The Paranormal: Fact or Faked?

Started by Livewire June 19th, 2012 8:16 PM
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What do you believe?

Livewire

Male
Sunnyshore City
Seen December 3rd, 2022
Posted August 2nd, 2019
14,091 posts
13.8 Years
How do you feel about the paranormal and the occult? Is there truly a rational explanation for most hauntings and Paranormal occurrences, or are there other, unexplained forces at work? Have a favorite ghist story or any personal expieriences? Share them here.

Discuss away!

Oryx

CoquettishCat

Age 30
Female
Seen January 30th, 2015
Posted December 27th, 2014
13,184 posts
12.2 Years
I believe that there's about a 99% chance (probably higher) that everything paranormal is accounted for by tricks of the brain. For example, there's a whole part of your peripheral vision that shows white sparks if you're looking at a blue background. Those kinds of things aren't well known, and there are nearly infinite combinations of environment, paranoia, and mind tricks that can cause a person to see what they think is something paranormal.

But I wouldn't discount researching all instance of 'paranormal activity' to find out why they happened. If it's a trick of the brain, people learn more. If not...who knows?


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Livewire

Male
Sunnyshore City
Seen December 3rd, 2022
Posted August 2nd, 2019
14,091 posts
13.8 Years
I believe that there's about a 99% chance (probably higher) that everything paranormal is accounted for by tricks of the brain. For example, there's a whole part of your peripheral vision that shows white sparks if you're looking at a blue background. Those kinds of things aren't well known, and there are nearly infinite combinations of environment, paranoia, and mind tricks that can cause a person to see what they think is something paranormal.

But I wouldn't discount researching all instance of 'paranormal activity' to find out why they happened. If it's a trick of the brain, people learn more. If not...who knows?

There's also things like Carbon Monoxide exposure, which can also be attributed to hallucinations and other 'Paranormal' phenomena.

Oryx

CoquettishCat

Age 30
Female
Seen January 30th, 2015
Posted December 27th, 2014
13,184 posts
12.2 Years
It's really a mixed bag. There's things that cannot be explained, but there are also explanations for many things, like hallucinations. I'm not totally sure what to believe though, but once there is definable proof for either side, then I'll be persuaded to say whether there really is such thing as the paranormal or not.
You can't prove that the paranormal doesn't exist. Prove to me that tiny pink invisible unicorns don't exist. There's no way to prove a negative.


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droomph

weeb

Age 26
Male
nowhere spectacular
Seen February 1st, 2017
Posted January 3rd, 2017
4,282 posts
11.7 Years
I believe that there are things other than the seen. Sure, we may not see them, but who is to say they don't exist at all? String theory's ninth dimension proves it indirectly - that there are universes that aren't ours - maybe they're accidentally interacting with us?

Anyways, I think people who argue for either side are stupid and ignorant - No? Well, you're not looking at all the possibilities. Yes? Well, then prove it. Until a definitive counterexample is given for either side, it is true as true can be. Of course, this "truth" isn't the snobby truth that religious freaks give you. No - this is the "Big Bang"-esque truth, one that is ready to be claimed false at any given second.

But who is to say they don't exist? Who is to say that they do? There is no answer yet, so I'll take comfort of my dreams, and you to yours.
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Firox

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Age 37
Male
Seattle, WA
Seen September 15th, 2021
Posted July 17th, 2020
2,585 posts
11 Years
I personally haven't seen ghosts or paranormal activity, Yet! My grandma has seen so many (especially from relatives that have passed on) - in my opinion is a mix. Some are faked, others are real. Since our planet has so much yet to be discovered
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Mana

Age 31
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UK
Seen March 25th, 2023
Posted August 18th, 2021
10,075 posts
14.4 Years
I believe that there are things other than the seen. Sure, we may not see them, but who is to say they don't exist at all? String theory's ninth dimension proves it indirectly - that there are universes that aren't ours - maybe they're accidentally interacting with us?

Anyways, I think people who argue for either side are stupid and ignorant - No? Well, you're not looking at all the possibilities. Yes? Well, then prove it. Until a definitive counterexample is given for either side, it is true as true can be. Of course, this "truth" isn't the snobby truth that religious freaks give you. No - this is the "Big Bang"-esque truth, one that is ready to be claimed false at any given second.

