Anyone seen a Ghost?

[Daryl17]

Does anyone here claim to have seen a ghost? Ive read CJ's story so he need not reply, but if so, what time was it, what did you see and what was the clarity of the supposed figure?

[Darat]

Yes - several times.

Bright daylight, in the middle of the street and the ghost was as solid and clear looking as all the other people on the street.

[Darat]

Perhaps I should add that this ghost was the ghost of my grandmother and I saw her ghost several times in the months following her death but the appearances gradually tapered off and I haven't seen her ghost for 20 years or so.

[Big Les]

Only the other day, I was driving home in a hurry, and this spirit figure suddenly appeared in front of the car, flying up over the windscreen. The next day there it was in the newspaper; there had been a fatal road accident that same night...

[Paul C. Anagnostopoulos]

I have never seen anything I would call a ghost.

~~ Paul

[Daryl17]

Only the other day, I was driving home in a hurry, and this spirit figure suddenly appeared in front of the car, flying up over the windscreen. The next day there it was in the newspaper; there had been a fatal road accident that same night...
Really?

[Lisa Simpson]

I thought I once "sensed" a ghost. My uncle smoked cigars and not long after his death, I smelled his cigars in my house. No one ever smoked in our house, so I thought it must be his ghost coming to visit. Years later I realized it was probably smoke from our neighbor's house, drifting into ours. They smoked those sweet-smelling cigarettes.

[Boo]

I have heard and felt things that, at the time, I thought were ghosts. I have heard the sound of foot steps when no one else was in the building, the sound of a baby crying on the empty floor of a hospital, and various other noises that were associated with alleged hauntings of places. I have felt what I thought were cold spots or the sensation of some one touching me when alone in a room.

Looking back I cann see how I was primed to hear and feel these things. I believed that it was real and my mind accomodated that belief.

As for actually seeing ghosts, I have looked up and seen things out of the corner of my eye or seen people that I knew to be deceased.

Now, when I see movement out of the corner of my eye I no longer believe it is a ghost. When I see someone I know to be dead, I realize my mind is transferring the image of that person on to someone of similar build and appearance.




Boo

[Big Les]

Really?

Ahem, sorry. That was actually a joke in rather poor taste. Copyright comedian Marc Wootton. Read it through again :o

[billydkid]

Perhaps I should add that this ghost was the ghost of my grandmother and I saw her ghost several times in the months following her death but the appearances gradually tapered off and I haven't seen her ghost for 20 years or so.

Hi Darat. I am curious, did you try/have the chance to interact with her? I have had reliable friends talk about seeing ghosts of relatives. Honestly, I don't know what to make of it.

[Miss Whiplash]

There's a ghost sitting on my website. His name is Sean Manchester. :D

[Darat]

Hi Darat. I am curious, did you try/have the chance to interact with her? I have had reliable friends talk about seeing ghosts of relatives. Honestly, I don't know what to make of it.

No.

I perhaps could be accused of being a tad disingenuous with how I posted about my experiences. I'll provide some more details.

My grandmother was a "little old lady" when she died and at that time the local town was full of other little old ladies who all wore similar clothes, similar hats and the like. I'd grown up seeing my grandmother around town, often bumping into her and often went shopping with her so the middle of town was a very common place for me to spot her.

After she died I would quite often see her, sometimes it would be a moment of heart stopping recognition followed by a realization that it was another little old lady dressed as my grandmother would have been, or sometimes I would think I'd see her in the corner of my eye but when I turned to look she would disappear.

What I experienced was a real phenomena, at moments I was so sure of the recognition that as I said I experienced profound shock and quite often couldn't identify what made me think I'd seen her.

To me this means what I experienced is accurately descibed as "seeing a ghost", however it did not and does not mean that I subscribe to any idea of a "life after death" other then how my grandmother continued to "live" on in my memory, in the thought processes of my mind and so on.

[kitakaze]

I don't think I can say I've seen a ghost but when I was in the third grade I had the most awesome teacher. He was this eccentric old wall-eyed Chinese fellow by the name of Mr. Eng. Whenever we had some spare time and after feigning a little reluctance to our pleading he would freak the crap out of us with incredibly well told ghost stories about him and his brother and deceased grandfather in his thick Chinese accent.

