What percentage of Americans believe in ghosts?

[Evo]

Oh my, approximately the same percent of people in the US that say they are baseball fans also believe in ghosts, UFO's, that the U.S. made the right decision to invade Iraq, and approve of the job President Bush is doing. What does this mean?

Ok, just showing that how you represent data can be misleading.

Anyway, with Halloween just around the corner, I thought I'd post an article on spooky stats. Maybe Ivan will let us post scary stories (first hand experiences, or even friends, family and neighbors) in S&D for a frightfest.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071025/ap_on_re_us/ghosts_ap_poll

I was really surprised to hear that only 34% admitted to believing in ghosts. What do you believe?

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

If you believe in ghosts you might as well believe in dragons.

 

[waht]

When you believe in ghosts, your mind will be set more on alert as if it was sensing danger. Therefore the mind will associate any squeaks, movements, or anythings that's happening with ghosts, and as a result your mind will induce fear which will be make the problem worst.

It's all psychological. What a computer programmer would call an infinite loop.

 

[Zenparticle]

Yes, I swear as a kid I had some interesting things happen around me- But I think I really want to believe in ghosts- It would ease my sadness -I really do not like the idea of just, boom! dead, no longer anything- even if you wouldn't care because you are now dead. Also I do get those funky little orbs and sometimes streaks of what looks like ribbon in my pictures- probably just dust but it is fun to imagine what if...

 

[out of whack]

I believe I'll have another drink. Tar bender!

 

[Evo]

If you believe in ghosts you might as well believe in dragons.

You don't believe in dragons?

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

You don't believe in dragons?

Maybe I do :)

 

[Moonbear]

Well, after watching a History Channel show (or maybe it was Discovery Channel...I get myself confused sometimes..it's this old age setting in ) that was making a case that dragon myths originated from people finding dinosaur bones, maybe I do believe in dragons.

Ghosts, no, don't believe in them. But, doesn't mean I couldn't be convinced if there was good evidence...there are enough people who seem to think they've experienced something unexplainable, but most who sound at all credible about their experiences (as opposed to those waht refers to who jump at every creaking floorboard) always relate it as a single, fleeting event, so really hard to verify what it could have been.

 

[hypatia]

Most of the people I know who have had odd experinces, would of perfered they didn't. Once it happens, and you try to think of all possible explanations, you simply half to shrug and say.. I just saw a ghost.

 

[Evo]

I don't believe in an after life, so I guess that kills the idea of ghosts, although I've had unexplainable experiences, but I sure do like ghosts stories. I've been watching the monster/ghost movies this month and I am soooo disappointed.

The best ghost movie ever has to be the original "The Haunting" with Claire Bloom and Julie Harris. A truly masterful psychological thriller. It's what you *didn't* see that was so frightening. New movies just try to scare you with graphic gore and cliche sudden audio and visual jolts. They don't even affect me. But I will still get scared watching "The Haunting".

 

[SticksandStones]

I don't believe in an after life, so I guess that kills the idea of ghosts, although I've had unexplainable experiences, but I sure do like ghosts stories. I've been watching the monster/ghost movies this month and I am soooo disappointed.

The best ghost movie ever has to be the original "The Haunting" with Claire Bloom and Julie Harris. A truly masterful psychological thriller. It's what you *didn't* see that was so frightening. New movies just try to scare you with graphic gore and cliche sudden audio and visual jolts. They don't even affect me. But I will still get scared watching "The Haunting".

The Others is a good psychological ghost movie, if you're into that. It's rather straightforward, but still good for a scare.

 

[Evo]

The Others is a good psychological ghost movie, if you're into that. It's rather straightforward, but still good for a scare.

Ooh, yes, one of the few decent ghost movies in recent years, also The Sixth Sense was well done.

But neither were scary until the one moment at the end.

The Haunting made you want to hide under the covers, with several people, and all the lights on.

 

[Artman]

My answer is, "yes." I believe there is something that people see that may or may not be dead people, but there is something.