But who is to say they don't exist? Who is to say that they do? There is no answer yet, so I'll take comfort of my dreams, and you to yours.
Since many 'paranormal' activities can be explained, that is fair evidence to say they do not exist as mystical or ghostly events.

Videos can be faked, photos edited, scenes staged. In the past if you even got ill it was because of ghasts and ghouls, so I think it's fair to say that paranormal activity is not paranormal at all and is just the coincidental collaboration of a lot of normal events.

Lt. Col. Fantastic

The Arianator

Age 27
Male
America
Seen August 7th, 2014
Posted August 4th, 2014
698 posts
11.1 Years
Do I believe in the paranormal? No.

Do I believe it doesn't exist? No.

I simply can't draw any conclusions on the matter. Theres no way to prove or disprove either side, so I'm not on either one.

I do realize the fact that paranormal things may exist. I've just never knowingly encountered them. If I gave it much thought, I could come up with many conspiracy theories on whether they exist or not, but its too boring, and I wouldn't be able to prove anything anyway, so why bother?


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blue

gucci

Male
United Kingdom
Seen September 26th, 2021
Posted August 7th, 2019
21,056 posts
15.4 Years
50/50, I don't think anyone can say they believe in the Paranormal until they experience a fully irrational occurance.. there's millions who claim to have experienced this stuff but as believable it may be, it's just words so.. who know's?

droomph

weeb

Age 26
Male
nowhere spectacular
Seen February 1st, 2017
Posted January 3rd, 2017
4,282 posts
11.7 Years


Since many 'paranormal' activities can be explained, that is fair evidence to say they do not exist as mystical or ghostly events.

Videos can be faked, photos edited, scenes staged. In the past if you even got ill it was because of ghasts and ghouls, so I think it's fair to say that paranormal activity is not paranormal at all and is just the coincidental collaboration of a lot of normal events.
Sure, there are a lot of buttfaces who want to get famous fast, but you have to at least believe that one of those stories are true. And it's no use proving that they're true - if that person lies, in the end it's gonna get 'em.

And in the end, who cares? If there isn't anything...then what's the point of telling me I'm wrong? In your world we won't exist after death anyways, so why not let me have my thing?
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uraqt


Spinor

<i><font color="b1373f">The Lonely Physicist</font></i>

Age 27
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Seen February 13th, 2019
Posted October 4th, 2015
5,175 posts
17.3 Years
If it cannot be explained by science or if it cannot be analyzed through the scientific method, I do not feel compelled whatsoever to believe in it.

Kinda like scientism, I suppose. Philosophically, no, you can't disprove most of these things, but you can't prove them either. Metaphysics and epistemology must attack both views. Given these, I do not consider speculative philosophy practical for investigating these occurrences.

Science, on the other hand, is theoretically capable of giving us the ability to get as close as we may possibly desire to absolute certainty of a piece of knowledge, given science remains pragmatic, even though science can never truly give us true, absolute certainty of facts. In the end, each person must make their own decision as to how much certainty they must have to accept a proposition as knowledge.

As for me, I have accepted the conclusion that science forces these paranormal occurrences to be impossible events, and that all anecdotes can be explained and debunked.

Nihilego

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scotland
Seen September 28th, 2018
Posted March 16th, 2018
8,874 posts
12.1 Years
I have no idea. I used to think that yeah it was just made up for show or attention or whatever, but I myself have experienced some things that could definitely be considered paranormal and I never really knew if I should think of them as my mind playing tricks on me or if it's actually something real.

I think that, at least from my experience, people don't understand just how real a paranormal experience can seem until they actually have one themselves. For me, it's so real that I can almost immediately disregard all logic and reasoning saying "this is fake" simply because of the underlying thought of "I know what I saw". There is stuff I'd rather keep private right now which I'm not gonna go into so yeah some detail has been left out but I sometimes find it hard to believe, from my experience, that some of the stuff I've experienced wasn't actually real.

...omg I sound crazy right now. ):
Age 30
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Posted December 26th, 2016
585 posts
10.9 Years
I personally have to agree with AdvancedK47. I just can't believe in anything like paranormal activity without any scientific facts.
However, it's also hard to believe that millions of people are liars. Of course a lot of them are, but then there are some who were tricked by their mind. Fear, drugs & alcohol are usually far underestimated when it comes to hallucinations and illusions.

