224 replies to this topic

[tommyhancock]

i think believers and skeptics are both completely sane and logical as long as they dont veer too far in one direction without reason.what i am currently debating is weither i am a skeptic or a believer.

i fully believe in ghosts based on personal experience,i cant prove it so expect no grand response in telling these experiences.they happened to me,so i believe ghosts exist.simple enough.without proof i might lean completely the other way.as far as being skeptical of other things.i am.almost all other things.even some that pertain to ghosts:orbs,dousing rods,ouji boards,evp, photograph anamolies, etc.that is not to say i DONT believe them,i just have doubts and would like to see first hand how it works.too many times with ouji boards i have thought what was going to be said next.i am no psychic so theres no way i was picking up on what was being thought by the "ghost" and i could swear i wasnt moving the cursor,but maybe i was maybe subconsciously i wanted it to say what it said.in some cases there were claims of a 16 year old female ghost who followed around and had a crush on me since i was 14.sure that makes a guy feel awesome haha.but is it real?i can say that it came up when the board was used without me touching it.and on more than 5 occasions with different people each time none of whom heard any stoey of this ghost crush girl. does that mean its real?i dont know.it could be and its insanely coincidental but i dont know,cant say its true.i cant say also that all these people subconsciously made it say the same things name:leah.age:16.hause of death:poisoned. by who?:M-A-M-A after being asked that it would go on for minutes M-A-M-A-M-A-M-A-M-A-M-A regardless of who was "working" the board.that would be enough to convince some people,not me.im a hard sell.it did make me think but its unexplainable.goes in my i dont know file(which is huge)
so i believe in ghosts.but with lots of self evaluation i just might be a skeptic who has seen something beyond their own ability to doubt.interesting.
all that said i'll take the believer title none the less.just makes for more interesting conversation i've learned haha

[Markway]

I started this thread a long time ago, and have done a fair amount of thinking about this since that time.

I was never happy with the term "Skeptic" in the first place. Almost everyone at one time or another says "I'm normally a pretty skeptical person but..", or something similar. No one says, "Hey, I'm about as gullible as can be imagined and I'd believe that Wal-Mart was a non-profit charity if you told me enough times."

I suspect that what people mean to imply is that they are critical thinkers and examine evidence carefully before accepting it as part of my reality. Some people are anxious for something weird or strange to come along. Some people are pretty willing to accept what other's say as fact. They have trouble conceiving of trickery or lies, and often find it easy to accept the evidence of other people's eyes. You know that's a pretty special kind of person and I love 'em for it.

What "Skeptic" has come to mean in our context here is "Doubter". These people have trouble accepting anything new or differient. Usually, they are unwilling to accept the accuracy of their own senses when it doesn't correspond with their beliefs. I have to wonder how they come to believe anything ever.

Personally, I have my own conviction when it comes to the strange. Consider: A man sees his dog stand on it's hind legs. He looks away, looks back, and the dog is still standing! He watches and the dog is actually walking on it's hind legs. He becomes very excited and yells to his wife, "Honey, come quick, you're never going to believe this!" He's hoping and praying that the dog won't fall over before his wife sees. Sure enough though she shows up and the dog is still walking around. Both are amazed. They get their camera, take pictures. Fifteen minutes later the dog is still up, and the man goes back to the ballgame. Twenty minutes later his wife thinks, "My, have to think about shoes I guess." and goes back to her book.

The only thing that makes something unbelievable is it's rarity.

[tommyhancock]

well i think everyone is skeptical to some degree.i dont view skeptics as doubters.i view them as "having doubts".and really i dont think thats some insult,i think its a good thing.an dit depends on the rarity issue.whats rare to some is not to others,i dunno this could go too far as an argument which i dont want since i agree with your general outlook.but that is a good example for why i believe,in that case the 2 people who owned the dog would know for a fact that it could walk like that,but lets say it didnt walk like that when someone came over someday,they would think maybe it was not true.so sometimes seeing something with your own 2 eyes goes beyond any kind of documentation there is.this is why im a believer.and of course a picture of a dog standing on its hind legs is poor evidence that he is a bipedal, and there is no way to proof this short of video,that some would doubt.but the owners of the dogs,and only the owners of the dogs who saw it themselves would not be able to stop believing what they know they saw no matter how much science tells them it cant happen

[fatman]

Tommy, I jealous of you having a 16 year old ghost girlfriend. All I have is a flesh and blood wife.
How sweet would that be; it would be like an imaginary friend, but with benefits. I guess that's possible.
At least my flesh and blood wife is into the ghostly subjects I enjoy. And it's easier to see her naked.

