Do you have any paranormal experineces?

[fredd bear]

Recently was watching some "true paranormal stories" type show on Netflix and it's interesting to me how convinced the people are the ghosts/spirits are the only explanation for the things they've experienced. Many of these "encounters" can be easily explained away by sleep paralysis experiences, hypnagogic hallucinations or intense nightmares, interestingly enough. The issue I have is that rather than asking themselves what rational explanations there could be for these weird experiences, they immediately jump to the conclusion that their house is haunted.

This tells me that these people are likely already believers in the supernatural; they're predisposed to interpreting events in a specific way that could allow them to actually believe they're being haunted. Many of them even openly talk about how they've always believed in ghosts or will talk about how "skeptics" should learn to "accept the evidence given to them."

I wonder how often it is that a truly skeptical person is convinced that they're being haunted. I have to assume it's very rare.

 Probably are, but when they fall, they fall big time.

I once read that conmen really love intelligent people. They think they're too smart  to be conned.

Speaking of that: A current telephone scam I've had tried on me;:caller says they are calling from the Emergency section of the local hospital and that a relative has been injured in a car accident. I ask them to the name of the person they are calling. I ask twice. Then say they are obviously a criminal and to fuck off.  I then hang up.

You wouldn't think anyone would be stupid enough to fall for that

Thought  for the day:   " No one has ever gone broke underestimating public taste or intelligence". (P T Barnum)

[EgoDeath]

 Probably are, but when they fall, they fall big time.

I once read that conmen really love intelligent people. They think they're too smart  to be conned.

I think this is a gross oversimplification of the truth. A truly intelligent, street-smart person would see a con coming from a mile and a half away. I think it takes a certain mix of intelligence, arrogance and naivety to be so smart that you're easy to con. Same goes for people who fall for cults, multi-level marketing schemes, etc. Yea, your intelligence COULD work against you in these paradigms if you're also arrogant and naive enough to fall for that kind of shit. Sometimes, you have to be smart enough to honestly ask yourself if you're being tricked or ripped off.

Speaking of that: A current telephone scam I've had tried on me;:caller says they are calling from the Emergency section of the local hospital and that a relative has been injured in a car accident. I ask them to the name of the person they are calling. I ask twice. Then say they are obviously a criminal and to fuck off.  I then hang up.

You wouldn't think anyone would be stupid enough to fall for that

Thought  for the day:   " No one has ever gone broke underestimating public taste or intelligence". (P T Barnum)

But what info would they hope to gain by telling you a random relative has been hurt?

I can already think of where this is going, but for the sake of the conversation I'd like you to explain it to me.

[DeistPaladin]

On the off-chance that someone here has experienced some "paranormal happenings," would you like to share your experiences here?

I've always been interested in the idea of ghosts/possessions/demons etc. even though I don't actually believe in any of it. I've talked to a few people in real life who claimed to have paranormal experiences or to have seen ghosts but I never felt like their stories added up and suspected one or two people to just be saying things for attention. One of the girls who told me was a known drama queen and I wrote it off as her just wanting attention from people.

What I'm interested in is people who have legitimately experienced things they can't explain; if anyone here has stories like that, share them here.

When I was a child, I had what I then believed to be an "experience" with a ghost in our basement, which even included hearing heavy breathing, a strange gargling voice and, on one occasion, an invisible hand on my shoulder. I attribute that to childhood imagination. Later as a teenager I went looking for the thing and, as I expected, found nothing. This was my first lesson in skepticism, that reality is the part that doesn't go away when you stop believing in it. 

To what do I owe the vivid experiences as a child? I have no idea and haven't had any such experiences since. I can only speculate that the human mind plays tricks on us if we allow it to and children are especially active with our imaginations. Put in a "scary background" and that's usually all that's needed. 

Some will say it was a real ghost I encountered, one that presumably "went away" by the time I later went looking for it as a teenager. Or perhaps the ghost was a sadistic dick who would rather play with a frightened child than a skeptical teenager. Occam's Razor suggests it was just in my still developing mind. 

So when people tell me of their supernatural experiences, I listen sympathetically. It doesn't mean I believe. It doesn't mean I think they're lying. It doesn't mean I think they're crazy. It only means they had some kind of experience that I can't explain. My inability to explain it away doesn't mean we fill in the gaps with fanciful notions or explanations more complicated that they beckon more questions than they answer.

[SteelCurtain]

The second incident is kind of a two-parter (shut up @SteelCurtain; I hate you so much).

Who, moi?!?

[fredd bear]

@EgoDeath

"But what info would they hope to gain by telling you a random relative has been hurt?"

At some point they WILL ask you for money.

A legitimate person will have your name, the name of the hospital and the name of the injured person--THEY give you information you Do NOT give them information. Now, that's my opinion and policy. I have no investment in your acceptance or non acceptance.

"I think this is a gross oversimplification of the truth. "

Well yes, it's a generalisation.   I read it as a cautionary tale against arrogance, which you seem to have missed.

