The Ghost Thread

[ajoe]

What do you believe about ghosts? I know lots of people today have doubts about unseen spiritual beings, but I, for one, believe they exist. To me, ghosts are dead people who go to neither Hell nor Heaven and roam about until The End of Time. They're just like people: most are nice and don't want to purposely bother others, some like to play harmless pranks, while others can be mean for no reason. (The last two are those who like to tap on doors and move stuff around.) I think some ghosts just don't realize that they're dead, and these are the ones who get caught by people. You see, I know someone who can communicate with ghosts and she said those who live in a house don't usually walk around visibly unless everyone is asleep or gone.

If you believe in ghosts and have some ghost stories, let's share them here. I've always like ghosts stories. Whether they're true or not is of a second importance to me. Of course, I wouldn't want to actually meet them. Even if the ghost happens to be a nice one, I'd freak.

[amuse]

i've felt them quite a bit actually. you're absolutely right here: "I think some ghosts just don't realize that they're dead." how astute of you. maybe you could let them know? (am serious. ) i've only lived in three places in my life that didn't have ghosts (this apt, and my last two), and one tried to kill me last year, i wasn't very happy about that of course. let's see...i think some are lonely. and some are as surprised by us as we are by them. i've also encountered presences, but they weren't ghosts, which was kind of surprising to find that there was a difference. i would say one of them is very, very loving - he passed on but i felt him on mother's day. his mom was upset i didn't tell her, but i didn't know if it was a good idea to or not...she knew which one of her sons it was, too.

i was at my folks 2 autumns ago, and the power went out. i stayed over because i 1. had stuff on their computer and 2. my place down the road might have had no power as well, and i wanted to have company on a black night. so i put a candle on and snoozed. i always have light when i sleep. well, this white - i mean classic white thing tried to choke me. i've never seen a ghost, only felt them. i was screaming at it (in my head) that i'm soul, you can't kill me, and it laughed and laughed at me, and i felt myself fade, i just had no ability to keep fighting, and it wasn't letting up on me and i was terrified.
the door opened - it hadn't been shut all the way, and that was it - no more ghost - in walks my dad with max, my brother's manx. the light from the candle had of course burned out, i realized then. my dad hadn't retired yet, and got up early on the days he went in to the fire station, and manx was always hungry by 4 a.m. so dad went into my brother's closet (he was in japan at the time) and got him food; then i went into the kitchen with him while he made coffee, and stayed around while the sky lightened, and i wish wish wish max had slept on the bed. but i'm glad his tummy saved my life.
...then i found out the next summer that my brother and his girlfriend had always been creeped out by that room, and had had weird experiences there and in the hall, as had my other brother.
this wasn't the house i grew up in.

[imthefoolonthehill]

I will see Ghosts, goblins, UFOs, spiderman, and The Spirit in the SKy before I see a social security check with my name on it...

hopefully, that wasnt too political and was recieved in the humerous mood in which it was presented.

Seriously though... I do not believe in ghosts. I think some people have hyper-active imaginations... If they do exist, their discovery would rock the scientific world. It would be kinda cool, I have to admit.

[subterranean]

sometimes i woke up in the middle of the nite, and felt that there was someone/something wacthin me. then i couldnt sleep till morning. perhaps i do believe in ghost, i often got goosebumps in my room without any reason. i dont where they come from, coz i dont believe in the spirit of dead people walking around. dead people should be dead, either their spirits fade away or gone to other dimension, or whatever. but they are not here in this world

[subterranean]

sometimes i woke up in the middle of the nite, and felt that there was someone/something wacthin me. then i couldnt sleep till morning. perhaps i do believe in ghost, i often got goosebumps in my room without any reason. i dont know where they come from, coz i dont believe in the spirit of dead people walking around. dead people should be dead, either their spirits fade away or gone to other dimension, or whatever. but they are not here in this world

[Kirsty]

I will see Ghosts, goblins, UFOs, spiderman, and The Spirit in the SKy before I see a social security check with my name on it...

hopefully, that wasnt too political and was recieved in the humerous mood in which it was presented.

