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Do you believe in the supernatural?
- Thread starter foodpoison
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thank you for answering me
I totally agree, what i love about being a Pagan is that it intrinsically means that you believe what feels right (dispite what the Wicca Pagans will tell you
) i look at it like this, we based the beginnings of all religion on the stars and the movement of the stars and what it meant for crops and stuff
but if were were in a different point in space, those stars would be totally out of sync with how we look at them now... they would give us a different reading a different story.
The same is true for humans on the earth - so for some people (like in England) the sun became the thing to worship because it hides so often and when the sun came the crops would grow etc
In different countries, like countries in the Middle East, the Rains became the thing to worship because when the rains came, the crops grew
So you get a totally different beginning of ideas and beliefs, different stories and parables, different methods of prayer and ways of doing stuff.
because of this, nobody should be telling another human being what to believe and not to believe, it would be like telling the men of the forests not to worship the sun, or the men of the deserts not to worship the rain and instead worship the sun, you pray, believe or give energy to what YOU feel is right
People find their connection with god in many ways, if the supernatural seems ridiculous to you, i am sure you will have other methods of communicating to the 'other side' or to god... Even if its just talking to yourself in the kitchen or wishing very hard that something goes right
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foodpoison
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Please do!
Luke_Herts
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I had one on a country road a few years ago. Not sure what it was just trick of the light. I was being given a lift by friends mum when we passed a hitchiker. This was at night so pitch black but as we passed the hitchhiker i turned around and he was gone. All along the road a little light followed us??
I don't know if a hitchiker was ever run down and killed there. Also could have been the hitchiker just dissapeared in the dark and the light was a reflection.
Who knows??
I don't know if a hitchiker was ever run down and killed there. Also could have been the hitchiker just dissapeared in the dark and the light was a reflection.
Who knows??
AlexW
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Isn't the reason this stuff is called supernatural because there is no evidence that any of it actually exists?
As soon as actual verifiable evidence came into existence it would cease to be supernatural and just be a natural phenomena that can't yet be explained.
The only evidence that is currently out there are the anecdotes of individuals.
The Randi Foundation has a challenge whereby they will pay $1 million to anyone "who can show, under proper observing conditions, evidence of any paranormal, supernatural, or occult power or event" needless to say the money remains unclaimed.
To quote Radiohead "just 'cause you feel it doesn't mean it's there".
As soon as actual verifiable evidence came into existence it would cease to be supernatural and just be a natural phenomena that can't yet be explained.
The only evidence that is currently out there are the anecdotes of individuals.
The Randi Foundation has a challenge whereby they will pay $1 million to anyone "who can show, under proper observing conditions, evidence of any paranormal, supernatural, or occult power or event" needless to say the money remains unclaimed.
To quote Radiohead "just 'cause you feel it doesn't mean it's there".
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Well done that man for getting a Radiohead quote in
I used to like stuff like this as a kid, but as I've grown up I've become more sceptical. While not being blinkered or self assured enough to catagorically state that such things don't exist, I think they can usually be explained as the result of a conspiracy of circumstances and the particular mindset of the individuals involved.
I've read a lot of UE stuff and there's very little support for "ghost stories" in such circles; you'd have though that old asylums etc would be hotspots for such activity, but the best I've seen is the usual "orbs" in photos.
I've never had any supernatural experiences; although my old dear used to ride horses and said she and a lot of other riders she knew all had problems with their steeds down a particular lane where a girl was murdered years before.
Less supernatural but no less intriguing, a friend and I once witnessed a proper UFO in a field in our village - it was just a point light source in the distance, but would accelerate from a standstill to incredible speed almost instantly, as well a decelerating and changing direction (often sharp 90deg turns) in an equally rapid fashion. I know of nothing man made that can move like that..
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foodpoison
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How peculiar.
My friend always used to lie to me, be it a rat in the cupboard or that street sharks were real. I've grown up to realise he's a bit of a compulsive fibber
He told me about a similar thing. 2 red things in the sky that looked like blimps, but moved at tremendous speeds and changed direction instantly.
Him and his friend whom he was with at the time both witnessed it, and spoke nothing about it at the time, but a week or two later spoke about it because they thought they'd imagined it.
When they told me I immediately told them to tw&t off and stop lying
Ah, the basis of all good horror films:
An ancient indian/african/war burial ground
Seriously though, how spooky.
What is this 'completely different sense of the spirit world' that the African's hold? Mind sharing?