I owned a glass factory workers house that was 150 years old. I was laying in bed one night in the upstairs bedroom and the dog began to whine in the hall, I opened my eyes and there, kneeling in front of me, was an old woman. She was staring at me. the house was only a few miles from a state mental institution, so I thought an old woman had escaped and got into our house. I just watched her, unsure what to do, then she floated up over the bed and I saw it was only the torso of an old woman, the legs were just mist to me. She disappeared into the ceiling, then the dog stopped whining.

I thought I had dreamed or imagined it. I had never mentioned it to my wife because it was our house and I didn't want to scare her. Two weeks or so later it happened again. This time, after the old woman floated up, disappeared through the ceiling and the dog stopped whining, my wife said, "Did you see that?"

I said, "I saw something, what did you see?"

She said, "The upper body and head of an old woman, but the legs were just bubbles."

I don't know what we saw, but we both saw it and the dog sensed it.

 

[Evo]

My answer is, "yes." I believe there is something that people see that may or may not be dead people, but there is something.

I owned a glass factory workers house that was 150 years old. I was laying in bed one night in the upstairs bedroom and the dog began to whine in the hall, I opened my eyes and there, kneeling in front of me, was an old woman. She was staring at me. the house was only a few miles from a state mental institution, so I thought an old woman had escaped and got into our house. I just watched her, unsure what to do, then she floated up over the bed and I saw it was only the torso of an old woman, the legs were just mist to me. She disappeared into the ceiling, then the dog stopped whining.

I thought I had dreamed or imagined it. I had never mentioned it to my wife because it was our house and I didn't want to scare her. Two weeks or so later it happened again. This time, after the old woman floated up, disappeared through the ceiling and the dog stopped whining, my wife said, "Did you see that?"

I said, "I saw something, what did you see?"

She said, "The upper body and head of an old woman, but the legs were just bubbles."

I don't know what we saw, but we both saw it and the dog sensed it.

Wow, that is scary.

 

[Zenparticle]

I had something similar happen to me when I was like 6 or 7- I woke up in the middle of the night and when I opened my eyes I saw 2 whitish floating things with the shape of people- I remember being so frightened I just froze up and immediately closed my eyes again to pretend I was still asleep. I must have stayed like that for a good half an hour until i had to pee so bad I had to get to the bathroom. I opened my eyes preparing for the worse and they/it or whatever were gone...the other thing happened a few years later at another complex we moved too-Sometimes when I would go upstairs alone the door knob to my parents room would jiggle like it was trying to open but there would be no one there- talk about scary for a kid I was freaked out.

Poltergeist was the one that scared me as a kid- that and Jaws

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

I said, "I saw something, what did you see?"

She said, "The upper body and head of an old woman, but the legs were just bubbles."

I don't know what we saw, but we both saw it and the dog sensed it.

And are you going to church now. Cuz If I seriously saw something like that with another witness, my life would change 180. I would be in church every freakin day and never sleep!

 

[Evo]

What about if a white kitten brushed your ankle? Oh yeah, it had been dead two months.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

What about if a white kitten brushed your ankle? Oh yeah, it had been dead two months.

Awesome, means you don't have to feed it! :)

 

[Evo]

Awesome, means you don't have to feed it! :)

Yep, much cheaper to keep her without feeding.

 

[Hurkyl]

I had something similar happen to me when I was like 6 or 7- I woke up in the middle of the night and when I opened my eyes I saw 2 whitish floating things with the shape of people- I remember being so frightened I just froze up and immediately closed my eyes again to pretend I was still asleep.

This can easily be explained by "I woke up in the middle of the night" -- sometimes your brain hasn't fully awakened, so you're susceptible to seeing things that aren't there, and being unusually frightened of things.

My solution is usually to get up, turn the light on, and walk around. The point being that if there are things to actually see, you are less likely to invent stuff. And, of course, this accelerates the process of fully awakening.

 

[Zenparticle]

What about if a white kitten brushed your ankle? Oh yeah, it had been dead two months.

Yes things like that are weird and most people have things like that happen at one point or another in their lives...would have been really freaky if it was brushing your teeth ok ok bad joke!

