Paranormal experiences with the Phenomenon.

[Starlight]

Yes, this is a bizarre topic, but then again, <i>I'm</i> bizarre. Or, more so eccentric. <p>Anyway, this is a topic dedicated to sharing paranormal experiences, and the unexplained.<br>It can be about aliens, seeing UFO's, ghosts, religious experiences, bigfoot/sasquatch, etc. <p>I shall start to be fair.<p>I've had several experiences with ghosts. Once when I was a child, and the most recent a couple years ago at a haunted hotel. My experiences were eerie, but with my most recent experience, I was not afraid.<p>I've also had an incredible religious experience with God, where I felt God's love. It was incredible. Amazing. Hard to describe, only that the feeling was overwheming and beyong intense.<p>Share yours!

[Demon Child]

Odd, I had a discussion like this not to long ago. I must first say I have mixed opinions on paranormal things based on how logical it would be to claim and how simple it would be to prove.<p>Ghosts for example, something I've had minor experiences with, are nothing more than remnants of emotions long gone playing tricks on your mind. For example, being around playful children may bring back memories of your own childhood and make you feel playful and mischiveious and once they leave you begin to loose that feeling. Now imagine being in a place that frequently had such activity, such as an old daycare that is no longer in use, the emotions collect and linger and being there will, seemingly for no reason, bring back happy memories so much to the point where you can see children you once knew. <br>On the other hand, go to a place that was once used to hold prisoners and you will begin to feel sorrow or fear and images of things that saddened or frightened you come to mind. You may not even know who it is that you're picturing, you just know that it envokes those emotions.<br>That is what a ghost is. <br>Now you may think I'm making this up, but I'm sure you all know of people that just cheer up a room or depress it, or of people who can easily tell how someone is feeling even when it's not obvious. These are the people who can leave singular ghosts or sence them more easily.<p>Now for a skeptical view on the paranormal. Divine experiences are by far the biggest load of crap. They're nothing more than strong ghosts or, more often, a sudden, intense, and natural change in your emotion. For example someone who occasionally goes into an unusual rage or depression could easily claim they were being manipulated by a devil, but ask yourself, "Is it really a divine influence or just a change in the thought process?". The same goes for people who occasionally feel unusually happy and energetic claiming that is was god. And then there are the cases where people think that both sides are trying to manipulate them.<br>I can almost guarentee that those people could easily be diagnosed with at least one mental disorder related to mania, depression, or both, and the minute they start taking medication for it God and every other divine creature you could think of are going to be leaving them alone, because in all honesty they were never, and will never be, there.<p>To sum it all up, things dealing spirits are all a combination of mental and physical delusions.<p>As for aliens, it's stupid to belive that there is only one planet in the universe that is capable of supporting life and does so. Whether they can visit/abduct/whatever us or not doesn't make a bit of difference in my mind though.<p>[size=small][Edit by Demon Child on [TIME]1114152769[/TIME]][/size]

[Starlight]

I disagree. One person does not image books flying accross the room, or someone leaving scratch marks on them.<p>But, thank you for sharing your story.

[Demon Child]

The mind has far more control over reality than you'd think. People die from nothing more than fear, people make themselves ill because they want to be sick.<br>Knowing things like this, can you truely say that it's impossible to split your own skin open by beliving that there is a spirit harming you or that a book could be mentally moved by beliving that there's something there to throw it?<br>Send anyone, alone, into an area that's haunted but don't let them know a single thing about where they are and nothing will happen.

[Starlight]

You make some interesting points, but I did not imagine what happened to me.<p>I do agree with you on aliens, though.

