Ghost Stories, Folklore, Legends and the Generally Supernatural

[Dusknight Haze 161]

While the scientist in me says "Hell No!", I have seen a few questionable things and had some strange experiences, so at the very least I can't dismiss the "tulpa" theory in that fear creates the object, either for the viewer or in an objective reality itself.

 

At most, it's possible they outright exist. 

 

Don't believe in aliens though. That's just some bullhockey.

[Celtore 2,770]

I am a bit of a sceptic as odd as that might sound coming from me of all people. My opinion has wavered quite a bit, but I refuse to believe in it because of how crazy my parents can sound when they resort to ghosts as an explanation to some kind of event. We live in an old house, of course there are going to be weird sounds sometimes! It would be interesting if they did exist, I wouldn't be too upset if it were proven conclusively that I was wrong...

Edited September 7, 2013 by Celtore

[Moonlight 7,286]

Nope, I don't believe in ghosts in the slightest.

 

Hell, I don't even believe in God, demons or poltergeists. 

 

It takes a lot for me to believe in something. There's always a reason for something to happen...and it's never because of ghosts.

 

I do enjoy watching movies and shows about ghosts, just for fun, though. 

[Blue Moon 6,341]

I wouldn't really say I believe in ghosts, but I'm not denying their existence either. There just isn't enough evidence for the existence of the paranormal for me. I think it's rather odd for a spirit to stay on Earth, but who really knows?

[Mr F 1,522]

No, ghosts beleves in me. 

Shadowy figures are just figures for me, I understand it creeps people a bit. (it is natural in a human to fear the unknown anyway.)

But ghosts are just not there, so i don't fear the dark either. (that is especially understandable people fear, we do stuff during daytime after all)

[Misty Shadow 7,866]

Yeah. There are so many sightings and strange things that happen linked to ghosts that I just can't bring myself to view it all as coincidence. I've also really liked spirits and paranormal stuff since I was a kid, so yeah.

Edited September 7, 2013 by Matt Engarde

[GhostPony750 959]

I'm quite skeptical about this, since there are no solid proofs of this, and most of the "surnatural events" can be easily explained.

 

So for now, nope.

 

In which boat are you?

[Chigens and Kay 3,832]

Just saying this real quick, if there is already a topic about this, sorry, never saw it.

 

Yep. There was. I just merged a couple of threads together into this one.

 

When thinking about making a thread, please use the search function beforehand~

[Obsolete 681]

I'd have to say no, I don't believe in ghosts. I'm not particularly moved by eyewitness accounts either. It's all too easy to encounter innocuous phenomena and mistake it for the supernatural, especially if you're the type that wants to believe in that stuff. Confirmation bias and all that jazz.

 

 

 

Don't believe in aliens though. That's just some bullhockey.

 

 

Really? Not even in simple stuff, like, space bacteria or whatever?

[Dusknight Haze 161]

Really? Not even in simple stuff, like, space bacteria or whatever?

 

Oh no, astrobiology is a very valid and interesting field. The very fact that racemic amino acids exist outside of the earth's biosphere pretty much sounds alarms that there must be life elsewhere.

 

It's just bullshit that civilizations come here and UFO us all the time. It not only makes zero sense from the science part- as in, we're so freaking far away from everything else that such travel would take too long at even relativistic speeds- it also makes no sense from a logic standpoint.

 

Why would aliens visiting us either 1. observe us while trying to conceal their presence but then get accidentally discovered by farmers and travellers on deserted roads rather than you know, astronomers who are looking out telescopes pretty much 24 hours a day or 2. if they weren't trying to hide their presence why have they not attempted a comprehensive form of contact like gathering in places of, you know, high population?

 

So in terms of extraterrestrial visitors... no. BS.

[Obsolete 681]

Why would aliens visiting us either 1. observe us while trying to conceal their presence but then get accidentally discovered by farmers and travellers on deserted roads rather than you know, astronomers who are looking out telescopes pretty much 24 hours a day or 2. if they weren't trying to hide their presence why have they not attempted a comprehensive form of contact like gathering in places of, you know, high population?

 

Conspiracy theorists would explain this away by telling you the astronomers are in contact with the aliens or something equally preposterous. 

 

No need to convince me though, I'm with you 100% on the UFO count. It was just the initial statement that puzzled me.

[jezsiema 39]

I have a folklore or legend from my state.. 

But where I come from, we have a few mountains and the most famous one is called Santubong Mountain. 