Sometimes one of the other kids would wig out and we'd have to stop but always they'd be pleading with us come the next time. Looking back I can't help but wonder if he would have gotten in hot water with parents or administration were they to find out. Thankfully they didn't and I can be the complete horror buff I am today. Whereever you are Mr. Eng, you rock!

[fuelair]

Anyone seen a Ghost?


Not recently! No, wait a minut.................. Nope - actually, not ever!!

[CLD]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVF_Kx2pJ4Q

My favorite part is the kid using Photoshop who is billed as a "computer expert".

[Foolmewunz]

Anyone seen a Ghost?

Ummm, ..... No!

I'm notorious for not getting the face-name connection right. If my ex-wife walked into the room right now (a woman I've known for 30 years), I'd probably say, "Hmmm, Do I know you? You look rather familiar."
Thus, if there's ever been the spirit of a dear departed one trying to communicate with me, I probably just thought it was another whacko from the pubs, made small talk while trying to remember who he/she was, and then forgot about it.
I'd be the tragic punctuation mark at the end of the Houdini story. Someone finally made it back from the other side, and I didn't recognize 'em!
:spjimlad:

[Minarvia]

When I was 12 I was in my grandma's farm house attic. She used to let me go thru her old boxes of stuff as long as I put it all back when I was done. One day I was holding up to my chest one of her old flapper style dresses. I saw something out of the corner of my eye by the window that looked out to her apple orchard and there was a woman standing there. She looked to be 50 or so. She was wearing some dumpy looking cotton dress with little flowers or something all over it. And she wore weird shoes that sort of reminded me of the boots my grandpa wore when he worked at the railroad but they weren't exactly like that. But they were sort of industrial looking.
She looked as real as you and me. She didn't move towards me but we held eye contact for a good several seconds before I freaked out and tore out of that room. To this day I remember banging my hip against grandma's dresser in her room as I fled the attic. (It later left a huge bruise). Then I ran downstairs to the kitchen. I held onto the stair railings and literally used them to hurl myself down the stairs because just plain running didn't seem fast enough. All the way down I was yelling "grandmagrandmagrandmagrandma!" as loud as I could. She caught me at the bottom of the stairs and when I calmed down I told her I saw a strange woman in her attic. I'll never forget what my grandma then told me. She said, "Pumpkin, she won't hurt you. I've seen her a time or two but she never does or says anything. Maybe she used to live here before your grandpa and me came here."
To this day I don't know if she made that up to comfort me or not. She died the following year so I never could speak to her about it when I was grown up. My mother and aunt and uncles say that if my grandma said she saw her, she probably did. They said that she was always pragmatic and truthful and the idea of ghosts and angels and such paranormal stuff never rattled her. She never professed a belief or disbelief in such things. But this is all just their opinions, of course.
I don't know to this day if I just imagined her because I was looking at old clothes at the time or she was really there. I did go up to her attic numerous times after that hoping to see her again and not freaking out and running, but I never saw her again. I never saw any other such figure in all the years since, and I'm now 40. I still don't know what to make of it. I just consider it an incident that I am glad happened to me, but I won't ever say for sure that I truly saw a ghost that day.

[Trig]

I cannot claim that I have clearly seen a ghost before. However, back in 2006 I did have an experience that left me feeling like I wasn't alone, in a room which I clearly was.

We have a pretty spooky living room, it's in the basement, with jagged stone walls and very old furniture. We used to have a speakerphone that would switch itself on, then make sinister crackling noises whilst the dialtone rapidly increased in volume.

It would only happen when someone was alone too, which made it even scarier for the witness of such an event. I have spoken to friends who lived here about it recently, "remember the freaky speakerphone?" and it sends shivvers down their spines.

But there is a totally reasonable explanation: The phone line must be damaged, and the phone was line powered, meaning it could trigger the phone to behave abnormally.

Next to the phone was an old stained chair, looked like its been there at least 30 years if not more. It's the type of chair you can imagine an old man living and dying in. Maybe thats what triggered off my imagination, I dont know. But a few days later I witnessed something that didn't seem quite right (and I had another friend tell me she saw something similar, and she wont talk about it).

I am not usually a scared person, I can cope with the dark, I am skeptical about ghosts and most paranormal events. However, it was 3 am and I was making a cup of tea before bed. I felt a cold shivver across my back, and one of the doors has a gap in it, so I thought nothing of it. Next thing I know I've seen a dark figure, in a fully illuminated room. The figure was like a silhouette of a person, I could not determine their gender. It was only for a split second, and I've read about hallucinations of dark objects, so I am willing to accept it was all in my mind.

