I can cause paper to burn. So can all my friends. I guess we'd better be careful; with great power comes great responsibility...

Read something by "The Amazing Randy". I saw him bend a spoon, and then he showed everyone just how easy it was to do. Randy has debunked so many para-normal shysters that he offers $1 million to anyone who can prove their para-normal nonsense. Now that should open your eyes. The brain is an amazing super-computer and beyond, it can fool and trick you very easily. Remember that, always...

Anyone with a match can cause paper to burn.

Just be careful your reki does not run out on the floor. I doubt quantum mechanics will prove some silly notion about the paranormal. This is all dreaming and mumbo jumbo. My grandmother was a spiritualist. Really put on a show and entertained everyone. She was also a great trickster as I well knew since she love to pull tricks on me all the time. This whole nonsense started as parlour games before the turn of the 20th century. There was no radio so parlour games were entertainment for people. My grandmother even had a book on parlour games. I have looked for a copy for years. Randi is right and it is all a scam. Now I have to go in and get up the spooks!

" But, if you don't wish to believe, nothing would convince you." - Steve

And if you DO wish to believe, nothing would un-convince you.

I just want to know where Scooby Doo is? Probably eating somewhere again as usual, never there when you need him, unless he screwed up and showed up at the wrong place at the wrong time.

Now and then, especially in the am, I'll go out to retrieve my paper and there will be turds on the left side of my driveway. Don't have any pets. The mess is always in the same place. I think a ghost may be taking a sh^t on my driveway at night. Don't know where else the pile could be coming from. Strange looking turds too. Curious.

This sleuth did not find the truth. He is in denial about it.

I used to be a skeptic just like this guy and many of you posters but I have a firm policy which is this: I am never afraid of truth. Show me unrefutable evidence and I'll accept it.

There is an old saying: "The greatest impediment to discovery is not ignorance it is the illusion of knowledge."

Even the smartest among us is severely limited by their illusions of reality. To be a good "discoverer" it is necessary to first become a student of the illusion.

Mother Nature has access to the full spectrum of reality but our senses act as filters on that reality. The things we sense are real but they are less than one percent of the total picture.

To think that all is as you perceive is like a drunk who loses his keys in a parking lot and looks for them under a street light because that's where the light is.

The only thing you can be sure of is this. If something is not real, there will be no solid proof that says it is. Like any good detective, you have to follow and accept the evidence even if it seems to defy physical explanation.

I don't wish to believe or not believe anything. It is or it isn't. Some trick and hoax and some things aren't explainable via normal explanations. Reiki isn't woo-woo or odd at all, isn't a show, and helps a great many people in private without needing to entertain anyone. Harry, you have no clue what you are talking about. Just because your grandmother tricked people according to you doesn't mean every single thing that happens in the universe that some see as different than their usual experience is a hoax.

I can't do calculus and I don't understand when my spouse tries to explain it to me, but that doesn't mean he is tricking me or that it isn't real. Closing our minds to anything but a very few options and tiny amounts of all the information in the universe isn't really a way to grow in my view, but to each his own. I guess some don't realize that just because you never talked with someone who is dead doesn't automatically mean no one can or prove that anyone can. to feel healing energy and say it is not there is denial, not being scientific.

Yes, be skeptical and look for other ways something could be done, but remember that traditional science has insisted that many things were real that we now know are. Doctors didn't used to wash their hands because they didn't believe that invisible germs could kill women right after childbirth. They laughed at the person who figured out that something he was transmitting from woman to woman...something he couldn't see...was killing them, and he saw them live if he did wash his hands. I suppose we would all be better off if he had closed his mind, insisted (as everyone was doing when he spoke up) that since it wasn't seen with the normal naked eye and wasn't already in medical books that it must be his imagination or a hoax? Of course not...and astronomy? How many have been treated as nuts because they saw something different, new, or from a different angle than traditional "knowledge"?

Scientific norms change every day, and what was laughed at yesterday isn't today, and vice versa. I don't want to believe or not to believe...I see that some things have explanations I can say are normal and some things don't. I don't accept that something is real unless I have some reason to, and science slowly catches up when the right tests are used or developed. Believe as you wish or don't, but stubbornly insisting that the times when something really logically does fall out of your personal worldview aren't real because you don't want them to be is just as illogical as saying everything does.