[Demon Child]

Your experiences with ghosts, did you know anything about the place you were at or who they were prior to dealing with them? A number of ghosts, descriptions of them, how they died? <br>When and where did you see them? Only in the dark, only in certain rooms and hallways, only at certain times?<p>Dark rooms and shadowy areas are perfect places for the mind to project a ghost. You can see basic shapes and then your mind begins to mold them and then you begin to hear sounds that would apply to what you are seeing. Then as swiftly as your mind created them it returns them to the shadows if lighting changes in any way.<br>This alone explains a well known spirit, the bogey man. A child's fears become manifest within the shadows of their room at night, usually reflecting their father, a teacher, a bully, or perhaps something they saw on TV or in a book. And it explains why it will never harm them and cease it's movement once they flee under their covers.<br>And yet they truely belive that it is there, always moving toward them but never reaching them, and that is how reality is to them during that time.<p>[size=small][Edit by Demon Child on [TIME]1114158682[/TIME]][/size]<br>Though there is a bit more to it than just imagination run rampant at times, that being places where, like I said, emotions yet remain able to be felt to some degree by others. This may bring the imagination into play, creating varying ghosts if one does not have a set image of it in mind.<br><p>[size=small][Edit by Demon Child on [TIME]1114159423[/TIME]][/size]

[WolfHunt]

I once (or twice) saw a black streak out of the corner of my eye for a split second....... but I don't know if that counts

[Mage1]

1.I saw a my room go all hazy and I fell onto the floor. This happened once.<p>2.I have had 30 nightmares in a row once...dolls heads spinning their heads around and people following you with no faces, I hit all of them, but they wouldn't seem to stop...They did reach me, but I hit myself on the head before they did, then after all of the nightmares in a nightmares, I fell off my bed and woke up, and i had a bad feeling in my forehead (I hit it too much). If I hadn't had fallen off my bed, I would still be in the nightmares right now....<p>Pretty scary.<br><p>[size=small][Edit by Mage1 on [TIME]1114183219[/TIME]][/size]

[Starlight]

No DC, I repeat, I did NOT imagine what happened to me. When I FIRST experienced ghosts as a child, my brother was with me and experienced it, too. I knew nothing of ghosts, nor did my brother, who was around 8-9... and I was only 4-5 years old.<p>My more recent experience was at a haunted hotel that I visit for countless art paintings, food, and delicious wine. <p>There were many times before when my friends and I would go there, get all hyped up, have a few glasses of wine, and run around "ghost hunting" late at night, to no avail. When my experience happened, it was on a hot sunny day, in the middle of the day, and while I talked to my spouse at a table.<p>I feel weird sharing this. %) <p>[size=small][Edit by Starlight on [TIME]1114190537[/TIME]][/size]

[Lord Khyron]

One of my Ex's went to a certain place in the New England area, well Pensylviania and those states around..<p>She went to the house of Theodore Rosevelt, who has been rumored to be SEEN as a ghost walking around.<p>That is a proven fact, she saw him. Others have seen him.<p>Now me, with the blindness in the left eye, and sensitivity to light, in the darkness it sees stuff that the right eye won't. <p>I've seen a actual ghostly being, felt it on my skin and leave a mark. Our old house used to be haunted.<p>Whether or not we like it, ghosts do exists and sometimes we see them. <p>Whether it is a culmination of emotional energy manifesting in the form that held it, is pointless.<p>It is still not of this plane of existence, and not tangible. Reality is tangible.<p>Ghosts/Spirits/Spectres do exist. <br> <p>

[Demon Child]

Your early childhood ghosts sounds to me like nothing more than brother and sister building up on each others' fears in a dark area.<p>So you knew the place was haunted prior to the visit, and were probably given a rather extencive description of the ghosts.<p>You knew there was something there and so there was. A figment of your imagination building upon stories and nothing more. You don't even have to be conciously thinking about the ghosts to imagine them, you just have to belive they're there. Your subconcious told you there was a ghost there, and that it tapped on you. So you felt it and it went away once you stopped thinking about it.<br>Even on a sunny day there are still shadows, and heat effects the mind.<br>And if they were truely there, why is that they did not show up when you were drunk?<p>I do belive it happened to you. However, it only happened in your mind.<br>----<p>Seeing does not mean it is truely there. Imaginary friends are not there, yet the person may truely belive so and will carry on conversations with it and perhaps even attempt to physically interact with it.<br>Many people see the ghosts because they know what it should look like, where it should be, and belive that it is there.<p>Khyron, did it feel familiar in any way? Did the mark resemble any you had recived or seen in the past?<br>It is a simple process to mentally inflict harm upon yourself, all that is needed is a mental image of what inflicts it, how it should feel, and a strong enough belief that it happened.<p>[size=small][Edit by Demon Child on [TIME]1114193423[/TIME]][/size]

