Haunted Place

[Ashles]

So just to recap:

It was originally an old church but has long since been converted into a play area for toddlers with slides, ball pits etc.

and

No one said it was healthy. As a matter of fact it's far from it . A former employee (also a cleaner) ended up in hospital after inhaling the dust in whilst cleaning the ballpits. She went into a coma.

But of course the most important aspect is the exciting poltergeist?

This is a great illustration of how people concentrate so hard on silly ghost stories and pretend magic abilities when they should concentrate on trying to keep children safe and healthy.

It's a shame you couldn't put your energies into that jambo. It's a shame your 'spiritualist church' couldn't do some good in the community (like fund-raising for renovating the building) rather than spending all its time navel gazing and telling each other "You have the gift" while poor children develop respiratory infections, allergies and asthma.

 

[jambo372]

That's not the worst of it ... the children all went to a party in it and ended up with gastro-enteritis after eating cheap spam sandwiches. It really is a death-trap.

Our Spiritualist church needs all the funds it can get ... it's never been the same since those rotten sc ... people set fire to it. It is up and running again but we need the money for it's power and water supply.

 

[Winterfrost]

Something smells...

Good Glory! I hope someone has checked that ballpit for syringes too! http://www.snopes.com/horrors/parental/archer.htm

Exactly how many parents allow their toddlers to be tended at this evil deathtrap of a church?

"Well, yes, an adult has gone into a coma from working in the same ballpit our kids play in, the place is likely full of mold, they give toddlers food-poisoning, and demons haunt the upper floor... but the poltergeists only come out at night, so I say -- it's all good!"

And how did the evil spirits get into the mirror maze anyway? Did they de-sanctify the area after it stopped becoming a church? Or does that blessing just wear off after a while? I'm not clear on the duration of a holy ground invocation...

Finally, given that she now knows the fate of a former cleaner and the obvious health hazard posed by that place, why, exactly, is your friend's sister working there? I sure hope she gets Hazard Pay!

 

[Ashles]

That's not the worst of it ... the children all went to a party in it and ended up with gastro-enteritis after eating cheap spam sandwiches. It really is a death-trap.

It sounds awful. And parents still let children go there?
(and eat cheap spam sandwiches, as opposed to expensive spam sandwiches ?)

it's never been the same since those rotten sc ... people set fire to it.

If you were going to say sceptics I don't think it's us you need to worry about. If you're doing readings and psychic stuff I think you'll find the Christians will have a much bigger problem with you.

Sceptics merely think you are misguided - the religious think you are actually evil and in league with the devil.

I have to say it's a good job you don't work for your local tourist board jambo.
It's starting to sound like you live in Royston Vasey!

 

[jambo372]

She was desperate for a job.
No one said the spirits were evil.
There are actually christians who come to the church .. in fact it's a christian spiritualist church.

It's only the strict bible thumpers who complain.

 

[Psiload]

That's not the worst of it ... the children all went to a party in it and ended up with gastro-enteritis after eating cheap spam sandwiches. It really is a death-trap.

Our Spiritualist church needs all the funds it can get ... it's never been the same since those rotten sc ... people set fire to it. It is up and running again but we need the money for it's power and water supply.

What exactly is "cheap spam"? Sounds like a redundancy.

 

[Winterfrost]

No one said the spirits were evil.

The place has 3 floors, you get the feeling of a nasty energy on the top floor which is now a mirror maze for children.

Obviously I jumped to conclusions. I interpreted "nasty" as evil.

 

[Jaggy Bunnet]

That's not the worst of it ... the children all went to a party in it and ended up with gastro-enteritis after eating cheap spam sandwiches. It really is a death-trap.

Our Spiritualist church needs all the funds it can get ... it's never been the same since those rotten sc ... people set fire to it. It is up and running again but we need the money for it's power and water supply.

Lets see, a place where multiple children fall ill after a party and an employee ended up in a coma after inhaling dust from the childrens ball pit. Must have merited some coverage in the local newspaper at least? Any links to any of these stories?

 

[Ashles]

There are actually christians who come to the church .. in fact it's a christian spiritualist church.

So Christians who aren't particularly strict in following the Bible then?

Unless you can explain to me how it is okay for a Christian to dabble in contacting the dead when this is strictly forbidden by the Bible?
(Deuteronomy 18:11, also read verse 10)
More info

God: Here is a rule book for you to follow
Some Christians: No we think we'll just follow bits of it if that's okay by you?
God: No problem. Hey Lucifer, you okay for kindling?

 

[turtle]

Turtle
No one said it was healthy. As a matter of fact it's far from it . A former employee (also a cleaner) ended up in hospital after inhaling the dust in whilst cleaning the ballpits. She went into a coma.

Exactly my point. Why are children there then? Unless I misunderstood something...

 

[jambo372]

To be fair the cleaner was in there every day and smoked like a chimney - it wouldn't have affected other people as much as her.
Also she is not unknown for her exaggeration.

I don't think either story was publicised.