 

Legend has it the mountain is being 'taken care of' by a princess named Santubong from a spirit realm. 

 

The spirit world's King, then decided to sens her and another princess, Sejinjang (though my grandmother says it is another mountain named Serapi), to live on Earth to take care of their 'constituencies'. 

 

On Earth, Santubong weave clothes while Sejinjang harvested rice. 

 

One day, the princesses started quarreling on who is the better and the prettier one and it did not end pretty.

 

As they got tired screaming and yelling at each other, their dispute got physical. 

Sejinjang whacked Santubong with a stick that look like a long pestle which is being used to beat grain of rice to become powder.

 

Santubong being unhappy about being whacked, hit Sejinjang on the head with a stick. 

 

Resulting in her head to bleed and cause her death.

 

Finding out about this incident, the king of the spirit realm, then scattered Sejinjang's body to become Pulau Kera (Monkey Island) and he transformed Santubong to become a mountain.

 

And that is the legend of Mount Santubong.

 

However, the people in the nearby villages still believe that Santubong is still the guardian of the mountain. 

There have been cases of people disappearing. 

This is one of the many cases, one guy went mountain trekking on the mountain with a few others. 

I don't know how did he stray away from the group but he claimed that he can see people but people did not seem to see him. 

another case, this man got lost because he did not listen to the mountain trek guide's advise

 

A lot of the people of my society believes that there are a lot of taboo when you go into the jungle. 

when you really need to pee, ask permission first. 

And when you go into the jungle, be sure to watch your words - be sure not to offend the spirits of the jungle as they can get really mischievous. 

 

Heh. 

[Feather Spiral 1,892]

There just isn't enough evidence for the existence of the paranormal for me.

I know you're talking about ghosts (that was the topic before merging with the older thread), but people say this about telepathy and precognition all the time, and it's starting to annoy me.

 

Actually, there's plenty of evidence of mental fields and premonitions, not "just stories" but also scientific studies, usually surveys but also lab experiments.

And "rational explanations" like "subtle cues" and "convergent thinking" don't always work, because the subjects can be several kilometers away and the information can be random (chosen by third parties in case of telepathy). The use of double-blind method (with third-party individuals) also seriously compromises the "observer's effect" explanation, since those people have no idea which results to expect and are simply noting things as they come.

Finally, the "fake results" accusation can be rendered invalid by pointing out that, since the methods used are made public (as with all scientific research), all skeptics have to do is perform their own experiments and compare data. (It was done by a certain ironically named Wiseman, who obtained the exact same raw data, but stated he'd disproven Sheldrake's theory without ever explaining how.)

 

I've made a presentation about this for English class, I think it's still on my USB drive. I'm ready to send it to whoever is willing to look for loopholes that weren't covered.

 

A physics major once told me "the burden of proof lies on the parapsychologists' shoulders, not the skeptics'", i.e: "it's up to the parapsychologists to prove they're right, rather than skeptics to prove they're wrong".

Problem is, the former DO shoulder the burden of proof, the latter just refuses to see it.

 

It causes a futile cycle: "it doesn't fit scientific dogma, therefore it doesn't exist, therefore all proof of it is fake, therefore it has no proof, therefore it doesn't exist..." And in the end, science just becomes another religion, with followers of different dogmas and even extremism.

Today's institutional and popular "science" is no better than the Catholic Church of the Dark Ages. Their method of repression is subtler though, less bloody but still psychologically oppressive.

 

(P.S: Both diehard Catholics and Rationalists deny the existence of ghosts and telepathy, since the Bible teaches such "weird" experiences either come from God or Satan, and aren't part of human nature. Something to think about before putting someone in the same basket as religious extremists for claiming that stuff exists.)

It not only makes zero sense from the science part- as in, we're so freaking far away from everything else that such travel would take too long at even relativistic speeds- it also makes no sense from a logic standpoint.

Actually, if a civilization is technologically a lot more advanced, their travels could work at completely different scales both in distance and in speed. It might use a technology we would compare to a "warp drive", but could be based on different principles, maybe even use wormholes rather than actual FTL movement.

Think of how an ancient Roman carriage driver would feel if he saw a 21st century fighter jet, and how the others would view him if he tried to explain it was real.

Oh, and remember, Einstein's general relativity theory is now challenged, and scientists today think FTL travel is possible. They do say it'd require considerable energy, but so did auto engines until internal combustion replaced vapor.

