Do you believe in ghosts?

[Gerontophile]

Right, I will try to be entirely accurate here.

I think I had a conversation with a dead person. Now, I was very hungover, so perhaps that makes me open to ... whats the word? Suggestion? Yep, that will do.

Now, I am a (mostly) sensible chap, and am open to most things, but not this one.

Person concerned is dead. I know this. THEY know this.

But, I am not sure that I wasnt hallucinating. And if not, am I cracking up?

[WOM]

Do you believe in ghosts?

No, I don't.

BUT...I did go to university with a guy whose father was a noted* parapsychologist whose specialty was helping spirits 'trapped' in this world to move on to the next one. You know...old women who wouldn't acknowledge their death and would haunt their old home for many years afterward. Anyway, he told some hair-curling, utterly believable stories of his own experiences. Those gave me a bit of pause.

But really, no.

* I mean, make of that what you will.

[Gerontophile]

Do you believe in ghosts?

(Thanks WOM, I really thought this was a nul thread)

I dont believe either, but, I know* what I encountered.

*OK this word is negotiable. I KNOW what I saw. Whether that was due to circumstances or variations of mood or whatever, I dont KNOW.

[jason voorhees]

Do you believe in ghosts?

Well, please explain this conversation.

[Gerontophile]

Do you believe in ghosts?

I cant J.

I saw a dead person. And I cant explain it. Sorry. They said something to me, that only they would know.

[MsD]

Do you believe in ghosts?

Bah, wish I knew a ghost.

[Guest]

Do you believe in ghosts?

Ger,

I'm presuming here but, was it your former flatmate?

As for being hungover when it happened, well, your mind is probably playing tricks with you.

Probably.

Without knowing the converstaion, I cant say whether the spirit or your subconscious is trying to get closure.

Either way the issue is being worked.

[Taylor]

Do you believe in ghosts?

Ger, if what you're saying is a 100% accurate account of what happened (i.e. the person is definitely dead, and you definitely "saw" them and spoke to them) then see a doctor and get yourself checked out. I'm not saying you're cracking up, but either things are getting on top of you, so to speak, or there's something wrong somewhere (possibly physically - e.g. sleep paralysis or whatever).

I think we can say with as much certainty as we can say anything, there's no such thing as ghosts. We can also be certain that there are many ways people can think they're seeing ghosts - and all the explanations lie in your brain and body. Doesn't necessarily mean you're losing it, or there's anything seriously wrong with you, but it'd be a good idea to write down as much as you can remember of the circumstances (e.g. time, place, state you were in, what you saw and heard) and see a doctor.

Were you stone cold sober at the time? Were you on the edge of falling asleep, or just waking up? If the answer to the first question is "no", or the answer to the second is "yes", the explanation might be simpler than you think.

[Guest]

Do you believe in ghosts?

Taylor's is an eminently sensible and reasonable post.

If it's what it said that is alarming you, presumably it was something that you would know too - which could suggest that the subconscious is at work rather than the supernatural.

[WOM]

Do you believe in ghosts?

Having written what I wrote above (about not believing), I have to come clean that I do believe in things that I can't quite explain. I've had enough genuinely 'weird' incidents to convince me that they're real. One example:

For a period of time in my early twenties, I had an extremely intense relationship with a woman who was a good few years older than me and had a child. I mean, we were truly and wildly smitten with each other, but she had only recently separated and really wasn't ready for anything. Long story short, it just wasn't going to work between us at the time.

She and her daughter lived in a house on a lake north of the city. If you know Ontario, you know that's not odd.

Anyhoo, one night I had an incredibly odd and vivid dream about being out for a walk, and crossing a river (on a bridge). When I reached the far side, I turned around and the bridge was gone. Only the concrete 'ramps' were still there. I looked down in the river, and a massive fish was swimming to and from, and I was following its movements with a flashlight. It was night-time and the water was dark, you see, but the flashlight lit it up well.

The next day, later in the day, I was talking to this girl on the phone and the dream was still vividly in my mind. I told her about it. She said "That's odd. Because last night Paige started asking me about the big fish, and was he still in the water. And I said "What fish?" and she said "The one in the ice we saw"."

It seems that, the previous fall, they had gone for a walk along the shore and saw a huge dead fish near the shore, stuck in the early-winter ice. Months later, in the spring (the same night as my dream) her daughter started obsessing over it, to the point where they had to go put their coats and boots on, and - with a flashlight - go down to the lake and search around for it in the dark to reassure her that it was still there. Well, you know, kids and all.

Sure it could have been a weird coincidence, but I think it might have just had something to do with this brief, but deep connection I had with this person.

[Incandenza]

Do you believe in ghosts?

Amazing Inflatable Dog wrote:

Taylor's is an eminently sensible and reasonable post.

