Your Opinions on the Paranormal?

I don't want stories actually.

What I am looking for is do you believe?

If so, what do you believe in?

Do your beliefs stop at ghosts or do you think demons, werewolves, vampires are real?

What about possession?

UFO's and alien abductions?

What about those things that people can supposedly do? Magic (real, not David Copperfield)? Telepathy? Clair/Audiovoyance?
etc..etc...etc...


I ask because I recently resumed my role as a paranormal investigator. I did it years ago, and recently resumed it because it is something I really loved doing. I work with a group of people who seem to be more embracing and *want* to believe in it so much that I do not think they apply as much logic and science. Me, I apply logic and science until I run out of ideas and then still won't definitively say yes, just that it *could* be.

What I have noticed is that those who want to believe, find explainations for their exsistence where they don't really exsist. On the other hand those who choose not to believe will make up stupid explainations that make no sense to debunk something.
It can be quite hard to deal with.

So...where do you fit into all of htis and what do you think?

Thanks!
P~

Hey Pele!
How does one become a paranormal investigator?
Cheers!

Pele, you sound like you have a scientific approach, not unlike Dana Scully from the XFiles...sorry for the comparison, but she was to be Mulder's yin to his yang, and keep an objective voice on what they observed....as a scientist, I agree objectivity is necessary in such things.

So as a scientist, where do I sit?

I think ther e are things that science cannot yet explain. There is a chance that science may never be able to explain certain things.

I believe in ghosts. I've not had a personal run in, though I've heard lots of stories, since I grew up in New Orleans. I don't have evidence to support my believe, but, I do have a question, and that is...if energy can neither be created, nor destroyed, what happens to the energy within a person when they die? It's this question which leads me to believe in the possibility of ghosts.

Do I believe in demons, vampires and werewolves? Honestly, I can't say. The legends are so prevalent in our society, and most legends have some basis in truth. The question is...what is the seed of truth in those legends?

Magic? Well, I'm pagan, so yeah, I believe in magic, but not the hocus pocus type you find on Charmed, or what not. For me, and many like me, what is called magic is akin to prayer.

Telepathy....I can't say, though MAnd and I've been able to say the exact same thing at the exact same time, which tends to be freaky.

Clair/Audivoyance...The verdict is out for me. I've had some people tell about their stories, and they are uncanny. Being the scientist I am, I need more evidence.

Part of me would like to believe, but I don't want to let that desire to believe to interfere with my objectivity.

I like to take in the evidence and interpret it, and draw my conclusions from there.

i believe its all in the mind...

I'd say yes to all but the vampires & werewolves, just have a hard time with those 2.......as for the rest, yes......anything is in the realm of possibilites, just some are less probable than others......i.e. psy powers are very possible considering the small amount of the brain that people use, so if you could unlock more then who knows

I don't believe in the paranormal - in the sense that there's anything unexplainable. There may be stuff out there that we don't currently understand, but that's just because we've not been able to properly observe and theorise about it After all, if you can see something than you can use science and logic to try and explain it...

As for your list, pretty much none of them at the moment, with some mental abilities rating a "possibly plausible" but I'd need to see far better evidence than currently exists. But as with everything, I keep an open mind and would be willing to admit to being wrong if someone showed me otherwise.

Agreed though that far too many people fail to use reason in this situation - either through blind acceptance without any evidence, or through being unable to conceive that there are things out there science doesn't yet explain.

I need to see something to beleive in it. Except that although I'm not sure aliens have ever been here I do beleive that somewheres in the universe there are other lifeforms. The probability is just too high. There are so many planets that we can't see or find I feel if life started here I don't see why the same chemical reactions can't start somewheres else. I think it might be possible for humans to have psychic powers for the same reasons as fryed fish.

Energy is, though...it doesn't disappear...when a bolt of lightning strikes something, the energy is transferred from the bolt to the surrounding objects. Energy can't just disappear, because that would mean energy is being destroyed.

