Ghosts - Explained

[Ticklish9's]

Ghosts are just as much fun to believe in for me as they are for you. Unfortunately, there isn't any real evidence for them.

Still, people often retreat to the time-honoured explanation "well, science can't explain it!" in defense of their ghostly beliefs. This does overlook the fact that if science can't explain it, it's pretty unlikely that random internet people can explain it, either.

But it also overlooks that a more accurate phrase would be "science can't explain it yet." It's usually only a matter of time.


Sure enough....

http://www.cracked.com/article_18828_the-creepy-scientific-explanation-behind-ghost-sightings.html


Probably not the only explanation, but it does get to the heart of most ghost stories.



Science isn't a body of knowledge. Science is a method that enables you to determine truth. And as anyone using a computer, car, airplane, plastic bottle, sound system, or vibrating tickle toy knows, science has dramatically increased our understanding of the world around us. It's a process that continues to this day, and there is a lot more that is unknown than is known - but we're getting there. And it is awesome. 🙂

 

[Imlatino]

That is interesting. Indeed. Is probably right. Still though, I saw the Grim Reeper, was looking at me, then walked off, the door of my house never opened, yet he was gone. Probably walked through the wall.

 

[Ticklish9's]

That is interesting. Indeed. Is probably right. Still though, I saw the Grim Reeper, was looking at me, then walked off, the door of my house never opened, yet he was gone. Probably walked through the wall.

Lots of people have these sorts of experiences. The human eye is extremely unreliable, unfortunately. Ever seen an optical illusion?

Here's a good story: http://www.visualexpert.com/Resources/eyewitnessmemory.html

The human eye is so unreliable that it's practically useless in court. Eyewitness testimony is extremely flawed, as the above story demonstrates quite well. The thing to remember is it's not just other people's eyes that are flawed - yours are too! You, like all humans (myself included) are VERY easily fooled. That's why it's important to have repeatable demonstrations for controlled variables to get at the real truth. 🙂

 

[texastickler]

When I lived in michigan. my Uncle came into my room and smiled at me. The next day my parents told us he had passed away! I was five then and he lived in Arizona. Some things simply can't be explained.

 

[april]

This is highly interesting indeed. However, I too have had a couple paranormal experiences and I really wish science would explain them away because 'dem's were some scary sh*t lol! But I dont want to mention said experiences for fear of...well, being picked at hehe. But this was a cool find. Happy Halloween!

 

[TheTickleMonster]

Hmm... Well, I could tell my experiences but, I won't. I don't believe it was caused by some rusty pipe or whatever, especially since I was in a trailor at the time..

And well the article, I don't know... I don't think calling what people believe bullshit is the right way to convince them that they're wrong.. And yeah alot of experiences probably can be explained away like that, but i don't think all...

 

[Ticklish9's]

When I lived in michigan. my Uncle came into my room and smiled at me. The next day my parents told us he had passed away! I was five then and he lived in Arizona. Some things simply can't be explained.

Texas, you know I love ya, so don't take it the wrong way when I suggest that at the age of five, the imagination is a lot more active than the memory.

Like the link I cited above, this person was accused of rape and picked out of a lineup by the victim, who remembered clearly having been raped by the guy - while he was on TV! The reason is that she remembered his face from the experience because he was on the screen while the event happened. And that's an adult mind.


The human mind is very easily fooled. While I certainly believe that you remember that happening, what do you think is the most likely explanation?

 

[Ticklish9's]

This is highly interesting indeed. However, I too have had a couple paranormal experiences and I really wish science would explain them away because 'dem's were some scary sh*t lol! But I dont want to mention said experiences for fear of...well, being picked at hehe. But this was a cool find. Happy Halloween!

There's always been a reasonable explanation, for 100% of every so-called "paranormal" experience. I'm certain we could find a solid explanation - but even if not, the lack of an explanation is not proof that it was paranormal! It just means we don't have enough information to make a decision. 🙂

 

[Ticklish9's]

Hmm... Well, I could tell my experiences but, I won't. I don't believe it was caused by some rusty pipe or whatever, especially since I was in a trailor at the time..

And well the article, I don't know... I don't think calling what people believe bullshit is the right way to convince them that they're wrong.. And yeah alot of experiences probably can be explained away like that, but i don't think all...

To answer the part about the pipe - just about everything vibrates, and almost anything could be giving off low level infrasound vibration. Out of curiousity, what DO you think caused your experiences? If you believe it was a ghost or paranormal, why do you feel that is more likely than an explanation that does not require any supernatural input?


