ghost. It has nothing to do with being trapped on the earth plane.

Now the geeks can start calculating the probability. Thank God for exponentiation.

@mattbrowne That seems less like quantum mechanics allowing for ghosts and more like quantum mechanics giving an explanation for why people might misinterpret some experiences as suggesting ghosts.

@SavoirFaire – Yes, it all depends on the exact definition of “ghost”.

Well, a far more likely scientific explanation are the great many illusions the human mind is capable creating of.

Yes, but only because I like the idea. I have been to reportedly haunted places and tried really hard to experience something, anything, unusual, but saw and felt nothing out of the ordinary. I still like to frequent haunted places because the mystique intrigues me. I even asked my daughter to bury me in a gauzy, flowing gown when I die so that I will make a good ghost.

What is a ghost, anyway?

No, I find them to be liars & bragadocious, not to be trusted at all.

I keep an open mind since someone I know was a ghost buster. It was fascinating to listen to the descriptions of talking ghosts into leaving. I asked how they knew when the ghosts left and was told that the noises, or other nuisances the ghosts caused, went away. Something was going on there, although I don’t what. The owners of the problems paid their bill.

Don’t believe in ghosts, alien abductions, fairies (except for the guy at the bar), angels, or any other phenomenon that isn’t documented and actually seen by me.

I love ghost stories and reading about the paranormal.

That said, I don’t particularly believe in them. My mom is a pretty avid ghost hunter. She has a bunch of cameras, an EMF detector, an electronic voice recorder – the whole shebang. I’m always debunking her vague ghost pictures she shows me after her expeditions.

BUT a friend recently took me on two expeditions to what is supposedly a very haunted part of my school campus. I saw, felt, and heard some things that were beyond explanation, so I decided to go back and try and replicate the results using scientific means. My results were similar. Now I’m trying to figure out a logical explanation for just what the hell I experienced.

Absolutely. I’m not particularly sure what they are or why they’re here but I absolutely believe in ghosts. I’ve never seen one straight on but I feel them and catch glimpses out of the corners of my eyes. Most people would just tell me I have anxiety and my eyes are playing tricks on me but I definitely believe otherwise. I’ve had friends who’ve had experiences and they could be lying but I don’t think they are. They’re not all hostile and violent like some people think they are, I’ve actually felt many pleasant spirits. But that’s just one girl’s opinion.