Are ghosts real?

[Renew Deal]

Based on these definitions...

1. the soul of a dead person, a disembodied spirit imagined, usually as a vague, shadowy or evanescent form, as wandering among or haunting living persons.

4. (sometimes initial capital letter) a spiritual being.

5. the principle of life; soul; spirit.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/ghost

61 votes, 0 passes | Time left: Unlimited
	Yes
	12 (20%)
	No
	41 (67%)
	Don't know
	5 (8%)
	Not Sure
	2 (3%)
	Other
	1 (2%)
	0 DU members did not wish to select any of the options provided.
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[H2O Man]

1. Recommended.

Yes, definitely.

[bigwillq]

2. Don't know.

I say No only because I don't believe in any kind of afterlife, but I really don't know if they are real or not. They may be. They may not.

[Shandris]

3. Absolutely.

It's more of a residual harmonic resonance imo, but that doesn't make it any less real.

[whatthehey]

25. Can you explain what a residual harmonic resonance is?

[Shandris]

41. A form of vibration, like everything. n/t

[whatthehey]

45. OK - so what is vibrating and what is causing it to vibrate?

I can't see a musical note, but I can see a piano string and a hammer and understand the mechanism that causes the vibrations my ers perceive as sound.

I can't see electrons or even atoms and certainly not the coulomb force but I can understand (at admittedly a very shallow level) the physics that keeps electrons vibrating in their cloud (not orbiting - even I know the planetary model is long debunked, although that's about where my math ends) around nuclei.

But I'm buggered if I can work out whjat is vibrating and how to show an image of a dead person in the visible spectrum.

[Shandris]

48. It's a good question. Presumably one day there will be a good, quality, scientific-style answer.

Until then, it will have to simply remain 'unknown' and in the realm of thought experiments. I really don't think science will make much of a breakthrough in it for a while (it's too busy still trying to be a religion), but we might get lucky.

[Yorktown]

62. Science is "busy trying to be a religion"?

Any evidence of that?

Start from the definition of 'religion'.

[Shandris]

73. That you weren't aware of this (and find it surprising) is enough of an indicator that this...

...would be a fruitless conversation with my physical limitations (read: I can't type as extensively as would be necessary, thanks to bilateral carpal years ago that leaves me with little wrist endurance). However, a simple google query can point you in the right direction, as there are countless other authors who have tackled this task with a much more thorough reading.

Have a nice evening.

[Yorktown]

80. Hope your wrist heals

I won't elaborate as you can't answer, but I'll just state that the authors you mentioned who claim Science tries to become a religion are .. weird (to be polite).

[Shandris]

82. Oh I can answer in short, even in moderate. Just not at length, sadly. =(

It's terrible. Once upon a time I used to type screens upon screens of text for various reasons, but now a single reply box just about puts me to the edge of a painful numbness (which, while contradictory, is literally the best way I can think of to describe it). But enough about that (and thank you for the kind words).

OH good lords yes, some of them are weird. I wouldn't feel complete though if I didn't read 'weird' along with 'normal' news, sometimes for humor (conspiracy theories, for the most part, which I do NOT believe in almost as a matter of principal (almost)), and sometimes for more general thought experimentation.

As for whether science is a religion or not, I leave it to the fundamental test. What would the reaction be if I told a Christian that Jesus was gay, a Muslim that Allah was a Jew, or a lay climatologist that I don't believe in Anthropogenic Climate Change? You'll find the responses (violent fundamentalists notwithstanding) would be nearly identical, and all for the same crime: heresy.

((Note: that last part (ACC) is just for example, not to indicate something I actually believe.))

[Yorktown]

89. I can easily show you where the two things are different

(A) In the case of disrespect toward the made-up deities and prophets, it's a matter of opinion about conjectures. Nobody can be proven wrong or right. Was Jesus gay? Who knows and did Jesus exist?

(B) In the case of something scientific, a claim can be proven or not. Apparently, the vast majority of the world's academies of science are behind that of AGW/ACC.
As a non-specialist, I defer to the people of expertise = the IPCC and the world's academies of science, which provide me with a basis for defending the AGW/ACC (taken as an example).

The only similarity between your two examples being an emotional response of agitation/anger. Yes, the emotional response is the same, but the validity of cases A and B is vastly different.

[Shandris]

92. I think I see.

Religion is all 'stuff people made up' and science is 'stuff we prove'. I doubt very much there is anything to discuss between us on this topic, York, to be quite honest.

