Who here believes in the paranormal? Update in Post #1

[Guest submarines]

No snark, but I had no clue ouija boards were anything more than a toy. Fascinating!

[LucyStoner]

No, I do not. I think there is a lot we don't know about the brain.

[AlmiraGulch]

Bumping for the update.

[Guest submarines]

Cool stuff! Please update. With every little detail!

[fraidycat]

I had a scary experience with an Ouija board, too. Freaky. I refuse to go anywhere near one ever again. Some friends and I were "playing" around with one one night. We received a message that evil was after me. Agh!!!! I couldn't sleep alone, at night for several days afterward, so would sleep during the day, only when other people were around or make excuses to sleep in the same room as my sister, etc. (ie: living room camp out movie marathon) Several nights later when my friends wanted to play again, I refused to join in, but was there. I had not told anyone about my lack of normal sleep, because I didn't want to be made fun of. Anyway, THEY got the message "fraidycat safe, sleep well." Completely freaky.

 

It so happens that the Ouija board incident happened when I was living in the haunted house that my Great Grandmother had lived in some 30 years earlier. Many people heard a baby crying in that house when no baby was there, including my parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents, great aunts and uncles, and of course, Great Grandma. There was no "baby" when I lived there, though...

 

However, my aunts had also experienced seeing a well-dressed lady apparition in that house when they were younger. I was not aware of this. I had heard several stories about the "baby", but for some reason not about the lady. Every morning when I woke up, for some reason my alarm clock would be upside down, on the floor, beside my bed. I didn't think much of it, because it was on the small table right beside my head, so I thought I just knocked it down in my sleep. However, one weekend when I was gone away with my family put of town, my roommates had a gathering and my one friend stayed in my room for the night. He went flying next door to my friends room at about 4 in the morning because he woke to a "lady" watching him sleep! He described her clothes as old style, fancy dress and hat. When I recounted this "new" ghost story to my parents, they were not surprised - oh yeah, that's the lady that used to watch A & R sleep, too.

 

Ack, I hit post accidentally.

 

There are so many more.

 

Bro and SIL's old house:

 

~Niece talked to people that wren't there, and asked her Mom what they were doing/saying when only SIL and niece were home.

~Someone sat down on the bed and put their hand on SIL'S hip when she was home alone. She thought bro had come home, but nope, nobody there...

~When I was sleeping there one night, in niece's bedroom, there was a loud crash and banging in the room. When I turned on the light, every toy that had been put away on two shelves were on the floor...but the shelves were perfectly fine - they hadn't fallen, which would have made the whole tng make sense....

~ when my brother and cousin were sitting at the dining room table having coffee one night, a kite that was in the porch, stored between a 6 full tall hutch and the wall that backed up to the dining room came flying around the corner from the porch, across the dining room and into the living room.

~ the inside porch door was really hard to open. Really hard. It required lifting, shoulder slamming, and generally knowing the tricks and sweet spots to get it open, and it was LOUD, but not the night it opened by itself....

 

Then, there was the house my Mom and Dad lived in as newlyweds. The attic had junk left in it, but my Dad and his friend decided to be nice and organize the attic, moving all of the stuff to one side so Mom could use the other half. They spent an afternoon out there moving stuff around and sweeping it all up, but when Mom and Dad went to put some things up there a few days later, everything was messed up and back where it was before the guys cleaned it up.

 

Oh so many more... But I'm tired of typing. Anyway, you get the picture, it is just an accepted fact of life that you WILL at one point in time have an "experience" if you are anywhere near my family for any extended amount of time. Just ask my friend who slept in my bedroom and SIL who were non-believers before they met us. :)

[swellmomma]

that is awesome! I want details when they are there, and of afterwards, and pictures, and well you get the idea lol

[happymomofboys]

I believe in spiritual beings such as angels and demons, but not ghosts of the souls-not-quite-ready-to-dearly-depart variety.  I think most of the strange things that happen to people can already be adequately explained through science.  I think most of the rest will be explainable eventually.  Yet, there's that last little sliver that I reserve for the possibility of spiritual forces at work.

[fraidycat]

Just bumping because I was editing my post before.

[Stacia]

Cool. Can't wait to hear if your ghostbusters find anything....

 

On a side note about finding pet-friendly hotels/lodging, check http://www.petswelcome.com/

 

 

[AlmiraGulch]

Just bumping because I was editing my post before.

Oh my gosh!  I just read your updated post.  That's crazy!  So much stuff!

 

We had quite a bit when I was growing up, too.  For example:

 

Once, when my mother, brother, sister and I were playing cards in our living room, my siblings and i all looked up and saw my dead grandfather standing behind my mother.  He was smiling and waving his finger back in forth, in a "no, that's not allowed" manner.  We all three saw it and were like "Did you see that?!?!?"  We told me mom, and she started to laugh (because she has always been a witness to paranormal things) and said that she had been cheating at the card game.  She said he must have been scolding her.

 

There was a man who died in the house before my parents bought it.  My parents both said their closet door in the bedroom would open and close, drawers would open and close, things would fall off the dresser and shelves, etc.  My mother decided it was the man who had died there because theirs had been his bedroom.  My father thought she was crazy, but she said she spoke to him for a few nights, saying "You need to go.  You don't live here anymore.  You need to move on.  Your family moved to Chicago, so go now."  The activity stopped.  Freaked my non-believing father out.