Also, think about it this way - just because something paranormal happens, why immediately assume it's because of ghosts, aliens, zombies, mummies or other mythical creatures? Human beings only have 5 senses. Perhaps "paranormal" activities are caused by some form of energy that we can't sense, and science hasn't explained yet. It may be stupid, but it's just a theory.

Katie the Friendly Ghost

I like rain.

Age 31
Female
Le détroit
Seen April 21st, 2013
Posted September 3rd, 2012
241 posts
10.9 Years
Unless you can prove to me that it doesn't exist, or is a hoax, I won't deny the existence of something paranormal. It's probably all the tv that's getting to me, but there are a lot of weird things that have happened, many unexplained. If you can't explain an occurrence by conventional means, then what's left? You can't toss out the possibility of unexplained forces.

Quest

Veteran Roleplayer

Male
Seen January 6th, 2023
Posted May 3rd, 2020
984 posts
14 Years
The thing with cases of a "Paranormal" nature is that many (if not most) can easily be proven as fake, whether it be due to tricks of the minds, drugs, hallucinations, etc.

However, there are multiple times where nearly none of the evidence can support either side. The reason? We, in nearly all incidents, never find enough and even if we were able to, our minds will become cynical in a sense or in other words, we simply don't want to believe. Why do we not believe? Well, we may never know why and even now we can still guess at it. Is it possibly the fact that many of our species are too persistent with the knowledge we have that we don't want to be proven wrong? I know I wouldn't.

And even then, how much evidence do we have that, theoretically, can prove things like this? For example, we'll start with mermaids. By all means, a species of humans, or even our ancestors, could have broken off from us and, over many years, evolved and adapted to the sea when the need arises. It's of course happened before. Polar bears had once merely been brown bears who, during a time where they lacked food, decided that by turning to the ocean, they could find what they needed. Obviously, it worked because after some time, they developed webbing on their front paws and can now hold their breath for minutes. Not to mention the fact that mermaids are one species spoken about in many cultures all over the world.

Nessie, she or they, could easily be a plesiosaur that somehow reached the loch and survived extinction, some mammals and many fish did. Bigfoot, easily neanderthals or some other early species that have not evolved or simply evolved in a different way than we did. Aliens, while they may not actually abduct people (though they vary well could), is something a bit harder to explain. I will ask this though. Do you really think we're the only ones in this universe? Ghosts... Well, I can't find a way to explain that way.

Remember though, even with all of what I just said. I could be completely wrong and everything is merely an optical illusion or something of the like.

Nonetheless, while I've never experienced anything like this (To my knowledge), I still hold a firm belief that there is something else out there that we cannot and may never be able to explain.
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Atomic Pirate

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Somewhere.
Seen September 22nd, 2014
Posted July 10th, 2014
930 posts
12 Years
I haven't seen much paranormal activity firsthand, aside from a few odd experiences, but I am interested in the paranormal, and I do believe there is some proof.
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Also, think about it this way - just because something paranormal happens, why immediately assume it's because of ghosts, aliens, zombies, mummies or other mythical creatures? Human beings only have 5 senses. Perhaps "paranormal" activities are caused by some form of energy that we can't sense, and science hasn't explained yet. It may be stupid, but it's just a theory.
A valid point. We can't directly sense radiation, for example, but are fully aware of it; we weren't, however, in the past, with the only explanation for someone dying of it (not that they would've back then, but humour me regardless) being blamed on divine retribution or the like. My own sentiment to add to this is that even if these various paranormal entities exist, it is probably as unreasonable to assume them hostile as it would be to assume as much of a random person in the street. Therefore it would be prudent for a believer to also regard their spirituality when it comes to 'doing unto others'.

Altairis

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Female
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Seen December 29th, 2022
Posted October 5th, 2018
5,170 posts
11 Years
I believe that there are paranormal things out there, or at least there is something that we really can't understand yet that's out there. However, I do believe that some TV shows and others fake this kind of thing which is to be expected. I'm not really sure what to think yet, but I think that there's SOMETHING out there, be it ghosts, aliens, another universe/realm/world, or some form of energy. Unfortunately I don't really have anything to prove it, it's just what I think.