If it's what it said that is alarming you, presumably it was something that you would know too - which could suggest that the subconscious is at work rather than the supernatural.

Is attributing something to "the subconscious" any less problematic than "the supernatural"?

[Guest]

Do you believe in ghosts?

Well, if you mean that I'm using the term 'sunconscious' highly inaccurately then you're probably right. I meant it's more likely to be coming from within than from beyond.

[Guest]

Do you believe in ghosts?

Amazing Inflatable Dog wrote:

I'm using the term 'sunconscious' highly inaccurately

Glass of wine, sorry.

[WOM]

Do you believe in ghosts?

No, I think if you're going through a period of acute emotions or stress, you're likely to have some of that manifested in uncommon or subconscious ways. Especially if fatigued or drunk or ill or otherwise compromised.

I do like 'sunconscious' as a word, too.

[Gerontophile]

Do you believe in ghosts?

Taylor, thanks for that. I wrote a huge post about what I suspect was true, but the more I read yours, the more I begin to think that I may be mistaken.

Not for one second do I think that what I saw was not genuine, but the qualifying surroundings, may make it moot. I dunno. It scared the bejeezus out of me, and my mind sort of went AWOL while it was occurring, but I dunno.

I dunno, sorry.

[Gerontophile]

Do you believe in ghosts?

Villain wrote:

Ger,

I'm presuming here but, was it your former flatmate?

Yes. It was. But he said something that he didnt know. And thats why I am a little (loads, actually) weirded out by it.

Although, the possibility that I am projecting, is... well, it just is. And the thing that was said, would only be me projecting, moreso, no?

Or... there is no or, here. I must have misaligned my brain for a second. Because if I didnt, the alternative (for me) is staggering. Shit.

[Taylor]

Do you believe in ghosts?

Gerontophile wrote:

Villain wrote:

Ger,

I'm presuming here but, was it your former flatmate?

Yes. It was. But he said something that he didnt know. And thats why I am a little (loads, actually) weirded out by it.

Yeah, but think about it. If this was really a ghost, he'd say something you didn't know and he did. If he'd said "look under the third floorboard along in the back room and you'll find some Polaroids of me shagging David Cameron", and they were there, that would raise a big question mark (in more ways than one). But if he said something he didn't know and you did, that points to this being something that came out of your brain.

[Nigelwyn]

Do you believe in ghosts?

Believe nothing of what you hear and only half of what you see.
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
Nobody has ever come up with any convincing evidence that there are such things as ghosts.
We can't discount that there may be such things as ghosts, but in all likely hood they don't exist.
This is the internet, you'll find that other opinions are available.

[Ginger Yellow]

Do you believe in ghosts?

Taylor's talking an awful lot of sense in this thread.

[De Geas Clean Linen]

Do you believe in ghosts?

I did go to university with a guy whose father was a noted* parapsychologist

[Wyatt Earp]

Do you believe in ghosts?

Do you believe in ghosts?

No.

Actually, I wrote this before reading the opening post. Having read it, I'd echo completely what the always wise and humane Taylor said. You're under tremendous strain, and if this kind of thing happens again, it might indeed be good to seek some kind of aid with it.

[Bored Of Education]

Do you believe in ghosts?

I wouldn't worry, g. What you saw is what you saw so, as long as it isn't a regular occurence, move on.

I've seen a ton of wierd shit that I couldn't explain at the time and now can and loads I still can't but sometimes you have to say that, as long as it isn't casuing you harm, it's fine.

If it happens regularly and it is worrying you, as people have said, go and see a doctor. If it doesn't happen again and/or it doesn't bother you, leave.

As for believing in ghosts, I do believe that people see and hear dead people, whether they are real or not, I've got no idea.

I live backing onto a cemetary and have neveer seen anything and I regularly pop into the church to get something and it is pitch black and see nothing.

[G-Man]

Do you believe in ghosts?

I have witnessed a couple of people having apparitions of somebody dead. I am not inclined to embrace the notion of a netherworld of walking, talking spooks. But some of the things that transpired -- information which the interlocutors could not have known -- makes me disinclined to absolutely rule out the notion of "ghosts".

There seem to be a lot of unexplainable incidents of this nature, not all of them involving unsettled or sleep-deprived individuals. I would hesitate to reduce their experiences to causes of psychological defect without evidence (other than one's disbelief in the supernatural) that such defect exists in every case.

[Wyatt Earp]

Do you believe in ghosts?

Christ. I think that deserves a thread Vietnam.

But the main reason it deserves one--the fact that this currently actually matters in gerontophile's personal circumstances--is the very reason it might not be a good idea.

[Bruno]

Do you believe in ghosts?

If there really are unexplainable things going on, the healthiest thing to do psychologically is either to assume they're a product of one's own psychology or to try and explain them scientifically - not to confect stuff.