"Do you believe in ghosts?" "No."

[Nachtmahr]

Today, as I sat in my grandmother's home at the table with her while my grandfather went to the bathroom, I posed a question to her. I asked her, "Nan... do you believe in ghosts?". Her quick reply was a sharp "No. There's no such thing. Do you?" "Yes. I do." "No, there's no such thing..."

Why do people not believe in ghosts, especially when there's nothing to prove that they don't exist? There are plenty of stories out there surrounding the phenomena, it's rather difficult to say that something isn't going on. You know? So what do you think about it?

What do you think when people say "There's no such thing."? Do you ask them why they think that? If I ask them why they think that way, the reply is "Because I haven't seen one."

Chances are, they haven't seen a red blood cell either, except on television in a photograph. I guess because they haven't actually SEEN one first-hand, it doesn't exist. That logic doesn't really make much sense.

Do you believe in ghosts? Why/why not?

I haven't seen New york in person. Does that mean it doesn't exist?

[Raptor]

What do you think when people say "There's no such thing."? Do you ask them why they think that? If I ask them why they think that way, the reply is "Because I haven't seen one."

Chances are, they haven't seen a red blood cell either, except on television in a photograph. I guess because they haven't actually SEEN one first-hand, it doesn't exist. That logic doesn't really make much sense.

I haven't seen New york in person. Does that mean it doesn't exist?

It's not the same thing at all.

I haven't seen a red blood cell or New York city before, however I've seen dozens of images and videos of them, as well as hearing other peoples accounts of them. Same as ghosts, right? Wrong! Because all of these pieces of evidence I've heard of regarding red blood cells and New York city collaborate. I've been taught that red blood cells have a particular structure, and when I see an image, I see that structure. I see images of the Empire State building, and when I talk to people who have been there, their description of it matches the image I've seen. However accounts of ghosts always widely vary and often conflict.

Secondly, the existence of red blood cells and New York city is required in order to explain things. If there aren't cells delivering oxygen to my body, how am I still alive? However the existence of ghosts is not needed in order to explain anything.

Some don't view it as molecules leaving behind a spirit, but the spirit inhabiting the body until it is released upon the body's death... as if our bodies are merely suits in a way.

Like I said, there's no proof, evidence or reason to believe that a soul/spirit exists.

[moonlit12]

Fascinating that Christians would say ghosts don't exist when there are ghosts in the Bible... most notably the spirit of Samuel is called up from the grave by a medium in 1 Samuel 28: 3-20. Samuel was dead, but King Saul asked for him to be contacted so Saul could ask him questions. Samuel is apparently and justifiably p***ed about being bothered this way.

Because of this I KNOW that ghosts exist aside from my personal encounters or lack thereof.

[spiridion]

Reason tells me they don't exist, yet I seem to have an active imagination and am pretty darned good at freaking myself out. I am an open-minded skeptic, I guess you could say. I tend to not believe in them because I don't believe in the afterlife, but I also know there's a lot of unexplained. weird stuff out there that defies science.

eta:

I agree with Raptor.

"haven't seen a red blood cell or New York city before, however I've seen dozens of images and videos of them, as well as hearing other peoples accounts of them. Same as ghosts, right? Wrong! Because all of these pieces of evidence I've heard of regarding red blood cells and New York city collaborate. I've been taught that red blood cells have a particular structure, and when I see an image, I see that structure. I see images of the Empire State building, and when I talk to people who have been there, their description of it matches the image I've seen. However accounts of ghosts always widely vary and often conflict.

Secondly, the existence of red blood cells and New York city is required in order to explain things. If there aren't cells delivering oxygen to my body, how am I still alive? However the existence of ghosts is not needed in order to explain anything."

Edited August 16, 2007 by spiridion

[Neem]

I believe in ghosts. I somewhat lived in a haunted house.

[cryptocabra]

<i><b>Edit by Lottie</i></b>

As far as why people believe the way they believe, who knows for sure. Many people are taught from a young age that those things dont exisit. (Aliens, ghosts, bigfoot whatever.) There have been many people that had been skeptics in the past only to have their minds changed for what ever reason. But honestly what it comes down to is this. People will believe what they want to. Some could be presented with the most undeniable evidence and still not believe. Its a mysterry in and of it's self.

true like the moon landing

[Supermanfan77]

Today, as I sat in my grandmother's home at the table with her while my grandfather went to the bathroom, I posed a question to her. I asked her, "Nan... do you believe in ghosts?". Her quick reply was a sharp "No. There's no such thing. Do you?" "Yes. I do." "No, there's no such thing..."