I do look forward to discussing with you on other topics, however.

[Yorktown]

99. I look forward to it.

You sound fairly decent,

despite your abominable anti-scientific outlook.

[whatthehey]

108. Well when that day comes I'll take the idea seriously. Now? Not so much.

[Bonx]

52. It really depends on the chakra

[Facility Inspector]

111. groovy

[Logical]

74. Lol! Ok nt

[Shandris]

78. Glad you were amused. n/t

[snooper2]

113. ROFLMAO

Just like you get from sitting between the two engines that are slightly out of phase on a MD80 right?

[Shandris]

119. Being laughed at by the cocksure is a good sign I'm on the right path in life.

Getting a ROFLMAO from a cocksure someone with a YouTube clip to explain their humor, on the other hand...that's a rare, priceless gift.

Oh wait, no it isn't. That's the purview of every 10 year old on 4chan.

[tkmorris]

120. I really wouldn't think that's a good sign, not by itself

If you claimed you were a time traveler from the future, who came back to warn and prepare us for the imminent Ladybug Uprising, you would be laughed at. You would be laughed at because it's nonsense. ANYONE who goes around gleefully spouting nonsense gets laughed at. I don't find laughter in such circumstances to be appropriate for me personally, but others feel differently.

It isn't a sign that the nonsense spouter is "right", or is even "on the right path". It's merely a sign that they are far off the well beaten path. Now mind you, I would agree that there are many accepted truisms that could do with more scrutiny, but simply being intellectually rebellious does not a genius make.

[Shandris]

121. I'd agree with the 'not by itself', but to be perfectly honest...

...I didn't feel like typing out all the nuance to it that I normally would, it's still early (relatively speaking) lol.

On the other hand, what if I WERE a time traveller from the future here to warn about the ladybug uprising, HRM?! And here you are, mocking me as if my warnings were silly. Harumph.

((As a side note, that is a PERFECT storyline for a roleplaying game. I think I'mma write that up immediately[/]! ))

[snooper2]

122. when you try to explain ghosts as a "residual harmonic resonance" people are going to laugh

just FYI LOL

You might as well just say they are the byproduct of refraction loss in fiber optics

[Omaha Steve]

4. I've seen a few

So yes.

K&R!

OS

[Logical]

75. Nope! Nt

[spanone]

5. i've seen Ghost Hunters....NO

[raccoon]

6. I read somewhere once, why do ghosts have clothes on? If their spirit is lingering around, that

doesn't necessarily mean their clothes linger too.

It's amazing the tricks your mind can play on you sometimes. One day some years ago, I kept experiencing deja vu
over and over. I found it later it was because I was coming off some meds I'd been taking.

And then there's the times I've been away from my cat, on vacation....

...and think I feel her jump up onto the bed.

[arcane1]

29. The same reason every hospital isn't haunted by thousands of ghosts :)

[Oneironaut]

37. High EMF fields can induce hallucinations.

Also, it's not a coincidence most ghost sightings are when someone is waking up or is in bed. I've seen "ghosts" before that were just a waking nightmare.

Old houses are thought to be especially haunted, but they are more prone to loud noises from pipes and settling. Also, and more importantly, they play with our perception because they already look "haunted."

The mind is not 100% accurate ever.

[longship]

90. Re: waking up or in bed. Hypnagogic hallucination.

I've had one. They usually happen when sleep deprived, or in early morning. In my case I was extremely sleep deprived and fell asleep on my couch.

When I woke up, I could not move. There was a ominous presence in the room with me and I could not breath. Fortunately, I knew about hypnagogia so I knew what was happening. It was weird being suspended halfway between sleep and awake, between dream and awareness. However, it is a well known and common neurological condition. It is also a bit scary.

Here:
Hypnagogia

In the old days, hypnagogia was interpreted as a succubus, or a night hag. More recently as space aliens, or ghosts. The effect takes on whatever attributes of current culture. However, it is a natural and well understood effect of the brain called hypnagogia. No ghosts, aliens, night hags, or succubi necessary to explain it.

[Oneironaut]

100. Yup - that's also called sleep paralysis, or "old hag."

Some people have bad hallucinations, like a demon attacking them. Most people feel like something is sitting on their chest. I've had it before but the only hallucination was the sound of a lot of people talking (like a party).

