Do you believe in ghosts and the paranormal?

[Sakura]

Curious how many people here believe in the paranormal such as ghosts/spirits/demons whatever you want to call it and if you have ever experienced anything paranormal or that you can't explain yourself. Do you think there is scientific explanations for all things that happen that have been described as "paranormal"? 

I have had several experiences myself which have prompted me as an adult to explore places that are considered haunted. Recently I went on a trip with my sister to Waverly Hills Sanatorium in Kentucky which is said to be the most haunted place in the USA. While I didn't experience anything weird myself while there, certain rooms did feel unsettling, particularly the death tunnel where they used to throw the bodies down after they had died from TB. I also got a rather strange image on a picture that I can't explain. 

My own instances of paranormal activity that I can't explain that stand out the most are when I was a child and lived in only what I can describe as a haunted house. There was the typical strange footsteps, you would see shadows, a drawer or cabinet you know you didn't open would be open. But there was also something I would hear walk across my bedroom floor every night and then sit on my bed. I never looked and I'm glad I didn't quite frankly, I don't want to know what it was. The worst incident though I believe was when I was up on the ladder to the attic. I always liked to go up there because the previous owners had left a bunch of things up there and I liked to sift around the stuff and play with it. I felt the ladder start shaking and looked down to just see a pair of  hands shaking the ladder. It was that day forward that I refused to go back into the house until my mom would make me at the end of the day. I would just sit on the porch and I could still feel like something was watching me. My last incident at this house was the night before we were moving and something pushed me violently then pulled the rug out from under me. I remember that well because my mom threw a fit when she came in the living room and saw the rug on the other side of the room and didn't believe for a second what I told her what happened lol. My mom was the only one who never saw or felt anything in this house. Me and my step-dad saw and felt things and all my friends had experienced things to the point they refused to come over to my house anymore. 

Recently I have been experiencing some strange things in my current house. Lights turning on/off by themselves. A heater that can only be turned on by turning a knob on it coming on by itself. Also this past week the stove was on by itself when no one has touched the stove recently. It made me start thinking about the house I lived in as a child. 

I suppose paranormal activity has to be just taken on someone's word since most people don't believe it unless they experience it themselves which is fair. I always try to look for scientific reasons to explain anything I experience instead of jumping to the conclusion it was ghosts but in this incident of the home I lived in as a child I have never found rationale reasons for all I experienced.

I am really interesting in if you have paranormal stories or unexplained happenings yourself to talk about though!

 

[Sakura]

15 minutes ago, Emotion Flux said:

I do believe in the paranormal, but when it comes to rational alternative explanations for what I consider paranormal activity I tend to dismiss it. Probably because ever since my sister passed away I'm so desperate to believe there's something more than what we can see and feel in this corporeal realm that we all live brief, transient lives in. I really need to not always assume something's paranormal though because there are sometimes rational, logical explanations for things that happen. Like the house settling was what I used to think was people throwing rocks at the house. I mean, that might not be paranormal as opposed to paranoia-infected conclusions I tend to jump to, but I just don't tend to think about the rational explanations for things for some reason when I seriously should and need to start looking for rational explanations for things and when I can't find one, then to go on the assumption that it was paranormal when I can't find logical explanations. It might be easier said than done though. I do believe in the paranormal, probably on what could be bordering an unhealthy level, but that's because I want my sister to show herself to me in my dreams again and to see her when I pass away. I can't rush to my own death though since mom's still alive, but I do hope I'll see big sis' again in whatever kind of afterlife there may be waiting for us all when we pass away.

Oh, and I used to hear an EXTREMELY loud slam like someone would try to get me to open the door when I slept that literally woke me up. It was only once a night, but it scared/surprised me so much that I couldn't go back to sleep again until a number of hours later when I settled down. More recently though when I was sleeping it felt like something forced me out of my own body with the hardest shove from behind that you could imagine. After that happened, I saw a pair of blacker than black, shadow-like limbs reaching out for my frantically from across my bed. I chalked it up to a shadow person trying to scare the holy hell out of me to feed on my fear which I've heard some entities get stronger by feeding off of people's fear. That scared the hell out of me though so much that I slept upstairs the rest of the night and morning with mom in the living room. I've got no memory of being so scared in my entire life.

