Proof of Paranormal Activity?

[Sakari]

I assume that people here at UM use the word 'paranormal'(dictionary definition: beyond the scope of normal objective investigation or explanation), because the personal experience they are describing is outside of their personal understanding of 'objective investigation or explanation'. Now, this personal understanding may well change over time and they may discover that what they at first thought of as paranormal is in fact not. All I'm saying is: while we're all on different paths, at different stages, let's be nice to each other!

New people are joining UM all the time and yes, a lot of them are interested in subjects that those who have been here a long time feel have been done to death and/or proved/disproved. But each new 'batch' of UMers has to work things through afresh, for themselves. What I can't understand are the 'old hands' who get some sort of feeling of superiority out of swooping in, leaving a derisory comment and swooping out again. They don't make constructive comments and they don't direct the newbies to old threads with relevent information in them. They just scoff, using the same tired old phrases.

Just because someone refers to something as 'paranormal' does not mean that they are not looking for rational explanations of it at the same time.

I agree with this, and I do not mean every person here. And yes, some people do " swoop " in and do that. We have both sides having those kind of people.

I also agree that people should be able to discuss things civilly, if not, why even bother?

[GodIsWearingBlack]

I think the forum rules pretty much cover the civility issue.

As to you not thinking your examples line up with luck and/or percentages, Ouija Ouija, that's the point I made earlier. You can only make judgements on the world around you based on your own experiences and reasoning. I can only do the same thing, and my experiences and reasoning leads me to different conclusions to yours. We disagree. Which is fine. Maybe one day the evidence will sway more toward your beliefs, I just can't see it. If anything, over the years, it seems to be looking less and less likely. Sadly.

[Sakari]

Maybe one day the evidence will sway more toward your belief.

That would mean any evidence correct?

There is so much evidence, and facts to explain so many things some call " paranormal ". I do not think there will be anything that supports the claims we see, just a lot of forums and TV shows in the future. That is, if people keep on believing.

[Awake2Chaos]

I think the forum rules pretty much cover the civility issue.

As to you not thinking your examples line up with luck and/or percentages, Ouija Ouija, that's the point I made earlier. You can only make judgements on the world around you based on your own experiences and reasoning. I can only do the same thing, and my experiences and reasoning leads me to different conclusions to yours. We disagree. Which is fine. Maybe one day the evidence will sway more toward your beliefs, I just can't see it. If anything, over the years, it seems to be looking less and less likely. Sadly.

This is off topic, but I'd just like to point something out.

Mindset has a lot to do with contact. If you close your mind off (even if you think you are 'open minded') a lot of entities will not take the time or energy to reach out to you, because they know you will dismiss them as something else. The opposite can be said of those that are sensitive; when a medium walks into a haunted location, a lot of times they will be flooded, because the entities within the location will sense their awareness and take advantage of it.

It's a catch 22 I see with a lot of skeptics; they've never had an experience, so they don't believe, but because they are closed off, those on the other side won't waste their time on them. Therefore, they'll never have an experience. (The only exception to that is when an entity is malevolent, and they just don't care and want to cause harm to someone.)

Just my 2 cents.

[Sakari]

Mindset has a lot to do with contact. If you close your mind off (even if you think you are 'open minded') a lot of entities will not take the time or energy to reach out to you, because they know you will dismiss them as something else.

I can not even count how many times I have read, seen, or heard " I never believed any of this until it happened to me "......

<p>Sorry, unless people claiming this stuff to happen to them for their first time, and stating how they " did not believe in this stuff until it happened to me " are lying, I wouold say this sounds like another " reason " why some people can not get it to happen, or why some can not%2

[Awake2Chaos]

I can not even count how many times I have read, seen, or heard " I never believed any of this until it happened to me "......

<p>Sorry, unless people claiming this stuff to happen to them for their first time, and stating how they " did not believe in this stuff until it happened to me " are lying, I wouold say this sounds like another " reason " why some people can not get it to happen, or why some can not%2

Of course it sounds like another reason/excuse why some people never have experiences; because it is.

In my own experiences, the dead are still people. Just because they have lost their physical bodies doesn't mean they've lost their feelings or emotions, or their abilities to make decisions.

As a living person, if you knew someone didn't want you around, or didn't appreciate your company, would you then go out of your way to be near that person, and insert your presence into their life?

Unless you are a stalker, 99% of people will say no. That doesn't change after you die.

