Fucking hell, it's gone a bit ghost-towny in here has it not?
Do you believe in ghosts and/or other paranormal stuff?

I say 'of course not, don't be a fucking medieval idiot', although I concede that places where horrible things have happened could have a kind of atmosphere memory. I once visited Hermitage Castle and my whole family got extremely bad vibes from the place.
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Mon 25 Jan 2010, 16:19, 37 replies, latest was 16 years ago)

bad vibes does not equal ghosts.
it probably equals idiots.
also there is no such thing as an atmosphere memory, what are we fucking two?
( Sir Sand GOBLIN ^popular page dis, Mon 25 Jan 2010, 16:23, Reply)

What are we fucking two what?

( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Mon 25 Jan 2010, 16:26, Reply)

children.

( Sir Sand GOBLIN ^popular page dis, Mon 25 Jan 2010, 16:32, Reply)

"a kind of atmosphere memory"
shut up.
(PsychoChomp, Mon 25 Jan 2010, 16:24, Reply)

he's mistaking being told that stuff happened somewhere and as such responding emotionally to what you have been told
with some weird psycho-bollocksy wankfest.
( Sir Sand GOBLIN ^popular page dis, Mon 25 Jan 2010, 16:24, Reply)

No I'm not.
The place in question happened to be near where we were staying on holiday - we saw it on a map and went there wholly ignorant of its history. Perhaps it was just a fucking horrible place.
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Mon 25 Jan 2010, 16:30, Reply)

there is no such thing as atmosphere memory.
i shouldn't have to clarify that on a grown up messageboard.
( Sir Sand GOBLIN ^popular page dis, Mon 25 Jan 2010, 16:32, Reply)

wait
this is a grownup messageboard?
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Mon 25 Jan 2010, 16:34, Reply)

comedy misinterpretation!

( Sir Sand GOBLIN ^popular page dis, Mon 25 Jan 2010, 16:37, Reply)

This is not a grownup messageboard.
You weren't seriously under that impression were you?

The thread before this one was titled 'BREASTS', if you need further clarification.
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Mon 25 Jan 2010, 16:34, Reply)

by which i mean a messageboard with grown ups.
i get the childishness sense of humour, i have been here once or twice.
but we shouldn't have to clarify these basic things.
( Sir Sand GOBLIN ^popular page dis, Mon 25 Jan 2010, 16:35, Reply)

you protest too much
i put it to you that you are in fact a GHOST!
( Citizen Cavy Admires your passion for conformity, Mon 25 Jan 2010, 16:40, Reply)

Rumbled
:(
( Sir Sand GOBLIN ^popular page dis, Mon 25 Jan 2010, 16:41, Reply)

If I ever saw a ghost
I would extarct cruel vengence on it with my Dyson vacuum cleaner of retribution
( Naked Ape call me Caitlyn, Mon 25 Jan 2010, 16:24, Reply)

No I don't
but my house has one
( Colonel Dracula Two manky hookers and a racist dwarf, Mon 25 Jan 2010, 16:24, Reply)

Atmousphere memory sounds suspiciously
like water memory in Homeopathy
( Naked Ape call me Caitlyn, Mon 25 Jan 2010, 16:25, Reply)

thought I saw a ghost once
for a brief moment. turned out to be a crow.

I've seen a UFO though
( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Mon 25 Jan 2010, 16:26, Reply)

I got bad vibes in the pub on Friday.
Nothing supernatural - just pikey wankers.
(Tugnut Ex of this parish, Mon 25 Jan 2010, 16:28, Reply)

Did they cover you in ectoplasm?

( Colonel Dracula Two manky hookers and a racist dwarf, Mon 25 Jan 2010, 16:28, Reply)

I had a couple of pints.
It was quiz and bukkake evening.
(Tugnut Ex of this parish, Mon 25 Jan 2010, 16:36, Reply)

I think that ghosts exist, but only in the mind of the person seeing it
They do not physically materialise, they are but a figment of our imagination. Whenever a person says they ahve seen a ghost, and the story begins'

"I was in my bed/I was just about to fall asleep/i woke up to see a...", then it is just a dream they were having, despite what they might say.

The human mind creates reality on the fly, therefore can do whatever the fuck it likes.
(Cancer Joy was short lived, Mon 25 Jan 2010, 16:29, Reply)

especially
when you are on the edge of sleep. Sense input gets all confused for me - concepts become shapes, words become colours or textures.
( Citizen Cavy Admires your passion for conformity, Mon 25 Jan 2010, 16:30, Reply)

there's so many things wrong with this.