 

All of us used to see "people" in our house regularly that weren't really there.  We all saw the same ones, too, although not all of us saw all of them.  For me, it was an older woman in stereotypical "old lady" clothes.  Several of my sisters saw her all the time and had even nicknamed her something.  There were others, too, that more than one person saw.  I don't know who they were.

 

So yeah, sounds like your family, like mine, might be magnets for this sort of thing!  Although honestly, I hadn't had anything happen for many, many years (like maybe 15? 20?) before I moved here.  

[AlmiraGulch]

Cool. Can't wait to hear if your ghostbusters find anything....

 

On a side note about finding pet-friendly hotels/lodging, check http://www.petswelcome.com/

Thanks!  We actually found one using this site that only charges $15 for my dog.  A lot either don't take dogs his size, or charge $75 - $100.  No way.  For that, I'd sleep in a tent in my backyard first.  If I had a tent.  Or a backyard I could sleep in.   :laugh:

 

Oh, and the reason I even need one at all is because they like us to be out of the house if possible, including the dog so he doesn't interrupt.

[fraidycat]

Yes, so much! I do believe that some people/families are more "open" or "attractive" to spirits, so yeah... Like magnets, they seem to be drawn to us.

[saraha]

I'm pretty sure my husband believes in that stuff, but he might just be spinning yarns. He has some stories, but I never know when he's serious and when he's putting me on with that sort of thing.

 

After we sold our last house, we found out that the former patriarch of the family had hung himself in the room we used as a bedroom for the kids. The guy we bought it from inherited the house after his mother passed away, and it had been the original farm house for the entire valley we lived in. Our nextdoor neighbor was the great-niece of the man who built it, and the ninety year old woman who lived across the road had used our yard to sled in as a child. That house had a lot of character and history, whether or not it had any supernatural ghosts.

 

There were all kinds of weird things going on in the house and on the property where we lived in NY right after we married.  My great-grandfather had owned our house and a second house where my grandfather grew up, turned the surrounding land into a pet cemetery where a few people were buried with their animals, most likely killed his second wife in a bathtub that was later placed outside our house as a flower planter, and so on.  My sister lives there now, and she's called me a couple times asking questions that freak me out.

 

I mostly don't believe in that sort of thing, but my disbelief isn't strong enough to not get chills when my children make weird comments.

okay, next time we get together, I am totally going to let you do all the talking, and I want to hear all about this!

[fraidycat]

Now that you mention it, since my bro and SIL no longer live in that old house, activity has slowed down for our family, too. DH saw my recently deceased aunt sitting at the dining room table for coffee and a visit a couple years ago, but other than that, Just lots of orbs in photos and whatnot. :)

[Starr]

You said you have to find a hotel. Do you all have to leave when they are there?

[J-rap]

2. Many, many times where my dog is visibly agitated by something.  I've seen him jump from the couch or bed, rush to the hall, stare intently at something, growl and bark (he's neither a growler or a barker...only when someone comes in the front door, and only for a second), lay down, sit up, turn in circles, and follow something across a room, slowly, with his eyes.  You may have to see it to understand how odd it is.

Both our dog and our cat acted this way for about a 3-month period, and it always happened at night. Kind of creepy. Then we found out we had bats living in our walls! They would wake up at night, and though we couldn't hear them, our dog and cat could.

[redsquirrel]

Saw this and thought of this thread:

 

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130729-what-makes-the-ouija-board-move

 

There is more but this is a little clip:

 

Ouija board cups and dowsing wands – just two examples of mystical items that seem to move of their own accord, when they are really being moved by the people holding them. The only mystery is not one of a connection to the spirit world, but of why we can make movements and yet not realise that we're making them.

 

The phenomenon is called the ideomotor effect and you can witness it yourself if you hang a small weight like a button or a ring from a string (ideally more than a foot long). Hold the end of the string with your arm out in front of you, so the weight hangs down freely. Try to hold your arm completely still. The weight will start to swing clockwise or anticlockwise in small circles. Do not start this motion yourself. Instead, just ask yourself a question – any question – and say that the weight will swing clockwise to answer "Yes" and anticlockwise for "No". Hold this thought in mind, and soon, even though you are trying not to make any motion, the weight will start to swing in answer to your question.

 

Magic? Only the ordinary everyday magic of consciousness. There's no supernatural force at work, just tiny movements you are making without realising. The string allows these movements to be exaggerated, the inertia of the weight allows them to be conserved and built on until they form a regular swinging motion. The effect is known as Chevreul's Pendulum, after the 19th Century French scientist who investigated it.

What is happening with Chevreul's Pendulum is that you are witnessing a movement (of the weight) without "owning" that movement as being caused by you. The same basic phenomenon underlies dowsing – where small movements of the hands cause the dowsing wand to swing wildly – or the Ouija board, where multiple people hold a cup and it seems to move of its own accord to answer questions by spelling out letters.