However I never did feel alone until I moved the chair and the phone, the feeling has now gone, and other people feel comfortable there now too.

Maybe it was just a combination of bad environment with some unusual occurances that made me see what I did, or maybe not.

I will never know!

[Porterboy]

I thought I once "sensed" a ghost. My uncle smoked cigars and not long after his death, I smelled his cigars in my house. No one ever smoked in our house, so I thought it must be his ghost coming to visit. Years later I realized it was probably smoke from our neighbor's house, drifting into ours. They smoked those sweet-smelling cigarettes.

Interesting how ofgten smoke is involved in supernatural events, whether disproved or not.

I woke up one night in 1996 to see a small boy kneeling on my bedroom floor as if in prayer. He was translucent and looked like he was made of "smoke". He lifted up into the air and slowly faded away and as he did so he turned and looked at me.

I also so saw three translucent "smoke-like" horses walking through a local park in 1989. I remember also seeing something weird and scarey in my bedroom when I was about 4 years old, but I can't remember clearly.

[Apathia]

I didn't see the ghost, but he switched off the light in the kitchen where I was making my supper.

Old Mr. Wehner (100) was literally on his death bed. He'd been sent home from the hospital to pass away at home as he'd requested of his family four years before. I was his live-in night caregiver. His son's had already been over that day, and the day caregiver/housekeeper had already left for the day. We expected he'd pass away that night, and I was expected to notify his eldest son and hospice as soon as I found he'd "transitioned," so to speak.

I was cooking my supper when the lights flickered. I attributed that to Pacific Gas & Electric, but since I was periodically checking up on him, I went into his room to see if he was still breathing. From the foot of his bed, I though I saw movement, so I went back to the Kitchen.

Shortly after the kitchen ceiling light went out without coming back on. The lamps in the dining room and living room remained on. So, I proceeded to the breaker box in the hallway on the way to Mr. Wehner's room. None of the breakers were tripped. I went from there to the old man's bedside. He had no pulse and his skin was already getting that clammy feel. When I was sure he was dead, I made the phone calls.

Then I wondered again about the lights. I checked the wall switch for the Kitchen light, and it was on off position. I toggled it a few times with the idea that maybe it had been kind of stuck between and then snapped to the off position. The switch, however was firm. It was certainly as if someone had turned that light off. I was the only person in the house aside from Mr. Wehner, and the switch was situated where I'd have certainly seen anyone at it.

Of course, for the record, I don't believe in spirits. I'd sooner think that I had unconsciously switched off that light myself.

The family liked the story, though. What family doesn't want it's own piece of the lore of strange events at the passing of loved ones.

[Minarvia]

I didn't see the ghost, but he switched off the light in the kitchen where I was making my supper.

Old Mr. Wehner (100) was literally on his death bed. He'd been sent home from the hospital to pass away at home as he'd requested of his family four years before. I was his live-in night caregiver. His son's had already been over that day, and the day caregiver/housekeeper had already left for the day. We expected he'd pass away that night, and I was expected to notify his eldest son and hospice as soon as I found he'd "transitioned," so to speak.

I was cooking my supper when the lights flickered. I attributed that to Pacific Gas & Electric, but since I was periodically checking up on him, I went into his room to see if he was still breathing. From the foot of his bed, I though I saw movement, so I went back to the Kitchen.

Shortly after the kitchen ceiling light went out without coming back on. The lamps in the dining room and living room remained on. So, I proceeded to the breaker box in the hallway on the way to Mr. Wehner's room. None of the breakers were tripped. I went from there to the old man's bedside. He had no pulse and his skin was already getting that clammy feel. When I was sure he was dead, I made the phone calls.

Then I wondered again about the lights. I checked the wall switch for the Kitchen light, and it was on off position. I toggled it a few times with the idea that maybe it had been kind of stuck between and then snapped to the off position. The switch, however was firm. It was certainly as if someone had turned that light off. I was the only person in the house aside from Mr. Wehner, and the switch was situated where I'd have certainly seen anyone at it.

Of course, for the record, I don't believe in spirits. I'd sooner think that I had unconsciously switched off that light myself.

The family liked the story, though. What family doesn't want it's own piece of the lore of strange events at the passing of loved ones.