Why do you not think that all situations can be explained rationally?

Remember, a thousand years ago things that we take for granted now were considered mysterious, supernatural, and unexplainable. As time marches on, our understanding grows - and there has never been even the merest hint of anything supernatural, once a solid investigation was done.

Which doesn't mean there isn't anything supernatural! Certainly is possible. There is simply zero evidence of it so far, despite thousands of years of searching.

 

[TheTickleMonster]

To answer the part about the pipe - just about everything vibrates, and almost anything could be giving off low level infrasound vibration. Out of curiousity, what DO you think caused your experiences? If you believe it was a ghost or paranormal, why do you feel that is more likely than an explanation that does not require any supernatural input?


Why do you not think that all situations can be explained rationally?

Remember, a thousand years ago things that we take for granted now were considered mysterious, supernatural, and unexplainable. As time marches on, our understanding grows - and there has never been even the merest hint of anything supernatural, once a solid investigation was done.

Which doesn't mean there isn't anything supernatural! Certainly is possible. There is simply zero evidence of it so far, despite thousands of years of searching.

There's nothing wrong with leaving certain things unexplained... A little mystery and belief in something that might seem unrealistic doesn't hurt anyone And as for supernatural things. I just do't think every single one of the millions of sightings can be explained... I realize infared or whatever is everywhere, but you think there's no chance that some of those aren't caued by that? Maybe it is all causing it... I'd be okay wit that. I guess I just don't beleive fully yet... Not that I completely believe in ghosts, just that I don't believe that explanation fully.

 

[april]

You have a wonderful argument presented. However, science and psychology cannot explain nor refute the existance of everything. I am a psychology major and even I know that many of the great psychologists/philosophers and scientists through out history knew this principle...even Freud. A good article to read would be William jame's "The Will to Believe." As a matter of fact, I just did a presentation on him monday night. Brilliant man. Good luck in your quests 🙂

 

[vladtickleman22]

I'd like to have something scientifically explained. Actually, a couple things. A few years ago while standing in the kitchen of a newly gutted place, i was flipping through the realtors book of people who had attended the open house that day. Minding my own business i heard a voice that sounded like it was in the next room. That voice said very clearly "Get Out!". In fact the voice was so clear my first thought was that someone decided to scare me. Naturally, i replied "No, you get out."

Not getting any type of response i went back to looking through the realtors info on the kitchen table. A few minutes later that same voice which sounded like it was in another room again repeated "Get Out!" only this time it sounded as if it was standing right next to me. Only nothing was there.

Needless to say i was a bit freaked out. However i wasn't given any time to decide what to do for myself. You see, my 230lbs ass was tossed across the room. when i say tossed i mean tossed. My feet left the ground i was in the air for a couple seconds and then i was 10 feet away, on the floor near the fridge. Absolutely nothing had lifted me off my feet and planted my ass 10 feet away from where i was standing.

Any logical scientific explaination is more then welcome and i am more then willing to except one. However, let me cover a few bases that i know people are going to go into here. This was not a dream, nor was i sleepy. This happen somewhere around 11 in the morning. I was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs, nor was i suffering from withdrawl symptoms due to lack of alcohol or drugs. I am not on any drugs for any mental issues and none have ever been in my family. Nothing like this has ever happen again nor had it happen before.

I was simply in a newly gutted place to see what they had done. Who wouldn't want to see what the inside of a home that was once a three family gutted into a single family looked like. Especially with a $1.6 million dollar price tag on it.

 

[ALtoetickler420]

Im not saying that this is a scientific explanation, just a lil food for thought. What if ghosts are not the souls of the dead like most ppl think when they think of ghosts, but an emotion so strong and powerful that it is permanently imprinted upon space/time. Most "haunted places" are places where inexplicable pain and sadness occurred. What if we are investigating the wrong side of the phenomenon. Like i said just food for thought.

 

[Ticklish9's]

You have a wonderful argument presented. However, science and psychology cannot explain nor refute the existance of everything. I am a psychology major and even I know that many of the great psychologists/philosophers and scientists through out history knew this principle...even Freud. A good article to read would be William jame's "The Will to Believe." As a matter of fact, I just did a presentation on him monday night. Brilliant man. Good luck in your quests 🙂

You're right that science cannot explain everything (yet), but that wasn't the argument I was making. The argument I was making was that the idea of ghosts cannot explain ANYTHING.