[swellmomma]

We all know that ouija boards can move due to the people using it not realizing they are moving it.  But how do you explain answers being given to someone in the room that is NOT touching the board.  And not yes or no answers.  For example when we used one as a teen one time 2 of my female friends were using it.  I was writing down what was coming through.  A couple of our guy friends were upstairs making popcorn.  The girls decided to use the board to ask questions about the bio family of one of the guys upstairs (the one who lived in the house).  It spelled out the name of the mom, name of the city he was born in, spelled out "too young" when asked why he was given up etc.  He was not even in the room.  We asked his adoptive parents about the information, it was all accurate.  His bio mom did have that name, he was born in that city, his bio mom was 15 when he was born and all the other questions were answered correctly too.  It was after that incident that I figured it was safe to use it on my own because after all it only gave truthful, helpful answers.  me moving it on my own doesn't explain the mirror, the noises etc.  They weren't imagined.  Not everything has a scientific answer, there is still mysteries out there, and the spiritual realm is one of them.

[annandatje]

Ghosts should learn keyboarding skills.  They could communicate much more efficiently than through ouja planchettes.

[AlmiraGulch]

You said you have to find a hotel. Do you all have to leave when they are there?

We don't HAVE to, but they prefer it.  I think the kids and the dog would be disruptive.  Plus, they should have access to all the rooms and since I have no intention of staying awake all night while they do their thing, it's better if we just go somewhere else. 

[AlmiraGulch]

Both our dog and our cat acted this way for about a 3-month period, and it always happened at night. Kind of creepy. Then we found out we had bats living in our walls! They would wake up at night, and though we couldn't hear them, our dog and cat could.

Interesting!  We did consider this possibility.  We had a squirrel in our attic and while someone was out here dealing with that (which we thought were rats, but thankfully were not) they did a thorough investigation of the rest of the house.  No signs of anything. Plus, my dog does these things in the middle of the day, when I'm wide awake and watching him.  

[DawnM]

There was a woman on another message board who claimed she received IMs from a dead friend.

 

She said it shocked her and she tried to keep the communication going but it stopped.

 

I am thinking someone else (relative maybe) was using his computer and logged on to his account (or the computer was set to automatically log on).

 

But she found it eerie all the same.

 

Dawn

 

Ghosts should learn keyboarding skills.  They could communicate much more efficiently than through ouja planchettes.

[AlmiraGulch]

There was a woman on another message board who claimed she received IMs from a dead friend.

 

She said it shocked her and she tried to keep the communication going but it stopped.

 

I am thinking someone else (relative maybe) was using his computer and logged on to his account (or the computer was set to automatically log on).

 

But she found it eerie all the same.

 

Dawn

 

That's what I would think, too. 

[redsquirrel]

We all know that ouija boards can move due to the people using it not realizing they are moving it.  But how do you explain answers being given to someone in the room that is NOT touching the board.  And not yes or no answers.  For example when we used one as a teen one time 2 of my female friends were using it.  I was writing down what was coming through.  A couple of our guy friends were upstairs making popcorn.  The girls decided to use the board to ask questions about the bio family of one of the guys upstairs (the one who lived in the house).  It spelled out the name of the mom, name of the city he was born in, spelled out "too young" when asked why he was given up etc.  He was not even in the room.  We asked his adoptive parents about the information, it was all accurate.  His bio mom did have that name, he was born in that city, his bio mom was 15 when he was born and all the other questions were answered correctly too.  It was after that incident that I figured it was safe to use it on my own because after all it only gave truthful, helpful answers.  me moving it on my own doesn't explain the mirror, the noises etc.  They weren't imagined.  Not everything has a scientific answer, there is still mysteries out there, and the spiritual realm is one of them.

 

I don't believe such a thing actually happened. I believe that is what you think happened and you have provided yourself an explanation. really, there are any number of explanations that come to mind. If you want to prove me wrong, then lets see it replicated in a lab. People try time and time again and it hasn't happened yet. History is full of such 'must be spirits' stories and time tells us that it always has an explanation.

 

How many people believed the Cottingley fairies were real?

 

And  you are right, some things have not yet been explained. But, if you assign magical qualities to events then they never will be. I would actually find it very interesting to know what was actually going on with that board. I find that much, much more intriguing than saying "oooh, magic. Let's not investigate it any further." When you say things happened because 'magic' or 'spiritual' or 'God' or 'Angels' you stop exploring and discovering new things. It that discovery that is truly exciting and wonderous.

 

And what happens when you create a belief system based on such 'spiritual mysteries' and then the mysteries get explained? You have fallen into a 'God of the Gaps' fallacy.

 

 

The James Randi foundation has a one million dollar reward for proof of the 'paranormal' and no one has collected it yet.

[bobbeym]

Thanks!  We actually found one using this site that only charges $15 for my dog.  A lot either don't take dogs his size, or charge $75 - $100.  No way.  For that, I'd sleep in a tent in my backyard first.  If I had a tent.  Or a backyard I could sleep in.   :laugh:

 

Oh, and the reason I even need one at all is because they like us to be out of the house if possible, including the dog so he doesn't interrupt.

 

Is there a friend or neighbor that would be able to watch your dog overnight for you?

