One in five Britons insist their home is haunted

[Eldorado]

A fifth of Britons insist their house is haunted - while one in 20 believe there is a ghostly presence in their workplace, according to a new study.

As many as seven in ten (69 per cent) people admit they believe ghosts, spirits and apparitions are real, and not just figments of our imagination.

Four in ten (38 per cent) are convinced they have seen something paranormal that unnerved them, but over half (51 per cent) insist the presence was friendly.

UK Mirror article at MSN

[+ouija ouija]

'A fifth of Britons insist their house is haunted - while one in twenty believe there is a ghostly presence in their workplace' ?! What a load of nonsense! In my entire life I have only met one person who said their house was haunted.

[papageorge1]

24 minutes ago, Eldorado said:

 

As many as seven in ten (69 per cent) people admit they believe ghosts, spirits and apparitions are real, and not just figments of our imagination.

 

I wonder what the percentage is for the regular contributors to this forum? I bet it's much lower here.

[Saru]

That does seem like a surprisingly high percentage - I would have thought it to be exceedingly rare for someone to consider their own home haunted.

[pellinore]

21 minutes ago, ouija ouija said:

'A fifth of Britons insist their house is haunted - while one in twenty believe there is a ghostly presence in their workplace' ?! What a load of nonsense! In my entire life I have only met one person who said their house was haunted.

The survey was commissioned by a film company to promote a new TV series: 'The survey of 2,000 Brits was commissioned by Paramount+ to celebrate the launch of new supernatural thriller The Burning Girls which is available to watch now.'

It is possible it was not as rigorous in its methodology to ensure impartiality as most surveys try to be.

 

[pellinore]

31 minutes ago, Saru said:

That does seem like a surprisingly high percentage - I would have thought it to be exceedingly rare for someone to consider their own home haunted.

I agree, but I read some time ago that in the US a suggestion your house is haunted can bump up the price. I just had a quick search and found the same applies in the UK: Hauntings can increase the value of your home by £50k - Mirror Online

Edited October 29, 2023 by pellinore

[Eldorado]

This statistic shows the share of British adults who believe in ghosts, ghouls or other types of paranormal activity in 2017, by age group. Of respondents, those aged between 18 and 34 were the most likely to believe in paranormal activity at 39 percent, the most of any age cohort.

https://www.statista.com/statistics/935178/paranormal-beliefs-in-britain/

In a 2021 poll of 1,000 American adults, 41% said they believe in ghosts, and 20% said they had personally experienced them.

https://www.sciencealert.com/millions-of-americans-believe-in-ghosts-an-expert-reveals-why

Edited October 29, 2023 by Eldorado

[openozy]

3 hours ago, ouija ouija said:

'A fifth of Britons insist their house is haunted - while one in twenty believe there is a ghostly presence in their workplace' ?! What a load of nonsense! In my entire life I have only met one person who said their house was haunted.

You have to remember most people wouldn't talk about it in conversation for obvious reasons.

[Hankenhunter]

The more history (bad) a place has, the the better it's chances of being haunted. Britain is very old.

Edited October 30, 2023 by Hankenhunter

[Hankenhunter]

3 hours ago, openozy said:

You have to remember most people wouldn't talk about it in conversation for obvious reasons.

Yup, the fastest way to lose friends is to tell them your house is haunted, and you've seen the ghost.

[openozy]

22 minutes ago, Hankenhunter said:

Yup, the fastest way to lose friends is to tell them your house is haunted, and you've seen the ghost.

You can't blame people, it's hard enough accepting it yourself. Even best friends and family usually have a smirk so I keep it to myself these days.

[openozy]

Empty houses, even if brand new, seem to attract entities to set up home. The longer they are empty the longer it takes to evict whatever it is when you move in. I've yet to see an empty house that has nothing paranormal in it.

[esoteric_toad]

Seems it would be an easy no-brainer to prove the existence of ghosts and other paranormal things if 20 percent of your homes were haunted. With all those places being affected you should have tons of scientific data to study.

 

 

I wonder why they aren't studying it?