Sorry DonBo, but this sleuth is NOT "in denial about it". Seems to me that you are.

There are no such thing as ghosts, spirits, dead disembodied souls or whatever you want to call it.

There are no demons, hobgoblins, werewolves, vampires, leprechauns, sprites, etc etc.

No gods or etherial masters, no devil and certainly no tooth fairy. What gullible, self important creatures we humans are to conjure up all this nonsense and actually BELIEVE OUR OWN BULL$h!T.

It seems to me that there are a lot of wishful thinkers on this thread. And more than a few are deficient in their understanding of science. The fact of the matter is that extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. It really is that simple.

If, in the space/time continuum, we do discover that the past, present and future are all occurring exactly at the same time, maybe sometimes those membranes 'touch' one another. OK - I'm just speculating but the point is, we don't understand anything in terms of the metaphysical or the sub-atomic level. But, to me, the ghost stories always seemed like a scam

I was sexually assaulted in my sleep; I quickly woke up and no one was there!

Roadkill

"The people who profess to be able to talk to the dead tend to be either fantasy-prone personalities, or charlatans, or possibly a bit of both," Nickell declared. "They would be harmless if they didn't mislead so many people."

Silly Republicans

??????????????????????????????????????????????????

What? Ghosts are everywhere, especially on election day; they vote Democrat!

"I do believe in ghosts, I do, I do, I do...I do believe in ghosts, I do, I do!" The Cowardly Lion, The Wizard of Oz.

Who ya gonna call? GHOSTBUSTERS!

If you're watching one of the many paranormal programs currently in vogue be sure you watch the credits at the end and ask yourself, "Why do they need a 'writer'? And when the fearless ghost hunters are walking through the dark, who's operating that camera with the night-vision lens? And why do they need a 'director'?

DUH!

Congratulations Alan,

you debunked Ghost totally.

The one reason I do not join Skeptical Inquirer is found in their motto, which is "I doubt it."

My Motto is "Convince me".

People find that just because I am WILLING to listen does not make it any easier to convince me.

Magnum Serpentine.

If there's somethin' strange in your neighborhood
Who ya gonna call?
Ghostbusters!

If it's somethin' weird an' it don't look good
Who ya gonna call?
Ghostbusters!

I ain't afraid o' no ghost
I ain't afraid o' no ghost

BOO

Energy is neither created nor destroyed, only transformed.

Please consider going back to school and learning about quantum mechanics. Ever heard of quantum foam?

It's no wonder we have people that believe in sky fairies, ghosts, and zombies.

"Nothing in the world is more dangerous than a sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity" - MLK

Thanks Mike, I couldn't remember enough of the words to quote the song. It's one of my favorite movies AND one of my favorite movie theme songs.

"WHO YA GONNA CALL?"

You gotta love it.

I gotta go Reiki the leaves.

Energy is neither created nor destroyed - True.

That this somehow means that when you die your energy continues on in an organized manner - False.

It takes a tremendous on constant energy input (eating) to keep the cells in your body organized. When you die, the energy in your body doesn't disappear, it just becomes less organized or what they layperson would call "dead."

"Energy can neither be created nor destroyed"

Please learn some actual science, understand thermodynamics, before using it to justify pseudoscience BS.

The whole problem with the entire supernatural realm is that it's so terrestrial in nature ... it's all about us.

Ghosts ... lost souls ... gods ... everything and anything that we can create to scare and/or comfort us, we do.

Such pathetic illusions of grandeur to put ourselves at the center of this universe, but that sure as hell doesn't stop us from trying. For those of you "non-skeptics" out there with the holier than thou attitude, please realize we aren't being closed minded. Using logic, reason, and science ... we are free to admit there are myriads of things out there we don't know (or can't understand) at the moment. Lots and lots of unexplainable things.

But realize, you are the ones that are saying: "Oh, well we know. They're ghost ... they're demons, they're this, they're that."

It isn't open-mindedness that let's this stuff in. It's an inability to filter and process good information vs. bad.

Personally, I really think we need to get over ourselves. If we died out tomorrow, I have a feeling the universe would go about its business without asking: "Hey, where did all the humans (and human spirits) go?"

But realize, you are the ones that are saying: "Oh, well we know. They're ghost ... they're demons, they're this, they're that."