[mamaraby]

No, I do not. I think there is a lot we don't know about the brain.

This, and I'd add to that the fact that we know that the human brain is pretty darn good at trying to make "sense" of the world by making us "see" or "sense" things that aren't really there.

 

I'm with WishboneDawn, I'd be calling an electrician. As for "paranormal investigators," I'm sorry, but I'd believe them even less. Manipulated photos and data are not evidence (see the JREF).

 

ETA: Oh, and I absolutely agree with resquirrel. This is totally off-topic, but I adore me some Neil deGrasse Tyson

[happymomofboys]

I don't believe such a thing actually happened. I believe that is what you think happened and you have provided yourself an explanation. really, there are any number of explanations that come to mind. If you want to prove me wrong, then lets see it replicated in a lab. People try time and time again and it hasn't happened yet. History is full of such 'must be spirits' stories and time tells us that it always has an explanation.

 

How many people believed the Cottingley fairies were real?

 

And  you are right, some things have not yet been explained. But, if you assign magical qualities to events then they never will be. I would actually find it very interesting to know what was actually going on with that board. I find that much, much more intriguing than saying "oooh, magic. Let's not investigate it any further." When you say things happened because 'magic' or 'spiritual' or 'God' or 'Angels' you stop exploring and discovering new things. It that discovery that is truly exciting and wonderous.

 

And what happens when you create a belief system based on such 'spiritual mysteries' and then the mysteries get explained? You have fallen into a 'God of the Gaps' fallacy.

 

[snipped Neil due to size... sorry Neil]

 

The James Randi foundation has a one million dollar reward for proof of the 'paranormal' and no one has collected it yet.

 

I agree with you, yet I do believe in God and angels and demons and spiritual mysteries.  I just don't think they are explanations for anything.  That is the difference between scientific and spiritual or philosophical understanding.  I can continue to learn and explore how and why the universe behaves the way it does, and still believe that God designed it to behave that way.  It's the difference between understanding why a cup of cocoa is hot through physics and understanding that it is hot because you were cold and wanted something warm to drink.  

[swellmomma]

nm

Edited August 1, 2013 by Moderator
Chill. Please.

[MusicMama]

I believe that there is a Spirit World, where those who have passed on or who have not yet been born wait for birth or resurrection.  I have not had any definitive paranormal experiences like some have.  I do believe they occur, but often are lost in the muddle of unexplained scientific occurances and misundertanding.  I guess, they don't happen as often as some people say they do.  I believe in them enough not to mess around with an ouija board or other spirit contacting devices or rituals.  While 99/100, it's just explainable happenings, I don't want to get involved in the time that a spiritual being decides to participate.  I think the mental veil that separates this world from the next is much thinner for some people.  Children, those who are very ill, and those who are just more spiritually attuned will have more experiences.  I really don't want to have any experiences, they would scare me!  I have had profound mental impressions that occured moments before something catastrophic would have happened if I did not heed the warning.  No voices, or pressure from unseen hands, but just an impression.  The closest I have had to something more defined is the sensation I will sometimes get when our family is gathered together.  Sometimes I will feel that someone is missing, or glance up because I think I see the last family member coming into the room, and there's nobody.  We are all together, but most likely not complete yet.  Or maybe it is the impression left by a family member who has passed on, who wants to be part of the gathering.  Or maybe I just have "floaters" in my eye.  Who knows.   

 

ETA:  I think the quote in my sig succintly sums up my feelings on the matter.  :)

[AlmiraGulch]

Is there a friend or neighbor that would be able to watch your dog overnight for you?

Unfortunately, no.  We have two sets of friends who love our dog and have kept him for us before, but they're both out of town that weekend.

 

It's all good.  The hotel we found is pretty cheap, and it's just for one night. 

[AlmiraGulch]

This, and I'd add to that the fact that we know that the human brain is pretty darn good at trying to make "sense" of the world by making us "see" or "sense" things that aren't really there.

 

I'm with WishboneDawn, I'd be calling an electrician. As for "paranormal investigators," I'm sorry, but I'd believe them even less. Manipulated photos and data are not evidence (see the JREF).

 

ETA: Oh, and I absolutely agree with resquirrel. This is totally off-topic, but I adore me some Neil deGrasse Tyson

I agree with you that we are wired to try to make sense of things.  I just can't make sense of a lot of these things.  The fact is, since none of us can explain some of these things, most people (including me) would say "I don't know what happened, but there has to be some logical explanation."  For me, and for others like me, that logical explanation may include things that we just don't know about yet. 

 

For what it's worth, I have had my house checked by an electrician.  I did it first after the first time the lamp turned itself on. and again just last year after the stereo turned itself on.  There is no detectable issue with any of the wiring in my house.  And no electrician could explain how a wall switch could turn itself from an off to an on position.

 

As for the investigators, I certainly wouldn't pay anyone, and they aren't on TV.  I won't necessarily believe anything they say, if they even come up with anything, but it will be interesting and fun to see if they do have any experiences while they're here!

[Oakblossoms]

When i was a child, we lived in TN near Ft. Campbell. The previous occupant in our house had died during one of the runs they did in full gear for the First Airbone. We found that out much later from a neighbor.