Seriously though... I do not believe in ghosts. I think some people have hyper-active imaginations... If they do exist, their discovery would rock the scientific world. It would be kinda cool, I have to admit.

I agree with you because I don't believe in there being any real kind of purpose in life, (except trying to overlook this depressing thought and make it feel worthwhile and our biological instincts), so why would the after-life exist. I think you either feel that it matters to you or that it does not.
Even though people have energy or spiritually in life I think that death erases everything except what is held onto by those still living.
I don't mean to sound cold hearted or anything but that is how I see it.

[amuse]

mm. so interesting. so you think that life happens out of the blue, and death erases it into the black? so to speak?

[nome1486]

I believe in the afterlife, but not in ghosts...the whole idea of people's souls being stuck in this world after death doesn't really make sense to me, nor does the idea that they could interact with this world even if they were here. I think I understand what you mean about a "presence" being different than a ghost, though.

[Kirsty]

mm. so interesting. so you think that life happens out of the blue, and death erases it into the black? so to speak?

I have pondered for many totured hours over my lifetime considering this!!
The thing that makes me feel so uncomfortable is that I really can't know how life started nor why. I never will and it makes me feel kind of sick; like nothing and that's when I feel the ultimate pointlessness in life. Is it a kind of conceit?
I guess to me life just does happen but in a deliberate way. There is the complexity of cause and effect from every interaction that occurs between people, nature and what not. I guess... I see life as a flow of events that occur based on everything that happens, every second, everywhere.

Aaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!! Sorry, It feels good to think I can pour my thoughts out like this, always feel kind of silly writing them down, but here it feels ok even if it is painful for everyone else read!!

I guess what I mean is at the time you are conceived it is due to the mechanics of life; you don't remember other lives or asking to be born, you just exist.
I don't believe in a spirit based after life however, I feel that memories, love, history and the mystique of those who once lived have a huge impact on the living. You cannot escape what once existed because they have shaped the events that lead to now. In an unknown headstone or photograph I always feel the tug of a life that I will never know, that hardly seems real but lived just as I do now.
So when I get to the bottom of it, I guess I do feel the presence of those who no longer live in this world, just in a different way.

[simon]

If there was some connection between the far away omnipotence of the afterlife and present reality then why hasn't any entity dead and gone tried to shed a little light on the meaning of life? And what would ghosts do to the argument that we as human beings exist? We know we exist becuase we can think. If ghosts existed we would not be able to prove our existence.

[Taliesin]

Now, I don't understand what you mean. Do you mean that if ghosts exist then they don't "really" exist, they only pretend that they exist and therefore, if the only proof of our existance is "Cogito, ergo sum" we can only say that we exist as much as ghosts do?


Anyway - ghosts? I am not sure. But I know at least two occasions when people die, their close ones know that they have died.
One example is my grandmother. One day she woke up and knew that her brother was dead and it was true. (and please, don't come talking about subconciousness)
The other example was told by my estonian and literature teacher. I really don't recall the details so I don't tell it but it was really strange.

[ajoe]

Anyway - ghosts? I am not sure. But I know at least two occasions when people die, their close ones know that they have died.
One example is my grandmother. One day she woke up and knew that her brother was dead and it was true. (and please, don't come talking about subconciousness)
The other example was told by my estonian and literature teacher. I really don't recall the details so I don't tell it but it was really strange.

I don't really know if this counts, but my dog seemed to know when a relative who used to live in my house was about to die from an illness. He barked strangely for hours.

And then there was the time with my grandpa. He had a heart attack and had to go to the emergency room. But the strap thing that tied him to the hospital bed wouldn't let go so they couldn't move him. Once he died it easily let go. According the story, my grandpa knew we were short of money and did not want to waste too much money for the treatment so instead his spirit (presumably out of his body) was the one who did that.

[ajoe]

dead people should be dead, either their spirits fade away or gone to other dimension, or whatever. but they are not here in this world

In my opinion that other dimension IS in this world. That's why ghosts and people don't often make contact.

[subterranean]

they used to belong to this dimension so called our world, and how come they still here..means they never went away..

[Jay]

<- What ghosts?

Yup, I belive in ghosts, what are those though, that's an entirelly different question