When people don't understand something, they often ascribe some supernatural explanation to it. But there has never been any supernatural activity that we've encountered. Many things that were once attributed to the supernatural are now perfectly well understood. Nonetheless, people still persist in believing the supernatural - they simply move the goalposts.

Lightning isn't Zeus, your body isn't full of four humours, and dowsing rods are simply the ideometric effect.


For the record, as soon as somebody uses "well, science can't explain everything" as a defense for their beliefs, it becomes obvious that they are making shit up. Nobody ever claimed that science can explain everything; I'm simply saying that the scientific method can explain this, and has also been the only effective way of understanding what is actually happening in the world.

That is, unless you have an actual spell book on you, in which case I'd dearly love to have a demonstration. Feel free to cast as many spells on me with your belief powers as you like. 🙂

 

[Ticklish9's]

I'd like to have something scientifically explained. Actually, a couple things. A few years ago while standing in the kitchen of a newly gutted place, i was flipping through the realtors book of people who had attended the open house that day. Minding my own business i heard a voice that sounded like it was in the next room. That voice said very clearly "Get Out!". In fact the voice was so clear my first thought was that someone decided to scare me. Naturally, i replied "No, you get out."

Not getting any type of response i went back to looking through the realtors info on the kitchen table. A few minutes later that same voice which sounded like it was in another room again repeated "Get Out!" only this time it sounded as if it was standing right next to me. Only nothing was there.

Needless to say i was a bit freaked out. However i wasn't given any time to decide what to do for myself. You see, my 230lbs ass was tossed across the room. when i say tossed i mean tossed. My feet left the ground i was in the air for a couple seconds and then i was 10 feet away, on the floor near the fridge. Absolutely nothing had lifted me off my feet and planted my ass 10 feet away from where i was standing.

Any logical scientific explaination is more then welcome and i am more then willing to except one. However, let me cover a few bases that i know people are going to go into here. This was not a dream, nor was i sleepy. This happen somewhere around 11 in the morning. I was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs, nor was i suffering from withdrawl symptoms due to lack of alcohol or drugs. I am not on any drugs for any mental issues and none have ever been in my family. Nothing like this has ever happen again nor had it happen before.

I was simply in a newly gutted place to see what they had done. Who wouldn't want to see what the inside of a home that was once a three family gutted into a single family looked like. Especially with a $1.6 million dollar price tag on it.

A newly gutted place? Perhaps the sort of place where the acoustics had been radically altered and you could hear things from a great distance away, particularly if shouted with meaning and force?


The vast majority of times, when people report "spooky noises" or voices in their homes, it's because of strange acoustics transmitting the sound from distant places. Maybe a stairwell constructed oddly, such that it funnels the sound from a stairwell next door. And so on.

With conditions right, you can hear things from miles away like they were next to your head.

 

[Ticklish9's]

There's nothing wrong with leaving certain things unexplained... A little mystery and belief in something that might seem unrealistic doesn't hurt anyone And as for supernatural things. I just do't think every single one of the millions of sightings can be explained... I realize infared or whatever is everywhere, but you think there's no chance that some of those aren't caued by that? Maybe it is all causing it... I'd be okay wit that. I guess I just don't beleive fully yet... Not that I completely believe in ghosts, just that I don't believe that explanation fully.

Don't you care if your beliefs are true?


People get swindled out of their life savings by "psychics" all the time. Children get hurt or killed because they think "prayer healing" will save them. Dowsers will tip off the police to where missing family members are (except they aren't, actually) and send families on wild goose chases. There can be a great deal of harm in these beliefs.

There is a reason I fight them.

For more: www.whatstheharm.net

 

[april]

You're right that science cannot explain everything (yet), but that wasn't the argument I was making. The argument I was making was that the idea of ghosts cannot explain ANYTHING.

When people don't understand something, they often ascribe some supernatural explanation to it. But there has never been any supernatural activity that we've encountered. Many things that were once attributed to the supernatural are now perfectly well understood. Nonetheless, people still persist in believing the supernatural - they simply move the goalposts.

Lightning isn't Zeus, your body isn't full of four humours, and dowsing rods are simply the ideometric effect.


For the record, as soon as somebody uses "well, science can't explain everything" as a defense for their beliefs, it becomes obvious that they are making shit up. Nobody ever claimed that science can explain everything; I'm simply saying that the scientific method can explain this, and has also been the only effective way of understanding what is actually happening in the world.

