most haunted...real or not real!

[Lar Naparka]

Reading some doggie tales here reminds me of something that I cannot logically explain....
Some years back, when my mother died, the family dog acted in a way that half scared me at the time. Matter of fact, it still does.....
The poor mutt was more or less left to himself for some days afterwards and I suppose wasn't fed at times and wasn't receiving the attention he was used to from my mother. 
One morning my father and one of my brothers were sitting in the kitchen with me when the dog walked in- the back door was open.
Now, the said dog never came into the house before. That was in part because he wasn't encouraged to do so, but also because he never showed the much inclination to come in anyway.
He walked by us and went straight to the ma's bedroom door and pushed against it to get in, this was possible as the bloody door was ajar anyway. We were all speechless and no one moved to stop him.
Then he started to howl. 
Cripes! I've heard some howling in my time, both before and after, but nothing matched this. After ten or fifteen seconds, he came back out and went straight out the door, without paying any attention to those of us who were there.
Now the really interesting thing is that he returned to his old form again and was as normal as he ever was, but he absolutely refused to ever come back in after that performance.
He lived on for about three years after that and one could play with him or stroke him but if someone tried to coax him or carry him across the threshold, front or back, he'd get mighty upset and could bare the teeth if he was brought too close.
Now, it is just possible that my mother had taken him in sometime but I could never see her letting him wander about or allow him into her bedroom.
I have seen or heard of a couple of things in my time that may be hard to explain but I wouldn't regard them as being totally out of this world either. Nothing came within an asses's roar of the dog's behaviour on that morning.

[J70]

Anyone ever dabbled with a Ouija board

Used to do it for a laugh when pissed with the lads. There was always some w**ker moving the glass though.

[J70]

You wanted ziggy's experience and when I give you one you want scientific proof - which you know I'm not going to have as i don't go around carrying out experiments on ghosts.
You've provided possible explanations - sleepwalking, neither of them slept walk and they'd lie beside each other in the bed listening to all this shite. 
neighbours sneeking in?  hmmm I doubt it! What sort of neighbours have you?
Pulling my leg? i've no reason to doubt them.

I asked Ziggy for an account of his experience because I am hardly going to just take his word for it that he sees ghosts (I'm not disputing that he thinks he sees them, as I have no idea of his bona fides).
And again, I am not asking you for scientific proof of your friend's ghost. If there is anything to ghosts in general, there should be plenty of stuff out there on the net. However, to my knowledge, any time hauntings have been rigourously investigated, they've turned out to be either hoaxes or projections (i.e. people misinterpreting some rattle or shadow or photographic artifact based on their own ignorance or bias).
As to bringing the science into it, you are the one who (at least the way I interpreted it) basically said "this is what happens in my friend's house: explain that, if you can!" What the hell do you expect people to say? "Oh yes, it can clearly only be a ghost!"
Regarding my couple of suggestions, I was merely making the point that something like your friend's experience could be down to any number of natural, everyday happenings, not that those particular ones would be the real explanations. Maybe your friend should set up a video camera or sit up himself and watch to see what is turning his house upside down.

[J70]

Anyone ever dabbled with a Ouija board

No, but I've seen people use them. Consequences wasn't good either.

Was always too scared as a young'un to tell the truth. Things like that, spirit interventions or no, can have unforseen effects on the human mind, loosening things we're not even aware of. Bit of it used to go on on the estate I was reared on and it all ended badly, one kid entering psychosis as a result, despite the fact when they got to the bottom of it the leader of the adventure was manipulating the board "for a laugh". Delicate thing the human mind.

Very easy for someone to be set up like that with a ouija board.

[Hardy]

Lovely pints of Beamish last night. Never heard (or thought?) from Puck. QED. Well, not quite – propositions require rigorous proof before they can be accepted, which is where we came in.