What if something followed you home, @Sakura? Stands to reason it could've happened, right? From Waverly Hills Sanitorium.

 

I try to think rationale and logical when it comes to things like lights turning on/off or hearing footsteps. There are even rationale explanations for why an electronic device would turn on by itself but when it comes to something that has to be switched on by physically turning knobs I'm stumped about what could be causing it. I think many people like the idea of an afterlife or believing in paranormal though because it does allow us to think about the people we love still being with us. 

I can't really find a good explanation about what you and I have been talking about either regarding what you saw, which is also what slightly prompted me to make this topic to discuss paranormal events. I mean, we did discuss that sleeping meds might be a cause behind it since hallucinations like this seem to be associated with them, but I don't know about actually feeling the hallucination but then again the mind is a weird place. 

I thought about that but I went to Waverly close to a year ago I think? It's been awhile so if something had attached or followed me home I think I would have seen it before now. It's strange what Pessi & I have been experiencing the last few days because I've never even had the slightest notion of anything paranormal going on until now. At least I can verify something weird is going on though since Pessi is experiencing things too and I know it's not just me lol 

[Zeref]

I never believed in ghosts or spirits very much because I never experienced some thing like it until now living with you  I can't say what has been going on in the apartment as of late because I also can't find the explanation for why knobs would turn on and off by themself that have to be physically turned and finding them physically turned when neither of us has been in those rooms. For when the electric went out I still believe that to be just a possible power surge but the other things well I can't explain lately. Perhaps later I will do a search to find out if there is any reasons that can cause this to happen that is not paranormal in nature. 

13 hours ago, Emotion Flux said:

 

Oh, and I used to hear an EXTREMELY loud slam like someone would try to get me to open the door when I slept that literally woke me up. It was only once a night, but it scared/surprised me so much that I couldn't go back to sleep again until a number of hours later when I settled down. 

Was that happened at the same time of night every night? 

[Sakura]

I can understand why you don't want a repeat of the incident. Having another incident myself today I can say I also don't want a repeat of what happened to me today. 

4 hours ago, Zeref said:

I never believed in ghosts or spirits very much because I never experienced some thing like it until now living with you  I can't say what has been going on in the apartment as of late because I also can't find the explanation for why knobs would turn on and off by themself that have to be physically turned and finding them physically turned when neither of us has been in those rooms. For when the electric went out I still believe that to be just a possible power surge but the other things well I can't explain lately. Perhaps later I will do a search to find out if there is any reasons that can cause this to happen that is not paranormal in nature. 

Was that happened at the same time of night every night? 

Ah I have cursed you now with your first weird experience XD I've read about springs in the knobs wearing out so that's a possibility. It seems weird that springs in 2 separate things would wear out at the same time though. Considering the heater isn't really on a spring thing though and it clicks around I'm not sure what would explain that. 

[Guest]

I must've been around 12 or 13 when this happened, but early one morning, my brother was awakened by what he called a "blood-curdling" scream, as if someone was being murdered or something right beside him. At the time, we had our own twin beds and shared a room, and he woke me up saying, "Did you just hear that?! Someone screamed!" Confused, I told him I hadn't heard anything. I remember he was freaked out kinda badly about it. He still remembers that scream to this day. I dunno if there's any kind of rational explanation as to what my brother heard that morning, but thankfully he never heard it again. It's possible he might have been having a bad dream, and maybe he heard what he heard due to that. I've experienced hearing people I've dreamed about talking before, so I don't imagine it's impossible.

Personally, I don't believe in ghosts, spirits, demons or god(s). I've never experienced anything paranormal in my life thus far, only heard stories from others here and there. I guess the closest thing like that for me that happened was maybe being at my home-church at night when I was a kid, when the lights had been turned off because we were about to leave... say what you will, but the atmosphere in a dark church at night is freaking creepy as hell (pun intended). Or at least that old church in my hometown sure was. Although that's not really a paranormal encounter, it's just feeling creeped out in an uncomfortable atmosphere.