And I would add these folks bear the burden of proof.

The argument about burden of proof is interesting in itself.

The claim "God/supernatural/etc. exists" seems to require that the burden of proof be placed on the one making the claim, but the claim "God/supernatural/etc. doesn't exist" requires no burden of proof at all.

"I do not believe because there is no proof" is not the same as "I remain unconvinced because there is no proof".

I would have thought that a proper skeptical attitude would be: "I have no belief either way, as there is no proof either way", given that the subject is something that is (at least to our current technological level) inherently unprovable.

The fact remains, however, that the claim that something doesn't exist is as much a claim as something existing. If the burden of proof remains on the one that is making the claim then (logically) if "It doesn't exist" is also a claim, then it follows that this claim would also require proof.

It seems to me that neither side of the argument can acutally conclusively prove their stand point.

Some Random Guy,

Proving a negative is near impossible. We assume that there aren't invisible unicorns running around in the street because we have no evidence. Just because we can't prove that invisible unicorns don't exist, doesn't mean we need to remain open to the idea that they do exist. At least not until someone can offer even a shred of proof.

We want the facts to fit the preconception; when they don't, it is easier to ignore the facts than to change the preconception. Jessamyn West, 1902-1984.

"The whole problem with the entire supernatural realm is that it's so terrestrial in nature ... it's all about us."

Considering that we don't know extraterrestrials to exist yet either (though a stronger argument can be made for them), we can't yet know if they also do or do not consider such seemingly unlikely things.

If ghosts and the like cannot exist at all, it won't matter where you are.

If they can exist here, they might also, somewhere else.

It's 'terrestrial,' because that's all we have easy access to, for now...

Mac,

That story gave me shivers. Stories about turds often do. Especially ghost story turds.

mac and 1down

Haven't either of you seen any Babycakes? Those are wizard droppings, and can be rolled into gold if you know the proper technique.

This business about orbs and bumps in the night are for wimps. Now, the real stuff-- hearing a disembodied voice call out your name, seeing part of a figure or an entire figure walk nearby and then fade away,now that's the real mccoy. It's real and only a small percentage have the ability (genetic?) to experience these things. Far as I know those of us who do experience these things, well they happen rarely, and when they want to happen, with no rhyme or reason, and there is no way to control them. I know what I've experienced and I don't care what anyone else thinks about it or if anyone else believes or doesn't believe. What is the nature of reality? None of us really knows. Those of you who make fun of these things, well why don't you go and make yourselves useful and go sit in front of the TV and watch a football game or something. Or keep thinking about turds. As the sayng goes, "not only is the universe stranger than we imagine, the universe is stranger than we can imagine."

JoeCal,

You might be right about the genetic variations, but not in the manner you suggest. There are those who see things do to genetic differences, the root cause however, is dysfunction in the brain.

Have a MRI done.

Bentley, all you have to do is think about life on the quantum level where you have particles, for example, which behave in ways that are not at all like how particles behave on the newtonian level (everyday life stuff). For example, they call it "spooky action at a distance." The scientists can't explain it and many of them feel they never will be able to explain it. Even the scientists admits it's wierd and counter-intuitive but it's how things are. Likewise, there's a lot of othe things that are strange but that's also just the way things are. Thanks for your concern about my brain, but it's healthy.

The claim should read as of now evidenced based proof has NOT been found for ghosts. If you find evidenced based facts, not oh did you feel that,my aching back, or did you hear that, oh you mean my stomach, or did you see that, no but turn on the light. Until then no proof of ghosts exists, of course many folks will lose easy money. BUT, I do understand the appeal if ghosts exists, then proof of the afterlife of some sort. BUT, be warned of the con man he will use whatever fear or hope to get your money. OH Scooby Doo where are you?

@Saffie-654321. Who made you comment czar? Isn't this supposed to be an open forum for suggestions, opinions, and whatever? I haven't attacked you personally, just made my beliefs known. That's the problem with religious zealots, they want to push their ideals on everyone, even make laws to control our behavior to suit them and their faith, and get right in another's face if they say they believe that religion is hogwash in their honest opinion. I am a happy person, I am living my life, not storing up my nuts and raisins for Sunday as do squirrels and religious zealots. Eat your nuts & raisins and grow more to enjoy while you're still living! LOL If I am sadly mistaken, isn't that my "bad", so stop trying to silence me - its not going to work. Religion is on the decline and atheism is winning the war against opression!

