Do ghosts exist?

[Dorothy Thompson]

I'm wondering if there is anyone out there who believes in the existence of ghosts?

[Heather Froeschl]

Teri,
I watched a bit, a couple of hours all together here and there. I'd love to visit that old jail myself! But I find the Most Haunted crew to be very theatrical and nothing they ever show seems to be absolute phenomenon when it could very well be staged. I much prefer the Ghost Hunters who are so skeptical. (New season starts June 6th) Of course it all makes for great TV so who knows what at all is real with either one. They are fun to watch though! I guess I just trust the Roto Rooter man more. ;-)

[Teri Thackston]

I feel the same about those shows. MH is just fun...Yvette is a hoot. I always wonder about the validity of those taps we hear. GH seems much more interested in getting to the truth, although they aren't above a bit of soap operaness (if I can make up a word). My husband once worked for Roto Rooter and now has his own drain cleaning business, so I find Jason and Grant to be more trustworthy, too.

[Heather Froeschl]

Yeah, the soap operaness of the guys not getting along and hissy fits...could do without that. But you're right...you've gotta trust a guy who has to deal with drain pipes. If that's not airing your dirty laundry then I don't know what is. ;-) and when Jason and Grant are actually convinced there is a haunting going on, then you KNOW there has to be something there. Did you see that one with the lighthouse in Florida and the ghost looking over the top railing at them? I loved that one. And I have a friend who has been in that same lighthouse.

Have you had any experiences yourself?

[Amy Hanek]

One of my favorite things to do on vacation is visit the cemetaries and the historical houses and such. This is a great way for me to get to know the town I am in and get a spiritual feel for the place. I usually "sense" something, but have never had a ghostly experience. I am pretty happy about that most times. The feelings I get are bad enough-usually. I will end the tour with a ghost book purchase to indulge in later.

I sometimes take a ghost tour, but they are usually not really looking for ghosts. They are just storytelling.
I am sure they are out there and that if we exercised the muscle used in communicating with them, through belief and openmindness, we usually can. But just like people, they are in control of their spirit and whether or not they wish to communicate at all.

[Heather Froeschl]

Amy,
There is an annual ghost tour in Rocky Mount (VA) for Halloween. Now I know what you mean about the storytelling, but these tales are about real instances. I haven't BEEN on this tour but have heard all about it. This year I want to go. Let's plan on going together! One of the houses that has been on the tour is one of those places that I have stood outside and felt the spirit. It is an historical house, with a marker and I was there with the kids just to tour the historic like stuff of the town on our own. Walking up the front walk (the house is not really on a tour normally, or open to the public) I felt my familiar ghost vibe. A sensation in the neck and down my arms. I had to turn away and leave. I knew it was haunted and I didn't want to meet the ghost. The house was the original court house in town. Who knows what spirits hang around. Now, some four years later, I just found out that our doctor lives in that house. He'd mentioned to me the last time I saw him that his house was on the annual ghost tour (but not where he lived). My hubby also saw him and was told which house it was, and only just the other day told me. So I had no idea that the house was on the tour and actually had a spirit that day when I'd sensed it. It confirmed to me my sensory pickup, at least in that house!
So, you want to go on that tour this year? (There is another house in town that has a spirit I have sensed. I've been in that house.)
Heather

[Karen Bradley]

I don't think it's really a matter of believing in them. They are here whether the living believe in them or not. I have been fortunate to have seen them and experienced them in other ways ever since I was a little girl.

My first experience was as a child in the Midwest. My mother and I were living in my grandmother's house after my dad left. It was a small town with small town values. I can remember it as clearly, as if it happened yesterday. It was winter and snow had fallen the previous night, creating a white blanket over every yard in the neighborhood. I was with my mother, bundled up in my wool coat, boots, and mittens. We were walking back from the corner gas station where she bought a pack of cigarettes. As we turned to head back to the house, I saw a dowdy looking woman in a brown coat standing on the sidewalk next to my grandmother's house. She was just standing there by herself, not moving. She appeared to be staring at my mother and me as I looked at her. I turned to my mom and asked who she was, since I knew everyone in the neighborhood, and had never seen her before. My mother said she had no idea who she was either and wondered why she was just standing there like that. She thought it was odd behavior. Then as we were both looking at her, she disappeared into thin air. From that day forward, we had numerous encounters with this female ghost in the interior of the house. After I got a little older, I tried to do some research to find out who she was. I was never able to do so. To this day, her identity remains a mystery.