 

We often heard a man in combat books walking from the back of the house on the living area and it was when we would be sitting there.

 

We knew that sound because it was the same sound my Dad would make just heavier like if he had a backpack on.

 

Other things have happened to me and I might think I was a little looney. But, they happened.

 

My mom thinks that some people and some families are somehow more sensitive to that world. We are Christians. Not sure what it is. I often wonder if something like purgatory (I gre up Catholic but am no longer) exists where people are just hanging out.

 

As a child I often wondered if it would be lonely and that is why they do what they can to just say hi.

[*Michelle*]

I don't know.  I believe in God and I believe that there are angels and demons.  I'm not sure about the idea of the paranormal, though.

 

I did have one creepy experience in my life.  Long, long ago I worked in Halifax, Nova Scotia for a few months.  I stayed at the Maranova in room 501 for a little less than a month.  During that time, I was repeatedly woken by my TV turning on and off in the middle of the night and by hearing the sounds of scribbled writing coming from the room's desk (nothing showed on the pad of paper).  Not much, but it was enough to have me taking a couple drinks in the hotel bar each night towards the end of my stay.  One of my coworkers offered to switch hotels with me and I took him up on the offer, but he didn't get the same room I was in.

 

Later, our team was replaced by a new group.  When they came back home, one of them mentioned being freaked out about his hotel room.  It was the same as mine.  Except for him, the last straw was hearing high-pitched voices on the balcony in the middle of the night and waking to find little footprints in the snow.

[Jenny in Florida]

Do I "believe?" No, not really. I'm not immune to the creep factor of walking downstairs by myself in an empty house. And I'm kind of famous in my family for having very odd dreams that, in retrospect, can be interpreted as being prophetic. And I've had my share of experiences with Ouija boards and tarot cards. And I love fiction about the paranormal and even have a kind of longing for certain aspects of it.

 

But, when I really face the question, what I truly believe is that the human brain is an amazingly complicated and sophisticated piece of machinery that we don't yet fully understand.

 

For example, those "prophetic" dreams? Without tooting my own horn, let's just say I'm brighter than average and pretty observant and empathetic. After reading a theory that many instances of what we call deja vu can be explained by the fact that our brains are constantly gathering information and making predictions and sometimes getting it right, I came to the conclusion that something similar is happening with my dreams. All day, every day, without it being a conscious decision to do so, I'm observing people and events around me, logging data. When I go to sleep, my brain downloads all of that information and starts putting together the puzzle pieces in various ways, trying to make it make sense. Every now and again, it comes up with the right answer, or one that is "right enough" that it seems plausible I had some prior knowledge.

 

I still like my tarot cards, but I see them as a tool I can use to focus and organize my own thoughts and impressions, rather than a conduit for something mystical.

 

Just to be clear: I'm not denying the possibility that there are truly mystical, magical things out there. I have no ready explanation for houses full of odd noises and slamming doors and ghostly apparitions. And I'd likely be more than a little freaked out by some of the things described here. But, mostly, what I believe is that the fact that we don't yet have a rational explanation doesn't mean there isn't one. It just means our limited human understanding hasn't quite figured it all out just yet.

[Laura Corin]

I wonder if growing up in an old house inoculated me against perceiving the paranormal.  It was built in the late 1700s and everything was awry, everything creaked, everything opened unexpectedly.  Weird smells came and went (probably mice decaying under the floorboards).  If you jumped in one of the upstairs rooms, weird rattles came from under the floors (generations of left-over pipes that had not been removed when new pipes were put in).

 

Lovely house.  

 

L

[WishboneDawn]

I don't know.  I believe in God and I believe that there are angels and demons.  I'm not sure about the idea of the paranormal, though.

 

I did have one creepy experience in my life.  Long, long ago I worked in Halifax, Nova Scotia for a few months.  I stayed at the Maranova in room 501 for a little less than a month.  During that time, I was repeatedly woken by my TV turning on and off in the middle of the night and by hearing the sounds of scribbled writing coming from the room's desk (nothing showed on the pad of paper).  Not much, but it was enough to have me taking a couple drinks in the hotel bar each night towards the end of my stay.  One of my coworkers offered to switch hotels with me and I took him up on the offer, but he didn't get the same room I was in.

 

Later, our team was replaced by a new group.  When they came back home, one of them mentioned being freaked out about his hotel room.  It was the same as mine.  Except for him, the last straw was hearing high-pitched voices on the balcony in the middle of the night and waking to find little footprints in the snow.

I'm going to take a swing at this. :D

 

TV was faulty.

There was a mouse in the desk.

High pitched voices could very likely have been voices carried from another balcony or the street (bars are open very late here :D).

Little footprints could have been any animal. A little melting can distort a print so that it looks human. I've seen some pretty eerie looking prints that actually came from our chickens.

 

What are the odds those odd things would happen all at once? Not bad. I think Carl Sagan said randomness is clumpy. But then again...a fautly TV and rodents might naturally be grouped together in a hotel that was a little lacking in care.

[AlmiraGulch]

I'm going to take a swing at this. :D

 

TV was faulty.

There was a mouse in the desk.