There is indeed an afterlife, but it isn't what you imagine it to be. : )

@tracontech, most of your posts are very irrelevant.

Pascals Wager is probably the worst argument you can choose. There are an infinite amount of possibilities to choose from. In fact you are not fulfilling Pascals Wager because you don't hedge all your bets. You don't believe in all religions definitions and dogmas. If you want to fulfill Pascals Wager I suggest you pick up a TON of books from your local library and start reading and praying to your hearts content. Not something I'm interested in, thanks anyway.

I work in a very haunted hospital. Shadows moving down the wall at night, voices captured on digital voice recorders calling our names, footsteps of a woman in heels in a empty area late at night. Everyone who has worked here has had experiences. Whole families seeing spirits in a dying patient's room. Many believers were skeptics at one time.

I had an experience I’d like to share. i was alone in my room mates house as he was gone for the weekend & had my girlfriend in my bedroom with me. it was late, about 12:30am & we both heard the side door open & footsteps going downstairs (My bedroom was right next to the stairwell). I thought my roommate had came home early, so i put my robe on & went out to the kitchen to go downstairs. All the lights were on, and when i got to the basement, there was no-one there. I called out, and immediately called the police because i thought it was a burglar. They came in the front door & i showed them the basement, and there was no-one there. I showed them the side door, and it had been snowing & there was no sign of any footprints outside, so nobody had came in, but when my roommate came home & I told him about it, he said it was probably the old man who died in he basement years ago. After that it was a common occurrence to get up and see all the lights on in the basement. WE never could explain what was going on, but it made sense at the time that it was a poltergeist doing it

Dude, ya gotta take a chill pill. traconech, both you and saffie are correct and at the same time, your both wrong. Man you guys get weird over stuff like this, your beliefs are your beliefs. Lighten up. I don't judge nor want to be judged. I just like to make jokes about stuff(like Scooby Doo) like this. So both you all chill out and enjoy what lives we have ok?

Is there love and compassion in science and reason?

HeinrichKroll

You may be right that there is no afterlife. But you may also be wrong. Eternity is a long time, so if you cannot believe in an afterlife based on faith alone, then perhaps even the smallest possibility of eternal damnation might spark some interest. Some believe on faith, and some need to put their fingers in the wounds. I suggest you study Pascal's gambit and reply.

How might someone make themselves believe in something they don't believe in just to be on the safe side? You can't just change your view on something without any reason. I can't at any rate.

Heinrich - Everything known to man has a beginning and an end...except humans? Give me a break.

I moved into a haunted house at the age of 14 years old and lived there until I was 20. I was faced with the paranormal everyday. I believe in Ghosts,just like I believe in God Almighty. Anyone with a brain in their head,thats goes outside,can see the tree's,hears the bird's sing,flowers bloom,can hear the beat of a heart,or feel the love of another, must know the presence of a Higher Power. Iam not talking about organized religion.I do not participate in that. I believe our soul is immortal,I also believe we move into another dimension after this life, it's just something I know. I feel.It's my opinion,you have your own.

ElkMeadow.....why would there be? Emotion doesn't belong in science it is unnecessary.

@Patty, anyone with a brain would know that is emotional crap, is the best argument you have? Things are pretty so there must be a god? Even thought we know exactly what a heart is and why it beats, why birds communicate, why flowers bloom, etc etc. You are going to need to do better than that if you want to insult people who don't believe what you do.

Sam Clemons (AKA "Mark Twain") was once asked if he feared death, being such an outspoken skeptic of claims to the supernatural and the church of Rome. His answer:

"Not at all. I was dead for millions of year before my birth and the condition did not inconvenience me in the least".

Pascal's Wager has been so thouroughly debunked that to offer it here in defense of ghosts and/or a purported afterlife is just sad. Moving on...

Is there love and compassion in science and reason? I would say yes. Scientific scrutiny will yield many facts, but our own human emotional states are brought about by our perception. If your perception of the universe is deluded with imaginary gods and demons at work all around you, you have something extra to fear and worry about, above and beyond the actual, natural universe. I would pity someone seeing ghosts and try to make them well. SIC "compassion". Such hallucinations are surely a sign of mental illness, correct? And what of love? If you think for one second that an atheist or agnostic / skeptic is incapable of love, you're missing the point of what it is to be human in the first place.