That is a nice story. Thanks for sharing. :)

[jmhite]

When my ailing 12-year-old Collie died of a massive brain seizure, it was a relief that she was out of pain. We kept her body in the house overnight - sort of a wake and I buried her the next afternoon.
On my way to bed that night, as I walked around the corner to the bedroom, I was surprised to see my dog sitting at her usual place on the floor.
I hopped over her to avoid stepping on her, and as I landed and looked back, I could no longer see her.
In my mind's memory, she was as solid and corporeal as anyone I know alive.
I dreamed of her throughout the night. After that, I never saw anything or dreamed of her again.
I cannot be sure of what I saw with my eyes or my emotions - but my memory is of a solid dog.

[buwayahman]

If ever I do come back as a ghost, I am going to communicate in such a way that there is no other explanation---like typing messages on a keyboard.

[DangerousBeliefs]

Claim? No? When I was younger, I could have sworn that I saw and heard my mom in the house. But when I yelled for her later, and then when and looked... I was hope alone.

Now of course, I know that the mind plays tricks... and old houses make their own noises.

[joesixpack]

When I was 12 I was in my grandma's farm house attic...

... I'm now 40. I still don't know what to make of it. I just consider it an incident that I am glad happened to me, but I won't ever say for sure that I truly saw a ghost that day.

Great story. It gave me a bit of a chill there

[joesixpack]

I cannot claim that I have clearly seen a ghost before. However, back in 2006 I did have an experience that left me feeling like I wasn't alone, in a room which I clearly was.

We have a pretty spooky living room, it's in the basement, with jagged stone walls and very old furniture. We used to have a speakerphone that would switch itself on, then make sinister crackling noises whilst the dialtone rapidly increased in volume...

...
I will never know!

Another good story. Ghost stories are always better on sceptic forums. ;-)

Oh, and I have a phone that does the same thing. It never bothered me before, but now I'm sure it'll creep me out later tonight when it does it again.

[Minarvia]

Another good story. Ghost stories are always better on sceptic forums. ;-)

Oh, and I have a phone that does the same thing. It never bothered me before, but now I'm sure it'll creep me out later tonight when it does it again.

Ha! I am now remembering the Twilight Zone where a dead grandma talks to her grandson on a play phone. Creepy episode, that!

[Porterboy]

If ever I do come back as a ghost, I am going to communicate in such a way that there is no other explanation---like typing messages on a keyboard.

Giood idea; if you can! I find it difficult enough to comunicate with some living people!

Houdini did that when he died. He gave his wife a coded message that he promised to pass to her through a psychic, in order to prove to her that his spirit, or whatever, was still in existance and able to contact the living world. His wife always said that he never succeeded. Shame. His failure doesn't prove that his spirit is not still around, but it doesn't prove that it is.

However I've heard of some cases, through personal communication, that have succeeded in passing on information that the receiver says unmistakably identifies the transmitter, but unfortunately it doesn't take the form of prearanged codes. It's a good idea to do this actually. I might set up an arrangement like this myself (Although I hope it will be some years yet before I get to carry it out!). I'll post it here when I think of something.

[Big Les]

Houdini did that when he died. He gave his wife a coded message that he promised to pass to her through a psychic, in order to prove to her that his spirit, or whatever, was still in existance and able to contact the living world. His wife always said that he never succeeded. Shame. His failure doesn't prove that his spirit is not still around, but it doesn't prove that it is.

It does prove that all of the parasitic scum "mediums" who claimed to be contact with his spirit, were lying fakes. Which was the idea.

However I've heard of some cases, through personal communication, that have succeeded in passing on information that the receiver says unmistakably identifies the transmitter, but unfortunately it doesn't take the form of prearanged codes.

Or anything recognisable as evidence, presumably? "A bloke down the pub told me" won't cut it I'm afraid.

[Teetop]

In 1975, a good friend of mine and I made an agreement--we decided that the one of us who died first was to contact the other to prove that life existed after death--he was killed in a motorcycle accident about five years later---I haven't heard from him since.
If he does contact me now-I wonder if he would agree to help me win a million dollars?

[RSLancastr]

No.

Why, is one missing?

