Should i lower my guard against a haunting if it's said that ghosts don't exist?

[Powerboy]

A religious person is just an atheist who missed one.

I think Dr. Richard Dawkins, among many others, have pointed that out. Most people are atheists in that they don't, for an instant, believe any of the claims of thousands of religions that exist. But, psychologically, they cannot bring themselves to step over the final line and think the same about the religion they were brought up on. That's the main difference between me and most religious believers. I was able to step over that final line and see the religion I was indoctrinated into as a child as being the same completely lacking in any evidence nonsense as all the rest of the thousands of religions.

[Kirby101]

So to step past the skeptical debate.
What might happen if you "let your guard down" for ghosts. How are you in danger of harm? What is it that ghost do if you "let your guard down" and how do you even guard against them?

[Iron Maiden]

Okay, but to my point about you interpreting sounds and sights at night when you were young?

I was young but not that young.....mid teens. The sound was definitely that of footsteps on carpet in a shuffling gait like he had.

[Scott Taylor]

I would say that the basic idea that God exists is philosophically arguable either way. Specific claims of events and some miracles are testable as to evidence they happened or not. Flood? Evidence says it didn't. Biblical text itself has world filled with people again within a relatively short time. Jesus healing someone? Very personal scale and no way to test. But this sort of thing is only relevant to very Fundamentalist/ Literalist forms of belief. It doesn't address the core question of the existence of deity which is unanswerable.

Philosophy is about all that is available for argument. Flood mythology is interesting, because its not worldwide. Most of the cultures that have the belief in a flood somewhere in their cultural history are centered in the northern hemisphere. But where someone makes a claim (flood, deity, etc.), it becomes hard to refute because all you have is lack of evidence. Saying "there are no unicorns because we've never seen one" is fine and logical. But that would change if new evidence arose.

So I think the deity question is answerable. But its not one that is answerable using the scientific method.

To bring this around to the thread subject - ghosts are a philosophical matter as well. Like the existence of aliens. Its something an individual can believe based on personal evidence, but not something yet provable by science. And maybe it never will be. But we do know that people get emotionally wrapped up in their beliefs, to the extent where the mind can affect the physical. So if one believes in ghosts, then ironically "ghosts" can affect that mind.

[Iron Maiden]

So to step past the skeptical debate.
What might happen if you "let your guard down" for ghosts. How are you in danger of harm? What is it that ghost do if you "let your guard down" and how do you even guard against them?

I don't think there are that many malevolent ghosts but there are some cases of people getting scratched or shoved.

There's a theory that Dogs and small children have some sense of things that we don't. A dog will suddenly not want to enter a room, etc. I remember on Ghost Hunters they would sometime take a dog named Maddie with them on larger building, like an abandoned hospital or sanitarium. And the dog would sometimes get spooked and back up. There's also a theory that some areas with bad wiring, etc. produce these electromagnetic fields that will cause people to feel uneasy and maybe even get paranoia. That is how they sometimes debunk things where people will say they just get a creepy feeling going into the basement or a room,etc. Even high carbon monoxide levels from a faulty furnace can sometimes cause hallucinations, etc. So they will check the house for things like that and sometimes have simply told people to repair things.

People are picking up weird things on the home security cameras. A mom and dad caught something weird on their nanny cam and the baby even stands up and take notice They were living on a home on their parents property and eventually moved out. I don't think you can doctor these kind of film cameras at least I've never heard of it happening. Just like with closed circuit TV. Security guardshave reported incidents when reviewing the film. This is a website called Healthcare Facilities Today, which is definitely not a ghost hunter site and there is a story about a sighting with security cameras Now you might say the film is doctored but he is reacting to things in real time.

[MyriVerse]

I was young but not that young.....mid teens. The sound was definitely that of footsteps on carpet in a shuffling gait like he had.

I'm 55. Every night, I hear large knocks coming from the walls of my home. But I'm not worried. It's animals.

(and at this point, I've ceded losing the war against them)

[Iron Maiden]

I'm 55. Every night, I hear large knocks coming from the walls of my home. But I'm not worried. It's animals.

