Have you ever experienced any paranormal activity?

[Stump]

ya, but there are millions of them, people who we meet, people in our family, friends and I just don't see why all these guys would make up shit just to impress me. I really don't think we know very much at all about "reality" but of course everyone wants to think they got it all figured out. I study the stuff because I really do think there are a lot of things that are outside of what we are taught to believe and think.

But pinning something unexplained to concepts, even vague ones, of "spirits" or "evil" isn't at all maintaining an open mind, it's the opposite. It's a very subtle trick where people say "oh, we don't know everythign about the universe... therefore, satan!" There are millions of people who believe in all sorts of bullshit and there are millions of people who tell phony stories for myriad reasons. I dont think it's necessary to explain why humans lie in order to contend that ghost stories are bogus.

Can it be dangerous? Of course it can, as Randi once said about psychic surgery when precious time could be used to find medical cures. Preachers can let down his followers by stealing their money or sexxing up the women, but he can also counsel and guide people who feel they need it. Science/technology too will be used to help and harm and is demonstrably more than anything else today probably.

Yeah, and children benifit from fariy tales... hopefully, we grow out of that.

And, I don't take this contrarian attitude toward the people in my life who believe in astrology/spirits/haunted houses/auras. Many of them are wonderful people, but I don't for a moment believe that they actually see auras or speak to dead relatives. I'm not going to be an asshole about it - sherdog is different, of course.

I really dont know whats going on in the mind of someone who claims to see auras or communicate with the dead, when that person is otherwise a lovely human being. I am 99% certain that they arent actually doing these things because there has been no actual demonstration that it's possible to do so via many many different experiments. People like their special stories, is all i can really come up with.

 

[Jake the Muss]

But pinning something unexplained to concepts, even vague ones, of "spirits" or "evil" isn't at all maintaining an open mind, it's the opposite. It's a very subtle trick where people say "oh, we don't know everythign about the universe... therefore, satan!" There are millions of people who believe in all sorts of bullshit and there are millions of people who tell phony stories for myriad reasons. I dont think it's necessary to explain why humans lie in order to contend that ghost stories are bogus.

Yeah, and children benifit from fariy tales... hopefully, we grow out of that.

Okay, we got it. You don’t believe in the paranormal.

You can leave and go about your day now.

 

[mozfonky]

It was about “Charlene” the client who used to toy and torment him just for the fun of it.

The transformation is temporal and noticeable.



Yeah, weird.



Expand on his reputation. I haven’t seen anything negative.

I think after he passed i read some stuff about infidelity and how people were very critical of how he revealed patient info, nothing super scandalous. Personally, I held a grudge because for awhile, I took that book to heart and though, "ya, my ma is evil" and she wasn't at all, neither am I and neither are most people that has someone that's angry or hurt by them.

I think he talks about it in the book too though, the ethical problem of bringing something like "evil" into his field where most people would say it doesn't belong. Coincidentally, I was reading up on reddit about counselors who are convinced that some of their patients were possessed. Of course, like here, there was discourse where other counselors/readers said they should be stripped of their license for believing such bullshit but I really think it's possible. People hearing voices? Could be spirits, I've never heard audible voices but I've always observed how some people and situations come about at the perfect/worst time to make my life worse.

Just the other day, I thought of this, I was exhausted, delivering for Amazon. I generally just don't want to see or talk to people and this job has the perk of not making it mandatory to speak to many people. However, I was feeling like shit and I know from experience that anytime I feel like that, the odds of something that might set me off or ruin my day skyrocket. First fucking delivery, I have two packages, for two adjacent houses, I park in the first lot I see, take the two packages, walk to the neighbors house first, then turn around when I see that this deliver is going to be on the opposite side, so, the guy who's house I'm in front of comes out macho, sunglasses on, takes his package and asks, why i was "looking at his trailer?" I didn't know what the fuck he was talking about so I grumpily told him i was looking for the address for the other package. Just hostile shit like that happens 100 times more when I'm not really equipped to be patient. I don't think that's an accident, really don't know what it is but there's got to be more to it than what's on the surface. I believe there may be spirits that just wander through space and create mayhem wherever they can.

 

[mozfonky]

Okay, we got it. You don’t believe in the paranormal.

You can leave and go about your day now.

they never do.

 

[Stump]

Okay, we got it. You don’t believe in the paranormal.

You can leave and go about your day now.

Something... is drawing me in to this thread. It's... I can feel it... OH MY GOD THE BEDROOM DOOR JUST SLAMMED SHUT!!

My work... is ... not .... done...

 

[biscuitsbrah]

I always find it funny how there are hundreds of millions, possibly billions of paranormal anecdotes yet they never seem to get actual documentation. Kind of like big foot or religion.

I feel like the mind is a super strong thing

 

[mozfonky]

I always find it funny how there are hundreds of millions, possibly billions of paranormal anecdotes yet they never seem to get actual documentation. Kind of like big foot or religion.

