Like violent videogames, pornography, or gambling, Halloween seems like it might satisfy an innate human need to experience the entirety of the emotional spectrum. Everyone wants to push it to the limit on Halloween, all while still knowing that they’re safe. Perhaps that’s why people “believe” in ghosts. They know deep down inside that they can’t be possible, but they want that feeling of awe and wonderment that’s been missing since someone first told them that Santa or the Tooth Fairy existed. Or that one day they could be president.
So with that bit of depressing cynicism, I decided to write a list of reasons why I believe that ghosts cannot, do not, and will never exist.
As Halloween (my favorite holiday) approaches, thoughts of the paranormal no doubt fill the minds of young and old alike. I’ve also signed this odd social contract: that once per year I will suspend rationality, logic, reason, and all sense of propriety, and celebrate it by scaring the crap out of myself for a good solid 31 days or so. And if I don’t get scared, I promise to be disappointed. In a world of utmost convenience where every danger around us is tagged in neon and padded so we can’t hurt ourselves, I think Halloween has become a weird sort of survival mechanism. In this world, warnings are more prominent than threats, so our brains need practice. So be warned, I’m about to practice writing top ten lists.
10. Life after death is still life.
Seriously, the entire thing is a contradiction in terms. Why bother referring to things as “life” and “death” if, because you thought you saw a dead person, they mean the same thing? Is this a cop-out for number 10 on the list? Perhaps. But I wanted to highlight the absurdity of it all right out of the gate: if we’re going to argue the definition of death, how are we supposed to settle on the definition of a ghost? Do ghosts and death even have anything to do with each other, by definition? And without a definition, how can it exist?
9. There are too few ghosts.
Many sources pin the ratio of all species in the history of the earth that are now extinct at around 99.9%. That’s all species. So it would stand to reason that the ratio of all living things that are now dead is, well, significantly higher to say the least. So where are all of the ghosts? If orders of magnitude more things died on this rock than are currently living, where are their disembodied spirits? Shouldn’t we be knee deep in ghosts of all shapes in sizes? Everything from dinosaurs to insects a yard long, to prehistoric man? We clearly aren’t.
8. Only people become ghosts.
A believer might say, “Well don’t be silly, there’s so few ghosts because only people become ghosts, because only people have spirits!” I don’t buy this argument because the arguers contradict themselves with stories of ghost men with spectral dogs and even of inanimate objects that appear as apparitions; entire doors and windows, even events that play out as “ghosts”. Does a gunshot have a spirit? Does a horrible fire have a spirit? If so, shouldn’t be haunted by all of the ‘dead’ furniture as well? We clearly aren’t.
7. Something becomes a ghost when it dies.
When people claim to have seen historic events play out in front of them, or an apparition sitting in a chair which, on second glance, disappears, I immediately wonder, “When does something become a ghost?” The reason I ask this question is this: if something isn’t alive, and a ghost is a dead something, when does an inanimate object become a ghost? When it ceases to exist? What if part of it exists somewhere? The answer is, it doesn’t become a ghost, because ghosts don’t exist. There’s no scientific process anywhere near being documented which could describe the transition from solid physical object, to mystical apparition, aside from quantum mechanics, and that deals primarily with things on the subatomic scale. And it would be one thing if you could recreate a physical object as an apparition, but it’s another thing entirely to capture the psyche of a person or the sounds of an event. These things are slightly less tangible, as they deal with the flow of energy from one system to another, often in very random ways.
6. There’s no science!
“Well science doesn’t have an explanation for everything.” I hear this statement being made over and over again, as though the absence of scientific evidence for something is somehow a strong implication that it’s probably real. People use examples like the coelacanth or the giant squid as examples of things science failed to acknowledge as real until someone had the nerve to produce real physical evidence. As though the failure to acknowledge something without evidence is somehow a flaw in the process. Sure, without hypothesis there is no science, but as far as I can tell, paranormal investigators are in the business of entertainment and show no real interest in experimentation or regimented analysis. So go ahead and say you saw or heard a ghost, even felt one! But until you make real scientific progress on showing it’s real, it doesn’t exist as anything more than a story. You’re right, science doesn’t have an explanation for everything, but that doesn’t mean you dismiss science as a tool for explaining something because the scientific method disagrees with you. It doesn’t mean that the next biggest leap of logic is the most likely thing.
5. Occam’s Razor
This terrific piece of philosophy is often misunderstood as meaning that the simplest of all possible explanations for something is the most likely one. In reality, it hinges on the idea that a question answered without creating more questions, is a question better answered. This notion can, in some ways, be characterized by the question: If science already has an explanation for something, why invent something else to explain it? It deals less with the plausibility of each explanation and more with putting the burden of proof on one who would suggest an explanation which is untested or new. The implication is that even if it’s extremely unlikely that the apparition you saw was the light of Venus bouncing off of swamp gas, it’s still more likely than you discovering a new branch of science.
4. Ghosts don’t wear watches.
Am I supposed to believe that someone who has managed to manifest themselves from beyond the veil gives a rat’s ass what time it is? Or that powerful demonic forces can, for some reason, only make themselves known between the hours of 3am and 4am? What if we all set our clocks to skip that hour? Did I just invent a way to destroy ghosts by eliminating them from the schedule like a show we didn’t want to DVR? Honestly the whole idea makes some very smart people look really stupid. The hour of the day is a purely subjective construct. Do ghosts haunt an hour earlier when we change the clocks? Shit no. So why do ghosts purportedly haunt more at night than during the day? Especially given that real live people do nothing at night other than willingly become unconscious. Do ghosts have trouble sleeping? It couldn’t be that people see ghosts more at night because we’re instinctively afraid when we can’t see, right?
3. They’re holy…or unholy?
In popular culture ghosts represent a smorgasbord of religious traditions. From devil worship to Christianity, paganism to shamanism, and from witchcraft to voodoo, ghost stories seem to come in many flavors. And while religions should all coexist peacefully, it would stand to reason that they can’t all be right about the nature of spirits, given that many religions have contradictory doctrines. And why would one of them have to be right? While each religion might stake it’s claim to the decreasing number of things that science has left unexplained, what’s to say that ghosts simply aren’t another in a list of things religion is wrong about? All of them. If history is any lesson, when religions disagree on something, the only truth comes from science. And what does science say about ghosts? That they simply don’t exist.