OK tracontech, Now you've done it! I have no choice but to bring out my famous "reality analysis" to help bring you into the light. Please be patient and follow me here:

Consider the "picture of reality" as seen by a clam laying at the bottom of the sea. Since the clam has no eyes or ears, reality looks like an empty black void. Needless to say, the clam believes that he is in the midst of this void. He has no knowledge of the ocean and its strange creatures.

Now, picture that you could talk to the clam and you informed it about the sea and its creatures along with the opinion that it was not perceiving reality properly. Do you think the clam would agree? Of course not. The clam lacks any evidence of your claim. The clam would simply say "I've been here a long time and I never saw anything or heard anything." The clam would remain confident that the entire universe was an empty void.

Of course, we humans can all agree that the clam has a problem with reality. But now that we have had a chance to stop laughing at the clam's ignorance, lets take a good look at "human reality".
Walk outside on a clear evening and look up at the sky. Now consider this: How much of the universe is substance and how much is emptiness? Most humans will agree that on a volume basis, it is 99.999 percent emptiness with the stars, planets, meteors, gases etc taking up the remaining .0001 percent.

Unfortunately, this perception of reality looks remarkably similar to that of the clam, a creature with no eyes or ears and a brain smaller than a pea. The clam says the universe is an empty void. The human says it's only 99.999 percent empty.

The similarity of the two perceptions should raise a red flag and give us pause. Could it be that the human perception suffers from the same problem as the clam perception? The answer is yes. Both the clam and human are guilty of making the assumption that Mother Nature blessed them with the ability to perceive all that was real. In fact, nature only allows us to perceive that which has a direct impact on our survival. In the case of humans that amount of reality is composed of .0001 percent of the universe by volume.

The truth is this: We humans also live in a large ocean that is 100 percent densely packed with materials. There is no "nothingness" within our universe. (nothingness exists only beyond the outer edge of the universe) The appearance of nothingness is simply an illusion created by our inability to perceive. It is no more real than the nothingness perceived by the clam.

Want proof? OK, here it is: The stars and planets are all in motion. Motion is only possible within a 3 dimensional medium. A 3D medium can never be nothing. It is defined as one or more displaceable substances consuming a given area. All motion requires two things, the thing in motion and the stuff moving out of its way allowing it to move. One of the greatest sources of illusion comes from the assumption that the picture painted on our mind from our senses is a fair representation of reality.

Perhaps we should all stop trusting our pictures so much.

Donbo, your 3 dimensional medium might sound profound to you, but is utterly wrong. I would ask you this, why does the universe suddenly become nothing because you no longer exist? I would also like to add that there isn't a border to the universe and that your "most humans would agree..." line is far off. We propose the universe is made up of baryonic matter (the normal stuff) dark matter, and vacuum energy (dark energy) with some minor ancillary stuff here and there. While not perfect, it's a pretty good understanding and we certainly aren't trying to quantify nothing.

There are so many other things in error with your post.

Plus, the only people who can look up at the sky and see 99% nothing are those suffering from a dire case of light pollution.
This hocus-pocus @!$%# makes good escapism for some, but call it what it is. The actual science is far more interesting anyway.

I would strongly disagree with your assessment that anyone has a pretty good understanding of the definition of space.

As for the 3 dimensional medium and my observation that no movement is possible with out one, I would submit that as a simple fact.

Regarding your question about why the universe becomes nothing? I'm not sure I understand that question.

" I would ask you this, why does the universe suddenly become nothing because you no longer exist?"

I think I know what you were asking now. Here is my understanding:

Everything has boundaries including the universe. It is a sphere of largely undefined multidimensional particles which we call space. The space forms a three dimensional medium which contains approx. 1.3 sextillion stars.

Matter cannot exist within "nothingness" because it is not a three dimensional medium. If you could touch nothingness it would appear to be a solid. The best theories suggest that every atom of matter generates "gravitons" which are the base material of space. Because of their multidimensional nature, they are the one exception to the rule and can penetrate nothingness. They emanate from all matter and occupy the area that was formerly nothing. Once occupied, the nothingness becomes space and other forms of matter and energy can occupy the area.