I feel like the mind is a super strong thing

even when there are photos and proof, we don't have any way of knowing it's real, it's a high bar for sure. Ever see that pic of the Amityville horror house with the ghost boy? I've never seen a sufficient explanation of that one way or the other but it is spooky.

 

[mozfonky]

But pinning something unexplained to concepts, even vague ones, of "spirits" or "evil" isn't at all maintaining an open mind, it's the opposite. It's a very subtle trick where people say "oh, we don't know everythign about the universe... therefore, satan!" There are millions of people who believe in all sorts of bullshit and there are millions of people who tell phony stories for myriad reasons. I dont think it's necessary to explain why humans lie in order to contend that ghost stories are bogus.



Yeah, and children benifit from fariy tales... hopefully, we grow out of that.

And, I don't take this contrarian attitude toward the people in my life who believe in astrology/spirits/haunted houses/auras. Many of them are wonderful people, but I don't for a moment believe that they actually see auras or speak to dead relatives. I'm not going to be an asshole about it - sherdog is different, of course.

I really dont know whats going on in the mind of someone who claims to see auras or communicate with the dead, when that person is otherwise a lovely human being. I am 99% certain that they arent actually doing these things because there has been no actual demonstration that it's possible to do so via many many different experiments. People like their special stories, is all i can really come up with.

Sadly, a lot of people need something to believe in. Life is miserable for a lot of people and stuff like church gives them hope and purpose even if it's total bullshit. I really don't think it's my or your business to decide for them what to do with their lives. Having grown up in church, and being the rebel I was, I miss it now and respect the faith those old folks had.

 

[Jake the Muss]

I think after he passed i read some stuff about infidelity and how people were very critical of how he revealed patient info, nothing super scandalous. Personally, I held a grudge because for awhile, I took that book to heart and though, "ya, my ma is evil" and she wasn't at all, neither am I and neither are most people that has someone that's angry or hurt by them.

I think he talks about it in the book too though, the ethical problem of bringing something like "evil" into his field where most people would say it doesn't belong. Coincidentally, I was reading up on reddit about counselors who are convinced that some of their patients were possessed. Of course, like here, there was discourse where other counselors/readers said they should be stripped of their license for believing such bullshit but I really think it's possible. People hearing voices? Could be spirits, I've never heard audible voices but I've always observed how some people and situations come about at the perfect/worst time to make my life worse.

Just the other day, I thought of this, I was exhausted, delivering for Amazon. I generally just don't want to see or talk to people and this job has the perk of not making it mandatory to speak to many people. However, I was feeling like shit and I know from experience that anytime I feel like that, the odds of something that might set me off or ruin my day skyrocket. First fucking delivery, I have two packages, for two adjacent houses, I park in the first lot I see, take the two packages, walk to the neighbors house first, then turn around when I see that this deliver is going to be on the opposite side, so, the guy who's house I'm in front of comes out macho, sunglasses on, takes his package and asks, why i was "looking at his trailer?" I didn't know what the fuck he was talking about so I grumpily told him i was looking for the address for the other package. Just hostile shit like that happens 100 times more when I'm not really equipped to be patient. I don't think that's an accident, really don't know what it is but there's got to be more to it than what's on the surface. I believe there may be spirits that just wander through space and create mayhem wherever they can.

Maybe in your situation the person wasn’t evil, and that book wasn’t a good fit, but the book has a majority of positive reviews, so Peck is tapping into something.

Pointing out the reviews isn’t an appeal to authority or popularity either. “People Of The Lie” explained a paranormal occurrence before I knew that occurrence existed, so there is a precedence here. The book delivers.

 

[Stump]

Sadly, a lot of people need something to believe in. Life is miserable for a lot of people and stuff like church gives them hope and purpose even if it's total bullshit. I really don't think it's my or your business to decide for them what to do with their lives. Having grown up in church, and being the rebel I was, I miss it now and respect the faith those old folks had.

NOW we're into an interesting discussion!

Agree with you, i think there's a god-shaped hole in all of us. To my mind, religion's big function for humanity is not so much even the purpose or belief in an afterlife as it is the inclusion in a community. And, to circle back to a previous post, I think that's why ghost stories and paranormal reports are as widespread as they are. Its not so much that people want to be believed as it is they want to find community with likeminded people. something like "we are defined by holding onto these beliefs or these reported experiences that most people havent had or dont believe happened." My problem with this, and my reason for being a total dick in this thread, is that I see this as a dangerous method of attaining a sense of community/purpose because its far too unconstrained. Once you open the door to demonic possession and other bullshit, you open the door to people absolving their responsibility to a shared truth. This is true of the paranormal in a way that is not true of religion, say.

I was raised atheist, I've come to settle on something like 99% athiest with 1% agnostic because who fuckin knows, but I definitely recognize the need we have for community and shared goals/identity. I'm not sure it's possible for me to join a church but like you I am intrigued by the idea. I would love to better integrate with a strong community like some oldschool versions of church congregations. I think it's a deep human need that we are essentially ignoring in modern times.