No need to go over the ground. I just endorse everything J70 said. And O'Neill. Just a few additional thoughts:

Someone came up with the one that always arises when people make unsupported claims or reach conclusions without evidence – "prove I'm wrong". Sorry. That's not how it works. The onus of proof is on the person making the unsupported claim. You can't prove  a negative. But if you make a positive claim, you are at least expected to support the claim if you want to be taken seriously. "I got a feeling" is not proof, for instance. Nobody, ever, anywhere has proved the existence of a ghost.

http://www.randi.org/joom/challenge-info.html

My own "ghost" story: A few weeks after my father died, myself (aged thirteen) and my younger brother were alone in the house (sorry – two people can't be alone, but I don't know how else to say it) watching the Late Late Show. The people on the TV were talking about ghosts and it was very creepy stuff. Suddenly, a picture (some sort of "holy picture") fell off the wall and crashed to the floor. It had been on the wall all of my lifetime, at least. A picture had never before and has never since fallen off a wall for no apparent reason in my presence. Should I assume it was done by a ghost - that it was my father trying to communicate? It's one of a (near-infinite, I suppose) set of assumptions I could make, each as invalid as the other because there's not a single shred of evidence to support a conclusion. I'd suggest a substantial proportion of people would immediately support and strongly believe the ghost assumption simply because the circumstances suit the assumption and it's somehow an appealing idea. I'm more inclined to think the string holding it up eventually broke after years of gradual weakening.

"Mediums" are some of the lowest scum of the earth.

And sorry, Croí, but I'm a sceptic, so you'll have to do better than a picture for evidence that Westmeath ever won an All-Ireland title. Couldn't have happened. You imagined the whole thing. I've even heard deluded Westmeath people claiming they won a SENIOR Leinster title one time. Nonsense.

[The Real Laoislad]

Lovely pints of Beamish last night. Never heard (or thought?) from Puck. QED. Well, not quite – propositions require rigorous proof before they can be accepted, which is where we came in.

No need to go over the ground. I just endorse everything J70 said. And O'Neill. Just a few additional thoughts:

Someone came up with the one that always arises when people make unsupported claims or reach conclusions without evidence – "prove I'm wrong". Sorry. That's not how it works. The onus of proof is on the person making the unsupported claim. You can't prove  a negative. But if you make a positive claim, you are at least expected to support the claim if you want to be taken seriously. "I got a feeling" is not proof, for instance. Nobody, ever, anywhere has proved the existence of a ghost.

http://www.randi.org/joom/challenge-info.html

My own "ghost" story: A few weeks after my father died, myself (aged thirteen) and my younger brother were alone in the house (sorry – two people can't be alone, but I don't know how else to say it) watching the Late Late Show. The people on the TV were talking about ghosts and it was very creepy stuff. Suddenly, a picture (some sort of "holy picture") fell off the wall and crashed to the floor. It had been on the wall all of my lifetime, at least. A picture had never before and has never since fallen off a wall for no apparent reason in my presence. Should I assume it was done by a ghost - that it was my father trying to communicate? It's one of a (near-infinite, I suppose) set of assumptions I could make, each as invalid as the other because there's not a single shred of evidence to support a conclusion. I'd suggest a substantial proportion of people would immediately support and strongly believe the ghost assumption simply because the circumstances suit the assumption and it's somehow an appealing idea. I'm more inclined to think the string holding it up eventually broke after years of gradual weakening.

"Mediums" are some of the lowest scum of the earth.

And sorry, Croí, but I'm a sceptic, so you'll have to do better than a picture for evidence that Westmeath ever won an All-Ireland title. Couldn't have happened. You imagined the whole thing. I've even heard deluded Westmeath people claiming they won a SENIOR Leinster title one time. Nonsense.

Do you believe in God and an Afterlife?

[The Gs Man]

I know it's not a ghost story but this thread reminds me of the time, about 6 years ago me and a few friends hired one of them Volkswagen vans when we were in America for a bit of a road trip, as you do!  We were driving through some small desert town one night on our way down to Las Vegas. A sand storm kicks in, and a fella from South Armagh who was driving the van took an accidental turn into what looked like government property, complete with the KEEP OUT signs and all that shenanigans.