Eternity is a long time, so if you cannot believe in an afterlife based on faith alone, then perhaps even the smallest possibility of eternal damnation might spark some interest.

This is the argument I find most pathetic from "believers."

Say you're right, and there really is this psychopath in the sky who tortures humans for all eternity because they did not believe something for which there was no proof, but just a lot of contradictory nonsense propagated by other humans who are often shown to be power freaks and/or rapists.

Just suppose this very weird and twisted theory is true and this creepy supernatural entity really does exist.

Don't you think he would know that your so-called faith has only to do with saving your own hide, and nothing at all to do with loving him? And since he's always portrayed as a narcissistic egomaniac who, although all-powerful and all-knowing, tortures helpless victims for not loving his unlovable self, don't you think your hypocrisy is going to land you in hell anyway?

Grow up and grow a pair. Stop being afraid of the bogey-man. Understand that you were brainwashed and let it go.

Man's unfailing capacity to believe what he prefers to be true rather than what the evidence shows to be likely and possible has always astounded me. We long for a caring Universe which will save us from our childish mistakes, and in the face of mountains of evidence to the contrary we will pin all our hopes on the slimmest of doubts. God has not been proven not to exist, therefore he must exist.

-Prokhor Zakharov

That there is no evidence that god doesn't exist is not proof that he does exist.

I've had experiences all of my life, too. Dreams that come true, voices of the recently dead heard, an occassional "what the heck was that - oh wow, that WAS interesting" kind of moments.

The best physical evidence I have is a photograph I took - a "dust" spot streaking across my new kitchen in my house. Nothing else, including other dust spots, was moving in the photograph but that spot. Pretty freaky, even my usually-skeptical husband was freaked out.

Please show me the proof.

I voted early and I voted for Obama, a democrat Senator, and a Democrat member of the House. They each have their specific faith/religion. I have no faith whatsoever. However I won't sway my vote because someone said Obama was Muslim, or the Senator was a Moromon, or whatever. That's why religion is a scurge upon the earth, especially Christianity. It keeps mankind in constant war and worsens every time this purportedly ordained "one true religion" tries to prove another religion inferior and bring Democracy (code for Christianity) to that part of the world. Sorry, "In God We Trust" may be written on the money that greedy Christians vie for more than salavation, but it's not my motto and never will be. 30+% of the US population agrees with me and that number grows larger every time zealots try to impose Christianity upon us through legislation. Freedom! Liberty! Justice!

Democracy (code for Christianity)

Ummm. No.

Terri Jay, have you had your temporal lobe examined? Do you ever smell burning feathers? Maybe forgot your Keppra today?

Kidding aside. If you can sense these things then that's wonderful. Just be careful playing with the paranormal and be sure that the beings you contact are what they claim to be. If there is an afterlife and spirits, etc, then it is far more likely that Satan would use this medium than God. God sent us his son for salvation, and belief in Him is necessary and sufficient for salvation. God has no reason to contact us from "the other side". Satan, on the other hand, can use people like you to mislead many. Why would God contact you through Fluffels the Puppy? Really?

@tracontech: Just curious where your "facts" come from. The last report I read said that atheists account for about 5% of American society. Where is this 30%+? I see you are an obama supporter. I guess that explains everything to me. If you don't have the facts to support your claim, make them up. If you want to read the truth, check out this article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/poll-shows-atheism-on-the-rise-in-the-us/2012/08/13/90020fd6-e57d-11e1-9739-eef99c5fb285_story.html

And about these wars that Christianity keeps us involved in...I do remember the Crusades being a Christian vs. Muslim thing, but America did not even exist as a nation when they were fought. What other wars are you referring to? Let's go through our history: The American Revolution..nope. The War of 1812...nope. The Mexican American War...nope. The American Civil War...nope. The Spanish American War...nope. World War I...nope. World War II...nope. The Korean War...nope. The Vietnam War...nope. Operation Desert Storm...nope. Operation Iraqi Freedom...nope. The War in Afghanistan...nope. Wow, its unanimous. Not one of our wars was based on our Christian beliefs. Your post is absolute crap. Try again, and maybe put some actual facts in your post otherwise we will all believe you are as irrelevant as all other atheists.

