Do you believe in ghosts?

[Thordinson]

No, I don't think it is. Most popular media is for more recent hauntings. Look at even the stories in this thread, it's all about people who would've died more recently than that era.

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There has been a lot of popular media with ghosts from that era as well as popular media about there as well. I've watched quite a bit of ghost hunting shows, they are silly fun, and there's always folks talking about ghosts from that era or the Victorian era.

It has a lot to do with folks being exposed to clothing from those eras from popular media.

To use another poster's joke from earlier, you'll never really hear about ghosts in parachute pants but you will often hear about ghosts in Elizabethan or Victorian dresses.

 

[Like the hat?]

Haha.




Or perhaps that era is portrayed far more in popular media with ghosts than other eras?



Sorry, it's not really about me believing you. I do believe you believe you saw and experienced these things.

I'm just curious on why ghost is the answer here. For the first experience, why could it not be an alien that took the form to fit in, for example? Why must it be the spirit of someone who has died?

As far as the second example, why must this be a ghost and not radio interference?

I'm curious about the thought process.

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For me the first one maybe it was a prank, maybe it was someone in a mask, maybe it was all in my head and it was just shadows and i just happened to see shadows that in my head just happened to look like the guy who used to molest the girl who lived in that room i was sitting in at the time. I know it wasn't like i saw a picture of the guy previously because they did not have any pictures of the guy out on display anywhere (who would have a photo of the person who molested their daughter on display even if it was family by marriage?)

For the second one maybe it was radio interference that just happened to cut in at the exact moment that just happened to be directly connected to what we were saying at the time. I literally have no clue. For all likelihood those did happen and it was all just coincidence. That's all just as likely as anything else i suppose. Maybe i just made an assumption that it was something ghost related because in my head it just seems more likely. Again, i have no, zero, absolutely no desire or expectation for anyone to agree with me. If any other person in the world told this story i wouldn't believe them, either. I just have to go with what makes the most sense to me on a personal level.

 

[Morten88]

Nope

 

[Morrowbie]

No. Sleep paralysis is common for me, night terrors are common for my wife*. If you only experienced either of those once in your life it would probably feel like a supernatural encounter. The sensations and visions can seem very real.

*She once woke in the night, saw a demon in the bedside mirror, screamed and smashed the glass with her fist. Quite a way to be woken up, I can tell you.

 

[I Don't Like]

When I lived in California as a kid we had this cleaning lady who was convinced the ghost of my late grandma - who died in the house - was constantly with us and doing things like moving items or whatever to give us signs. I would always just smile and nod when she talked about it but secretly I thought she was fucking nuts.

In summation: no, I don't believe in ghosts.

 

[Bizazedo]

There has been a lot of popular media with ghosts from that era as well as popular media about there as well. I've watched quite a bit of ghost hunting shows, they are silly fun, and there's always folks talking about ghosts from that era or the Victorian era.

It has a lot to do with folks being exposed to clothing from those eras from popular media.

To use another poster's joke from earlier, you'll never really hear about ghosts in parachute pants but you will often hear about ghosts in Elizabethan or Victorian dresses.

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Parachute pants would be hilarious.

To get back to the original point, though, even Elizabethan and Victorian era was around when we were starting to modernize. I don't believe in ghosts despite having something super fucking odd happen to me when I was younger (although I want to :) ), but if one does believe energy is required for everything in life, that being the explanations for ghosts not being around from the stone age would resolve it.

 

[Thordinson]

Parachute pants would be hilarious.

To get back to the original point, though, even Elizabethan and Victorian era was around when we were starting to modernize. I don't believe in ghosts despite having something super fucking odd happen to me when I was younger (although I want to :) ), but if one does believe energy is required for everything in life, that being the explanations for ghosts not being around from the stone age would resolve it.

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It would haha.

Except it wouldn't resolve the fact that folks seem to be seeing ghosts from specific eras wearing clothes from certain eras that they know. There's a long time between those two eras yet folks don't seem to see ghosts from the eras between for some reason.

For me the first one maybe it was a prank, maybe it was someone in a mask, maybe it was all in my head and it was just shadows and i just happened to see shadows that in my head just happened to look like the guy who used to molest the girl who lived in that room i was sitting in at the time. I know it wasn't like i saw a picture of the guy previously because they did not have any pictures of the guy out on display anywhere (who would have a photo of the person who molested their daughter on display even if it was family by marriage?)

For the second one maybe it was radio interference that just happened to cut in at the exact moment that just happened to be directly connected to what we were saying at the time. I literally have no clue. For all likelihood those did happen and it was all just coincidence. That's all just as likely as anything else i suppose. Maybe i just made an assumption that it was something ghost related because in my head it just seems more likely. Again, i have no, zero, absolutely no desire or expectation for anyone to agree with me. If any other person in the world told this story i wouldn't believe them, either. I just have to go with what makes the most sense to me on a personal level.

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Gotcha. Thank you for sharing your reasoning with me.

 

[Bizazedo]

It would haha.

Except it wouldn't resolve the fact that folks seem to be seeing ghosts from specific eras wearing clothes from certain eras that they know. There's a long time between those two eras yet folks don't seem to see ghosts from the eras between for some reason.