(and at this point, I've ceded losing the war against them)

That's even worse that ghosts IMO! Do you have siding on your home or is it all brick? We have siding and I live near a small patch of woods. I've had mice or chipmunks that manage to squeeze their way in the corner where the 2 pieces of siding are joined. They then find their way either into the crawlspace above the garage or between the walls. I've had our pest control company set traps up in the crawlspace and he comes by to check it out. We've killed some that way. Another thing to do is to jam some steel wool up that small chimney like section where your corners are formed with the siding. So far this year I've heard no noises.

[BeastieRunner]

That's even worse that ghosts IMO! Do you have siding on your home or is it all brick? We have siding and I live near a small patch of woods. I've had mice or chipmunks that manage to squeeze their way in the corner where the 2 pieces of siding are joined. They then find their way either into the crawlspace above the garage or between the walls. I've had our pest control company set traps up in the crawlspace and he comes by to check it out. We've killed some that way. Another thing to do is to jam some steel wool up that small chimney like section where your corners are formed with the siding. So far this year I've heard no noises.

Mice, squirrels, bugs, racoons, birds, chipmunks aren't that bad in a house.

Rats, on the other hand ... we had those once.

Holy crap, they will ruin your house. They can chew through pipes and metal and crap like that! UGH! They sound like children playing up and down halls. It was awful ...

I live on a farm, BTW.

[Iron Maiden]

Mice, squirrels, bugs, racoons, birds, chipmunks aren't that bad in a house.

Rats, on the other hand ... we had those once.

Holy crap, they will ruin your house. They can chew through pipes and metal and crap like that! UGH! They sound like children playing up and down halls. It was awful ...

I live on a farm, BTW.

For some reason I always think of rats as city dwellers. Maybe from the Pizza rat video. I've not seen any around our neighborhood and the city provides the large bins to the residents. I live in a small town where just a mile down the road starts farm country. My nephew was spooked one evening going out to take his garbage to the bin and there was a rather mean raccoon perched on it. Their little claw hands can open those bins. He went back in the house and waited until morning.


I grew up in Gary Indiana and there were some rats in the alley. Our neighbor on the other side of the alley had a son living with her and he used to get up on the roof of the house with a gun and shoot them. This was long before today's new containers. We had a brick incinerator built by the original owner of the home and would throw trash or yard waste in there, not food garbage. My Dad would light a match to it and burn it all up. I recall seeing rats pop out of it. My father had steel cans and he would have them chained on a post. That usually kept the rats away from the garbage. Thank goodness they weren't the really big ones at least I never saw any.

[Starter Set]

I have a rat who comes sometimes in my basement, big, grey and obviously very well fed lol. Alone curiously enough.

I don't know, it hasn't damage anything so far. Sometimes i trow a tennis ball near it and the little bastard isn't timid in the slighest, it comes out from wheverer it is hiding, sniff and touch the ball and then go back to its whole lol.

[Frobisher]

I have a rat who comes sometimes in my basement, big, grey and obviously very well fed lol. Alone curiously enough.

I don't know, it hasn't damage anything so far. Sometimes i trow a tennis ball near it and the little bastard isn't timid in the slighest, it comes out from wheverer it is hiding, sniff and touch the ball and then go back to its whole lol.

You should get it a little racquet.

[Iron Maiden]

I'd get a trap and put the tennis ball in it!

[MyriVerse]

That's even worse that ghosts IMO! Do you have siding on your home or is it all brick? We have siding and I live near a small patch of woods. I've had mice or chipmunks that manage to squeeze their way in the corner where the 2 pieces of siding are joined. They then find their way either into the crawlspace above the garage or between the walls. I've had our pest control company set traps up in the crawlspace and he comes by to check it out. We've killed some that way. Another thing to do is to jam some steel wool up that small chimney like section where your corners are formed with the siding. So far this year I've heard no noises.

Siding. We're in the city, but New Orleans has lots of trees and squirrels, rats, opossum, raccoons, etc. The first two groups are the worst.

[batnbreakfast]

Siding. We're in the city, but New Orleans has lots of trees and squirrels, rats, opossum, raccoons, etc. The first two groups are the worst.

I had trouble with trees and squirrels as well. Those darn Ents walk into my house all the time. Squirrels... they are so cute I have to watch them all day and get nothing done.

Naturalist ghosts are still the worst, though.

[Kirby101]

Rare naked ghost.