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Ghosts? I don't know what that means. Hauntings, whatever that means, yes - weird things do happen.

If I saw what Artman described I would likely soil myself. Having something sit [seemingly] on the bed was more than enough for me.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Oh yes, anyone who doesn't believe in UFOs is silly. To believe in flying saucers from another planet is another matter.

 

[jostpuur]

As my father once said: "I don't believe in ghosts, but I'm afraid of them."

 

[Ivan Seeking]

And are you going to church now. Cuz If I seriously saw something like that with another witness, my life would change 180. I would be in church every freakin day and never sleep!

Even if these types of accounts are what they seem to be - Artman really saw what he thought he saw - there could still be perfectly scientific reasons for it. It would only mean that as usual, reality is stranger than fiction.

 

[Artman]

And are you going to church now. Cuz If I seriously saw something like that with another witness, my life would change 180. I would be in church every freakin day and never sleep!

I was pretty much afraid to move or sit up or anything when I saw it, but it did not look menacing, just kind of curious. Real enough looking to touch though. It was plenty scary, but didn't really freak me out until my wife saw it too.

Another weird thing about the house, we bought it for a song from a young couple. They had just lowered the price 25% (they never told us why) and it was already very cheap (so cheap we bought it with a personal loan, we couldn't get a mortgage that low, or insure it for so little). The young man's grandmother left the house to her grandson in her will, she had just died not too long before.

Also, there were 6 Quiji boards in the attic and none of the triangle things.

Like I said before, I will admit there may be a logical explanation, but we definitely did see something. True story guys.

 

[J77]

Just because I've never seen one, doesn't mean I don't believe in "ghosts".

That's pretty much my philosophy about everything tho'

 

[EL]

Please people, come on!
This is just silly.
I used to believe in Santa...until I was four...

Nice try Artman.

 

[Evo]

El, just wait until the brain eating zombies get you.

 

[Huckleberry]

If you believe in ghosts you might as well believe in dragons.

I believe in ghosts, but wish I didn't. I don't believe in dragons, but wish I did. Ofcourse, I also think the world is far too sensible of a place and doesn't fully realize the value of a little bit of insensibility. I don't know of any reason to believe that all of reality can be measured by our senses. I believe that sort of sentiment stifles individual creativity and imagination. (I blame my grade school teacher for punishing me for coloring outside the lines.)

The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.

 

[Moridin]

I've seen no evidence for ghosts. Most of the advocates for ghosts in the media are making stuff up, such as the people walking around with gadgets they call ghost detectors bleeping and lighting up or people like Sylvia Browne.

Natural explanations make much more sense, such as sleep paralysis.

http://skepdic.com/sleepparalysis.html
http://www.csicop.org/doubtandabout/sleep/

However, I am open to evidence of the existence of ghosts. If it is as prevalent as some people say, then it should not be that hard to do i. statistical analysis of mediums and/or ii. do a real investigation of haunted places. However, the ghost movement seem to be the same old type of pseudoscience, making ad hoc hypotheses etc.

Numerous people have written on the subject, such as Sagan, Shermer, Randi etc. and there is a clear evolutionary origin of assigning purpose and so on to the natural world.

 

[EL]

El, just wait until the brain eating zombies get you.

Thanks, now I won't be able to sleep tonight.


Seriously, shouldn't posts saying that ghosts exist get the same treatment as other crackpot theories do here? (Actually, I find ghosts a lot worse than many of the crazy "theories of everything" which appear here once in a while.) Ok, I get this is just entertainment for most of us, but appearantly not for everyone.

 

[Artman]

Please people, come on!
This is just silly.
I used to believe in Santa...until I was four...

Nice try Artman.

EL, it's a true story. I swear to God, Einstein, Newton, whoever you want.

It is not scientific, I can't reproduce the results, but both my wife and I have the recollection of the event and have spoken about it since. We were speaking about it just last week to a group of Civil War reenactors (sp?) who were talking about ghosts in Gettysburg.

Again, I won't say it was a ghost, but we both saw something that we described pretty much the same way.

 

[EL]

EL, it's a true story. I swear to God, Einstein, Newton, whoever you want.