[el_bryanto]

7. Probably not but possibly, I believe so, I believe so. nt

[NightWatcher]

8. They are definitely NOT REAL. That being said, I've seen one

How's that for cognitive dissonance?

I'm an atheist and I believe that when you die, you're no more. It's just like when under anesthesia. There's no dreaming or awareness of time.

I have however seen my grandmother in the hallway of my father's home, days after she had passed on in the same house. My grandfather saw her too and we corroborated each other's stories. She said it was all ok and to not worry or grieve for her anymore.

[Reter]

17. So how are they not real?

[whatthehey]

27. Same way things in dreams aren't

Perception really isn't reality. It isn't even all that close to reality.

Afer all I think I'm touching a keyboard right now in actual physical contact between flesh and plastic. I'm not. The desk that non-touching keyboard is on looks and feels solid but is 99.999999999999999% empty nothingness.

[wheniwasincongress]

85. So what do you believe happened?

hallucination?

[TreasonousBastard]

9. Only when seriously stoned.

[padfun]

10. We are all ISB's

Immortal Spiritual Beings. Whether a spirit being can alter this reality is still questionable.

We are "Ghosts in a machine."

[longship]

11. No, as they are clearly a cultural creation.

Consider what the ghost believer are promoting these days. Rods. Orbs. Etc. BTW, these are precisely aligned with reproducible side effects in today's technology. Before, in the days of film, it was double exposures, a transparent person.

There is no other evidence other than such claims which are quite easy to explain, plus a dash of William of Ockham.

Nope. No evidence of ghosts. None whatsoever.

[CharlotteVale]

12. Yes. I've known too many highly credible people, friends and family,

who've seen and even interacted with them. I never have, but I have had several unexplainable things happen in my house.

Oh, and I am an atheist, since some people seem to think that atheists can't believe in ghosts.

[MowCowWhoHow III]

13. Like Fox Mulder "I want to believe"

But I've never had any personal experience, or seen any convincing evidence that moves me in the direction of believing in ghosts etc.

Also I'm not aware of any hypotheses that aren't hand-wavy/supernatural of how ghosts etc could exist.

[Skittles]

14. no

yet I love ghost stories

[longship]

22. Shirley Jackson, The Haunting of Hill House.

A chilling tale, made into a movie in 1963 by Robert Wise, The Haunting. (Forget the absolutely horrible 1999 remake.)

It is a psycho drama in the purest sense. Both the book and Wise's film bring this out splendidly.

The book begins, the first paragraph:

No living organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream. Hill House, not sane, stood by itself against its hills, holding darkness within; it had stood so for eighty years and might stand for eighty more. Within, walls continued upright, bricks met neatly, floors were firm, and doors were sensibly shut; silence lay steadily against the wood and stone of Hill House, and whatever walked there, walked alone.

And thus does Ms. Jackson chillingly set the tone of the story.

I am not much into ghost stories, but this one I adore. It is a dandy, as is Wise's 1963 film.

[Skittles]

33. I have the book and the movie!

no gore but spooky as hell. LOVE IT!!!

[longship]

34. I reject the concept that gore == spooky.

Which is why I despise the Haunting 1999 remake so much (plus it destroys Jackson's story).

How Hollywood got gore == spooky into their lame, idiotic, one-dimensional brains, I have no idea. (Other than the fact that their brains are so obviously lame, idiotic, and one-dimensional.)

[Skittles]

59. agreed

that remake was horrible, filled with CGI whereas the original made a STAIRCASE look spooky as hell with just a moving camera

[raccoon]

98. Because it's easier to make a movie gory than to build suspense.

ITA with you on this.

[zappaman]

15. I've seen them twice.

They put on a really good show.

[Gregorian]

16. Well, conservation of energy doesn't explain who ate all my biscottis

[Iggo]

18. Of course not.

[mahina]

19. Other: sometimes.

Some experiences of them are not real. Some are.
Some are scammers.

Mine was real. That being did not want me in the house and shook my bed violently. Scared the socks off me. It happened half a dozen times.

[840high]

58. I saw my father - long dead - at

the foot of my bed.

[mahina]

86. I read you.

We have night marchers here- very real.

Peace to your father.

[840high]

95. Thank you.

[brooklynite]

20. Since there is no soul, or spirit, no they aren't

[wildbilln864]

63. precisely! n/t

[Johonny]

21. Are logical constructs real even if not based on a physical reality?

because they do tend to influence your life heavily

[edhopper]

38. Yes

so the idea of the Ghost is real. But as an actual manifestation of a dead person, no.

