Why must God exist if the former are true?
Why must God exist if the former are true?
How do we know they reflect light? Perhaps they create light. Perhaps they stimulate the retina or the synaptic connections directly.
The nature or mission of ghost explanation kind of bothers me.
If it is that disembodied essence of a once living person that a) does not know he is dead or b) died with an unfinished drive or desire and must finish it, that one is doomed.
The others lived on and changed , then possibly died themselves making the mission impossible. Or if decades pass and the cemetery is moved, the building razed and all memories of the past lost, it's hell on earth for that one.
No chance at redemption.
If a recreation of some event in a place, that somehow the emotion of the moment pegged itself and it will repeat after the fact ( I have no idea how this might work ) it's kind of pointless. Anne Bolen or a gala ball in 1821 in a fancy hotel, just hearing the band play again or the figure walk to her death has no function.
I cannot offer good answers and won't try. I have experienced things I cannot explain and don't try. As Pink Floyd put it.
When I was a child I caught a fleeting glimpse out of the corner of my eye. I turned to look and it was gone.
I cannot put my finger on it now, the child has grown, the feeling is gone.
Or something close to that from Comfortably Numb.
If it is that disembodied essence of a once living person that a) does not know he is dead or b) died with an unfinished drive or desire and must finish it, that one is doomed.
The others lived on and changed , then possibly died themselves making the mission impossible. Or if decades pass and the cemetery is moved, the building razed and all memories of the past lost, it's hell on earth for that one.
No chance at redemption.
If a recreation of some event in a place, that somehow the emotion of the moment pegged itself and it will repeat after the fact ( I have no idea how this might work ) it's kind of pointless. Anne Bolen or a gala ball in 1821 in a fancy hotel, just hearing the band play again or the figure walk to her death has no function.
I cannot offer good answers and won't try. I have experienced things I cannot explain and don't try. As Pink Floyd put it.
When I was a child I caught a fleeting glimpse out of the corner of my eye. I turned to look and it was gone.
I cannot put my finger on it now, the child has grown, the feeling is gone.
Or something close to that from Comfortably Numb.
That would depend on what a ghost is. If a real ghost is a spirit in the afterlife, then, by definition, there is an afterlife.
The mere existence of reports of ghosts would not be proof of an afterlife.
While such reports exist, they are several steps from proof.
First, prove that the reported incident occurred, and the report is not fiction.
Then, identify the phenomenon which the reporter observed.
Having pinned down the phenomenon, investigate to find what it is.
Finally, determine whether what you know of the nature of the phenomenon indicates that it is indeed a disembodied spirit.
Thus far, only the unsupported report has been seen. Setting aside, for the moment, deliberate dishonesty. Even when you trust the source of a report, that only means you are certain that the person making the report is honest. Honest people can be mistaken in their interpretation of what they have seen.
Yes, and why do you think this has anything to do with the sound you heard? It is only because you have already decided on the ghost story that the death has importance to you. Why do you rule out invisible gnomes? There is as much evidence for their existence, and they are not connected to death.
Nessie
Penultimate Amazing
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Invisible gnomes and another suggestion of leprechauns are just names being bandied about. The type of phenomena I am referring to is normally called a ghost.
Regarding the OP, I cannot explain them, other than I think that amongst a lot of rubbish, there is something out there and that occasionally, there really is something that we call a ghost that makes an appearance, such that if people are about, they may see or hear it.
The problem with ghosts is that unlike Big Foot or aliens, a ghost is not going to leave behind physical traces.
There is no evidence for invisible gnomes, as in a dwarfish creature that has the power of invisibility. There is evidence, from credible witnesses reporting circumstances that have no other explanation, of ghosts.
Axxman300
Philosopher
Every sighting has an explanation. Some take longer to explain than others. Some have to wait for science to evolve.
