164 replies to this topic

[SSilhouette]

Hi, Like many of you probably are, I'm a paranormal-show junkie.  It's really all I watch on the tube except the news and comedy now and then for ballast.  What I've noticed from watching most of the shows is that instead of being ghost-hunters, what these people actually seem to be doing is reaching out to the mentally ill in a form of afterlife-therapy.

I think a sign of sanity is to move on after you die; to ascend to that other plane to work on more stuff there.  But for some reason, some people have stuffed back their spiritual selves and become monsters, or twisted or in such deep physical ruts that they cannot conceive of the fact that they've died.  In other words, ghosts seem to be just a simple manifestation of a symptom of gross mental illness.

There are some that appear though to be here to help, as part of their work.  They would not be classified as mentally ill; and they seem to stay in the background for the most part.  But the vast majority of obvious hauntings are of beings who were so strapped down in life that they refuse to consider alternatives.  My pet theory is that many of these people have so much repressed guilt and shame and secrets they did not air to the world, that they intuit [or have been shown a preview?] that if they move on, they will have to face the music of what they did.  And the fear of doing that keeps them lodged on the peripheral of the physical world,

Discuss.

[Coffey]

I personally don't beleive in "ghosts". I think they are left over "energy" or manifestation of either something very very positive or something very very negative. Not an actual spirit.

[Sweetpumper]

No, but the people that see them are.


Did I do that right, non-experiencers? Surprised I beat you to it.

[keninsc]

Personally, I find the whole concept of disembodied spirits trapped or stuck between world a little silly, or locked here to do or fix something but they have no power to actually fix what they need to fix. Why are there no ghosts of people who have been buried at sea? If ghosts are left over energy from some horrible event then I should be able to return to Vietnam and find myself haunting a couple of old fire bases.

[Coffey]

keninsc, on 16 August 2012 - 06:24 PM, said:

Personally, I find the whole concept of disembodied spirits trapped or stuck between world a little silly, or locked here to do or fix something but they have no power to actually fix what they need to fix. Why are there no ghosts of people who have been buried at sea? If ghosts are left over energy from some horrible event then I should be able to return to Vietnam and find myself haunting a couple of old fire bases.

If it's left over energy then it's not you... lol

[Sweetpumper]

keninsc, on 16 August 2012 - 06:24 PM, said:

Why are there no ghosts of people who have been buried at sea?

SS Watertown.

[ThePhantomFlanFlinger]

Casper The Friendly But Mentally Ill Ghost just doesn't have the same ring to it for me..

Edited by BrianPotter, 16 August 2012 - 06:31 PM.

[SSilhouette]

I know I'm new but that will change..lol..

Meanwhile, in the forum rules I think it said we are supposed to entertain the subject as if it has merit and not post disparaging remarks about people who believe they may be true.  May be true.  I'm a sceptic too.  I watch those ghost shows with an eye of suspicion.  Some of them are downright ridiculous like "haunted collector".  That guy is all about collecting valuable objects he says are "haunted"...  "No ma'am, that plastic jug isn't haunted, but that gold brooch sure is giving me the creeps!  From the 18th Century you say?  It's haunted FOR SURE..and I need to remove it from the home..."



I think Bill Gates' bank account is haunted so I'll need to do an exorcism of it over to my account..

But really, some of the stuff they find though makes you wonder.  The IR cameras are pretty hard to fake.  And just plain footage of odd EVPs and moving bodies.  I'm sceptical too of hardened sceptics.  Sometimes people make a religion out of being opposed to anything outside their immediate experience and discount mounting evidence from others merely because they themselves haven't experienced it.  I've never seen neutrons, for example, but I tend to give scientists who corroborate them with instruments like cameras and recording devices the benefit of the doubt.

[rashore]

Well, if ghosts do exist, and ghosts are dead people... Then sure, I guess they could be mentally ill.

I mean, given some of the things they do in stories.. A person threatening to kill or evilly doing bad things to get people to leave. Or a person so obsessed with a house that they refuse to leave even when new people move in. Or a person that's obsessed with their body. Most of that would not really be considered mentally stable in living people, so I guess that could apply to dead people too.

[keninsc]

Coffey, on 16 August 2012 - 06:27 PM, said:

If it's left over energy then it's not you... lol

Yes, but if it's my energy left over from the day.....then? I mean, will I reabsorb it? Will it confront me? Will it embrace me and move on? Or will we simply cancel each other out in some time continuum thing?

Edited by keninsc, 16 August 2012 - 06:58 PM.

[Kasey2601]

Sweetpumper, on 16 August 2012 - 06:10 PM, said:

No, but the people that see them are.


Did I do that right, non-experiencers? Surprised I beat you to it.

Yes, yes you did. But I wouldn't call people who see them mentally ill. After all, is someone who hallucinates mentally ill? Not necessarily. Drugs and being sick in other ways can produce hallucinations.

[SSilhouette]

And also, people just see ghosts.  It's possible therefore, that they exist.  We didn't understand what bacteria were, or that they existed.  Before the microscope, disease was caused by "the vapors" and anyone who thought differently was "mentally ill" or a heretic.

Funny how time changes absolutes.

[Coffey]

keninsc, on 16 August 2012 - 06:56 PM, said:

Yes, but if it's my energy left over from the day.....then? I mean, will I reabsorb it? Will it confront me? Will it embrace me and move on? Or will we simply cancel each other out in some time continuum thing?

How am I supposed to know?! lol

If i knew thta I'd unlock the secrets of the "other side" if there is one. lol

I see it more like you give positive or negative. Like when you love somehting so much it can cause positive energy to manifest. When you ahte too much or die horirble their is  amanifestation of negative energy. I don't see it as part of you, jsut more like giving off body ehat sort of thing. But this is jsut my personal view. I don't base it on much. Well except the fact if you are nice to 1 person it can chnage the world as it carries on, which I see as positive energy being created. Again sadly the same applies for negative. But you need both to exist otherwise the other wouldn't.

[SSilhouette]

Well my idea here was to skip over the debate of whether or not ghosts exist, take the word of the thousands and thousands [millions maybe even] who have seen them and who have nothing to gain by reporting it, and assume they exist for the purpose of this topic.  And the topic is whether or not they are mentally ill.  Or maybe the topic is "the prevalence of ghosts that appear mentally ill".  Given the assumed presumption.

[skydivingstars]

Aye...I don't believe that the spirits, ghosts or whatever it is that exists are 'mentally challenged'. I wouldn't believe for a second that they're bound here because of guilt, shame or regret but who am I
to say what's right and wrong about what's after life when I'm still working on this whole 'being alive' thing.

Edited by skydivingstars, 15 October 2012 - 10:22 AM.