Because a construct like Democracy has nothing to do with a physical reality.

[Blue_In_AK]

23. I've experienced some strange and unexplainable phenomena

around the time of death of a few loved ones. I'm not sure if they were caused by ghosts or something else, but they did leave me searching for an explanation.

[Logical]

76. So has everyone. But most people realize it's coincidence. Nt

[Blue_In_AK]

83. The one thing that happened to me

could not have been coincidence. Which is why I said it was unexplainable.

[wheniwasincongress]

88. If you're able and willing, could you share?

When it happens to you, it's hard to see a logical explanation, but fresh outside eyes can spot a lot more!

[Blue_In_AK]

93. Sure.

This happened in 1974. My ex and I were living in a little trailer on the property of an older couple in the Low Sierras, helping them caretake their property. Unfortunately, Otto, the old gentleman, developed brain cancer and passed away. It was very sad, as he was funny and jolly and we liked him a lot. When the ambulance came to take him away the night he died, we knew we wouldn't see him again. He had that glowy, transparent look that people get on their deathbeds.

So the next day I was washing dishes and Chris was looking for a pen or pencil, and I knew there was one on top of the refrigerator, which was on the wall opposite the sink. As I was reaching up for it, it rolled off and fell between the refrigerator and the wall next to it. I could see it and tried to fish it out, but couldn't reach it, so I found another pencil, and went back to washing the dishes. Imagine my surprise when I began washing the silverware and found the same pen which had fallen off the refrigerator on the opposite wall among the spoons and forks at the bottom of the sink. I have no idea how it got there, and we said at the time it must have been Otto playing tricks on us. It's something he would have done just to mess with our minds because he was a joker like that.

Can you explain?

[wheniwasincongress]

94. could it have Chris?

Either playing a trick on you by placing it there, or Chris tossing/placing it in the sink for you (not intentionally trying to trick you) ? After the pen showed up in the sink, did you check the area between the fridge and wall where you first saw it, to confirm the pen was then missing in that space?

(I used to believe in ghosts, and when I was a kid, I would play tricks on siblings and friends just to stir up excitement over supernatural things. I would try to convince them there was an evil presence in the room, or that there were eyes looking at us from the grandfather clock, tell them I saw a ghostly hand touch their shoulder. Sure enough they felt the evil presence, saw the eyes, and felt the ghost hand. I liked doing it because their belief in ghosts - getting them to state they saw or felt or believed something - reinforced my beliefs. Perhaps this was the case with Chris?)

[Blue_In_AK]

96. No, he hadn't gotten up from the couch

where he was sitting in the other room. I don't recall if I checked where the pen had fallen (40 years ago, after all), but it was enough of a strange situation that it has stuck with me all these years later. I was like "what the fuck," you know?

[Logical]

103. We can disagree on this. There is no proof of anything like ghosts. Nt

[Blue_In_AK]

118. I never said it was a ghost,

only that it was weird and unexplainable and coincident with Otto's death.

[wheniwasincongress]

87. I think most people

don't consider these coincidences to be just that. Don't most adults believe in angels, and like half of all adults believe in ghosts? I wish most people knew they were coincidences... But we aren't taught critical thinking, and it's comfortable to believe certain ideas...

[Logical]

104. So true! Nt

[whatthehey]

24. Well a universal metaphysical negative is a bit bold but...

....probably not. REALLY probably not. Blue scaly immortal lizards living on Venus level of probably not.

But we obviously can't outright dismiss anything that is not either internally self-contradictory or rendered impossible by universal laws of physics.

Is it possible that there is some kind of immeasurable, undetectable force that can project an ephemeral image of a once-living creature after death? I guess so. It is highly implausiuble that that image can interact with the living (with what matter or energy?) and even more so that it can have any consciousness or volition (no other mechanism for thought other than nerve cells and sodium/potassium permeability has ever been demonstrated, seriously hypothesized or even shown to be necessary or useful). But then maybe some immortal blue scaly lizards really thrive in a 450 degree high CO2 atmosphere with 90 odd times earth gravity.

[Nye Bevan]

26. No.

It's just the owner of the abandoned amusement park wearing a sheet. And he would have gotten away with it too if it hadn't been for those meddling kids. And their dumb dog.

[longship]

35. In the original Scooby Doo. Later versions did not honor that, I think.

But Scooby Doo was great.