And yes, science has evolved considerably since the 1860's when Spiritualism began to give way to Parapsychology, but in that 150 year time span science has split the atom, put men on the moon, put a powerful computer in your pocket, and many other things considered fantastic in 1865. But science has yet to prove ghosts exist and Parapsychology has stagnated since the 1970's. When I say "Science" I mean that across all the disciplines: Nuclear Physics, Structural Engineering, Aeronautical Engineering, Astrophysics, Medicine, and so on. All of these disciplines have engineered sensitive equipment which can detect varieties of subtle changes, and conditions in the environment, Some of these conditions only exist for fractions of a second.
By now ghosts, under the "rules" of people who believe in ghosts, should have been caught by one of these devices simply by accident. And yet...
AmyW
Thinker
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Every sighting has an explanation. Some take longer to explain than others. Some have to wait for science to evolve.
And yes, science has evolved considerably since the 1860's when Spiritualism began to give way to Parapsychology, but in that 150 year time span science has split the atom, put men on the moon, put a powerful computer in your pocket, and many other things considered fantastic in 1865. But science has yet to prove ghosts exist and Parapsychology has stagnated since the 1970's. When I say "Science" I mean that across all the disciplines: Nuclear Physics, Structural Engineering, Aeronautical Engineering, Astrophysics, Medicine, and so on. All of these disciplines have engineered sensitive equipment which can detect varieties of subtle changes, and conditions in the environment, Some of these conditions only exist for fractions of a second.
By now ghosts, under the "rules" of people who believe in ghosts, should have been caught by one of these devices simply by accident. And yet...
This is very interesting, being a ghost hunter can you give some examples of ghosts actually being hoaxes? If ghosts existed why don't we see them all the time? Why the mystery?
AmyW
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Because psychics claim to be able to talk to the dead and have mentioned that there is a god
P.J. Denyer
Penultimate Amazing
Yes you're possibly wrong.
Even if ghosts existed-:
If they were 'recordings' being replayed as most ghost stories describe, it's no more proof of an afterlife than a video cassette. So you'd be wrong.
If ghosts are cognoscent and aware but 'here' then it would arguably be another, non corporeal stage of life rather than an 'afterlife'. Final irreversable death would be pushed back a stage. So arguably wrong. It certainly wouldn't prove the 'go to a special place with your dead relatives' afterlife most people think of.
Nessie
Penultimate Amazing
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Every sighting has an explanation. Some take longer to explain than others. Some have to wait for science to evolve.
And yes, science has evolved considerably since the 1860's when Spiritualism began to give way to Parapsychology, but in that 150 year time span science has split the atom, put men on the moon, put a powerful computer in your pocket, and many other things considered fantastic in 1865. But science has yet to prove ghosts exist and Parapsychology has stagnated since the 1970's. When I say "Science" I mean that across all the disciplines: Nuclear Physics, Structural Engineering, Aeronautical Engineering, Astrophysics, Medicine, and so on. All of these disciplines have engineered sensitive equipment which can detect varieties of subtle changes, and conditions in the environment, Some of these conditions only exist for fractions of a second.
By now ghosts, under the "rules" of people who believe in ghosts, should have been caught by one of these devices simply by accident. And yet...
How likely is it that by now a ghost should have been in the right place at the right time to be detected by a scientific instrument, or vice versa? How do we know what ghosts should or would trigger that would confirm it was a ghost?
Nessie
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Another ghost story.
A minister of the Church of Scotland (and at one time Moderator of the General Assembly, so head of the church) arrives late at night at a country house hotel, the day before the start of a conference. Staff offer him a snack and he is taken to the old library, an impressive room with floor to ceiling bookcases and an open fire.
He finds a book to read and settles at the fire. He then sees a lady, who he thinks is bringing him his snack, but instead she is pointing at a book that is out of her reach. He gets it for her, turns but she is not there. She is now at the fireplace, pointing into the fire.
The minister has the overwhelming urge to throw the book into the fire and he does so. The lady vanishes and a member of hotel staff walks in with his snack. The minister is horrified that he has just thrown a book into the fire and he does not know what to say, until the hotel staff member simply asks, "was it her?".
