Are Ghosts Real?

Here is a nice discussion and debate that has been going on for a long time with Paranormal Activity and other suppose ghost activities.


There are many shows out now like Ghost Hunters, Most Haunted, and much more that claim ghosts are real and that they are looking for proof and in some cases they find it, but is the shows real or not? Do you Believe in ghosts or are you one that says ghost aren't real.

The debate/discussion is up.

I personally do believe that ghosts are real, but not just because I happened to watch Ghost Hunters or a show like that, but just because i think that they are real, I haven't seen any proof yet that can't solidly prove that ghosts aren't real just like there isn't solid proof that creatures like the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot aren't real.

Not sure about Ghost Hunters as I've never seen it, but Most Haunted is a complete hoax.

There isn't any true scientific evidence to prove there are 'ghosts' as such. I'm saying I don't believe in spirits, but I don't believe in ghosts that walk the living world and scare people. I've always been of the mind that people who have 'seen' them were, at the time, in a mental state prone to hallucinations, or they were dreaming and didn't realise it (which does happen).

I've never experienced anything of the sort, and until I do, I will not believe in ghosts in such a manner.

Ghost Hunters is the best ghost show on tv. I actually do believe it is legit. But Most Haunted, as Volke said, is pathetically fake. It's just a bunch of British people in a dark room going "Ahhh!" "Oooh!" all night. If you didn't see the picture, you could swear it's porn.

Anyway, I also believe in ghosts/spirits. As with things like Bigfoot, aliens, and the Lock Ness Monster, there is simply too much evidence for there not to be some grain of truth to it.

I won't get into the debate about what ghosts are, as we clearly don't know for sure. They could be anything from energy to actual souls of humans trapped on earth. However, there is plenty enough video, audio, and photographic evidence to prove that ghosts exists. They can't all be hoaxes, there are too many claims for that. Not everybody is a liar.

My personal take on it is this:

There are several different types of paranormal entities. Psychic imprints that are reflections of past trauma or signifigance (i.e. "residual hauntings") which I believe make up the bulk of paranormal phenomenon. Then you have actual spirits that can interact with people & objects, and manifest themselves. Intelligent hauntings. Then you get into the way out there stuff like poltergeists (more than likely mischievous or evil spirits), demons, angels, etc. which require no explanation.

I've personally had a few paranormal experiences in my lifetime, nothing monumental by any stretch of the imagination, but enough to believe that there could be ghosts & spirits.

Ghosts violate all the laws of physics. Coach, when you say energy, do you mean, "the ability to do work?" Because that is the definition of energy. If you don't, then you are using nonsensical words. And there is no credible evidence of anything supernatural. They are not all hoaxes; some are, but most are just misinterpretations of observations.

Kimmy, the burden of proof is on the person making the positive claim. It's not up to science or anyone to disprove anything. You need evidence on your side to make a claim.

But most of what I have to say I have already said in this thread. Read through that. If you have any objections, I will be happy to talk about them here as that thread is quite old.

Most Haunted is fake, the guy whose body gets taken over by these "ghosts" is as South Park would say "a media whore".

Ghost Hunters is probably the best TV show like this out there.

I've heard stories but until something happens to me then I will say i belive in ghosts.

Eh, I've only had one occurance in my life in which cannot be explained. It's in the thread Yos has provided.

As for Ghosts, spirits, demons or angels - any of the Supernatural mythology, I don't believe in. There isn't an ounce of credible, easily accessible proof out there to back up these claims of ghostly encounters.

~edit; That isn't to say I'm not open to the possiblity. My beliefs in this mirror (kind of) my religious beliefs. I don't perscribe to any of the current "modern day" religions or deities (as they're currently portrayed) but that doesn't mean I'm not open to some form of higher power.

Personally, I think this kind of stuff is best left in T.V/Movie land. At least they do a good job of actually telling the stories.

« Last edited by sphynxx on Feb 15th 2011 »

YoSoyJu said:

Ghosts violate all the laws of physics. Coach, when you say energy, do you mean, "the ability to do work?" Because that is the definition of energy. If you don't, then you are using nonsensical words. And there is no credible evidence of anything supernatural. They are not all hoaxes; some are, but most are just misinterpretations of observations.