 

[-Magua-]

I have.
Was terrifying & scary.
Don’t need that smoke.
Dont' care about this kinda thing.

But yeah, seen and experienced.
Dont' care though... just do my best to stay away from that kinda elemental (or much worse) dynamic as best I can.

Not gonna help pay the water bill, give investment advice, or be a good wingman.

 

[Sakurabaism]

Never believed it until I went to Thailand and Indonesia. Like Biscuitbrah said, the mind is a powerful tool - especially when millions of people believe in the same idea and breathe life into it. Materializing it into existence. I still think it's some type of jedi mind stuff so I'm still fifty fifty on it. Never seen one in Wyoming though, so there's that.

 

[The Big Yin]

When both my dad and nana died (years apart) I was asleep and was woken up as I heard them calling out to me. This was 10 minutes before getting the call.

Both were dying, so it could be a load of rubbish, but both laid there for days so I couldn't have subconsciously predicted when it was going to happen.

 

[Streeter]

I remember being alone and waking up to my electric shaver buzzing at like 2 am. Never had any thing happen before or since so likely a reasonable explanation

 

[mozfonky]

Maybe in your situation the person wasn’t evil, and that book wasn’t a good fit, but the book has a majority of positive reviews, so Peck is tapping into something.

Pointing out the reviews isn’t an appeal to authority or popularity either. “People Of The Lie” explained a paranormal occurrence before I knew that occurrence existed, so there is a precedence here. The book delivers.

Explain please.

 

[mozfonky]

Never believed it until I went to Thailand and Indonesia. Like Biscuitbrah said, the mind is a powerful tool - especially when millions of people believe in the same idea and breathe life into it. Materializing it into existence. I still think it's some type of jedi mind stuff so I'm still fifty fifty on it. Never seen one in Wyoming though, so there's that.

Well,tell us about it pls.

 

[mozfonky]

NOW we're into an interesting discussion!

Agree with you, i think there's a god-shaped hole in all of us. To my mind, religion's big function for humanity is not so much even the purpose or belief in an afterlife as it is the inclusion in a community. And, to circle back to a previous post, I think that's why ghost stories and paranormal reports are as widespread as they are. Its not so much that people want to be believed as it is they want to find community with likeminded people. something like "we are defined by holding onto these beliefs or these reported experiences that most people havent had or dont believe happened." My problem with this, and my reason for being a total dick in this thread, is that I see this as a dangerous method of attaining a sense of community/purpose because its far too unconstrained. Once you open the door to demonic possession and other bullshit, you open the door to people absolving their responsibility to a shared truth. This is true of the paranormal in a way that is not true of religion, say.

I was raised atheist, I've come to settle on something like 99% athiest with 1% agnostic because who fuckin knows, but I definitely recognize the need we have for community and shared goals/identity. I'm not sure it's possible for me to join a church but like you I am intrigued by the idea. I would love to better integrate with a strong community like some oldschool versions of church congregations. I think it's a deep human need that we are essentially ignoring in modern times.

That's undoubtedly a big part of church. I kinda admire them all today which would shock many of them

 

[KBE6EKCTAH_CCP]

I know that spirit possession exists. I have seen it firsthand.

Someone I know got really sick, and I went to go check on them while they were at home recovering. Their face looked noticeably different. Bloated cheeks and forehead, hooded eyes, grayish clammy skin. They were as sick as could be, and yet they had the biggest malicious grin on their face.

Afterwards I went to a mirror to try and recreate the face and grin. The image of the grin still haunts me.

A few years later I read a book entitled “People Of The Lie”, which talks about narcissism and spirit possession. The author, M. Scott Peck, details an occurrence of seeing someone with the same features described above, and he discussed how he went to a mirror afterwards to try and create the grin that he had seen.

Anyone experience this?

That s creepy AF.
But maybe it was your friend high on painkillers and fever, on a disease ridden face?

 

[PG29 red0 Jr]

I enjoy a podcast called Dixie Cryptid which tells a lot of bigfoot stories. I enjoy listening to these during long drives etc.

Some of the common things you hear during bigfoot encounters are "tree knocks", "whooping sounds", and occaisionally a "death shriek". Another common thing is rock throwing.

A few days ago I am out in the woods in Illinois, in a rural-ish area but with plenty of homes near by. I hear weird tree knocks, then whoops, and finally a blood curdling scream.

It was a dog that someone had leashed to a tree that had gotten tangled up and was basically choking to death. The noises this choking dog made were wild.

No bigfoot though.

If I was in the middle of nowhere camping by myself at night, and heard these noises.......I would have been freaked out!

 

[Stump]

Okay, we got it. You don’t believe in the paranormal.

You can leave and go about your day now.

Fair enough. Sorry for being a dick.