[Pathosis]

My mom's best friend experienced some freaky shit.
Her daughter was dating another family friend of ours for almost 7 years.
They had their wedding planned a month before he died in a freak motorcycle accident while with my cousin Adam.
My cousin was fine, but his best friend (Jeremy, the boyfriend) flew off his bike and hit a telephone pole and was D.O.A.
Shortly after, my mom's best friend started noticing that her ceramic cherub/angels were moving every night.
She'd fix them, but they'd always move.
I have no idea if it was Jeremy or what, but she liked to think it was Jeremy getting through to them.
>>;;

Also, when I was a kid, apparently I walked out of my room and started talking about things that happened to my Grandpa when he was in WW2.
She told me she never talked to me about it before then, so she had no idea how I knew that stuff.
Third eye, maybe, who knows.

It'd be a bit contradicting if I said I believe in spirits or ghosts, since I don't believe in heaven, hell or souls.
Or god, for that matter.
So I'll just sit back and maybe if I see a ghost myself, I'll take into consideration the possibility of souls.
><;;

[Toki]

that's pretty interesting O:

paranormal things can happen regardless of what you believe or don't believe though so i wouldnt dismiss the possibility or forsake what you believe in order to rationalize your experiences, i'd just say keep an open mind

maybe, especially being so young, you might have been channeling your grandpa momentarily. does the memory seem fuzzy or that you learned about it second-hand?

[Pathosis]

Lol. Yeah.

I'm open minded about some paranormal things, not so much religious.
I was spoon fed religion my whole life, so I'm kinda sick of it. xD

I was told that I said those things second-hand from my mom.
My grandpa was hit with some type of smoke bomb that some Spanish kids made, and it made him hallucinate.
He wandered for a day before he was found.
I apparently knew about this, and my mom was so confused because yeah...she didn't talk about her dad all that much.
He died before a few months before I was born, I didn't know him.

[Toki]

i know that feel u_u

you very well could have been channeling him then, just briefly

my great-grandfather died a little before i was born and my mom always said he was watching out for me but ive never seen any sign of it u_u

as long as you don't feel threatened or unsafe, you should be okay

[Kamikaze Chinchilla]

I'm not a stranger to premonition dreams. Most of them are things that I will see in the following day. My most notable one was the one time I had a dream about my grandmother's death and it had a date in it. The event happened a year later on the exact date that I was told in the dream (I told my mom about the dream several days after I had it, so she believed it and bought an outfit for the funeral). So now I'm paranoid about all my dreams with the dates.

Right now I have one that has...I believe was June 5 (year was 2011, but the year usually doesn't matter, just the month and the date). One of those disaster dreams. Even though there was a lot of chaos and damage, in the end everyone came out okay except for one casualty. I suspect is a failed attack on some place, or possibly referring to something else that damages buildings (like earthquakes).

=======================

I also have some extra sensory for things in a room. If there is a person in the room, I will feel the pressure and be able to detect the change in sounds in the room. Most of the time I don't get that (the energy without a visible body/source). Seems more common in houses...and I think I picked that up in one antique store.

My old house had the presence in it. My new house..it's more of the residual energy from my own family (like...things we've done...the house records it, I believe...cuz I don't feel the presence when those events happen). I've heard the tv downstairs when it wasn't on, I've heard the door lock and switches click when no one was around, etc. The only presence I feel in the house is right next to me in my computer area, but I think that is my own leftovers xD....it never moves or anything, just always in the same spot 24/7.

[Anome]

Gosh, compared to some of these stories, my own experiences seem so... boring.

I don't remember the year exactly, but it was when me and my family were still living in our old town. We had a few friends over, and it was late and we were hungry, so we started heading to the kitchen. But we stopped at the doorway of my room, and it was almost as if our attention was drawn to the mirror that my mom had next to the front door.

My sister said that she saw our, by then deceased, grandfather in it, but at the same time it wasn't really him. It was really frightening, and we all ended up retreating to my room to cower on my bed.

And then there was just our house ghost, who wasn't really aggressive apart from sometimes unlocking and subtly opening the door to me and my sister's room.

I vaguely recall an attempt at a seance before, in that same house. I only really remember some of the people who were there, and that our attempt had apparently brought some strong ghosts into the room, hanging out by our shoulders or something. I wish I could remember more.

All around, my experiences have been few. If they even count, I suppose.

[Quiet Man Cometh]

I don't really think much about paranormal stuff, though apparently it runs in my family, both sides. I think it's best to say rather, that I don't *not* believe in ghosts and such. I like to be open minded about such things, and my parents were never dismissive of the notion of ghosts and whatnot.