[tommyhancock]

haha who wouldnt be right? well i have a living girl as well,engaged btw,so is it a ghost mistress hussy?haha.i dont know if i believe that,its just really weird.but atleast i get said living female companion benefits too huh?haha

fatman you a crazy man.

also growing up i read marvel comics so the girls in there were my imaginary friends with benefits haha

[fatman]

Tommy, I'm only crazy when I'm off my medication, much to my doctor's displeasure. And my imaginary friends were out of Playboy and Penthouse...or through a window of a neighbor's house.
Living and afterlife benefits. You're the luckiest man. What a threesome that would be.
Tommy, nothing is sacred to me. I look at everything with a sense of humor, even the paranormal. I've had ideas for spoof ghost hunting shorts and Big Foot shorts (that one being a little dirty). However, I'm still a believer. As I have said, I've had my experiences. I do know not everyone is a believer or a hardcore skeptic. So I take all of it in stride. I take at face value everything I have heard, seen, read or experienced; if you said this happened, then it happened to you regardless of what others say, but take what others say into consideration. If it helps explain, it's all good; if not, then keep searching for answers or accept the experience as a possible ghostly experience.
Now to get serious, how does one break up with a ghost girlfriend: "You are just not sincere; I can see right through you!"
I'm trying.

[tommyhancock]

oh no your responses are fine by me haha.i have literally l'ed o l reading much of your posts.i look at things quite similar to the way you do actually.it takes a lot to convince me of something even if i experienced,the ghost gf thing,i don't know about that haha.it is weird that its always the same no matter who does the ouija thing,but since i have my doubts regarding ouijaboards i don take these little intriguing tidbits as fact either. if i had 3 seperate files for things that made me believe,things i dont know,and things that i am unsure of,the unsure file would be bursting while the 1st 2 just sat in single manilla folders haha.and everything should be looked at with a sense of humor,i never take myself or others too seriously,i can almost guarantee i will never be offended by anyone on this board.and supposedly touching a ghost is freezing cold,those threesomes might be a little less fun than we would think haha.plus the playboy/penthouse girls are fine and dandy but to me a chick who can fly is where its at haha. the see right through you approach is good,what i did is tell her that i needed something a little more solid.

[Markway]

I support your right to whatever but I would ask you to be cautious.. My Norwegian aunt put out milk for the haus gnomenn or however they spell it. I asked her about it since she claims to not believe in anything that didn't march out of a lab. She said, "Well, if there aren't enny den I yust vasted a leadle milkk. But eff eet troot. den I've got a leadle luck, ja?"

Those ouija boards are bad medicine. Just in case there is something in them, don't invite trouble.

[tommyhancock]

oh i havent done it myself but 1 or 2 times,but it has happened in my presence.i personally dont believe milton bradley would sell out most popular form of communication to the realm of the dead,but for safetys sake i tend to stay away.why take unnecessary risks,i get that.i just pointed out a weird example of something i can't explain and that also imo science can't explain.that said i still dont completely believe some hot ghost teen girl is following me around.thanks for the words of advice though

[Markway]

Milton Bradley has nothing to do with this. Taking your actions lightly, in every theater of your life is a recipe for disaster. Don't get me wrong; the license to make mistakes is one of the hallmarks of adulthood. I only comment out of concern.

Getting the attention of something in the unseen world is not especially hard. It can be horribly hard to make them leave you alone. Everyone loves a ghost story except those who are in it.

[tommyhancock]

the milton bradley think is just my point of view.i still dont mess with it just in case,and i thank you for your concern and will definitely not mock you for it.i have been a part of what was ghost stories and i still enjoyed it to an extent,but to get the kind of stuff the oujia board is allegedly capable of,lets just say that while im curious,id rather not learn from experience haha

[wipsi]

I think we need to differentiate between a skeptic and a cynic....Being skeptical is good but the problem is when people are cynical.

[GlendaRS]

I don't know whether to call myself a skeptic or a believer. I just know that I had some experiences that were unexplained. Not once but on several occasions. They weren't very dramatic but still puzzling to me. I couldn't swear that it was ghosts, though. I could only swear to what I heard because it was pretty clear. All I can say is I don't know!

[ohreally?]

GlendaRS, on May 23 2010, 03:42 PM, said:

I don't know whether to call myself a skeptic or a believer. I just know that I had some experiences that were unexplained. Not once but on several occasions. They weren't very dramatic but still puzzling to me. I couldn't swear that it was ghosts, though. I could only swear to what I heard because it was pretty clear. All I can say is I don't know!

Do to the iffy quality of the evidence that's the appropriate position to have. So at this time you are skeptic.

[CaveRat2]

GlendaRS, on May 23 2010, 03:42 PM, said:

I don't know whether to call myself a skeptic or a believer. I just know that I had some experiences that were unexplained. Not once but on several occasions. They weren't very dramatic but still puzzling to me. I couldn't swear that it was ghosts, though. I could only swear to what I heard because it was pretty clear. All I can say is I don't know!

Just having an event happen makes you neither. It's how you deal with it that clasifies you. The cynic will take a stand that it didn't happen or will reject it without attempting to define it. The believer will claim it was paranormal, likely embellishing the evidence, and rejecting any attempt by anyone to explain it as natural.

The skeptic will take the evidence, rationalize what can be explained, accepting any reasonable or logical explanation.before jumping to the paranormal. And even at that point the skeptic is open to new data and willing to change his mind if the new data warrants it.

From your post, I would consider you a skeptic. as am I