(PsychoChomp, Mon 25 Jan 2010, 16:31, Reply)

such as?

(Cancer Joy was short lived, Mon 25 Jan 2010, 16:34, Reply)

You think things that are imagined 'exist'
So the tooth fairy exists because children believe in it?
And the mind doesn't create reality on the fly, it interprets sensation and turns it into perception. It's not perfect but it's not creating reality. And it can't do what ever the fuck it likes, there are limits to what the mind can do.
(PsychoChomp, Mon 25 Jan 2010, 16:39, Reply)

you clearly haven't taken enough psychadelics

( Vipros. clever got me this far, then tricky got me in, Mon 25 Jan 2010, 16:41, Reply)

Erm... No one ever *sees* the tooth fairy, or Santa now, do they.
I think that the mind itself creates the illusion of the 'ghost' and, much like a dream, the illusion looks and feels real, therefore is taken as real.

"it interprets sensation and turns it into perception", which is exactly the same thing as creating it 'on the fly'. When I said it can do whatever the fuck it likes, I obviously meant within the boundaries of possibility. To be more precise, it has the power to make you believe anything...that there are spiders under your skin, that your friend is your enemy and wants to kill you, that a flower in a field is in fact the manifestation of God or that U2 are actually talented.

OK, maybe a bit far fetched at the end there, but basically, your mind creates YOUR reality and therefore has the ability, with or without the help of drugs, to warp it however it pleases. Ask Monty about the DMT..
(Cancer Joy was short lived, Mon 25 Jan 2010, 16:56, Reply)

The one person I've ever known who claimed to have seen ghosts
was the product of a truly terrifying childhood and was consequently a bit mental.
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Mon 25 Jan 2010, 16:32, Reply)

The mother of your child?

( Colonel Dracula Two manky hookers and a racist dwarf, Mon 25 Jan 2010, 16:33, Reply)

Ha - no, the GF before her
*is busted*
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Mon 25 Jan 2010, 16:35, Reply)

But what would YOU do if you saw a ghost or what you thought was a ghost?
Would you walk towards it, try and communicate with it, or run like fuck. I mean, apart from the movies, when was the last time someone was actually physically harmed by a 'ghost'. It's not the dead you have to be wary of, it's the living.
(Cancer Joy was short lived, Mon 25 Jan 2010, 16:38, Reply)

living Welsh
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Mon 25 Jan 2010, 17:11, Reply)

that is actually hynogogic hallucination,
when you're falling asleep. usually.
waking dreams like innit. dead common.
( Sir Sand GOBLIN ^popular page dis, Mon 25 Jan 2010, 16:33, Reply)

You are, rather.
PS there's no such word as 'hynogogic'. Hope this helps.
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Mon 25 Jan 2010, 16:35, Reply)

i spelt it wrong :(
r u bullyin me?
( Sir Sand GOBLIN ^popular page dis, Mon 25 Jan 2010, 16:39, Reply)

YES.
*wedgies SSG*
( Monty Boyce, My cheese game is strong, Mon 25 Jan 2010, 16:46, Reply)

Reckon I've got just about the best anecdote here; granted just an anecdote
Mate of mine is extremely intelligent, with a good science degree, a low tolerance for bullshit etc. He always claims ghosts/aliens/astrology/tarot/vibes/etc are for whackos, but when pressed has a weird tale from when he was about 20.

He was staying in an old hotel somewhere in America. He woke up in the middle of the night to see a black man in a sort of denim suit staring at him from the foot of the bed, visible despite the darkness. He turned the light on and the man disappeared. So rational-minded is my friend is that it took him a long time to shit himself and panic (it happened eventually) and he spent a good amount of time trying to work out what was happening as scientifically as possible. He flicked the light on and off. The man was always there in the darkness, gone under the light. My friend got out of bed and walked around the room. The black guy was totally 3D and very real looking, although unmoving. By this time my friend was pretty convinced this wasn't a sleep-hallucination so he did what anyone would do and got a severe case of the heebie-jeebies, switched the light back on sharpish and scarpered to his brother's room where he spent the rest of the night.

In the morning he told the recpetionists what he'd seen and their only surprise was that he'd handled it so well. Apparently that room was well-known for the same apparition appearing to different guests over the years.

That's as close as I've got to a story proving ghosts exist (to you it's third-hand, natch). Myself, I'm open-minded as to a number of explanations.
(Fancy a weekend on my Raymondo Luxury Yacht?, Mon 25 Jan 2010, 17:51, Reply)