A lot of skeptics will say....'but I have an open mind!!' But they don't. They like to think they do, they like to tell other people they do, but deep down, subconsciously, they just don't. You put that energy out there, even if you don't realize it. And most entities have limited reserves of energy to manifest themselves. If you are closed, you drain them, and you take away their desire to attempt to reach out to you.

(And some entities are just plain shy, or they just decide that they don't want to engage that particular day.)

How do you open your mind? Good question. The only thing that I could suggest is that you'd have to be willing to take an honest look at your skepticism and beliefs, and examine if you really are open to the potential of experience, or if you have really already made up your mind.

Again, just my 2 cents based on what I've seen and experienced.

*edit: A lot of these 'ghost hunting' shows have given people a false sense of what a ghost is. Hunters will make demands (move this object, trip this sensor, etc), antagonize (very, very bad idea) and just in general talk to ghosts like they are puppets or like their intelligence was left behind at death. That is so far from the truth. Your soul, what is left behind when you die, is no different that what you are when you are alive. If anything, it's a purer representation of what a person was. So if anyone thinks that you can command or demand an entity to manifest, or do anything....is beyond arrogant. And 9 times out of 10, if you go into a haunted local with that attitude, they will not manifest anything or give you any evidence at all, just out of spite.

Edited February 22, 2014 by Awake2Chaos

[Skep B]

A lot of skeptics will say....'but I have an open mind!!' But they don't. They like to think they do, they like to tell other people they do, but deep down, subconsciously, they just don't.

I think I disagree with you, because while I'm a pretty open and out skeptic of everything, I want to be wrong. I would love if we lived in a world with ghosts, shadow people, bigfeet(s) werewolves, vampires, zombies, etc,etc,etc

But, whenever a story a sighting a claim or whatever is come across it is always explainable via a mundane explanation. And thats why I'm a skeptic.

I don't think im being close minded when I offer a ghost experience could be a houee settling. I think that makes me rational.

Edited February 22, 2014 by Scheming B

[Awake2Chaos]

I think I disagree with you, because while I'm a pretty open and out skeptic of everything, I want to be wrong. I would love if we lived in a world with ghosts, shadow people, bigfeet(s) werewolves, vampires, zombies, etc,etc,etc

But, whenever a story a sighting a claim or whatever is come across it is always explainable via a mundane explanation. And thats why I'm a skeptic.

I don't think im being close minded when I offer a ghost experience could be a houee settling. I think that makes me rational.

That's you, though. That's not the majority of the skeptical community.

When I walk a 'haunted' location, I can chalk up about 85% of what we capture to normal, everyday things. (Houses settling, echos, street noise, appliance noise, etc)

The other 15%.....I can't. Doesn't mean it's paranormal, but it does mean that I can't find a 'rational' explination for it.

Being open minded doesn't mean you believe everything you hear or see as paranormal. What it means, at least to me, is that you have the capability to accept that everything you encounter is not neccessarily explainable.

[Sakari]

How do you open your mind? Good question. The only thing that I could suggest is that you'd have to be willing to take an honest look at your skepticism and beliefs, and examine if you really are open to the potential of experience, or if you have really already made up your mind.

snip.......

A lot of skeptics will say....'but I have an open mind!!' But they don't.

I think I disagree with you, because while I'm a pretty open and out skeptic of everything, I want to be wrong. I would love if we lived in a world with ghosts, shadow people, bigfeet(s) werewolves, vampires, zombies, etc,etc,etc

But, whenever a story a sighting a claim or whatever is come across it is always explainable via a mundane explanation. And thats why I'm a skeptic.

I don't think im being close minded when I offer a ghost experience could be a houee settling. I think that makes me rational.

I feel the same way. I can say " believers " do not have an open mind, because many, most actually, are not willing to even consider answers that are factual. It would ruin the excitement.

I have had experiences, I have said that many times. I do not have any idea how to explain them, so I do not know what they were. I am not jumping on ghosts just because I do not know. And not because I am closed minded, but I have spent enough time researching to know that is pretty much not possible.

I have also stated many times, for many, many years, I believed in ghosts, I believed crop circles were alien signs, I believed Bigfoot was possible.

It was because of my open mind that I was able to read and research things beyond paranormal sites and television. I was able to listen to biology, engineering, psychology, etc. and not say " no way, not that "........Funny, I have been on both sides of the fence.

I was a " believer " for a long time before I became a " skeptic "......Opening my mind made me neither, I am now a " realist ".