There are stories in my family about traditional 'ghost' activities like rocking chairs and books that fly across the room. My grandmother was apparently visited by the spirit of her old teacher when she, the teacher, passed. My dad didn't know what to think about that, but my grandfather remembers the knock at the door and asked who it was the next morning. The teacher lived in the next province over.

Ghost talk in my family has actually been quite casual, so I sort of look at it as another aspect of life. I get intuitive moments that I listen too, and see things out of the corner of my eye, hear funny things too. I recall my mother being angry when Ouija boards were brought out as games by a toy company.

I've never tried to have anything to do with paranormal activity but I'm always open to it as an interpretation. It's enough for me to think that odd happenings might be the result of a ghost or poltergeist in the house, as long as they don't bug me I don't really care.

As such, you wouldn't see me using a Ouija board or tarot cards, because some of that just seems like it could lead to things that I don't want to deal with. I prefer to leave the paranormal world well enough alone. I did visit an oracle when I was in Ireland though, and have since thought a lot about what she had to say.

[Toki]

Originally Posted by Anome

I vaguely recall an attempt at a seance before, in that same house. I only really remember some of the people who were there, and that our attempt had apparently brought some strong ghosts into the room, hanging out by our shoulders or something. I wish I could remember more.

i remember the entire night yo this was 50 shades of cray

we were at your old house and chi, adam, hanah, ashley, and i were all over and we decided to mess with an ouija board because we were FRICKIN DUMB and didnt know the consequences and ashley managed to contact something that she thought might have been her grandfather except much creepier so it prolly wasnt and then mercy went out to make ramen and saw your abuelo and noped out of the universe and then we all went with her and all got the same creepy feeling and noped back to the room and i cant remember if it was before or after that i had the whole shebang about whatever thing pressing on my back but you made it go away "/ and ashley had a problem with something influencing her emotions and making her irrationally angry and sad

how the hell do you not remember that yo

[Dawn]

I currently don't live there and my best friend could of gotten her information from anywhere, she is part Indian so..

other than that, I saw your conversion regarding Tarot cards.. never have experienced those through I honestly have interest in gaining a set and learning.. so my view regarding those is very slim..

Ouija board... only experienced using one of those once.. none of my friends really were what you call interested in the paranormal so none of them actually owned a board and my mother thought it was stupid, I tried a few times to purchase my own, even found one for sale at a local shop but she was like, it's a waste of money..
Either way, a friend of a friend's mother brought one to a sleepover we were having, for some reason, my neighbor's daughter was holding the sleepover in her garage and invited like four of us that lived in the neighborhood to sleepover.. so for a laugh, two of us took the board out and messed around with it. Pretty sure neither of us were doing it right but it was for laughs more than being serious.

But reading with what has been said about the boards, I have to agree.. it's something someone who doesn't know anything about shouldn't dapple in, even through they are suppose to be only for fun, I have heard too many stories about people using them and stuff has happened. Through, it doesn't change my opinion of wanting to have another go on one.

[Tears]

Hm... Sometimes I feel like I'm being watched or followed, when no one's doing that. I don't know if it's paranoia or some other reason. Maybe a combo. I don't really have any paranormal experiences except one...

my cousins and I were on the third floor of my grandparents' apartment. We were in a playroom, and we were just about to go. We had to turn off the lights because no one else was there to do it. soon, we had turned off all but one set of lights. As we searched for the switches, my cousin yelled out that she had found it. As we approached it, the light went off by itself, with an unusual click. We ran out and my cousin said she swore she could have seen the faint outline of a hand...

That and I have some sort of weak physic like ability. It's very random so it's probably nothing more than coincidences. Sometimes I'd touch something and predict some minor detail, and it'd be true, like one time I kept thinking to myself, my cousin will wear a red shirt, and she did. Also, I often have sudden ominous feelings, regardless of mood or weather. Dunno what to make of this.

