[quote]
I had just finished my shower, and was just starting to dry meyself, when I clearly heard, in this order: our screen door open; our front door open; our screen door close; our front door close; soft footsteps across the carpeted living room; louder footsteps in the hallways right outside the bathroom; and finally loud, obviously female, clicking high-heel footsteps across the tiles kitchen. i figured Bec was home from work early, said hello, didn't get a reply, said hello again, still no reply. I was alone in the flat and the doors were locked.
[/quote]
I can explain. That was just your transvestite Viking biker boyfriend coming to phuck your butloude.

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What others say about boorite!

That post proves that one should wait at least half an hour between reading mr_congeniality's comics and posting on the forums.

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What others say about boorite!

Ya'll can argue it and have Tobor anally rape it to death to prove a scientific validity for yourselves, I choose to have my beliefs and even if they are not plausible to anyone other than myself. I can't prove anything nor do I want to..I prefer not to let skeptics ruin it. Scientists don't insult peoples intelligence..they just outprove it. Skeptics only bash you over the head about how right they are and everyone else is wrong without proving squat.

From now on I'll keep my sloppy thinking and laissez faire attitude to myself.

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Women are fisher's of men because we all know.... The small ones you throw back. The medium ones you eat. The large ones you mount.

[quote]Ya'll can argue it and have Tobor anally rape it to death to prove a scientific validity for yourselves, I choose to have my beliefs and even if they are not plausible to anyone other than myself.
[/quote]
Clearly put.
[quote]
Scientists don't insult peoples intelligence..they just outprove it.
[/quote]
They outprove people's intelligence?
[quote]
Skeptics only bash you over the head about how right they are and everyone else is wrong without proving squat.
[/quote]
As one of the skeptics here, and probably the one to whom you're responding, I don't recall bashing you over the head or saying I'm right or everyone else is wrong. I do recall asking certain questions and expressing an interest in getting to the bottom of strange experiences. I said I think it's important, now more than ever. Now I understand that you're not interested in that kind of inquiry, but it's not nice to misrepresent your distinguished opposition.

I don't understand this whole thing about who's right and who's wrong. I mean, let's say my guess was that there's a standing wave in the house causing people to hallucinate. You say, OK, let's do some experiments to look for it. We don't find it. If it had been there, the tuning fork would vibrate or whatever, but it doesn't, so my guess goes out the window. I can't imagine taking it personally or thinking I'm being proven wrong and you're being proven right. That's just not part of my process of understanding the world.

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What others say about boorite!

Hey, I'm from Georgia. I don't say phrases like 'sounds of movement'. Fall off, knocked off, whatever...I saw it happen. I was in my living room, looked over at my desk, and the DVD's that were lying there just went straight into the floor. They were not stacked up in an unbalanced pile nor were they sitting on the edge of the desk. They were square in the middle of the damn desk, and then they slid up to the edge and fell right off into the floor. Once again, I actually saw it. Yes, I noticed it in my peripheral vision at first, but turned my head and saw the shadow still moving up the stairs. I am the only one who's seen it on the stairs, but I'm not the only one who's seen it. They usually happen while lying in bed at night...but not always. It happens on the couches in the living room during broad daylight while wide awake, too. It happens when I'm sitting in my desk chair typing posts on this forum, too. Well, I don't know when the hell it happens to other folks, but it only happened to us once, and once is once too many, as far as I'm concerned. There is no fucking way that anyone could get into here without us knowing. There are no spare keys, two different sets of locks to get through on two seperate doors, and all of the windows are sealed and nailed shut. Oh, so it was you? I didn't say I believed him...I just wanted the fucking thing gone! When he told me he could do it but wouldn't...then I knew he was probably full of shit. I just told it here cause I thought someone would get a kick out of it instead of having my entire story thrown back in my face like I'm a goddamn liar. I say this, and I think this is what Jael was getting at, because your remarks make you come across as more of a cynical asshole than a regular skeptic. The way you word your "certain questions" and how you show "expressing an interest in getting to the bottom of strange experiences" give more of a feeling that what you're really saying is "how feeble your minds must really be to actually let yourself believe all this mumbo jumbo." At least, that's what it sounds like to me. I don't mean to offend (and Jael, please correct me if I'm wrong), but that's how your comments come across.