Ummm, yes, Bentley-bob

Bentley-bob, cute. Did you strain yourself coming up with that one?

Our democracy separates church and state, therefore, beyond the myriad of things wrong with his post, he is technically incorrect. Besides, our wars aren't fought due to religion, that's nonsense.

"Democracy (code for Christianity)"

The Greeks invented democracy (even though it excluded slaves and women, but we've been there, too...) before Christianity existed...

"Besides, our wars aren't fought due to religion, that's nonsense."

Not that people haven't tried to drag it in. 'Godless Communism,' and all that...

(And we ended up with Godfull terrorists, instead, but anyway...)

There is nothing close minded about being a skeptic. Going around the world in search of truth -real truth- is more open minded than people of faith who refuse to believe anything but their own Christian God.

That's the thing though - we never know what we see. All five of our senses can and do lie to us from time to time. A plastic bag being nudged along the ground by wind can look like a small animal when far enough away, for example. Your brain will even convince you that's what it is until you get close enough.

I'm not saying that you didn't see what you believe you saw; that would be arrogant of me. I wasn't there and I didn't see it. I'm just trying to remind you that there is another kind of closed mindedness, and you're exhibiting it right now. You're not open to the possibility that your eyes (and your mother's eyes as well) might have deceived you. Mass hallucinations are known to happen, so two people seeing the same thing doesn't prove it was real. Hallucinations can happen to perfectly sane, rational people as well, so it wouldn't make you crazy either.

It's entirely possible that you did see something paranormal, but it's also possible that it was a real boy and the glow was merely an effect of some natural process (static electricity, in the right circumstances, can make a person appear to glow, for example). The only way to really know for sure is to try to recreate the effect - if you can, then you know for certain it was not paranormal. If you can't, then it might be paranormal, or you might've missed something. That's the nature of investigative science, unfortunately. It doesn't always guarantee an answer and its effectiveness hinges in part on the thoroughness of the person using it.

So, I can't tell you definitively if what you saw was paranormal or not. What I can tell you is that calling an event paranormal because you believe it so is just as closed-minded as someone who dismisses your claim out of hand without investigating.

Ken, where exactly did Liz say anything about God or Christianity? Your prejudice speaks volumes.

Shared hallucinations almost always have a real explanation. Those that don't, in my opinion, haven't been investigated enough.

Nick

A plastic bag being nudged along the ground by wind can look like a small animal when far enough away, for example. Your brain will even convince you that's what it is until you get close enough.

My friend and I bought an old, rather disreputable travel trailer years ago. Behind a chair we discovered a dead, half-decayed mouse. We argued about which of us was going to dispose of it, but I'm a woman and he's a man, so naturally, he lost.

Still, I'm not completely without ethics, so I forced myself to stay and share in making gestures and sounds of disgust. We tortured ourselves in this way for at least 5 minutes before he finally scooped it up, whereupon we realized the dead mouse was an old scrap of carpet.

I believe you liz, you saw a boy under a street light.

Human perception is just plastic and malleable. Ask any criminologist, and they hate having to rely on eyewitness accounts to make a case. Much better to have something that you can handle and analyze in the bright illumination of a forensic lab.

People see things all the time that are not there, or are completely different from the way they recalled it. Little experiment we tried in school: line up 10 people in a circle. One person starts with a phrase whispered to the next person, who whispers it to the person next to them. By the time it gets around the circle, it in no way resembles what the first person said. Parlor game? Sure. But it shows just how unreliable human perceptions can be. The mind's eye sees a glimpse of something and fills in the rest from scraps of memories.

That is why I don't trust eyewitness accounts of ghosts that only a few privileged people seem to be lucky enough to see or hear. If ghosts were so common, they should be a measurable phenomena. And after so many years, there's still no proof.

I don't doubt that people see something. I only doubt what they think they see.

That's because nobody can. Anybody who claims that they know for certain that ghosts don't exist is making the same mistake as a person who claims that they know for certain that ghosts do exist. We all have our beliefs, and that's fine, but none of us know. I wish people would stop throwing that word around so lightly - mainly for their own sake. It really sucks to be proven wrong when you knew something was true.

Will I 100% rule out the possibility that ghosts exist? No, but there has never been any proof of them existing.