[Starlight]

DC! Listen to yourself! You're too skeptical! Are you afraid to believe? Is this why you're arguing with me and LK? While you can offer your own explanation, you can't judge what happened to me, because you weren't there.<p>I frankly think you're very wrong, because I wasn't the only one who observed all this. I believe in ghosts, because I have reason to believe in them. <p>First experience, I was a young innocent kid, and so was my brother. We BOTH observed what happened to US, so it wasn't all in MY mind.<br>Second experience, no, I wasn't in the heat, the doors of the winery were open, but it was quite cool.<p>We can agree to disagree, because this is going nowhere, and I am getting tired of arguing about what <i>I</i> experienced. My spouse has ALSO had experiences with ghosts as well, as well as my father and sister. You know what they say, seeing (as well as feeling/hearing) is believing. Now, care to share some of your stories? This is, after all, what this thread is about.<p><p>[size=small][Edit by Starlight on [TIME]1114199445[/TIME]][/size]

[Demon Child]

I wouldn't call it skeptical, so much as it is another view on what a ghost is. And by your logic you'd be skeptical of people being able to create images in their mind that are so real to them they can't tell the difference and not even know they did it.<br>And quite honestly I know exactly how real tricks of the mind can be, I force them upon myself often. I create my own ghosts for the sole purpose of terrifing myself. I force myself to remember pain with such detail that I can feel it again in order to adapt to pain.<br>Children do things like that all the time by creating imaginary friends.<p>It is the belief that makes them part of your reality. You can see them, you can interact with them, you could be harmed or killed by them. That makes them real, but at the same time they are not because they are part of your imagination. Simply put, reality is what you make of it.<p>Innocence still knows fear and can still effect the fears of others. You can see the same basic thing because of a basic human fear.<p>But what of the other conditions? Was it well lit? Were there any odd shadows? Heat isn't the only thing that effects the mind you know.<p>And you've yet to answer whether or not you were told anything aside from that the place was haunted.<p>I'm not trying to argue whether your experiences are fake or not, I'm simply trying to show you another view. One that can be proven far more easily, is far more logical, and, yet, is just as valid as roaming spirits.<p>So like you said, seeing is beliving, but it's true in reverse as well.<p>My dealings with anything paranormal are what could be best described as lingering emotions from when this house was a daycare for about 20 years though there's probably more to it than just that considering the house is nearly 100 years old. Specificly there are a few rooms where everything just seems so much livelier than anywhere else, so much so that it's rather difficult to rest or be upset by anything there. <br>Then there are the 'ghosts' I force into existence for myself and the pains I inflict on myself by forcing myself to remember every last detail of the incident. Though those last two aren't exactly unusual.

[Lord Khyron]

The mark was nothing I had ever seen before.<p>And there are actual SEEN ghosts Demon. There is no refuting th at.<p>Especially when you catch them on Video or with a camera.<p>Rosevelt has been observed many times.<p>There is also Ressurection Mary in the NYC area. She is always picked up as a hitchhiker and vanishes once you get to the cemetary.<p>Ghostly hitchhikers are a real phenomenon. <p>As a Psychology major, I know the subconcious can do alot to you. That is how Voodoo works. 2 things are needed. 1) Fear of the Unknown and 2) Know you're being hexed. Your mind does it to you.<p>But then more than one person see a ghost, and it's there repeatedly, IT isn't a hallucination.<p>There are several real life accounts of houses being haunted. Things caught on camera.<p>Ghosts do exist, regardless of your skepticism. <br><p>[size=small][Edit by Lord Khyron on [TIME]1114207171[/TIME]][/size]

[Demon Child]

Perhaps there are some ghosts, though it does seem rather odd that unless you know of where you are and what's haunted the chances of seeing any ghost are slim to none. And to say that the ghosts don't show up after drinking seems rather screwed up too.<br>Then again ghosts were once human and humans are the most screwed up thing around so maybe they'd just enjoy toying with people. :p<p>If ghosts are in fact real, the sightings are more than likely in the person's mind at least half the time, famous ones are more than likely in the person's mind far more often then that because it's well known what they should look like, where they show up, and when they show up.