It is not scientific, I can't reproduce the results, but both my wife and I have the recollection of the event and have spoken about it since. We were speaking about it just last week to a group of Civil War reenactors (sp?) who were talking about ghosts in Gettysburg.

Again, I won't say it was a ghost, but we both saw something that we described pretty much the same way.

Artman, isn't it strange that all ghosts always only show up in a way that they cannot be confirmed by scientific means?
Counting how many ghosts that have been reported, isn't it very strange they have never ever been proven by an experiment?

Regarding your story, I can of course not know wheter you are just lying to us, or wheter you are both lying to yourself and us, or wheter there actually can be a natural explanation. If the second holds, then please think again wheter the situation really was the way you are describing it? Our brain constantly plays us tricks. Could it for example have been that you actually made up your first "ghost" encounter after your wife had described what she saw (while you saw "something")? After some time you may have "improved" your story and now think you remember something you actually didn't experience?

I know this can happen since I have personal experience with this kind of things (and I guess most of us have). I once had completely fooled myslef I had been a witness to a quite remarkable drowning accident. I even described it in detail several months afterwards for a friend. Luckily he became sceptical and managed to prove that there was no way I could have been at that place at the time of the accident. I was quite surprised (and very embarassed) when I realized my brain had made up the hole thing just from what I had heard and read about the accident in the news.

Anyway, whatever you experienced, it was not a ghost, cause those do not exist.

When it comes to finding natural explanations for "supernatural" experiences I like the following story about Richard Feynman from feynman online:

The Supernatural Clock

Once we were talking about the supernatural and the following anecdote involving his first wife Arline came up. Arline had tuberculosis and was confined to a hospital while Feynman was at Los Alamos. Next to her bed was an old clock. Arline told Feynman that the clock was a symbol of the time that they had together and that he should always remember that. Always look at the clock to remember the time we have together, she said. The day that Arline died in the hospital, Feynman was given a note from the nurse that indicated the time of death. Feynman noted that the clock had stopped at exactly that time. It was as the clock, which had been a symbol of their time together, had stopped at the moment of her death. Did you make a connection? I asked NO! NOT FOR A SECOND! I immediately began to think how this could have happened. And I realized that the clock was old and was always breaking. That the clock probably stopped some time before and the nurse coming into the room to record the time of death would have looked at the clock and jotted down the time from that. I never made any supernatural connection, not even for a second. I just wanted to figure out how it happened.

 

[whitay]

what are ghosts? can you touch them? when do they feel like? is there a real casper?

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Thanks, now I won't be able to sleep tonight.


Seriously, shouldn't posts saying that ghosts exist get the same treatment as other crackpot theories do here? (Actually, I find ghosts a lot worse than many of the crazy "theories of everything" which appear here once in a while.) Ok, I get this is just entertainment for most of us, but appearantly not for everyone.

An observation, or believing a friend or familiy member, is not a theory. Perhaps you should be a little less sure that you have everything figured out. Millions of people claim to have had such experiences. I consider that and my own experience much more compelling than "it ain't true because I said so".

If someone made the claim that all "ghosts" are the souls of dead people, that would be a theory or hypothesis.

 

[Moridin]

Billions of people claim their religion is the truth, yet they cannot all be true. Hundreds of thousands of people used to believe in demons and witches. Doesn't make that true.

Let us apply Hume's maxim. What is more conceivable: that magical, supernatural, immaterial entities that can go through walls, make noises, violate the laws of physics exists or that subjective experience or hallucination (which is very common) makes some people think that those entities exist?

 

[Jimmy Snyder]

I don't believe in ghosts and neither do any of my ancestors.

 

[EL]

Perhaps you should be a little less sure that you have everything figured out. Millions of people claim to have had such experiences. I consider that and my own experience much more compelling than "it ain't true because I said so".

When did I say I have "everything" figured out? All I said was that there exist no ghosts.
(Of course, as with everything, I can in principle not be 100% sure of it, but let's not go into semantics.)
If I get you right you are seriously suggesting I should consider that ghosts exist?

