[Discussion] The Paranormal

[Livewire]

*Note: First Paranormal thread discussion died, so re-making it here


Now normally, Science and Reason can disprove almost all of the supernatural happenings in the world, For instance, the myth of the Vampire was unraveled once people understood the body's natural decomposition cycle. 9 times out of 10, Paranormal occurrences are quickly debunked, but there is always that one case that can't be explained by modern scientific conventions.

But what about the old Myths, Legends, and Hauntings that have
yet to be explained?

Legends concerning The Jersey Devil, Sleepy Hollow, and the Bell Witch have existed in New England and the South for centuries, right up to the present day. Many hauntings and myths are attributed to ancient Native American burial mounds and tradition. Stories of haunted Civil War plantations and Battlefields continually pervade American culture. And almost every other culture, all over the world, has some sort of other-worldly myth or legend that cannot be explained by conventional means.

The well-documented Haunting of Anneliese Michelle (the Real life Emily Rose) remains unexplained to this day.

Is there something truly supernatural at hand, or is it just another coincidence? Discuss why supernatural events continue to occur, despite us living in the Modern Age.


*Feel free to mention any and all major supernatural occurrences I may have missed.

 

[thorn96]

Whenever my mother plays a certain CD on a certain track through the amplifier in my family's living room, the volume shoots up to about 50 for no explainable reason, without being touched. It's not a problem with the amp, the CD player is not integrated into the amp. The CD is spotless. And the CD player... well actually, it's a DVD player, has no problems whatsoever. Haha... yeah. :S

 

[Morgnarok]

I have never came across any in real life but many people belived that if you say someones name i forgot the name 4 times in a mirror and then look out your window and turn around that the thing would appear infront of you and kill you.I don't belive it because i tied it once when i was younger and noting happened but i was scared shitless for a few days because i thought it did appear but it hide some where and was waiting to kill me when i fell asleep. XD

 

[Livewire]

Whenever my mother plays a certain CD on a certain track through the amplifier in my family's living room, the volume shoots up to about 50 for no explainable reason, without being touched. It's not a problem with the amp, the CD player is not integrated into the amp. The CD is spotless. And the CD player... well actually, it's a DVD player, has no problems whatsoever. Haha... yeah. :S

...

That's pretty freaky. :0 Now I've heard of the same thing, except it would happen when a favorite song of a deceased person played, and it would be inexplicably loud, then go back to normal after the song was over with. Pretty crazy stuff.

 

[thorn96]

...

That's pretty freaky. :0 Now I've heard of the same thing, except it would happen when a favorite song of a deceased person played, and it would be inexplicably loud, then go back to normal after the song was over with. Pretty crazy stuff.

Yeah I thought that might be it, but I don't know anyone who died in my family who likes Kasey Chambers :P

 

[Weeaboo Name]

I'm a firm believer of the supernatural, of course I don't have any indisputable evidence but there must be more than meets the eye in this world.

The CD player thing would freak the **** out of me, the CD would be thrown out and replaced ASAP ^_^

The only unexplainable thing happened to me a couple of years back, I was sitting around watching tv when suddenly i saw two lights seem to chase each other round one of my bedroom walls. A few seconds later i heard what sounded like a baby crying really loud. I bolted into the living room to ask if my mum heard anything and she didn't :/

Thinking about it logicically the cries could easily have been foxes but for the life of me i can't figure out what the lights could have been.

 

[Her]

gonna put on my MULDER and SCULLY persona now

I'm undecided about the existence of paranormal entities. I remain completely open to the possibility of them however, as I believe science nor religion can't prove everything. Some mysteries that have been 'explained' by the former and latter seem unreasonable to me, so I am inclined to believe a third party may be involved.

For instance, the myth of the Vampire was unraveled once people understood the body's natural decomposition cycle.

This made me think of someone I read in a book, which I have in my little library in my room. Well, let's see, it says;

"Some doctors believe that old peasant tales of aristocratic vampires living in nearby castles could be based on medical fact. Some of the traits attributed to vampires - sensitivity to light, fangs, pale skin - may describe the symptoms of certain illnesses. For example, the hereditary blood disease porphyria was believed to be rife among the Eastern European aristocracy. People with porphyria become extremely sensitive to light, develop skin lesions and get brown or reddish teeth. Physicians at the time sometimes told patients to drink blood from other people to build up their strength."

Not exactly 'paranormal', but interesting nevertheless.

