I don't believe in ghosts.
What's more I think it's arrogant of the human race to think that they somehow inhabit a plane of existence worthy of life after death. We are highly evolved and socially adept animals, and when we die we fuel the ecosystem.

However, this still freaks me out. I'm sure there's a rational hallucinatory explanation, but still gives me a bit of a chill.

Sitting in the living room, I heard someone rustling through the post, then someone of the same stature as my other half walked past the living room door.

"Mick" calls I

No answer. I walk out the door, and watch as the guy carries on walking up the stairs. I shout after him again, to no response. What does happen is my boyfriend appears from behind me, as he had been working in the room next door to me.

I've had hallucinations in the past, but always fleeting glimpses that disappeared when I looked at them. I have never watched someone walk away form me, calm and collected. I had wobbly legs for quite a while after that.
( Madam Marlboro wonders if you've found her yet, Thu 3 Jul 2008, 15:27, 4 replies)

How do you know it's just the human race?
Have you discussed it with all the animals?

I think these things are perfectly probable, especially considering the behaviour of house pets during or after the death of someone currently in the building. I don't think that's arrogant- I'm not saying it applies solely to humans, if it exists for one it should exist for all the others. I'm just not prepared to put all my faith in scientists. They've been wrong before.
( Captain Wow currently being a cunt in Infamous, Thu 3 Jul 2008, 15:44, closed)

That is a collywobbles moment, right enough...
FWIW, I don't believe in ghosts either. Well, not in the conventional sense, anyway.

I can't remember who it was that said it, but someone said that time is like millions of bits of string all laid down together side by side. So, now is happening now (in this bit of string), but 2 seconds ago is also happening now (in another bit of string) as 500 or 5,000 years ago is also happening now.

Or, to put it simply, it's possible time might run concurrently with itself.

Occasionally, the bits of string get entangled with each other, so a ghost is actually a bit of interference in the fabric of time itself.

OK, so it's not provable, and it sounds stupid, but I like the theory anyway. :)
( Devil_In_Tights the *real* DiT!, Thu 3 Jul 2008, 16:36, closed)

@The Captain
That's a good point about animals, and it's certainly true that scientists often get stuff wrong. However, have you thought about it this way:

Do animals just behave strangely because they're more familiar with the odour of death than we are? Dogs, in particular, are much more dependent on their sense of smell than we are, and the smells like blood and carrion can linger in a room for a very long time, it's just that we don't notice them. Let's face it, we're nurtured in an environment where we're constantly masking natural odours with various fragrances and perfumes, and I for one would not claim to know how death smells. (Similarly, I was once told that some hamsters only bite people because they can smell that the person holding them is nervous.)

Sorry, I'm starting to ramble. My point is, just because something's not wholly explicable to us, must it necessarily be supernatural? I personally think there's a lot to be said for scents, sounds, etc., that our senses aren't designed to pick up, but which are perceptible to some other animals.
(LongJohnBaldry, Thu 3 Jul 2008, 21:26, closed)

Crow
More than probable, by all means. I'm just not totally closing myself off to other possibilities either.
( Captain Wow currently being a cunt in Infamous, Fri 4 Jul 2008, 16:13, closed)