I had an encounter with a ghost : Othor Games

» Wed Feb 17, 2010 11:05 pm

Seriously, it probably wasn't a ghost, but I will say it was the most scared I've ever been in my life. Last week my power went out due to a storm, so I went to friends house who still had power and spent the day there. When I came home later at night, I had to lock my bike up in the basemant (I live in an apartment), but there was no light at all in the basemant. So I was at the bike rack in the basemant, trying to lock my bike up (unsuccessfully), and there's a door that's maybe 3 feet away from me. First I started hearing footsteps sounding like they were coming from behind the door. I dismissed it as coming from upstairs and continued trying to lock my bike. The footsteps continued, and it sounded like they stopped right behind the door.

I was a little bit jumpy by this point, and then I started hearing tapping on the door. I honestly couldn't try to explain this, so I tried to ignore it. As I was still struggling to lock up my bike that tapping continued. It was persistent and almost rhythmic in nature. After a solid 30 seconds of tapping, I gave up on the bike lock and looked at the door. I heard one more set of taps, and then saw the door open slightly. I bolted when that happened, it scared the [censored] out of me, and spent a solid hour freaking out upstairs.

I mean, it's not like I didn't believe in ghosts, but that was so damn scary, and I can't explain it. It was at like 2 in the morning so I doubt anyone would be walking upstairs, and there was no wind. Also, the tapping was too... real, to dismiss. Has anyone else experienced anything like this?

Did it occur to you that a person might have been [censored] with you? I'm not sure why you'd jump right to ghost from that.

Besides, I do believe tonnes of people have reported seeing Elvis several years after his death, what do you say to that?

Do you have any idea how many Elvis imporsonators exist?

» Wed Feb 17, 2010 6:13 pm

How odd.
This dude in an apartment heard a noise last night in the basemant. The basemant was dark though, and it was late at night. It sounded like someone was in there. He swears the sounds were by the bike rack. So he went over and tapped on the door. It was so dark and creepy though, that he gave up. Surely, no one would be out that late at night messing round with a bike.

» Wed Feb 17, 2010 10:56 pm

What's a Dybbuk?

It's a jewish spiritual entity, IIRC that was wronged in life, and seeks vengance through possesion of a body.

» Wed Feb 17, 2010 3:55 pm

Now, his principle wasn't that if he immediately couldn't explain something, he could make up a crazy story about it. His point was that if you discarded all the impossible options, then the possible would invariably have to be true, regardless of how improbable it was.

Rubbish, if you eliminate the impossible, you are left with numerous different possibilities, only one of which is the truth.

» Wed Feb 17, 2010 5:27 pm

Doesn't seem that odd to me. Power goes out, eventually someone decides to check on the breaker(Which is likely to be in the basemant), and all the other machinery in there. He starts fiddling with some of it, to make sure everything's still working, making some noise in the progress. When he opens the door to leave, he could swear he saw someone running up the stairs.

» Wed Feb 17, 2010 10:52 pm

Don't blow my example out of proportion. And how are ghosts not scientific? Aren't people like you convinced that everything is scientific in some way or another? All you're doing with that statement is making an assumption, especially about the people. You don't know them or what they experienced was.

Of course, everything can be explained by science, but what people deal in when it comes to such experiences as was described is pseudoscience.
Science is about explaining reality, not proving some elaborate idea of how things might be. That would be started at the wrong end of things.

So, if something is hard to study, then it's just safe to assume it's not scientific?

It's one of the most basic principles of scientific theory. If you reject it, then you are out in the fields of pseudoscience.

Nobody said ghosts were impossible to disprove. Hell, there are already multiple theories regarding them, lots of them focused around energy and how the environment around energy affects it.

Oh yes, and none of the research is worth anything, because most, if not all, of basic scientific theory is ignored.

And "with what we know about the world" wouldn't exist unless science didn't study it. Same goes for any paranormal activity. Should we just let it sit because you deem it unworthy of testing or studying? I'll go inform them right now.

That, I never said. Please, by all means, test everything, but don't expect me to believe it unless you can prove it.

Besides, I think you meant "unless science did study it".

Where in the holy living [censored] in my argument did I say that? You keep twisting my words so you can attempt some form of an "effective" counter argument against me, and it isn't working. A skeptic is someone who will go either way depending on what's discovered, not someone who's already on one side of the fence.