[Mikko-kun]

Sakari, while you're been on both sides, I dont think people would honestly refuse a truly reasonable already-known more ordinary explanation. Some just are more gullible than others, but there's a sceptic inside everybody, just as there's a believer inside of everybody. It's just a matter of invoking them. I know a guy who at least believed die-hardly in UFOs and angels and whatnots, but when I said some simple words without the slightest intention of actually questioning him, he started to question himself and went to a psychologist. How I did it? I showed him some basic thing about astrology, saying all human beings have the potential to fall under delusions and illusions of some kind. Which kind, is totally up to where the individual focuses themselves, but definetely some kind, and definetely everybody.

How I at least try to avoid it, is I seek out the foundations of how things work. For every belief and scepticism, for every view, there is a foundation. What most sceptics on this forum do is advocate their own views and talk about their own views. It's what you do when you keep "considering the rational explanation" instead of playing along with the "what if it actually did happen" a bit more. I play along with that a bit more in a lot of very ludicrous-sounding things because then I will find out more about the foundation of that view. And then it's easier to break it or make it stronger, whichever is your aim. Or to just find out more about it.

[Mikko-kun]

Also believers do this, like to talk about their own views instead of the sceptics' views, but at least in my case and I bet in a lot of level-headed actually open-minded people's case the reason why they dont care to talk so much of the sceptics' views is because they already know what you're going to say, or have already thought of that themselves. When I think about something I throw myself to it wholeheartedly, whether it's a sceptical or a gullible view.

But when it comes to my favourite topic which is not a paranomal topic, I've found myself doing the same thing you do, talking more about my views instead of throwing myself to the opposite view. It's hard when you stand behind your view adamantly, but if we want to judge, we should be able to throw ourselves to other views wholeheartedly.

[Awake2Chaos]

I feel the same way. I can say " believers " do not have an open mind, because many, most actually, are not willing to even consider answers that are factual. It would ruin the excitement.

I have had experiences, I have said that many times. I do not have any idea how to explain them, so I do not know what they were. I am not jumping on ghosts just because I do not know. And not because I am closed minded, but I have spent enough time researching to know that is pretty much not possible.

I have also stated many times, for many, many years, I believed in ghosts, I believed crop circles were alien signs, I believed Bigfoot was possible.

It was because of my open mind that I was able to read and research things beyond paranormal sites and television. I was able to listen to biology, engineering, psychology, etc. and not say " no way, not that "........Funny, I have been on both sides of the fence.

I was a " believer " for a long time before I became a " skeptic "......Opening my mind made me neither, I am now a " realist ".

I'll just repost again, because I agree with you. Just because I believe in ghosts, doesn't mean that every single experience that I or anyone else has is paranormal.

I don't believe blindly, and I go above and beyond trying to find normal, rational explinations for what I experience.

You can be rational, and a realist, and still believe. They are not mutually exclusive of each other.

That's you, though. That's not the majority of the skeptical community.

When I walk a 'haunted' location, I can chalk up about 85% of what we capture to normal, everyday things. (Houses settling, echos, street noise, appliance noise, etc)

The other 15%.....I can't. Doesn't mean it's paranormal, but it does mean that I can't find a 'rational' explination for it.

Being open minded doesn't mean you believe everything you hear or see as paranormal. What it means, at least to me, is that you have the capability to accept that everything you encounter is not neccessarily explainable.

Edited February 22, 2014 by Awake2Chaos

[JesseCuster]

Well, I guess it has been demonstrated to those who have had the ouija board work for them.

Then people who use ouija boards have some power to influence spirits to communicate with them.

Which contradicts your claim in the OP that no-one has power over the spirits to make them communicate with them.

Either ouija board seances are effective at making spirits communicate with you or they aren't.

If they are effective then it goes against your claim that no-one has power to influence the spirits to do anything, or ouija board sessions are a waste of time and no more likely to illicit a response from the spirits than a game of Texas hold 'em.

[Skep B]

When I walk a 'haunted' location, I can chalk up about 85% of what we capture to normal, everyday things. (Houses settling, echos, street noise, appliance noise, etc)

The other 15%.....I can't. Doesn't mean it's paranormal, but it does mean that I can't find a 'rational' explination for it.

I don't want to seem rude, or confrontational, but this is where I think we split. I believe with every ounce of me that if the time is taken, everything has a rational explanation. And at worst with rational answers all that can be said is "you can't prove that was what it was"

and in that a skeptic cant prove that's what it was, in the same way a believer cant prove that it was something paranormal. So, when it comes down to those two options, it makes more sense to stay within the realm of known science, than to stray to the paranormal as an explanation.