Next thing we knew there was a really bright circular light shining straight at us and sort of spinning round in front of the van.  Well, the driver near shit a brick when he seen this and it caused him to lose control of the vehicle.  We near went into a shuck at the side of the road but he managed to keep her straight.  Next thing we knew we found ourselves on the outskirts of a small town completely lost.  We told the South Armagh lad to mind the dog and stay with the van while the rest of us walked to a local diner to ask for directions. 

We're standing in the diner talking away to the waitress behind the counter and the next thing you know the South Armagh lad comes running in with the dog shouting something about seeing aliens.  I told him to catch himself on and lay off the Buckfast but sure enough the diner waitress says that although they never actually see the aliens,  they do see strange lights and hear strange sounds at night. The chef, Sergio was his name (pronounced "Serge") told us that a month ago, local cattle vanished overnight without a trace and a lot of people moved away. Some hairy assed man, Lester I think his name was, says he was abducted once before, and ends up believing the stupid fecker from South Armagh. He also says that he has pictures.  Next thing you know the whole lot of us pile over to his house to get a look at them.

Turns out to there were no pictures at all....they were nothing more than paintings by Lester.  It was about 2 in the morning by this stage so yer man offers to let us all stay for the night. The two young girls with us slept in a bunk bed and I ended up sleeping on yer man's couch. The South Armagh lad ended up sleeping up on a roof terrace with the dog and sure enough they are abducted by something that looked like a kind of alien craft.  After some struggle on this alien craft, the boyo and the dog find themselves in the middle of nowhere the next morning.  He told us that he was awakened by a hippie-chick photographer, Crystal, and her golden retriever, Amber.  He ends up trying to get his end away but no joy.

That day me and the two girls were having a few jars and we ended up talking to a crowd that called themselves the SALF: the Search for Alien Life Forms.  One of the girls became a bit suspicious when she sees dried mud on their boots.  We are in a feckin desert after all! Later on, to try and find an explanation for the muddy boots, we decided to take a dander up to a canyon where we thought a river might run. Turns out the canyon was dry, but we found mining equipment, and in the caves, gold.

Next thing we know the SALF crowd have surrounded us.  I threw a few sly digs but they ended up capturing us and they held us hostage.  They told us that they stumbled upon this cave when searching for ground to place another SALF dish. Since it was on government land, they decided not to report it, and planned to keep it that way.  Sneaky bastards!  They are also revealed to be the aliens who abducted the fella from South Armagh and his dog; the UFO was nothing more than a dressed-up helicopter.

To cut a long story short, I ended up opening a can of whoop on their asses.  Flying roundhouse kicks, one inch punches, the works.  The SALF crowd end up getting arrested by the Police and we ended up smoking doobs in the back of the VW van.  It was a strange couple of days!

[full back]

Never had an experience of a ghost, but I wouldnt dismiss the idea that they exist or take the p1ss out of anyone who claimed they had an experience.
I do think that a lot of what people claim are sightings can be explained in some logical form.

[ONeill]

I know it's not a ghost story but this thread reminds me of the time, about 6 years ago me and a few friends hired one of them Volkswagen vans when we were in America for a bit of a road trip, as you do!  We were driving through some small desert town one night on our way down to Las Vegas. A sand storm kicks in, and a fella from South Armagh who was driving the van took an accidental turn into what looked like government property, complete with the KEEP OUT signs and all that shenanigans.

Next thing we knew there was a really bright circular light shining straight at us and sort of spinning round in front of the van.  Well, the driver near shit a brick when he seen this and it caused him to lose control of the vehicle.  We near went into a shuck at the side of the road but he managed to keep her straight.  Next thing we knew we found ourselves on the outskirts of a small town completely lost.  We told the South Armagh lad to mind the dog and stay with the van while the rest of us walked to a local diner to ask for directions. 