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Tetrakeet

Lilligant's Caretaker

The Windy Forest
Seen March 8th, 2022
Posted July 3rd, 2018
239 posts
10.9 Years
Predictions, mental projections, spiritual projections, and foresight interest me greatly. It's nearly impossible to prove to someone else if we have these experiences though. Standard logic will always say it's brain tricks, illusions, hallucinations, etc. so it's normally a risky subject to even discuss in public. I think a lot of people fear the subject as well, at least in my experience from real life discussions.

It should be noted that there is one particular person is called Edgar Cayce who supposedly had the power to gain knowledge while sleeping. He was a well documented psychic that left a lot of information about his peculiar abilities before he passed on. Fact or fiction? Who knows. He was an interesting man none the less.

Still, I remain skeptical like most any other person would. Even if an entire crowd was subjected to some kind of strange sighting or experience, not everyone would believe it if they were not there.
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Livewire

Male
Sunnyshore City
Seen December 3rd, 2022
Posted August 2nd, 2019
14,091 posts
13.8 Years
Predictions, mental projections, spiritual projections, and foresight interest me greatly. It's nearly impossible to prove to someone else if we have these experiences though. Standard logic will always say it's brain tricks, illusions, hallucinations, etc. so it's normally a risky subject to even discuss in public. I think a lot of people fear the subject as well, at least in my experience from real life discussions.

It should be noted that there is one particular person is called Edgar Cayce who supposedly had the power to gain knowledge while sleeping. He was a well documented psychic that left a lot of information about his peculiar abilities before he passed on. Fact or fiction? Who knows. He was an interesting man none the less.

Still, I remain skeptical like most any other person would. Even if an entire crowd was subjected to some kind of strange sighting or experience, not everyone would believe it if they were not there.

+1 for mentioning Edward Cayce

His story alone is evidence for the existence of the paranormal and the peculiar. One of those example you can't quite dispel.

AxeyWaxyWoo

Awesome Sauce Trainer

Age 25
Male
Scotland
Seen August 14th, 2012
Posted August 14th, 2012
29 posts
10.9 Years
I used to be 50/50 on paranormal activity, since nothing too 'out there' had ever happened to me, but now I believe in ghosts completely as I have had many experiences since then.

My 'ghostly' experiences first began one night when me and a friend were camping in his backyard about 2-3 years ago. I live across from a graveyard, so when me and my friend couldn't sleep, we decided to go a walk in the graveyard for a bit of harmless 'fun.' After a while of just generally walking about and talking we reached a long path and we both stopped right on the spot and stared because right at the end of the path we seen what appeared to be a fairly young woman, her features were misty, but she was definitely there. She was wearing a long white dress, which I now figure was her wedding dress. Me and my friend confirmed we were both seeing the same thing, and after being frozen on the spot for a few minutes, decided to make a run for it. We stopped running when we were almost out of the graveyard, but we looked to our side and through a huge gap in the wall we seen the woman again, standing under a tree. We both began running again and didn't stop until we got back to the tent.

Since that night, lots of paranormal activity has went on in my house.
At first, I was petrified of her. Everytime she 'made herself known,' I would sleep with my sister, lol. She throws things (sometimes at you D:), and since the graveyard, I have physically seen her once and my friend (during a sleepover) had a panic attack when she saw "a woman wearing a long dress walk across the hall." And I hadn't even told her about the ghost.

My friend who was with me at the graveyard has physically seen her again once. He is a nightowl, literally. He walks his dogs at 5am and stays up all night and sleeps most of the day. Anyway one day when he came to my house (as usual, he practically lives here), and he casually said "See last night? Why didn't you wave back to me?" I was dumbfounded. I asked him what he was talking about. He looked just as shocked as me when he told me he seen a figure standing at my window while he was out walking the dog, so he waved at me, and 'I' apparently didn't wave back. That scared me for a while, because the window is right next to my bed, lol. :P I can just picture her spookily standing next to me, haha.