[Hindmost]

As always...still need to define what a ghost is and then one can determine if they have seen one...

glenn

[Apathia]

As always...still need to define what a ghost is and then one can determine if they have seen one...

glenn

Hi Glenn,

Have you ever seen anything you thought or felt at the time was a ghost? Not asking you to believe in wee or woo ghosties or a produce a single difinition of what people think are ghosts or a sweeping debunk of ghosts. Just asking if you have an entertianing anecdote to share.
Think entertainment.

I shared my "ghost story," not to prove anything like there are ghosts or I am a purveyor of the paranomal, but just to share the fun.

[Dazed]

In all fairness I feel I should just come right out and tell you. I'm a ghost. Sorry skeptics.

[pmckean]

I've never seen a ghost... well, I had an experience which I can explain fully, but I've written about it here before.

My father was a publican. We lived above the pub. It was the oldest building in the village, buily in 1784, and there were numerous ghost stories about it.

One evening, my father was changing his shirt in the bedroom, getting ready to go on duty. Suddenlym our rather placid terrier freaked out, bared it's teeth and started to growl at a chest of drawers against the wall. My father started at the spot, and told me that suddenly, the chest started to vibrate. It continued this for about 30 seconds. The dog bolted from the room. It stopped.

My dad has never been able to figure it out. As a skeptic, I offered one natural explanation; "an earthquake on the world's smallest tectonic plate".

Other things happened in that spooky hostelry; my father would lock it, last thing in the evening, and open first thing in the morning. One morning he came down the bar to find every glass in the place has been laid out in a row in the bar. On another occasion, a barmaid ventured down to the cellar to change a barrel of ale. She came up quickly, white as a sheet, and talked about a weird white figure she'd encountered down there. That was the last time she talked about it, and she refused to go down again!

All these are anecdotal, of course. Here are my real explanations (forget the tectonic plate one):

1. The vibrating chest of drawers. There DID use to be the occasional earthquake around there. The chest has brass handles which would probably be the only item in the room which would vibrate. Either that or my father is a liar - he loves a good ghost story.

2. The glasses on the bar. Someone locked in overnight, or my father is a liar.

3. The frightened barmaid. She's impressionable, and been listening to my father's silly stories.

[Hindmost]

Hi Glenn,

Have you ever seen anything you thought or felt at the time was a ghost? Not asking you to believe in wee or woo ghosties or a produce a single difinition of what people think are ghosts or a sweeping debunk of ghosts. Just asking if you have an entertianing anecdote to share.
Think entertainment.

I shared my "ghost story," not to prove anything like there are ghosts or I am a purveyor of the paranomal, but just to share the fun.

I am all for sharing fun, but I am really logical...I have posted on several occasions that in order to look for a ghost and find one, one must have an instrument that can measure a ghost's influence in the environment. The instrument must be calibrated...to calibrate an instrument, one must trap a ghost and measure the associated physical effects and then the instrument can. Now...to see a ghost, we use our senses...which use physics and chemistry. So, if I ever see or feel any kind of aparition...I try and figure out what the scientific answer is. I am not trying to prove that ghosts don't exist--proving a negative etc.--However, until someone can catch a ghost and define the parameters that define the ghost...well...I am not going to call in the ghostbusters.

glenn :ghost:

[Apathia]

I am all for sharing fun, but I am really logical...I have posted on several occasions that in order to look for a ghost and find one, one must have an instrument that can measure a ghost's influence in the environment. The instrument must be calibrated...to calibrate an instrument, one must trap a ghost and measure the associated physical effects and then the instrument can. Now...to see a ghost, we use our senses...which use physics and chemistry. So, if I ever see or feel any kind of aparition...I try and figure out what the scientific answer is. I am not trying to prove that ghosts don't exist--proving a negative etc.--However, until someone can catch a ghost and define the parameters that define the ghost...well...I am not going to call in the ghostbusters.

glenn :ghost:

Nothing there I'd take exception to.

Of course this thread is using the term "ghost" very loosely and without a clearcut deffinition. Accordingly, no one here has seen a ghost as can be determined according to your standard.

"Ghost" here is more what you'd get with the question: "Has anyone seen a UFO?"
Well, someone saw something they couldn't identify, so it was an Unidentified Flying Object. Oh, do you mean ET Spaceship? Well, someone may have seen something they thought at the time was such, or thought could have been such, or was something others might think of as such.
Basically people are playing with the ghost thing here and their experinces that would be called ghostly by many.