Not really spooky. The Security Manager was a friend of mine, and told me about it. There were reports of footsteps, and lights/computers switching themselves on and off, in the admin block at night when there was no-one there. Not very definitive and I can think of a few explanations, although there are holes in them. The more interesting event involved my friend, personally. She was on campus late one evening and walking around on her own. This was perfectly safe, as the campus was heavily secured, monitored by CCTV and patrolled. The control room operator called her on the radio, and asked who is the "white lady"? (This was in South Africa and he meant a white, European, woman, not the "white lady" that features in so many ghost stories). He sounded puzzled, and she asked him what he was talking about. The operator said he could see a white lady with blond hair standing next to her, on the CCTV monitors, and wanted to know who she was, because there was no record of any staff or visitors still on site. She couldn't see anyone, and told the operator it was probably just a trick of the lighting, but the same thing happened again a few nights later. I checked the DVR archive myself, and found that the images from the camera concerned were missing for about 45 seconds, on each occaison, corresponding with the times when this happened. The camera hadn't been switched off, because the control log showed no commands and the date/time stamp had continued to run, but the images were gone and the screen blanked out completely. One of the older black staff told me about the graves being disturbed. He was there when construction started, and was pretty matter of fact about it. He also told me there was an old house in the village that had been used as a hospital or some sort of accommodation during the war, and was now a guest house, and that you could "see the old people" inside late at night. I did drive past slowly a couple of times, but I didn't see anything and I suppose I didn't really expect to. Must admit, I didn't get out of the car or try to get too close, because that's a short cut to a confrontation with some big dogs or a suspicious, gun owning, householder!
I'm not an expert on African spirituality, but most black people in Southern Africa believe that their ancestors live in the spirit world, which is essentially part of, but apart from, our own. The ancestors watch us, and can intervene directly in our world in various ways to express their satisfaction or displeasure about events and human actions, but we can only communicate with them, or consult them for guidance, through mediums (sangomas, inyangas, shamans, medicine men) in a trance state. Respect for the ancestors is extremely important, and is demonstrated through rituals and practice, to avoid harmful consequences. Graves, in particular, are tended and looked after carefully, and there are special rituals which have to be carried out if a grave is disturbed. South African museums have returned a number of grave artefacts to their cultural owners, with appropriate ceremonies, and developers are also expected to take heed of this if they accidentally disturb human remains. Do I beleive any of this? I don't know. Probably not, but I lived in Africa for long enough to know that there are a lot of things we don't understand. the South African writer, and shaman, Credo Mutwa has written extensively about it.
Grayman
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Martyn, I have to agree with you. I too have lived long enough in Africa as well as studying Xhosa culture to know there are things we don't understand. In the Xhosa culture for argument sake there is this belief that a small man like creature exists, called the Tokoloshe. Most Xhosa adults, not matter how educated, have their beds raised so that they out of his reach. There is also the 'mfufenyane' scenario...bodily possession as we would call it, where individuals are cursed by witch doctors (Sangomas). There are many individuals who have alledgedly been possessed and turned stark raving mad, many of which can only be cured after a visit to the Sangoma. Do I believe in it..I don't know, but an entire population group certainly do!
Hi Grayman (or "Howzit?"). I don't have my bed on bricks, but I know what you mean. The Tokoloshe is a common belief in Zulu culture too. There was a leading case quite a while back involving a villager who was charged with murder when he killed a child with an axe, believing him to be a Tokoloshe. Counsel argued that he was not guilty, because someone told him there was a Tokoloshe in a hut where his sister was sleeping, and it was common knowledge, in his culture, that the Tokoloshe could take the form of a young child. As far as I can remember, the defence failed and he was sentenced to death.
My daughter attended the initiation of a sangoma, as a guest, and said it was quite an experience. She's 24, born and brought up in SA, and a very cool and grounded scientist, but it still left her shaking her head.
I was involved in an investigation not long ago, when a client reported that one of their senior managers had received possible death threats following a disciplinary hearing. There was a lot of smoke and mirrors, and the whole thing got blown out of proportion, but the terms "inyanga" and "muti" were circulating and he was definitely apprehensive. We had to report to the client's offices in Europe, and trying to explain all this to their executives was, to put it mildly, rather difficult!
My daughter attended the initiation of a sangoma, as a guest, and said it was quite an experience. She's 24, born and brought up in SA, and a very cool and grounded scientist, but it still left her shaking her head.
I was involved in an investigation not long ago, when a client reported that one of their senior managers had received possible death threats following a disciplinary hearing. There was a lot of smoke and mirrors, and the whole thing got blown out of proportion, but the terms "inyanga" and "muti" were circulating and he was definitely apprehensive. We had to report to the client's offices in Europe, and trying to explain all this to their executives was, to put it mildly, rather difficult!
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Grayman
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Howzit ! When I was in the SAPS we often had to take mental health patients directly to the iGuirqha's, not any hospital. Most of such complaints I attended were these incidents...and I most of the time I was bricking myself!
! When I was in the SAPS we often had to take mental health patients directly to the iGuirqha's, not any hospital. Most of such complaints I attended were these incidents...and I most of the time I was bricking myself!
RichardC27
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I am kind of torn on the supernatural. The logical part of my brain says that it can't exist, and that once you are dead you are dead. If ghosts, ghouls, spirits and all the rest of it existed, then we would be over-run with them. Even though the global population is exploding at a rapid rate, there must be at least 5 billion dead humans in the ground around the world.
Nobody is ever haunted by a caveman/ancient egyptian/roman are they, it is always from within the last 500 years or so, where records exist. This, to me, suggests that people make it all up in their own mind when they can't sleep in the middle of the night and creep themselves out.
