why we need ghosts

[Magical Realist]

We know you're trolling, to see how much reaction you can get.

Nope..you are entirely responsible for the reactions you post in this thread. I have no control over what you do. You are a free agent. Post or don't post. Obsess or ignore. It matters not to me.

 

[DaveC426913]

Nope..you are entirely responsible for the reactions you post in this thread. I have no control over what you do. You are a free agent. Post or don't post. Obsess or ignore. It matters not to me.

Odd. I never suggested you were responsible for the reactions anyone posts. Indeed, if that were the case, it would suck all the fun out of trolling.

 

[Michael 345]

Adam saw a moving shadow under the gap of a door

Thanks for the synopsis

Ghost have shadows???

Will add that to my 200 page book (so far)

Working title "Fun things you might not know about ghost"

Foreword by MR

 

[Magical Realist]

Thanks for the synopsis

Ghost have shadows???

Will add that to my 200 page book (so far)

Working title "Fun things you might not know about ghost"

Foreword by MR

Shadow beings are a common phenomenon of the paranormal. Many have witnessed these beings that appear as shadows or black silouettes and they usually come with an atmosphere of intense fear and dread. Are they just another form of ghosts or some other beings altogether? Many theories and speculations but no certain knowledge in this area.

https://www.bustle.com/p/what-are-s...es-are-scarier-than-any-horror-movie-12219528

 

[DaveC426913]

Also, shadows under doorways are a common phenomenon of mundane real life.

 

[Magical Realist]

Shadow being caught peaking around the corner on an empty airplane...

 

[James R]

This was a warning issued to Magical Realist on 10 July, 2017:

Refer to our site rules:

I26. Evangelising is where the poster’s main aim is to spread the word about his or her beliefs, without being interested in real discussion or critical analysis.

This describes many of your posts.

So, enough.

This warning carries 10 points. At 50 points you will be temporarily and automatically banned from sciforums for a period of time. Warning points expire 6 months from the date of issue.

If you wish to keep posting your anecdotes, you will need, from now on, to provide some kind of critical analysis with each one, putting the evidence for and against the "story".

This is a discussion forum, not your soapbox.

And here we are, one and a half years and several warnings (all for the same behaviour) later.

Some people never learn, I guess.

MR will be taking another short break from sciforums.

 

[Michael 345]

Also, shadows under doorways are a common phenomenon of mundane real life.

Arh shadow beings

Ghost of shadows, perfectly clear explanation

Guard went looking for the shadow with his torch

Could not find anywhere

 

[James R]

Shadow being caught peaking around the corner on an empty airplane...

It looks like another guy climbing down backwards out of some kind of hatchway above.

 

[James R]

Dee Wallace's ghost encounter..

This one doesn't even have first-hand footage. It's just a dramatised anecdote, played by an actor with some special effects. Who knows what happened with Dee Wallace? There's no way to find out.

 

[James R]

[Ghost anecdotes from Cosmopolitan]

Another collection of unverified and uncheckable anecdotes.

 

[James R]

A paranormal experience of sheer terror by a paranormal investigator...

Stop the presses! Man thinks he sees a shadow and gets scared.

 

[DaveC426913]

I think this thread, and its kin here in the Ghost forum, are an intriguing microcosm of the ghost hunters world out there, and MR is paying his part.

If ghosts really have been around for centuries then we should have a choice selection of evidence. We should just be able to take the top five incidents - which will have most of :
- unexaplainable events
- multiple, independent objective witnesses
- high quality recordings
- irrefutable provenance
- some amount of recurrence
- extant examinable evidence (what do they call it? protoplasm?)
(they only ever seem to get 1 or 2 out of 6 or more)

But the ghost hunting world, like MR, never can quite lay their hands on that.
So, when the accounts are examined critically, they turn out to be quite problematic. Or even useless.

But instead of going for quality, MR - like the ghost hunters - goes for quantity. They throw all sorts of crap at the walls, in case just some of it sticks. the Jimmy Kimmel Show? Shadows under doors?

This also means they bootstrap their arguments, by saying "but look how much evidence there is!" 1000 x 0 is still 0.

So, MR is mirroring the ghost hunting industry, writ small. And, like the larger science community, we here see a floundering, sloppy assertion that is quite disappointing for those of us who would really, really like to see some ghosts.



And so of course, this XKCD is as apt as ever.