I don't begrudge you point. It's just that for a moment there was a thread where we skeptics who don't believe in the paranorma could tell our own ghost stories without it being assumed we were woo or needing a remineder that this is a sceptic forum.

[Soapy Sam]

Several stories here suggest that memory plays us false. Darat's gran and the sleeping dog in particular. We see what we expect to see.

I once spent an evening in a toasty warm room beside a heater. Only at the end of the evening did I realise I had failed to plug it in and the room was in fact quite cold. Was this ghost heat- or just my imagination ?

Alone at home in my early teens I finally realised the footsteps I kept hearing upstairs were vibrations due to trucks hitting a pothole on the main road nearby.

I used to get the shivers- suddenly the room would become chilled. I'd shiver and get goose pimples. I finally realised I was doing it myself. I still can , if it's not too warm and I really put my mind to it. Now, when I hear of a room becoming "freezing cold" suddenly, I ask if there was condensation on the window. Did it freeze?

When we know it's a trick , being scared can be fun. It's when we're not expecting it that we get a fright and convince ourselves there really was something there.

I still get spooked sometimes , alone in a dark house. It's a very natural feeling. Is there a malign awareness there? Sure is. He's sitting in my head, laughing at me.

[Hindmost]

Nothing there I'd take exception to.

Of course this thread is using the term "ghost" very loosely and without a clearcut deffinition. Accordingly, no one here has seen a ghost as can be determined according to your standard.

"Ghost" here is more what you'd get with the question: "Has anyone seen a UFO?"
Well, someone saw something they couldn't identify, so it was an Unidentified Flying Object. Oh, do you mean ET Spaceship? Well, someone may have seen something they thought at the time was such, or thought could have been such, or was something others might think of as such.
Basically people are playing with the ghost thing here and their experinces that would be called ghostly by many.

I don't begrudge you point. It's just that for a moment there was a thread where we skeptics who don't believe in the paranorma could tell our own ghost stories without it being assumed we were woo or needing a remineder that this is a sceptic forum.

Well, in that case, my high school chemistry teacher must have been a ghost...always spooky and creeped me out.

I suppose I took it all too serious...just the way the OP looked to me. Now, I have seen what I thought was a UFO, however, it was most likely a small meteor.

Something that has happened to a couple of people I know: After a significant person died in their lives, each had a dream they considered more vivid than typical. In each case the person that recently passed appeared at the end of the bed and indicated that everything was OK. Three separate people relayed the same dream independently.

glenn

[Minarvia]

Nothing there I'd take exception to.

I don't begrudge you point. It's just that for a moment there was a thread where we skeptics who don't believe in the paranorma could tell our own ghost stories without it being assumed we were woo or needing a remineder that this is a sceptic forum.

My thoughts exactly. It is just sharing an odd experience or two. My own experience was most likely just a fantasy of a grandmother type because I was playing with my Grandma's clothes. It was still creepy, tho, as I was only twelve and still recall the gigantic purple bruise I got as a result of running like heck from that room. Like I said, I don't profess that the strange figure was a ghost, but I'm still glad I had that odd experience. I once told a friend that story and he laughed and said that my description of her reminded him old that old taunt "your Grandma wears army boots!"

[RemieV]

I think I've told mine before... perhaps more than once, even :)

Ah well, here goes again...

So, one day, when I was around sixteen, I got home from school and felt incredibly exhausted. I went upstairs to my room to take a nap, but once I got there, I couldn't fall asleep.

I lay in bed, tossing and turning for quite some time.

Then I rolled onto my back and looked up, and there was a man sitting on the ceiling as though it was the floor.

This was in broad daylight, mind you. No tricksy shadows or anything. Just a man sitting on the ceiling.

I very nearly had a heart attack as I yanked the cover up over my head.

I stayed that way for a while, refusing to look at the ceiling. Eventually, though, I peeked and nothing was there.

Relief.

Until I heard a rustle from under the bed, and looked over the side just as a foot was disappearing underneath.

Now, that's pretty darn convincing. And I remained convinced for some time.

Two years later, when I was in college, I came in from class exhausted. I decided to have a nap. It was broad daylight, and light was streaming in through the window.

I lay in bed, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep.

A knock came on the door, and I got up to see who it was. On the way to the door, I tripped over some boxes (my roommate was moving out).

I opened the door and a man was there. I had never seen him before.

He came inside and picked up my alarm clock. As soon as he touched it, the hands began to move backward. He laughed, and left the room.