That is, unless you have an actual spell book on you, in which case I'd dearly love to have a demonstration. Feel free to cast as many spells on me with your belief powers as you like. 🙂

All I was simply statiing and what psychologists TEACH their pupils, is that psycholgy and science cannot prove the existance of everything. Your talking to an athiest here, so Im not using my beliefs as an excuse, Im using the information I was taught by an actual psychologist. And lets just take the whole existance of ghosts out of the factor. Human emotion exists right? We as human beings feel and experience emotions YET there is not a single scientific test that can measure or explain a feeling. The only way science can measure emotion is through chemical reactions but there is still an entire void that science cannot fill in on the subject. I must say that this thread is very provacotive and thought provoking 🙂

 

[Synful Pryde]

I'd like to have something scientifically explained. Actually, a couple things. (snip)

Thank you for sharing your experience!

Unfortunately, it would be impossible for anyone to give a proper explanation for what happened to you in this instance, especially a proper scientific explanation. This is not due to some weakness in the scientific method, but is actually one of its greatest strengths: the data need to be observable and measurable, and -- perhaps most important with relation to your anecdote -- repeatable. I assume, from the wording of your post, that no other similar events have happened to you. If that's the case, i hope that you'll forgive the skeptics our incredulity.

We can make suggestions about what happened, but we can make no authoritative statements on the matter. Many encounters can be explained away by natural phenomena. Others, such as your own, can not. As others have said, there's nothing wrong with things remaining in the category of "unknown or unexplained".

For now 😉

Another thing we can do, though, is rule out unlikely causes. An invisible elephant, for example, would be a pretty unlikely suspect, for we have never encountered any such thing before. Similarly, some skeptics will immediately dismiss a ghost, spirit, etc. as a cause for the same reason. On the other hand, some may be more open to the possibility.

Thanks again for sharing!

 

[vladtickleman22]

A newly gutted place? Perhaps the sort of place where the acoustics had been radically altered and you could hear things from a great distance away, particularly if shouted with meaning and force?


The vast majority of times, when people report "spooky noises" or voices in their homes, it's because of strange acoustics transmitting the sound from distant places. Maybe a stairwell constructed oddly, such that it funnels the sound from a stairwell next door. And so on.

With conditions right, you can hear things from miles away like they were next to your head.

That explaination makes perfecet sense. Except for the fact that i was the only one on that floor, in the middle of the kitchen not near any vents or anything that could carry a voice. The kitchen was in the back of the house with the only enterances being a back door to the driveway and french doors in from the dining room.

I notice you completely ignore the fact i was also lifted and thrown right after i heard the voice. Which means simply you have no explaination for it. But then we already new you wouldn't have an explaination and would by default ignore that part. Most scientifically minded people do just that. The old ignore it and it will go away tactic. Next you'll start insulting me.

 

[vladtickleman22]

Thank you for sharing your experience!

Unfortunately, it would be impossible for anyone to give a proper explanation for what happened to you in this instance, especially a proper scientific explanation. This is not due to some weakness in the scientific method, but is actually one of its greatest strengths: the data need to be observable and measurable, and -- perhaps most important with relation to your anecdote -- repeatable. I assume, from the wording of your post, that no other similar events have happened to you. If that's the case, i hope that you'll forgive the skeptics our incredulity.

We can make suggestions about what happened, but we can make no authoritative statements on the matter. Many encounters can be explained away by natural phenomena. Others, such as your own, can not. As others have said, there's nothing wrong with things remaining in the category of "unknown or unexplained".

For now 😉

Another thing we can do, though, is rule out unlikely causes. An invisible elephant, for example, would be a pretty unlikely suspect, for we have never encountered any such thing before. Similarly, some skeptics will immediately dismiss a ghost, spirit, etc. as a cause for the same reason. On the other hand, some may be more open to the possibility.

Thanks again for sharing!

Finally! Someone with a brain! Thank you! To answer your question that was the only time that happen to me in that place. It's happened before in other places. As well as other things that whether they want to admit it or not CAN NOT be explained by science.

 

[Ticklish9's]

That explaination makes perfecet sense. Except for the fact that i was the only one on that floor, in the middle of the kitchen not near any vents or anything that could carry a voice. The kitchen was in the back of the house with the only enterances being a back door to the driveway and french doors in from the dining room.

I notice you completely ignore the fact i was also lifted and thrown right after i heard the voice. Which means simply you have no explaination for it. But then we already new you wouldn't have an explaination and would by default ignore that part. Most scientifically minded people do just that. The old ignore it and it will go away tactic. Next you'll start insulting me.