Why do people not believe in ghosts, especially when there's nothing to prove that they don't exist? There are plenty of stories out there surrounding the phenomena, it's rather difficult to say that something isn't going on. You know? So what do you think about it?

What do you think when people say "There's no such thing."? Do you ask them why they think that? If I ask them why they think that way, the reply is "Because I haven't seen one."

Chances are, they haven't seen a red blood cell either, except on television in a photograph. I guess because they haven't actually SEEN one first-hand, it doesn't exist. That logic doesn't really make much sense.

Do you believe in ghosts? Why/why not?

You can't see air either, but you can feel it. I believe in Ghosts but I have never experienced them before, therefore I want to see what I believe in. Which is why we started our Paranormal Group.

[+HerNibs]

You can't see air either, but you can feel it. I believe in Ghosts but I have never experienced them before, therefore I want to see what I believe in. Which is why we started our Paranormal Group.

Yeah, but you can provide evidence for the existence of air. What it is made up of, how it works, etc.

Can't do that with ghosts.

No ghosts.

Nibs

[Rhungobains]

Nope I don't believe in ghosts. The subject still fascinates me on a level. Everyone loves a good horror story. I was brought up on Locke and Empiricism and I just can't take the subject seriously. Not a slight on those who do of course. Horses for courses and all that.

Edited August 23, 2009 by Rhungobains

[sinewave]

I am agnostic on the subject but the lack of science here tells me there is no real evidence of their existence. It is important to be open minded but the bulk of the evidence is in the form of "personal experiences" and the rest in very grainy video or noisy audio all of which can be easily attributed to trickery or apophenia. I prefer to apply Occam's Razor in such cases. The tendency to leap to the supernatural explanation once we reach the limits of our understanding is a perfectly normal human reaction but such explanations seldom stand the test of time. At least one culture believed that solar eclipses were caused by a creature eating the sun. Science ultimately explained and even predicted the phenomenon and we now know there are no giant dragons lurking behind the sun just waiting to devour it. Ghosts may never be proven or disproved in such a decisive way. If they are purely products of our gray matter, conclusive proof will be nearly impossible to establish.

Quantum theory postulates the existence of parallel universes. If they exist and it is possible to traverse the dimensional barriers between them then ghost theories may have a leg to stand on. A whole lot of science has to be done before that conclusion can be reached.

[littlejo]

There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,

Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.

[JamieSymptom]

Do I "believe in ghosts"? Nope.

I know that people have experiences which are attributed to ghosts. I have myself.

However I am of the opinion that such experiences are in the mind, caused by a variety of internal and external stimuli coming together in a ceratin way at a certain time in a certain place.

I very much doubt if these experiences have anything to do with dead people. For a start, there's absolutely nothing to suggest that existence continues in some way after death (nothing apart from unsubstantiated fairy stories anyway), and if such a process could happen, we would surely be crowded out by all the dead people, there must have been a lot of them throughout the years. All the animals as well. It just doesn't seem very likely at all.

[Paranormalcy]

I believe ghost phenomena exist and get reported. I don't think it has anything to do with disembodied spirits.

[Pauly Dangerously]

I have to agree verbatim with Paranormalcy on this one. I believe that something is happening that has caused these claims to be persistant through out centuries (I would cautiously say millenia)of human history. But as far as it being the disembodied conciousness of humans, I just haven't seen any convincing evidence to that postulate. That could very well be exactly what they are, but as of now, nothing I have seen/read/heard has confirmed any such thing. So to succinctly answer the OP (from two years ago)my answer is a resounding "I don't know."

[*Frank*]

Why do people not believe in ghosts, especially when there's nothing to prove that they don't exist?

Not being able to prove something doesn't exist still isn't proof at all. If I may use an example from a South Park episode... I could say there is an invisible spaghetti monster in the sky. You can't prove that it doesn't exist but of course it doesn't. But if there had been claims of this over many hundreds or thousands of years like there has with ghosts and religious beliefs maybe people would be more inclined to believe in the great fusilli collosus.