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I don't think there's been any studies that show what you're saying, though, unless you can cite something.

 

[Thordinson]

I don't think there's been any studies that show what you're saying, though, unless you can cite something.

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There's no studies talking about ghost energy so I'm not sure why would need a study talking about ghost sightings.

 

[skeezx]

No. Sleep paralysis is common for me, night terrors are common for my wife*. If you only experienced either of those once in your life it would probably feel like a supernatural encounter. The sensations and visions can seem very real.

*She once woke in the night, saw a demon in the bedside mirror, screamed and smashed the glass with her fist. Quite a way to be woken up, I can tell you.

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I don't believe it's actually ghosts or anything but I constantly experience weird stuff relating to dead relatives and friends when I'm dreaming/in sleep paralysis. on an almost nightly basis i'll get surreal dreams about my dog that's been dead for 15 years, and even after I'm awake it takes awhile to realize he's not there

i understand it's all in my head but i can see how some can easily take that the other way

 

[teruterubozu]

On Friday during our staff meeting at work the conversation shifted to ghosts for some reason. A coworker with a straight face talked about how she can "feel" spirits while her friend can see them and they work together in tandem to confirm ghosts. I was gonna make a joke but realized she was dead serious. I no longer can take this coworker seriously now.

 

[Bizazedo]

There's no studies talking about ghost energy so I'm not sure why would need a study talking about ghost sightings.

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Because we're coming at it from different angles. People asked why ghosts from the super past aren't crawling around, why we don't see cavemen. The energy is a theory as to why / an attempt to explain it. In other words, it's a "Could be this is why, it would explain it, but dunno."

Your statement about Victorian / Elizabethan ghosts, you're not portraying as a theory. You're portraying it as fact, even when I disagreed with it, and I pointed out you really can't prove you're right about it.

 

[Thordinson]

Because we're coming at it from different angles. People asked why ghosts from the super past around crawling around, why we don't see cavemen. The energy is a theory as to why / an attempt to explain it. In other words, it's a "Could be this is why, it would explain it, but dunno."

Your statement about Victorian / Elizabethan ghosts, you're not portraying as a theory. You're portraying it as fact, even when I disagreed with it, and I pointed out you really can't prove you're right about it.

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I said this came from popular media and that I watched a lot of ghost hunting shows to come to this conclusion.
You're free to watch ghost hunting shows as well.

My "theory", as you define it, is that folks only see "ghosts" from eras they are familiar with. And that seems to be the case without studies showing as such from listening to lots of folks talk about their experiences.

 

[CJohn]

No, I don't believe in ghosts or souls, there is nothing after death, but I wish I did because it would help me deal with my own mortality.

 

[Bizazedo]

I said this came from popular media and that I watched a lot of ghost hunting shows to come to this conclusion.
You're free to watch ghost hunting shows as well.

My "theory", as you define it, is that folks only see "ghosts" from eras they are familiar with. And that seems to be the case without studies showing as such from listening to lots of folks talk about their experiences.

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And I was saying I don't think that's true, it's more the locations they're in that they might "expect" to see such and such or they've been pre-set to believe that based on the location. It's like when you go to a Civil War battlefield, you'd expect / ghost stories about Civil War Soldiers. Same with a Revolutionary War battlefield.

Or Alcatraz or Eastern State Penitentiary in Pennsylvania.

None of those places have stories of Elizabethan or Victorian age ghosts. Why? They're not locations for them. Like those shows you're referencing, did they go to Elizabethan / Victorian era sites? I'd bet they did.

 

[Elry09]

No. Because if ghosts were real, with how many people have died since the world began, we would be tripping over ghosts left and right

 

[The Albatross]

No, except when hurrying up from a dark basement

 

[Thordinson]

And I was saying I don't think that's true, it's more the locations they're in that they might "expect" to see such and such or they've been pre-set to believe that based on the location. It's like when you go to a Civil War battlefield, you'd expect / ghost stories about Civil War Soldiers. Same with a Revolutionary War battlefield.

Or Alcatraz or Eastern State Penitentiary in Pennsylvania.

None of those places have stories of Elizabethan or Victorian age ghosts. Why? They're not locations for them. Like those shows you're referencing, did they go to Elizabethan / Victorian era sites? I'd bet they did.

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Sure but the Revolutionary war ghosts seem to always be seen as the popular image of a Revolutionary War soldier despite, depending on the timeframe of the battle, the uniforms were far from, well, uniform including many folks fighting in civilian or militia uniforms. But most folks don't know this so they always seem to see the soldier as a generic "red coat" if they are British or the soldier wearing the uniform that George Washington did if they were American.

The Civil War happened in the Victorian era. Alcatraz did too and it was a military fort then prison first.

Many of them don't go to specific Victorian Era sites as many of the sites are older.

 

[Bizazedo]

Sure but the Revolutionary war ghosts seem to always be seen as the popular image of a Revolutionary War soldier despite, depending on the timeframe of the battle, the uniforms were far from, well, uniform including many folks fighting in civilian or militia uniforms.