 

[Michael 345]

Stop the presses! Man thinks he sees a shadow and gets scared.

Scared of shadows???

Do you think a career as a Ghostbuster wàs a good choice?

 

[DaveC426913]

This is a rare case where absence of evidence really is evidence of absence (though not proof).
We should see a statistically overwhelming flood of evidence for ghosts (and UFOs), just in the last 20 years.
There's pretty much nowhere for ghosts (or UFOs) to hide from 7 billion cameras.

 

[Michael 345]

This is a rare case where absence of evidence really is evidence of absence (though not proof).
We should see a statistically overwhelming flood of evidence for ghosts (and UFOs), just in the last 20 years.
There's pretty much nowhere for ghosts (or UFOs) to hide from 7 billion cameras.

Area 51?

No cameras allowed

 

[Magical Realist]

This is a rare case where absence of evidence really is evidence of absence (though not proof).
We should see a statistically overwhelming flood of evidence for ghosts (and UFOs), just in the last 20 years.
There's pretty much nowhere for ghosts (or UFOs) to hide from 7 billion cameras.

Number one, ghosts are rather rare. You literally have to go out late at night and spend alot of time in a haunted place to get evidence of them. Number two, even at haunted places they don't show up every night. Some peculiar allignment of environmental energies only allows them to appear now and then. Number three, if confronted with a ghost, how many are going to have the presence of mind to take a picture of it with their cellphone? Likely not many. A paranormal encounter is an entirely immersive and emotional experience. You're not thinking, "I'd better photograph this for posterity."

 

[DaveC426913]

how many are going to have the presence of mind to take a picture of it with their cellphone? Likely not many.

The same percentage as when cameras were rare.

Let's pretend everyone sees a ghost in their lifetime. So 1:1.
Let's pretend, back in the 60's only 1 in 1000 people actually had a camera on them at any given time. (number of people who have cameras divided by the amount of time they carry them with them.)
Of that, how many would you say had the presence of mind to take a pic? Do we hear about stories of people who say they had a camera but forgot to take pics?
Let's set the number at, I dunno - 20%.

So, that's 1 in 5,000 people who got pics.


Flash forward 50 years. The number of people with cameras is very nearly 1 in 1 - or all 1000 people.
Same number have the same presence of mind: 20%.

We should now have 1 in 5 people getting pics of ghosts.

In other words, we should be seeing a thousand-fold increase in ghost pictures.

We're not.

You can play with the numbers all you want, you can alter the factors, add more factors in, whatever you think is best. you will find that that thousand-fold increase never goes away. It is independent of other factors. You will be unable to escape the conclusion that we should literally be inundated with pictures. Not just figuratively inundated, like a thousand times more than before.

We're not.

This is inescapable.

 

[Magical Realist]

You will be unable to escape the conclusion that we should literally be inundated with pictures. Not just figuratively inundated, like a thousand times more than before.

Nope..due to the three factors I cited already, you're still not going to get many ghost pics. I'll simply repeat that until you finally get it.

 

[billvon]

Number one, ghosts are rather rare. You literally have to go out late at night and spend alot of time in a haunted place to get evidence of them.

Yes. About the same percentage of people are doing that who always did that. But now they all have cameras. If ghosts are real, pictures of them would have gone through the roof.

Number two, even at haunted places they don't show up every night. Some peculiar allignment of environmental energies only allows them to appear now and then.

OK. So since the 'hauntings' are happening at about the same rate (rarely) and if people once got a few pictures of ghosts (which you claim they have) then we should see many, many more pictures of ghosts now if they were real.

Number three, if confronted with a ghost, how many are going to have the presence of mind to take a picture of it with their cellphone? Likely not many.

If you are confronted by an angry bear, how many are going to have the presence of mind to take a picture of it with their cellphone? Answer - quite a few, based on posted pictures.
If you are confronted by a criminal intent on crime, how many are going to have the presence of mind to take a picture of it with their cellphone? Answer - quite a few, based on posted pictures.
If you are confronted by an air disaster, how many are going to have the presence of mind to take a picture of it with their cellphone? Answer - quite a few, based on posted pictures.
If you are confronted by a dangerous fire, how many are going to have the presence of mind to take a picture of it with their cellphone? Answer - quite a few, based on posted pictures.

That's why there are so many pictures of those things posted on line. Google them yourself if you don't believe me.