2. Hauntings happen in places THAT are haunted.
The power of suggestion is incredible. Like the mighty placebo, a ghost story will trigger things in people’s imagination which will manifest themselves in people’s perception of ordinary things: shadows move, noise takes on the character of a voice, and a breath of air becomes the feeling of being touched. Tell someone a happy story, and they sleep well. That isn’t complex psychology, it’s pareidolia. So why us it that people seem so willing to ignore the fact that strange things seem to happen in place that we’re told are strange? And if there’s any possibility at all that our judgement is so easily compromised, that calls into question every eyewitness report that isn’t documented with a scientific instrument. And the ones that are? Oh wait, there haven’t been any.
1. Ghosts aren’t naked
It may seem obvious that most of the ghosts people see are wearing clothing. In fact, most of the reports of ghosts describe them as being in “period dress”, whatever that means. But it doesn’t make any sense either way. When a person dies, do their clothes die too? Do they only haunt places in the clothes they died in? What if they weren’t wearing anything at all? I’ve not heard of many naked ghosts, though I’m sure the sightings are documented somewhere. My overriding point here is this: the boundary between person and garments is clear. So if a ghost is a dead person, why then do they always seem to be dressed? This is what I would call, “Hulk Syndrome”, wherein the subject of a story is made more appropriate than fact to preserve the listeners innocence. My reference is, of course, to the Hulk’s pants. Bruce Banner would turn into a giant green monster with pants intact. Obviously the Hulk would have an equally monstrous unit which would liberate itself from such frail confines, but the pants are left there instead as if to say, “We know the Hulk has a 28 lb. green goblin, but we don’t need to subject you to seeing it. Pretend the pants aren’t there if you like. They’re a metaphor for censor boxes.”
Conclusion
So there you have it. My ten best reasons that ghosts do not exist. Any evidence that anyone has which they claim is to the contrary is severely limited at best, and regardless of its contents it does not not imply the existence of life after death. Until someone has an irrefutable piece of evidence that suggests clearly and concisely that the opposite is true, I remain a skeptic. I keep the stance that everything has an explanation, and that those explanations are simpler and more likely than the claim that ghosts are real.
MAY 12, 2015 – UPDATE:
I’ve added fuel to the phantom fire in my recent article on this topic. Please be sure to read 5 More Reasons Ghosts Don’t Exist.
November 15, 2012 – Update:
Be sure to check out the antithesis (opposite…evil twin…whatever you want to call it) of this article. Top 10 Pieces of Video Evidence of Ghosts
So What You're Saying Is... 
Ghost so exist and I have more then enough evidence to show that.
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LOL.. THESE EVIDENCE ARE ENOUGH TO BELIEVE THAT GHOST ARENT REAL ITS JUST OUR MIND THAT PLAYS GHOSTY SCENE.
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well why dont you prove it
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The scientific method places the burden of proof on the hypothesis, which is that ghosts exist, not that currently-accepted fact, which is that they don’t.
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You make a reasonably solid case. However we know nothing about what happens after Death and because of this you can not exclude the possibilty of an after life. With that possibility in mind, we can only speculate on what defines a ghost, or spirit for that matter, and how they could come into existance. If our speculation turns out to be wrong, it merely proves us wrong, not that it’s possible for a ghost to exist. You say if we can’t define a ghost, how can it exist. Well let me ask you this, if someone can define a ghost, which some can, does that mean it does exist? I mean why do we know Santa Claus doesn’t exist? It’s not because we can’t define him, it’s because we can define him as a physical being and physically can prove he doesn’t exist. But some define a ghost as non-physical, so how do you physically prove something that’s not physical? I think it would be in the same fashion we could prove what we dream, the brain activity. Would it not be plausible to check someone’s brain activity during a sighting to see what the brain actually recorded? I’m just guessing here because we can’t even prove our dreams, we can only prove that we dream, not what we dream.
Also you say we can’t really argue the definition of death, I would agree but there’s a problem, what about those people that wake up in the morgue or during their own funeral? It would seem our defintion is flawed, which makes it arguable.
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Death as in the finality of it, is the brain ceasing to function on any measurable level.
I know medically we tend to classify death as in the heart stopping or brain activity that we can detect currently not showing up.
The brain starts to hallucinate when you are near death (near death experiences)
Someone coming back from a funeral in a reasonable amount of time could be a mess up on some old hibernation ability they happened to have. Same in the cases of people and animals who were found “dead” in the snow for a few days.
Thing is, if ghosts exist in any of the cases they are reported to, it would be common knowledge, not to mention a real problem if poltergeists and demons really were trying to kill people. We’d treat those situations like we treat any murderer. I have no idea if there is an afterlife, but it is incredibly improbable that any cases of ghosts sightings are any form of energy, physical manifestation etc of a past person. The brain is really freaking good at fooling us all the time. As an amazing organic machine that it is, it sure messes up … A LOT. This is why we demand science, not hear say and not someone saying they saw something, because we can’t totally trust our own memory or eyesight. Science takes that flaw for the most part out of the equation, by testing and testing, observing, recording and retesting theories, hypothesis and facts we know. Science doesn’t care about the outcome, only the information presented in conjunction with information available to find an answer or explanation.
Given this, it is very unlikely that ghosts exist. Given what I know on the subject, I think at absolute best, a ghost is perhaps an energy imprint that basically plays like a recording, but never does anything or has any impact. Basically negative energy left behind by a disaster or terrible happenstance, but the “ghost” which is a data memory residue of the person wouldn’t be able to do anything.
And even that’s pretty farfetched.
Just because it’s not impossible doesn’t mean it’s true. And I know that seems obvious, but humans seem to be really REALLY bad at taking maybe for an answer. Everything is yes or no. So saying something isn’t technically impossible or more information is needed leaves them to believe it’s true. This is also my problem with religion. it’s not belief, to them, it’s a fact and they respond and act accordingly to that fact that holds true for only some people.