I believe in souls, and perhaps that is the energy, but what happens to it when you die?

I need food before I go too much further with these thoughts...brain needs foooood.

Patrick, just like any other job. You study to a certain level and you interview for it.

Well, for vampirism and werewolves there are psychological disorders (Renfield's Syndrome, for example) for variations on it. I am not just talking the Bella Lagosi versions

Please keep in mind I do not want a debate on the topic. It is one of those weird ones that can get quite heated.

I understand what you are saying Spitfire about the energy. There are several forms of natural phenomenon where energy of some form "balls up", for lack of a better explaination. Swamp Lights (if you grew up in New Orleans I am sure you've heard the tales) are swamp gasses which gather and glow, or ball lightening...

There are things which can not yet be explained or accounted for, to be sure.

I won't get into what I believe and do not believe in. My studies in parapsychology have been, well, enlightening in the past. Having grown up a spiritualist I was raised that anything is possible.

I draw the line at alien abductions. I simply can not go there. lol

Hey Pele!
Maybe you should hook up with this guy? Paranormal Research!

He's offering a million dollars for proof!
Cheers!

I already know about him and his contest and such. I also know the contest is rigged and he has no intention of giving up the million (which is tied up in bonds). He is an ass and a blowhard.
But I know of him, as well as about 700 other groups/researchers worldwide, who span from believing everything to believing nothing. I know about conventions, conferences, classes, gatherings and such.
But thanks for thinking of me though.

And to further answer your question...you study mythology, philosophy, parapsychology, psychology, geology, metaphysics, biology, physics and more. On our team we have someone who has a degree in sociology/psychological profiling, an emt, a science tech major...etc...

As I said, this is not new to me. It is something I have done for years (longer than poi) but performing became so prevalent in my life that I let other things that I enjoyed go. This is one of those things, so I am getting back into it, and it just to happened my friends timing was impecable to my desires.

And besides, it is just freakin' fun.

Instead of explaining it all to you Patrick, I would like you to answer my questions please.

My opinion is that I believe in verifiable facts!

Nice topic. I've always been interested in paranormal research/investigation, just never actually found a way to get into it. I bet they have at least some sort of club around here(other than the goth clubs, lol) where people do paranormal research, mebbe I should look around.

My beliefs? Magic is staged, magick is very real. Without getting into stories I've witnessed and felt quite a few paranormal events in my studies/practice. Telepathy and clairvoyance is more of a psychic phenomena than a paranormal one I think, but eh, tomato tomahtoe. Thoughts/intention are energy, why shouldn't someone sensitive enough be able to pick up on them.

I believe in ghosts and spirits, having seen both(I classify a ghost as a human spirit, and a spirit as something not human, or what was once human). I'm not sure if I wholeheartedly agree with the christian based classifications of spirits, ie the hierarchy of angels and demons(even those discussed in the lesser keys of solomon), it seems a bit limiting.

As far as vampires, I dunno about the exact bloodsucking images that we have portrayed. I know other forms exist, but the essence extracted(for lack of a better term) is really more energy than blood. This is a form of magick that really just makes my flesh crawl.

Possessions, I believe in, I think there are spirits strong enough to do so and humans dumb enough to allow them. It's one thing to channel a spirit/deity's energy, quite another to allow possession.

UFO's? Hmm, the verdict is still out on that one. I'd _like_ to believe that other intelligent life exists, and I've read/seen too many accounts, but I'm still not that sure myself. I'll just leave it at I won't be extremely surprised if contact is made(officially). I had a theory for a while that the media was priming us for the actual announcement that contact had been made. Makes sense, if you don't want to cause (as much)panic in the populace, you gradually introduce the idea to them. We'll see

generally I think some crazy stupff happens, which require crazy explanations but I think it is awfully difficult to obstain the truth because our minds are bad filters in general.