Kimmy, the burden of proof is on the person making the positive claim. It's not up to science or anyone to disprove anything. You need evidence on your side to make a claim.

But most of what I have to say I have already said in this thread. Read through that. If you have any objections, I will be happy to talk about them here as that thread is quite old.

Agree wholeheartly with this post. It would be a good idea for everyone to have a quick read through the previous topic, just a quick skim to get some of the arguements that have been raised.

@kimmy: That seems an unusual stance to take, that you believe absolutely everything ever unless its proven otherwise. If you walked into a car showroom and the salesman told you this was the best car in the world, you would expect him to then explain why it is as opposed to you explainng why it isn't, wouldn't you? Its perfectly fine to say there isn't any evidence disproving it (I'd say there was but..) but not to then base your conclusion in the absence of any confirmatory (that even a word?) evidence.

I'm also curious as to why ghosts don't bother appearing to skeptics, surely if you wanted to get attention etc these are the very people you would go to, there is no point in convincing people who are already convinced.

I don’t believe in ghosts and/or sprits simply because there isn’t any solid evidence to support the claim.

I haven't seen any proof yet that can't solidly prove that ghosts aren't real just like there isn't solid proof that creatures like the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot aren't real.

Its never up to next person to disprove the claim its always up to the representative to prove it. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence and so far I haven’t seen any.

Here I’ll try to explain it using Russell’s teapot analogy.

If I were to say that there is a china teapot which is orbiting then sun and is in between the planet earth and mars. But its so small that we can’t even see it with our biggest telescope.
Now would it be up to you to disprove that claim or up to me to prove it. Offcorse you can’t disprove the claim but you also don’t believe in it simply because there isn’t a shred of evidence that suggests it.

Anyway, I also believe in ghosts/spirits. As with things like Bigfoot, aliens and the Lock Ness Monster, there is simply too much evidence for there not to be some grain of truth to it.

There is no convincing evidence that suggests that aliens kidnap people. There are claims by the people who believe they were abducted by aliens but they have never provided any proof. We have never a found a book written in an alien language , An artefacts of alien technology, or any close up and clear pictures. There are claims of such thing but never the actual things them self’s.

They can't all be hoaxes, there are too many claims for that. Not everybody is a liar.

They can all be hoaxes and all of the people making the claims can be delusional , Here I’ll ask you a question. I know you’re of the Christian faith. So if someone comes up to you and say he is Jesus Christ. Would you believe that guy ? Well there have been many cases where people have said that god told them that they were Jesus Christ and there mission is to spread god’s word on earth. Now using your words “they can’t all be hoaxes and not all of them could be lairs” (please note this was not a personal attack I just couldn’t think of a better way to explain it) . Just because a huge amount of people make a claim it doesn’t make it true.



What I can never get my head around is if ghosts exist why would ghosts want to Haunt an old building? Don’t they have anything better to do then ruin the life’s of the living and what exactly do they get out of it.

Also assuming that ghosts are sprits then how can we accept the voice recordings as evidence? I mean sprits can’t speak since the would need a mouth , a tongue , sound box , windpipes etc. Yet most people who make the claim that they have talked to a ghost they only say that it was a sprit with out flesh and bones.


« Last edited by dx_hbk on Feb 15th 2011 »

I've heard of one theory which I think is scientifically plausible.
I read it quite a while ago, and the book merely mentioned it, so I will probably need correcting on some stuff with this.
The theory goes that our universe isn't solid like rock, more solid like velvet, in that it flows and bends back on itself. And like velvet, sometimes it rips. This "rip" allows matter, more specifically, people, to pass through it without their knowing. How they don't know it wasn't explained. And these people appear in different times as ghosts.

After reading back over that, there's a few holes in....
Anyway, I'll leave it up for you all to digest.

I don't believe in ghosts because I don't believe in Mother Goose.

Ever notice that most "ghost sightings" happen in the dark, in old creaky houses, on stormy nights, on places like war grounds or burial sites? You never hear of people seeing a ghost happily frolicking through a sunny field or enjoying a walk on a beach. Why is that? Because the people who are "seeing" the ghost are letting their fear get the best of them, and their mind tricks them.

