So, who here actually...

[Diznygrl]

No, I don't believe in ghosts. I believe in the phenomenal power of the subconscious mind. But I do enjoy reading ghost stories and watching those "A Haunting" type tv shows.

 

[ebtbmom]

No, I don't believe in ghosts. I believe in the phenomenal power of the subconscious mind. But I do enjoy reading ghost stories and watching those "A Haunting" type tv shows.

That's pretty much exactly what I think. But I'm a weirdo becasue I wish I could believe and see some really interesting phenomenon. I'm a really analytical, scientific person, sometimes I bore myself!

Those places aren't haunted, but they're good for the owners at making them money.

Just ask me about the Myrtles, which has, I would guess, 2 ghosts, but neither of them are the ghosts you probably think of when you think of the Myrtles (The one I'm pretty sure is real just doesn't have a good Hollywood style backstory, possibly ANY backstory. And the "big" Myrtles story? Never happened )

Funny that you mention the Myrtles b/c my coworker that 110% believes in ghosts has actually stayed there ghost hunting, and she swears that she could "feel a prescence" and hear foot steps.

Oh, I didn't believe in ghosts for a very long time. I was terrified of them, but I rationally didn't believe in them.

Then one day I was driving down the interstate and saw a really cute guy in full leathers on a hawg in my rearview mirror. He wore wayfayers and had a nice high and tight hair cut and grin on his face. So I kinda' sorta' watched the road, but I really paid attention to the cute guy behind me on his motorcycle, as I thought to myself "Full Leathers and no helmet? What, you wanna' leave a cute corpse?"

And then. He was NOT there.

Just gone, like someone had flipped a switch. The vehicle I was in (a company rental) filled with the smell of sweaty socks or of sweaty men. (I am completely weird and gross. I ADORE this smell. I know, it's disgusting. I am just wired to love it. )

There were no exits for miles, no other cars around. I was in the middle of the Cajun prairie on a long, flat piece of Interstate.

A few months later, we had gone to pick up DMIL and bring her to my DM and DF's for Thanksgiving, so I was riding in the backseat of DH's car. We zipped along Autumn country roads, no other cars in sight. At one point, I realized there was a kid, maybe 11, standing a few feet away from the road, watching it. He wore clothes I would more likely assign to the Depression era than today. We stared at one another; the look in his face was just so. Despairing. It shook me to my core.

Blink. No kid. Never had been.

I had a couple of similar encounters; incidents where I was watching someone randomly, and then they just weren't there, times I didn't realize or even think "that is a ghost" until after the switch flipped and they were gone.

But I still didn't believe in ghosts. I don't know what I saw; I called them ghosts for shorthand. I knew we'd seen each other. But I thought there had to be some other metaphysical explanation for it.

Then we moved into a house that was built in the late 18th century. We were told it wasn't haunted. I saw things move, had doors open and close themselves, heard knocks on doors and walls. Still, I was skeptical of ghosts - again, I trusted that something was happening which our modern science had not yet quantified, but was rational. And I was still terrified of the idea of ghosts, even though nothing that happened in the house scared me at all. Not watching blind pulls dance like someone was tugging at them, not having doors open and close to let the dogs in out of the rain, not having a dryer door swing out of the way so that it wouldn't smack me in the face.

Then one morning I woke up with pressure marks on my calves in the shape of hands - hands that didn't match my hands or DH's hands.

And I was totally, completely, utterly, unscared. Not unimpressed. Just Not Scared. I decided that this was what was meant by haunting, so these must be ghosts, which allowed me to (FINALLY) admit that I've seen a few ghosts in my life. At that point, I stopped being terrified of the idea of ghosts and became completely "meh" about it.

And honestly, I think maybe the ability to see ghosts or sense them or whatever is just something like having a musical ability or mathmatical abilities. It's not anything weird or special, it's just, you know. Some gift you either have or you don't have, and may have just a touch of or have a lot of or have none of.

And I still don't know what ghosts are exactly. I still think that it's just something we haven't figured out how to measure or identify yet, that's all.

And I gotta ask myself why I couldn't have this in spades and set myself up as psychic, instead of having just enough of it to tell true stories at Halloween!

Wow, really good stories! I really like the motorcycle one. Sounds like that certainly could convince you to see those things. Of course, I hope the dude on the motorcycle didn't just spin off on the side of the road and was lying there waiting for help!

I believe in them for sure. We live at an indian burial ground, and they believe that some may have been buried on the land we live in. We have had the rocking chairs just start rocking in the living room, had the chair in the office start spinning around, had curtains move, and while laying in bed we had the blanket lift right off of us But we got used to it after 20 years living there!

Did you get sucked into your TV too? Just kidding, but seriously why would anyone live near an Indian burial ground? Nothing good ever comes of it.

This causes friction with my sister, who actually goes out looking for ghosts.

