Do you believe in ghosts?

[Zwhaler]

I had a ghost experience a long time ago. Heres the story...

I had some friends sleep oveer in my garage, and we got back from TPing and everyone crashed... except for me. Everyone was pretty much out. But soon after that, I saw (swear to god) the door from the side yard open, and I saw a shadow figure walk in. It stopped in front of my fridge, and was just standing there. I could see the shadow perfectly. (It was dark, I couldn't make out what it was) It looked to me like a person about 5"9 or 10, but this didn't scare me one bit, Because I assumed it was my mom or dad. I said "hey" and turned on the lanturn next to me, and the second I turned on the lamp, the "figure" dissapeared into thin air. Scary as hell... for the rest of the night I couldnt sleep, and heard slight noise of what sounded like footsteps coming closer and closer to me.

Wow. And yes, I believe in ghosts.

 

[Zwhaler]

<snip>

Wow... that is crazy! That is what most people report happening when they have a ghost experience. Like they can see people and they are talking most of the time. Wow...

 

[ZoomZoomZoom]

If I remember right, Abstract, you're Asian. Being Chinese, my relatives are traditionally supersitious and some have claimed to have seen ghosts.

I don't believe in ghosts though, at least in the way described. I think that people can make themselves to see things if they believe enough. I'm not dismissing those people as crackpots who see Elvis and aliens. I just see it more as a trick of the mind, especially in tiring situations.

In fact, 4 or 5 years ago, I thought I was seeing a ghost. It was late at night, I was waiting for a ride back home after a high school competition. I looked outside and thought I saw a fireman looking at me from far across the street. It spooked me out a bit, but when I walked outside and got closer, I realized that it was just a trick played on me with the lighting, a tree, and a slightly more distant fire hydrant.

 

[someguy]

Whenever I hear stories about someone seeing what appears to be a ghost and it pays no attention to anything and goes about what it's doing, it makes me wonder... what if sometimes when we are going about our business in our homes, entities that we cannot see or hear catch a glimpse of us... and are scared... and tell their friends about it and their friends laugh at them.

Weird.

 

[Plymouthbreezer]

Who knows - 60 or so years ago a little girl and her father might have seen a ghost in that same room, an unknown figure in strange clothes lying on the bed, looking slightly terrified...

Hah - That's the basic premise of the short story, "Night Face Up".

 

[QuarterSwede]

I wouldn't call them ghosts but spirits. And I certainly believe they exist for I've seen one myself up close and personal. Could I see through him? No, he looked like any other person, except it wasn't there. So how do I know he was a spirit? It was my dead grandfather.

I feel asleep the night my grandfather died on a cot in his living room. I woke up all of a sudden (wide awake) with the feeling I was being watched. I looked up slowly and saw my grandfather sitting on the couch smiling not 3 feet from my face. I was so spooked I closed my eyes and didn't open them or move until I woke up in the morning.

I know I was actually awake because:

1. I was aware that I woke up in the middle of the night when I woke up in the morning (not like thinking you woke up in a dream but realize you didn't when you wake in the morning).

2. I remember seeing the light in the hall was on (usually wasn't) which was confirmed by my mother and grandmother who wanted it on for some reason (apparently so I could find my way to the bathroom if I needed to in the dark) and

3. the kicker is that my grandfather was wearing a yellow polo shirt and brown pants when I saw his spirit. I hadn't seen him the day he died unexpectedly and found out from my mother that that was the exact thing he was wearing when he died.

Telling me spirits don't exist is like telling you that automobiles don't exist.

 

[Jaffa Cake]

Hah - That's the basic premise of the short story, "Night Face Up".

I can't say that I've read that story, but the idea of 'timeslips' has been put forward as an explanation for some ghost sightings - that people can temporarily find themselves stepping into the past or the future, often to the consternation of the people they apparently encounter during these experiences. One of the more famous cases I remember was from a couple of ladies who claimed to have been temporarily transported to pre-Revolutionary France while touring the Palace of Versailles.

To say that some of these stories are a little hard to swallow would be an understatement, but it's all interesting stuff!

 

[0098386]

Telling me spirits don't exist is like telling you that automobiles don't exist.

That's the thing. If you've never experienced one then you won't believe. it's natural, so I don't want to argue to a (god I hate to say this...) non-believer that there is something, you really need a first hand experience.

Sorry Dops, just back-reading and I've basically said what you have nevermind!

My own personal experience tells me these aren't ghosts/dead people. These are something else. I only say this because it's my current experience and of my friends and family (barring the incident with the great-grandparents).