Why would aliens visiting us either 1. observe us while trying to conceal their presence but then get accidentally discovered by farmers and travellers on deserted roads rather than you know, astronomers who are looking out telescopes pretty much 24 hours a day or 2. if they weren't trying to hide their presence why have they not attempted a comprehensive form of contact like gathering in places of, you know, high population?

Three things here.

- You are assuming all aliens serve the same society and follow the same instructions. Yet there is no need to be clever to remember that, even within a single civilization, different factions sharing different ideals can do things differently.

- They may feel that, if they limit the "apparitions" to a certain number, there won't be enough sightings to make most of us believe. Again, imagine that modern-day astronauts appeared to a small number of people, usually in deserted places, of ancient Rome - do you think they would've become like ambassadors, or would they spend the rest of their lives in an old-fashioned "mental institution"?

- FUKIN CLOAKING DEVICES MAN

[Lunatic Cake 1,618]

I'll be telling you about a story that's been changing my life drastically,

 

I happened to be a very cheerful little boy, along with my friends, life was simple. We were having fun everyday, played many games and ended up playing until it got dark almost everyday.

 

That somehow changed as my 14th birthday approached. I somehow felt unsure and didn't want to go outside with my friends, I just wanted to stay home and hide myself. That kind of worried me as the next day I was completely normal again.

 

However things like that continued to happen. I was still little and didn't know much about this world, when I found out what was happening to me, almost a whole year has passed. During that year however I was not the only one who changed like that. All of my friends have been feeling similar to me. I don't know how it was possible but we all ended up having multiple personalities.

 

I don't even understand how that was possible, I still don't know exactly to be honest. I was looking on the internet as I found something that really started to scare me. It was about a haunted forest in which are ghost's of several children from age 12-17 were found buried in the ground. The murderer was never found.

 

That happened in the 1940th. It is said that several children were sighted at that forest in the night, laughing and playing games. That story never really started becoming popular since there were no more sightings after 1978 they assumed. It is said that these children's spirits have been calmed so they can finally find peace. But I doubt that's the case.

 

That forest was the secret place of ours in which we spent most of our time, playing, I don't really remember what exactly happened anymore. It seems all so fishy. Anyway there were some personalities listed of those children and some of them perfectly matched the way I've been feeling at times. I really think, these children's spirits have not been calmed but rather been put to sleep until recently. I really think these spirits are residing inside us, I don't know what is going to happen to us, all I know is...that I want to play.

 

Note that this story is only fictional and is something I came up with within 10 minutes.

 

[QuirkyUsername 1,576]

I don't believe in ghosts or any of the like but still find the "afterlife" fascinating. We have a ghost tour where I live of "haunted" places. Even someone deathly afraid of spirits wouldn't even flinch IT. IS. GARBAGE :\

[Lunatic Cake 1,618]

If there really were such things as ghost's, we would be unable to communicate with them, or them with us, it is most likely possible for them to be around us, whether you believe in them or not. Only explanation I got is the feeling being watched at times although nobody's here. Maybe something like a sixth sense exists, but usually those who brag about it are lying (at least in most cases)

[Stardust 641]

There is a story (actually two) of ghosts down in the castle nearby here. Something about a drumming ghost trying to get attention.

[Kronos the Revenant 1,971]

Technically, this is a Filipino joke based on Filipino folklore, so it counts. It goes like this:

 

In the Philippines, there are tales of a legendary mountain where if you leap off the cliff and make a wish, you’ll land safely and your wish shall be granted by Kabunian, the Mountain God of the Kordilyera tribe in the Philippines. 
 

So, three friends trekked to the top of this legendary mountain cliff. 
 

The first one runs and leaps and says “I wish to be the most powerful man in the world!!” When he lands, his muscles instantly grew ten times in size and he’s capable of lifting all the boulders in his path with just his finger. 
 

The second one runs and leaps and says “I wish to be the most handsome man in the world!!” When he lands, his face becomes chiseled like a Greek God and his muscle tone is just perfect. The ladies could not resist his looks and charms. 
 

The third friend runs and trips saying “I wish to be—OH SHIT!!!” and transforms into a pile of goat dung as he rolled down the cliff.  