A minister of the Church of Scotland (and at one time Moderator of the General Assembly, so head of the church) arrives late at night at a country house hotel, the day before the start of a conference. Staff offer him a snack and he is taken to the old library, an impressive room with floor to ceiling bookcases and an open fire.
He finds a book to read and settles at the fire. He then sees a lady, who he thinks is bringing him his snack, but instead she is pointing at a book that is out of her reach. He gets it for her, turns but she is not there. She is now at the fireplace, pointing into the fire.
The minister has the overwhelming urge to throw the book into the fire and he does so. The lady vanishes and a member of hotel staff walks in with his snack. The minister is horrified that he has just thrown a book into the fire and he does not know what to say, until the hotel staff member simply asks, "was it her?".
Many ghost believers state that ghosts appear on film or video recordings. A camera can be a quite useful scientific instrument, in that it records the actual appearance of an object, getting around the perception and memory errors of human observation.
There are vastly more cameras around now than previously, yet numbers of reported photos of ghosts have declined. This is true as well of UFOs, fairies, witches on brooms, angels, Nessie, Ogopogo, Bigfoot, Midlands Melanistic Panthers, and other cryptids. With more observers capable of making recordings, if there is anything observable there, the number of recorded observations should increase.
p0lka
Illuminator
You don't know they did, you are relying on what someone else told you.
We are supposed to believe that two police officers saw a lady leaving the scene of a suspected gunshot and they just let her walk off?
make your own mind up.
p0lka
Illuminator
Ghosts dont exist, but your 'tales to creep you up at night' are still spooking me the hell out, haha.
Axxman300
Philosopher
The Grand Daddy of hoaxes is the Amityville Horror. George Lutz was a master manipulator, and physically abusive. He bought an infamous murder house and fabricated a series of stories to get a lucrative book deal. There have been 13 Amityville Horror-related movies since then.
Yet no one who has lived in that house has reported anything paranormal since the Lutz Family moved out in 1974.
Youtube is full of hoaxers. My two favorites are:
The Fam: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUSCuCzQIFeYe6bs20-YUdw
and Moe Sargi:
https://www.youtube.com/user/DirtStarPranks
They're entertaining, but I'm not sure why they think they're fooling anyone.
My favorite Youtube debunker is The Shape:
Before you click please know he is NSFW due to language:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDNU8brRkfZkpNC0srM2JkA
He's a fellow ghost hunter with a solid BS meter and he's also hilarious.
To answer your second question is easy. The reason people don't see them everywhere is because they don't exist.
Think about the roads and highways you drive on every day and every week. There should dozens or even hundreds of ghosts of those who died in wrecks, but haunted highways and roads are uncommon. Roads that are haunted tend to be lover-s lanes type locations where people go to get high and or make out. Same thing with the bad part of town where the murder rate is through the roof. Where are the ghosts looking for justice? Chicago should be so full of ghosts that they qualify to have their own Congressional Representative. Where are those stories?
I have stood in rooms where men committed suicide, where brutal murders took place, and they are unremarkable.
AmyW
Thinker
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Thank you very much, I will look at these. Its reassuring to see that you are someone who has done their homework, being a ghost hunter and seeing it all as BS. It's true if ghosts were real they would be everywhere, why the mystery around them, surely they would be everywhere and not at the end of your bed at night.
Axxman300
Philosopher
Why can't a scientist become a ghost? Why can't this ghost scientist continue to work the problem to prove his existence to living scientists? There have been millions of scientists who have died over the years, so why aren't their laboratories haunted?
Ghosts (supposedly) open doors, slam doors shut, open cupboards, flush toilets, stomp up and down hallways loud enough to slap the floor boards, push people, slap people, scratch people, make phone calls, and yank sheets from beds. If this is true then at the very least a Gravimeter would verify that something was happening. If ghosts can physically manipulate their surroundings then they should show up on a variety of equipment.
I can tell ghost stories too about motion detectors used by SWAT teams training in abandoned metal hospitals going off for no reason. But what I can't do is then use the story as proof of anything. I have to respect the scientific method.
AmyW
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all sounds rather far fetched