I'm about 100% sure that science didn't prove these people didn't have external input, and that the disagnostic of schizophrenia, while perfectly seeming reasonable to me, is based on the assumption, not the proof, that God and Satan (or anything else that's not in people's heads) doesn't really talk to people.

Personally, I think that doubting such things by raising the possibility that it "was all in their head" is a wise thing to do, but to try and turn that into a certitude is as bad as the opposite attitude.

Yes. I am a firm believer in the paranormal, but over the years I've learned to approach it with a very skeptical outlook, because I do know that the mind can play tricks on you (especially in places like a very dark hallway). But there are some experinces that you just can't rationally explain, and others that may have been mere coincidence, but still leave you with a sick feeling in the pit of your stomache or a tingly feeling on the back of your neck.

Anyway, I have a borderline experience to share, may or may not deal with ghosts, but still made quite an impression.

This happened the summer me and my dad were moving from Decatur, IL, to St. Paul, MN. Me and my sister were both home, making lunch in the kitchen, and one of our cats was sitting perfectly calmly on the counter. The phone rings, and the instant it does, the cat glares directly at the phone and growls at it. This was unusual, as he's never done that before. Anyway, my sister answers, and it's someone calling to let us know he was coming by to inspect the heater/water heater. This was the first me, my sister, or my dad had heard about it. Anyway, about an hour later, we were in the living room watching TV, and I had the cat laying on the couch purring, when the doorbell rang. The cat, once again, became extremely alert, glared at the front door, and growled. It was the same guy who called earlier. Anyway, me and my sister decided I should watch this guy (the water heater/furnace were inside of my room, and I had it set up in such a way where I could look like I was playing SNES when I was actually watching him). As far as I know, nothing else unusual happened, but still... something about my cat's highly unusual reaction to the two instances this guy made contact with us was unsettling.

This is a story that could be scientifically explained to 'no big deal' any number of ways, but... that still made it no less real for me and my sister. I don't know what really happened and why, and I never will.

And Krylo.... My god, do you know what the hell happened in that house? That's.... really damn freaky. Could you recognize what the symbol was, or describe it, or something?

It's been awhile BF (about 7 years), but what I remember it was an isoceles or equilateral, kind of fuzzy, triangle, in which there were two lines starting at the center of the 'bottom' of the triangle and bisecting the other two lines. Near the center, I believe a bit nearer the apex. That's all I remember of it. There may have been more.

I believe it was facing roughly north, the apex, that is. Although it may have been west too. I'm foggy on it.

And no, I don't know what happened in the house. I don't care to, to be honest. New family's problem now. And I got used to it, living there from 2nd to early 9th grade.

Oddly enough, the guy who moved out before us moved into a shanty with a dirt floor, and, apparently, we were the only family to have stayed there for very long. When we moved in, I specifically remembering kids commenting on how many people went through it.

Here's a poorly drawn artist's rendering. By artist I mean me. And by rendering I mean something done in paint in about 5 seconds.

I spent the whole night yesterday sort of wishing to see a ghost while I was lying in bed. So...I sort of want to believe but I don't. Didn't see anything, or anything like that. Of course I'm not saying that that doesen't mean that they don't exist...It's perhaps just my house or something.

And about the cold winds, that is a really really common explanation I here often. I laugh at it, (since usually there's no wind) but still I use that very same explanation my self.

I don't know about ghosts, per se, but I do think that something beyond that which is the norm exists and exerts itself to normal people every-so-often.

Beyond that, I'm pretty skeptical. I mean, if you show me a picture and call it an 'orb', I'll say: "Dude, it's a speck of dust." Show me a face or something, and I'll say "It's just your mind trying to make a picture out of it." If you ask me, the vast majority of psyhics on T.V. are full of crap.

I haven't had any "supernatural experiences" either. The closest thing to it was when my friend suggested a "shortcut" home, and we endly up driving through a neighborhood that had some undeveloped space on on side of the road. I'm talking the creepy looking trees. At night. After a few minutes of this, I say, "Why do I feel like a Scooby-Doo episode?" We around the bend in the road...and there is a graveyard.

Like I said, nothing even close to a supernatural experince.

Now...there are some things I really can't explain. For example, they have a show on the Sci-Fi channel called "Ghost Hunters" that I watch every now and then. I like the show generally because the two guys in charge of the ghost hunting group are, shall we say, believing skeptics, generally meaning they believe in ghosts, but they'll need something beyond orbs to call it a ghost.

Anyway, last week, they were on a military base. On of the crew members, a sound guy, was "hit" by something. It cleaned his clock pretty good. The was shaky for a good half hour. Now, they managed to get a recording of it.

The dude's equipment bag just flew up and hit in in the face. It wasn't him who did it. He had both hands on a boom-mike, and had his feet planted squarely. It just flew up and hit him in the face.

Now, I have no way of explaining that.

So...call me a believing skeptic. I believe there is something. What it is, I'll leave to everyone's personal theories.

I generally reserve judgement on ghosts, but I'll say I believe in them because of things like this thread. Whenever ghosts come up, it seems that a large number of people have had experiences with the paranormal, ordinarily logical and reasonable people, not wackos or anything like that. That tends to push me towards the "maybe they do exist" thought.

Fortunately, ghosts don't often inhabit suburbia, or the inner city, so I've been safe from any sort of paranormal experiences myself. At least for now.

Of course, I have a way overactive imagination, so my word may not be worth a whole lot.

Krylo, that seriously resembles a masons emblem. Remove the bottom line of the triangle, and but a G in the center and that's what you have. That may explain a few things.

whats a masons emblem

this is one of the symbols of the masons. You will see it on all there lodges:


http://web.mit.edu/dryfoo/www/Masonr...-sq_com4xp.gif

Way to post a nearly invisible symbol. :)

Oh yeah? Prove it. Keep "factual" statements out and "opinionated" statements in. I think, I doubt, I believe. Never "This is the unmitigated truth, so be it."