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“Just because it’s not impossible doesn’t mean it’s true.”
Well put.
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Okay, so here’s the problem with this. This is mostly speculation that a credulous person could explain away with maybes and what ifs. So what if a ghost could project a specific image? If they can make a body appear out of nothing, why not clothing or a chair? And I have known people who say they see ghosts during the day. And maybe certain people become ghosts under certain circumstances, etc. So a lot of this stuff is wide open for unsceptical people to say “Well you just don’t know so I still believe.” I think if we’re going to say ghosts don’t exist (and they clearly do not) we have to focus on the fact that none of these supposed phenomena have ever been recorded in any compelling way, the things that supposedly have been recorded are sketchy at best, and that with all the people who are looking for any shred of compelling evidence can’t find anything that cannot be easily explained away. Some people have witnesses. Yes. But that can be explained with simple psychology in 100% of cases of which I’m aware. The methods used to detect these ghosts are not sound and have other explanations. There simply is no good reason to believe in ghosts, yes, even if you’ve seen one. Many people believe they’ve been abducted by aliens. Many people believe they’ve seen Bigfoot or the Chupacabra or the Jersey Devil. Some say they’ve seen living breathing dinosaurs. It’s true. You can look that up. They do. And some believe they’ve even seen mermaids. Yes, mermaids. I’m serious.
The point is you have to cite reasons for why believing is not rational and then you have to create airtight logic that someone can’t just rip apart and say “Well maybe X or perhaps Y” without contradicting science or the laws of reality. This is frankly a very poorly written article and I feel like it’s doing more harm than good. You have good intentions. I admire that. But you’re doing a bad job and I think you should think these things through before you try to make a case because what you’re doing now is not really doing anyone any good. I would say good try but frankly I think you need to do better. That may sound harsh and maybe it is but if you’re going to knock down these silly notions you have to provide compelling reasons for people to give up their superstitions.
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Well for one, you didn’t give an operational definition of ghost. Is a ghost in the form of a person? Is it a little white floating thing? “Ghost” is an extremely broad term, and you’re trying to cover a huge topic with examples from all across the board. That weakens your argument a bit, for sure.
I hear what you’re saying though, and all of it could be a possible explanation for why ghosts don’t exist, but there is nothing conclusive. I wish you would have titled this article “Top 10 Reasons why I think ghosts don’t exist.” It’s as if you think that the argument with more support is certainly the correct answer, when that is not the case. You can use science and philosophy all you want, but in reality, you can’t prove it.
I do appreciate the effort, though, and I’m sure you understand what I’m saying. You seem intelligent enough. But there will never be a line drawn on this one, as well as God and many other debated topics.
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When a person is scared of their own ignorance, they seek knowledge in any shape or form. Some people can’t accept the choices they made, and they sometimes can’t accept honesty because it’s simply easier to live a lie that’s convenient rather than a truth that’s inconvenient.
And for all we know, some people who have claimed to see ghosts were on drugs. Drugs exist, right? But do drugs become ghosts? Heh, sometimes people sure act like ghosts when they are high.
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here are more reasons why ghosts dont exist http://kaboomed.wordpress.com/2014/07/30/ghosts-are-they-real-scitacular/
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Hey there lol. Ur right they don’t exists all those people that say guess what I saw a ghost yeah right. U know because uve never seen 1 ur self. People lie to freak people out which is horrible. Anyway how can they exist? It’s a myth! I’ve never ever believed in ghosts it’s pothetic xxx
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If u see 1 it’s only u seeing things or someone being a fool on u xx
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The reason people like to believe ghosts are real is because it is exciting to think about. Very similar to people whom believe all sorts of whacky conspiracy theories. They stimulate your mind and are fun to think about. But real they are not. In the real universe everything has mass, a position, and properties. Science is a process and is real wether you believe in it or not.
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Agreed. But there are people who believe in all sorts of things, not because they think they are fun and whimsical, but because they think these things are just as much a part of reality as anything else! That is disturbing.
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I agree with all your points. I have always been a very scientific person. I need physical actual proof and to this day I have not sat down and had a one on one conversation with any ghost over a cup of tea. The idea that a ghost can think without a brain which requires the circulation of blood, which they do not have anymore, is absurd.
I have however had some weird stuff happen. I had a dream that I was walking through a house from room to room. When I woke up I was short of breath. Three days later a friend calls and asks if I can go out of town with him because he just got word that his grandmother was dying and he doesn’t want to go alone. When we walk in, it’s the exact same house room to room.
I was at the mall walking with a friend and suddenly my chest starts hurting so bad that it brought me down to my knees and the pain made it hard to breathe, then just as fast it went away though it left me feeling weak. When I got home I had a message from my mom that my grandma had passed away at the exact same time.
I was out on the road and got a flat tire on the freeway, I had a spare tire but had never changed a flat tire and no one would stop to help, as I stood by the trunk contemplating what to do, a lady walks next to me, I was surprised that I didn’t heard them pull up behind my car as there was gravel on the side and it made a lot of noise when I had to pull over. Her husband offers to help. As he’s changing the tire the lady starts talking to me and refers to me by my name and I do not recall telling her what my name was and I found that very odd at the moment, especially that she had pronounced it correctly and gave her a puzzled look. She said something else that threw me completely off because I’m a very private person and there was no way of anyone knowing what she just had mentioned, it’s like these people knew a lot about me. It would have creeped me out but these people seemed so humble, down to earth, very simple in the way they were dressed, and their smiles were so genuine, it felt good being in their presence. I reached to the ground and put the flat tire in the trunk and turned back to them to thank them and they were gone. These people were well mannered and it seemed out of character that they would just leave without saying goodbye and I only had my back on them for a few seconds, no one can get inside their vehicle and get back on fast moving traffic on a freeway that fast.
Since I’m feeling chatty, I’ll go on. I went with a friend to visit her church, I’m not a religious person but she dragged me. In the crowd waiting for church to commence, I see a light around a man. The only way I can describe it is like him being inside a diamond as light hit from every angel and it reflected, and it’s only on him, it followed him as he walked around and later when I sat I kept looking to see if it could be light reflecting from windows but it wasn’t a sunny day and I had no way to explain it’s presence. He died a month later.