However, there are things that go on, particularly in my girlfriends house, that I can't explain. Her house is down an unmade, gravel road, at the end of a row of around 6 houses. There is a field next to it, and a road, at the same level, maybe 400 yards away, with a couple of houses along it visible from her window. This makes it sound like the house is in the middle of nowhere, but it is in an urban area with a big housing estate at the back of the garden. Sometimes, at night, there are wierd flashing lights that travel around the room. I tried to pass these off as car headlights or indicators, until I saw one travel around the room and stop directly above her bedroom window. There is no way any external light source could have done that, but there it was. It stayed there for a minute or two and then faded away. This happens regularly.
I have also been woken up in the early hours of the morning by a loud, piercing scream that seemed to come from directly outside her room, but this may have been a fox outside the window. Her brother has reported hearing all sorts of strange noises in the house, such as breathing, coughing and steps when there was nobody else there, but I have never experienced this.
Nobody is ever haunted by a caveman/ancient egyptian/roman are they, it is always from within the last 500 years or so, where records exist. This, to me, suggests that people make it all up in their own mind when they can't sleep in the middle of the night and creep themselves out.
However, there are things that go on, particularly in my girlfriends house, that I can't explain. Her house is down an unmade, gravel road, at the end of a row of around 6 houses. There is a field next to it, and a road, at the same level, maybe 400 yards away, with a couple of houses along it visible from her window. This makes it sound like the house is in the middle of nowhere, but it is in an urban area with a big housing estate at the back of the garden. Sometimes, at night, there are wierd flashing lights that travel around the room. I tried to pass these off as car headlights or indicators, until I saw one travel around the room and stop directly above her bedroom window. There is no way any external light source could have done that, but there it was. It stayed there for a minute or two and then faded away. This happens regularly.
I have also been woken up in the early hours of the morning by a loud, piercing scream that seemed to come from directly outside her room, but this may have been a fox outside the window. Her brother has reported hearing all sorts of strange noises in the house, such as breathing, coughing and steps when there was nobody else there, but I have never experienced this.
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There have been reports of sightings of ghosts of Roman Centurians marching along the road near Colchester. Because the road has been resurfaced several times over the years the ghosts feet can not be seen as they are below the level of the road surface.
I remember a college lecturer tellying us about a time he was with mates riding their motorbikes to Brands Hatch. He swerved to miss a woman pushing a pram who had stepped into the road in front of him. He came off his bike, but his immediate concern was for the woman with the pram especially as there may have been a child inside. His mates helped him up, and he started yelling at them to leave him and see to the woman and child. As you've guessed there was no woman with a pram and none of his mates had seen anything of a woman with a pram as they'd ridden down the road with him.
My story,
I was given a watch as a present and it needed a link taken out of it to fit. I kept it on my bedside cabinet for about 2 years saying more often than not ''i must take that watch to the jewellers''.
After saying it one night my husband say ''for gods sake do it then and stop babbling on about it''
That night I had a dream that my late grandad was fiddling with it [grandad has been gone 15 years but we still talk about him often].
When I awoke I told my husband of the dream and he just tutted. [like he does]
I picked the watch up to take it to the jewellers and a link fell out and the watch fits like a glove.
There is no way it had worked loose and I have no other explanation than 'me grandad fixed it to stop me moaning''
I was given a watch as a present and it needed a link taken out of it to fit. I kept it on my bedside cabinet for about 2 years saying more often than not ''i must take that watch to the jewellers''.
After saying it one night my husband say ''for gods sake do it then and stop babbling on about it''
That night I had a dream that my late grandad was fiddling with it [grandad has been gone 15 years but we still talk about him often].
When I awoke I told my husband of the dream and he just tutted. [like he does]
I picked the watch up to take it to the jewellers and a link fell out and the watch fits like a glove.
There is no way it had worked loose and I have no other explanation than 'me grandad fixed it to stop me moaning''
shell
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i tended a paranormal overnight vigil at the castle keep in newcastle as usual i was bored i was in a group of four we was sent to a small room i decided to sit down under some stairs for some strange reason i felt tired and very peaceful and at peace one of the girls asked me if i was ok? i replied yes but i told them how i was feeling they asked to me to get up i didnt reluctantly when i got up all the feelings went away but a few mins later i felt unwell dizzy and felt that i couldnt stand i said i would be fine in a minute but the next thing i knew my legs give way and i was on the floor a few minutes later all the others rallied around me to ask if i was ok but i felt very weak and sick they explained to me that a spirit had took me over i dont think thats what happened i think it was just a bad turn but they told me i was speaking to them with a mans voice the night before i went to a spuggy meeting out of curiosity and i got told to be careful as someone was going to try and take over and it was dangerous and that i shouldnt be doing what i was doing thats all they said so i couldnt make any sense of this now i will leave it upto you to make your own mind up i still think it was a dodgy turn.
RichardC27
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Ok, nobody is ever haunted by a figure from before recorded history. Nobdody ever wakes up and sees a Neaderthal standing at the end of the bed, or a cow/duck/the fly you sprayed three hours earlier. They are all living things, but people are only haunted by human spirits. It's things like that that make me sceptical.
Michelle, I think this is the longest sentence I've ever read, and it's quite a strain to read! Could you use some punctuation, just to help the rest of us out? Thanks.