High pitched voices could very likely have been voices carried from another balcony or the street (bars are open very late here :D).

Little footprints could have been any animal. A little melting can distort a print so that it looks human. I've seen some pretty eerie looking prints that actually came from our chickens.

 

What are the odds those odd things would happen all at once? Not bad. I think Carl Sagan said randomness is clumpy. But then again...a fautly TV and rodents might naturally be grouped together in a hotel that was a little lacking in care.

Yep.  Could very well have been all or any of these things.  

 

But once each known possibility is explored and, potentially, debunked.  Then what?  Most people, probably you, too, are left with what I said before, which is "I thought it could have been a, b, c, d, or e, but we checked and it was none of those things.  Obviously it's something else, but I can't come up with a single possible other logical scenario."  Those are the cases that, for me, COULD be something else really easy and logical and worldly that we're not seeing.  But also, for me, start me thinking about "paranormal" activities.  

 

And I'll say again that for me, the reason I can as a reasonable, intelligent adult lend any credence to what we call "paranormal" is really based on the science of energy.  We don't know what happens to all of the energy it takes to use to live when we die.  I don't think it's impossible that something in that energy can remain intact somehow.  Obviously, though, I have no idea what that means in a practical sense.  So much of science is yet undiscovered, though, that I do consider it a viable possibility. 

[unfrumpable.]

La Quinta is usually very pet friendly and does not charge extra for dogs. We've stayed with them more than once with our dogs for multiple days.

[AlmiraGulch]

La Quinta is usually very pet friendly and does not charge extra for dogs. We've stayed with them more than once with our dogs for multiple days.

Thanks!  La Quinta would have been my first choice, except the one near to me has HORRIBLE reviews on TripAdvisor.  We ended up booking a Quality Inn with decent reviews.  I don't mind the $15 and the nightly rate is cheap.

[ktgrok]

Well, I've had dreams come true, literally. And weirder, one night I was at a friend's home, spending the night. I ended up borrowing one of her new shirts, it was a very different style than anything I'd ever worn..a peasant blouse. Not in style at the time, I think she got it at a thrift store. Anyway, I went home the next day and my mom told me about dreaming about me wearing a really pretty white peasant blouse, by a pool. Yup..that's where I'd been. WEIRD!

[WishboneDawn]

Yep.  Could very well have been all or any of these things.  

 

But once each known possibility is explored and, potentially, debunked.  Then what?  Most people, probably you, too, are left with what I said before, which is "I thought it could have been a, b, c, d, or e, but we checked and it was none of those things.  Obviously it's something else, but I can't come up with a single possible other logical scenario."  Those are the cases that, for me, COULD be something else really easy and logical and worldly that we're not seeing.  But also, for me, start me thinking about "paranormal" activities.

How many experiences actually get to that point though? How many of us think we've explored all the logical scenarios when we have only explored the obvious ones? A person consults with an electrician who tells them there's nothing wrong. Do they call another for second opinion? A third? This happens all the time when people are sick but a doctor is stumped or the local garage can't find out why their car makes a certain sound but they then don't assume a supernatural explanation.

 

Exploration can often get cut off by other things as well. Take Oakblossums story about hearing the combat boots. But she heard that sound and either had the story of the soldier in her head or heard of it after. It sounded just like her father's steps, there was the story, a connection was made. I remember waking up to outside my window one night. It was horrible and blood-curdling. If I learned there had been a child killed nearby I might have connected the screams with the child. Thankfully I'm a country brat and I knew it was a rabbit that some predator had caught. But if I hadn't had that knowledge?

 

 

And I'll say again that for me, the reason I can as a reasonable, intelligent adult lend any credence to what we call "paranormal" is really based on the science of energy.  We don't know what happens to all of the energy it takes to use to live when we die.  I don't think it's impossible that something in that energy can remain intact somehow.  Obviously, though, I have no idea what that means in a practical sense.  So much of science is yet undiscovered, though, that I do consider it a viable possibility.

Do you have links? Now I'm curious. :D

[unfrumpable.]

Thanks!  La Quinta would have been my first choice, except the one near to me has HORRIBLE reviews on TripAdvisor.  We ended up booking a Quality Inn with decent reviews.  I don't mind the $15 and the nightly rate is cheap.

I guess some are better than others. :)

 

I am looking forward to hearing if the investigators find anything.

[AlmiraGulch]

How many experiences actually get to that point though? How many of us think we've explored all the logical scenarios when we have only explored the obvious ones? A person consults with an electrician who tells them there's nothing wrong. Do they call another for second opinion? A third? This happens all the time when people are sick but a doctor is stumped or the local garage can't find out why their car makes a certain sound but they then don't assume a supernatural explanation.

 

Exploration can often get cut off by other things as well. Take Oakblossums story about hearing the combat boots. But she heard that sound and either had the story of the soldier in her head or heard of it after. It sounded just like her father's steps, there was the story, a connection was made. I remember waking up to outside my window one night. It was horrible and blood-curdling. If I learned there had been a child killed nearby I might have connected the screams with the child. Thankfully I'm a country brat and I knew it was a rabbit that some predator had caught. But if I hadn't had that knowledge?

