#TOTW Ghosts – do they exist?

Had a few things “fly about” in our house that I can’t explain. Kids toy that we were looking for thrown in from another room that had nobody in it. Wooden spoon took off and hit the dining room window. Smoke alarm fell off ceiling, bounced down a step, hit a wall that had been taken out in the 1930s then bounced back up the step and finally came to rest about 15ft away, which is not a bad bit of rolling when you consider that it is square.

Mechanical doping in the haunted cottage industry is widespread.

I don’t doubt that.  To be fair we had no knowledge of any alleged ‘ghosts’ until reading the visitors book.

I find birds roosting in the eves, particularly in the conservatory can sound like people moving around. Especially in the hour before sunrise. I think they’re testing their wings before they leave the roost.Ive also had rats climbing the ivy and nesting in the insulation in the attic in the past.
Everything sounds a lot louder at night.

I had a fright the other evening. We’re sitting in bed setting our alarms and hear a phone notification beep from the landing. I’m holding my phone my wife’s holding her phone. I think we have an intruder, my wife thinks I’m having an affair and have a second phone.. so I’m having a whispering argument and looking for somthing heavy, I start creeping around the bed rooms and there on my youngest’s bed-side she’s found an old Samsung tablet and turned it on FFS.

When i first moved to London i had a flat in Walthamstow and pretty much every Saturday morning you would hear a running across the hallway and landing into the flat above. Fine. The only problem with this was that the guy live in SA for 10 months of the year! When i caught up with him, he told me that before moving to SA he often heard a child laughing in the hallway and none of the residents had kids!

Read into that what you will.

There’s definitely something other than this life, history is full of stories and strange accounts and i would LOVE for them to exist but other than the above i’ve bot had any experiences at all (sadly!).

But, no, they’re always ‘found’ in some farmhouse or pub in the arse-end of nowhere

I met someone who was apparently sensitive to ghosts and whatnot and did have to express suprise they lived where they did. Since it was very close to the former town gallows and either directly on top of a vicious bit of a battle in medieval times or close to it.

Why is it that an ephemeral “being” which can pass through walls has such a heavy footfall?

Have you not seen Ghost?

Forgot the best one!

When my daughter was 3 or 4 she used to talk to the “dust people”. Once when my wife asked where they were she got the reply “They’re right here”.

There’s definitely something other than this life

I know what you’re trying to say but we can only use our limited senses to detect things and have spent the last few thousand years detuning those senses. Plenty of animals have senses that work in a different way to ours in terms of seeing or hearing different wavelengths, echo location, detecting scents, using magnetism, electricity, all sorts. Animals do all sorts of fantastic things that we have yet to explain. The moon exerts enough force on our planet to move water and causes changes in the behaviour of living things, yet we can’t even explain gravity properly. Animals can detect earthquakes in advance, etc.

We see or feel something we can’t explain, shrug our shoulders and say ‘ghosts’.

Somebody else mentioned it on the previous page, but Uncanny on BBC Sounds is a good series. I’m not a believer myself, but I do love a ghost story. There’s a septic on every episode who they go to a few times in each story to get possible explanations for what’s been going on. It’s just a good fun listen. Even had it’s own hashtag #BloodyHellKen trending for a bit after the stories from the Belfast Student Halls. 😀

Only had one incident. Very very unnerving.

Theres been a number of reported poltergeist incidents, but I think thats connected with teenagers due to the natural energy that exists in them when young.

There was the case of the Rutherglen poltergeist, witnessed by policemen, senior officers at a loss to find an explanation. the case of that bothy ,in another thread recently 😕

Theres a 1949 documentary film called Le Sang des bêtes (Blood of the beasts)- Which I’d advise people dont watch as its extremely graphic and distressing, though in black and white – Amongst other horrific sights,it shows headless calves in the French veal trade, without half their legs or heads, totally bled, running (While strapped upside down) hard, and there’s no brain signal being fed to the limbs, so the only explanation is some sort of energy that exists in the limbs made they act so.

Again, dont watch as you’ll either throw up or have nightmares for weeks. I’ve only seen it as it was part of the meat trade when I worked in it.

So an energy can exist, but as to spirits of actual people I dont think thats it. More for want of another term- memory of what has been left in the area.

And anyway, who says that this ‘Universe’ is all that there is?

Oh, sure. The notion of atoms dates back to Ancient Greek philosophers; it was, what, the 1980s before we actually saw one. It would be arrogant in the extreme to say with absolute certainty that we have an absolute understanding of all there is.

But to borrow a quote myself: In response to “Science doesn’t know everything” – “Yes, but Science knows it doesn’t know everything; otherwise, it’d stop. But just because science doesn’t know everything doesn’t mean you can fill in the gaps with whatever fairy tale most appeals to you.”