[Animedragon]

About 35 years ago my parents and I were looking to buy a small holiday home of some sort because we had a dog and it was becoming really difficult to find any holiday lets that allowed dogs. We got offered a lot of places but one stands out in my memory even after all this time. From the outside it looked like a fairly normal house, but as soon as we went inside something felt 'odd' about it, although it was a very warm summer's day the inside of the house felt cold, it wasn't just the sort of cold you get from entering an unheated room, it's difficult to explain but it was a sort of cold that could be not only felt but also sensed, it was like there was something malevolent in that house.
As soon as I left the house the feeling disappeared, I mentioned what I'd felt in the house to my parents and they said that they too had felt the same thing.  I didn't have that experience in any of the other properties we looked at and I've never had a similar experience since.

[Zeref]

15 hours ago, Sakura said:

I can understand why you don't want a repeat of the incident. Having another incident myself today I can say I also don't want a repeat of what happened to me today. 

Ah I have cursed you now with your first weird experience XD I've read about springs in the knobs wearing out so that's a possibility. It seems weird that springs in 2 separate things would wear out at the same time though. Considering the heater isn't really on a spring thing though and it clicks around I'm not sure what would explain that. 

I find it strange to say that all of the things lately happened at the same time as coincidence but possible since I don't believe as much in ghosts and spirits. 

[Sakura]

18 hours ago, viruxx said:

I must've been around 12 or 13 when this happened, but early one morning, my brother was awakened by what he called a "blood-curdling" scream, as if someone was being murdered or something right beside him. At the time, we had our own twin beds and shared a room, and he woke me up saying, "Did you just hear that?! Someone screamed!" Confused, I told him I hadn't heard anything. I remember he was freaked out kinda badly about it. He still remembers that scream to this day. I dunno if there's any kind of rational explanation as to what my brother heard that morning, but thankfully he never heard it again. It's possible he might have been having a bad dream, and maybe he heard what he heard due to that. I've experienced hearing people I've dreamed about talking before, so I don't imagine it's impossible.

Personally, I don't believe in ghosts, spirits, demons or god(s). I've never experienced anything paranormal in my life thus far, only heard stories from others here and there. I guess the closest thing like that for me that happened was maybe being at my home-church at night when I was a kid, when the lights had been turned off because we were about to leave... say what you will, but the atmosphere in a dark church at night is freaking creepy as hell (pun intended). Or at least that old church in my hometown sure was. Although that's not really a paranormal encounter, it's just feeling creeped out in an uncomfortable atmosphere.

Oh wow that is scary. If I woke up to something screaming in my ear I would have bolted out of the house and slept on the lawn XD I guess that could have easily been a dream though since sometimes we are in that half awake/half sleep state and we see and hear things we think are real because we are still in our dreams a bit. Since you didn't  hear it too that's the only thing I can think of. Dark churches at night are definitely freaky though lol been in a few myself ~
 

15 hours ago, Animedragon said:

About 35 years ago my parents and I were looking to buy a small holiday home of some sort because we had a dog and it was becoming really difficult to find any holiday lets that allowed dogs. We got offered a lot of places but one stands out in my memory even after all this time. From the outside it looked like a fairly normal house, but as soon as we went inside something felt 'odd' about it, although it was a very warm summer's day the inside of the house felt cold, it wasn't just the sort of cold you get from entering an unheated room, it's difficult to explain but it was a sort of cold that could be not only felt but also sensed, it was like there was something malevolent in that house.
As soon as I left the house the feeling disappeared, I mentioned what I'd felt in the house to my parents and they said that they too had felt the same thing.  I didn't have that experience in any of the other properties we looked at and I've never had a similar experience since.

Anytime I have experienced anything paranormal I have always gotten that same feeling where the air itself is different and cold but not the normal kind of cold. The house I lived in that I spoke about in my first post felt like this all the time as if something very evil was inside it and I would only experience it inside the home. I am assuming you guys didn't end up buying or living in that house though?

 

10 hours ago, Zeref said:

I find it strange to say that all of the things lately happened at the same time as coincidence but possible since I don't believe as much in ghosts and spirits. 

Yeah I'm kinda not really liking it lol At least we are moving soon I guess >_> 

[Clayton]

Not so much believe as know it's true. I've seen plenty of firsthand evidence of the supernatural. Ghosts. Psychic powers. Fairies. I've had so many dreams of future events (hugely useless ability). 

