The Paranormal?

Do you believe in ghosts?

Ok so the paranormal isn't limited to ghosts, it can relate to "anything that lies outside the ranges of normal experience or scientific explaination".

Are they spirits? What's your thoughts on some "evidence" that's been found? What about supposed "angels" and "spirit guides"?

Discuss away.

I know someone rather closely who says that they have had paranormal things happen to them. I kind of believe them, and I'm open to the idea of ghosts and whatnot, but I really don't know.

A lot of that stuff is made up, though.

In my opinion, it's stupid to deny the possibility of the paranormal, i.e. ghosts. There's just simply no way to know what happens after we die. I consider it a possibility.

As for evidence: though 99 percent of EVPs are probably shit, I like these two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2C5trAYXiJM (2:00 mark)

I find it odd how supposedly (to the highly secular I've met) separate phenomena of Near Death Experiences and hauntings overlap so much. They both hinge on "self independent from the body" as well as a "place beyond the physical", yet they are independent and separate classes of events. There is a plethora of both NDE's and supposed hauntings compiled by sources independent of each other, that affirm the same things. I think we take for granted the idea of a non-material reality and self, as if those ideas are just 'natural' for us to think, but they are not in my opinion, and I believe that the worldwide historical attested paranormal is from a common, yet unidentified but hinging on the concept of non-material reality and self, stimuli.

[Whew that was a lot of segmented clauses; Commas abound.]

I don't believe in ghosts, bigfoot, the Loch Ness monster, etc. I mean, sure, I'd love to believe in that stuff, but it's in the way that you wished Pokemon or Harry Potter was real. You want it, but it'll never happen, unfortunately. I mean, get real.

newt said:

Having basis-es for claims totally matters, dudes.

I'm not sold on the idea of souls or ghosts. While it's true we can't be absolutely certain what happens with death, this doesn't mean all claims are equally likely or good.

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Yes, but all it takes is one out of the multitude to be true. That sounds like some sort of citeable logical fallacy, but if just one of those haunting/NDE accounts are 1)true 2) unmistaken 3) supernatural, than it would prove a whole host of things. And why wouldn't at least one of the thousands be true?

It's a very common meme and people like to believe special things happen to them? Doesn't actually mean it's true. Doesn't mean it's false, either! But given how frequent hoaxes are it's quite possible that the people saying that they've had strange experiences are either mistaken or lying.

enekoiru said:

It's a very common meme and people like to believe special things happen to them? Doesn't actually mean it's true. Doesn't mean it's false, either! But given how frequent hoaxes are it's quite possible that the people saying that they've had strange experiences are either mistaken or lying.

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Every single one, out of thousands (if not millions) throughout human history, is mistaken or lying?

Eloi said:

Every single one, out of thousands (if not millions) throughout human history, is mistaken or lying?

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yes? if someone tells me that they believe in ghosts because thousands of people before me have, without any evidence or reason for them to do so, damn straight I will think that they're either mistaken or lying. We already know that people will lie to manipulate others, using the supernatural (for example: don't have sex with people of the same sex, or you'll go to hell!) and that humanity has been mistaken throughout history (like thinking the sun revolves around the earth, or that the world is flat, and so on).

this is a ridiculous way to prove anything. Does this also mean that, say, unicorns are real? Dragons? Super powers? Invisible Friends? There have also been people throughout history that support slavery; are they right or wrong? Lots of people agreed with the Nazi party! Are they right, too? Is it right to be a afraid of the dark?

Just because a large amount of people believe something, this does not make them right (especially if there's no reliable basis or evidence to back it up!). Also, if these thousands/millions of people are correct, why is there no evidence? Doesn't this say something? If Ghosts/Souls/Whathaveyou are real and have been observed for generations, wouldn't there be some reliable evidence somewhere? You rely on evidence to back up pretty much anything else - we know that chickens lay eggs because we've seen it happen, not because someone else told us.

I would very much like to believe in the paranormal, especially UFOs. After all, imagine the implications of intelligent life personally visiting this planet! But, sadly, I have to concede that there's no evidence for anything. The sad reality of life is that cool stuff can't exist. :(

No. Total skeptic. Don't believe in anything supernatural, paranormal or whatever other term you like to use.

Same as TES. Or. more to the point, if there is truth to any of these claims, they can be explained. and thus are not supernatural.

It's not that I don't really believe, but I don't really think it's 100% false either. I think there has to be something there, but I don't really know what. So while it is probably mostly fake I can't really say I don't think there is some truth to this madness.

I cringe whenever Discovery Channel has one of their weird conspiracy shows about ghosts and stuff.

But yeah, I don't see why ghosts/paranormal/supernatural/whatever have any more validity than, say, god, or invisible pink unicorns. As opal said, if it can be explained, it's not supernatural anymore.

I agree that they might possibly exist, but the chances are so small that I might as well as not believe in them.

Never believed in the paranormal. Even when I was religious, I didn't believe in the stuff that wasn't in my religion. (I'm aware of the contradiction. I got better.)

Sure, there might be something paranormal or supernatural, but so far I've seen nothing that would suggest that there's anything to any of these claims (and of course, anything we actually prove exists/happens stops being paranormal and becomes normal) Other than that, it's just fun stuff to put into stories.

I believe in ghosts, for a reason that could be countering itself, but eh.

Their inexistence has never been scientifically proven.

Moreover, ghosts arent just some cultural legends (like Bigfoot or Nessie), and more and more cases of paranormal activities are reported each year. (of course some of them are really only because they want to be seen on ghostbusters but oh well).

I also believe in aliens btw, for the good and only reason that the universe is just too wide for us to be alone.

Uh. How do you prove that something doesn't exist?

By demonstrating scientifically the impossibility or high improbability of the said situation. What i meant to say (I agree it sounded wrong, i reread it and kinda realized how odd it was) is that even if ghosts are a unexplained phenomenon, people saw them, people at least noticed several paranormal activities.

My point was that you cant assume those things dont exist. We are in total darkness.

No, people noticed (or thought they did) things they didn't understand and tried to explain it as the paranormal.

It's a much safer assumption that they don't, given the lack of concrete evidence, than that they do.