At work, I was having a conversation with my boss, the conversation turns to God and he recounts how he “found” God. As soon as he finishes telling me his fascinating story with tears in his eyes, the lights go out in the building. We both found the timing very on cue.
I have never heard voices or seen shadows of ghost, or felt “cold” on me or around me like many do on TV. When I wake up for a glass of water in the middle of the night and walk in the dark to my kitchen and back, I never feel anything unusual. I find the silence of night very peaceful and since I have worked in the medical field at night I know that life goes on even when others sleep. I find it weird that many people who have spiritual experiences are religious or how people have more ghostly experiences around Halloween, it puts a lot of scientific reasoning to your article. Coincidental occurrences make things very confusing for me at times but I keep brushing them off, it’s probably just coincidence after coincidence, life is full of those.
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Thanks for offering your stories! Perhaps I’ll have to write another article!!
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If you believe in God then you will have to believe in the afterlife I mean who do u turn to when things get hard. It is really heart-breaking the amount of people that live without faith. It makes me sad.
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I’m not sure that faith requires a belief in ghosts. That’s a complex topic!
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What? You think God will let someone scare the shit out of the living. When lazarus was revived by Jesus Christ did he tell stories about heaven or meeting the creator? No right coz he is in a deep sleep. The living knows something but the dead knows nothing. And theres no verse in the bible saying your going to heaven when you die or to praise a pope or ghosts from dead people.
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you go to heaven or hell
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Even if that were true, does it make you a ghost? And do dogs go to heaven? How about “infidels”? What about purgatory? Is everyone there a ghost?
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Go stay in the a couple of the worlds most haunted and terrible haunted houses for tree days or so and then you will change ur bullshit opinion if you don’t then everyone nows your nothing but a frod thats full of shit.
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So your argument is that rather than people proving ghosts exist by simply showing the solid evidence, that I should instead have a sleepover somewhere to get scared? I’m not sure that makes me a fraud.
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Ghosts exist. They just don’t exist on earth. They exist in outer space. They exist in a giant invisible pink ice cream bowl outside of Saturn that is filled with invisible pink ice cream.
By the way, Jehovah’s Witnesses and most Orthodox Jews explicitly deny the existence of ghosts and post-mortem spirits. They believe that everybody is unconscious until the Day of Resurrection. Neither group celebrates Halloween either.
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I wish people would be honest sometimes and say
“I saw a ghost. It might have been something else, but I liked to believe that it was a ghost”
instead of
“I SAW A GHOST. I SWEAR ON ME MUM. THERE’S NO OTHER POSSIBILITY. Last night I saw a tv show with ghosts in it and today I saw ghost JUST LIKE THE ONE ON THE TELE. I swear I must be cursed or something.”
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The power of suggestion is amazing isn’t it?
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Some people may have theories on ghosts, but do people ever take pictures of “ghosts” nowadays? No, they just like to see or lie about seeing ghosts, but don’t believe them. If they had taken evidence that they did, then thats a ghost.
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Lack of evidence doesn’t help the case!
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Dumbest sh*t i’ve ever read.
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Your feedback is important to us. Please stay on the line for the next representative.
In all seriousness, you took the time to read and leave a comment but you don’t have anything specific to say?
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there are so many things humans have not really discovered properly yet. what if we are just one step away from the truth? so many happenings of ghost events. but why are you only relating to the cultural beliefs?
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We might be one step away from understanding, but no valid science has been done to document anything that would lead a reasonable person to believe ghosts do exist.
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i am just a kid doing my assignment pls dont get angry
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Very academic of you!
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btw ghosts do the haunting
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and just like you mentioned when something dies it becomes a ghost so ghosts do exist!
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There is nothing in science that tells you ghosts exist and all they say is they are not and it has been proven because 75% of haunted houses have these gas leaks cause people to see things for example ghosts and what there see is a ghost but there actually looking at a black Curtin!
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I think what you’re saying is that it’s more than likely that there’s a scientific explanation for everything mysterious that happens. And I agree.
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this kills me inside seeing that people believe this. Honestly, people don’t die and become ghosts. Your telling me that people die and are forced to roam around the world without anything to do. That is not how we were meant to live. We are sent to heaven because God forgives all. Hell is fear. If you fear Hell then you will never move on, which is why you stop fearing things when you pass over.
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What about people that don’t follow the religion you’re describing?
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wat do you mean? academic? i didnt say anything academic mister.
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and btw(by the way) I use shortcut words because I think u people which is on the other side of the world might know it also I am lazy at typing because we(I) are 1 MALAYSIANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
toodles if thats what they say on the other side of the WORLD! ;D
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I love that you’ve commented and given your perspective!
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lol no valid science? wat are you even talking about? i dont care about it anymore i have to go to bed because of you mister i wont reply anymore messages so you dont have to waste your time typing dont get angry. i dont want to talk to you btw juijokjio is not my real name i simple type so that i can send a message
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Thanks again for replying!
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If ghost do exits what the point of using doors or Windows why don’t they go throw it and in that casts they can’t go upstairs and all ghost look different like some are white as paper, some are seethrow,some people see them like really people i tho they’re dead, they should more on why would someone want to haunt someone else and hitler is dead so should he be haunting place.
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My wife and I had a co-worker over with her husband one night. She works eighty hours a week to support three kids, one of whom is wheelchair-bound and a husband who can’t work because…I don’t remember his excuse. Something to do with bosses, as a general class of people, hassling him. Also that he had a lot of work to do to fix up a house that they had purchased for some ridiculously cheap amount because it should have been a gut rehab or complete demolition. Instead of doing that, he was building a weed plantation in a wooded area just over the property line on a neighbor’s land. This was his briliant idea of how to contribute financially while his wife works eighty hours a week and his kids live in a squat without hot water or, in some rooms, floors.
It’s not that he’s a bad guy. Just a stupid guy, and the very definition of a loser.
