Of course, it's that or reject the scientific paradigm entirely, which is something only a fool would do.

The scientific paradigm has lead to pridictions with precise accuracy, provided us with the life we live today, and has no coherant alternitive.

You let in ghosts and other immaterial beings you break the scientific paradigm and you have to find something to replace it, and I've never seen that done.

Linda Badham wrote a good article on this topic entitled 'Problems with accounts of Life After Death' which will cover ghosts and other such things :o)

Nah, if anything what you wrote is the 'believers' catch all for claiming that nothing has been established. In fact, as you well know if you have half the credibility you claimed, there have been repeated studies establishing that in fact people hallucinate a lot more than they realize and that "ghost" hallucinations can be induced very easily. There have even been some which merely monitored rather than sought induce and then monitor which showed that in those cases, at least, the "ghosts" they saw were not there at all, as far as any instruments could tell but the subject was certainly showing brain activity consistent with an hallucination. This is, frankly, pretty solid support for the what I have already stated: we have yet to see an example which turns out to be inexplicable, most can be pretty safely explained as hallucination.

Funny how whenever someone claims to have seen/heard/smelled/touched something not catalogued within the "official" journals of medi-science, it always comes down to hallucinations. Its the catch all explanation...a way of dismissing someone elses experience so as to maintain the skeptic's fragile walls of theory.

Actual, in that position, my first instinct would be to doubt my sanity.

Perception is subjective, we're discussing the objective reality which underpins your subjective perception. In a sense, you did indeed see a ghost. We happen to have good evidence that said ghost was nothing more than an image your brain created, possibly in response to some external event, possibly simply as a result of internal stimuli. Either way, it's not an objective phenomenon as such, in terms of the description given. The objective phenomenon is, we suggest, that of hallucination as a result of suggestion.

Whether there exists anything such as the 'real sh-it' is under debate. The point is that the vast majority if not all seances are fake.

Rational validity can not be falsified. That you depart from the rules of logic, id est rules so self-evident and fundamental it's not even intellegiable to imagine them not being true, says something about your worldview.

In any case, at least the scientific method tries to create a firm basis for knowledge, whilst believing whatever junk seems more interesting and cool does not.

I remember watching interviews with numerous non-believers and it can be quite humourous.

My favourite is when they tell you there's someone who wants to talk to you, pick a name that you don't know anyone by and ask them whether that's the entities name, wait until they say yes.

See how long you can keep them going telling you about what this imaginary friend of yours is saying :o)

Kind of like how many people feel about God, demons, aliens, et cetera then.



If that counts as evidence of haunting then every home in the world is haunted. Who hasn't occasionally sworn something they put down has moved? Who hasn't heard things creak et cetera during the night?

We all have, not all of us believe it's down to ghosts though.

Non-believers due to lack of being haunted or experiencing a ghost? This is not true. I saw something paranormal when I was young:

As a child I was obsessed with fearies. I loved them. One night when I was scared me and my sister ran to our parents room because we heard noises and we thought a burglar was out. After my sister fell asleep and my parents went back to sleep I layed awake in their bed scared out of my mind. Then through the crack of the window a little feary flew in. She looked at me and flew about the house... She returned to me and I knew no one was in the house. I was able to fall asleep then..

I saw that feary, but that feary wasn't real.

It was a projection my mind played in order to relieve stress. Just as many psychological disorders can create hullicinations, my mind can/did the same. I was going through severe stress, and to relieve that stress my mind played me a scerene scene so I would feel better destress and get the sleep my mind and body needed.

People want to believe, so if they think a ghost is about. There mind helps them believe in this... playing mini hallucinations to explain and strengthen their belief.

Madame Sado Price

Well, with all due respect, I post in whatever threads I like, also I haven't said a word about her stories yet, I merely tackled her silly assertions relating to me.

So far, you're the one wildly bantering. What you care to 'hear' is also of little interest, since this is a public forum.



Again, you are the only one talking of 'ripping' and your assertion about construction versus critique is false, too.

Refusal to allow objective criticism is pretty much the first sign of a phenomenon having no real support and the claimant being unwilling to rationally examine evidence.

To use the technical term; 'hallucination'. And no, it's not evidence of ghosts existing, it's evidence that people hallucinate and often become deeply attached to the memories of the event. This isn't new.

They only work with the suggestible, non-believers tend not to be suggestible, so no knocking knees and strange visions, I am afraid.

isis,

I too have had uncountable experiences with paranormal phenomena...

It would be interesting to bring all of the non-believers into a seance or a haunted house just to see some knees knocking. :)

I'm all about Scooby Doo-in' but nothing I've experienced can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. I have see some freaky stuff though. One of my favorite ghostie things is B&W photography.

I found serveral "cold spots" in the morgue of an old tuberculosis hospital. My EMF meter is a fun toy, but altogether unreliable.

I've found that if you are willing, you can scare yourself into believing anything, but if you're skeptical, you will miss things even when they are obvious. It's not an exact science, but it's a fun way to kill time.

But anyway, I believe in ghosts, even if they only happen to be figments of my imagination.

My first experience happened when I was about 20 and is very personal, so any negative criticism any of you may choose to express towards me on this will go unheeded. During this time in my life I was going through a severe "death rocker" phase and I became very good friends with a fellow whom I will call S who was also into the same type of stuff. Due to extreme depression as a result of a failed relationship, S decided to take his own life. This caused great havoc for me and I was forced to drop many of my classes around finals (attending college at the time). A week after I heard the news of his passing, I was sitting alone in the living room when I experienced what I would best describe as an olfactory and tactile contact by my friend S, undoubtedly. This occurred on two seperate occasions and though I have no way of "proving" any of this, except to myself, it was nevertheless an experience that opened my mind to the existence of spirits and at least some kind of afterlife.

On another note, I was involved in an investigation of a historic site here in Texas, the site of a famous massacre from around the time of the Texas Revolution. This place was a large fort type compound and we had the opportunity to stay overnight in the old priest's quarters, which they rent out. During this investigation, we experienced several unusual events but the most notable ones were auditory in nature. The first was what could best be described as the sound of "slow, military style snare march" that we could find no mundane source for. All those present heard this and agreed on the nature of the sound. This would play on the hour, every hour up until about midnight when it played randomly off and on. Again, we explored every possibility as to what the source of this sound could be but nothing mundane could be found...(cont)

...The second event was the sound of one of the huge, wooden, spanish style doors to the former barracks creaking and then slamming shut on its own. Understand that after the caretakers had left the complex, WE were the only ones present in this place and ALL of these doors (except for the 1 door leading to the priests quarters) were securely padlocked shut and none of them could budge in any form or fashion. There were several EVPs that were also recorded at this site. The likelihood of a hoax being subjected upon us is about as likely as Gaidheal finding Christ.

And the evidence for these ghosts is what, exactly?