No need to get upset, it's just a friendly discussion, after all.

The question at hand is not what side on the fence of whether or not ghosts exist one is on, but rather what side of the fence of whether or not evidence should be demanded before one believes in something one is on.

If you cannot provide any evidence of the existence of ghosts, don't be surprised when reasonable people don't believe you.

Are you even being serious with me? Because I take things like this very seriously. Grow up.

I am being quite serious; there are at this very moment at least 20 prominent awards for proving that anything "paranormal" exists, that just sit there waiting to be claimed, because so far not a single such claim has survived any scrutiny.

I do believe JREF never even had a single contestant get past the qualifying step.

So there's a cap to how much something can't be proven? When so many people report happenings, even investigators themselves, I see plenty reason to continue the research.

Of course, one should always investigate, but one shouldn't be surprised when the claims turn out to be bogus, because every single one has so far.

Again, there are people alive today who insist that they saw Elvis after he died, lots of them in fact. Unfortunately, the King is dead.

Yeah, there's always a chance they could be hallucinating all of it or are faking it, but to assume every single case is wrong is being closed minded.

No, not believing them until they have proven their claims to be true is what skepticism is all about.

» Wed Feb 17, 2010 7:08 pm

Guys, the power went out in my apartment, and when I went down to check the fusebox, I knocked on the door to see if anyone was there. I heard heavy breathing and a tinkling of water, like someone pissing themself. Have we got a ghost?

» Wed Feb 17, 2010 6:13 pm

Guys, the power went out in my apartment, and when I went down to check the fusebox, I knocked on the door to see if anyone was there. I heard heavy breathing and a tinkling of water, like someone pissing themself. Have we got a ghost?

Yes I recommend you avoid the upstairs for a while. It's likely waiting in ambush.

» Wed Feb 17, 2010 11:48 pm

Rubbish, if you eliminate the impossible, you are left with numerous different possibilities, only one of which is the truth.

Allow me to quote our dearest Sherlock Holmes, then, to point out exactly what it was he said on the matter; "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth".

» Thu Feb 18, 2010 7:09 am

There are obvious some things that unexplainable and it's best to just leave it that way. Ignorance is bliss.

» Thu Feb 18, 2010 3:16 am

I'd really prefer if the topic of the paranormal be banned completely here. There's nothing but childish flamebaiting every single time it comes up, and nobody's even willing to agree to disagree. Seriously, I see the worst of many members in these threads. It's rather upsetting given how mature they are in the other ones. :sleep:

» Thu Feb 18, 2010 12:10 am

Power out = no heat = heaters turn off = metal contracting due to change in temperature.

ding ding ding! I think we have a winner here! You just solved about 90% of "ghost" cases.

Stop it, or you might put those hundreds of retarded ghost hunting shows on "scientific" channels out of buisness!

The thing is, if everyone simply thought "Hey, if science hasn't explained anything about this, then it's impossible", then science itself wouldn't exist. Science thrives off of taking what was thought as previously impossible and studying it. Some people see something strange and form a hypothesis, then test it and test it until they can either prove it to be true, disprove it, or get a little closer to the truth.

That's why people who dismiss ghosts so quickly annoy me, because science has yet to prove or disprove anything about them. They remain something unknown and strange, so taking a skeptical mindset is the best mindset to go into them with. However, I hardly ever see that. There are those who believe they exist, those who don't (and both these groups of people are annoying), and then there are skeptics, the ones trying to figure out if what people report is actually there.

It's a very difficult thing to research, as most of the "evidence" investigators have gathered is either fake or just not convincing enough. Yet there are tons of alleged "eyewitnesses" who claim that they saw their dead grandmother walking down the hall. They could be hallucinating, there could be a purely scientific explanation for it, or their dead grandmother was really there. Skeptics are trying to figure out which of those three possibilities it is.

Just flat out denying such paranormal claims because scientists haven't laid a finger on them is being extremely closed minded. Yes, the believers are annoying, but so are the ones who dismiss the idea without giving it any consideration. Where would humanity be today if it figured "Hey, we can't really see DNA and genes, so let's just skip that and move onto something we know is there."?

That is some seriously flawed thinking!

