Thread: Paranormal Activity, is it real?

You pretty much have two debates going here.

1. Do humans have souls?

2. If humans do have souls, can there be paranormal activity?

Leave movies out of your debates, you guys know that stuff is just crap. You can debate if there souls even exist, but don't bring up religion since that is in another debate topic.

You can use your beliefs to back up your ideas, but don't use them to try to convert people. Again, that is for another topic altogether.

I believe you go one way or the other. You're either sent to Heaven, or you're sent to hell. I don't believe there are Ghost to haunt people but rather demons that do that stuff. I know that sounds ludicrous but hey, we're talking about paranormal stuff.

Paranormal Activity, is it real?


No, but that does not mean it isn't fun, and often more appealing than normal activity.

Originally Posted by Olly Buckle

Paranormal Activity, is it real?


No, but that does not mean it isn't fun, and often more appealing than normal activity.

I admit it, paranormal activity sounds kind of fun. Flying around in the breezy night while scaring Bin Laden sounds very appealing to me for some reason.

But of course those darn demons have to take the haunting spots....

I believe our soul is our consciousness, a high level operating environment similar to Windows built on the basic operating system of the brain. Power for the brain is provided by the heart-lung combination. When that fails the brain shuts down and all applications are terminated. There may be a few seconds during which we are aware of a notice on our mental screen with a message equivalent to 'windows is shutting down'.

There are functions of the brain that reach beyond our present understanding and can affect our physical bodies and, to a small degree, the world around us. There is nothing magical or super natural. We just don't understand everything yet, and likely never will. These functions naturally are terminated at the same time as all other applications that are running.

That there could be a non-material or quasi-material part of a human being that survives physical death (a "soul") and that there could be non-corporeal though physically real entities or forces capable of creating measurable effects in the physical continuum are not mutually inclusive statements (and in fact it gives me a great deal more pleasure, not to mention profit, to consider these issues separately).

That "ghosts" are the "souls" of dead people is just one of many theories. I just thought I would point that out. Otherwise, given the wording of your inquiry, I would have to say that I have no opinion.

Originally Posted by Olly Buckle

Paranormal Activity, is it real?


No, but that does not mean it isn't fun, and often more appealing than normal activity.

There are paranormal groups in almost every town. May I suggest that before anyone jumps to any distant conclusions, he call one of these groups and ask the lead whether he may accompany them during an investigation.

I just love the quick swept-on-the-rug "no."

Get out and see for yourself. That's the right way to do it.


It is a known fact in the paranormal circle, that not all hauntings are committed by so-called earth-bound spirits. There are many cases that the haunting is being committed by a non-human, demonic entity.

So, your question linking paranormal activity to only the "souls of humans" is incorrect.

Yes, paranormal activity is real. I've seen it on tv.

Blood - I don't have a tv. I have to stand outside Riverside Bar on a Saturday night to see it.

I saw a pale young boy in a shiny window once, that's all the proof I need. He seemed familiar somehow. . .I know in my heart, it was an angel. I've never been the same since, nothing to debate in my opinion. It's real .

But seriously, why do people believe we have souls? It's not like there's anything to go on. Define a soul to me. What do you think a soul looks like? Do you believe it's something that is actually, physically, inside of us?

I certainly don't believe that we have some sort of essence inside of us that is judged by a higher power after death, no. Why should I? There's literally nothing that suggests this to me. I can see how people may come to such a conclusion, we're discussing the unknown, but I'll never believe it. There are far too many unanswered questions for me to just suddenly believe it, and I am definitely a questioner. Questioners take longer to convince, and people who believe in supernatural stuff get very annoyed when I question them, so far. That confuses me.

I've never had a paranormal experience, but I think that's because I don't believe in the paranormal. No offence, but I think people who do are far more likely to jump to the conclusion that something is paranormal, just like the skeptics are more likely to decide that there's a rational explanation. What you believe can sometimes affect what you perceive, I think.

To be honest, even if these things were proven, I wouldn't care. . . If God itself plucked me off the Earth and told me to worship it, I'd refuse. That's something different though.

Totally subjective in the end, believe what you like

Why do people believe we don't have souls?

But seriously--I don't get your statement. Is it a joke to think God exists? Is it a joke to not think God exists? Not to those who think it or don't think it.

Can't you seem to grasp that most individuals participating in these two threads seem hell-bent of having proof. Is your comment "but seriously" proof that supernatural activities aren't real. We are grown-ups here. You have to do much better than a mere "but seriously." Who are you suppose to be convincing, Mickey Mouse?

Conditioning must have something to do with what people come to believe. Do you think a gypsy wouldn't believe the supernatural?

Sorry but I don't know what you mean, I'm not trying to convince anybody, I'm saying where I am on this subject.

1. Do humans have souls? I gave my opinion on this.

2. If humans do have souls, can there be paranormal activity? Ditto.

I don't know what the problem with "but seriously" is.

I think therefore I exist and have a soul. That is what I believe.