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If it wasn't for bad luck I wouldn't have no luck at all. D'OH!

Blair hit it.

Boo,
Whether you meant to or not, the little quips about sloppy thinking just peeved the hell out of me. Granted I am well aware I'm not Einstein, but I know damn well my thinking is pretty sharp. And for a fact we all know DexX isn't a sloppy thinker, I consider him one of the brightest markers in the bunch.

It did not come across as a friendly debate or sharing of ideas/experiences, it comes across as "I Boorite,think this is bunk, therefore, I'll tear apart everyone's statement and throw it back at them." And even when countered with the fact that people readily admit.."this is my opinion" it still gets blasted on a point-by-point basis like you're trying to render the opinion holder as useless as the opinion itself and a character flaw.

Maybe I wasn't clear enough before, I'm not saying you necessarily think this, or even meant it in that tone. That is how it came across to me, and apparently I am not alone in that. I'm all for playing devil's advocate or debating, but not at the expense of insulting people because of them.

P.S. feel free to blast and mock and tell me how bad my grammar sucks, I know this. lol

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Women are fisher's of men because we all know.... The small ones you throw back. The medium ones you eat. The large ones you mount.

Boo, I didn't want to be the first to say it, but yeah... your posts came across as being a bit arrogant. I know you're a nice bloke, and did not intend any offence, but the implication of us being dumb and illogical was there in the text.

Anyway, I have stressed several times in this thread that I do not actually believe in the supernatiral. I believe in the possibility of it. You can brandish Occam's Razor all you like, but in this case, the "simplest explanation" may very well be that there are things which are 99.9% out of our range of perception that we are not fully-equipped to understand, and sometimes we fall into thos 0.1%situations and can perceive them. Sounds a lot simpler than a standing wave of electromagnetic radiation bouncing off a weather balloon and igniting marsh gas... :)

My personal theory is that, if these things are real, that they are not conscious beings or anything, but just "residue", of a sort. Ever noticed how a building can have a certain mood to it? The atmpsphere in a home can feel bad when family members are fighting, even if you don't know about it, stuff like that. I think people might leave impressions behind, especially if they live somewhere for a long time, love a place or a thing very much, or experience intense emotions. In this case, frightening apparitions would be caused by people picking up on these echoes or residue, whatever you want to call it.

Personally, I can't imagine a "ghost", sentient and wilful, expressing his rage at the world that denied him life by moving your coffee cup when you leave the room for a minute.

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This signature has performed an illegal operation and has been shut down.

There's a scientific term for that: "pretty fucked up."

If this kind of thing is going on in your house a lot, we should observe it systematically. It could be important.
[quote]
Once again, I actually saw it. Yes, I noticed it in my peripheral vision at first, but turned my head and saw the shadow still moving up the stairs. I am the only one who's seen it on the stairs, but I'm not the only one who's seen it.[/quote]
Don't you wonder what it is you saw?

Yes, "tend to," as I said. They also tend to happen in poor lighting conditions, but not always.

Yes, I had a sighting while sitting in an armchair in a well-lit room once.
[quote]
It happens when I'm sitting in my desk chair typing posts on this forum, too.[/quote]
A ghostcam is called for. I'm quite serious. It's easy to set up and it makes a contribution to paranormal investigations. Why not try it?

Those would be good places to start. I'd like to see if I could get into your place without your knowing. Also, it's hard to say for sure that there are no spare keys-- or that a known key wasn't used. The problem is that this only happened once, so it's now impossible to catch whatever did it, human or ghost or whatever.
[quote][quote]
As for there being no sign of forced entry-- if you have to be a ghost to pull that off, then I must be a ghost![/quote] Oh, so it was you? [/quote]
Could have been. Seriously, when I was in college, I did a lot of cat burglar stuff around campus. I knew how to get into locked, alarmed rooms on upper floors of locked buildings, but instead of stealing valuables, I'd rearrange stuff or take worthless things like pens and liquid paper, just to mystify the poor workers.