We're standing in the diner talking away to the waitress behind the counter and the next thing you know the South Armagh lad comes running in with the dog shouting something about seeing aliens.  I told him to catch himself on and lay off the Buckfast but sure enough the diner waitress says that although they never actually see the aliens,  they do see strange lights and hear strange sounds at night. The chef, Sergio was his name (pronounced "Serge") told us that a month ago, local cattle vanished overnight without a trace and a lot of people moved away. Some hairy assed man, Lester I think his name was, says he was abducted once before, and ends up believing the stupid fecker from South Armagh. He also says that he has pictures.  Next thing you know the whole lot of us pile over to his house to get a look at them.

Turns out to there were no pictures at all....they were nothing more than paintings by Lester.  It was about 2 in the morning by this stage so yer man offers to let us all stay for the night. The two young girls with us slept in a bunk bed and I ended up sleeping on yer man's couch. The South Armagh lad ended up sleeping up on a roof terrace with the dog and sure enough they are abducted by something that looked like a kind of alien craft.  After some struggle on this alien craft, the boyo and the dog find themselves in the middle of nowhere the next morning.  He told us that he was awakened by a hippie-chick photographer, Crystal, and her golden retriever, Amber.  He ends up trying to get his end away but no joy.

That day me and the two girls were having a few jars and we ended up talking to a crowd that called themselves the SALF: the Search for Alien Life Forms.  One of the girls became a bit suspicious when she sees dried mud on their boots.  We are in a feckin desert after all! Later on, to try and find an explanation for the muddy boots, we decided to take a dander up to a canyon where we thought a river might run. Turns out the canyon was dry, but we found mining equipment, and in the caves, gold.

Next thing we know the SALF crowd have surrounded us.  I threw a few sly digs but they ended up capturing us and they held us hostage.  They told us that they stumbled upon this cave when searching for ground to place another SALF dish. Since it was on government land, they decided not to report it, and planned to keep it that way.  Sneaky b**tards!  They are also revealed to be the aliens who abducted the fella from South Armagh and his dog; the UFO was nothing more than a dressed-up helicopter.

To cut a long story short, I ended up opening a can of whoop on their asses.  Flying roundhouse kicks, one inch punches, the works.  The SALF crowd end up getting arrested by the Police and we ended up smoking doobs in the back of the VW van.  It was a strange couple of days!

Holy Jaysus. I once saw a dog with 5 legs but you seem to have outdone that.

[full back]

I know it's not a ghost story but this thread reminds me of the time, about 6 years ago me and a few friends hired one of them Volkswagen vans when we were in America for a bit of a road trip, as you do!  We were driving through some small desert town one night on our way down to Las Vegas. A sand storm kicks in, and a fella from South Armagh who was driving the van took an accidental turn into what looked like government property, complete with the KEEP OUT signs and all that shenanigans.

Next thing we knew there was a really bright circular light shining straight at us and sort of spinning round in front of the van.  Well, the driver near shit a brick when he seen this and it caused him to lose control of the vehicle.  We near went into a shuck at the side of the road but he managed to keep her straight.  Next thing we knew we found ourselves on the outskirts of a small town completely lost.  We told the South Armagh lad to mind the dog and stay with the van while the rest of us walked to a local diner to ask for directions. 

We're standing in the diner talking away to the waitress behind the counter and the next thing you know the South Armagh lad comes running in with the dog shouting something about seeing aliens.  I told him to catch himself on and lay off the Buckfast but sure enough the diner waitress says that although they never actually see the aliens,  they do see strange lights and hear strange sounds at night. The chef, Sergio was his name (pronounced "Serge") told us that a month ago, local cattle vanished overnight without a trace and a lot of people moved away. Some hairy assed man, Lester I think his name was, says he was abducted once before, and ends up believing the stupid fecker from South Armagh. He also says that he has pictures.  Next thing you know the whole lot of us pile over to his house to get a look at them.

Turns out to there were no pictures at all....they were nothing more than paintings by Lester.  It was about 2 in the morning by this stage so yer man offers to let us all stay for the night. The two young girls with us slept in a bunk bed and I ended up sleeping on yer man's couch. The South Armagh lad ended up sleeping up on a roof terrace with the dog and sure enough they are abducted by something that looked like a kind of alien craft.  After some struggle on this alien craft, the boyo and the dog find themselves in the middle of nowhere the next morning.  He told us that he was awakened by a hippie-chick photographer, Crystal, and her golden retriever, Amber.  He ends up trying to get his end away but no joy.