For both times, I do not remember falling asleep. I do not remember waking.

The experiences had the exact same quality - the exact same feeling.

Only later, I realized that though it was true my roommate was moving out she had not yet begun to pack. There were no boxes. It was a dream.

Since then, I have had several more experiences like those. They were all dreams. They all have the same quality - the feeling of sleepiness, and yet the belief I've yet to fall asleep. The creepy aspect of someone being there who doesn't belong.

It's still scary, but only in a dream way.

[Minarvia]

Wow, Remie. That foot going under the bed would have caused me to NEVER hang a limb over the side of the bed at night ever again!
When I've dreamed/hallucinated it's always been something silly like seeing a red ball rolling along the floor or something equally harmless. I'm glad I never saw a stranger. That would creep anyone out, I think.

[RSLancastr]

My father was a publican.I first read that as "pelican." :confused:

("Publican" is not a word Americans see or hear very often.)

[Soapy Sam]

RemieV- Those sound very like the hypnogogic / hypnopompic dreams associated with sleep paralysis, but without the scary inability to move and associated physical sensations. Typically, they involve the immediate (real) environment, because we are actually aware enough to be taking in some real data. (Your eyes were probably open ). Immensely confusing, because the real sensory data are mixed into a dream as the brain tries to make sense of what's going on. Very disturbing. Alone in a strange room, in the dark... woooooooo!

[Apathia]

.just the way the OP looked to me.

glenn

Once in a while we do get a new blood who doesn't realize this is a skeptical site. I remember one who related his tale about a spirit summoned from a ouija board, who got quite shocked when nobody was giving him the You Had A Genuine Psychic Experience thumbs up.

I saw a so-called "ghost" in my teens. I didn't think what I saw then at that time was the reputed ghost. It still seems to me it was just someone with a flashlight.

There used to be a stretch of rarely used railroad in between two towns in North Carolina: Maco and Leland. Locals cliamed a light that moved misteriously along the tracks. Some told of sightings of a ghost train. My cousin, who lived on the Leland side, claimed he and a buddy had camped out one night by the side of the tracks and had been chased by the thing.

On a vist he suggested we go to the tracks. I thought it would be a fun adventure, but i didn't expect to see anything myself. As it turned out we weren't the only ghost seekers. There were a number of people there that evening awaiting a glimpse of what had become a nationnaly know mystery spot thanks to a "Ghost Hunter" named Hans Holzer. A year or so later there was even a story about it in Boy's Life Magazine (A mag for Boy Scouts. I w3as one at the time.)

As we were walking down the tracks toward a crossing, I saw ahead at the crossing a bobbing bit of light. My cousin siad it was the ghost. I told him it looked more to me like someone was at the crossing with a flahlight or lantern. But he insisted that it was the ghost, and that we needed to turn back. So that was the deal, and I didn't buy it.

Holzer and ilk claimed the ball of light was the ghost of a 19th century railman named Joe Baldwin, who was decapitated when he fell from a train.
It made a good local legend: Joe Baldwin walking the tracks in search of his head.

The other seansationalist viewpoint was that it was ball lighting. There was a story that the University (Reine) had determined there was iron ore under the tracks. A train, it was said, would create static electricity between the tracks and the iron beneath, causing ball lighting to emerge.

At the time I was more impressed by that explanation than the severed head.
Now I just chalk it all up to human nature and its power to see wierd stuff, especially when it's suggested that you can and will.

Heck, I wonder if I ever actually saw the what I thought was just some flashlight.

[Minarvia]

RemieV- Those sound very like the hypnogogic / hypnopompic dreams associated with sleep paralysis, but without the scary inability to move and associated physical sensations. Typically, they involve the immediate (real) environment, because we are actually aware enough to be taking in some real data. (Your eyes were probably open ). Immensely confusing, because the real sensory data are mixed into a dream as the brain tries to make sense of what's going on. Very disturbing. Alone in a strange room, in the dark... woooooooo!

Exactly! Once I was falliing asleep in class and I saw the teacher walk up to the blackboard and start tossing grapefruit at it! I then had the "head snap" thing happen where you shake yourself awake and realized I was hallucinating. Teacher was at his desk, and no grapefruit were in site. :)

[Porterboy]

It does prove that all of the parasitic scum "mediums" who claimed to be contact with his spirit, were lying fakes. Which was the idea.