To be honest, I didn't even notice that part of the story.

It appears you're somewhat adversarial here so I assume if I suggest that you hallucinated it or made it up you'll take it as an insult, but I have no real evidence to suggest that this actually happened to you.

On the off chance it did happen, it's much more likely that you were startled, tripped, and remember it as "being thrown" just like I remember "being punched" in a fight I was once in (my friends insist I tripped and fell, but I vividly remember being punched - even though it clearly and demonstrably didn't happen). The simple fact is that the human brain is a terribly unreliable recorder of events. You were spooked and already inclined to believe a ghost was responsible for the events of that night; I strongly suspect your brain is simply remembering this in the way that brains do - that is, however they want to.



As for the sound waves, you can bounce vibrations off of anything and almost any distance in the right conditions; the fact that you were not near a vent doesn't change that fact.


So here we have two well understood, rational conclusions which have been demonstrated numerous times, contrasted with your explanation of "ghost," which has zero evidence and has never been shown at any time to be true. I will freely admit we cannot know for certain which is true - but which do you think is more likely?

 

[Ticklish9's]

All I was simply statiing and what psychologists TEACH their pupils, is that psycholgy and science cannot prove the existance of everything. Your talking to an athiest here, so Im not using my beliefs as an excuse, Im using the information I was taught by an actual psychologist. And lets just take the whole existance of ghosts out of the factor. Human emotion exists right? We as human beings feel and experience emotions YET there is not a single scientific test that can measure or explain a feeling. The only way science can measure emotion is through chemical reactions but there is still an entire void that science cannot fill in on the subject. I must say that this thread is very provacotive and thought provoking 🙂

You say that there is a void that science cannot fill, but that's an awfully bold claim. Are you really saying that the scientific method will never yield any insight into emotions? You say yourself that science can measure emotion through chemical reactions (and, more accurately, through electromagnetic discharge) but then state that science cannot fill that void. And yet isn't that precisely what science is doing when it measures those discharges?

If your assertion is that science does not yet have a complete explanation for emotion, you are most assuredly correct. But our understanding advances every day. Science isn't finished - it's barely gotten started - but it's on its way. 🙂


As an aside, saying things like "this is what psychologists teach their students" is called the Argument from Authority. It's a logical fallacy which as an atheist I'm sure you can understand; ACTUAL theologists teach their students that God is real, but that doesn't make him real. You see what I mean?

 

[Ticklish9's]

Finally! Someone with a brain! Thank you! To answer your question that was the only time that happen to me in that place. It's happened before in other places. As well as other things that whether they want to admit it or not CAN NOT be explained by science.

Correction - they cannot be explained by you so you assume science cannot explain them. Or science doesn't have a conclusive explanation for them yet, so you assume it never will.

I'd be interested in hearing your other stories as well though! IT certainly seems you have a fair number of such experiences and there is always a chance I am wrong. It would be fascinating to learn about an actual, provable ghost!

 

[vladtickleman22]

To be honest, I didn't even notice that part of the story.

It appears you're somewhat adversarial here so I assume if I suggest that you hallucinated it or made it up you'll take it as an insult, but I have no real evidence to suggest that this actually happened to you.

I was not attempting to be adversarial at all. Your explaination made perfect sense for the situation you described. That was, however, not my situation. So i merely was giving more detail. If that was taken ad adversarial or rude, i do apologize as this was not my intention.

Anyone who actually had anything happen to them and was then told they hallucinated it or made it up would be insulted. Such is human nature.

On the off chance it did happen, it's much more likely that you were startled, tripped, and remember it as "being thrown" just like I remember "being punched" in a fight I was once in (my friends insist I tripped and fell, but I vividly remember being punched - even though it clearly and demonstrably didn't happen). The simple fact is that the human brain is a terribly unreliable recorder of events. You were spooked and already inclined to believe a ghost was responsible for the events of that night; I strongly suspect your brain is simply remembering this in the way that brains do - that is, however they want to.

So, my brain is remembering a trip and fall by turning it into being lifted in the air and thrown 10 feet away? Interesting.

As for the sound waves, you can bounce vibrations off of anything and almost any distance in the right conditions; the fact that you were not near a vent doesn't change that fact.

Correct, sound bounces off things very well. When it does it can clearly be heard from the direction in which it bounced off. Making it sound like something which in fact came from the left actually came from the right.

