Your paranormal experiences

[lovesjoyajm]

I was going to brush my teeth a few weeks ago at midnight or so and my flatmate was in his room - had been in bed for 20 minutes or so. His door was closed. As I walked past his door to go to the bathroom, I heard him yell something in fright. It freaked me out.

The next morning we were talking when he suddenly remembered, "Did you come into my room last night?" I said no, but that I had heard him yell. He said, "Yes, I yelled because I opened my eyes and there was someone coming into my room." He said he wasn't sleeping and saw a very concrete figure standing in his doorway.

I've never had any such experience, myself, but I have friends who see or sense ghosts as well. I don't think I'd do well with that.

[doppelgaenger]

That's very common, Doc. There was a really good sensory deprivation study done not too long ago w/ppl kept in the dark/quiet for a few days. People seemed to fit into two classes: those who slept most of the time, and those who needed to 'create' their own mental stimulation. Those folks imagined all sorts of exciting things.

You seem to fit the latter case.

Good news is, they were being recorded and none of what they imagined was actually there. So, in case you are worried you are abnormal, you aren't. It seems to be a product of a certain 'brain type'. Kind of like introvert/extravert patterns.

I see if I can find a link to the article for you.

EDIT: Here you go, Doc. Pay particular attention to those who sense 'strange presences'. Trust me, you're okay. Work on solving math problems or something instead.

[url]http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7199769.stm[/url]

Here's the video of that experiment.

[LadieNisha4u2nv]

I saw Jesus.

[LadieNisha4u2nv]

I swear I've seen a UFO when I was attending night school. It did NOT look like a helicopter and there were lights surrounding the thing like the typical UFO. It would shine a ligt down occasionally and it was going around the edge of the island. It was pretty ****ing scary.

[Petit Papillon]

Actually if You`re beliving in God (no matter if You`re catholic,muslim or jew) , You belive in ghosts as well. Devil,good and bad ghosts - it`s all part of all religions (maybe not all but most) . Also exorcism is practiced in many religions.
And I belive in ghosts too, tho I never experienced nothing paranormal yet

[Doc Durian]

LOL, okay Doc. For the record, I never denied your perceptions. Just providing what seems to be a common explanation for them. I thought you might appreciate it given your complaints about these events.

But, I have found that ppl who see ghosts, etc, seem to want to be perceived as 'special'. They (like you) take offense at the suggestion its actually quite common/normal and that it can be explained by an understanding of a type of brain activity.

Love to get you in a dark room inside an MRI machine, in other words. But, I'm sure the ghosts would find some reason to be afraid of the machine (even tho a ghost older than a couple generations wouldn't know what the machine was).

Carry on, have fun. Get a cat mbe?

So Deja Vu is out too? It's actually a brain processing quirk of mine and not as it appears?

I'm not fussed about being special or plain, incidentally. It's not as if I wander up to people in real life and tell them, "I see dead people".. lol It's just something which occasionally happens.

I thought it would be enjoyable to make a discussion here and see what others have experienced.

[doppelgaenger]

Where's the link, Dopple?

whoops lol
[url]http://www.videosift.com/video/Total-Isolation-Sensory-Deprivation-Experiment[/url]

[IndiReloaded]

So Deja Vu is out too? It's actually a brain processing quirk of mine and not as it appears?

Everything we do is a product of our brain/perception, Doc.

Deja vu seems to be a form of unconscious processing (kind of like a mental reflex) where our autonomic responses get triggered before our rational processors catch up. That's 'gut response' for the rest of us.

We are flooded by information all the time. That's what made that sensory deprivation experiment you refused to read about so very interesting. Its expected that we have evolved mechanisms to shield us from overload but, in the absence of stimulation, those mechanisms kick in on their own. Deja vu is like your conscious filter being pinged to tell you 'pay attention', this bit of data could be important/seen before/could be a pattern emerging.

Have you heard of the book "Blink"? Its a good one-off read (I gave my copy away after reading), not technical, full of interesting ancedotes & this guy's theory about how this stuff works.

[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blink_(book[/url])

Hope I'm not spoiling your fun too much, btw. I think the subject is fascinating, but for different reasons.

[Gribble]

Ugh. I'm losing so much respect for people here.

[IndiReloaded]

Don't tell me YOU believe in ghosts, Grib?

[Gribble]

Hell no. If a ghost floated into my room right this instant I'd think of a million logical explanations, prime among them that I need to quit drinking. Not until I'd exhausted every other possibility would I even begin to think what I saw really was in some way paranormal--and I think I'd be dead of old age long before I managed to exhaust every last possibility.

[Doc Durian]

Everything we do is a product of our brain/perception, Doc.

Deja vu seems to be a form of unconscious processing (kind of like a mental reflex) where our autonomic responses get triggered before our rational processors catch up. That's 'gut response' for the rest of us.

We are flooded by information all the time. That's what made that sensory deprivation experiment you refused to read about so very interesting. Its expected that we have evolved mechanisms to shield us from overload but, in the absence of stimulation, those mechanisms kick in on their own. Deja vu is like your conscious filter being pinged to tell you 'pay attention', this bit of data could be important/seen before/could be a pattern emerging.

Have you heard of the book "Blink"? Its a good one-off read (I gave my copy away after reading), not technical, full of interesting ancedotes & this guy's theory about how this stuff works.

[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blink_(book[/url])

Hope I'm not spoiling your fun too much, btw. I think the subject is fascinating, but for different reasons.

I've read the theory before and found it to be crap.

Scientists love pushing their theories of the unknown as facts.

Personally, most of my deja vu stems from dreams prior dreamt. I have no doubts to this.

I was put on this earth with a roadmap and a rapid case of dementia around birth. The fact that I've retained anything from prior birth is a source of joy and amusement when it happens.

But, hey... explain it away.

[Doc Durian]

"No doubts"; "Fact" without verifiable proof.

What you have is a *belief*. That's fine & nothing I can say or produce will take it away from you. Its much like religion.

Oh, but I do have verifiable proof... although it's in my mind, memories, dreams dreamt years before which are photocopies of these deja vu moments... and as such, not the kind of proof you're willing to accept as "scientific" even if I've since deduced it's legitimate. It comes down to my word against your contrary theories... and since I'm the one experiencing these moments and you're not... I've got the evidence in me, and you've got the hankering to dismiss it sight unseen.

Doesn't work like that in the real world, darling. Scepticism for scepticism's sake is a psychological disorder of the wholly consumed scientific mind.

Scientists don't 'push' anything they aren't prepared to defend with verifiable fact OR revise if better data comes in.

Are Egyptologists "scientists?"

(You walked into that one)

Show me a ghost next time I'm in Oz, I'm prepared to revise my theories.

I'll do you one better... show me that there aren't paranormal entities out and about on this earth.

I'm waiting...

Your proof is?....

Still waiting....

[LadieNisha4u2nv]

I don't recall losing respect for Gribble when he made that "I'm in love"(or "I think I'm in love") thread which I totally disagreed with.

But he's losing respect over beliefs and experiences? Lawdy lawd.

[Yggdrasil]

Popcorn anyone?

*sits back, relaxes and enjoys the show*