Aside from the occasional 'physical' sighting of her, as I said, she throws things, moves figures around, prints me pictures out the printer (lol, but I swear it was scary, even though it sounds really random now), she turns the TV on and off, somehow makes music play though an UNPLUGGED iPod deck loudly (to wake me up), switches the light on (when I turned it back off and went back to my bed, she turned it back on, and this continued until I let her keep the light on), and MANY more things.

She even decided once to violently throw my MarioKart wheel at a glass of juice on the floor, knocking it over and making the juice spill everywhere. And that was right infront of me, my sister and her friend. The wheel literally picked itself up and threw itself with force across the room.

I think I know who this woman is now, though, I believe her name is Mary. My friend who seen her walk across the hall told her mum about it, and apparently her mum's mum was buried in a long white wedding dress with her son and when she was alive, liked to play with my friend's mum's hair at night (my sisters hair has been played with coutless times during the night). She was buried in the 'older' part of the graveyard, where me and my friend seen her. So I believe she is Mary.

Although, I haven't had any activity from Mary in atleast 2 months, and I can no longer feel the presence of her, so I don't think she is in my house anymore.

Although, last week I did go into the graveyard with my sister and her friend with a camera, and caught a few pictures with 'orbs' in them. We didn't feel anything scary when we were walking around, but on our way out we all felt like we were being followed. So I told my sister to take a picture behind us. In the picture a massive misty orb is there and in almost all the pictures on the way back to the house have an orb in them.

About 3 days ago we returned to the graveyard to see if we could get a photo of my friends son, as he is buried there. We took a picture of his gravestone, and a little orb is at the top of it, she loves that photo. :) Although on our way out we took a picture and what we believe to be 5 nooses appeared when we uploaded it to the laptop. I swear, this was the old section of the graveyard, and there is no lights (we had a torch walking around), I even went back to see if there was any streetlights, nothing.

If anyone wants to see the pictures, I can post them. :)

Anyway, I know not everyone will believe my stories, but I can't do anything but tell you I'm not lying. :) I know what I saw, so I personally believe in ghosts.
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Livewire

Male
Sunnyshore City
Seen December 3rd, 2022
Posted August 2nd, 2019
14,091 posts
13.8 Years
I had a dream as a young child (Younger than 7) that I met my dead maternal Great-Grandfather at a party at my house. He died 8 years before I was born, and this dream occurred before I officially knew who he was. One of the weirder things I remember.

mew42003

Lulz

Age 28
Male
Massachusetts
Seen October 18th, 2013
Posted October 18th, 2013
1,197 posts
18.6 Years
I don't think Humans are capable of comprehending the Universe and how it works. Many people are far too ignorant and arrogant and believe that we're so special. We're not. As far as I'm concerned, we are so insignificant compared to whatever it is that may lie out in the void of space. Scientists have seen an estimated less than 1% of all stars in the Universe. Amazing, isn't it? I doubt that will change within any of our lifetimes.

I've tried to understand the Universe, the meaning of Life, etc... As I'm sure everyone else has. It is mind-boggling. The best ways Humans can explain strange phenomenon are to attribute them to Religion, or ideas from Science-Fiction. Personally? I don't believe in any religion. I don't expect to ever understand any kind of paranormal phenomenon... Some things can be explained through conventional science and others cannot. It is best to leave them that way for now. Although, I do enjoy speculating on them. :)

AxeyWaxyWoo

Awesome Sauce Trainer

Age 25
Male
Scotland
Seen August 14th, 2012
Posted August 14th, 2012
29 posts
10.9 Years
I had a dream as a young child (Younger than 7) that I met my dead maternal Great-Grandfather at a party at my house. He died 8 years before I was born, and this dream occurred before I officially knew who he was. One of the weirder things I remember.
That's weird. Reminds me of something my friend told me about once.

She said that she had a dream, and in the dream her aunt (or someone in her family, I can't remember exactly) was pregnant and expecting a boy. I can't remember the name, but she said the boy was named. Anyways, a few days later, her aunt (or whoever) phoned the house saying she was pregnant, and she went on to have a boy and name him the name from my friends dream.

If you read my older post, the same friend also dreamt that the ghost in my house was named Mary. Which was just weird, because it was a few days earlier which the friend I mentioned in the previous post, told me about her mum's mum, called Mary.

:)
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