[Sakari]

I don't want to seem rude, or confrontational, but this is where I think we split. I believe with every ounce of me that if the time is taken, everything has a rational explanation. And at worst with rational answers all that can be said is "you can't prove that was what it was"

and in that a skeptic cant prove that's what it was, in the same way a believer cant prove that it was something paranormal. So, when it comes down to those two options, it makes more sense to stay within the realm of known science, than to stray to the paranormal as an explanation.

But......

A skeptic can prove many things of what it could have been, and with factual evidence to support it.

[Awake2Chaos]

But......

A skeptic can prove many things of what it could have been, and with factual evidence to support it.

But not everything. And that's the point I was trying to make. While I believe, there are things that I can't explain. Doesn't mean that it's paranormal.

And just because I can come up with a list of things that it could have been, doesn't mean it was any of those things. Just possibilities.

I don't want to seem rude, or confrontational, but this is where I think we split. I believe with every ounce of me that if the time is taken, everything has a rational explanation. And at worst with rational answers all that can be said is "you can't prove that was what it was"

and in that a skeptic cant prove that's what it was, in the same way a believer cant prove that it was something paranormal. So, when it comes down to those two options, it makes more sense to stay within the realm of known science, than to stray to the paranormal as an explanation.

I don't think that's rude or confrontational at all. I totally get where you are coming from.

[GodIsWearingBlack]

That would mean any evidence correct?

There is so much evidence, and facts to explain so many things some call " paranormal ". I do not think there will be anything that supports the claims we see, just a lot of forums and TV shows in the future. That is, if people keep on believing.

I think there will always be people who believe in the paranormal. Even if the focus changes to different subjects. It all comes back to the reason I want to believe. It makes life more interesting. And, in a lot of cases it can make life more bearable. Like when someone loses a loved one, it's much easier to believe that they aren't gone, but still hovering around, keeping an eye on the people they left behind.

As to evidence, I really don't know. As I stated above, I think over the last few decades, the evidence has made a definite swing in the favour of scepticism. But, none of that would matter if something definite happened to show otherwise.

[GodIsWearingBlack]

This is off topic, but I'd just like to point something out.

Mindset has a lot to do with contact. If you close your mind off (even if you think you are 'open minded') a lot of entities will not take the time or energy to reach out to you, because they know you will dismiss them as something else. The opposite can be said of those that are sensitive; when a medium walks into a haunted location, a lot of times they will be flooded, because the entities within the location will sense their awareness and take advantage of it.

It's a catch 22 I see with a lot of skeptics; they've never had an experience, so they don't believe, but because they are closed off, those on the other side won't waste their time on them. Therefore, they'll never have an experience. (The only exception to that is when an entity is malevolent, and they just don't care and want to cause harm to someone.)

Just my 2 cents.

Couldn't it also be argued then, using your own reasoning, that by closing your mind off, and believing in said entities, you could be allowing your own subconscious to do the work, and give you the results you want to find? And to carry that on, that would explain why a lot of medium get the information wrong, and get caught out by people setting them up with false information in the briefings, to see if they're being honest or not about their gifts.

This is another myth used in paranormal discussions, that somehow people can be open minded, and anyone who doesn't believe shuts themselves off from things, and that's why they don't "see" it. But in reality open mindedness is just a fantasy. We all have opinions, beliefs, ideas. And we go into any situation with those already installed in our psyche. Even someone who isn't sure, will still have preconceived ideas about what to expect.

As I said before in this thread, I don't believe in ghosts, but if I was alone in the dark, and something brushed up against me, I'd probably freak out. I have preconceived ideas about the dark. I've read and watched enough horror to know what "could" be in there with me, no matter how unlikely. My imagination would do most of the hard work.

The only way to differentiate between imagination and reality, would be to test it. Record the situation, and get as much data as possible. But, then when we do that, we're told that's the reason it didn't work. So there's just no way of knowing. And we come back to personal experience. So, anything that brushes against me in the dark has to be a ghost, because that's what I imagine. I just don't buy that. If something can't be properly tested then it can't be proven or disproven. All we can do is go around in circles, with one person saying they had it happen to them, and another saying they haven't. And there's usually a million other possible explanations to weave through, to explain the believer's experiences without the need for the paranormal. Frustratingly, it seems that those few cases that can't be explained away, usually turn out to be hoaxes.

[GodIsWearingBlack]

Of course it sounds like another reason/excuse why some people never have experiences; because it is.

In my own experiences, the dead are still people. Just because they have lost their physical bodies doesn't mean they've lost their feelings or emotions, or their abilities to make decisions.

