Paedantic Basterd

Certain combinations of electromagnetic frequencies can cause hallucinations in the brain that may be interpreted as hauntings.

Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife, by Mary Roach

Was a good read, unbiased and funny.

LoathsomePete

If you enjoyed that book you need to read Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex, it's one of the funniest books I've ever read.

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Paedantic Basterd

Have you read Stiff? She's a great author. I've got all her books on my must-read list.

LoathsomePete

Sadly I've only read Bonk so far. She's been on my list of authors to read for awhile but I've kind of been on an anti-non fiction kick for awhile however I think I can break that for Mary Roach.

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WWWP

Yeah, precisely this. I have friends who are always trying to tell me about their experiences in hopes I'll change my mind and despite my "just because it's unexplained doesn't make it supernatural"' outlook and become a believer.

One time a friend, let's call him Idiot, told me this gem:

Idiot had woken up in the middle of the night for no apparent reason. Since he was awake, he decided to go to the bathroom. As soon as he set foot on the floor though, Idiot realized there was a small pool of water formed near his bed. Idiot had no idea where the water came from, but was afraid of it, so went back to sleep. In the morning the water was gone. Idiot blamed it on a ghost.

Upon asking him questions about the situation, I found out that what Idiot did not mention was that the incident took place in the middle of winter (rain season) and he had a leaky roof. Spooky stuff. Spooky stuff indeed.

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CanwllCorfe

See now that I hate. I prefer skeptics to people who assume something is paranormal without thinking of what else it could possibly be. Having said that, I'm not sure all of the experiences people have had that are attributed to "ghosts", could all be explained by the current possibilities (hallucinations being one of them). Especially in cases where multiple people experience the same thing. Not so much strange "feelings" or anything of that nature (none of that is remotely compelling to me, especially when I feel strange feelings all the damn time), but more specific. Like a full bodied figure. Some of these experiences could come from people who are aware of the location/place and the supposed haunting, and so are then just attributing to what they experienced to their friendly "inhabitant" from the netherworld. But then I doubt this would always be the case, since there's no real incentive to do so. However nowadays, when there's TV shows involved, then you bet your sweet bippy that there is.

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Your eyes were never yet let in to see the majesty and riches of the mind, but dwell in darkness; for your God is blind.

WWWP

I think that when multiple people experience the same thing, at least in a supernatural sense, a large part of the experience may be due to the similarities in the descriptions of past incidences (whether they are valid or not). Seeing a full-figured "ghost" that is pale and translucent that appears to float around a room or something is something so commonly talked about that rather than assuming it has more credibility because multiple people have experienced it, I tend to assume it's less credible because it seems to feed off of what other people have already described.

I mean, if ghosts existed and people saw them as frequently as they claim to, I suppose there would be similarities in the experiences, but because I don't believe ghosts do exist it feels kind of obvious that the subconscious idea (through media or oral tradition) of what it is to "see a ghost" can be attributed to any given person "experiencing a ghost." Not sure if any of what I just said makes sense, but eh.

I feel the same way about stories of alien abduction or near-death experiences. If you've been told all your life that when you're about to die you see a bright light at the end of a tunnel, when you're in a situation in which you're close to dying you're likely to impose that idea on your experience.

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CanwllCorfe

Yeah if they say that, or mention anything like "white sheet", their credibility drops to zero for me. It's just as bad as those that see illuminated flies/specs of dust in a photo and say it's a ball of spirit energy. I do think that in time we'll be able to come up with more answers, hopefully. Maybe not. I don't care if we do or don't, since I'm quite happy with weird experiences that aren't paranormal at all. One time me and my brother were going to Wendy's to pick up something to eat, and it was somewhat late (around 9:30). We came to a stop sign, and waited for our turn to go. I think to myself, "It'd be so cool if I looked up, and saw someone looking down at me" (not a person innocuously looking down at me, but a sort of figure peering down in an eerie fashion). Well, that's exactly what happened. He was just standing there. It was a blue-ish room lit up by some old looking fluorescent lights. Because he was standing so close to the glass, the front of him was black and you couldn't see any facial features. All I could see was that he was wearing a plaid shirt and had black hair. As we drove back home he was still standing there in the same exact position, peering down at the road. So, so awesome. My heart damn near stopped when I saw him. I don't know what the hell he was doing that for, but I enjoyed being freaked out.

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Your eyes were never yet let in to see the majesty and riches of the mind, but dwell in darkness; for your God is blind.

hip hop bunny hop

I don't believe in ghosts or anything like that even though I'd love to, but I do believe in Cryptids. The only ones I've personally witnessed are animals existing far outside the ranges they're supposed to be in. When I was in NE Missouri people at the bar would occasionally show off photos of cougars caught on those motion-activated hunting cams you set up in the woods. That and I'd run into the remains of large deer that were, in the middle of the forest, not during hunting season, that were just.... mutilated. Dunno what could have done that.

I've had other encounters that don't quite qualify as cryptids, but are strange none the less; black widows, huge Brown Recluse spiders (as in, I'd step on it, and the legs would be coming out either side of my boots!), huge ****ing snakes (i swear, approaching five feet), and various random genetic mutations like albino pheasants.

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Freebase Dali

Sounds like a familiar story.
But what's more upsetting is that people will latch on to a belief like that based on nothing more than having heard similar claims, and attributing their own experiences to those claims because it's easier than doubt. And when you have an entire society echoing claims they've heard, things become sort of a social truth that is applied to occurrences indiscriminately and void of critical thought.
That belief doesn't have to be ghosts. It can be anything and it's still the same. It can be a belief in the Candy Man. It can be a belief in a biblical god. It can be anything...
What's so disturbing is that whatever the most popular myths are, those that choose not to actually analyze the information they get and don't try to ascertain the truth of the claim are just as influential as someone who does. Only, they have more support.
I'm not worried about people believing in unsubstantiated things.
I'm worried about the kind of people that believe in unsubstantiated things actually affecting our world.