In any case, after a too-long conversation about weed, we started to hear about their ghost infestation. There was all the usual stuff: it was cold in this room but warm everywhere else; this door swung open on its own, they heard some noise coming from some presumably unoccupied room, all the typical stuff. But the big closer was the story about the time the husband was late getting his handicapped son out of the house for an appointment and, when rolling the kid in the wheelchair down the main stairwell ‘something’ knocked his grip free, sending the chair bouncing down the stairs. By what could obviously only be the intervention of a ghost, the chair ended up at the bottom of the flight right-side up.
It was kind of embarassing to hear this guy talk about almost killing his handicapped child because he was high and blaming it on a ghost. I was embarassed for our friend, his wife, who basically had no option but to buy into and play along with the ghost story because it’s better than having three kids and no father there to help with them.
I was reminded of this while watching the Conjuring, the story of a husband and wife who are too often drunk around their kids, triggering behavioral problems and inspiring a shared myth about ghosts that allows them to talk about what’s wrong with their family without directly addressing the alchoholism and abuse that’s actually going on.
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Thank you so much for posting your story. I’m reminded of so many stories like this. One in particular I saw on the television show “Unsolved Mysteries” where a husband (in jail during his interview) claimed to have been defending his house from a spectral intruder when he shot his daughter. Sure buddy.
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Ghosts are absolutely real. I’ve experienced unexplained occurrences since childhood. If ghosts aren’t real, what explains knocking on my bathroom door as I’m showering and alone in the house? If ghosts aren’t real, what explains doors closing and locking themselves? What explains a freezing cold attic in the middle of summer (with no AC in the house)? What explains footsteps in the attic of someone running back and forth when there is no one else in the house? My bed being shaken vigorously at night, not letting me sleep?… What explains all that? And no. I am not crazy. You won’t believe it unless you experience it; be thankful that you haven’t.
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I’m not calling you, or anyone that has experienced something like what you’re describing, a liar. It’s just that what you’ve provided is anecdotal evidence, and not scientific. Your interpretation of those experiences is, “it’s a ghost, and therefore ghosts are real,” but that’s far from providing scientific proof.
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Actually, if you do your research, scientific studies have in fact proven that ghosts are real. They can detect electromagnetic fields in the atmosphere and other things that have proven the existence of ghosts. Look it up. just updating you, since I just noticed this post isn’t recent.
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Proof of the existence of ghosts has absolutely *not* been provided by any legitimate scientific, peer-reviewed publication. It would be the single greatest discovery in the history of human kind. I don’t think I just “missed it”.
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I heard that some people who reported ghost sightings in there house actually had carbon monoxide poisoning leaking from a faulty furnace in their house causing aural and visual hallucinations. I’m not trying to worry you, but there could be other explanations for what you have experienced.
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Studies have definitely been made. It doesn’t clearly conclude that ghosts are real, but studies do suggest the presence of energies in the atmosphere that have no other explanation… But going back to my first comment, how can you tell me something isn’t real, but yet you can’t explain why those things happen? If it’s not a ghost, what is it? How can things like that happen without a possible explanation? How do doors “knock” on their own? Yes, science can’t explain that, but they have definitely been able to find manipulations in the atmosphere that suggest ghosts in places where people claim to see/hear/see spirits… But in my opinion, science can’t explain “otherworldly” things when they aren’t supposed to be there. Spirits are not supposed to linger on earth, but they do when they are attached to a certain person or building. What about aliens? So many people have said to have seen aliens and UFO’s, and others even say that they’ve been abducted. So many more people believe in aliens more than they believe in ghosts. Scientists can’t prove their existence either, but they have made studies as well and nowhere does it say aliens definitely exists, but rather things that suggest the existence of aliens.. Science can’t explain those things because they’re not supposed to be here, they are “otherworldly”; this is why aliens and ghosts are both put into the “paranormal” category and therefore, beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding.
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That isn’t how science works. There isn’t a category of things that are observed, measured, and documented as real that scientists simply have given up on explaining. The fact is that the designation “paranormal” is generally a polite way of dismissing the ideas as nonsense because they *can’t* be observed, measured, or documented as real, primarily because they aren’t.
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Lol they definitely are real. I experienced it. I’m no scientist, but I know what I went through and I know it’s real and I’m not crazy! I’m perfectly sane. How can you comment on something you’ve never experienced and dismiss it as real or fake? sorry, I just hate when people say ghosts are fake, when they never had things moving on their own unexplainably, etc.. Just because not everybody gets to experience it, doesn’t mean unexplainable things don’t happen. I never believed in ghosts either, until it happened to me, so I guess I understand why you are closed minded.
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I don’t believe I said anywhere that I never had anything unexplainable happen to me. I have had some very strange things happen to my life…stories I’ve told people I know, and will never forget. But that doesn’t mean I believe ghosts are real. I know they simply aren’t.
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Explain furniture moving. No earthquake, multiple witnesses, no shaking or drugs involved. Furniture just moved in the middle of the day while 4 people watched in shock. Many people who lived in house had same experience. No actual apparitions could be seen.
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Just because you can’t explain something that doesn’t mean it was a ghost. Seismic activity, which you mentioned yourself, can often be imperceptible while producing real measurable changes in the environment.
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It’s funny to me how closed minded people are… Trying to make a natural explanation for heavy furniture moving on its own lol if it was something natural, why doesn’t it happen to everybody? And what else could it be, other than some paranormal force? Gotta love closed minded people… Your life must suck living in your own little bubble.
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It’s funny to me how closed-minded people are… Trying to make a supernatural explanation for heavy furniture moving on its own. You’re claiming you know for certain it was ghosts that caused this phenomenon, and I’m claiming I have no idea what it was, but that there’s a scientific explanation to be had. What’s more closed-minded? Your certainty or my uncertainty?
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Lol what else could it be smarty pants? Why else would there be random voices in a place where you’re completely alone? Furniture moving, things being thrown… It’s called closed mindedness. 🙂 there is no other explanation for disembodied voices other than spirits bruh
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Are you open to the possibility of it being something else? If not, you’re the closed-minded one.