 

[QuarterSwede]

That's the thing. If you've never experienced one then you won't believe. it's natural, so I don't want to argue to a (god I hate to say this...) non-believer that there is something, you really need a first hand experience.

Sorry Dops, just back-reading and I've basically said what you have nevermind!

My own personal experience tells me these aren't ghosts/dead people. These are something else. I only say this because it's my current experience and of my friends and family (barring the incident with the great-grandparents).

I completely understand. My post wasn't trying to convince anyone that they do exist, I am just simply stating that they do. No one needs to believe me.

 

[benthewraith]

When I went to England, a few years ago, we stayed at a converted castle that was now a Best Western hotel. Needless to say, that whole time I got the heeby jeebies. From thinking someone was watching me shower, to the just plain eeriness of the hotel. I could swear someone was walking up and down the hall, yet, none did. I've felt other things too.

 

[KingYaba]

Untill I see a ghost, I will stand by my belief that there is no such thing. Except in the movies of course.

 

[bookworm182]

physics

...
I'm a physics major, and as someone who studies science, I really can't take this sort of thing seriously. I mean, the souls of the dead still wandering the Earth? No thanks.
...

I'm in the same position as you are - I need proof to truly believe in something. However, I also have lingering doubts that maybe, just maybe, something out there we can't explain causes these incidents that everyone is reporting.

I think you'd appreciate this possibility presented by my physics teacher back in high school. He said that one of the fundamental laws of physics is that the amount of energy in the universe does not fluxuate. It can change forms, but it can neither be created, nor destroyed. When someone dies, all of the energy required to keep them alive (heart pumping, neurons firing, etc.) leaves the body - but since it isn't destroyed, where does it go? No one knows. This energy may present itself as what people commonly describe as ghosts.

Something to think about.

 

[QuarterSwede]

I'm in the same position as you are - I need proof to truly believe in something. However, I also have lingering doubts that maybe, just maybe, something out there we can't explain causes these incidents that everyone is reporting.

I think you'd appreciate this possibility presented by my physics teacher back in high school. He said that one of the fundamental laws of physics is that the amount of energy in the universe does not fluxuate. It can change forms, but it can neither be created, nor destroyed. When someone dies, all of the energy required to keep them alive (heart pumping, neurons firing, etc.) leaves the body - but since it isn't destroyed, where does it go? No one knows. This energy may present itself as what people commonly describe as ghosts.

Something to think about.

That energy goes back into the soil by way of decomposition.

 

[MIDI_EVIL]

The day my Grandfather died, a crow landed in his garden and ate out of my Father's hand. This is very unusual as they are not tame birds. This had never happened before and we had never seen the crow beforehand.

He kept coming back during the days before my Grandfather's funeral, and on the morning of the funeral, just as the coffin was brought into the garden the Crow landed within feet of my family.

He hasn't been back since we buried my Grandfather.

Rich.

 

[StokeLee]

I believe in many things, that can not be explained by science, ghosts are one of them.

My parents told me a story when i was younger, about my older brother, who im afraid died of cot death.

When my mother was still pregnant with him, they lived in a cottage in north yorkshire, near Leeds. One night my mother woke up startled, and saw an old woman at the end of my parents bed, my mother said that she just sat there, not saying a word, and neither did my mother. My father woke up, and told my mother to go back to sleep, my mother asked about the old woman, and my father, just said, its ok, shes just watching over you.

They never saw this old woman again. I dont know how much their pulling my leg. but you never know.


My only other encounter, if thats what you can call it is was shortly after my mothers mother died. The flat she lived in, not far from where i live now is where it happened.

It could of been because of what i had drunk, but i dont know. the flat is on the way home from the pub i used to my house, I passed by, and in the front room was a really bright light, that should of thrown light all over the street, but it didnt leave the window. It happened one day after her funeral. And the flat had still to be emptied, and the only keys were in my mothers possesion. And i knwo she was home , when i got home..

Its all strange, and it may be not true. But there are things out there that defy explanation.

 

[madog]

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! If I ever woke up and saw some old lady standing at the foot of my bed I'd probably crap myself. Just thinking about it gives me the heebie-jeebies.

However, I'm not quite sure about it all. For the most part I think [most of it] is in the persons head. Like being in a half-asleep, quazi dream state which has happened to me before. Or otherwise a dream that seems so surreal that one believes it to be true only until they wake up. Though in such a case the person doesn't even realize it was a dream.