Well, I told you-- I'll get rid of the damned thing!
[quote]
I just told it here cause I thought someone would get a kick out of it instead of having my entire story thrown back in my face like I'm a goddamn liar.[/quote]
Well, I got a kick out of it, and I don't think you're a goddamn liar. I told you, I've had experiences like that myself. Lots of people do.

I'm not going to argue that I'm not arrogant, because I'm not sure I'd win. Plus I don't really care. But I don't really see what's so arrogant about doubting and testing. I think that belief is actually more arrogant. Anyway, how about filming or otherwise carefully recording some of this stuff? It would be a boon. If you really do have a ghost, then believe me, there's nothing I'd love better than to prove it!

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What others say about boorite!

The question no one has asked here yet is:
"What was he smoking, and when did he smoke it?"

jk

Me? Shock!

Do you really? Why would you prefer that explanation over the more straightforward one, viz: I'm really a jerk? If you claim that I'm a nice guy, then I would have to ask certain questions...

uh, yeah, that's the ticket! No offense everyone! (Thanks, buddy.)
[quote]
but the implication of us being dumb and illogical was there in the text.[/quote]
Not you, DexX. Note I didn't have much to say about your claims, because you didn't make any. As for the others, well, I don't mean they're dumb. Hell, if they are, then so am I. But I may take a systematic approach to doubting their beliefs and interpretations of strange events.
[quote]
Anyway, I have stressed several times in this thread that I do not actually believe in the supernatiral. I believe in the possibility of it.[/quote]
I agree with this attitude, except for one quibble: Before I acknowledge the possibility of something (or allege its impossibility), I'd like to know what it is. Other than that, I'm with you. In fact, one driving reason for the kind of arrogant, cynical questions that I ask is the possibility of one day discovering something really new and astonishing and otherworldly.
[quote]Sounds a lot simpler than a standing wave of electromagnetic radiation bouncing off a weather balloon and igniting marsh gas... :)
[/quote]
Yeah, that's REAL FUNNY... until it happens to YOU!
[quote]
My personal theory is that, if these things are real, that they are not conscious beings or anything, but just "residue", of a sort. Ever noticed how a building can have a certain mood to it? The atmpsphere in a home can feel bad when family members are fighting, even if you don't know about it, stuff like that. I think people might leave impressions behind, especially if they live somewhere for a long time, love a place or a thing very much, or experience intense emotions. In this case, frightening apparitions would be caused by people picking up on these echoes or residue, whatever you want to call it.[/quote]
Sure, I'm willing to give that a go. Maybe people leave behind smells or pheromones or something, and others can pick them up and make something of them. Maybe it really is what's behind hauntings. I think that all hauntings that have been investigated turn out to have pretty straightforward (though sometimes surprising) explanations, but the idea that people leave some kind of impressions is interesting and, even better, testable.
[quote]
Personally, I can't imagine a "ghost", sentient and wilful, expressing his rage at the world that denied him life by moving your coffee cup when you leave the room for a minute.[/quote]
EXACTLY.

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What others say about boorite!

I see dead people.

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"And Wirthling isn't worth the paper he isn't printed on."

My freshman year in college, during a floor-wide party, someone told one of my roommates that a fair portion of the floor was under the impression that the five of us in my room were Satanists or some such. I can't honestly say I know how anyone got that idea. The best guess I was ever able to come up with was that another girl on the floor, who was in my art class, had noticed that I'd hidden the letters 'e', 'v', 'i', and 'l' in one of my projects. But I'd actually chosen those letters because they spell four or five different words, depending on how you look at them, and anyway I never really expected anyone to notice.