However there is an obvious difference between hearing something in a room and hearing it as if it is right next to your ear. If you ring a bell in a large empty room even a tiny bell will echo greatly. Take that same bell place it about 3 inches from your ear and ring it again. The sound it makes is much different. You can tell it's right next to your ear. Just as i could tell that voice was coming from another room and then suddenly sounded as if it was someone standing inches from me.

So here we have two well understood, rational conclusions which have been demonstrated numerous times, contrasted with your explanation of "ghost," which has zero evidence and has never been shown at any time to be true. I will freely admit we cannot know for certain which is true - but which do you think is more likely?

By admitting we cannot know for certain which is true you've at least shown that you have a brain. Right now science cannot absolutely explain everything. Someday, probably. But until that day people should be more willing to say "We can't answer that yet". Rather then dismissing things that can't currently be explained.

Correction - they cannot be explained by you so you assume science cannot explain them. Or science doesn't have a conclusive explanation for them yet, so you assume it never will.

I know i can't explain them. Which is why i asked for rational scientific evidence to explain them. So far the only one willing to even respond with scientific explanation is you. Thank you for that. Again, at least you admit science may not have a conclusive explanation for them at this current time. However i don't assume science will never have an explanation. Of course it will. Science has been able to explain a great many things so far. Why not this too?

I'd be interested in hearing your other stories as well though! IT certainly seems you have a fair number of such experiences and there is always a chance I am wrong. It would be fascinating to learn about an actual, provable ghost!

All i have are stories and going into them would take this thread off track enough to probably get it closed.

 

[Ticklish9's]

I was not attempting to be adversarial at all. Your explaination made perfect sense for the situation you described. That was, however, not my situation. So i merely was giving more detail. If that was taken ad adversarial or rude, i do apologize as this was not my intention.

Anyone who actually had anything happen to them and was then told they hallucinated it or made it up would be insulted. Such is human nature.

That is human nature indeed, and I apologize if you took insult. Please understand that I do not mean to offend.

So, my brain is remembering a trip and fall by turning it into being lifted in the air and thrown 10 feet away? Interesting.

In much the same way that people "remember" that they couldn't possibly have seen a gorilla that walked right out in front of them while they were concentrating on a different task, yes, that is precisely what I am say. One of the most important lessons I ever learned was just how easily my own mind can be fooled. Human memory is extremely unreliable, and human senses as well. This link is down right now but should be back soon; this article is pretty good: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=magic-neuroscience-cognition-illusions

But truth be told there are hundreds of studies that have been done on how easily the human brain is fooled. Ever seen an optical illusion? That's just a small and easy example of how flawed our senses are.

Correct, sound bounces off things very well. When it does it can clearly be heard from the direction in which it bounced off. Making it sound like something which in fact came from the left actually came from the right.

However there is an obvious difference between hearing something in a room and hearing it as if it is right next to your ear. If you ring a bell in a large empty room even a tiny bell will echo greatly. Take that same bell place it about 3 inches from your ear and ring it again. The sound it makes is much different. You can tell it's right next to your ear. Just as i could tell that voice was coming from another room and then suddenly sounded as if it was someone standing inches from me.

Have you ever stood in one of those weird concave things that can transmit a whisper hundreds of feet, so it sounds like it's in your ear, but if you move a few inches away you can't hear it at all? With the right acoustics, even small changes in ear position can generate tremendous differences in perception. Couple that with the above-mentioned extreme fallibility of the human perception, and we have a pretty plausible explanation. Do I know that's what happened? No, of course not. But what do you think is more likely: completely natural and frequently observed phenomena, or ghosts, for which there has never been even a shred of evidence in thousands of years?

By admitting we cannot know for certain which is true you've at least shown that you have a brain. Right now science cannot absolutely explain everything. Someday, probably. But until that day people should be more willing to say "We can't answer that yet". Rather then dismissing things that can't currently be explained.

I'm willing to say that we can't answer your questions for sure. I do think that we have a couple of plausible explanations on the table, however. As we continue to learn more about our universe, I'm certain we'll gain even more insight into situations like yours. One thing I am fairly confident of, however, is that we'll find still more natural explanations for things, just as we have for 100% - that's literally every single one - of every other mystery investigated and understood so far. It has never once been anything like a ghost or a god or a demon or a unicorn or what have you.

Ever.

So do I know for certain? No, of course not. But what do I think is exceptionally unlikely? Anything truly supernatural.

Nature and the universe are full of weird shit man :lol: No need to go inventing even more.