I am not denying that the bible is against contacting the dead but yes, people do it anyway.

 

[rppa]

Originally posted by Ashles
So Christians who aren't particularly strict in following the Bible then?

What's the difficulty with that?

Unless you can explain to me how it is okay for a Christian to dabble in contacting the dead when this is strictly forbidden by the Bible?
(Deuteronomy 18:11, also read verse 10)
More info

This would be bad for a Christian who believed in biblical inerrancy, but even such people tend to conveniently ignore a whole bunch of rules laid out in Leviticus.

God: Here is a rule book for you to follow

Well, you're making an assumption there that the rule book came from God. What if it was just the founders of your religion doing their best to figure out what God wants and they got some stuff wrong?

Christian != Biblical literalist

The latter is a subset, a minority, of the former.

 

[Jaggy Bunnet]

I don't think either story was publicised.

Well that's a big surprise!

Just to be clear, do you still claim the cleaner ended up in a coma or should your last post be interpreted as a retraction of that claim as she "is not unknown for her exaggeration"?

Amazing what happens when you ask for evidence, isn't it?

 

[opie]

Jambo

Have you checked out the ghosts at this site:

http://theshadowlands.net/ghost/

PS: Expensive spam is for oxymorons....

opie

 

[MRC_Hans]

To be fair the cleaner was in there every day and smoked like a chimney - it wouldn't have affected other people as much as her.
Also she is not unknown for her exaggeration.

I don't think either story was publicised.

I am not denying that the bible is against contacting the dead but yes, people do it anyway.

You know the type of stories that get ever weirder and more self-contradicting the more you ask about details. This is one of them. Jambo, old pal, I think you are making up the whole thing.

Opie: Sniff, sniff, me smell a troll. The sockpuppet variety.

Hans

 

[opie]

Nope, no troll nor sock puppet....

I was just giving Jambo some more windmills to combat....

Actually, I believe Jambo is putting everybody on....

opie

 

[Ashles]

Well, you're making an assumption there that the rule book came from God.

I thought that was sort of supposed to be the point of it.

What if it was just the founders of your religion doing their best to figure out what God wants and they got some stuff wrong?

Well what's the point of the Bible then? A guidebook that gets some bits wrong, but you don't know which bits?

And if the founders of a religion thought these things are what God wants, which current followers of that religion have the right to say that they are wrong?

How would that possibly work? Does that mean you can ignore any bits of the Bible you personally disagree with or don't like?

 

[The Mighty Thor]

Well that's a big surprise!

Just to be clear, do you still claim the cleaner ended up in a coma or should your last post be interpreted as a retraction of that claim as she "is not unknown for her exaggeration"?

Amazing what happens when you ask for evidence, isn't it?

This is how urban legends and false scandals get started.

It is typical jambo stuff. It's the stuff of slumber parties and who can tell the biggest whopper. They have no idea the damage that can be done, and don't care anyway. It's like kids who make false calls to emergency services.

If the church is as bad as jambo says, it would be shut down by Environmental Services. Have you thought on that, jambo?

 

[davidsmith73]

First hand accounts? Perhaps I can help ….

My Grandmother was a medium (yes one of those people, you skeptic guys intensely dislike ). But to me, she was (and probably still is in spirit) my humble, kind old grandmother, certainly not a hoaxer or attention seeker type, she was happiest making tea for people and looking after children ....she never performed as a medium for money .. never performed publicly…..

She used to fall asleep, sometimes unaware and spirits with completely different personality, tone of voice and vocabulary spoke through her. Seldom could she recall immediately afterwards what was said. (On other occasions she could vaguely)

One of the times I was present to observe this phenomena the spirit person said our grandmother Kate was there (this person, my other grandmother, was in the spirit world) she said she was very worried about her son Robert (my uncle on earth) and to get in contact as soon as possible .......we did phone as soon as possible ..... my uncle had just had a completely unexpected heart attack and had been rushed into hospital .... no one in the family knew ....... remember this is the other side of the family there was no direct contact with my grandmother (and my mother had spent the whole day with her) nor would they have been any reason to phoned her house to contact us.

Very lucky coincidence? Personally I don’t think so......

(snip)

....I do agree with you guys on one thing, the debate should be over evidence in controlled conditions … so I look forward to debating with you guys over the scientific evidence for PSI (as new research gets published).

What I don't understand is the assertion that parapsychology is a pseudoscience that tries to search for phenomena to study rather than studying a naturally occuring phenomena that's out there. Open Mind's story (if accurate) shows that normal people have experiences and occurances that we label as "paranormal".
The strength of such a story lies not in any proof of psi but a demonstration that there is something there to study in the first place.

 

[Ashles]

Open Mind's story (if accurate)

The key phrase.

Anecdotal evidence may be used as a starting point for a theory or series of studies, but it has no weight in itself.

I can't think of another field of science that has been created to study something that only exists as stories. And has subsequently gained no further evidence.

Physics, chemistry, biology, psychology etc. all study phenomena that observably exist.