[Toki]

Originally Posted by Celeste

Hm... Sometimes I feel like I'm being watched or followed, when no one's doing that. I don't know if it's paranoia or some other reason. Maybe a combo.

i have similar feelings-- ive decided to write it off as paranoia but if you genuinely feel unsafe, do not dismiss the feeling and get to a safe place as soon as you can. try carrying a protective crystal with you to ward off negative energy. most dark or black stones will help, but i would suggest a combination of amethyst to cleanse your aura, labradorite to protect, and rose quartz to promote positive energy. try making a bracelet or necklace out of a few of those stones and see if it helps you

Originally Posted by Celeste

my cousins and I were on the third floor of my grandparents' apartment. We were in a playroom, and we were just about to go. We had to turn off the lights because no one else was there to do it. soon, we had turned off all but one set of lights. As we searched for the switches, my cousin yelled out that she had found it. As we approached it, the light went off by itself, with an unusual click. We ran out and my cousin said she swore she could have seen the faint outline of a hand...

that could be a helpful spirit. annie and i both have had experiences with spirits that like to open doors. if you feel threatened by its presence, try smudging sage or asking sternly but politely for it to leave.

Originally Posted by Celeste

That and I have some sort of weak physic like ability. It's very random so it's probably nothing more than coincidences. Sometimes I'd touch something and predict some minor detail, and it'd be true, like one time I kept thinking to myself, my cousin will wear a red shirt, and she did. Also, I often have sudden ominous feelings, regardless of mood or weather. Dunno what to make of this.

once again i know this entire feel. you just get "that feeling" right? a lot of times it's with minor things, like which song will come on next on the radio, or what your friend is wearing that day. i believe it's a mix of strong intuition and maybe a small connection with your third eye. i wouldn't dismiss it at all, in fact, i'd try to embrace that ability and see if you can practice it

[Toki]

Originally Posted by Dawn

other than that, I saw your conversion regarding Tarot cards.. never have experienced those through I honestly have interest in gaining a set and learning.. so my view regarding those is very slim..

tarot cards are p rad 10/10 would recommend
just don't get dependent on them-- they are to guide you in making your own decisions, not to tell you what to do or predict your future

Originally Posted by Dawn

Either way, a friend of a friend's mother brought one to a sleepover we were having, for some reason, my neighbor's daughter was holding the sleepover in her garage and invited like four of us that lived in the neighborhood to sleepover.. so for a laugh, two of us took the board out and messed around with it. Pretty sure neither of us were doing it right but it was for laughs more than being serious.

NONNONONONONO
NO
DONT
USE THEM??????????? LIKE....... NO
they are defs not toys or things to be played with and i hate that toy companies are trying to market them as such
ouija boards are like posting a gigantic, flashing "YES WE'RE OPEN" sign on your house and even your mind if you're not careful, as my friend annie and i, and most other novices, found out the hard way
so if you ever feel anything negative following you, take the necessary precautions-- carry labradorite or some other black or dark red stone connected with your root chakra, perform a sage smudging ceremony where you sleep, avoid astral projection, etc.
if you don't feel any sort of negative energy around you then you probably are safe but do not hesitate to act if you feel threatened psychically in any way.

[Quiet Man Cometh]

We have an old wooden Ouija board that was my grandmother's. We don't have the eye anymore but apparently that isn't necessarily needed. An upturned glass or such seems to be usable as well if media is correct at all.

I've only heard stories of other people using Ouija. Both my sister's have, and though none were hurt (in one case the eye apparently flew up from the board and hit a friend in the head) one did get some information I'm not sure she wanted to know, or rather, confirmation of something she suspected.

The most ghostly things I've ever dealt with besides seeing things out of the corner of my eyes and such, was when I heard something like a small kid running down the hallway but only my sister in law and myself were upstairs and she was in a different room, and the time I casually stepped aside to let a dark blur pass in the same hallway that I thought was my brother's dog, but again he was in a different area.

We all came to suspect a cat ghost was in the house, since when we moved there we found a cat buried in a plastic bag behind the shed (it hadn't decomposed because of the plastic). A friend of ours who is apparently sensitive to the paranormal confirmed the cat and suggested that there was also a small boy.

We aren't in that house anymore. There doesn't seem to be anything odd about the one we're in now apart from the usual seeing things, but I find the trick with that is not to look right away. Give it a sec, then check to see if there was anything in the area that might resemble what you think you saw. Usually I find that's the case but not always.

[Suzerain of Sheol]

Obnoxious preface

Before saying anything else, I will out myself right off as a reductionist materialist. I accept the existence of the reality my senses perceive, and organize my thoughts according to the logic derived from my observation of the world around me, establishing a system of understanding of my environment that aims for self-consistency. In short, the idea of "paranormal" or "supernatural" phenomena are inconceivable to me; there only *is* the normal and the natural, and all phenomena therein may be observed and accounted for as part of the holistic system that makes up our ontological locus. If something is inexplicable, the fault lies in our understanding of it, not in it's implicit nature as an object in defiance of physical and logical laws.

That said, I have a couple questions for the more open-minded in here, since I'd like to better understand how the other side sees these issues.

1.) How do you account for the egocentric bias that seems inherent to these ideas? By that I mean, we as humans are pattern-seeking creatures, our brains identify external phenomena and then rationalize, post hoc, what we've perceived, which inevitably leads us to parse our experiences through our first-person consciousness. Everything ends up being about us.

To clarify what I mean with this question, the concept of divining or foretelling the future, as in a Tarot reading, makes for a good example. You have objects -- cards -- molecules bound together in a specific way, painted or otherwise decorated with, yes, patterns that evoke a certain response in the culturally-conditioned brain, but from where does the epistemic link between that internal system and the external (and yes, in my opinion, deterministic) reality arise? Why does the universe acknowledge that the specific synthetic patterns on these cards has a fundamental relationship of some sort to the chain of temporal causality? Even if there was some such relationship, surely it would require a more precise science than the constantly-fluctuating artistic culture that surrounds the Tarot medium and its production.

So, that is my first question. Onto the next.

2.) On the nature of "spirits". My first contention arises from the apparent necessity in this view of assuming the existence of... let's call it "incorporeal personality". So, I would first like to ask which aspects of the human experience demand an explanation beyond "the electro-chemical mechanics of the brain producing the simulation of sensation and selfhood" in order to be consistent with our observed reality. Or in other words, where in the framework of "Emotions are a snapshot of hormone levels in an instance, decisions are made with only the retrospective illusion of free will, and identity is a real-time reassembly of memories under constant self-modification" is a soul required? Which parts of human life fail to be accounted for under that system?

To tie this into "ghosts", now, I suppose it comes back to the idea of our egocentric cognitive biases. The question that wracks me in this regard is, why in the inconceivable vastness of the cosmos should there exist a "plane" or "dimension" that caters specifically to the presumed essence of "living creatures", when the population of life within the universe is so vanishingly rare? It seems to me to presume an importance on our part (as a species, and as a subset of all living organisms) that is corroborated nowhere else in our experience of existence.

Now, is it impossible? Certainly not. Intricate and fascinating as the brain is, it is a profoundly limited mechanism. We have five primary senses; surely, there exists a near infinity of perceptions to which we have no access (and should be glad of our blindness to, I might add). However, I find it exceedingly difficult to believe that any of those wavelengths, paradigms, what have you, would be in any way related to the human experience. I would expect them all to hold the same callous indifference to the existence of life that the rest of the observable universe displays.

To summarize, I do not discount that some of these sorts of phenomena occur (though, whether they're the product of the internal workings of the brain or have a basis in external reality is highly debatable), but I find the idea that any such occurrence should be A.) unable to be rationally analyzed and must summarily be dismissed as "outside the domain of science" or "supernatural" and B.) that there is any way the implication of intent, agency, awareness, or intelligence to these phenomena to be both symptomatic of the egomania of the subconscious at work, and as a rule, intellectually disappointing.

I would very much like to hear how these concerns come across to those who've had direct experiences of this nature, and who have presumably given more than to the matter than I have in my skepticism.

...I would say I didn't mean to write an essay, but that wouldn't be particularly honest. :P

[Amoena]

^^^everything so winning^^^

Ill straighten you out on the saner side of things, Suzie.

[Quiet Man Cometh]

Once again your vocabulary gives me some trouble. However! I shall endeavour to come up with something of an answer.

I shall start with repeating my statement that it is better to say that I don't not believe in such paranormal things, rather than I do believe in them.

I'm not sure what sort of specific answers I can think of except to start with my regular sort of philosophy. That being that, as humans, have a mighty high opinion of ourselves if we think that we can know and/or figure out all the goings on in the universe.

I can't really respond to the idea of there being a specific plane of existence for certain entities over others, because I wouldn't go so far as to assume that such a plane even exists. If it does, the who knows how many others there may be. We only look special on our little plane of existence if there *aren't* some ridiculous number of billions more.

As to the intelligence or awareness thing, I would never discount the idea because, again, *not* considering the possibility goes back to that high opinion thing. I guess I look at supernatural consciousness as similar to the way that I look at animal intelligence other than humans. Who are we to decide that other animals can't think or reason because we lack the ability to interpret what they do, apart from what we manage with our own reason and awareness.

I'm naturally skeptical of quantifying any sort of supernatural or paranormal experience. I'm open to interpretations but if someone wants to tell me that something is truth, than I'm going to be mighty leery about it.

Not sure that answered anything, really.