Another scam I've had contact me me was  a person claiming they were from Microsoft and that there was a problem with my PC..I know MS don't make such calls. Besides, I have  a Mac. But my sister got panicked, and luckily rang me on her mobile phone before giving out any information.

Not all people are as smart or informed as you. That does not mean they deserve to be conned.

[GrandizerII]

"But what info would they hope to gain by telling you a random relative has been hurt?"

At some point they WILL ask you for money.

A legitimate person will have your name, the name of the hospital and the name of the injured person--THEY give you information you Do NOT give them information. Now, that's my opinion and policy. I have no investment in your acceptance or non acceptance.

"I think this is a gross oversimplification of the truth. "

Well yes, it's a generalisation.   I read it as a cautionary tale against arrogance, which you seem to have missed.

Another scam I've had contact me me was  a person claiming they were from Microsoft and that there was a problem with my PC..I know MS don't make such calls. Besides, I have  a Mac. But my sister got panicked, and luckily rang me on her mobile phone before giving out any information.

Not all people are as smart or informed as you. That does not mean they deserve to be conned.

Every human being with a brain is susceptible to various psychological tactics. No one is that awesome to not fall for some psychological trick here and there. Experience and education and awareness of one's imperfectness and biases certainly helps, but that's not going to completely prevent someone from being conned. The thing to keep in mind is that most of the time, we are thinking in a very automatic manner, and we only start using the "mental manual stick" at very specific times given very specific conditions. So yeah, at times, we're going to fall for some subtle tricks and not even realize that we did.

[EgoDeath]

At some point they WILL ask you for money.

There it is!

A legitimate person will have your name, the name of the hospital and the name of the injured person--THEY give you information you Do NOT give them information. Now, that's my opinion and policy. I have no investment in your acceptance or non acceptance.

Not sure what you mean by the "acceptance" bit, but I'll ignore it for now.

I agree, no legitimate hospital would have someone call you and ask for money over the phone. If they ask that you pay in Target gift cards I'd be doubly suspicious.

Well yes, it's a generalisation.   I read it as a cautionary tale against arrogance, which you seem to have missed.

How do you figure I missed it? I literally said, " I think it takes a certain mix of intelligence, arrogance and naivety to be so smart that you're easy to con."

Another scam I've had contact me me was  a person claiming they were from Microsoft and that there was a problem with my PC..I know MS don't make such calls. Besides, I have  a Mac. But my sister got panicked, and luckily rang me on her mobile phone before giving out any information.

A pretty common scam. They recently shut down a bunch of call-centers in India for this. They basically use Syskey to lock you out of your own computer and, I assume, steal information regarding credit cards, billing addresses, and to charge you money to get access to your computer again, probably under the guise that you're somehow infected by a virus.

Not all people are as smart or informed as you. That does not mean they deserve to be conned.

I wouldn't say I'm that much more informed than anyone. I am, however, humble enough to admit that I don't know much; any time money is involved you should be asking yourself what's going on. Take 60 seconds to step back and ask yourself if you're being ripped off. I've avoided headaches a few times by doing this; it's not difficult and certainly doesn't require "intelligence" except for in the most technical sense of the term.

I never said uninformed people deserved to be ripped off... where are you getting that from?

[Fake Messiah]

Actually I had such a strange experience recently. It was a rainy, very dark and very steamy day and I was doing some cardio when all of a sudden I started experiencing very strange and abstract thoughts - as if I was suddenly remembering dreams very vividly or as if the part of my brain I use for dreaming suddenly activated and I was overwhelmed with this feeling of almost being sick and having an orgasm at the same time. Like I said, it was almost like a dream because I started having strange thoughts which then formulated into characters. For a minute I even thought I was having a stroke or something.

[madog]

I had two experiences in my childhood home between the ages of 13 and 16. Both incidents involved an inanimate object flying across the room. The first incident happened in the living room while I was in my bedroom, so I didn’t see it (but I heard it), and it upset the family dog terribly. I witnessed the second incident with my own eyes. I’m sure there is a scientific explanation for the phenomena, but hell if I can fathom what it might have been. Any thoughts from our physics-educated gang?

When I was young I worked at a hotel .... All the staff met in a workers room for a late night drink, the party went into the early morning.

An older staff member told a horrific tale about an event in the hotel and said the ghost walked from one side of the hotel to the other at a certain time  ... every one was scared.

He then told everyone to listen  ... from one side of the hotel a clanking thud at first quiet emitted from the far side of the hotel and appeared to gradually move through all the stairwells and corridors towards us.

The atmosphere was electric and everyone was terrified ...

It eventually passed our room, now booming, before gradually going to the far side of the hotel as the sound got quieter then stopped  ....

You can imagine the stories and the claims that followed after, some even stating they felt the spirit of the ghost.

Later on the older guy admitted to me that at the same time every moring the central heating turned on ... the sound was the water passing through the old pipe works of the hotel.

Taught me not to assume the supernatural

[prhill]

Nope none and not from lack of trying just to see if anything would happen.  I have used Ouija Boards many times including in graveyards and places claimed to be haunted. I have done rituals that are suppose to summon spirits and many other things and nothing has ever happened.