[They call me Loyalty 1,948]

Yes, I believe this phenomena is in most cases a psychic manifestation created by the individual, or group of experiencers.
I've lived for some years in a family manor. Some of the superstitious relatives and neighbors say is "haunted". I don't agree. But I do think the average human being is ignorant as to understand the working of reality and perception, and how our view can affect the outcome of any given scenario. Suffice to say, no supernatural events occured during my prolonged stay, because my mind is in control of my reality. Still, it is pretty funny that they have been projecting their own apparitions. Some of the reasons why the majority of people who don't believe in ghosts never see one.
It's like when people talk about witchcraft.
A relative said she needed to acquire dozens of birds to protect the family from a work of black magic. The thing is, she bought all the cages and birds. And, well. The animals started to manifest all sort of tumors, shortly after. It was gruesome to see them try and peck the cancerous growths from one another. So, I freed the rest of them. After her passing, nothing happened to the rest of the family, because this reality was projected by herself. She was intently focused on sustaining the paranoia of "withcraft" and so, she did experienced it.

Similar with some of the extraterrestial and ufo phenomenon.

The psychic potential of humanity is raw and untamed, which is partly the reason as to why there is mental illness running in my family. A sad occurrence, but this is the outcome of a world under control and cencorship, where only a few select ones remember the knowledge of the ancient times. Most of which got wiped off during the crusades, and the burning of those who understood the reality of mind.
You used to be the creator, before the obligatory institution of psychic disempowerment programs in the form of worship religions. Among other, equally harming institutions. Essentially, anything that takes the power out of you.

This entire system is sustained by directing and focusing the attention of the population into creating a given reality with media, policies, governments, and other forms of conditioning. Once you can harness the combined perception of the masses, there is no limit as to what you can create. Some call themselves the illuminated ones. It makes sense, considering everyone else is still wandering in the dark.

All in all. What I am saying will sound like madness in the eyes of a normal person. Clever, the royal bloodlines. No, they are not clever. The ones they made the pacts with, they are the clever ones. The foreign species, the extraterrestial gods; some of which consider planet earth a protectorate. A product... a resource.

[Sphinx-Ara 3,569]

I believe that there is something out there, whether it is paranormal or supernatural, I am not sure, but I just have this feeling that we are not alone in this universe. Also, ironically, I just started watching Hunt For the Skinwalker now

[Brony Number 42 10,069]

There is evidence for extraterrestrials visiting us. Government documents, witness accounts, the information is there. It is circular reasoning to say it doesn't exist because you haven't researched it, and you don't research it because it doesn't exist.

[Stardust 641]

4 hours ago, They call me Loyalty said:

Yes, I believe this phenomena is in most cases a psychic manifestation created by the individual, or group of experiencers.
I've lived for some years in a family manor. Some of the superstitious relatives and neighbors say is "haunted". I don't agree. But I do think the average human being is ignorant as to understand the working of reality and perception, and how our view can affect the outcome of any given scenario. Suffice to say, no supernatural events occured during my prolonged stay, because my mind is in control of my reality. Still, it is pretty funny that they have been projecting their own apparitions. Some of the reasons why the majority of people who don't believe in ghosts never see one.
It's like when people talk about witchcraft.
A relative said she needed to acquire dozens of birds to protect the family from a work of black magic. The thing is, she bought all the cages and birds. And, well. The animals started to manifest all sort of tumors, shortly after. It was gruesome to see them try and peck the cancerous growths from one another. So, I freed the rest of them. After her passing, nothing happened to the rest of the family, because this reality was projected by herself. She was intently focused on sustaining the paranoia of "withcraft" and so, she did experienced it.

Similar with some of the extraterrestial and ufo phenomenon.

The psychic potential of humanity is raw and untamed, which is partly the reason as to why there is mental illness running in my family. A sad occurrence, but this is the outcome of a world under control and cencorship, where only a few select ones remember the knowledge of the ancient times. Most of which got wiped off during the crusades, and the burning of those who understood the reality of mind.
You used to be the creator, before the obligatory institution of psychic disempowerment programs in the form of worship religions. Among other, equally harming institutions. Essentially, anything that takes the power out of you.

This entire system is sustained by directing and focusing the attention of the population into creating a given reality with media, policies, governments, and other forms of conditioning. Once you can harness the combined perception of the masses, there is no limit as to what you can create. Some call themselves the illuminated ones. It makes sense, considering everyone else is still wandering in the dark.

All in all. What I am saying will sound like madness in the eyes of a normal person. Clever, the royal bloodlines. No, they are not clever. The ones they made the pacts with, they are the clever ones. The foreign species, the extraterrestial gods; some of which consider planet earth a protectorate. A product... a resource.