Sort of like how people believe they have "out of body experiences" or see a "light at the end of the tunnel" kind of thing while having a near death experience. Usually it just accounts for a lack of oxygen to the brain or someone passing out at the moment before and essentially having a dream. I know that I've fallen asleep for mere minutes and have experienced a lifetime in a dream.

The mind...... crazy stuff.

 

[bookworm182]

don't think so...

That energy goes back into the soil by way of decomposition.

I don't think it does. At the instant someone dies, the energy is gone. I don't know how it could hang around in someone's body for several months while they decompose. What kind of energy would it be, at that point? Not kinetic energy, or heat.

But then again, I certainly could be wrong. Maybe Abstract (or someone else who has more knowledge of physics) could help us out with this?

 

[jlewis2k1]

i believe em ... especially back at my parent's place. that place is freaking scary!

 

[.Andy]

I don't think it does. At the instant someone dies, the energy is gone. I don't know how it could hang around in someone's body for several months while they decompose. What kind of energy would it be, at that point? Not kinetic energy, or heat.

But then again, I certainly could be wrong. Maybe Abstract (or someone else who has more knowledge of physics) could help us out with this?

Energy is stored within the body as a number of substances. Glycogen for instance is a principle energy storage component. Sugar you consume gets stored this way for when it's needed by your heart and muscles etc. It's chemical energy that is stored in covalent bonds (not simply potential or kinetic energy in the sense of physics). After you die the your energy sources don't disappear - they merely stay in your tissues and are utilised by bacteria/animals/fungus as a nutrition source as you decompose.

 

[0098386]

It could of been because of what i had drunk, but i dont know. the flat is on the way home from the pub i used to my house, I passed by, and in the front room was a really bright light, that should of thrown light all over the street, but it didnt leave the window. It happened one day after her funeral. And the flat had still to be emptied, and the only keys were in my mothers possesion. And i knwo she was home , when i got home..

Its all strange, and it may be not true. But there are things out there that defy explanation.

That sounds exactly what happened with me with the blue ball (posted on page 2). It was so bright but it shed no actual light, the room was still pitch black.

No doubt in my mind we saw the same thing, or same style of thing, or whatever! Which is reassuring. What I really love about my experience was my girlfriend saw it too so it wasn't just in my mind. A beautiful experience.

However, I'm not quite sure about it all. For the most part I think [most of it] is in the persons head. Like being in a half-asleep, quazi dream state which has happened to me before. Or otherwise a dream that seems so surreal that one believes it to be true only until they wake up. Though in such a case the person doesn't even realize it was a dream.

What if 2 people see it

 

[macEfan]

I do believe something happens after death.

but I don't think there are any ghosts whatsoever.

also halloween = complete fake story

 

[madog]

What if 2 people see it

Then your both crazy! Crazy I say! Mwahahahah!

I dunno. Maybe it was an alien device of some sort and not a ghost? Ohhhhhhhhhhhh!

 

[xsedrinam]

An African was an invited guest to stay with U.S. made friends who met him in Africa. It was his first time ever to fly out of his country and to visit the U.S. They picked him up at the airport and, since everyone was hungry, decided to take him to Chuck E. Cheese for pizza. While sitting at the table, the African felt a tap on his left shoulder. He turned around to see this huge, purple mouse looking at him. He passed out on the floor! The spirit world is very real in his part of the globe.

 

[~L~]

heh this thread is getting some good stories in! I definetly believe in spirits and ghosts, though I've only had very minor experiences with them. There's just no way you can tell someone they don't exist just because you haven't experienced anything..fair enough if you keep your opinion to yourself, I just hate those types you see that try and convince other people they don't exist. IMHO, It's a bit of an insult to those who have had these kind of experiences.

 

[0098386]

heh this thread is getting some good stories in! I definetly believe in spirits and ghosts, though I've only had very minor experiences with them. There's just no way you can tell someone they don't exist just because you haven't experienced anything..fair enough if you keep your opinion to yourself, I just hate those types you see that try and convince other people they don't exist. IMHO, It's a bit of an insult to those who have had these kind of experiences.

The way I see it though - it's nice to be offered alternative understandings. I remember posting about the glowing ball in my room before, and people said "it was ball lightning", I mean it wasn't. no storm, nothing. but it's how people can try and make sense of something that has no scientific foundation. The more alternatives are offered that you know aren't true (as in they don't know the full details or whatever) the more solid it becomes. And you feel reassured that you're not losing it... and everyone else around you