[edhopper]

39. You know

there is nothing illegal about dressing up as a ghost on property you own.

[Mariana]

53. Yeah, but they're always doing it

to scare people away from discovering their criminal activity. So, wherever there's a ghost, you know there's some kind of crime going on nearby.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

28. Yes. But, only in the sense that energy can't die or be destroyed.

[longship]

36. One problem.

Life is a process, not an energy. Physics 101.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

40. Doesn't the process require energy?

[longship]

42. Well, energy comes from well known processes as well.

One does not get to just make up ones own processes.

And all of today's neuroscience says that consciousness is also a process, a product of the brain. When one twiddles with ones brain, all sorts of weird things can happen. For instance, neurologists can give people out-of-body experiences at will with simple trans-cranial magnetic stimulation that temporarily suppresses certain brain functions.

Similarly, all the research says that consciousness is what the brain does, not some separate thing. It is a function of the brain. When the brain dies, consciousness ends.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

43. Doesn't the brain function on energy and process it into another form?

I'm not a scientist and am relying on my interpretations of very basic science.

I'm extremely skeptical of "ghosts" in the common sense of the term. I'm interested in what happens after thoughts, dreams, etc appear and what happens to whatever they are after the brain itself ceases to work.

[longship]

46. All energy in ones body comes from the same source.

You eat food. It breaks down within your abdomen. The blood takes up what it needs, the rest goes out... Ahem! You know where.

The energy factory of all eukaryotes (pretty much all of life that folks know of) is in the mitochondria which are organelles in every cell in your body. See also : Adenosine triphosphate (commonly abbreviated ATP).

Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is a nucleoside triphosphate used in cells as a coenzyme often called the "molecular unit of currency" of intracellular energy transfer.

(emphasis mine)

So, there you go. No mysterious energy needed.

[Oneironaut]

65. Technically that's not true b/c energy is used.

For example, when you think, you use energy. It's expended. You don't really have a set energy that makes up "you." You just use energy.

Thoughts and dreams are just your neurons working together. They're something your brain does, kind of like a computer chip processing information. Once a computer chip dies, it doesn't process anymore. Some people argue that thoughts are outside the brain as well (which I disagree).

[wildbilln864]

64. so a battery should never run dead...

if that was true. Batteries die. People do too. Life is a manifestation of chemical reactions too like a battery's charge.

[Spider Jerusalem]

101. The energy of the body is spent in the decomposition process and transferred to the soil

(or it feeds the fire of cremation, or whatever)

[LanternWaste]

30. I don't pretend to know...

I don't pretend to know... others are so much better at that particular pretense than I am.

[Logical]

106. Lol, how about elfs or unicorns? Any pretense there? Nt

[2naSalit]

31. Seen 'em

interacted with some... don't have to believe, cuz they do exist, not everyone will have them available on demand but they are there.

[RKP5637]

32. I say no, but then again that is a function of what reality really is and the interactive

nature of the universe as we know it. Most of the evidence I've seen/heard for the existence is absurd.

[GusBob]

44. Not real they don't exist in reality. People see things virtually though

I believe as a mental wrinkle or the power of suggestion ( think hypnosis) .

[justiceischeap]

47. I think so, yes

I think "spirits" and our soul are nothing but energy and energy never dies it just becomes something else. So our energy just becomes part of the universe when no longer tied to our bodies.

[Xolodno]

49. We percieve reality by our senses.

There may be other dimensional realities we can't understand with only our five senses and our brains could very well be just ignoring it and every once in awhile, it allows it in for a second.

Best way to explain it, imagine if all of humanity was blind. We would never know grass was green. We would develop our concept of everything from our other senses which may become enhanced over time and get very granular and advanced. But color would very much be an abstract and perhaps scoffed idea. Every once awhile someone might "see" some color via a slow moving evolutionary process, but a few data points isn't conclusive evidence and it may be a long time before we have enough data points to support any evidence.

I think its very arrogant of us to think we have all the senses there are possible and can perceive with them.

[bvar22]

50. I voted NO,

....but I DO strongly believe in Carl Jung's Collective Unconscious, in which we all share.
That opens the door to many things.

[Maeve]

51. Story that won't convince anyone, but...

Hubby was working in a house alone, saw a little girl peaking at him. Talked to her, but she faded back into the doorway (shy, he supposed). Asked woman of the house about her--your granddaughter? Woman asks Who told you about that little girl? Um...I saw her. She's a ghost, I've seen her for years, too.