I think some sort of global consciousness hivemind dealie is probably the most convincing form of this I have seen. But it may be more global mind reading (through observation of basic human thought patterns, emotions, etc etc.. via interputation of what we perceive.

so maybe "vibes" in whatever form they move in move faster then one would think, and perhaps they move through ways other then face to face contact. But I generally think you need some sort of connnection between people for vibe transfer.

A hermit in the middle of siberia who hasn't seen another human for 5 years is probably unplugged from global consciousness because he isn't communicating with anyone (via verbal or non verbal methods)

yet their still seems to be a bit of evidence of telekentic telepathetic telemindphone powers.

So maybe it's a bit of both.

One thing that comes to mind is some of the telekinesis experiments I have seen on questionable television shows where people do things like watch a mechanical windup toy that movies in random directions. While they watch it, it seems to move towards or away from them instead of it's statistically discovered pattern.

Also, they had people watching a giant "Plinko" machine and they caused all the plinko balls falling down through a series of pegs. While someone sat in the room and watched this giant plinko machine (it was more like the spin off of plinko on the price is right with a hopper full of styrofoam balls) they all collected in one side. But not when it was released with no one looking.

But, perhaps the dude loading the hopper is subconciously compressing the balls on one side or doing something to alter the outcome. This brings me to an experiment a long time ago to prove rather or not white people had a diffrent brain capacity as black people and the scientist filled several caucasian and negroid skulls with beans. He found a slightly larger amount of beans fit in white skulls and it became popular belief.

People went back and redid his experiment with the same skulls and found no real conclusion other then black&white skulls seem to hold the same number of beans on average.

It's believed this dude who I forget was trying to find an objective truth in the size of the inner space of skulls but he was subconciously packing more beans into the white skulls (by compressing them a tiny bit) and thus came across his results.

Perhaps because he was a product of a more racist time, or because he felt he would look silly if he came up with no result. But from what I read in history class awhile ago it was believed he was a perfectly credible scientist who believed a great deal in the princiaples of proper objective scientific experiementation.

oh and Im highly doubtful of people with personal experiences of the paranormal in group situations (mainly those where the goal of experimenting/playing/prooving/showing evidence of paranormal/magick/spirits/blah blah blah exists)

I think it's more like a bit of wakeing hypnotic suggestion and whatnot then say, any real evidence.

Hell some of it's full out hypnosis, and blatant exploitation of the human imagination and psyche.

but, their are people who seem to have had experiences that are worth not dismissing, but I doubt they happen when they sit around a table with a weegee board or incant a bunch of jibberish in some ceremony with darkened lights and candles.

You can use sensory deprivation, hype, atmosphere, suggestion, empathy, etc etc.. to make people experience some pretty trippy things. That doesn't mean something "magickal" is happening. Doesn't mean it isn't either.

Musashii...I can send you a link to the group out your way. I don't know what their requirements are but if you want to look into it, I would be more than happy to help you!

Astar...I agree with much of what you said as far as subconcious design. And it is proven that group hysteria is a very viable phenomenon in many group cases, though that tends to not be what investigators look into because it is too easy to disprove. However, it is fun on open night amatuer ghost hunts, when one person screams because s/he saw/heard/felt "something". The freak out spreads like wildfire and always makes me laugh!

As far as UFO's. I do believe in intelligent life out there. I completely believe in non-humanoid forms. I believe some are prehistoric by our standards and that we are prehistoric by other standards. The universe is entirely to vast to believe otherwise in my opinion. It would be extremely egotistical to think we are the only sentient beings out there. However, do I believe they are kidnapping our toothless hoards and sticking probes up their butts and noses? Not at all.

BTW, no need to apologize about the comparison to Scully. I admired her for her logic just as much as I admired Mulder for thinking outside the box.

Thanks all..this is really interesting to read!

Oh and aliens? The universe is tooo big for us to be the only sentient beings within it...whether aliens have given us a fly by or not? I suspect they have, saw what we were up to, and decided to leave us well enough alone.

Seriously, though, I don't know that I believe in abductions, but I do believe in life beyond our solar system.