Are ghosts/spirits/hauntings real? Share your experiences
To add some level headedness to this post, let me say that as a teenager/into my early 20's, I was very science/logic minded. I thought religion was ridiculous, ghosts probably weren't real, Mothers intuition is BS etc. All of that good, smart-sounding stuff. As time has gone on, I've begun to question my stance on ghosts, and many other of my so called logical conclusions.
I bring this up because of something that JUST happened with my dog, literally 10 minutes ago. My little chihuahua left my room, and started growling at the top of the stairs. A long, continuous growl that I can't say I've ever heard him make before. I went out to see what was wrong, and he was just looking down the stairs, growling towards the front door. I assumed he was growling at the wind chimes, or people passing by. He continued to growl, but slowly made his way down the steps- very slowly. About 5 steps down, he stopped dead in his track and continued growling, then suddenly BARKED, and backed up quickly to the side, as if another dog was standing next to him on the step. There was NOTHING there. He walked back up the stairs and stood next to me, continuing to growl down the stairs.
I'm not saying it was a ghost- and if someone else has a non-paranormal explanation, let me know. That's just one experience of many that prompted this thread. Here's another story on "Mother's intuition."
As a kid growing up, several of my Aunts and one of my Uncles lived with me. Their Mom passed away early, and our family took them in. One day during the summer, everyone was out swimming- except my Mom.
Sitting home alone, my Mom tells me she began having a dark, sinking feeling in her chest. It was centered around one of my Aunts, "Jamie." My Mom didn't know why, but she had a terrible feeling that Jamie wasn't okay. This was the 90's, so my Mom didn't have a cell phone to check up on her. She just had to wait and hope the feeling held no meaning.
Later that day everyone came home from swimming. The first in through the door was my Aunt "Lisa." Having felt dread in her heart all day, my Mom burst out to Lisa- "Where's Jamie? Is everything okay?" Lisa replies, "she's fine, but she almost drowned today in the lake. But everything is okay."
My Mom has told me many other stories about her having intuition, or foresight in dreams. One more quick story of me personally, regarding just a strange phenomenon.
Sometimes I do this thing with my MP3 player, where I ask myself a question as I'm skipping forward in the shuffle. Then, whatever song I land on, I pretend that song has some sort of relevance to the question I asked. Like I'll say, "what does so and so think of me?" as I skip through songs on my MP3 player, and whatever song I land on when I'm done asking the question is supposed to hold some sort of meaning. Yes, even I know it's silly, but it's a fun way to pass time when I'm at work.
Anyway, for those that don't know, I'm bisexual and I had a male friend-of-a-friend I had a thing for. Anyway, one day I asked my MP3 player what he thought of me, and it landed on the song "Fireflies" by Owl City. From then on, every time I heard that song I would think of that person.
So one night, a group of us are all hanging out- including Fireflies Dude. I'm playing music, and then I put that song on- Fireflies by Owl City. At some point, that guy looks at me, and no lie, says the following:
"That's our song righ- Ahem Ahem that's that song by so and so artist right?"
What????? I was in complete shock. He asked me if that's "our song." And then corrected himself by asking another question- basically as if he just had a mental block and didn't mean to ask the first question. Was it just a coincidence? Was it really just a mental stutter? Or is there something more?
I'm not saying ghosts, or Mother's intuition are necessarily real. But these and many other stories, both from myself and others, have forced me to open my mind and just wonder. Are these things real? Could it be that humans truly lack the ability to detect many supernatural things going on all around us? I can't say yes for sure, but I will no longer say "no" for sure either.
Have any of you had possible paranormal/supernatural experiences? Do you think it's a bunch of nonsense? Leave your thoughts below...
Re: Are ghosts/spirits/hauntings real? Share your experiences
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Originally Posted by Lebowsky
Not to be nitpicking, but wouldn't your mom's story be about sister's intuition rather than mother's intuition?
Yes, sister in law intuition to be precise. Mother's intuition wasn't the right word for it, and I didn't realize I was making that mistake, but it just seemed to get the point across. I guess just intuition? Predictive feeling? lol
Re: Are ghosts/spirits/hauntings real? Share your experiences
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Originally Posted by joe
Have any of you had possible paranormal/supernatural experiences? Do you think it's a bunch of nonsense? Leave your thoughts below...
Yes. I've had personal experiences with both God and ghosts when I believed in that stuff. It's called hallucinating.
There is no evidence for anything supernatural. There's nothing wrong with keeping an open mind about it, but we should wait until some real evidence comes in before accepting claims. Coincidences like what happened to you happen all the time.
Re: Are ghosts/spirits/hauntings real? Share your experiences
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Originally Posted by FiveRings
Yes. I've had personal experiences with both God and ghosts when I believed in that stuff. It's called hallucinating.
There is no evidence for anything supernatural. There's nothing wrong with keeping an open mind about it, but we should wait until some real evidence comes in before accepting claims. Coincidences like what happened to you happen all the time.
What evidence would you like? I mean.. what evidence would satisfy you? I don't see any evidence coming any time soon. By nature we're talking about things that can't be proven. Ghosts (if they were real) are invisible, undetectable, and come and go as they please. The only evidence we have is anecdotal and personal experience.
As far as intuition, there has been studies that suggest intuition is real. I'm sure there's been some that came back on the other side of the argument. But of course it's a very unusual event and enigmatic thing. It's hard to capture in a laboratory.
What of that friend of mine asking me if that was "our" song? Was it just a coincidence? I'm not saying it wasn't. So I'm with you there as far as not jumping the gun. But if that IS a coincidence, it's a pretty damn creepy one. I can't even figure out how you would accidentally say that if you didn't mean to.
Re: Are ghosts/spirits/hauntings real? Share your experiences
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Originally Posted by joe
What evidence would you like? I mean.. what evidence would satisfy you? I don't see any evidence coming any time soon. By nature we're talking about things that can't be proven. Ghosts (if they were real) are invisible, undetectable, and come and go as they please. The only evidence we have is anecdotal and personal experience.
Any evidence at all would be good for a start. Some kind of scientific evidence would be nice. Personal experience is not reliable. Some people really believe they've been abducted by aliens, or have seen bigfoot, or believe God spoke to them telling them to kill their kids. People of one hundred different religions will tell you that they've had personal experiences with their God, but they can't all be right since their relgions claim that the Gods of the other faiths don't exist and only theirs does. The human mind is very easily tricked.
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As far as intuition, there has been studies that suggest intuition is real. I'm sure there's been some that came back on the other side of the argument. But of course it's a very unusual event and enigmatic thing. It's hard to capture in a laboratory.
The James Randi Educational Foundation has a million dollar prize offered to anyone who can demonstrate that they have supernatural or psychic abilities. Many have tried and all have failed.
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What of that friend of mine asking me if that was "our" song? Was it just a coincidence? I'm not saying it wasn't. So I'm with you there as far as not jumping the gun. But if that IS a coincidence, it's a pretty damn creepy one. I can't even figure out how you would accidentally say that if you didn't mean to.
And also, I've never hallucinated seeing a ghost.
Fireflies was a popular mainstream song, and maybe that was his song with a former partner and that's why he said that by accident. Or maybe it was just a slip of the tongue. These things happen.
You were talking to your MP3 player? An MP3 player is a piece of technology and therefore doesn't have a mind, so I'm sorry but this is beyond silly. And you yourself are the one that randomly switched it to that song on your MP3 player, so I don't see where any possible supernatural involvement comes in.
Are ghosts/spirits/hauntings real? Share your experiences