That day me and the two girls were having a few jars and we ended up talking to a crowd that called themselves the SALF: the Search for Alien Life Forms.  One of the girls became a bit suspicious when she sees dried mud on their boots.  We are in a feckin desert after all! Later on, to try and find an explanation for the muddy boots, we decided to take a dander up to a canyon where we thought a river might run. Turns out the canyon was dry, but we found mining equipment, and in the caves, gold.

Next thing we know the SALF crowd have surrounded us.  I threw a few sly digs but they ended up capturing us and they held us hostage.  They told us that they stumbled upon this cave when searching for ground to place another SALF dish. Since it was on government land, they decided not to report it, and planned to keep it that way.  Sneaky b**tards!  They are also revealed to be the aliens who abducted the fella from South Armagh and his dog; the UFO was nothing more than a dressed-up helicopter.

To cut a long story short, I ended up opening a can of whoop on their asses.  Flying roundhouse kicks, one inch punches, the works.  The SALF crowd end up getting arrested by the Police and we ended up smoking doobs in the back of the VW van.  It was a strange couple of days!

Holy Jaysus. I once saw a dog with 5 legs but you seem to have outdone that.

That was a Shetland Pony with a hard on.....

[Hardy]

Do you believe in God and an Afterlife?

Read my posts and guess!

G's man - my vote for post of the week. Feckit - month

[mylestheslasher]

Anyone who has read any of my posts will know that I am not religious. In fact I would go as far as to say I am totally against the notion of mass religion. But I do believe there are such things as ghosts. That is not to say I believe that they are the "spirits" of people who have passed from this world to another. To be honest I don't know what they are. I base my belief in this on two instances. My fathers home place in Co Louth was haunted by what they call poltergeist. There was always banging and crashing in the kitchen at night and when they'd get up in the morning  there would be nothing broken. Stuff would move around at night. Harmless enough I know but nothing that can be explained by science.

The 2nd set of information concerns a good friend of mine, a girl, who's home house was haunted by all sorts of ghosts. This girl would not talk to anyone about their experiences so I can tell you 100% it is not shite talk. In this house the ghost of an old woman appeared at her bedside with her finger to her mouth as if sushing a child. The same old woman would then be seen at a mantle piece looking at something. A small child would appear in the bedrooms and would be seen running the corridors. On numerous occassions blankets would be pulled of beds in the night and then pulled of again when put back on. On one occassion, in her sleep, she felt like she was being lifted from the bed. The house was finally blessed and the activity died down. I wouldn't doubt these stories at all knowing the girl and I know she finds it very hard to sit in a room if people are telling ghost stories  - she would never volunteer her own either.

[full back]

In this house the ghost of an old woman appeared at her bedside with her finger to her mouth as if sushing a child. The same old woman would then be seen at a mantle piece looking at something. A small child would appear in the bedrooms and would be seen running the corridors. On numerous occassions blankets would be pulled of beds in the night and then pulled of again when put back on. On one occassion, in her sleep, she felt like she was being lifted from the bed.

That sort of sh1te makes the hair on my neck stand

[An Fear Rua]

I see dead people

I saw dead people in my garden a couple of christmas' ago, I had to wake the whole house up to warn them about it.


3 bottles of red wine, bottle of whiskey and 1/2 bottle of brandy.

[AZOffaly]

Pints - you're an intelligent man. Please tell me you don't really believe that shite. You see something unusual and your first explanation is "it's a ghost". Why pick that conclusion from the infinite number of other similarly ludicrous conclusions? Why is that a better explanation than "it's a Martian" or "it's a trained midget giraffe"?

If there are ghosts, there are flying pigs, fish riding bicycles and Westmeath men with All-Ireland medals.

Best I can do on short notice Hardy, and have an imaginary pint of fcuku on me...

A moment of family shame.