As a living person, if you knew someone didn't want you around, or didn't appreciate your company, would you then go out of your way to be near that person, and insert your presence into their life?

Unless you are a stalker, 99% of people will say no. That doesn't change after you die.

A lot of skeptics will say....'but I have an open mind!!' But they don't. They like to think they do, they like to tell other people they do, but deep down, subconsciously, they just don't. You put that energy out there, even if you don't realize it. And most entities have limited reserves of energy to manifest themselves. If you are closed, you drain them, and you take away their desire to attempt to reach out to you.

(And some entities are just plain shy, or they just decide that they don't want to engage that particular day.)

How do you open your mind? Good question. The only thing that I could suggest is that you'd have to be willing to take an honest look at your skepticism and beliefs, and examine if you really are open to the potential of experience, or if you have really already made up your mind.

Again, just my 2 cents based on what I've seen and experienced.

*edit: A lot of these 'ghost hunting' shows have given people a false sense of what a ghost is. Hunters will make demands (move this object, trip this sensor, etc), antagonize (very, very bad idea) and just in general talk to ghosts like they are puppets or like their intelligence was left behind at death. That is so far from the truth. Your soul, what is left behind when you die, is no different that what you are when you are alive. If anything, it's a purer representation of what a person was. So if anyone thinks that you can command or demand an entity to manifest, or do anything....is beyond arrogant. And 9 times out of 10, if you go into a haunted local with that attitude, they will not manifest anything or give you any evidence at all, just out of spite.

This post is a perfect example of your own closed mindedness. Your mind is closed in favour of the dead still being around. You're not looking at things with an open mind, you're going in already believing, and finding things that strengthen that. I'm not saying you're right or wrong. Just that you've already decided. Like I have. And everyone else has.

However, you're trying to make out that by someone going in NOT believing, they're cutting off the possibility of contact with the dead. My argument would be, if you're going in already believing, it will then take less for you to see/hear/experience something. A murmur in the breeze is a voice, a flicker of dust in the beam of a torch is an orb. Closed mindedness works both ways.

It sounds like the perfect way to experience a haunted house is when everyone going in believes, and there's no-one to question the events, or test them scientifically. A bit like a group of alcoholics sitting around the bar, telling each other it's perfectly fine to have one drink.

[GodIsWearingBlack]

I don't want to seem rude, or confrontational, but this is where I think we split. I believe with every ounce of me that if the time is taken, everything has a rational explanation. And at worst with rational answers all that can be said is "you can't prove that was what it was"

and in that a skeptic cant prove that's what it was, in the same way a believer cant prove that it was something paranormal. So, when it comes down to those two options, it makes more sense to stay within the realm of known science, than to stray to the paranormal as an explanation.

I agree with most of what you say. Although, sometimes that rational explanation might not be rational at first. That's how science works. It only becomes rational after the fact, because the evidence has taken us there, in spite of how unlikely it seemed. If two white-haired scientists in Norway came out tomorrow with absolute evidence that the dead don't just disappear, but instead linger around as disembodied souls and are able to communicate with us, with the right tools, our idea of rational on that subject would have to change. It's that possibility that keeps me interested in the paranormal. Although, as the years go on, it's seeming less and less likely to happen.

[Duck33]

I used to be pretty active in the ghost hunting scene a decade or more ago in Aberdeen Scotland and traveled with a group from the University (Aberdeen and Glasgow) My main task was recording EVP and as one of several sceptics was generally given the less desirable places considered 'active' where others feared to tread for whatever reason "Oh there's bad energy in that room" said one temporary member (A self professed Witch and psychic) she scuttled out after 5 mins and left me with the "bad energy" which seemed to agree with me, less prattle.

Anyway my real point was that as well as EVP I have owned a ouija board (have had it some 20 years now) and was generally in charge of organising the seance with whomever was willing to take part. Now, as you can guess, as the years rolled on, you get a feel for the people around you and some earn your trust while others through word and deed tend to adopt a less credible profile. Well, after 13 years of spook searching at an almost uncountable number of locations throughout Scotland and in particular the North East and 2 or sometimes 3 seances at any given location I came away with this. When I had trusted people round the table, people who were no nonsense, give me evidence, sceptics, nothing happened, nothing, no glass moving, no trigger objects, no table tipping, no possessions,no death threats,no freaking out and running away...nothing. Introduce an unknown element into that group and hey presto...hit after hit..sometimes. There was a direct correlation between number of believers or thrill seekers and "supposed paranormal activity"

