You look like you've seen a ghost! (ritual, moral, minority)

[s2a]

"You look like you've seen a ghost".

Well, have you?

51% of Americans polled in 2003 said they "believe in ghosts".
-Published in WorldNetDaily, 02/27/03
-Harris Poll from 2003-JAN-21 to 27. Margin of error 2%.

[Note: This topic is not intended as some "trick question(s)", in which some prospectively definitive "right" or "wrong" answer(s) waits lurking in the shadows.]

Do you believe that ghosts are both visible and veritably existent entities?

If YES...then:
1) Have you actually seen (or think you saw) a ghost?
- Did you see it alone, or were other witnesses present at the time?
- If so, what did it look like?
- Did it (seem to) look at you?
- Was it someone or something you have seen as being alive, or otherwise tangibly and physically existent at some earlier time in your past?
- Did it appear as person, or something else (amorphous "entity", animal, "demon", etc.?
- Did the ghost audibly speak (to you); make sounds/noises (in your immediate presence), or cause inanimate objects to move?
- Did you tell anyone else of your sighting/experience? Why or why not?

2) If you have not actually seen a ghost, but still believe that they exist...what is the foundation/rationale utilized to support/reinforce that belief? Is it anecdotal accounting, religious, or spiritual in nature?
- Do you know someone close/personal that claims to have seen a ghost? Did their experience include (or expound upon) any of the parameters described above?
- Does your religion/mythology/spiritualism assert that ghosts are existent entities? If so, does it outline a reason or purpose for their existence? Are they deemed as either "good" or "evil"; or as being ambiguously moral/ethical in nature and purposed intent? Does your belief seek to outline/define the "reason" or purpose served by ghosts upon the world of the living?
- Are elements of "faith" requisite in order for anyone to actually see a ghost? Can skeptics see a ghost, or do you feel that unbelief blocks any capacity to perceive/observe a ghost ?
[Most claimants of veritable paranormal phenomena asset that unbelieving "negative energy" or "skeptical auras" prevent paranormal sightings from manifesting themselves within a "controlled environment"].

3) If you consider yourself "non-religious", then what scientific foundations/data/sources do you consider as most credible in supporting/explaining claims of ghost sightings? Do these sources define what ghosts "are" (or are not)? If so, do they seek to explain what ghosts are "made of" (or do they somehow exist while evidencing no elementally physical qualities)?

If NO...then:
1) Why not?
- Millions of Americans (51%) DO believe in ghosts. What elements of a personalized disbelief place you in the minority opinion? If you saw (or think you saw) a ghost, how would your opinion be affected?
2) How would you account for the consistent and ongoing anecdotal accountings of "ghost sightings"? Do you think that a willingness to accept/believe in ghosts is requisite in order to experience/observe a ghost?\
- What (if any) source(s) do you feel effectively debunk/discredit anecdotal (or scientific) claims of (alleged) paranormal phenomena?
- Do you "have to see it to believe it"? Is "seeing" tantamount to belief in veritable ghostly entities...or do you require measurable, testable, repeatable, and independently verifiable sets of datum/evidence as validation before you accept even something that you have "seen with your own eyes" as being substantially and reasonably evident and probabilistically factual beyond skeptically compelling doubts?
- If ghosts are not "real" (in your estimation), then what would you suggest would be the most effective and concise explanation currently available to adequately dismiss the millions of sightings of ghosts as being (either scientifically or not) fanciful manifestations of an impressionistic human mind (or psyche), or some other natural phenomena that yet defies any concrete evidential falsification.

[For the record, I have never seen a ghost, nor have I met someone who insists that they did (even amongst those that believe that ghosts do exist). Like UFO's, or supernatural entities, I accept that many people believe in their potential/veritable "existence" (within either a physical, paranormal, or supernatural realm). I believe that ghosts "exist", insofar as much that a "belief of ghosts" exists...not unlike the concept that Christian belief "exists" - which in and of itself - only testifies that a popular belief "exists" as a qualitative/quantitative "entity" unto itself (absent any definitive "proofs" or "disproofs" of provisional - collective or individual - adherent's claims. "Ghosts" exist, because some people believe they do. Instead of debating whether of not ghosts are "real", I'd prefer to gain some insight/feedback as to the "'why' of 'what' you believe"be true - or sufficiently discredited not to be acceptably so.]

[Jaymes]

If YES...then:
1) Have you actually seen (or think you saw) a ghost?

I didn't see it; I felt it. I've never really seen them, but I've had them poke me before.

- Did you see it alone, or were other witnesses present at the time?

I've been alone when they poke me.

- Was it someone or something you have seen as being alive, or otherwise tangibly and physically existent at some earlier time in your past?

I dunno how to answer that one... since I have been poked before.

- Did it appear as person, or something else (amorphous "entity", animal, "demon", etc.?

I really don't know how to answer most of these, since I've never seen one.

- Did the ghost audibly speak (to you); make sounds/noises (in your immediate presence), or cause inanimate objects to move?

It didn't speak to me, but it would sometimes make growling and scraping noises. Which was more annoying than anything... I usually told it to hush up, since everyone else was asleep.

- Did you tell anyone else of your sighting/experience? Why or why not?

It didn't seem important at the time. I've told people afterwards when the subject of ghosts comes up, though.

