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Actually this topic is more about ghosts, since most of the other stuff is pretty much impossible (despite being practiced), i.e.: demon summoning, witchcraft, voodoo, etc.
But ghosts are another story, every old town seems to have that abondoned house that no one goes into cause the husband killed the wife and promptly buried her in the celler or some crap like that. There are a dozen shows out now that have people going into these haunted sites and staying there. There are also shows where parascientists go to these places with occult detecting instruments and claim that a white dot one a picture could be a ghost, or a presence was felt.
Also if you go into the creation and folklore of ghosts, you can say that they are spirits who have some reason to still be here in other words they have unfinished business, be it vengeful, want to be properly buried, want to say that last goodbye, looking for a lost one, etc (my brain is full of various ghost stories now about why they want to stay here instead of ascend to wherever).
Now I'd like to put my view on ghosts so we can get this topic going and see what everyone believes. I personally believe in them, having once been in the presence (or at least assumed presence) of something not substantial. Now I know that ghosts can't interact with humans, via speaking, moving things, or assualt. Most cases where people got hurt in the presence of a ghost was their own fault, be it that they saw it and fell down the stairs in surprise or something of the like. Poltergeists (vengeful ghosts that tend to throw objects around the room) can't exist, since ghosts are completely insubstantial. There are cases where things are inexplicably moved or light switches turn off and on, its impossible or the person is imagining it. Voices also can't be possible since a ghost doesn't have a voice box or tongue to create noise, so sounds like "GET OUT!" are probably just the wind or some idiot playing a joke on you.
I would like to point out that Witchcraft isn't impossible, though it's hard to say that was DEFINATELY the reason, the co-incidences that have occured after friends of mine have performed li'l acts of the arts... definately sway me to believing that things are more possible than people will grant most of the time...
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Are you talking about Wicca? Cause witchcraft and wicca aren't the same thing.
No, I'm not talking about Wiccan's... I'm talking real witchcraft.
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The infamous Placebo effect in action. If you get consistant paranormal results after repeating the same ritual many times, then it may have an influence over something. Otherwise it was just your brain seeing things it was looking for. Much like the majority of ghost related experiences.
The most primal urge for a land mammal is to hide from predators. This gives rise to a constant fear that something is near (had to say it, couldnt resist) in dark and open spaces. That's the 'presence' felt during sleep paralysis, and the shark after your childhood self in the lake. The anxiety about getting out of bed and getting a glass of water after watching a (halfway decent) horror movie. It's the "flight or fight" reaction to such circumstances that create the idea that something is there, and that you know of ghosts allows your brain to assemble the stimuli into a sensical 'image'. That face in the shadow cast on the wall isn't even material, let alone alive. Don't get me wrong here, I really want ghosts to exist, mainly so I can actually experience being in the presence of one, but also to know that there is something other than life.
To get to the bottom of it, somebody has to raise their kid without giving them the knowledge of what may be lurking around that dark corner. Then they take the kid ghost hunting, and see what happens. It'll work better than asking a bunch of people if they want to try and find a ghost, and only taking the ones who say yes.
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09-11-2003, 07:47 PM
(This post was last modified: 09-11-2003, 07:51 PM by FreeFall.)
I believe that their are ghosts or spirits or what have you, mainly because of one event (but there have been others).
When I was 5, my family and I lived in our grandmother's basement while our current home was being built. My grandfather died before I was born so I had never seen him and we never had any pictures of him either. Anyways, I remember sleeping and in the middle of the night I woke up and looked out my window. I saw faint image, it was more or less just an outline of the main features of the figure (ie. nose eyes body etc.). The outline seemed to be a blueish hazy electric(like a fork of lightning) image, like an old horror movie with monsters that are really guys in costumes.l I know what it sounds like, it's just a childish imagination acting up. But the next day I told my mom and told her what i thought i saw, she said it sounded like her father. It does seem like a pretty corny story but it makes sense, I mean grandfather died and hangs around his wifes house.
Other things i've seen have been happening quite recently, but only when I'm in the car, whether I'm alone or with people. I've been driving and suddenly seen someone in my backseat through my review mirror, I've seen people standing right outside the driverside window when I'm parked, I've seen people walk by my car when i'm inside it. In any case they had all vanished when I looked directly at wherever they appeared, so it could very well have been my imagination.
I do believe that there is something, but I'm also skeptical about the whole idea.
Edit: There was one ohter event that happened in my current house.. when me and my sister were younger we walked into our crawlspace/basement.. we had a small wooden table and a rocking chair. We walked down and looked over to see the rocking chair, uh rocking. It could have been the wind but we have no windows or anything down there, so I'm curious as to how the wind got down there... (the chair was no where near the door). We both ran back upstairs after we saw it.
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Sure that wasn't just a little tooth-fairyism?
Too many things happen to be coincidence... and there are too many tales in the world...remember, the earth was flat once!
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YES! haha, man I remember when I almost fell off once.. whew good thing someone bent into a ball..
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I think wanting to belive in ghosts is perfectly natural, meaning something after death, thus being why religion is so popular. Life is so final, that if you make one mistake, you could wreck it forever, and thats very humbling, makes me want to start being benevolent. Anyway i dont know if i belive in these things yet, but i want them to exist, and an afterlife, described in chritanity (no specific branch of it).
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The way I see it..is ghosts are more of an imprint.. They have no concious thought... The way we live right now we see and hear and experience everything but when we die everything becomes nothing, and ghosts, despite being visible at times, are just drones they don't experience anything. So even for someone like myself to believe in ghosts, it's still hard to believe in life after death.
I remember laughing when someone once told me the following as I was very young at the time:
Quote:Religion is like the ultimate insurance... can't prove you need it, can't prove you don't... but if it's real and you don't have it... you really are screwed!
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