On one of my rides I am often startled by the seeming appearance of an almost spectre like man standing next to the trail half way up a climb .

It is a fairly shady wood . A certain broken tree when the sun is late in the day makes it appear that a person is standing there at the edge of your view, as you turn a corner into the climb. The mind is incredibly good at filling in blanks as has been mentioned.

Even though I’m aware of it, I’m often caugh by the surprise.

My father recounts a tale of his early days in the RAF when a gateguard spitfire suddenly started and 20 officers and men watched as the prop turned and flames came from the exhaust. So what? The spitfire had been decommissioned for 20 years at the time and it’s canopy sealed shut with screws. Mass hallucination? Some one playing a prank? Ghostly airplanes?

someone somewhere knows foshure

1. There aren’t any ghosts.
2. If there are footsteps in the house at night, I’d rather it be a ghost than not a ghost.

I’ve seen loads of ghosts or spirits or ‘energies’ or whatever you want to call them, but I was under the influence of either ayahuasca, peyote or psilocybin when it happened.
Feels very real at the time though.

So the ghostly spitfire…
What your saying is that the ghost was that of a mechanic and who had fixed the engine, refuelled the plane and wanted to fly again?
Or possibly that the story was a load of bollocks to begin with and over time is greatly elaborated upon?
I could imagine a bored RAF bod on guard, freezing cold, being RAF they’re coming towards the end of the 1 hour on stag and his mind wandered. Then overtime this gets exaggerated to 20 officers had seen it.
If this was true it would be fairly widely known.
Be good to know the camp this occurred on.

Not that I’m a sceptic or anything….

When my daughter was 3 or 4 she used to talk to the “dust people”. Once when my wife asked where they were she got the reply “They’re right here”.

Maybe she was hinting to your wife that she needed to do some dusting.

Only if you believe. But some exist anyway and they have metal teeth and attack if you disturb them at night. Free free to share this with your wife

🙂

Is it the ghost of Richard Kiel?

Pretty obvious to me that we are all living in a simulation.

Statistically, we probably are.

Probably a glitch in the Matrix then.

they definitely exist 😉

40 Instances Of ‘Glitch In The Matrix’ In Real Life That Freaked Us Out

And they’re in the fridge too….

Do Ghosts exist?

yes, insomuch that it possible for physical and physiological reactions to an external stimulus that will make a ghost in your perception that is as real as anything else we see or feel.

Its already been proven in laboratory environments that high EMF can cause feelings of being touched, watched and general paranoia that “something” is about to get you. Similarly it is proven that infra sound can cause a response in humans including if its around 20Hz, oscillation of the optic nerve which can cause ghost like images to be perceived. Its amazing how many historical ghosts are grey/white ladies that are seen at the ends of long corridors when its stormy (great conditions to get wind blowing along the windows and creating infra sound) Same has been found in the Edinburgh Vaults (another area supposedly rife with spooks and spectres)

I also think its possible that in times of extreme stress we can leave an energy imprinted in certain areas that can be picked up by others for a short time after (which may explain battle field ghosts that were reported as full battle sounds hundreds of years ago and now a mere faint sword clash and “oooo arrghhhh eeeee”

Do I think that your great aunty maude is visiting and watching you have sexytime and commenting on your performance and technique….erm…no

envrionmetal appraisal of “haunted houses”

as part of my job we were looking at environmental sound issues from and industrial source, as well as normal noise complaint stuff we found 18.5-20Hz cycles from an air handling unit fan causing windows to move and latches to rattle on an old farmhouse about half a mile away.

So the ghostly spitfire…

So I think this would’ve been RAF Little Rissington* (I know it was it Gloucestershire and early 60’s flying school) It was Xmas, and the Guard on stag came into the Mess in something of a lather, and told all the officers present to come outside. My dad being one of them. He admits he was half-cut at the time. Other’s weren’t apparently. I would imagine it’s been exaggerated over time.

* strangely or not…there was a recorded UFO sighting here as well.

We see or feel something we can’t explain, shrug our shoulders and say ‘ghosts’.

That’s why I asked OP to define ‘ghost’.

Otherwise ‘ghosts’ are every kind of everything, both explained (ie pigeons), unexplained yet possibly fanciful (ie ‘dust people’?) and in-betweeny stuff ie Persinger’s ‘ interhemispheric intrusions’ vs subject suggestibility. The word ‘term inexplicable’ is also wrongly used to denote ‘unexplained’ phenomena.

I suppose that much remains ‘inexplicable’ simply by virtue of the fact that the moment has passed and the phenomenon was merely a momentary combination /happenstance of everyday events/forces, and so likely not repeatable/able to be recreated without prior knowledge of the actual combination.