Or anything recognisable as evidence, presumably? "A bloke down the pub told me" won't cut it I'm afraid.


That's OK; it's not my intention to "cut it".

As for proving mediums are fake: Some have been proven like Peter Popoff, and M Lamar Keene was self-confessed, but if you say: "There's no evidence that we can contact the dead, all psychic powers can be repoduced using magic tricks, therefore it's most likely that all mediums are fake" then a court would call that circumstantial evidence.

To prove someone of being fake then you'll need to gather positive evidence that they are lying, like James Randi did with that creep Popoff. If you can't do that then all you can say is that it's very likely that all mediums are fake.

[Big Les]

That's OK; it's not my intention to "cut it".

Fair enough.


As for proving mediums are fake: Some have been proven like Peter Popoff, and M Lamar Keene was self-confessed, but if you say: "There's no evidence that we can contact the dead, all psychic powers can be repoduced using magic tricks, therefore it's most likely that all mediums are fake" then a court would call that circumstantial evidence.

To prove someone of being fake then you'll need to gather positive evidence that they are lying, like James Randi did with that creep Popoff. If you can't do that then all you can say is that it's very likely that all mediums are fake.

Well, in an ideal world, the burden of proof would be upon the psychic to prove that they weren't fake. The Fraudulent Mediums Act ought to be applicable to any of the so-called psychics selling their non-existent services in the UK today. Sadly, the only cases that seem to make it to court are centred around defamation, effectively reversing the burden of proof and making your negative evidence thing very relevant. Outside of that context though, those claiming psychic powers should be the ones providing evidence.

That said, I find it particularly satisfying when psychics are conclusively proven fake, as it mean that even within the "bubble" of reality that their fans (and sometimes themselves) occupy, they're busted. And yet, they still make comebacks from this, e.g. Colin "Trumpet Boy" Fry or Derek "Kafer" Acorah. If people want to believe, there's little to be done. But the psychics shouldn't be able to get away with their claims without evidence. Which as we know after 100+ years of study, is sadly lacking.

[Cuddles]

I've seen ghosts quite a few times, almost always when I've just woken up. For some reason best known to themselves they always appear in the same place I've hung my coat or dumped some clothes. I've even tried to hit one because it looked like it was leaning over me in bed. I now have a dent in my wall. The moral of the story is, hang your coat somewhere you can't see when you're half asleep, otherwise it really hurts.

[Porterboy]

Fair enough.



Well, in an ideal world, the burden of proof would be upon the psychic to prove that they weren't fake. The Fraudulent Mediums Act ought to be applicable to any of the so-called psychics selling their non-existent services in the UK today. Sadly, the only cases that seem to make it to court are centred around defamation, effectively reversing the burden of proof and making your negative evidence thing very relevant. Outside of that context though, those claiming psychic powers should be the ones providing evidence.

That said, I find it particularly satisfying when psychics are conclusively proven fake, as it mean that even within the "bubble" of reality that their fans (and sometimes themselves) occupy, they're busted. And yet, they still make comebacks from this, e.g. Colin "Trumpet Boy" Fry or Derek "Kafer" Acorah. If people want to believe, there's little to be done. But the psychics shouldn't be able to get away with their claims without evidence. Which as we know after 100+ years of study, is sadly lacking.

The question of whether psychics should be forcibly stopped by law was one we addressed a few days ago on the Religion board. As I said at the time, I think it's down to the individual to choose what to believe, so long as they've been given all the information and heard both sides of the story.

[Big Les]

The question of whether psychics should be forcibly stopped by law was one we addressed a few days ago on the Religion board. As I said at the time, I think it's down to the individual to choose what to believe, so long as they've been given all the information and heard both sides of the story.

Can't argue with that. The difficulty comes in defining when a given prospective client has actually got "all the information". Which I suppose is why us sceptics will keep banging on. :)

[Porterboy]

Can't argue with that. The difficulty comes in defining when a given prospective client has actually got "all the information". Which I suppose is why us sceptics will keep banging on. :)

I guess so. You'd be surprised how many Woos actually do look at the alternative point of view. We're not all the poor maliable saps that M Lamar Keene used to fleece out of their life-savings. I'm not a dedicated Spiritualist, but I do take an interest in the subject, and even some of the more involved members of my church get involved in discussion groups etc.

[Evolved Wookie]

Oops...wrong place...