 

 

 

Do you have links? Now I'm curious. :D

I really do agree with you 100%.  I just am open to letting what we call "paranormal" be within the realm of what is possible, particularly once all of the obvious explanations have been discovered and dismissed. This is after a lifetime of these types of experiences, so clearly my lens is different than yours.

 

As for links to articles about residual energy being a scientific basis for "spirits".....I don't have any.  It's my own theory.  Not that no one else has ever thought of it.  It just makes sense to me. 

[lailasmum]

I wonder if growing up in an old house inoculated me against perceiving the paranormal.  It was built in the late 1700s and everything was awry, everything creaked, everything opened unexpectedly.  Weird smells came and went (probably mice decaying under the floorboards).  If you jumped in one of the upstairs rooms, weird rattles came from under the floors (generations of left-over pipes that had not been removed when new pipes were put in).

 

Lovely house.  

 

L

 

Ooooh nice house, my husband is from between Bristol and Bath and went to Bristol Old Vic drama school. It's a lovely area, I always thought that if I was ever well off enough and became happier with living in a city I would love a house there (he works in Brislington now-not so nice).

[Laura Corin]

Ooooh nice house, my husband is from between Bristol and Bath and went to Bristol Old Vic drama school. It's a lovely area, I always thought that if I was ever well off enough and became happier with living in a city I would love a house there (he works in Brislington now-not so nice).

 

In 1965, when we bought, you could buy 5 storeys of Georgian loveliness for less than a 2 up 2 down 60s box.  Those were the days.

 

L

[Donna]

I don't know what I believe but when my middle ds was little there were a couple incidents involving him that were strange. 

 

We lived in a home where the previous owners had passed away in the home. They were elderly an the wife had died several years after the husband then the home was empty for 3 years before we moved in.

 

When middle ds was almost 3yo, he came to me one morning and said he had talked to the old lady who used to live here and she was very nice and  said he could use Bobo's house. At the time we didn't know who had lived there before us and had no idea who Bobo was so it was very strange. A few months later we were cleaning up leaves in the yard and decided to rake some into the woods next to the house and the kids wanted to take a little walk into the woods. While walking in the woods we found an old dog house with Bobo painted on the top. None of us had been in those woods prior to that. We later talked to a neighbor who told us about the woman who had passed away and how she was an animal lover. She had died from pneumonia after falling into the lake behind our house trying to feed the geese one winter.

 

Around the same time, I heard middle ds crying, just whimpering, in his bedroom one night. I went in and he was sitting up in bed with his eyes open. I asked what was wrong and he said, "They are playing with my toys." I asked him who and he said, pointing, "Can't you see them. They are right there playing with my toys." I couldn't see anything but it gave me goosebumps so I scooped him up and took him back to bed with me for the night. This incident could be explained by sleepwalking because he did end up being a sleepwalker but still, in light of the other incident which had happened previously, it was spooky.

 

My husband used to work in an old restaurant built in the 1700's and the oldest continually running stagecoach stop/restaurant in either our county or state (I forget). It was supposedly haunted and there were many stories of how prisoners were kept in a room upstairs during transport and people who had died. He was alone one night very late balancing the register to close up and says he saw a light come down the stairs, wiggle around the room hovering not far from him, pause, then zoom back up the stairs. He never closed the restaurant by himself after that.

 

Personally, there have been times when I have had close calls in the car or something and felt like I must have an angel watching over me. At other times  I feel like I have known something was going to happen or had happened or felt deja vu in a certain situation. I knew when my grandmother died. She knew she was going to die and called us all over to say goodbye. Her daughters were all comforting her telling her she was fine and not going to die. When we were alone, she told me she was so tired and was ready to go...she was 84 years old and had had a stroke 18 years prior so was wheelchair bound with limited use of one side of her body. I told her we'd all be okay if she needed to go. I told her we loved her and would miss her but if it was her time it was okay. She seemed comforted more by that. She didn't pass that night and was angry at God because he wasn't on her timetable. Two nights later, she called everyone again and my mother told us it was another false alarm but we went. The next morning, I started awake at 6am and knew she was gone. I don't know if I had dreamed it or what but I knew. My mom called a couple hours later and told me she had passed just before 6am.

[Cassy]

I think it's very appealing to believe in the supernatural, to believe that there's something so mysterious, so unknowable, so uncontrollable.  I have known strange, unexplainable things happen, but so often my darling, ever-rational DH can explain them away to me as ordinary, everyday quirks.  He can't, however, explain the number of times I've related my dreams to him of someone leaving a job, or moving house, or dying, or divorcing, and then discovering a matter of days or a couple of weeks later that my dream has become fact; and no, there's usually no advance warning that such things might happen.  So whatever my reservations about the paranormal, about ghosties and ghoulies and things that go bump in the night, I'm absolutely certain that there are things that, so far, hard science can't explain.

 

 

[Hot Lava Mama]

So here are some of the things that have happened:

 

The first time I "felt" anything I'd been here for 3 or 4 years.  I started to walk down the stairs and had the distinct feeling that someone was right behind me, rushing me.  I actually went faster and arched my back.  As soon as I got to the bottom of the stairs my daughter said "Mom!  That lamp just turned itself off and on!"  Weird,but definitely could have just been a weird coincidence.