Very interesting the bird thing sounds so creepy. I mean imo psychic stuff is harmful. I have heard all sorts of creepy stuff, weird car accidents, illnesses or marks on the body that reflect someone who died before that etc. I'm not sure i'd consider all such phenomena as individual or group of experiencers as some are more collective with things like "collective unconscious". And to some extent being well grounded as an individual will help but as long as you are around other people and their left over "energies" it will be an influence that affects you but yeah you can become mostly immune to it. Just like you can become immune to peoples unkind words and whatever. Those who are ungrounded yeah get influenced more by this stuff, it is to do with perception, illusion and thoughts.

In terms of suppression of sorts in society I suppose Critical theorists like Baudrillard (Simulcra and simulation) Debord (society of spectacle) talk about things like the manufacturing of perception. 

I mean those kinda theories are pretty widespread amongst a minority and not that uncommon. I don't consider the world to have extraterrestrial gods or whatever but I keep a open mind. Yeah like external harmful influences maybe but not aliens. But the end of the day I think the most important thing is to look within and be in touch with yourself, where as most people spend too much energy on the external things like chasing happiness or that. 

[Dreambiscuit 9,691]

Despite the fact that there’s an awful lot of phony baloney out there, I can’t discount the supernatural because there are always one or two cases that can’t simply be explained away. I know enough first-hand to realize there’s a lot going on beyond the everyday mundane existence we take for granted. 

[ZiggWheelsManning 10,275]

I can't avoid supernatural stories either, Dreamy  

[Clawdeen 14,096]

So there’s been two types of responses to this thread. People saying whether they believe in it or not and people telling ghost stories. I think the latter is more fun so I’m gonna go that route.

There was a story told to me back in elementary school that the one girls bathroom by the principals office was haunted. A young girl hung herself in there and the janitor found her. After her death another girl went in that bathroom alone afterschool hours and was found dead in the stall the one girl hung herself in. Another girl who went in that bathroom alone afterschool hours was also found dead in that same stall. Some say you could actually see her. That they opened up the stall door and they would see her dead body hanging by a rope and bleeding from her eyes. It was spread to never go in that bathroom alone or else. 

I don’t think I ever used that bathroom alone after hearing that. Naturally none of that is true. A young girl never hung herself in my elementary school. It caused no one to use that set of bathrooms though

Another one is there’s this abandoned building in town near a grocery store. It’s been abandoned since before I was born. It still is. 

The story with that one is the people who originally lived there died of mysterious circumstances. A group of students snuck into the building and they saw things. A dead woman laying on the stairs and severed heads. They’d look again and of course it would be gone. The students somehow got separated. The girl was first to die. Her head was shoved into a filled sink of water and she drowned, the second had his eyes ripped from his sockets and pushed down the stairs and the last boy had his head cut clean off.  They say that anyone who has ever went into that building has never came out alive. If you look at it sometimes you can see a severed head, the ghostly dead woman or bloody body parts in the windows.

This is another obviously not true one. I don’t know why that dump of a building has been abandoned for so long but no students were murdered there or anything like that.

My last one has a bit of an unfortunate truth to it. My father told me this. The previous person that lived in my childhood home told my dad this after he bought the place. The couple who lived there before him had a lot of issues. The husband was really violent towards his wife that he lived there with. He pushed her through a screen and he ended up killing her in that house. So yes I grew up in a house someone was murdered in. That part of this is unfortunately a fact. Someone died in that house. The guy told my dad sometimes when he’d look he’d see a woman in a rocking chair only to look again and see her not there. He used to think it was the woman who died there’s ghost still haunting the place where she was murdered.

Did I ever see that? No but weird stuff did happen in that house. Stuff would turn on and off on its own which would freak the heck out of me. I heart (an actual heart) u was written on the wall in my bedroom and I didn’t do that. I got in trouble for it but I didn’t do it. I even took a picture of it and showed it to my counselor. I didn’t do it. My goth/emo kid self was gonna write anything on a wall it was not gonna be I heart u. My older sister was already passed when that happened so it couldn’t have been her. My parents didn’t let me bring friends over. My parents also ended up moving me into her old room fully which I felt weird about. I used to think it was a message from her though.My older sisters way of telling me she loves me. In all seriousness I don’t know how that got wrote on my wall but I certainly got in trouble for it. Writing on the wall. I know what I did and what I didn’t do. I didn’t do that man. They didn’t believe me.

Those are my two short ghost stories I remember being told from elementary school and my strange tale of the writing on the wall from my childhood home.