The Civil War happened in the Victorian era.

Many of them don't go to specific Victorian Era sites as many of the sites are older.

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I was citing the Civil War battlefields because a battlefield / the soldiers there in the stories are going to reflect people looking different compared to going to an old plantation or mansion haunted site, etc. That's also why I cited those two prisons because, yeah, they have a lot of stories associated with them as well.

And you agreeing with me about the Revolutionary War stories....that's the point, the stories and the ghosts appearance are generally linked to the location, not someone's familiarity with the era (which before we get sidetracked, is all I was disagreeing with you on what you said). Even more modern-day stories of a fishing town / village or ghost stories on ships, etc....they have stories linked to them about what's expected of the location.

 

[thillygooth]

I don't believe in any supernatural beings/occurrences, though I'm open to the possibility of them existing/happening.

 

[Thordinson]

I was citing the Civil War battlefields because a battlefield / the soldiers there in the stories are going to reflect people looking different compared to going to an old plantation or mansion haunted site, etc. That's also why I cited those two prisons because, yeah, they have a lot of stories associated with them as well.

And you agreeing with me about the Revolutionary War stories....that's the point, the stories and the ghosts appearance are generally linked to the location, not someone's familiarity with the era (which before we get sidetracked, is all I was disagreeing with you on what you said). Even more modern-day stories of a fishing town / village or ghost stories on ships, etc....they have stories linked to them about what's expected of the location.

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They do and they are only from eras that folks are familiar with. With Alcatraz, from the few things I've seen, there's a lack of stories about Native American ghosts and from when it was a Fort compared to the 1930s-1940s.

Linked to the location by eras folks are familiar with. For example, if no one was familiar with the Revolutionary War, I don't believe that they would see ghosts in a generic popular version of Revolutionary War attire.

 

[Bizazedo]

They do and they are only from eras that folks are familiar with. With Alcatraz, from the few things I've seen, there's a lack of stories about Native American ghosts and from when it was a Fort compared to the 1930s-1940s.

Linked to the location by eras folks are familiar with. For example, if no one was familiar with the Revolutionary War, I don't believe that they would see ghosts in a generic popular version of Revolutionary War attire.

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I believe they would, *if* they saw them. You're changing what you said slightly to including location, but that's still the main point of it. Alcatraz was primarily a prison and most of the crazy stuff that happened there was when it was a prison....so people go there and if they see something, it's related to the prison.

And, for Alcatraz specifically, even when it was a "fort", it was also a military prison.

 

[16bits]

Ghosts are fun and one of those supernatural things that would be basically impossible to prove don't exist because of how vague a concept they are in the first place.

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You don't prove things "don't exist".

its down to the proposer of ghosts to show data that they do

 

[Thordinson]

I believe they would, *if* they saw them. You're changing what you said slightly to including location, but that's still the main point of it. Alcatraz was primarily a prison and most of the crazy stuff that happened there was when it was a prison....so people go there and if they see something, it's related to the prison.

And, for Alcatraz specifically, even when it was a "fort", it was also a military prison.

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If they did see a generic Revolutionary War uniform, this could still be ahistorical and not what the soldiers actually wore depending on time and place. That's still a problem. I don't agree that they would see it anyway.

I'm not changing it to location. You are arguing that location primes folks to see a certain things from certain eras, I agree. I believe, in those locations, they will only see ghosts from eras they are familiar with.

It was a fort first but this is neither here nor there other than folks aren't talking about ghosts from when it was "discovered" by European settlers or when Native Americans used the island. If ghosts are simply the souls of dead folks then there is no reason there shouldn't be ghosts from those eras other than folks being primed based on locations for eras they are familiar with.

 

[Doggg]

No, I don't see any reason to do so. Never had any weird, inexplicable experiences, either.

 

[sakkeke]

No. I have experienced a couple of phenomenon that I could describe as "unexplainable", but I don't have a need to jump to a conclusion that they were ghosts. My worldview is strongly based on science, and we should already have a ton of evidence if ghosts were real. But we have none, zero. So my rational, logical speculation is: there are no such paranormal entities.

 

[Bizazedo]

It was a fort first but this is neither here nor there other than folks aren't talking about ghosts from when it was "discovered" by European settlers or when Native Americans used the island. If ghosts are simply the souls of dead folks then there is no reason there shouldn't be ghosts from those eras other than folks being primed based on locations for eras they are familiar with.

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Amusingly, Alcatraz had prisoners the moment it opened, even as a fort. That's neither here nor there, though.

Going to back to the ghosts bit, there's actually arguments about whether ghosts are the souls of dead folks or just some weird replay / afterimage of stuff that's happened before. It's actually a pretty popular theory. It also ties into your question about why the ghosts match the location and expectation...if it's not a soul, but just some replaying echo, then that makes sense. That's also another reason why I suggested energy / what fuels it, since that'd also explain why we don't get cavemen echoes.

 

[Rhomega]

I want to believe.

 

[Charismagik]

I think it's funny that ghosts apparently only(or mostly) come out at night and in creepy locations. Like, they're shy or something and you don't see them hanging out in public