[Katherineelvira]

I believe in ghost and spirits. I cannot prove any of the things I have seen and felt but they proved they are real to me.

[sinewave]

I have to agree verbatim with Paranormalcy on this one. I believe that something is happening that has caused these claims to be persistant through out centuries (I would cautiously say millenia)of human history. But as far as it being the disembodied conciousness of humans, I just haven't seen any convincing evidence to that postulate. That could very well be exactly what they are, but as of now, nothing I have seen/read/heard has confirmed any such thing. So to succinctly answer the OP (from two years ago)my answer is a resounding "I don't know."

I agree with you and add that in the absence of science humans tend to manufacture explanations for things beyond the reach of our established knowledge. As our understanding of the world grows, little by little we drop superstition in favor of science. My favorite example is the dragon eating the sun as the cause for solar eclipses. Geocentricism and other outdated cosmic notions illustrate the point as well. Ghosts have lingered probably because we still don't fully understand human cognition and brain function. I am an IT guy and have to deal with error rates of digital equipment all the time. Even the best systems have error rates but the trick is keeping them low enough to not impair normal operation. This concept certainly applies to the human brain. I believe the paranormal to be largely a function of perceptual error rates coupled with an enormous tendency to "want" to be fooled. We all love magic tricks and illusions. Sometimes we make our own.

[Eolwyn]

I;d like to say I believe in spirits and the otherside, in doses. But i'm also a teenager and it's proven the teenage mind has iderntical freqeuncy to a clinally insane person. So a lot of what I experience could either be psychological, or I give off a lot of energy.

[Neognosis]

I believe that something is happening that has caused these claims to be persistant through out centuries (I would cautiously say millenia)of human history.

The consistent factor is that we are all human. The human mind has worked the same through the centuries, and we have had the same desires and basic fears.

[lordstanley]

I believe in ghosts 100% and no less

[fawkes2]

l believe in ghost's, l have seen them.

[Lewys]

I always say anyone who does not believe in ghost should spend a few days or even just one day at a couple houses I have lived in. even the place I live now has had some creapy stuff that can not be explained happen hear.

there is a man that walks around my house he never seems to cause any harm but he walks past my living room window all the time. there are many people that see him not just me and my husband my eldest son has seen him my mom, my brothers, and two of my sisters and even a neighbor. I have a friend that wont even come to my house anymore he scared the heck out of her one day and she has not came back. you will be setting on the couch and he will just pass by the window he is more of a shadow than anything the first few times I thought someone was out side but when I would get up and go out he would walk around the side of the house I would follow him an he just vanishes. this has happened for about 3 years now we are used to seeing him.

[She-ra]

I believe in ghosts/spirits.

And a little over 2 years later... I still believe in ghosts/spirits however I cannot prove anything. I believe that it is possible

[Psykonos]

I have no doubt that spirits exist. I cannot offer mind-blowing proof, but I believe they're real none-the-less.

[sir guy the seeker]

Today, as I sat in my grandmother's home at the table with her while my grandfather went to the bathroom, I posed a question to her. I asked her, "Nan... do you believe in ghosts?". Her quick reply was a sharp "No. There's no such thing. Do you?" "Yes. I do." "No, there's no such thing..."

Why do people not believe in ghosts, especially when there's nothing to prove that they don't exist? There are plenty of stories out there surrounding the phenomena, it's rather difficult to say that something isn't going on. You know? So what do you think about it?

What do you think when people say "There's no such thing."? Do you ask them why they think that? If I ask them why they think that way, the reply is "Because I haven't seen one."

Chances are, they haven't seen a red blood cell either, except on television in a photograph. I guess because they haven't actually SEEN one first-hand, it doesn't exist. That logic doesn't really make much sense.

Do you believe in ghosts? Why/why not?

Yes i believe in ghosts, or rather in paranormal activity having experienced it first hand. I think the most important question to me is what are ghosts? There is nothing to prove without doubt that they are spirits of the dead, psychic imprints, or some other discarnate entity. There is of course the part that imagination and hallucinations or simple misunderstandings play and there is also downright ignorance of normal explanations. But this can not account for every report or sighting of 'ghosts'. So for me yes I do believe in ghosts whatever it is that they may be.