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Ghosts and other unexplained phenomena

I consider myself to be an open-minded sceptic. I don't actually believe in ghosts/paranormal phenomena/mediums etc. But, I'm curious!

When I was at uni, I studied a module on parapsychology as part of my psychology degree. It was fascinating and had me asking a lot of questions! The part on poltergeists particularly, has always stuck in my mind. Some of the evidence is quite compelling. But, as others have said, there are always other explanations.

I have to admit to loving shows like Most Haunted Live. Even when everyone else is saying it's all fake, I don't really care! It scares the crap out of me, which I kind of love!

I guess I don't have a straight answer as to whether I believe in ghosts and other paranormal phenomena. I'm quite logical and scientific most of the time, however, quite a lot of people in my family have had experiences that they/I struggle to explain. Funnily enough, they've all happened to people who would normally consider anything paranormal to be a load of rubbish!

I just don't know!
 
There is an assumption that there is no evidence, witness testimony is provided by people whose same anecdotal witness testimony would be accepted in a court of law to convict someone of a crime.

There are unfortunately charlatans out there, no question about it, cold reading is in fact a rather easy skill to learn.

To suggest there is no such thing, is an opinion (to which everyone is entitled), and not a fact.
 
Anecdotal evidence is an absurd thing to cling to. There is anecdotal evidence for the existence of Father Christmas. There is anecdotal evidence for the existence of fairies and goblins. Anecdotal evidence in regards to the existence of a thing is highly unreliable and cannot be remotely trusted.

It IS indeed a fact that there is no reliable evidence to come to the conclusion that ghosts exist.

Anyone who takes the opinion that ghosts exist does so on no solid basis.
 
Meat Pie said:
If I was a ghost who had passed over from the 'spirit world' (or which other fantasy you subscribe to) then I'd dare say that I would do something a lot more significant than turning lights off, making people feel uneasy, breathing heavy, and making small easily lost items go missing.
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You'd definitely log onto here and change your signature first of all.
 
Meat Pie said:
Anecdotal evidence is an absurd thing to cling to. There is anecdotal evidence for the existence of Father Christmas. There is anecdotal evidence for the existence of fairies and goblins. Anecdotal evidence in regards to the existence of a thing is highly unreliable and cannot be remotely trusted.

It IS indeed a fact that there is no reliable evidence to come to the conclusion that ghosts exist.

Anyone who takes the opinion that ghosts exist does so on no solid basis.
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Tell me, who exactly uses faeries goblins and Father Christmas to help solve crimes?

How do you know that we have the correct technology to capture or measure ghosts or spiritual experiences?

Science has only just discovered Dark Matter and Anti-Matter. A mysterious substance that makes up the broad proportion of our universe and for which is capable of creating a fuel so efficient it will be able to propel us across vast distances.

It wasn't too long ago this idea was mocked as being ridiculous, yet thought leaders have spoken about it for years - a formless energy that surrounds us and can be manipulated. It is now believed to be the very substance that glues the entire cosmos together. Just because we do not have the tools at present to measure something that has been observed and documented for eons, does not mean it does not exist.

Spirituality has been inherent in our culture since the beginning of records. What ghosts are is an interesting topic, my personal belief is it is a memory stored in energy somehow, and different to poltergeist activity etc.

I certainly am not trying to convince you otherwise, everyone is entitled to their opinions which is all any of us can offer, but my comment was not only about ghosts, but a plethora of phenomena that has been documented and experienced for 1000s of years of which we presently have neither the knowledge, nor technology, to accurately explain.

That is an entirely different matter to something not existing.
 
Good point about dark energy, lots of the universal mass is missing and who knows what this dark matter does.

I work somewhere with lots of pillars, machines and stuff about. I often think I see something out of the corner of my eye. But I believe its just catching some object in my vision.

But then again we have some weird gremlins in the machines at work.
 
Meat Pie said:
There is as much evidence for ghosts as there are fairies.

Is it impossible? No. But when you weigh up the lack of evidence compared to the many, many, many scientific attempts to attain it, it becomes abundtly clear that ghosts, like God, and like fairies, have no basis as they have no verifiable evidence that stands up to peer-reviewed science - the process that has proven itself in that it brought us most modern technological developments.


On that basis, it is absurd to believe in ghosts. Or fairies. Or God.
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Your almost certainly right.

But the history of science has repeatedly shown people saying something is absurd (like electrons behaving as waves and particals at the same time) then finding out bugger me it's true. Closed minded approaches to any subject unless DISPROVED is not the scientific way. The absence of evidence though allowing for deep suspicion is not the same as disproving something.

Unfortunately getting hard evidence on either side of the argument is hard as unbiased scientific research is rarely done on it.

Though as said it's almost certainly tosh.
 
Jem8472 said:
I work somewhere with lots of pillars, machines and stuff about. I often think I see something out of the corner of my eye. But I believe its just catching some object in my vision.

But then again we have some weird gremlins in the machines at work.
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Anywhere with machinery can produce infrasound, which is known to mess with your head and make you feel uneasy. I'm sure I've heard of places where sound is close to the resonant frequency of the human eyeball, which causes the eye to distort slightly and create random shapes.
 
DiogoJ42 said:
Anywhere with machinery can produce infrasound, which is known to mess with your head and make you feel uneasy. I'm sure I've heard of places where sound is close to the resonant frequency of the human eyeball, which causes the eye to distort slightly and create random shapes.
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Yeah infrasound is a strange phenomena. It is particularly good I believe at making you "feel" uneasy, as if something is around, a presence as it were. Which when you think about how it would affect our physiology from a standpoint of being invisible, is understandable it would invoke nervousness and preparedness - it most likely wakes up the fight flight response heightening our perception and readiness. It must somehow tickle the amygdalae.

Almost like triggering anxiety but with no logical reasoning behind it.

Interestingly enough I believe there is research suggesting that the development of the amygdala may be at least partially responsible for our sexuality.
 
They used an infra-sound sub in The Sanctuary Scaremaze, it's well documented to make people feel on-edge and spooked.
 
Mythbusters tested infrasound a while ago... Shame I can't remember what their results were! :p

Was the sub there in it's original 2012 incarnation? I never got to do The Sanctuary last lear.

Given that I seem to be naturally good at picking up on low frequency sound and vibrations (more felt than heard, my hearing is dire), I'm quite interested in this kind of thing.
 
I bought 2 bottles of <generic scottish soft drink> last. I put both in the same bag and double bagged it for carrying security. However, when I got home, there was only one bottle in the bag and the second was nowhere to be found.

Now I'd say that's an unexplained phenomenon.
 
Yup was there in 2012.

They couldn't push it too low though as there was genuine concern for structural damage to the ruins.
 
For some things there is no rational explanation. But for me there's more to be afraid of such as cats, serial killers and Blackpool
 
Dar said:
I bought 2 bottles of <generic scottish soft drink> last. I put both in the same bag and double bagged it for carrying security. However, when I got home, there was only one bottle in the bag and the second was nowhere to be found.

Now I'd say that's an unexplained phenomenon.
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Not really mate, the one bottle obviously devoured the other.
 
I have a similar problem with alcohol. I buy it one day, then the next day, it's gone, but I'll have no recollection of drinking it so I can only conclude I have a ghost.
 
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