This is a question for Atheists?

Question

What are your thoughts on Hauntings?
Where do you stand on the whole Ghost thing?

Like the Amitiville Horor (sorry if a spelled it wrong ^_^)

Do you think it was just a bunch of people getting together to make a good story, or do you think there might actually be "something" that made them believe it was haunted?
Like something in the water that caused delusions ^_^

Thanks!!!

Answer 1

maybe they were just crazy?

Answer 2

There is a tipping point in psychology where an idea is carried to enough people to become a popular delusion, propagated by its widespread dissemination. For instance, only in modern times have the little green men who supposedly abduct people taken on the characteristics of the small, almond-shaped black-eyed unisuited beings. It is a popularized image. I don't even think it is anything in the water; it is just an extension of the "folie a deux" concept that is a characteristic of social behavior in Man.

I am not saying that I believe all ghosts or hauntings or alien encounters, etc. are delusions. I am merely saying that I think there is a high percentage that are, and a high percentage of hanger-on hucksters trying to profit from this trend. The smokescreen of human behavior in this realm obscures the kernels of real information that could be found otherwise. It may have been a "push-pull" situation with the Amityville situation, the original event being blown up to suit those who were hungry for a bit of excitement and residuals. The crowd feeds the delusion; the delusion feeds the crowd...sometimes it is hidden information that cannot be made public once a level of interest is shown, so a lie must be perpetuated...lots of lovely complex human social behavior to go around!

Answer 3

Amityville was a proven hoax,as are most ghost stories in general. There have been a few incidents here and there however that are not readily explainable.It does not mean it is some spirit or something,but it does beg a closer look.I would like to see more legitimate research into some of this phenomena,to see if any of it falls outside the realm of quackery and into the realm of possibility.I am still sceptical,but could not say with definite proof either way

Answer 4

Most "ghost stories" are made up to make money, or otherwise get attention. Which is why I prefer to call the entity which 'resides' in my house a spirit. Probably not much better to the nay-sayers, but for some reason it works for me.

I didn't believe until he came to stay, but because I saw him I had to change my mind. Isn't that the 'scientific' way? I won't go into the whole story now, but I have very good reasons to believe that in this one instance, anyway, part of a dead person's 'electrical trace' remained. Or actually didn't remain, but came to someone he loved, he'd never been to this house, don't think he even knew it existed.

Interestingly though, he hasn't been around for a while. I'm not quite sure what to make of that.

Answer 5

I've never personally seen any evidence for the existence of ghost, but many other people believe they have, so I think its worth investigating. I do believe in the laws of thermodynamics, that energy is not created or destroyed but only transforms and recycles. So I guess it is a possibility, however remote, that ghost could or hauntings could draw on the energy that's leftover when people die. If ghost do exist, I think they exist and function according to natural law and could probably be measured by some type of electrical instrument.

Answer 6

I see no reason to believe that they are real.

Having seen barn owls flying silently through graveyards I can understand how a lot of these stories start. Compare the shape of a barn owl to a classic 'sheet' ghost - round head, big eyes, wide tapering down to a tail.

I can believe that there are phenomena that are unexplained. If someone can show me that these phenomena are actually ghosts then I would have a reason to accept them as being real. Until then they go in the came classification as dragons, unicorns, mermaids and gods.

Answer 7

Not too sure. Actually the Amityville thing was proven to be a hoax, but I've had some individual experiences which i am still skeptical about even though there seems to be no clear explanation for them. Paranormal phenomenon is something that has actually been measured using EMF meters, laser thermometers, thermal cameras and things of that nature. Everyone knows that energy can't be destroyed so i supposed it is possible for human energy to be affected by EM fields and things of that nature.

There are no definitive answers... just a bunch of hypotheses and theories.

Answer 8

As a Buddhist, and essentially atheist, we believe that there are times when a mind can refuse to take rebirth, and then there's what we call a deva realm and a formless realm people can take rebirth in... if a "being"/mind in any of those realms wants to wreak havoc, it's possible this is what hauntings and "demonic possessions" are likely about.

This is why it's not a good idea to toy w/ things one doesn't understand. There are no omnipotent beings and not all beings are absolutely altruistic, short of the Bodhisattvas and Buddhas, so any mind that hasn't attained enlightenment can be as cantankerous as any sentient being you can think of.

_()_

Answer 9

I don't believe in ghosts. I used to, when I was much younger, but it stemed out of my fear of the dark. I wasn't afraid of the dark, I was afraid of what might lurk in the dark. I couldn't see anything, so my mind made up all of these "boogie men." In other words, it was all in my head. This and the fact that some people are rather gullible are probably the main reasons people believe in ghosts.

Answer 10

Garbage, Bunk, Superstitious Twaddle, Squat...

No Ghosts or Hauntings... No Supernatural at all! So... *no*:
Gods, Gnomes, Bigfoot, Ahriman, Mother Goose, Crossed fingers, FSM (even), Leprechauns, Bent spoons, Demon possessed Christians, Zeus (& 000's of other past Gods), Psychics, Angels, Nessie, Voodoo, Black Cats, Sprites, Faeries, Alchemy, Astrology and on and on and on... Zip. Zilch.

Answer 11

As far as the Amityville thing goes: I met the New York medical examiner who did the autopsies on that case, and he said it was a conventional multiple homicide, committed by one family member against the rest. As far as he could tell, no demons, spirits or witches were involved. It was just plain old paranoid psychosis (he naturally said that was speculation; but he had visited the crime scene and it was just a house, nothing more. "An ugly house," he said, "But just a house.").

Speaking as an atheist: No, I don't believe in spirits, ghosts, goblins, gods, devils, gnomes, fairies, witches, the New York Yankees or the Easter Bunny. Have a nice day.