My coworker has talked me into a ghost hunt in Savannah in Oct. We're going to stay at a "haunted" B&B and go to the Moon River Brewing Company and see what happens. She totally is a believer and I'm her complete opposite, so it should be fun.

I actually feel like the world would be more interesting if there were "mysterious forces" or "things we can't explain" but I just don't believe it! Eventually, nearly everything gets a rational explaination and if it doesn't it's just because someone hasn't found it yet. I'm also an atheist, so I do not believe in angels or demons either.

 

[dandave]

Yes, I believe in ghosts. I've seen ghosts, heard ghosts, many times throughout my life. They don't frighten me.
The soul is simply energy, and energy never dies. I don't claim to believe in any particular religion.

 

[fall08CP]

I believe in spirits.

Every few months I have interactions with demons. I've seen them, been startled by them, they've touched me, or just tried to instill fear. They don't look like humans per se which is why I label them demons rather than ghosts. I don't summon them, they just appear and interact. So I have no doubt they exist- they've even appeared with other witnesses in the room.

I've seen angels as well but less often. I believe in the possibility of ghosts but maybe they're angels/demons in disguise, I don't know. Spirits are very, very real to me.

 

[WDWBarb]

I even spent the night earlier this year at The Waverly in Louisville, supposedly one of the most haunted places in the country. Know what happened? Nothing, nada. There were 6 in our group, we split up, nothing happened to any of us. Until a ghost actually comes and talks to me face to face, I don't think I will be changing my mind.

I've been to Waverly a few times and spent the night there a couple of years ago. I actually fell asleep alone in a hallway. I didn't see anything while I was there, either. But I hope that I do see something, someday, that will convince me that ghosts are real. I used to believe but the older my mind gets, the more skeptical it gets.

 

[monkeyboy]

Don't cross the streams

 

[njmom47]

When the volume on our tv goes up or the channel changes, dh hollers out "Jeez, Pops, just put in your hearing aid would ya?" and tells him he's gonna watch the Yankees whether he likes it or not. Our tv is kindof old but does those 2 things randomly it seems. That's just how it's always been around here. Not that I do or don't believe in ghosts, but I do believe spirits can still be here on Earth after someone has passed away.
"Ghost Adventures" and "Psychic Kids" are my 2 favorite ghost-type shows.

 

[Ms.Grumpy]

I do, but have never seen anything.
I also enjoy watching Paranormal State and Psychic Kids, just for Chip Coffee, he's awesome.

 

[hereyago]

I would love to do a Ouiji board, but not in my house!!!!!

DD12 wanted one for Christmas last year, I was like um nope. I am not trying to perhaps "inviting" something in that I don't want here.

DD wants to go with me on a ghost tour of Williamsburg near Halloween.

I do believe in ghosts, spirits. I've had a couple different events that I have written about on another "ghost" thread in the past.

 

[Goofyluver]

Nope! No ghosts, no angels, no spirits or the like.

But, I do believe in fairies!

 

[2girls4me]

Not at all, not for a second. I believe with all my heart that my sweet grandmother took care of my dd when she was in the nicu. Not because I saw her or anything, because she was a nurses aid for the maternity ward and loved loved loved babies. But she would come down from heaven and smack me, if she heard me say that I "saw" her.

 

[LilyWDW]

I believe in the existence of the paranormal.

I believe that the paranormal does not show its self on command. This is why you can have people say that something happened to them one night and the next night get nothing. This is why many paranormal groups do more then one session at a home or building to gather evidence.

I believe that most "paranormal" occurrences or evidence can be explained by very normal things. I have, however, come across a hand full of photos or EVPs that I can not explain. I have also had my own experiences that I have not been able to debunk. I am one of those that will try to figure out ANYTHING it could be before I will ever say I think it is paranormal.

 

[Pigeon]

No ghost believing here. When you are dead, you are dead, period.

 

[millerwdwfans]

Bella, thanks for finding that old thread. I need to catch up on that thread. I was just thinking about it when something happened to me about a week ago.
We came home one evening and had a lot of things to bring in the house from the car. DH, DS and I were all going in and out. I walked into the living room and DH was walking out toward the kitchen and I had to move out of his way to avoid him knocking me over. A split second later the door to the outside opened and DH came in that way. I asked him how he had managed to go out through the kitchen, out the back door, around the house, get something out of the car and come back in the front door so fast. He said he didn't. He hadn't even been in the living room yet and neither has DS.

 

[marie1203]

I believe in the paranormal. I have a seen, felt and heard things before. One time senior year in high school my best friend and I were driving to a party and it was pretty late at night. The house was pretty far of the main road and the road leading there had nothing around but trees. This was in the middle of the rockies. All of a sudden we see a guy on the side of the road wearing a baseball hat and a t-shirt, that was really weird because it was still very cold outside. We were talking how weird it was what he was wearing as we were getting closer to him once we were about 30 ft away he disappear . Then we felt a chill in the car and we started crying it was so scary.