Since moving west, I have had numerous ghostly encounters. The most dramatic was in an apartment I used to rent. I lived alone. One evening as I was stretched out, face down on my bed waiting for sleep to wash over me, I felt the pressure of a large man's hand on my back between my shoulder blades, and the sensation of someone leaning over me. It never entered my head that my intruder was a ghost. I was certain that someone had broken into my apartment and was going to either kill me or rape me or both. It was terrifying. I froze and began to mumble repeatedly into my pillow, "Please don't kill me, please don't kill me, please don't kill me." I fully expecting to be murdered in my bed. Then as suddenly as I felt his hand on me, I could no longer feel it or the sensation of someone leaning over me. I lay there with my eyes closed for a long time, waiting to hear the sound of the only door in and out of my dwelling, slam. It did not slam. In fact, there were no noises at all, not even footfalls. When I finally got up the courage to investigate, the first thing I saw was that my door was still locked from the inside, as were my windows. At that point, I started to get an idea that what I had experienced was a ghostly encounter, not a living murderer or rapist. I looked in every room and every closet. The man with the big hands was nowhere to be found.

From that night on, he became bolder and bolder. In the early evenings, he took to making a big production of clomping around in my kitchen while I tried to watch TV. Apparently, he wanted me to know he was there. I really didn't want to share my apartment with another living person, let alone a ghost, but he seemed harmless, so I decided to tolerate him. In fact, I verbally told him aloud that he could stay as long as he didn't go into the bathroom while I was in there or touch me. Even though I came to sense his loneliness and felt he posed no threat, I didn't want him touching me. That was just too creepy. However, he didn't want to play by all my rules. Less than a week had passed before I was awakened by his hand on my back again. I angrily sat bolt upright in bed and yelled at him to get the hell out of my apartment and never come back. He obviously left because I never felt his presence again. To this dayI feel a little guilty about tossing him out on his ghostly ear like that , when he was so lonely.

[Donna Wells-Austin]

No,
As a mortician with thirty years of experience, I believe that the person who once existed is completely gone from this life and never to return as a spirit, but perhaps in another form. I have never experienced any type of phenomenoms, nor do or have I dreamt of felt the presence of any family members or people that I have buried. I believe that television and other sources of media have created this over the centuries. Do I believe that Christ rose from the dead? I won't even open that can of worms.

Donna Austin, "It Is...What It Is!" www.myspace.com/dwellsmortician

[Karen Bradley]

Donna:

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. :) I am sure that many people would think that a mortician would encounter many ghosts; but as you said, the spirits of the dead are no longer connected to the bodies you were working on. They were long gone. I wouldn't say that they have never observed your handiwork; but I don't think I'd want to hang around and watch my body being embalmed. :) Would you?

I find it a curious thing that people who are open to the possibility that ghosts may exist, are more likely to experience them. On the other hand, people whose minds are sealed shut by their certainty that ghosts are imaginary, will never ever experience one.

When I was growing up, I became open to the possibility of ghosts from talking to my mother. Her father came to her in her dreams shortly after he died. I was fascinated by the story. After my mother died, she visited me in a dream. Being a writer, I fictionalized the dream into a micro story and submitted it for publication. I'm still waiting to hear back on it.

You might be surprised to learn that I might be on the same page with you when it comes to the story about Jesus rising from the dead. However, I won't talk about that here as it might offend devout Christians. That is not my aim. You may email me privately on that one if you wish. :)

It was nice chatting. I will check in again.

Namaste.

~Karen

[Kim Baccellia]

E-mail me at my website www.kim-baccellia.com

I can share some stories!

[Tony Cartledge]

This question seems to be serendipitous for me, as the subject of belief vs evidence in the paranormal is the theme of my first novel, Razor Burn (unpublished but querying agents). The protag is a reluctant skeptic, always looking for that unassailable piece of evidence. Unfortunately he is always disappointed. The story is meant to reflect the real world of scientific investigation into the paranormal, and the evidence for ghosts simply doesn't exist. Of all the sightings throughout history there should be some shred of evidence that can withstand scientific scrutiny, but there isn't. So my answer, like my protagonist, would also be a reluctant no. There are simply too many other reasonable explanations to explain ghostly encounters.

[Jeffrey J. Mariotte]

I moved to Germany with my parents during high school, and for a few months we sublet a house from some Americans who were stateside. The house had bedrooms for my parents and my sister, but I was meant to sleep downstairs in the basement.

The first night I tried, I could not sleep. I had the creepiest feelings imaginable--bad vibes, as we said in those days. I felt very uncomfortable just being down there. The rest of the time we lived in that house, I slept in the living room upstairs, on a couch that was too small, rather than go back down there at night.

Years later, I learned that in this town in Germany, there had only been one murder in the last century or so.

In that basement.

Ghosts? I dunno... but maybe it's no wonder I write horror novels.

Jeff

[Debra Woodard]

I am not exactly sure if ghosts exist but maybe so I am pretty sure that their spirits of ones that have past bringing a message to their loved ones or to some. My Youngest son and his grandma on his dads side say they seen his grandpa after he died and that they felt him. My son also said that he heard his grandpa before he felt him say i going to get oyur turkey leg which he called my sons legs lol . Also I personally seen my mother after she died on the night of her funeral she came to me when I was ready to go to sleep and said everything will be ok. My mother told me once to that she seen her sister inlaw at the foot of her bed telling her that it is ok too.