Just out of curiosity, doesn't the bible forbid interacting & communicating with the dead? I think I read it in there in the same section that bascally forbids "casting spells & curses" and trying to foretell the future etc.

I don't remember what book it's in now. Maybe someone in here who's more learned in the bible than me will know.

In any case, I've never seen a ghost and not gonna go out of my way to find one.

 

All I know is when I was a kid, we lived in my Grandma's 3 story old brick farmhouse. My bed was right by the attic door. Sometimes at night if I didn't get to sleep right away, I could hear the door swing open and shut and hear footsteps going up the attic stairs. This went on for about a month before I told my Grandma about it, I didn't want them to laugh at me or think I was going crazy. She lived in this house for years before we moved in. All she had to say was "oh, that's just Hector" I asked if she was talking about a dog or something, and she said no, he was here before I moved in. I said huh? she said yeah, he is just my friendly ghost. I heard it just about every night and we lived there 5 years. Grandma said she had seen pictures move and heard footsteps all over the house before we moved in, not just the attic. I asked her what she thought the ghost was, and she said the people that owned the house(she was renting) told her in the early 1900's a 8 year old boy was locked in the basement(on accident, or on purpose I don't know)and she thinks it was his ghost or spirit still in the house. I have never seen anything like that in any other house I have lived in. just my thoughts, ben

 

Call me crazy...but I'm a believer. When I was 8 years old I saw two spirits or ghosts...and I'll never forget it.

I woke up in the middle of the night (don't know why), and I had goose bumps all over (like when your scared). I looked out of my bedroom door, across the hall to my mom's door. My mom's door was closed, and right outside the door stood two glowing bodies. They weren't glowing really bright, just glowing. One had a greenish color, and the other was white. I stared at them for (what seemed like forever) 5 minutes and they didn't move. I was frozen with fear and finally looked away. A few minutes later I looked again and they were gone. I know I wasn't sleeping because I was too scared to go back to sleep, so I stayed up the rest of the night.

Since then, I've always believed...and to this day, whenever I watch a TV show on ghosts or even reading this thread I get goose bumps all over.

 

76, can I come? God knows how much I miss Texas....I am sure he would not mind my accompining y'all to my home?

 

Sure, you bring the bait and I'll bring the boat. HE said while we're there we'll only be attending the First Reformed Church of Outdoor Worship. (Thier underlying core belief is they don't believe in churches! ;-) )

 

Sounds good with me...

 

You've all too much to drink, too much to smoke or too many blows to the head

 

oh man, this is givin me goose bumps while am typing. You guys should have waited until October to start this thread, ha . Fordzilla, your not imagining things, dogs are very perceptive to the "spirits". Our chow wasnt scared of anything that was outside or inside the house. Until , that "shadow", would pass across our vacant hallway sometimes at night. She would drop her ears and come and get as close to us as possible, all the time staring down the hall.

 

Think about this one, Skeptics..

To totally dismiss the existence of ghosts would necessitate the need for atheistic beliefs because the Bible warns against involvement with such beings. If not an atheist, you cannot disbelieve in them, based on the flawed reasoning that if you haven't seen one, it can't exist....

This is a theological argument, not precursive to a flame war....

Theo

 

No flames here, Theo, I have never been a devout atheist, I am just telling my story to those that may have an interest in this subject, and it is just another opinion or veiw, and is only as valid to the reader, as they are interested, probably.
I was raised Baptist and was an avid churchgoer until age 14, then I guess the hormones in me rampaged ,and I strayed from religion. So, I turned skeptic, not atheist, all the way until I was 38 years old. My mother was a christian woman, and we would, from time to time, get on the subject of the hereafter. She believed in it, I was skeptical tho. I always made the point of getting the last word in, to validate my skeptism by saying, "o.k. Mom, I respect your belief, BUT, you know, I have never heard or seen ANYONE, that after they died, were embalmed, buried, EVER , EVER, come back and show me there is a hereafter".
So, one day, we were on this subject, I made a point that I was 38 and she was 78, and that most likely she would "go" before I would. SO, we made a pact, and I knew my Mom would make good for it, because she had never let me down my whole life or lied to me, ever. I asked her that ,IF she went before I did, AND IF, there was a AFTERLIFE, would she some how let me know. I asked her to carry a lamp across the room, or WHATEVER, spirits do to make their presence known. She swore to me she would, and the subject of the hereafter was never mentioned again. Four years later at 82, my Mom passed, God love her tired soul, sitting in her favorite reading chair, with her Harequin Romance book in her hand.
About 50 days later, at about 2:00 a.m. in the morning, I was awakened by our bed being violently shaken from side to side. I sit up in the bed, and my wife was already OUT of the bed, standing in the bedroom door looking back at me. I asked her, " is it a tremor, is anything on the walls moving ?? I asked because we had a tremor about 2 years earlier. She said "NO, its just the bed shaking". Our chow dog was headed out of the bedroom with its tail and ears dropped. We all went back to bed, and discussed it at breakfast. I told my wife I thought maybe I was just in a sleep/wake dream state,and that was the answer. She said, "NO, you werent. the bed woke me up shaking side to side, and I jumped up, and the dog was already headed out the door, I looked back at you, and you were still asleep, but you woke up and asked me if anything on the walls were moving?". So, that to me, dispelled the notion, that these paranormal happenings are all self induced , mind trickery, because, HOW did I trick my sleeping wife with the same phenomema ?? sorry, for the long winded post, just wanted to share,
Oh, and by the way, My Mom , for 25 on and off years, always awakened me by putting her knee against the mattress by my head, and then would shake it side to side. And, for those that read this as pure baloney, all I can say is , if I am lying about this , I want God to hit my Ford truck with a huge bolt of lightning, today, (its a beautiful , sunny day here too, ) good day to all,