Enough people have reported sightings (especially of loved ones that they didn't know at the time had passed) that I refuse to dismiss the idea. Nevermind that I've seen a few, myself...

[Mariana]

54. We had a "ghost"

that would knock on the front bow window in the living room or the front door late at night. It started up after we replaced an ugly picture window with the bow window. Sounded just like knuckles rapping on either the glass or the door. Usually it was when I was up late alone reading, but occasionally it happened when my husband and/or my daughters were there. He went outside with a flashlight to investigate a couple of times, and convinced himself that our policeman friend was having us on when he was bored working the night shift. I pointed out that there was snow on the ground all around the window, no footprints, and that our friend could not fly. Neither could he knock on the front door without first opening the storm door, which made a pretty loud racket that we would have heard from inside. We never did figure it out, we couldn't find any pattern to it except it only happened at night (it didn't only happen when our friend was working nights, either). There wasn't any particular temperature range or weather conditions or barometric pressure or anything like that. It was still going on when we sold the place.

[wendylaroux]

55. I hope so.

I want one.

[Docreed2003]

56. Maybe it's foolishness...

But I've experienced some crazy things in my career that science can't explain. Do we have souls? I don't know...but I do know that there are things about how and why the brain does the things that it does that cannot be explained by neurotransmitters alone. We all have an energy, or soul if you will, that defines us as humans, an energy that gives us personality. Who's to say that some of that energy isn't left behind when our physical body passes on?

[mrs_p]

57. I'm a scientist through and through

Even have a doctorate in a hard science. Yet, I cannot explain, no matter how hard I try, some of the things that have happened to me. So, I remain undecided. Maybe some day there will be an explanation, but I know on at least two instances it wasn't a trick of the mind.

[RKP5637]

61. We view the universe through our "frame of reference" and perceived reality. IMO in the big

scheme of things total knowledge is still, of course, lacking. Although I don't readily accept ghost and spirits walking about, I do certainly accept we are, of course, lacking total knowledge and that might be eons away. I'm quite well grounded in scientific knowledge, but I do admit I've had a couple of instances in my life wherein I do wonder ...

[Logical]

107. No evidence of ghosts, even with cameras everywhere. And you have to know.....

Personal experiences and unexplained situations are not proof.

I have yet to see any scientific proof of ghosts or ufos or ESP, etc.

[mrs_p]

123. I never said my experience

Is proof. I never once said proof. I don't even use that term when my experiments work. I said I can't explain what has happened to me.

[wildbilln864]

60. absolutely...

NOT!

[a la izquierda]

66. Seen one in my life

My husband's dad. Had no reason to envision him, as he did not like me and the feeling was mutual.

[Yorktown]

67. Ghosts, gods, ghouls, gremlins, goblins, grindilows: I want to believe

[GeorgeGist]

68. No. Just No.

[icymist]

69. Don't care. nt

[NuclearDem]

70. No. That requires a soul separate from the physical form, which has not been demonstrated to exist.

[PowerToThePeople]

71. Ghosts of election cycle past

are out trumping for Hillary on these boards.

[IDemo]

72. "Evanescent form"?

Right here: Evanescence - Bring Me To Life

[Logical]

77. No! Common sense and no proof! But people love make believe! Nt

[MADem]

79. I see a lot of 'em here on DU.

They drift through every four years, and then, like wraiths, they fade into the ether....

[SwampG8r]

117. im exercising a policy

to find something to agree on with people i usually find myself disagreeing with and today its you!

thread winning answer and true as true can be

[Frustratedlady]

81. My granddaughter was looking through a photo album with her 3 1/2-year-old son.

When she came to a page of her maternal grandmother, her son said that was his angel. She was shocked as her grandmother had died several years before she had given birth to this child.

She questioned him about his "angel" and he told her that she was by his bed before he went to sleep at night. He wasn't afraid and gave no indication this was scary at all.

[wheniwasincongress]

84. I ask everyone who believes they saw one

how you know for sure you won't hallucinating (extremely common -a good read on it is "Hallucinations" by Oliver Sacks) or otherwise influenced by, for example, emotional or social factors? hint: when you hallucinate, you usually don't realize it.