3) If you consider yourself "non-religious", then what scientific foundations/data/sources do you consider as most credible in supporting/explaining claims of ghost sightings?

My own experiences.

Do these sources define what ghosts "are" (or are not)?

Nope! I have no idea what the thing I was encountered specifically was, other than not something physical.

This reminds me of that quote:

"For there are only two worlds - your world, which is the real world, and other worlds, the fantasy. Worlds like this are worlds of the human imagination: their reality, or lack of reality, is not important. What is important is that they are there. These worlds provide an alternative. Provide an escape. Provide a threat. Provide a dream, and power, provide refuge, and pain. They give your world meaning. They do not exist; and thus they are all that matters." -Titania, The Books of Magic

[Buttercup]

I am so looking forward to posting in this thread s2a. This subject holds great fascination for me. And I have my theories about 'what' ghosts are though I have never seen one myself.

I will have to return later however.....jewelry design calls!

Thanks for starting this interesting topic!

[evearael]

I saw the ghost of my grandma when I was about six, but I tend to be a rather scientifically inclined person, so I have no clue what to think about it as an adult.

[dawny0826]

I've had two rather strange run ins with my Aunt June after she died.

This is very true. No exaggerations.

I adored my Aunt June in life and have thought much about her in death. She was manic depressive and was found dead in her bedroom when I was just 5 years old. Apparantly she had mixed barbituates with Budweiser. The death was ruled suicide although, my Mom had been praying extensively with her weeks before her death and many speculate that she probably didn't realize that the combo of barbituates and Bud would end her life. She was found dead in the nude and most people who knowingly commit suicide aren't found in the buff.

Anyhoo...

She hadn't been dead for very long at all and I was playing in her back yard with my cousins and I heard a tap on the kitchen window. I looked up...and there she was...as if she was alive...smiling at me and waving. And then she backed away from the window and that was that.

I lived in an apartment for several years that ironically was situated on the same road that the cemetary where Aunt June was buried is located.

One night I was sleeping and something woke me up abruptly...and I noticed that the room was so cold. I heard my venetian blinds move and turned my head and the blinds were moving as if someone was taking their fingers and moving them up and down along the blinds.

And it didn't scare me at all because my first thought when I saw that was..."It's Aunt June." So, I called out and said hello to her. And the room warmed up immediately and I tried to go back to sleep. I then felt something that kind of spooks me to this day...someone kissed me on the cheek.

And I know it sounds stupid to people but I know that it was her.

And after that...I haven't had a single experience with Aunt June again.

[w00t]

We live in allegedly one of the most haunted houses in the UK where the most extraordinary events take place almost daily. If you can think of it in connection with a haunted house we have probably experienced it. We have three house 'spooks' a monk, a teenage girl and a teenage boy. We don't believe in spirits coming back from the dead and believe that one day science will come up with an explanation for the so called 'supernatural'!

[Draka]

1) Have you actually seen (or think you saw) a ghost?
yes
- Did you see it alone, or were other witnesses present at the time?
both
- If so, what did it look like?
different appearances, some shadowlike, some just eyes, some wisps
- Did it (seem to) look at you?
the eyes...yes
- Was it someone or something you have seen as being alive, or otherwise tangibly and physically existent at some earlier time in your past?
not anyone I knew if that is the question
- Did it appear as person, or something else (amorphous "entity", animal, "demon", etc.?
the eyes were questionable as even being human-like
- Did the ghost audibly speak (to you); make sounds/noises (in your immediate presence), or cause inanimate objects to move?
Make noises, move things, hit me, shove me onto a table and hold me down (with witnesses - couldn't lift me off for a while)
- Did you tell anyone else of your sighting/experience? Why or why not?
Yes, the ones I've had witnesses to and in discussion of like mattered topic

[Feathers in Hair]

Interesting topic! (I'm glad you state that there are no 'right' or 'wrong' answers. I know a lot of people would veer away from voicing their experiences if they believed this would turn into a debate.)


1) Have you actually seen (or think you saw) a ghost?

All the time. (Though I don't know if they're ghosts, in the traditional 'someone who was dead' sense. I'm not sure if the beings I see have incarnated, will incarnate, or are some soul currently living that's doing the 'OOB' thing. If I'm curious, I usually ask them. I usually call them spirits.)

- Did you see it alone, or were other witnesses present at the time?

A few times, there have been other witnesses. At others, the other person couldn't see them.

- If so, what did it look like?

Depends on the spirit! I've seen the traditional 'woman in white' at the edge of a forest. (The person walking next to me saw it, as well.) I've seen an assortment of creatures, a yellowish sphere that I'm pretty sure was my grandma and many that I don't believe I could describe in words.

- Did it (seem to) look at you?

Sometimes. Usually the ones that wish to see me are ones that have a 'message' for me, or a reason directly related to my being able to see them. The ones that don't seem to see you... to me, they seem to be kind of 'imprints' in time. If I don't dial down my 'empathy senses', I have to stay clear of a room if there's even been a heated argument there within the last day or two. I see it as being sort of like that, only the emotions that are stuck in a seemingly perpetual loop are even more extreme.

- Was it someone or something you have seen as being alive, or otherwise tangibly and physically existent at some earlier time in your past?

I can't imagine that you are including past lives