When I was a kid I met a mute guy who took off his thumb, handed it to me, and THEN put it back on while I watched.  I once made a spider burn up and it left a scorch mark on the ceiling. I tried that Bloody Mary thing in the bathroom mirror and my eyes, just the irises, started glowing blue. Sometimes I wake up lying flat and fall onto my bed. One I fell out of a tree and was caught by a girl who immediately vanished right in front of me. In 1989 in my home ton I saw a UFO and years later I looked it up and other people saw it too. 

 

So yeah. I've kinda got to believe in such things. Also while I do plan to live forever, I probably won't so the afterlife is hopefully fantastic. 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 30 by Clayton

[Sakura]

1 hour ago, Clayton said:

Not so much believe as know it's true. I've seen plenty of firsthand evidence of the supernatural. Ghosts. Psychic powers. Fairies. I've had so many dreams of future events (hugely useless ability). 

When I was a kid I met a mute guy who took off his thumb, handed it to me, and THEN put it back on while I watched.  I once made a spider burn up and it left a scorch mark on the ceiling. I tried that Bloody Mary thing in the bathroom mirror and my eyes, just the irises, started glowing blue. Sometimes I wake up lying flat and fall onto my bed. One I fell out of a tree and was caught by a girl who immediately vanished right in front of me. In 1989 in my home ton I saw a UFO and years later I looked it up and other people saw it too. 

So yeah. I've kinda got to believe in such things. Also while I do plan to live forever, I probably won't so the afterlife is hopefully fantastic. 

Hmm I've always been to scared to try Bloody Mary lol I just always think something might actually happen so I never do things like this being overly-cautious. 
I saw a UFO once myself when I was a kid and to this day I still can't describe what I saw as anything logical other than a UFO. I always try to rationalize everything if I can. I was just having this UFO discussion actually with @Emotion Flux

When you say you've seen plenty of firsthand evidence of things, such as faeries, can I ask what you mean by that? It's just that when I lived in the house I described in my first post I saw something very strange one night that was small and ran across my dresser. It was upright on 2 legs and it jumped straight into the glass window and vanished without shattering the glass. I thought I had been dreaming but when I got up to turn the light on I knew I had really seen it because the things it had bumped into on my dresser were on the floor. I've always wondered if what I saw was something like what people consider Fae or some type of small demon/apparition. I don't usually tell anyone about this particular experience though because it's kind of when people start looking at you like you're crazy lol ~ I've tried looking things up online countless times but never really found any description that matches close to what I saw. 

[Animedragon]

8 hours ago, Sakura said:

Anytime I have experienced anything paranormal I have always gotten that same feeling where the air itself is different and cold but not the normal kind of cold. The house I lived in that I spoke about in my first post felt like this all the time as if something very evil was inside it and I would only experience it inside the home. I am assuming you guys didn't end up buying or living in that house though?

No, we didn't buy that house, it didn't even make it onto the short list of possible purchases.  We bought a flat in a development of purpose built holiday properties that had an 11 month occupancy rule in the planning consent, so people couldn't live in it all the time.  We were happier doing this as we felt it was a more responsible thing to do as we weren't taking a property out of the local supply and preventing local people from living in their own town.

[Sakura]

13 hours ago, Animedragon said:

No, we didn't buy that house, it didn't even make it onto the short list of possible purchases.  We bought a flat in a development of purpose built holiday properties that had an 11 month occupancy rule in the planning consent, so people couldn't live in it all the time.  We were happier doing this as we felt it was a more responsible thing to do as we weren't taking a property out of the local supply and preventing local people from living in their own town.

Oh I see that's a good reason ^^ And also sounds like you probably avoided living in a place that may have some really bad energy in it. 