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I have more then enough evidence of the afterlife. Anything from rods to aliens to spirits and demons to heaven and hell. They are ghost dude I know for a fact and have more then enough evidence already to prove that.
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Please feel free to publish your evidence in a peer-reviewed scientific journal and reap the benefits of being the individual that proved ghosts exist.
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Something else like what smarty pants?? 🙂 tell me what other thing it must be.. 🙂 cmon son
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The point of my article isn’t to give definitive proof of the infinite number of alternative possibilities to that of ghosts. The point is to demonstrate, as you have graciously assisted with, that people who believe in ghosts lack a fundamental understanding of logic, reason, and science. If you’re dissatisfied with me answering, “I don’t know,” then you probably shouldn’t have come to an article titled “Top 10 Reasons Ghosts Don’t Exist” for an answer to the question, “Do ghosts exist?”
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I go on any post I feel like going on bruh 🙂 where do you live? Cause I wanna take your ass to my childhood home and lock your booty in the attic and tell me wtf is up there since there is no such thing as ghosts 🙂
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As a policy, I don’t allow commenters to lock me in their attic to prove a point. Even if I did, I think I’d be too distracted by the fact that I was locked in your attic to pay attention to your ghost stories. Thanks for the offer, but I’ll pass. 🙂
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Maybe you shouldn’t write blogs about $h1t that you never experienced 🙂
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That’s an interesting point, but going by your logic, the Bible wouldn’t have been written.
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I agree with allot of these reasons. One reason why I cast doubt on the existance of ghosts is the fact that they have all these TV shows like Ghost Hunters that use the possibility of ghosts existing just to get more ratings. More ratings equal more money for the network.
Also alot of the places that people came are haunted are often tourist attractions. And the places that arent tourist attractions are often explained by the locals just jumping at shadows. Granted there probably is unexplained encounters but I see cryptid creatures or UFO sightings being more believable than ghosts. I’ll even go as far as a form of time travel possibly playing a role in ghost sightings.
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You make an excellent point about ratings and tourism. Unfortunately, the economy plays a large role in the pervasive belief that a place can be haunted. Enterprising owners of structures and lands that are reportedly inhabited by spirits have every reason to encourage visitors to take full part in the spectacle and walk away from it being convinced that ghosts are a reason to spend money somewhere.
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You state that you know that they don’t exist, but you cannot prove that they don’t, just like people cannot prove that they do. Pictures are easily manipulated and ghost strories aren’t always believable, unless you experience it yourself, but too many strange things have occurred in this world to simply debunk ghosts all together, I think people should remain open minded. There’s no way to naturally explain some of the weird things that have occurred, for instance you can’t say that the wind blew on his door, therefore it made a knocking sound and you can’t put every ghost picture down to overexposure etc…
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“Ghost” as a concept is founded in so many illogical assumptions that it fails basic tests of reasoning. I’m open minded to the possibility that there are scientific explanations for the phenomena that people generally associate with ghosts. I refuse to make up wild mythologies to satisfy my curiosity. If ghosts were a legitimate, perceptible phenomenon they would be measured and categorized by scientists. They are not, however, legitimate descriptions for anything, so they aren’t measured and categorized by science.
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This is all assuming that ghosts are spirits of dead people. Just because folklore pens them as such doesnt mean thats what they are. They could just be glimpses of the past or extradimensional beings. There are many many many things that can’t be explained by science doesn’t mean they dont exist
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I agree that there isn’t an explanation for these phenomena. However, the greater point I’m making is that there really aren’t any real phenomena to report.
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No credible scientist would accept the sort of weak arguments that you have disguised here as “logic”. The correct way to proceed in any scientific undertaking is to…
1. Look objectively at the material in question (in this instance, the purported ghostly phenomena).
2. Come up with a hypothesis to explain the phenomena.
3. Design a process to objectively test your hypothesis.
Even in the event that this process may fail, it remains the correct approach.
Your approach is the exact opposite of this. You take a body of phenomena, simply dismiss it, and then argue that it is perfectly OK to do so because it could not really have happened in the first place.
I have never had any sort of ghostly experience (and neither do I expect to), but there is a more than ample body of anecdotal evidence to support the position that perfectly sane and sensible people do experience things that, while not easily or comfortably explainable, should neither be dismissed out of hand.
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Thank you for your great comments. I supposed it could appear that my reasoning can be used against me. However, what I’ve laid out here is a playful list of reasons why ghosts, as a concept, are a non-starter when you apply any sort of basic scrutiny. I don’t claim my blog to be a peer-reviewed scientific publication, and even if it were, the burden of proof is not on the skeptic, but the believer. In other words, the method you described might work to prove ghosts don’t exist, but I don’t have to prove ghosts don’t exist, because the scientific assumption is that they don’t. Until someone has evidence they do, I can dismiss the concept in any silly way I want.
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I find this article insulting. You obviously need to do some actual legitamate research on the paranormal because every single “point” you made here is a logical fallacy. By the way, I’m a Paranormal investigator and a person of science. The paranormal is much more than you seem to think it is.
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The point of the post is that there isn’t *any* legitimate research on ghost.
Show me real results in a peer-reviewed scientific publication, otherwise feel free to remain insulted, though the fact that ghosts don’t exist isn’t a personal attack on you, it’s just simply a fact.
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And one more thing…
I’ve been called out here in the comments several times for not providing a good argument against the existence of ghosts and for “not doing enough research”, and yet not a single reader has provided a single shred of evidence to support their claim.
I say, “Ghosts don’t exist.” And the best retorts have amounted to, “Yes they do!”
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@SWYSI Your whole argument is biased. You don’t even know what the fuck you’re talking about with the Hulk shit. He has stretchy pants. You should’ve done your homework to figure that one out. If you were smart enough you would’ve. What the fuck do you think happens to you when you die? You sure as hell aren’t in the flesh anymore. And you’re not going to wake up from your casket. You leave your body as your soul. If you don’t believe me just kill yourself. You’ll be doing many people favors and you’ll finally figure out the truth. Ghosts can most definitely be real. It’s the people with fake eyes and ears that can’t figure it out.