I've asked this of ghost-seers before and apparently these are all people who somehow know themselves to be unable to hallucinate or be influenced in any way shape or form. They can both see dead people and operate life flawlessly. (wow at people even here throwing around ~energy~. Our science education in this country needs change)

[yuiyoshida]

91. In Shinto there are many tales of ghosts

I am Shinto Buddhist, but I can't say. But I do believe part of the spirit lives on after life. Don't ask me for proof, its a belief of mine.. and that's all I will say about it.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

97. I think ghosts are social osmosis and the power of suggestion

We come from a culture with several millennia worth of superstition, we learn from a young age that the dark is scary and our brains instinctively look to resolve humanoid forms and speech from whatever we're looking at. Even the most rational person could reliably recount the salient points of the book of genesis. It's in your brain and you aren't getting it out of there.

I used to work in a building that a man disappeared from, fact and urban legend had melded but the story goes he went into the office on a Saturday morning for no apparent reason and vanished without a trace. But my brain invented ghosts everywhere in that building. The cold draft in the elevator: ghost. The whining sound of the sump pumps in the parking garage: ghost. The sound of the girl who ran up and down the stairs like Jason Voorhees was chasing her: ghost. Strange smell in the mechanical penthouse: rotting corpse. Creepy old security guard: possible murderer.

[Nevernose]

102. "My house is haunted" is incredibly narcissistic

I'm sure your home is perfectly lovely, but it's probably not so amazing that people literally return from the grave in order to hang out.

[randome]

105. Isn't 'real ghost' an oxymoron?

[hr][font color="blue"][center]Precision and concision. That's the game.[/center][/font][hr]

[mnhtnbb]

109. I'm a believer.

I don't believe in the biblical experiences of heaven or hell, but I do believe that our soul's energy is transferred to some other existence when the physical body
dies. What? I don't know and won't until I do it--die, that is--and by then it will be too late to post on DU! Whether some of that definition #5 are able
to manifest themselves as a form--as in #1 definition--I don't know not having any personal experience of seeing a ghost. But I wouldn't be surprised since
there are lots of people who do claim that experience.

My husband and I once took a ghost tour--in Pluckley, England--which claims to be the most haunted village in Britain. It was great fun, but we didn't see
any ghosts!

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/6552475/Britains-most-haunted-village-The-15-ghosts-of-Pluckley-Kent.html

[Facility Inspector]

110. only when people are stupid

[B Calm]

112. No and I don't believe in the Holy Ghost either!

[Orsino]

114. Not in any external, falsifiable sense.

I'm sure people believe to have encountered ghosts, and that under the right circumstances even I might believe so. However, there's not really anything about the phenomenon that we can test, so it can probably be dismissed from any remotely scientific discussion.

[NCTraveler]

115. I have seen things I can't explain.

I'm sure over time science will have a valid explanation. As for now, I'm not sure the word I would use to describe them. I don't think I would use the word ghost but it is as good as any.

[bhikkhu]

116. If so, what are they made of?

That's my usual question. To be visible, they have to emit or reflect light, which means they have to interact with physical matter. We understand the properties of physical matter and light pretty completely. To be heard is even more problematic, as they would have to create sound waves, requiring again a physical presence.

People imagine things, and people make things up. No amazingly unlikely explanation required for that.

[Owl]

124. No.

[KittyWampus]

125. Several times I've witnessed a person who had just died express themselves.

First time it was a woman who had terminal cancer and shot herself in head. I went into her house to clean out her belongings and the large window over the sink started violently shaking. It was a beautiful still day outside so I looked up at the window expecting to see the weather had changed. But it was perfectly still outside, no appliances running, no earth movements, no nothing.

Later that same day I looked out towards her house and the spot where she had had a lifesize, painted wood sign of a goose was occupied by a single REAL goose. I had thrown out the sign earlier. I shook my head and walked towards the real goose, thinking I was imaging things. But it flew away as I got too close. There has NEVER been a goose before or since on this property and certainly not in the spot where that goose sign had been.

Second time was at a friend's Memorial service. Up at front of hall some people had amassed many photos of K. and put them all on a collage board. As Memorial went on I noticed a ball of Light over that photo collage. I moved all about to see if it was a trick of the lights but it didn't go away.

This same person came to me in a dream and expressed concern of a particular situation in her house. I had never been in her house EVER. We knew each other from art openings and going on Sunday walks in a group of mutual friends. I mentioned this dream to some of our mutual friends and they confirmed what she'd told me in that dream.

[EdwardBernays]

126. No

And don't believe anyone that says they are until you see one in front of your face.