I drew the conclusion after a decade that the Ouija and any power it may have is contained purely in the desires and motivations of those sitting round it...Just as with hauntings. My ouija board,rests under my bed, is always there to be used and I have never used any protective white magic spells or guardian angel powers to protect me, shut down portals..whatever everything remains wide open and any and every entity is always welcome to pop through for a visit...in 13 years none have accepted the invitation and I always get a restful nights sleep. Maybe my scepticism is just too scary for the hordes of Hell

[+ouija ouija]

I think I disagree with you, because while I'm a pretty open and out skeptic of everything, I want to be wrong. I would love if we lived in a world with ghosts, shadow people, bigfeet(s) werewolves, vampires, zombies, etc,etc,etc

But, whenever a story a sighting a claim or whatever is come across it is always explainable via a mundane explanation. And thats why I'm a skeptic.

I don't think im being close minded when I offer a ghost experience could be a houee settling. I think that makes me rational.

This is just my personal opinion, but I like to keep interest in all the creatures you mention seperate to the personal experiences I've had because I think they are very different things. In fact I have very little interest in werewolves, Bigfoot etc etc(possible exclusion of ghosts), because in my heart I feel they don't exist. I'm not saying emphatically that they don't exist, they simply don't draw my attention the way 'paranormal' stuff connected with the mind/Spirit does.

[+ouija ouija]

How I at least try to avoid it, is I seek out the foundations of how things work. For every belief and scepticism, for every view, there is a foundation. What most sceptics on this forum do is advocate their own views and talk about their own views. It's what you do when you keep "considering the rational explanation" instead of playing along with the "what if it actually did happen" a bit more. I play along with that a bit more in a lot of very ludicrous-sounding things because then I will find out more about the foundation of that view. And then it's easier to break it or make it stronger, whichever is your aim. Or to just find out more about it.

I think the idea of playing around with "What if it actually did happen" is very important. Keep questioning yourself along that line and it opens up a much broader field of information than that which is available to you if you focus solely on what has been 'proved' thus far.

I also have a suspicion that with some(many?), sceptics there is a fear of the unknown/the unproven. That fear may be very deep in their subconscious.

[+ouija ouija]

Then people who use ouija boards have some power to influence spirits to communicate with them.

The 'power' comes from the intent of those using the ouija board and their focus, but it still isn't a given that a spirit will communicate. You are simply saying(as opposed to all the other billions of people who aren't!), " We are open to communication with you at this moment in time and want to hear what you have to say".

Which contradicts your claim in the OP that no-one has power over the spirits to make them communicate with them.

What I actually said was:" The majority of those who have had paranormal experiences know that they have no power over creating the experiences ..... the experiences come to them". You can create conditions that will encourage Spirit to communicate with you, and one of those conditions could be openess to the existence of Spirit, but I don't believe you can summon spirits to 'perform' every time you snap your fingers. They may come ...... they may come often when you ask, but my point is you can't guarantee it .

Either ouija board seances are effective at making spirits communicate with you or they aren't.

If they are effective then it goes against your claim that no-one has power to influence the spirits to do anything, or ouija board sessions are a waste of time and no more likely to illicit a response from the spirits than a game of Texas hold 'em.

I don't know what Texas hold 'em is but you mentioned Monopoly and Risk(I think), in a previous post so I'm assuming it's a game. When you set out your Monopoly board your intention is to play Monopoly. That is what is in the players' mind "We are about to have a game of Monopoly", they are not thinking " I wonder if we'll be able to contact a spirit tonight?" and if that was what they were thinking then it would be difficult for the spirit to move the little plastic cup around on the board with a big crease across it and no individual letters for them to spell out their message. Just to be clear: I am NOT being facetious in saying that; I am simply expanding on what I've already said ...... it's all in the intent and the facillitating.

My comments in green above.

Edited February 22, 2014 by ouija ouija

[+ouija ouija]

As I said before in this thread, I don't believe in ghosts, but if I was alone in the dark, and something brushed up against me, I'd probably freak out. I have preconceived ideas about the dark. I've read and watched enough horror to know what "could" be in there with me, no matter how unlikely. My imagination would do most of the hard work.

And we come back to personal experience. So, anything that brushes against me in the dark has to be a ghost, because that's what I imagine.

This interests me. Now my first thought on having something brush against me in the dark would most likely be(depending on what it felt like, of course): cat? or burglar? It would never cross my mind that it could be a ghost(I think you even mentioned zombies in a previous post).