 

[Kura]

gonna put on my MULDER and SCULLY persona now

I'm undecided about the existence of paranormal entities. I remain completely open to the possibility of them however, as I believe science nor religion can't prove everything. Some mysteries that have been 'explained' by the former and latter seem unreasonable to me, so I am inclined to believe a third party may be involved.


This made me think of someone I read in a book, which I have in my little library in my room. Well, let's see, it says;

"Some doctors believe that old peasant tales of aristocratic vampires living in nearby castles could be based on medical fact. Some of the traits attributed to vampires - sensitivity to light, fangs, pale skin - may describe the symptoms of certain illnesses. For example, the hereditary blood disease porphyria was believed to be rife among the Eastern European aristocracy. People with porphyria become extremely sensitive to light, develop skin lesions and get brown or reddish teeth. Physicians at the time sometimes told patients to drink blood from other people to build up their strength."

Not exactly 'paranormal', but interesting nevertheless.

I'm actually taking an elective course on Gothic literature and has some interesting things about paranormal and things like boundaries.. and the fact that they're used as literary devices because in the 1700s society was obsessed with the sublime and pushing boundaries in all aspects.. (what's living or dead? what's right and wrong? pushing the lines of sex and cannibalism.. stuff like that)
And also because it was before the age of reason.. for what you've stated here. They didn't understand humans. If someone in the medieval times were to tell someone else "I saw auntie May last night.. and suddenly as she turned to me I saw her turn into a monster!" and they would've believed it. They believed in shapeshifters.. magic.. witches.. all of that because they had no reason not to.

It all falls under what's obscure and what we have yet to understand. I find it interesting.

 

[TRIFORCE89]

I believe in a fun way? XD Not into horror, but I like getting significantly creeped out reading about such things lol

I think there is possibily of life elsewhere in the universe. Not little green men or greys or whatnot, it could just be very primitive bacteria. It is interesting how ancient cultures have some belief of aliens and spaceships though.

I like the idea of Cryptozoology in that there are new species (even of plants) that we may not have discovered yet. Probably a lot of stuff in the depths of the ocean. I don't think Bigfoot and the other monsters (like the Jersey Devil) are legit though. Just goofy, easy to explain, but fun from an urban legend perspective.

Ghosts, again I like the creepiness of the stories. As I said in the ghost thread, intelligent hauntings a weak maybe, visible ghosts no. I don't want to write off the idea altogether. Again, been apart of cultures forever and there are some pretty creepy places out there. But I think almost all of it can be explained now, or in the near future.

I have a passing interest in the paranormal. Not beause I believe in it but because I'm a big Ghostbusters fan lol So I read about the pseudo-science behind it from time to time.

Things like Shadow Men or Men in Black I think are totally false. As is trying to communicate with the dead

 

[jcsimpson]

I like to believe in the supernatural but, until it happens to me I have no reason to.

 

[SquirtleGirl]

Creepy stuff seems to happen in my house, I think mainly because its so damn old. [About a 100 years? maybe more?] Stuff always seems to fall down in my room, my make-up bag in particular. [I was sitting there playing my DS and suddenly, BAM! make-up bag goes flying off my dressing table o.o]
Also when Im asleep at night, I sometimes feel something pull my second toe which creeps me out that there's some poletergeist with a foot fetish living under my bed xD

And after my Granddad died the lights in my grandma's house started going haywire on his birthday and their anniversary too o.O The morning he died, the big picture above the fireplace went crashing to the floor. Could all be coincidental, of course, but still spooks me.

 

[jab2033]

No encounters, but I love watching paranormal reality stuff.

I love the way the Ghost Adventures crew does their investigations, and I think they get the most credible evidence.

As far as monsters like Bigfoot and stuff, I'm a little more skeptical about that. No corpses, or DNA traces have confirmed anything, and sightings have been occuring for hundreds of years. You'd think that with ~6.5 billion people on the planet, we'd be able to confirm something by now.

Concerning aliens and extrateresstrials, we just don't have enough people looking for stuff out there.

 

[Livewire]

No encounters, but I love watching paranormal reality stuff.

I love the way the Ghost Adventures crew does their investigations, and I think they get the most credible evidence.

As far as monsters like Bigfoot and stuff, I'm a little more skeptical about that. No corpses, or DNA traces have confirmed anything, and sightings have been occuring for hundreds of years. You'd think that with ~6.5 billion people on the planet, we'd be able to confirm something by now.

Concerning aliens and extrateresstrials, we just don't have enough people looking for stuff out there.

I agree. Personally I like Paranormal State and a Haunting, some of those are pretty creepy.