[froggy]

    Ever since I was a kid, I've been able to see people's aura's, as well as the colors of sounds. I thought it was normal for a long time, until I moved to a new house and started getting sleep paralysis. This changed how I perceived the world, since previously, I could sense whether a person was trustworthy and see the color of sounds from a long distance. Not only was that the same, it was amplified by those nightmares. I suddenly started hearing my parents whispering with each other in their room across the hall and my little brother's soft breathing the room over as I laid in bed at night. Then, I started seeing shadow creatures and figures that would stand ominously, no matter if it was day or night. They were the same creatures that I saw in my sleep paralysis. I was seeing a therapist at the time, so I told them what I was experiencing. Since I was a kid, they brushed it off as a active imagination. 
    The thing it is, as I got older those creatures only became more solidified in my vision. It went from feeling something wrong and seeing the shadows darken. To tall figures watching me from a distance outside my window. At night, I could hear knocking on my window, and sometimes from one of my closets as well. I even heard soft crying from that closet. It was very unnerving, and my behavior became increasingly erratic. 
    My breaking point was when I was hanging in my bed with my cat, and I noticed a shadow creature step out of the darkness my door casted. I was used to it at this point, since they didn't do much except whisper. And since my diagnosis, I tried to convince myself that it was hallucination like the doctors said. But as I stared at it, I became more scared. Then my cat started hissing at it. I freaked out, grabbed my cat, and started yelling for my mom. The thing is, my cat was 19 years old at the time, she didn't meow unless she wanted food or attention. Let alone hiss, she would only do that when a neighborhood cat came to the door. But she was there hissing at this creature that I thought was a hallucination.
    That was a few years ago, and I moved from that house. I started recovering and working on myself more. The conversation came up, and I explained my experiences to my dad and sister. Turns out, I was too young to know this at the time, but the previous owners of that house was a family of five. The parents were extremely strict and physically abusive. Especially to the youngest son who didn't do well in school. After his older siblings left to go to college, his parents left to rent out a condo. Leaving the youngest in the house, and apparently he went insane. Going up into the attic and carving the anti-christ symbol into the ceiling, and into every door of the house. He lived up there for a while I heard. Eventually the house was sold by his parents to my family, and he was kicked out. But before they moved out, professionals had to dig up seven urns filled with ash that were buried in the backyard. As well as disassemble an altar that they had made. Theres still concrete were it stood, but its overshadowed by overgrown bamboo.
    After hearing that, I realized that when I moved out, my symptoms had suddenly become more manageable. I thought it was that I had space from my mother or the work I had put into my mental health. But now I wonder if whatever had happened in that house had left its mark. 
    Even though psychosis is a scientifically explained mental illness, I never fully trusted what professionals told me. Especially the ones who were more eager to prescribe me medications then hear what I had to say. I think theres definitely some overlap between the paranormal and being mentally ill. Since, my whole family could agree that something was wrong with that house. 

[Sakura]

4 hours ago, froggy said:

    Ever since I was a kid, I've been able to see people's aura's, as well as the colors of sounds. I thought it was normal for a long time, until I moved to a new house and started getting sleep paralysis. This changed how I perceived the world, since previously, I could sense whether a person was trustworthy and see the color of sounds from a long distance. Not only was that the same, it was amplified by those nightmares. I suddenly started hearing my parents whispering with each other in their room across the hall and my little brother's soft breathing the room over as I laid in bed at night. Then, I started seeing shadow creatures and figures that would stand ominously, no matter if it was day or night. They were the same creatures that I saw in my sleep paralysis. I was seeing a therapist at the time, so I told them what I was experiencing. Since I was a kid, they brushed it off as a active imagination. 
    The thing it is, as I got older those creatures only became more solidified in my vision. It went from feeling something wrong and seeing the shadows darken. To tall figures watching me from a distance outside my window. At night, I could hear knocking on my window, and sometimes from one of my closets as well. I even heard soft crying from that closet. It was very unnerving, and my behavior became increasingly erratic. 
    My breaking point was when I was hanging in my bed with my cat, and I noticed a shadow creature step out of the darkness my door casted. I was used to it at this point, since they didn't do much except whisper. And since my diagnosis, I tried to convince myself that it was hallucination like the doctors said. But as I stared at it, I became more scared. Then my cat started hissing at it. I freaked out, grabbed my cat, and started yelling for my mom. The thing is, my cat was 19 years old at the time, she didn't meow unless she wanted food or attention. Let alone hiss, she would only do that when a neighborhood cat came to the door. But she was there hissing at this creature that I thought was a hallucination.
    That was a few years ago, and I moved from that house. I started recovering and working on myself more. The conversation came up, and I explained my experiences to my dad and sister. Turns out, I was too young to know this at the time, but the previous owners of that house was a family of five. The parents were extremely strict and physically abusive. Especially to the youngest son who didn't do well in school. After his older siblings left to go to college, his parents left to rent out a condo. Leaving the youngest in the house, and apparently he went insane. Going up into the attic and carving the anti-christ symbol into the ceiling, and into every door of the house. He lived up there for a while I heard. Eventually the house was sold by his parents to my family, and he was kicked out. But before they moved out, professionals had to dig up seven urns filled with ash that were buried in the backyard. As well as disassemble an altar that they had made. Theres still concrete were it stood, but its overshadowed by overgrown bamboo.
    After hearing that, I realized that when I moved out, my symptoms had suddenly become more manageable. I thought it was that I had space from my mother or the work I had put into my mental health. But now I wonder if whatever had happened in that house had left its mark. 
    Even though psychosis is a scientifically explained mental illness, I never fully trusted what professionals told me. Especially the ones who were more eager to prescribe me medications then hear what I had to say. I think theres definitely some overlap between the paranormal and being mentally ill. Since, my whole family could agree that something was wrong with that house. 