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You’re definitely on to something. If my death substantiates all of the haunting claims, I promise that you’ll be the first I haunt.
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I honestly agree. I am not religous, and noone knows what happens after death, but ghosts seem truly fake. Sure it’s something nice to talk about around campfires or wonder about, but I don’t believe in an invisible monster that you can’t touch but it can touch whatever it wants, and be able to think without a brain? Sounds a little over the top.
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We don’t accept such explanations for daily occurrences, but when we’re scared we’re suddenly willing to assign bizarre reasoning to events. Not me.
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U ARE SMART
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Thank you.
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Ghost are totally real just like horoscopes are totally legitimate. Like the other day my horoscope said that i’d have good like and I found a dollar on the ground. Explain that mister science. On a sad note my uncle was killed by a truck that same day but I was totally lucky. Also like ghost are so real cause i swear I saw one in my basement when I was doing wash. It had to be real cause it felt so real, I swear almost as real as the monsters I saw in my closet growing up. Wait do you think those monsters I totally saw were ghost? Or maybe that ghost was a monster? Better check my daily horoscope to see if I’ll have any luck at seeing the ghost and monsters again!
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From the sounds of it, you see my point.
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Indeed there is no real ghosts, spirits yes; http://beforeitsnews.com/paranormal/2016/05/ghosts-as-such-does-not-exist-2508777.html
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I believe that if you want to split hairs, you’ll still turn out to be wrong. Spirit is just another word delusion.
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I agree completely that ghosts arent real and your points are highly valid, however I want to know your input on how to explain how things “move on their own” because if the image of a ghost is psychological then what is the explanation for a physical object being dispositioned by a nonpresent force.
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Not being able to explain why something moves “on its own” doesn’t validate ghosts as a theory. Science doesn’t work that way. You don’t just draw an answer from a hat when nobody has a good one.
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Sorry, but I’ve been a skeptic believer for years. It is in my nature to debunk anything and everything that can be explained any other way, but there are a few outstanding things I have witnessed that nobody is ever going to tell me could be anything other than the paranormal, and no, I couldn’t prove it to you because a) you weren’t there b) you wouldn’t believe it anyway c) you’ll just insult my intelligence and go on a tirade about some unlikely scientific explanation that’s even less believable than saying it’s simply paranormal. Also, without knowing anything about my psychology, I’m sure you’ll give me some laughable explanation about how I made it happen, or wanted it to happen in my mind despite the fact that I had witnesses and was just calmly doing nothing special when the events occurred. I’ve heard it all, and they all fall flat because every excuse is riddled with holes from details that you are not aware of, or refuse to account for. I’m sorry, but you’ve wasted your time, and your silly explanations are so desperate. If indeed ghosts do exist, the idea is outrageous enough that they would defy the “logic” you used to explain it all away.
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There’s nothing desperate about my explanation I assure you. Frankly, I don’t care if I’m wrong because I have no stake in the matter whatsoever. There aren’t ghosts, and so I feel no burden to explain them. Perhaps a “skeptic believer” would be drawn to the conclusion that they must strive to provide evidence or anecdotes to the contrary, but I don’t. I state the fact, “ghosts do not exist,” and receive nothing but nonsensical angry replies. Not one person has yet to offer anything of substance beyond “shut up.”
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I just want to point out that “Only people become ghosts”, isn’t entirely true. There have been sightings of ghost ships, ghost trains, even ghost dogs. I don’t have the explanation as to how that’s possible, but it seems that not only humans become ghosts
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I think you’re proving my point. A ship cannot die. Therefore, a ship becoming a ghost is impossible.
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Dark is dark, and light is light. No matter what a man made clock says. If we are more comfortable in the light, then who’s to say spirits aren’t comfortable in the dark. We know too little about the unknown. Don’t assume one way or the other. Stay neutral. You can’t be told you’re wrong if you have no evidence. We are taught to fear the unknown. Don’t. Just choose not too.
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Thank you for offering your perspective!
It isn’t a case of me being neutral or biased. It’s hard for people to understand that. The 100% unbiased position on this is that there aren’t ghosts.
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That’s rich. I will absolutely HAVE to have a T-Shirt made with your saying on it: “We know too little about the unknown.” Fantastic quote – so intuitive…
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I don’t really know. I’m a very scientific, black and white thinking person myself. Rarely do I take anyone’s word for anything without proof, even someone as close to me as my mother. I’ve always been skeptical, never believed in a deity or an afterlife. But, I’ve experienced too many “paranormal” things that I can’t explain scientifically no matter how hard I try. The last thing I do is jump to “It was a ghost”, and if something can possibly be explained, even if the solution is rather far fetched, I’m more inclined to believe it than to say it was a ghost.
Probably the most compelling thing that ever happened to me was when we lived in a house that my mother believed to be haunted. Not believing it myself, I taunted the supposed ghost saying “If you’re so big and scary, then do something right now.” and of course nothing happened. But, that night, I was sitting on the computer with my friend Joey (which was located right beside the kitchen). We had just grabbed some food and closed the cupboards, and as we sat there, we heard these heavy bootsteps approach us from behind, stopping right at our backs. At that moment, we felt a cold breeze blow from behind us. Both of us experienced it at the same time, and we both glanced over at each other with bewildered expressions.
The heater was on in our house and there were no windows open, and there wasn’t anything in the room that could have made such a distinct noise move so clearly close to us. I wasn’t the only person who felt it either. It wasn’t the power of suggestion, considering we were totally involved in what we were doing on the computer and neither of us believed the place was really haunted. To this day, I can’t come up with any explanation other than something paranormal, and it’s one of the only things that I wholeheartedly believe is paranormal.
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I’ve heard many scary stories, and this is one of them. However, scary stories do not constitute proof of anything, or evidence for that matter.
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I totally agree with you ghosts do not exist. I think some people just want to believe in their existence because they lost a loved one and it makes them feel better to believe that they have seen them and that they are around.
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I’m sorry but your argument against the reality of ghosts is rather childish.