As for ‘ghost’? Definition of?

The old English word ‘grima’ is especially interesting in so much as it defines both ‘masked, hidden, helmet, visor etc and also ‘ghost, spectre, etc’.

I used to live near a place that is listed in The Domesday Record as ‘Grimanlea’. The woods near there do (IME) have a certain ‘eerie quality’ to them, but I put it down to the quietness and stillness of the place, the topography of which is unusually sheltered from any winds all-year round, and the silently-running river nearby seems to further muffle any sounds.

No.

It’s a simple way for people to try and explain something they can’t understand.

Ooooh! I felt a draft and a baby giggled. Must be a ghost.

It was Xmas, and the Guard on stag came into the Mess in something of a lather, and told all the officers present to come outside.

Xmas? I would be voting for a prank if it wasnt completely made up? Having a guard go to the officers mess seems a bit suspect for starters.

If only we could issue everyone with cameras they carried round most of the time we’d get documented proof of all these incidents. Pics and recordings of ghosts, bigfoot, flying saucers, aliens, nessie etc also. Yep, that’d solve it.

I’m a qualified scientist.

There could be lots of strange things causing strange noises in the night that we don’t know about. However I would say that ghosts would be significantly less likely than other things.

What are those other things? I don’t know, I haven’t got any data, and I haven’t done any investigation 🙂

So what? The spitfire had been decommissioned for 20 years at the time and it’s canopy sealed shut with screws. Mass hallucination? Some one playing a prank? Ghostly airplanes?

Yeah my grandparents made up stories too.

Ghosts, phantoms, etc. may in principle exist in our world, but in a different form that we are not used to seeing.
Because a person’s consciousness, his soul and energy, cannot just disappear after his death.
It all materializes into another form that we may not see or hear, it could be a transition into a fourth dimension that overlaps with ours, and since we live in the third, we cannot be aware of the fourth.
I think in the future we will know the exact answer to this question, as well as to the question about life after death

I didn’t have to flush the toilet once.

Does that count?

Because a person’s consciousness, his soul and energy, cannot just disappear after his death.

I get that you feel confident for whatever reason to make such a claim, but is it a reasonable claim? What evidence do you have? And if you’ve solved the final mysteries of consciousness then great fame and fortune awaiting you. Such evidence might also great comfort to those who fear death/grieve for loved ones?

to be fair, my energy’s disappeared

This thread reminds me that this is the 9th anniversary of me posting this:

Spooky/strange encounters.

‘I may have told this one before.

20 years ago. December, cold and dark outside. At mum and dads. Fell asleep in my old room in the attic, woke up about half 5 with my mum calling me down for dinner.

Went down the stairs, was about to turn left into the kitchen, glanced left, there’s my dad standing in the living room doorway,facing away from me, staring into the room. Something odd about the way he was standing made me pause for a minute and stare. Couldn’t place it somehow, like he was looking at something terrible on the TV.

Turned and went into the kitchen, there’s dad eating his dinner- turned around- no figure in the living room doorway any more.
A little shocked, I mention it to mum and dad- dad looks surprised- mum doesn’t. Claims she’s been seeing a male figure around the house for years (not my dad).

18 months later and we’re waiting for the undertakers to set up my brother’s coffin in the living room after his death 2 days before in a motorbike accident. They leave, closing the living room door discreetly and leaving us to it.

We’re all in the kitchen, and dad takes the first step. He walks to the living room door, opens it, but stands there, unable to continue. I’m a few steps behind, and walk past him. As I do so, crapping my pants, I think- where and when did I seen him standing like that before?’

Still no idea what this was. Time travel, parallel universes, mere coincidence?

Don’t know about ghosts, but I think there’s definitely something. I have a few family members that are rather spiritual. I’ve been chatting to a nephew about a happy memories of a recently deceased grandparent, when he suddenly stopped, went as white as a, ahem, ghost. When I asked if he was OK, he replied that Grandad had just entered the room…. (Grandad was smiling and looked very pleased that we were having such a lovely chat about him)

My other story is from about 30 years ago. At the time, my family (Mum, Dad, Big Sis, Me, Little Sis) lived in a old farmhouse. We went to the Isle of Wight for a long weekend, with the elder sisters boyfriend house sitting for us.
On a phone call to Elder Sis, he stopped talking and said “hold on, younger sister is calling me and wants me to hear her play the recorder” – even though she was in the Isle of Wight with us. He never spent another night in the house on his own!

I’d like to think there is something; I follow an end of life nurse on Insta (hospicenursejulie) that has some lovely stories of death and dying people. Worth a look if you are on Instagram.