As more cryptozoological creatures, I will say that they often are rumored to live in remote places (Such as the Himalayas) so finding them isn't exactly easy, no matter how many people you have. BUt I do think if they are out there, there would be more than just tiny shreds of evidence.

 

[Erufuun]

I have never had an encounter before, and quite honestly, I take people who take it seriously lightly. XD; Just not my philosophy on life, I'm more of a "people" and "living" person~ Ya only live once, that is your only shot to make an impression on this world and society, no afterlife stuff.

Buuuuut, when I watched this creepy show when I was 10 that had a floating ghost head scaring the bloody hell out of a woman, I never went into the kitchen without turning half the lights in my house again. ._.;;
Of course I am over that~ ...Sort of... :D;

 

[Rich Boy Rob]

I really don't believe in ghosts or whatever. Because like someone on tv said; if ghosts were real, we wouldn't be able to move for the amount of ghosts around us, just imagine how many humans alone have exist in our 100,000 year history. Besides, why do people never see non-human ghosts? Why do they never see like, a cow wondering through their living room or a Brachiosaurus in their loft?. What makes humans different?

 

[Captain Fabio]

I really don't believe in ghosts or whatever. Because like someone on tv said; if ghosts were real, we wouldn't be able to move for the amount of ghosts around us, just imagine how many humans alone have exist in our 100,000 year history. Besides, why do people never see non-human ghosts? Why do they never see like, a cow wondering through their living room or a Brachiosaurus in their loft?. What makes humans different?

Wow...

I believe that there is something more than just us. Some things happen that can't be explained and just don't make sense. I have experienced something like this, not with a ghost as such, but something to so with reincarnation or something like that.

It is hard to explain.​

​

 

[Blacko]

I really don't believe in ghosts or whatever. Because like someone on tv said; if ghosts were real, we wouldn't be able to move for the amount of ghosts around us, just imagine how many humans alone have exist in our 100,000 year history. Besides, why do people never see non-human ghosts? Why do they never see like, a cow wondering through their living room or a Brachiosaurus in their loft?. What makes humans different?

Depends man. Like, if your view on ghosts and the paranormal is Christian bound then it only makes sense you wouldn't see ghosts of animals seeing as they have no soul (according to the bible).

But yeah, I really don't know what's going on out there, nor do I really care to. I'm only 17 - that's waaay to young to have the whole universe figured out. Even us as humans haven't been here very long. How are we suppose to know what's what? That's why I'm Agnostic. I have no idea, nor would I want to piss anyone "important" off by assuming something wrong.

Get me?

 

[Rich Boy Rob]

Wow...
​

​

Wow what?

Anyway, fun fact:
Having a chill and feelings of dread, symptoms almost universally associated with ghostly presence, are effects of Carbon Monoxide inhalation. It also causes hallucinations.

 

[Kirozane]

I really don't believe in ghosts or whatever. Because like someone on tv said; if ghosts were real, we wouldn't be able to move for the amount of ghosts around us, just imagine how many humans alone have exist in our 100,000 year history. Besides, why do people never see non-human ghosts? Why do they never see like, a cow wondering through their living room or a Brachiosaurus in their loft?. What makes humans different?

Well for one thing, we can probably still move because, in my opinion, it's a subconscious choice upon death whether or not we actually become "ghosts" or "spirits" per se... Same with animals. Also, the "spirits" are make-ups of energies by this point. Not really something physical. They're like mist. Just because we can see it doesn't mean we can't move right through it.

Also, humans are just more easily remembered for most... I've never seen a human ghost/spirit, but I've seen plenty of cats, and maybe a dog or two so...

Wow what?

Anyway, fun fact:
Having a chill and feelings of dread, symptoms almost universally associated with ghostly presence, are effects of Carbon Monoxide inhalation. It also causes hallucinations.

That is very true, but in an abandoned school house near where I used to live, I always got an odd vibe around it. chills, sense of foreboding.(never hallucination beyond a calico cat) It had been abandoned for 50+ years.... For the most part. The owners of the property used it as a storage house of some sort. With how much time they spent in there, and I am very unsure that there was a source of carbon monoxide nearby that was NOT in control...

It is valid, but that isn't the only viable cause. ._.
I wasn't and am not trying to start a fight or an argument with you, just sharing the opinions your posts instilled in me, is all.

 

[OmegaRuby and AlphaSapphire]

Well ghosts are lingering souls who haven't accepted their deaths or are here to warn us about something and I doubt most people are resentful when they die so they just move on to Heaven or Hell, Yomi or get reincarnated.