 

[EL]

An observation, or believing a friend or familiy member, is not a theory.

You are technically right. (I guess you got what I ment anyway.)

If someone made the claim that all "ghosts" are the souls of dead people, that would be a theory or hypothesis.

Ah, it is ok to claim that ghosts exist as long as one don't define what a ghost is! Actually that makes some sense.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Billions of people claim their religion is the truth, yet they cannot all be true. Hundreds of thousands of people used to believe in demons and witches. Doesn't make that true.

These are not personal experiences, they are beliefs based in faith.

Let us apply Hume's maxim. What is more conceivable: that magical, supernatural, immaterial entities that can go through walls, make noises, violate the laws of physics exists or that subjective experience or hallucination (which is very common) makes some people think that those entities exist?

It sounds to me like Hume defines this phenomenon to be magical and supernatural because he can't explain it. That is a faith based theory.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

When did I say I have "everything" figured out? All I said was that there exist no ghosts.
(Of course, as with everything, I can in principle not be 100% sure of it, but let's not go into semantics.)

No, lets.

If I get you right you are seriously suggesting I should consider that ghosts exist?

I suggest that you consider that people may experience things that we can't seem to explain.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Ah, it is ok to claim that ghosts exist as long as one don't define what a ghost is! Actually that makes some sense.

Assuming that a person really observed or experienced an unusual phenomenon, it is still just a phenomenon. What we call it or how we interpret it may or may not mean a thing.

 

[EL]

I suggest that you consider that people may experience things that we can't seem to explain.

Yes, when did I not?
Again, I'm just saying ghosts do not exist.

 

[EL]

Assuming that a person really observed or experience an unusual phenomenon, it is still just a phenomenon. What we call it or how we interpret it may or may not mean a thing.

Now this is getting into semantics.
I think most people have a fairly common view of what a ghost is suppost to be. (Otherwise the headline of this thread would be quite meaningless.)

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Yes, when did I not?
Again, I'm just saying ghosts do not exist.

What are ghosts, and how do you know that they don't exist?

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Now this is getting into semantics.
I think most people have a fairly common view of what a ghost is suppost to be. (Otherwise the headline of this thread would be quite meaningless.)

People experience all sorts of things that get lumped together due to personal beliefs, true believers, and crackpot debunkers.

Most people have a common view of what Einstein said about this or that, and most get it wrong.

 

[EL]

What are ghosts,

This would work:

A ghost is defined as the apparition of a deceased person, frequently similar in appearance to that person, and usually encountered in places she or he frequented, or in association with the person's former belongings. The word "ghost" may also refer to the spirit or soul of a deceased person, or to any spirit or demon.[1][2] Ghosts are often associated with hauntings, which is, according to the Parapsychological Association, "the more or less regular occurrence of paranormal phenomena associated with a particular locality (especially a building) and usually attributed to the activities of a discarnate entity; the phenomena may include apparitions, poltergeist disturbances, cold drafts, sounds of footsteps and voices, and various odours."

and how do you know that they don't exist?

Seriously?
You could ask that question about anything.
How do you know Santa doesn't exist? (There are millions of people claiming so, and the main part of them also claim they have actually seen him.)

What one should ask is: what are the scientific evidence for the existence of ghosts?
Answer: None.

 

[EL]

People experience all sorts of things that get lumped together due to personal beliefs, true believers, and crackpot debunkers.

Most people have a common view of what Einstein said about this or that, and most get it wrong.

That's different. We do not define what Einstein said.

 

[Zenparticle]

As much as I would hope to understand everything- I know that there are concepts, ideas, math, physics, religion, love, philosophy you name it, and still I do not understand nor will I ever(in this life at least) know the truth behind it all. I seem to understand as time goes by that I know very little and I question anyone who thinks they know it all. I know I may be wrong in what my experiences could have been- It could be that I was just half awake when I saw what I saw- or I could have been slipped some LSD and that's why the door knob to my parents room appeared to be moving on it's own. I have no way of proving what I experienced was a ghost-but they were all vivid and quite frankly weird experiences.