 

Since then, we've had:

 

1. Many, many, many sightings of a figure walking up and down the hall, in and out of my bedroom, and in the doorway.  By all of us in the house.  This happens a few times a week.

 

2. Many, many times where my dog is visibly agitated by something.  I've seen him jump from the couch or bed, rush to the hall, stare intently at something, growl and bark (he's neither a growler or a barker...only when someone comes in the front door, and only for a second), lay down, sit up, turn in circles, and follow something across a room, slowly, with his eyes.  You may have to see it to understand how odd it is.

 

3. A wooden bowl rattling and bouncing up and down on a coffee table.  My 20 year old stepson, who was sleeping on the couch, was awakened by it. He actually came and woke us up to tell us what happened.  He was a bit freaked out, and hadn't heard any of the stories about anything else because he doesn't live in this country and doesn't visit often. 

 

4.  The stereo in the living room turned itself on.  It's not a touch screen.  I was the only one in the room and nowhere near the stereo.

 

5. The top of a martini shaker flew across the kitchen counter, from one end to the next.  I was the only one in the room and didn't touch it.

 

6. When my husband and I were on our honeymoon in Key West, I was awakened in the middle of the night by what sounded like a really large dog's nails clicking across tiled floor.  I thought maybe the owners' boxer had gotten into the room somehow!  I got up and tore the room apart, looking for the dog, an iguana, a rat...anything.  There was nothing, and no place to hide.  Plus, we heard it even while we were looking for it, in the middle of the room.  Right as we were falling back to sleep, something strummed my husband's guitar.  HARD.  The guitar had not fallen, and there was nothing near it in the room.  It was a full strum, from top to bottom, of all the strings.  The weird thing about that was this Key West was where my husband met the friend I talked about who died, and whose chair and some other things we have in our house.  They met playing a gig. Both are (obviously) musicians. 

 

7. A couple of weeks ago, the light in my daughter's bedroom turned itself on in the middle of the day.  No one was home but my husband.  In fact, my kids and I were all out of town, so there's no chance that someone went in and forgot about it.  

 

8. Last week my husband and I were in bed watching a movie.  Every light in the house was off.  As I sat here, I looked into the hall and watched as a light downstairs turned on.  It was the bathroom light (on a switch, not a lamp, so it wasn't just some strange electrical thing...the switch had to be flipped up and on). 

 

Anyway, these are just some of the things.  Too much, with too many witnesses, to ignore.  I'm very interested to see what they have to say.

 

Wow!  This would blow my mind!  I think I would be a nervous wreck!

Hot Lava Mama

[annandatje]

Saw this and thought of this thread:

 

http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20130729-what-makes-the-ouija-board-move

 

There is more but this is a little clip:

 

Ouija board cups and dowsing wands – just two examples of mystical items that seem to move of their own accord, when they are really being moved by the people holding them. The only mystery is not one of a connection to the spirit world, but of why we can make movements and yet not realise that we're making them.

 

The phenomenon is called the ideomotor effect and you can witness it yourself if you hang a small weight like a button or a ring from a string (ideally more than a foot long). Hold the end of the string with your arm out in front of you, so the weight hangs down freely. Try to hold your arm completely still. The weight will start to swing clockwise or anticlockwise in small circles. Do not start this motion yourself. Instead, just ask yourself a question – any question – and say that the weight will swing clockwise to answer "Yes" and anticlockwise for "No". Hold this thought in mind, and soon, even though you are trying not to make any motion, the weight will start to swing in answer to your question.

 

Magic? Only the ordinary everyday magic of consciousness. There's no supernatural force at work, just tiny movements you are making without realising. The string allows these movements to be exaggerated, the inertia of the weight allows them to be conserved and built on until they form a regular swinging motion. The effect is known as Chevreul's Pendulum, after the 19th Century French scientist who investigated it.

What is happening with Chevreul's Pendulum is that you are witnessing a movement (of the weight) without "owning" that movement as being caused by you. The same basic phenomenon underlies dowsing – where small movements of the hands cause the dowsing wand to swing wildly – or the Ouija board, where multiple people hold a cup and it seems to move of its own accord to answer questions by spelling out letters.

 

Like another poster, I never knew until a decade or so ago that anyone considered ouija boards anything but an entertainment toy.  My mind has trouble comprehending that people can believe the planchette moves of its own accord. 

 

My only experiece with a ouija was as a teenager.  My friend used her board to ask if certain boys liked her.  The group of girls was rather miffed when I suggested they test the planchette by all of us moving a few feet away. If people believe that "spirits" can move objects, why can these alleged spirits not move a small plastic or wooden device? 

 

It just does not make sense to me.  Then there is the factor of anticipation of supernatural events after the use of ouija. It seems to pan out the same way positive confirmation bias does for precognitive dreams and "ESP."

 

If the boards are truly a dangerous object, why aren't the manufacturers and retailers being sued for damages?

 

I do indeed believe that unexplainable things happen as I have experienced them myself on numerous occasions, but I agree with whatever poster stated that the brain is a mysterious organ.