It's like Big Foot. There's a statistical chance that it exists, but until you show me some evidence, I'm not going to believe it.

It's called a hologram. It's a 3D simulation projection. The "ghost" of Tupac was turned into a 3D hologram and performed with Snoop Dog at the Coachella Music festival.

There is nothing that remains unexplained with Joe Nickell. He is the authoratative know-it-all on every subject. He actually has the easiest job in the world. Just deny everything and you to could be Joe Nickell. I have seen him make a fool of himself on more than one occasion. He was going to show the TV audience how easy it was to make an image in the desert like those at Nazca, Peru. The funny thing about it was that he could not do it. He was planning on the simple minds of the Nazca Indians to prove he could do anything they did. Ha....what an idiot and what a pitiful way to live a life, with no wonders or possibilities for the unexplained.

I like how he explained that people must be having waking dreams. How can a self-proclaimed skeptic use as his explanation something that can't be quantified and only assumed? Sounds extremely hypocritical to me, like he's grasping at straws trying to explain the inexplicable. I'd have more respect for him if he admitted that he couldn't explain explain something, rather than come up with an explanation that has as many holes as the one he's debunking.

You sound like a great story teller. You would be alot of fun around a campfire or marshmellow roast with a bunch of kids.

You saw a flash of movement out of the corner of your eye and your brain filled in the details.

It happened to me last night, a car drove by and a shadow moved across the wall, out of the corner of my eye, it looked like a man. I jumped and when I turned there was nobody there. Nothing paranormal about it.

Thank You! My sentiments exactly!

And I bet you saw Bigfoot pissing on a tree too? OMG people are so dumb! If you followed this guy around for 30 years you would give up on all this Bull crap your stupid brain does to you!

There is nothing out there that science can't explain. Only things science hasn't explained, yet.

Oh my goodness. The crazies are out in full force.

I can't believe I live amongst humans who believe this stuff. That is the only thing that scares me about the paranormal topic.

I noticed that (in general) the crazier the posts, the more religious they are, and the worse the spelling is.

Ha Ha!! Good one, Shaydie! "It's been almost 100 years since satan and his demons were cast out of heaven". Currect me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the bible talk about the devil and isn't the bible almost 2000 years old?? And, the bible "teaches facts, man teaches fiction". Wow! What a load of crap! A freaking zealot that doesn't even know his own bible! Now THAT'S funny!!

As Joe Biden says "facts matter". Good science requires acceptance of facts. Are you willing to accept facts?

It is a fact that in almost 50 percent of "near death" experiences and "out of body experiences", the person can prove that they were able to remotely hear and observe events that occurred and prove detailed knowledge of those events.

The fact that this cannot be explained in the physical sense does not negate the reality of this proof. The definition and role of various forms of energy is still a great mystery. To rule out "knowledge based" energy is to make an assumption that is not based on valid scientific principles.

Well what you're advocating for is not good science. The chemistry of the brain probably escapes you though.

Science is not a religion because religion is based on faith and science is based on evidence and peer review.

Well, unless you have actually conducted every science experiment yourself and have seen this "evidence" first hand, clearly you do have faith. You have faith that what you read in articles and what is written in science books is actually true. Just saying.

"Facts matter." Its true - just don't see what that has to do with the rest of your post. Maybe almost 50% of people who report their near death experiences report similar stories, but that does not make it 50% of all people. And even if they do report similar stories, so what? If almost 50% report the same thing, then slightly more than 50% seem to be reporting something different. That is your idea of proof?

Out-of-body and near-death memories reported by those that experienced them mean nothing really and can't be used as evidence except perhaps that those people were near death, and not actually dead. The mind does strange things when fully conscious. Guess it can do stranger stuff yet when it is oxygen starved and shutting down as well. And just because a person appears to be dead and/or unconscious does not mean they actually are.

When sceptics come across a situation they cannot explain through the existing laws of science, they often rationalize it away using bad science.

Unfortunately, the same goes for the believers, who will often rationalize that something must be paranormal due to the fact they cannot (or will not) recognize a logical, natural cause.

This is a major flaw of the human condition, played out daily in in regards to world views, personal beliefs, politics, relationships, et al. Human beings are wired to be prejudiced as a survival instinct. Although this is crucial to our survival, it is also a detriment.

We know very little about the universe we live in; and it will remain that way.