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people believe in woo woo crap because it entertains them.

Cainkane1

Philosopher
Cainkane1
Joined
Jul 16, 2005
Messages
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The great American southeast
Using myself and my father as an example we used to believe in ghosts. My father claimed our Welsh heritage made us believe in ghosts so we had no choice but to believe. He enjoyed talking about ghosts and his experiences with them. Disembodied voices and brief sightings. What I really believe about ghosts during this stage of my life is this. We enjoyed seeing spooks so our minds conjured them up for us. We got bored and then the spooks would appear. Nasty harmless looking things that were more pitiful than frightening. We both had the trait and we inherited it from my grandfather.

Ok I still get bored but the ghosts have disappeared. No more ghosts from the corner of my eyes.

The magic never left my dad though. He was a believer until he died.
 
There's a difference between telling ghost stories to kids around a campfire and charging people money to communicate with their deceased loved ones. I think what you were doing was more akin to the former and less to the latter.
 
I like to hang around woo-woo sites, but I dont buy into the woo. I merely smile and point.
 
Cainkane1 said:
I think going with ghost hunters would be fun. You get to explore old houses and other buildings and spooky places like graveyards. Who cares if there is no ghost? I'd enjoy just being there.
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To me this would be like going to a church function because they were serving a favorite ( of yours) free meal. ( and yes i have known people to do this.) Sure the meal may be good, but what one has to endure to get it, i couldn't do it.
 
Cainkane1 said:
Using myself and my father as an example we used to believe in ghosts. My father claimed our Welsh heritage made us believe in ghosts so we had no choice but to believe. .
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In reality (everywhere apart from Wales) its typically a lack of education that causes people to believe in "woo woo crap"

I make no comment about you or your fathers level of education here except for the underhanded one I just alluded to
:p
 
James Randi said:
These people don't want it to be true, they need it to be true.
People want some magic in their lives and these people are looking for the easy way out.
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Taken from an old Penn and Teller show ( I think the one about esp).
 
Belief in anything without reason or evidence is, in itself, not intrinsically harmful but acting as though some beliefs are real can cause serious, damaging real world results.
 
Cainkane1 said:
No more ghosts from the corner of my eyes.
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That reminds me...

When I was growing up, my father and I usually sat at the diningroom table so the doorway to the hall was just visible out of the corner of our eyes. Outside of mealtimes, we'd use that hallway to play "wiggly waggly" with our cat, pulling a white crumpled paper on a string down the hallway for the cat to chase.

At mealtimes, we both noticed that we'd sometimes catch a glimpse of something out of the corner of our eyes, that looked like something moving down the hallway, and we joked that it was a "phantom wiggly waggly." We'd check, and the cat was nowhere around, though it could have been a reflection, a shadow, or just nothing at all. Apparently, it's a fairly common optical illusion/phenomenon, to misinterpret actual motion or believe one sees motion out of the corner of one's eye. My mother, who sat facing the doorway directly, never experienced it, of course.

I was taught to "believe" in phantom wiggly wagglies the way I "believed" in Santa Claus or the tooth fairy--just a harmless game of pretend. It never occurred to me (and apparently never occurred to anyone else in the family either) that it was anything more than an illusion. But it was fun and entertaining, and to this day, my wife and I will refer to the same corner-of-the-eye illusion as a phantom wiggly waggly.

So I can see, taking that one step further, how one could actually believe in ghosts etc. as a form of "entertainment." As others have said above, the sad thing is when people need magic in their lives so badly that they must believe it's real.
 
The other factor though isnt entertainment, or fun. When some people believe in ghosts and are genuinely scared.
I feel a lot of children get frightened by what goes bump in the night. Somewhere along the line they grow out of it. Some don't. Then theres influences that keep the belief alive.(Media, other people and their tales etc).
They are the ones who don't take too much to convince of a haunting, a ghost or a psychic!
 
Cainkane1 said:
I think going with ghost hunters would be fun. You get to explore old houses and other buildings and spooky places like graveyards. Who cares if there is no ghost? I'd enjoy just being there.
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So why not just go there? Most old buildings and graveyards don't have belief in ghosts as an entry requirement. It's like the silliness of hunting bigfoot, which is often given a pass because the people involved may just enjoy wandering around the woods and not really believe they'll see a bigfoot. But if that's the case, why not just go wandering around the woods? Hiking, camping, and general outdoorsy stuff is fun without having to pretend to believe in crap to excuse it. I personally wouldn't consider wandering around old buildings and graveyards particularly fun, but if you enjoy that then just do it. You don't need to pretend to believe in stupid things in order to enjoy yourself.
 
Cuddles said:
So why not just go there? Most old buildings and graveyards don't have belief in ghosts as an entry requirement. It's like the silliness of hunting bigfoot, which is often given a pass because the people involved may just enjoy wandering around the woods and not really believe they'll see a bigfoot. But if that's the case, why not just go wandering around the woods? Hiking, camping, and general outdoorsy stuff is fun without having to pretend to believe in crap to excuse it. I personally wouldn't consider wandering around old buildings and graveyards particularly fun, but if you enjoy that then just do it. You don't need to pretend to believe in stupid things in order to enjoy yourself.
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Isn't encouraging people to wander around in graveyards at night criminal in countries which prosecute trespass (uk excluded).
shouldn't you add "you must get permission from the relevant authority to wander round in places that arent open to the public"
just saying is all.
:D
 
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The problem becomes evident, when someone who at first was doing it for fun, becomes so invested in the occasion that they fabricate occurrences in order to perpetuate the fun. (in many cases to perpetuate the money coming in)
 
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