 

[momof1princess]

anyone who spent a night in the house i grew up in would absolutely believe in ghosts. i was raised by a single mom, and we couldn't afford to move. i wish to God we could have. we lived there until DD13 was almost 2 years old, and it got worse after she was born. toys played by themselves, footsteps, shadows in pictures, etc.

even though i don't live there anymore, i still can't sleep when DH works nights-i really am afraid to sleep alone. i know it's stupid, but i can't help it.

 

[shaylyn]

My Grandpa is 85. He joined the Navy at the age of 15 and then spent his entire life as a cop & detective. For sure he was not one to believe in ghosts and that sorta thing--that is until one day when he was in his 50's. The rocking chair in his family room rocked on it's own for at least 5 mintues non-stop! He and my Grandma both saw it and it really freaked them out, lol.

He still talks about it!

 

[Michelle67]

I've seen some things all my life...but our old house in particular was definitely haunted. It doesn't matter to me if someone else chooses to believe that or not. I was there and I know what happened, on multiple occasions. Other people saw and heard things there too, at the same time I did as well as independently.

Kinda funny (to me) thing happened after we had a very bad experience in that house with a living person, and my mother asked a Shaker elder (Native American type, not Quaker type) to come in and smudge my home. The elder went about her business throughout the house, then joined me in the dining room for a cup of tea. While we were drinking our tea, she casually asked, "Did you know that this house is haunted?" I said, "Yes, we do. You didn't tell them they had to leave, did you? They aren't bothering anybody. They are just other people who love this house and "live" here." She smiled and said, "Well that's good. They feel the same way about you." I loved that.

I've also seen someone spontaneously "channel" once, and I know for sure that's what happened. I knew the person extremely well, and knew for certain that he did not know how to do what I watched him do (he played a long and extremely intricate piece on the piano, but he does not know how to play the piano). He is not a person who has ever, nor does he now, claim to be a medium. It just...happened. That was very interesting...

 

[hambirg]

I don't know if I believe in ghosts, but I do believe in spirits. Most of my stories have to do with deceased family members.

One night me and my Mom were home alone and my Mom was in the kitchen and I was in my bedroom. She came in and asked me if I had just been in the kitchen, which I hadn't. She swears to this day that somebody threw a spoon at her. Later that night, we were in the living room watching TV and a lamp kept flickering on and off. Thinking that maybe the plug wasn't pushed in the outlet all the way I looked at the outlet, and the lamp wasn't even plugged in!! What is really weird is that without even thinking about it, I calmly said to my Mom, "Oh, it's just Grandma." Later that night my Mom realized that it was a year to the day my Grandma died. There's a little back story to the spoon too. Apparently, shortly after my parents married they went to visit my paternal grandparents. My Grandma was a bit of a curmudgeon. I guess she counted her spoons and one was missing. . .and she accused my Mom of stealing it. My Mom said why in the world would she want to steal one of her spoons? And everybody, knowing how my Grandma was, just blew it off. It probably just went missing, but I think my Grandma always thought my Mom had stolen it.

Another time, about a year after my Dad died, my Mom told me, "I saw your Dad last night." I asked her what she meant and she said he came to her in a dream. . .and I guess they had quite the conversation. Doesn't seem too odd. . .but she said come here and called me into her bedroom. It smelled like my Dad. . .A LOT. . .like almost overwhelmingly. He worked in the yard a lot and wasn't a big user of deo, if you KWIM. It totally smelled just like him.

Another one with smell. My ex DH's father died when my ex was 15. He was a one-match-a-day kind of chain smoker. Shortly after we moved into our house ex's Mom brought my ex things that belonged to his Dad (they divorced when ex was a baby and she had been saving those things to give him someday.) They are things like his dog tags, pictures, etc. We had stored them in a closet and sometimes it would just reek of cigarette smoke. . .and it was totally random. . .sometimes it smelled and sometimes it didn't. So weird!

Finally, my aunt's house is haunted. The ghost stays upstairs, mostly in what was my cousins' room. It moves the dresser and you can hear it walking around up there. I've never heard it, but her family has many times (she has 8 kids). Last time my Mom visited she slept up there (it's a spare room now) and she only lasted one night! She said she kept hearing somebody walking around in the room while she was trying to sleep, would get up and turn on the light and nobody was there. She stayed downstairs on the couch after that. There is also the infamous family picture. All the cousins were home for one of my cousin's weddings. They gathered at the front of the house to take a family picture and in the picture you can see a shadow of a man in the upstairs window.

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

DD12 wanted one for Christmas last year, I was like um nope. I am not trying to perhaps "inviting" something in that I don't want here.

DD wants to go with me on a ghost tour of Williamsburg near Halloween.

I do believe in ghosts, spirits. I've had a couple different events that I have written about on another "ghost" thread in the past.

Did the ghosts of Williamsburg not a great tour more a historical tour than a ghost tour.