Whatever its origins, once we heard this mostly baseless rumor, one of my roommates, a devout heathen at a Catholic school, decided to have a little fun with it. I drew a pentagram on a large sheet of paper I had from the aforementioned art class, and we posted it on our door (two points up, of course). My roommate got his bible and hung it in a noose (tied from string -- I'm not sure anyone but us realized it was supposed to be a noose) in front of the pentagram.

Our roomates didn't stop us, but they were a little uneasy about it. Over the next few days, whenever the blinds rattled or the door slammed shut (not rare occurrences), they blamed it on our display. After the second such incident, one of them said he'd take it down if anything else happened. I said okay.

He didn't have to, though, because someone else did it for him. One day the bible and string were gone, and the next, all that was left of the pentagram were a couple of corners of paper taped to the door. The only thing my heathen roommate said was, "I want my bible back -- it's the best piece of fiction in my collection."

I tell this not to offend anyone's beliefs or to take anyone's side, but just because I think it's an amusing and related anecdote.

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The what mentioned above is total fiction. Please don't take it seriously!

[quote]
Whether you meant to or not, the little quips about sloppy thinking just peeved the hell out of me.[/quote]
Why? I didn't say you were guilty of sloppy thinking. I said I can't take the suggested "believe it or don't," laissez-faire attitude toward mysticism when there's so much sloppy thinking and outright fraud coming out of it. Isn't it true?

As to whether I meant to piss people off or not, I am aware that believers get mad when we go around questioning their claims, but that doesn't relieve me of the obligation, and it's their fault, really. Is that arrogant of me? Certainly no more arrogant than attacking someone for questioning your beliefs.
[quote]
It did not come across as a friendly debate or sharing of ideas/experiences, it comes across as "I boorite,think this is bunk,
therefore, I'll tear apart everyone's statement and throw it back at them."
[/quote]
More like, I, boorite, suspect this is bunk, or rather that there is a rational explanation for these things, and therefore I'll tear apart the claims and throw them back at you to see how you stick them back together, and we'll do this back and forth and maybe in the process get close to the truth. Your characterization was fairly close, though! You say it like it's a bad thing.
[quote]And even when countered with the fact that people readily admit.."this is my opinion" it still gets blasted on a point-by-point basis like you're trying to render the opinion holder as useless as the
opinion itself and a character flaw.
[/quote]
Well, you'll have to point out where I said that, because I don't believe you. I think that's your embellishment. And it wasn't simply "this is my opinion." People said "such and such happened." And my question is, are you sure? What really happened? Is there some other explanation? Someone says, there is no way such and such could happen (e.g., getting into the house to open all the doors). That's not an IMHO kind of statement. It's a statement of fact and the kind of thing I'm inclined to question. So sue me.
[quote]
Maybe I wasn't clear enough before, I'm not saying you necessarily think this, or even meant it in that tone.
[/quote]
Except for the part about thinking you're stupid, you're pretty close to right about my attitude. When you say that you choose your beliefs regardless of their plausibility to the rest of the world and that you're not interested in proof, I can hardly applaud it. That's not to say you're stupid (everyone believes things stubbornly and without evidence, and anyone can learn to be skeptical), and of course it's your right not to care what I think and to tell me to go take a flying fuck at a rolling donut.
[quote]
That is how it came across to me, and apparently I am not alone in that.
[/quote]
No, I've been doing this sort of thing for a long time, and I have tons of e-mail telling me what a mean smarty-pants I am. That hurts our feelings here at the Boorite Institute of Superior Intellect.
[quote]
P.S. feel free to blast and mock and tell me how bad my grammar sucks, I know this. lol[/quote]
Your grammar reflects the mind of a creature in a prehuman stage of evolution, not surprising given the table-knocking hogwash you espouse. Happy now? See what real arrogance is now?

Now see if these spirits of yours can predict me some Dow Jones and some NASDAQ, because damn I need to make some alimony payments.

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What others say about boorite!

I still think that he just farted by the doorway.

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I wanted my half in the middle and I wound up on the edge.