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I actually agree with this point, but this is somewhat intentional: it doesn’t take much beyond a child’s view of the world to see that the entire concept of a ghost is silly.
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Great reasons and great post.
But I’m quite stumped by these two videos that were taken at the same place (one of which went viral with over 5 million views on facebook).
I’d love to get your thoughts on what’s going on to move the balloon in both videos. I’m kinda creeped out and would like to have a logical explanation to put my mind to rest over it.
Link to both videos:
https://www.rt.com/news/332671-ghost-balloon-comforts-mother/
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This is far from the sort of controlled condition where air currents, static electricity, humidity, barometric pressure, and the like can be ruled out as influence the path of the balloon. Just because a person was sad and a balloon did something weird, that doesn’t mean ghosts.
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I agree with SWYSI. Everybody who is attacking him in the comments just lay off. If someone doesn’t agree with your opinion then don’t have an argument about why you think theyre wrong. Accept the fact that thats their opinion and move on. If you disagree with someone or something then ignore it instead of wasting your time on arguments trying to get them to see your point of view.
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I feel like the negative comments are completely justified. People are afraid of what they don’t understand, but they’re also afraid of a world in which there is no magic, no spirits, no luck, no witchcraft, and no ghosts.
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Ghost are going extinct.
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Couldn’t have said it better myself.
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Stop relating everything to your own experience. Opinions are not facts. Why do houses that are haunted and sold without reporting the haunting have the new owner experiencing the same thing. Look up real estate law and hauntings (a house with only one ghost sells for 20% less on average if reported). Whey would people sell a 3.5 million dollar home for 2 million or less one month after moving in if it wasn’t haunted. Also why are there laws saying that people have to disclose a haunting or poltergeist. “the wisest man is the man who realizes how little he knows” – Socrates. “People these days read too much to be wise and think too much to be beautiful” – Oscar Wilde. We can’t explain quantum physics, and may never be able to so we may never be able to explain most phenomenon. Also there is a strong correlation between electromagnetic fields and hauntings. You believe in science. Science is based on math and if you ever knew anybody who studied math they will tell you that their professors, if they had good professors, will tell you that all math is flawed. Just like all you people who believe in statistics in psychology and medicine. The first thing they teach you in med school is that there are no statistics, only individuals. You believe in science what do any of you really know about science (I could be wrong though). Do any of you know what were Einstens biggest discoveries and can you explain them on a non superficial level let alone do the math; no, probably not, but a man who couldn’t even remember the months of the year could. And yet he was more humble that you ignorant fucks. As he said “it’s not that I am so smart I just work longer on problems”. He didn’t just jump to conclusions of a whim and pretend like he was an authority on the subject and even after he proved it he still had doubts. Almost all great minds were humble in accordance with the advanced genius theory. As for psychology, psychology is all theory not scientific laws.
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“Science is based on math…math is flawed.”
The argument that science has yet to explain everything doesn’t legitimize the paranormal. Nor does the argument that once upon a time, people believed in things that were wrong.
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Just because more than one person agrees on something doesn’t make it true, that is just justification by comparison. “The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts” – Bertrand Russel.
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“The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts” – Bertrand Russel
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YES! they don’t exist at all.. People who are coward always be afraid of shitty things sees ghost 😂it’s just bull$h1t… How someone can come back after death??? I really loved these evidence, FAIR ENOUGH. I think I just our mind that stay connected with these bull$h1t and makes people psycho.. Okay if ghost exist then lemme tell you if won’t hurt u nor eat u.. Thanks bye
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I can say with confidence that nobody has been eaten by a ghost.
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My wife works with a lady who claims to see ghosts, but only in pictures. In other words she says they follow her around but she can only see them in pictures. She showed my wife pics she took around her house and my wife says there are definitely what appears to be people/faces in her home that her friend said were not visible before she took the photo.
She also claims to have visions of things that will happen. She does not claim to be a psychic, but she has visions. For example my wife and I were debating whether we should give our dog to another family as we found out she was pregnant with our 3rd child. We were afraid we wouldn’t be able to give him the attention he deserves. She had this same discussion with her “psychic” friend. She asked to see a photo of our dog which my wife then pulled out on her phone. The photo was my dog laying on his bed, in front of a chest. Her friend looked at it and immediately said “keep the dog”. My wife asked why…. she then showed a shadow above the dog, saying that they are angel wings. He will save one of our daughters 1 day but she doesn’t know which one (we have 2 daughters). My initial thought was to make sense of this shadow, because it didn’t make sense… although it somewhat was in the shape of a wing. Looked at chest where the shadow was and i could not see the same shadow that was in the photo. Next thing u know my dog walks over to the bed and lays down in front of me and wham… I see the “wing” shadow. Turns out it was just a reflection of my dog on the chest.
Another time my wife was talking to her and she asked my wife if i ever felt itching or pressure on my left hand, and that she sees me with a little girl all the time. Huh? I thought.. she said that one of our misscarried children (a few yrs ago) was a girl and her spirit follows me around holding my hand.
I got really angry and told her to stay away from this lady, she does not need this kind of garbage getting fed into her brain, especially when she is pregnant.
What nerve some people have.
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People that claim to have special abilities cannot demonstrate them under controlled conditions and, thus, cannot be trusted in many aspects.
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Ghosts are very real, the one’s I saw were!
They however seemed to be more of an energetic imprint in time rather than conscious beings.
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That’s a theory which needs testing.
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Wtf dude I believe in ghosts but I believe that when all creatures die they are ghosts and I think ghosts wearing clothes is fucking retarded. You know what else is retarded? You thinking inanimate objects being alive and “dying”. Okay then, apparently furniture has a soul and is a living creature? This is so damn confusing… I’m an atheist but I believe in ghosts and you seem even more retarded then a Christian who believes in God with no proof. (I’m not saying u are a christian)
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Thanks for your comments. To be clear: I do not believe that furniture is alive, and that’s my point. The general definition of the ghost is something that has died. When someone is killed, their clothing doesn’t die with them, because it wasn’t alive to begin with. Thus it doesn’t make a great deal of sense that ghosts are often described, in part, by their clothing.
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