Is Paranormal Activity real? BAH! What load!

Seven or eight years ago, while I was living in Belmopan, I hired a young Kekchi Mayan named Alvaro to chop my yard - keep the grass cut.

He told me that his grandmother lived in a small traditional village only a couple of miles from the capital. He said that tour guides sometimes carried tourists there to take pictures. I told him I would like to visit there and meet his grandmother. He said I would need to hire a taxi, go along the Western Highway a few miles to another village, then turn off the highway, go on a dirt road several miles, and walk about another half mile.

I reminded him that he had first told me the village was only about two miles out of Belmopan. He said that was true, but that I could not go through the bush between Belmopan and the village. I laughed and said I doubted the bush was so thick. He told me the bush was not thick at all, that in fact there was a clear path running the whole way, and he always rode his bicycle along that path between the village and Belmopan.

He explained that there were evil beings, not animals or people, who lived in the bush on that side of the village and no stranger could pass. I told the story to a couple of other gringos who were 'back to nature' types, and when I said I planned on visiting the village that weekend their faces turned pale and they assured me that I would never make it. They had tried twice, and had been forced to literally run back to Belmopan. 'It's nothing you can see,' they said, over and over, 'but it's there.'

The next Saturday I had Alvaro show me the start of the path and sent him back to finish chopping my yard. It took me a little over a half hour to reach the village, with stops along the way to shoot some pictures. I found the Alcalde, who was surprised that I had walked in by that path. He assured me that 'they' were just playing with me, and would get me if I tried to go back the same way.

The trip back took a bit longer because I spotted a spider monkey on a low branch. He didn't run, so I assumed he was about half domesticated, probably a pet of some kids in the village. I sat down and ignored him until he tugged at my arm and chattered. I took some pictures, got up to go, and he rode on my arm halfway back to Belmopan.

When I told Alvaro that the most dangerous creature I had seen on my walk was a spider monkey, he said the monkey was obviously one of the good spirits sent to protect me, and that's why I was able to walk through.

No. I was able to walk through because I didn't believe in evil spirits. For me such things don't exist. The two gringos I talked with could not walk through because they did believe that invisible monsters blocked their way.

What is real? How do you define reality? All I found on the path was a small animal of a type common in the area. The others found an impenetrable force. Was that force real, generated by their fear? Or was their fear the only force that held them back?

The idea of there being more to our personalities than material brains is very interesting. I've never seen anything that's convinced me there is. There isn't much evidence against the idea, but asking to prove souls don't exist is absurd. When something can't be proved, asking it to be disproved is rather skipping a step, don't you think? You can't disprove there's a hidden society living at the center of the Earth, but that isn't a strong argument in favour of said society.

Interesting link for those interested in the occult:

EUSAPIA PALLADINO: PSYCHIC WONDER OR BLATANT FRAUD?

Whether fraud was involved or not, who can be certain. However when people conducting the investigation are more interested in debunking the medium even though unexplainable phenomena occur right under their noses, the entire investigation becomes a farce.

For proper investigations, open-minded scientists should study the subject, not hostile individuals who aren't going to believe anything even if they observe it with their own eyes. Some people do not wish to believe--period! Immediately, they draw the word "hallucination" from their minds to convince themselves what they had witness was not real. Questioning their own senses is the doubting Thomases secret weapon. Some people are predudiced, but like unseen energy floating right in front of their faces, they can't see their own prejudices.

So what do they do? For starters, they deny, insult, mock, or laugh. That's what some people normally do when they don't understand (or don't want to understand) something.

Apparitions, clairvoyance, telepathy, seances, poltergists, psychokinesis, out-of-body experiences--these are just a few of the paranormal activities that have occurred for thousands of years on every continent by every culture known to mankind.

Investigating Eusapia:


"In the very month of the exposure a new series of experiments was made at l'Agnelas, in the residence of Eugene Rochas, president of the Polytechnic School. Dr. Dariex, editor of the Annales des Sciences Psychiques, Count de Gramont, Joseph Maxwell, Professor Sabatier, and Baron de Watteville participated. They all attested that the phenomena produced were genuine. On the result of the observations, Rochas built up his theory of "externalisation of motricity."

On December 1, 1898, a séance was arranged in Richet's library in Paris for the purpose of assisting Palladino to regain her reputation. The séance took place in good light, her wrists and ankles were held by the sitters, and before each experience she warned the sitters what she was going to do in order that they might establish the phenomenon to the best of their faculties and observation. She did not cease to admonish Myers to pay the closest attention and to remember exactly afterwards what had happened. "Under these conditions," wrote Theodore Flournoy, "I saw phenomena which I then believed, and still believe, to be certainly inexplicable by any known laws of physics and physiology." When Myers was begged by Richet to state his view, he again reversed himself and avowed his renewed belief in the supernormal character of Palladino's mediumship. Lombroso adopted the spirit hypothesis and Flammarion became firmly convinced of the reality of Palladino's phenomena."