It scared me that you mentioned knocking on the window because a couple nights ago me and my room mate were sleeping in the same room after being a little freaked out by what we were experiencing in the house lately, and we heard a knocking on the window several times in the middle of the night which woke both of us up. The part that disturbed us the most is the fact we are on like the 30th floor of the apartment building and nothing should be knocking on the window 

Whether it's a hallucinations or not that is still scary and obviously something that would feel very terrifying. Weird that the cat freaked out though which probably indicates you were seeing something since I have read many, many times that animals are more sensitive to paranormal related things. Soooo freaky about the family that lived there before though  It sounds like it was something to do with the house then that caused all of this. Moving out and it just disappearing definitely seems to point to that it was because of the home. 

I do definitely think a lot of people who experience paranormal activity though get looked at as "crazy" and if you tell these things to a doctor they will just attempt to prescribe you some medicine and give you some kind of diagnosis like schizophrenia or sleep paralysis. Which while those things are obviously very real things that affect people it's not always the case. This is why I really don't talk about the paranormal things I've encountered or experienced to very many people, because people automatically want to write you off as crazy the minute you start talking about any of that. 

[Soramee_]

I don’t know if it would be considered paranormal or anything but i do have something weird. I nearly never dream compare to others or at least I don’t remember them but most of the time when I dream it happens in the future. Like it can be a dream where pretty much nothing happens but it will be stuck in my head. They really feel real as I can pretty much vividly feel how I am during the dream, how the « vibe » is around me, the temperature, every sound etc. Also when it happens in real life, it doesn’t feel like just a déjà vu or anything, it’s way stronger and I always feel this feeling right at the time where I can change what happens in the dream. I have these dreams since I don’t know how long but it has always been a question of If I should do like it happened in the dream or choose another action. It probably can be explained but yeah.

[Sakura]

22 hours ago, Soramee_ said:

I don’t know if it would be considered paranormal or anything but i do have something weird. I nearly never dream compare to others or at least I don’t remember them but most of the time when I dream it happens in the future. Like it can be a dream where pretty much nothing happens but it will be stuck in my head. They really feel real as I can pretty much vividly feel how I am during the dream, how the « vibe » is around me, the temperature, every sound etc. Also when it happens in real life, it doesn’t feel like just a déjà vu or anything, it’s way stronger and I always feel this feeling right at the time where I can change what happens in the dream. I have these dreams since I don’t know how long but it has always been a question of If I should do like it happened in the dream or choose another action. It probably can be explained but yeah.

That's kind of neat but I guess it would feel a little weird to be able to do things like that. I've read about astral projection I wonder if it's something like that but in the future o.o ~ I would be a little scared to change things but it would also be interesting to see what happened if you changed something. 

[Clayton]

I saw time actually stop twice in the 80s. When it happened I felt like I could move, but some instinct told me I really, really shouldn't. Given what I know about air friction now, I feel this was a good call.