If there is no evidence of something, it means it isn't there! It doesn't mean it could, maybe, be there! That's what science is, science isn't an organisation or something, it's a method of studying the world to explain things.

And by the way, we can see the effects of genes and DNA, and they have effects that are both repeatable and controllable.Unlike pseudoscience and the paranormal.

» Thu Feb 18, 2010 1:26 am

I thought we were just debating the issue, I apologize if I seem somewhat overzealous, but this is something I feel quite strongly about.

» Thu Feb 18, 2010 2:25 am

That is some seriously flawed thinking!

If there is no evidence of something, it means it isn't there! It doesn't mean it could, maybe, be there! That's what science is, science isn't an organisation or something, it's a method of studying the world to explain things.

And by the way, we can see the effects of genes and DNA, and they have effects that are both repeatable and controllable.Unlike pseudoscience and the paranormal.

You're right. How foolish of me. I'm a [censored] idiot, as so many people, myself included, have pointed out time and time again on these forums. I'll go crawl back into my hole and never question anything ever. [censored]. Again. Thank you for putting it all into [censored] perspective for me. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go commit myself.

» Thu Feb 18, 2010 6:45 am

Allow me to quote our dearest Sherlock Holmes, then, to point out exactly what it was he said on the matter; "When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth".

I know full well what he said, though why the opinion of a fictional character matters I have no idea, but once you eliminate the impossible, what remains are several different possibilities, only one of which will be the truth.

» Wed Feb 17, 2010 5:04 pm

That is some seriously flawed thinking!

If there is no evidence of something, it means it isn't there!

That's hilarious. Was it intentional?

» Wed Feb 17, 2010 10:24 pm

If I were a ghost, I know I wouldn't hang around old abandoned houses or basemants or graveyards. I'd go somewhere nice. Spain, perhaps.

Is it just me? :shrug:

» Thu Feb 18, 2010 1:19 am

I have had an experience with a ghost also, every time I go to the supermarket it opens the doors for me

all joking aside though I am a strong believer in ghosts, but I do believe someone was just screwing with you

» Thu Feb 18, 2010 5:32 am

If I were a ghost, I know I wouldn't hang around old abandoned houses or basemants or graveyards. I'd go somewhere nice. Spain, perhaps.

Is it just me? :shrug:

Oh no, certainly not.

Personally, I'd haunt some physics professors, appearing to them under controlled conditions. How amazing wouldn't it be, to be remembered as the guy who haunted his way into a posthumous Nobel Prize?

» Thu Feb 18, 2010 6:19 am

Oh no, certainly not.

Personally, I'd haunt some physics professors, appearing to them under controlled conditions. How amazing wouldn't it be, to be remembered as the guy who haunted his way into a posthumous Nobel Prize?

Would I get my money? I mean, I can't exactly use my MasterCard.

» Thu Feb 18, 2010 7:20 am

I know of no incident where a dalek has been successfully killed by a sonic screwdriver.

Who said anything about killing ? I was going to have him lock all the doors with it so he'd have some time to hide. Or at least put some distance between himself and the exterminating. ;0;

» Thu Feb 18, 2010 3:53 am

If it was/is a ghost your knowledge or lack there of wont change it. In less words, it is what it is.

snip

I know full well what he said, though why the opinion of a fictional character matters I have no idea, but once you eliminate the impossible, what remains are several different possibilities, only one of which will be the truth.

Psychology is the one true Science!

» Wed Feb 17, 2010 11:37 pm

lolghost. I happen to wake up and hallucinate every couple of months.

I bet you do.

Also lolghost.

» Thu Feb 18, 2010 6:32 am

You're right. How foolish of me. I'm a [censored] idiot, as so many people, myself included, have pointed out time and time again on these forums. I'll go crawl back into my hole and never question anything ever. [censored]. Again. Thank you for putting it all into [censored] perspective for me. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go commit myself.

You're finally speaking sense man!

EDIT: Aaah there you are Chris. I'm feeling a sudden surge of deja vu.

» Wed Feb 17, 2010 6:55 pm

If I were a ghost, I know I wouldn't hang around old abandoned houses or basemants or graveyards. I'd go somewhere nice. Spain, perhaps.

Is it just me? :shrug:

I'd go hang out in a college girls dorms :hubbahubba: