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Embrace the subject. Do you believe in paranormal phenomenon? Have you ever experienced anything paranormal? Please discuss it in this thread!

There was a paranormal thread put up for Halloween on the old board, but I personally, as somebody somewhat sensative to paranormal activity, know that occurances don't just happen over the holiday. LoL.

So please feel free to share your experiences!

Yes, and yes!!! My goodness, I'm not sure if I have enough time to go into all of them now (I'm at school). But let's just put it this way: almost all the stuff I believe is from personal experience. ^_^ ghosts, divination, etc.

If I can find the time later, expect a VERY long post from me.

I enjoy talking about the paranormal (I think I was the one who started the other thread). But I'm also very much a skeptic. I believe that there is a 'rational' explanation for everything in the universe; we just may not fully understand it yet.

I've personally witnessed enough 'psychic' phenomena to fully believe something more than just chance is involved. I could quote many examples, mostly relating to my family, prophetic dreams, etc. But I can tell you without question that all those TV psychics, from John Edwards on down, are scam artists -- period.

Something tells me Original Sin will post in this thread

Well, coming from a person whose's seen both "Ball Lightning" and "St. Elmo's Fire", you might be surpised to learn that I don't really beileve in ghosts and things like that, but I will do the usual "Discovery Channel Show On the Paranormal" thing, and end this post by saying that there are many things in this world that we do not yet understand, or that can not be explained.

malictus wrote: Something tells me Original Sin will post in this thread

Damn straight.
Ah yes, the paranormal. For those of you who were around for the first thread, you already know I defenitely believe in the paranormal. However, I'm not just guessing on this one. I've experienced enough paranormal activity in my life to konw there is something there, however, modern science is not at a level where we can explain it yet.
Heh, and yes, the TV psychics are all pretty much a hoax. Don't get me wrong, psychics do exist, but their methods of divination (seeing the future, past, present, etc.) are all different. Some use cards, dice, runes, etc, and read clues from them to infer on the situation. Others touch items or jewelry from the person in question (usually in missing person's cases), while some can touch the actual person, or just look at them and read from their aura. There are hundreds of forms of divination, not just 'Call now, and have your credit card ready!'
I have plenty of stories and theories, but I don't have the time to go into them at the moment. Discuss ahoy, and I'll try to answer any questions that are raised (should anyone have any), and continue the discussion when I return from....somewhere.

And since it was my last more noticable encounter, I'll post this up, a cut from my LJ.

-= 10:00 PM =-
The strangest thing happened a little bit ago. I’m sitting up on my bed in my room. Took a break from watching GTO to study (shouldn’t it be the other way around?) for my math test tomorrow evening. I was doing a practice problem when I noticed that something was different. Earlier, I had lit seven candles on top of my cedar chest next to my bed. The tall pillar candle had gone out. I grabbed my lighter to light it again, but as I leaned over to relight it, the other candles, one by one, snuffed out. Even the flame on my lighter went out, even though my thumb was still on it and everything. o_o So, after an immediate trip to the living room to sit with my family for a while (in front of the damn TV. x_x), I ventured back in. Didn’t relight my candles. Probably better that way.

There's been an interesting theory floating around about paranormal encounters, and why some people don't experience them at all, and others can't get away from them.
First, almost all places contain some form of spirual energy. Some are so minute that an expert wouldn't even notice it, while others are so apparent that it's obvious to almost anyone that there's something there. Genuinely haunted houses are an example of the second.
Now, ghosts (or spirits, demons, angels, whatever you prefer to call paranormal beings) are drawn to certain people more than others. Some people will never know a ghost is nearby, and on the same note, the ghost will not notice them either.
The analogy used is that certain people are like a flashlight. To a ghost, existing within let's say a haunted house, the world is pretty bleak. I mean, come on, you're dead! But, some people give off enough energy that you notice it, like a flashlight in a pitch black room. Naturally, you're going to want to investigate, to come out of wherever it is you're hiding and see what's giving off all that light, all that spirtual energy.
This would be why some people can walk through a place with a ghost, and never even know: because the ghost doesn't even know they're there, so will not become active. Other people, thought they seem to be rare, can trigger paranormal activity almost anywhere they go. Sort of like The Sixth Sense. You see all these ghosts, and they're drawn to you as well.

Anyway, I'm not sure if I believe it yet, but it seems logical, as far as ghost logic goes anyway. Of course, scientists will argue that. but how many scientists do you know that have seen ghosts? Generally, scientists are very cut and dry individuals, thinking with logic and brain power, not spirituality and emotion. Ghosts are not drawn to IQ, they're drawn to life, feelings and emotions. I know a lot of sceptics who never believed in ghosts, but after the passing of a relative, during that period of grieving, they will see the ghost of that person. Perhaps it's because they are far more emotional than they usually are? It's just a thought.

Original Sin wrote: Anyway, I'm not sure if I believe it yet, but it seems logical, as far as ghost logic goes anyway. Of course, scientists will argue that. but how many scientists do you know that have seen ghosts? Generally, scientists are very cut and dry individuals, thinking with logic and brain power, not spirituality and emotion. Ghosts are not drawn to IQ, they're drawn to life, feelings and emotions. I know a lot of sceptics who never believed in ghosts, but after the passing of a relative, during that period of grieving, they will see the ghost of that person. Perhaps it's because they are far more emotional than they usually are? It's just a thought.

There is a much more logical explanation. People see what they wish to see. If you believe in ghosts, you will see ghosts. If you dont, then you wont. When people believe they engage the imagination. Because we are the imagination. I believe in science, and i see it everywhere I go. You believe in the paranormal, thus you see it everywhere you go. The problem only comes when you make a distinction between your imagination and the real world.

Always the skeptic...it's alright. Where would the human race be without those people who said that the Earth wasn't the center of the universe? Sure, there are explanations for many, many things. Yet somehow, in paradox with my own scientific nature, I hold a belief in things that cannot be explained in scientific terms and cannot be proven either way as to their existence.

Just my $.02

I do believe in the paranormal, however I'll have to call you out on that. I don't see it everywhere I go. I've been told I have high amounts of spiritual energy, but not to the point that I'm a spiritual conduit, so to speak, for which I'm thankful. I know a few people like that, and I don't think I could do it. One guy used to be involved with black magic, years and years ago, but he's since turned his back on it, but now he can hardly sleep without it influencing him. I've seen him on the brink of posession once, and I'll tell you, no one can make that shit up, and it was one of the most disturbing moments of my life.
Also, he lives in a genuinely haunted house. It's been checked out by the indiana ghost hunters group, and yes, it's defenitely haunted. Their instruments went off the scales in some areas, and there's one room in particular in which it would just turn off. They'd leave the room, it'd turn back on. Go back in, it would die. This same room also makes people physically ill. The door opens on it's own when you come near it, and this guys little girl (who is not aware the house is haunted) says there is a 'bad man that wants to play with her.' in that room. Very, very wierd stuff. The ghost hunters believe that there are spirtual portals in the house...for those of you that don't follow the paranormal, they draw in ghosts and other spiritual beings, and also allow them to leave. So, they constantly have a varying degree of things in their house...some are just there, others are downright evil, like the thing in the basement room.
I respect skeptics, they keep the hoax's from circulating for one thing, and everyone is entitled to their opinion. However, there's ghost stories you tell around the camp fire, and there's the real thing. There are plently of people that 'don't believe' in ghosts that experience them, for one, my friends sister continuously says she 'doesn't believe,' but their family line has a large number of spiritual conduits, her and her sister both having inherited that. One of them has come to terms with it, the one that I know, but the younger one is terrified of it and doesn't want to believe. Of course, that doesn't change the fact that they're there, and she can see them. You can 'not believe' all you want, but if a ghost gets it in it's head that it wants to interact with you, it will, one way or another.

Again, we see what we want to.

You see ghost screwing with your "Ghost hunting machines". I see Electromagnetic interferance (Yes it can turn off devices) and my guess is that how the house is layed out, propagation seems to "centralize" on that room. EMI can also manefest physical symptoms in people when in high enough concentration. As for the bad man in the room, The kid is probably whacked out on enough sugar to power a small city

And the only ghosts i believe in are the Delca's http://delca.itu.dk/
Well, maybe them and Boo Berry.

i dunno, i try to believe just for the sake of it (my mom says it gets you far in life...whatever) and it's just laughable to me. the terms that are invented and the backings to a lot are just as well backed as superstitions and the definitions sound like they were made up by someone with the imagination of a 5 year old.

my mom is into that new-age spiritualy bull shit and there's only 1 thing she's ever said i'll buy "the universe reacts based on the energy you project" and what she means is if you're THINKING (read: not some crazy spiritual aura of energy from the depths of the nether-regions of your body) positive thoughts and EXPRESSING these positive thoughts others will interperate these thoughts as energy and the world will change based upon how you express yourself and how you present yourself.

and to crack open my never-ending wealth of quantum physics:
To prove this idea, change how you wake up to your alarm clock. Instead of dreading it and slamming the snooze button, politely turn it off and go on with your days. Eventually, the clock won't go off; it wakes you up without the need to ever beep. Some say this is your internal clock going off but that can easily be defeated due the fact I have gone to bed numerous times at 3am and woken up at 8:30 am the next day and not been tired at all. Alarm clock not going off. This probably goes over your head but what the idea behind this is that the world is percieved by you and you alone. It's not physical and you experiencing it. You can take a glass and put it on a table and ask a person to look at it, record how their brain reacts. Then go into another room, a day later and ask the guy to think about that glass. Their brain acts the same as it was when the glass was infront of the individual. You can also take a brain and cut off any segment of the brain and the animal/human/whatever still maintains core functions. The entity still remembers how to breathe, how to eat and autonomous functions etc....quite amazing stuff

when you can take science like that to figure out how the world works vs ideas that sound like my neice came up with; i'll take my route

I wake up before my alarm clock, too. However, not because I want to, or I greet the day with arms wide open. I hate waking up, but I still wake up before my alarm clock. I'm not trying to disprove what you said, because a lot of the world is entirely about perception. The fact remains though, that I hate waking up, no matter how many high hopes I have for the day.
X5060. Electromagnetic interference exists, yes. But it doesn't push people down the stairs, make them speak incantations in latin in their sleep, suffer first and second degree burns from a dead woman, open doors, make you see things that 'aren't there' in mirrors, make physical manifestations of people that are long dead, and move things in the attic. Also, the child in question is extremely calm. The other kids in the house are quite energetic, but she is not.
The majority of the things mentioned don't just happen to a few, select people. Anyone who walks into that house experiences wierd things.
You can say that the interference could manifest itself as what someone percieves to be a 'ghost' and try to harm them, right? But it could not make different people, at different times, believe it to be an identical entity, especially if they have no prior knowledge of it being there.

There is a point where science can no longer explain everything, and the paranormal generally rests well beyond that point. Our technology and understanding is getting better, but there are still plenty of things out there we don't, and cannot yet understand. You can turn a blind eye and wait for proof if you want, that's fine. But it doesn't change the fact that there are things out there.

Tehn i guess we have to agree to disagree. People see what they want.

like i said in the last paranormal thread, everything has a reason for its happening.

The salem witch trials for example had *nothing* to do with bewitchings at all..Neither did *any* witch trial incident in the history of man kind. Every major one has been linked to ergotamine poisoning. Ergotamine is a precursor used to make lsd and is also used in migraine medication such as midrin. In it's organic form ergotamine is highly toxic and causes your vessles to constrict and make your body get less oxygen from its blood which causes the "pin pricking" and "skin burning" sensations. LSD in itself is considered a very spiritual output of enery which is the reason for the "bewitched" to believe they were animals or some other spiritual essence.