[papageorge1]

2 hours ago, esoteric_toad said:

Seems it would be an easy no-brainer to prove the existence of ghosts and other paranormal things if 20 percent of your homes were haunted. With all those places being affected you should have tons of scientific data to study.

 

 

I wonder why they aren't studying it?

The studiers are called ghost investigators. And they do find things they can't explain normally. And then the skeptics will call them quacks or hoaxers. And the game just goes on.

[Cho Jinn]

3 hours ago, papageorge1 said:

The studiers are called ghost investigators. And they do find things they can't explain normally. And then the skeptics will call them quacks or hoaxers. And the game just goes on.

So you're saying most skeptics are cowards, then.  That a typical skeptic is not only jealous of the experiences of others, which reflects on the unremarkable and pedestrian nature of the skeptic's own life, but has no choice but to manufacture a subjective threshold of persuasion as a proxy for authority on the subject.  In other words, you're saying that not content with simply agreeing that something cannot be explained, the typical skeptic clings desperately - think Dr. No trying to get out of the boiling water in the eponymous 1962 film - to preposterous explanations with a straight face, looking around for others to de-clutch their pillows and nervously nod in assent.  I tend to agree!

[XenoFish]

4 hours ago, papageorge1 said:

And then the skeptics will call them quacks or hoaxers.

Some of us skeptics actually did ghost hunting among other things. 

[Antigonos]

15 hours ago, Hankenhunter said:

The more history (bad) a place has, the the better it's chances of being haunted. Britain is very old.

The entire British Isles.

England, Wales, Ireland and Scotland all have such complex, rich histories and they each have centuries worth of their own unique supernatural and paranormal traditions. Most of my favorite stories and books on hauntings are connected to the British Isles.

[Antigonos]

4 minutes ago, XenoFish said:

Some of us skeptics actually did ghost hunting among other things. 

A revealing comment from PG.

In other threads when called out on his gullibility and lack of critical thinking he claims to approach the supernatural with a skeptic’s attitude.

[XenoFish]

4 hours ago, papageorge1 said:

The studiers are called ghost investigators. And they do find things they can't explain normally. And then the skeptics will call them quacks or hoaxers. And the game just goes on.

The hoaxers and frauds are who ruined any actual research into the paranormal and supernatural. When reasonable explanations are found it's the believers that deny it. 

[XenoFish]

1 minute ago, Antigonos said:

A revealing comment from PG.

In other threads when called out on his gullibility and lack of critical thinking he claims to approach the supernatural with a skeptic’s attitude.

I've seen that before. He's even supported known hoaxes. It was a recent thread too.

[papageorge1]

48 minutes ago, XenoFish said:

 When reasonable explanations are found it's the believers that deny it. 

Of course that will come down to a subjective opinion on likelihood. One must remain as fair and neutral as possible,

Edited October 30, 2023 by papageorge1

[papageorge1]

51 minutes ago, Antigonos said:

his gullibility and lack of critical thinking 

Sounds like just a subjective allegation about the good PG?

[XenoFish]

4 minutes ago, papageorge1 said:

Of course that will come down to a subjective opinion on likelihood. One must remain as fair and neutral as possible,

Then stop with the papa-meter. Look critically at all stories and claims. Because you'll find most are just stories. 

[Antigonos]

15 minutes ago, papageorge1 said:

Sounds like just a subjective allegation about the good PG?

No. An objective observation. You claim you approach these subjects with a skeptical neutral attitude, but your posts don’t reflect that.

Again, PG, nothing personal. It’s just what I see. 

When your default position  is always that something is supernatural, even easily proven hoaxes, you come off as credulous.

 

 

 

 

Edited October 30, 2023 by Antigonos

[papageorge1]

Just now, Antigonos said:

No. An objective observation. You claim you approach these subjects with a skeptical neutral attitude, but your posts don’t reflect that.

Again, PG, nothing personal. It’s just what I see. 

 

 

 

 

And what I see is an unfair characterization of PG from one too negative to the likelihood of the paranormal in many cases. Nothing personal. Who's right? We are each our own judge on that one.