 

When I was aged thirteen, my Grandmother, with whom I had been very close, came to tell she was dead. I had not seen her for many years. I am not inclined to exaggerate, intentionally mislead, or spout BS..

Theo

 

I'm pretty much an Agnostic.
However there are things that I've experienced that I cannot explain. My son was born 5 years ago. My younger brother Died in a drowning accident in 1989, he was 11 years old. I was very close to my brother and I arrived at the scene of the accident right after it occured and was unable to save him. It was very traumatic for me and I never talk about it. A few months ago my son (who is a spitting image of my younger brother who passed away) woke up in the middle of the night spitting and coughing then crying. He of course woke my wife and I, and we ran to his room to check on him. My son who is 5 years old and has never been told anything about what happened to my brother by me or anyone else, proceeded to tell my wife and I what he was dreaming about. My son explained that he was playing by a creek fell in the water and bumped his head. After he bumped his head he couldn't breathe cause he was under water, so he says he went to sleep. "But then Daddy came and kissed me and tried to wake me up, but couldn't and started to cry. When I saw daddy crying I started to cough and cry too". At that point is when my wife and I interupted his dream by coming into his room.
My son pretty much described the exact events that occured when my brother drown. Right down to my efforts to rescusitate my brother and my grief over my failure to do so.
I don't even pretend to know how my son came to dream about this traumatic episode, but he did and I can't explain it.

 

I am so sorry for your loss Big, that is one gut wrenching life experience you have had. I have never heard of a good explanation why young peoples lives are cut short, there must be a reason, and am sure after our last breathe is taken , each one of us will know the answers. You speak of your "failure" to save your brother, I hope you one day will see that , when a persons time has come to "go", regardless of age, or situation, they WILL go, and there was no "failure" on your part. I am going out on a BIG limb here, and just going to post my "opinion" only, as to interpreting your sons dream, so here goes.
If you read my post above, you will see I am not skeptical anymore of the afterlife. I believe if one has passed on, their "spirit, energy, whatever you want to call it, can be here on earth, and can stay until they have elevated their spiritual self to move on. It is possible (whew, this is hard to put in type ) that your brothers spirit had a play? in your sons dream. If you let yourself get open minded here just for a moment, it COULD be possible that your brother wants you to know he "sees you in pain" and wants you to know he is o.k. now, and that he "knows" you did everything possible to save him, and he wants you to forgive yourself and let go of the inner greiving you may be feeling.
I think that is one of the reasons for these "hauntings" spoken of here. The "ghosts" are just the spirits of people passed, that are still "attached' to earth because they still have "attachments" to things (their homes) or to their loved ones they left behind. I think that the spirit can stay on earth for as long as they want until they have made "peace" with whatever is holding them back , then they can move on up in spirtual elevation , maybe to heaven? We moved my father in law in to our home 2 years ago, he died a slow, painful death from emphysema. My wife granted her fathers wishes by not taking him back to the hospital to die. So , she spent a year and a half taking care of him 24/7. On the day he died she was up 22 hours straight ,sitting at his bed, because she promised him , she would be with him until the last moment.
She finally took just 5 minutes to jump in the shower, and , you guessed it, he died while she was drying off. Now, she has spent the past 6 months, beating herself up ,because she didnt keep her "promise" to him, of being there to the last moment with him. As ridiculous as it seems to everyone else , it is REAL guilt to her. Yesterday, a friend of my wife's deceased father called and they were discussing on the phone how a kind and gentle person he was. My wife was looking at the floor in the den while talking, and noticed the cat's 2in round playball sitting by the recliner. Just as they mentioned her fathers name, the ball started rolling across the floor. No cats, no dogs, no people, no open doors or windows, no air registers in the floor. Tonight , it did it again, as we were watching t.v. My wife has taken this as a "sign " from her father, that all is o.k. and she is starting to take showers again, without feeling guilty. (whew, thank goodness!)
Take this post as humor or foolishness, its o.k. by me, its just an opinion from a old guy that doesnt have all the answers. But, I definetely know that mankind and science, do not hold ALL the answers either, because there is something out there we cant see,feel, or hear, that is navigating this big ship down here, and were going to have to be in "spirit" to see what it is I think, all imho, good luck to you,