It's like when you were a kid and you'd hear a noise at night, like a pan shifting in the sink or the air system blowing a dropped bag or something, and you automatically assume it's something coming to eat you. You expect terrible, nasty things to happen in the dark, so you automatically assume the worst. It's to a greater scale in the terms of ghost sightings.

I'll just say this: "I believe that their are spirits roaming this side of the veil".

Ghost-Spirits I guess are classified in the came category.

Anyways I believe in spirits, Ill tell you an example which happen about 6 months ago.

My Grandma passes away, and we were at her house, all of a sudden a phone start ringing in the basement (This phone has not rang for years).


Coincidence, or Spirit.

I feel it was a spirit of my Grandma, and will never forget it.

Anyways Ghost can never hurt you like in the movies, only the living can.

« Last edited by K Dawg on Feb 16th 2011 »

I've heard many ghost stories so I believe in them, although I've never seen one.

K-Dawg, did you answer the phone? Was there someone on the other end? Did you *69 (or equivalent)? Also, how do you know that these so-called spirits can not hurt you?

KYR, I've heard many stories about Santa Claus, but that isn't really a reason to believe.

Believers, please tell me how these things work. Also, really check out that thread I posted last time as I think it might just change some minds.

YoSoyJu said:

K-Dawg, did you answer the phone? Was there someone on the other end? Did you *69 (or equivalent)? Also, how do you know that these so-called spirits can not hurt you?

KYR, I've heard many stories about Santa Claus, but that isn't really a reason to believe.

Believers, please tell me how these things work. Also, really check out that thread I posted last time as I think it might just change some minds.

No one answered it, we were kinda in schock, And mainly affriad lol. Like I stated before, this phone has not rang in many years, and now all of a sudden after my Grandma passed, it rang. It was either a freak Coincidence or a spirit.

As for the spirits not hurting you, this is what I believe in.

« Last edited by K Dawg on Feb 17th 2011 »

K Dawg said:

As for the spirits not hurting you, this is what I believe in.

So you believe something with absolutely no evidence for it. How can you hold such a belief?

The Bible tells of evil spirits, that they do exist. It also tells us to not enter that world.

That's the nail in the coffin guys. The bible says they exist, so obviously they do.

Believers: For us to be able to see these things, light has to be able to bounce off them. So, they're solid. But at the same time, they can pass through walls. So they're not solid. They float, so they defy gravity. They're basically one giant finger to most of realitie's rules. How can this be?

Warrior13 said:

The Bible tells of evil spirits, that they do exist. It also tells us to not enter that world.

What worlds that, the spirit world? Sorry to disappoint but if its real we've all got to pass through it at some point, unless you intend on living forever. Also I'm not entirely sure people are frequently popping off to the spirit world for a quick chat so I think the bible can rest easy on this one.

Crazy_Cheats the reason ghosts can do all those things against the laws of physics etc is that, as with all such matters, they are conviently exempt for them. You come here with all your scientific explainations based on solid facts thinking they can be applied to everything, be honest I'm disappointed that you would make such a glaring mistake j/k

You raised a good point, as was brought up in the previous thread as well, ghosts need to have some properties for us to see them. These need to be at the very least particles, a substantial chunk of energy (for example electricity) require particles and all I believe require a particular source.

Same with all these shows, 'OMG! Look a shadow!! It must be a ghost!!!!!' [scream at camera not pointed at said shadow]. Even if the shadow was really a ghost this implys it is solid in nature, not only that but solid enough to block the passage of light, just like a living person but ghosts can also pass through walls and, yet, despite my repeated experiments I've still yet to phase myself through a wall or any other solid object for that matter, I've ruined no end of good spoons shoving them into the wall :(

YoSoyJu said:

K Dawg said:

As for the spirits not hurting you, this is what I believe in.

So you believe something with absolutely no evidence for it. How can you hold such a belief?

This topic has no true answer, its all about what you believe in. When I said Ghost cannot hurt you, this is my belief.

Just as many sources saying ghost can haunt/hurt you, opposing sides will argue that they cant hurt you.

There is no soild eveidence that a ghost can haunt/hurt you on the internet, thus making this a topic on beliefs, and not facts.