Paranormal, Unexplained & Strange Phenomenon

Which Strange, Unexplained or Paranormal Phenomenon do you think may be real?

  • ESP (Extra Sensory Perception) or Psychics

    Votes: 68 52.7%
  • Ghosts & Haunted Houses

    Votes: 61 47.3%
  • Possession & Exorcism

    Votes: 34 26.4%
  • Telekenisis (moving objects with only the mind)

    Votes: 35 27.1%
  • Contact with Extraterrestrials

    Votes: 54 41.9%
  • Talking to the Dead

    Votes: 40 31.0%
  • Witchcraft

    Votes: 35 27.1%
  • Bigfoot, Yeti, Sasquatch

    Votes: 23 17.8%
  • Reincarnation

    Votes: 40 31.0%
  • None of the Above

    Votes: 31 24.0%

  • Total voters
    129

Boobalaa

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I agree with "None Are" also.."Para Normal Phenomenon"? heh..heh.."Para" means.. near, resembling, beyond, apart from,..so..?..then put normal after Para and what have youZ?..
"normal" means different things to different people.."Phenomenon"?..That's another one of those words..Back in the day.. things were "neat", "cool", "far out", "excellent"..can you see where this is headed?..A few years back ..more and more neat, cool, far out, excellent stuff was suddendly ..PHENOMENAL!!!
 

Bob Ross

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I think the question as phrased, ". . . do you believe [they] are possibly real/true?", leaves too much room for interpretation. I would have to say with an open mind that virtually anything is possible, which is not at all the same as saying I believe there's a strong likelihood, or any likelihood, of it being true.

This was the tricky part for me in phrasing the question...

You are correct: "anything IS possible". I suppose I should clarify;

You should NOT click on a specific choice if; you think that the evidence for it is weak enough and/or the evidence against it or for an alternative explanation is strong enough to warrant provisionally dismissing it as a REAL phenomenon.

Put more easily; if you believe in a particular phenomenon (witnessed it yourself, accept testimony of others, etc.) OR if you are NOT 99.99% sure that it can be attributed to natural forces or is a hoax, deception, falsehood, etc. then you should click on that choice
 

Bob Ross

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I agree with "None Are" also.."Para Normal Phenomenon"? heh..heh.."Para" means.. near, resembling, beyond, apart from,..so..?..then put normal after Para and what have youZ?..
"normal" means different things to different people.."Phenomenon"?..That's another one of those words..Back in the day.. things were "neat", "cool", "far out", "excellent"..can you see where this is headed?..A few years back ..more and more neat, cool, far out, excellent stuff was suddendly ..PHENOMENAL!!!

"It depends upon what your definition of "is" is..."
 

D_Tim McGnaw

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I fully expect that there are other life forms in the universe, the statistics basically make it a certainty, but the same methods also show how vanishingly unlikely it is that we've ever been graced by a visit from them. I don't believe in any of the other phenomenon, at least I don't believe any of them have a supernatural explanation.
 

Bbucko

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I did not vote on "witchcraft" because I'm unclear on what the term means to the OP and would appreciate some form of clarification.

I also declined on the issue of possession and exorcism; possession because I see it more a question of influence than any form of out-right "takeover", and exorcism because, at least as it's practiced to the best of my knowledge, it's a religious exercise, and I believe that most (if not all: haven't done an exhaustive survey) religions have a poor grasp of spirit and its influence on the material. Buddhism is probably the closest to align with my experience and beliefs in the overlaps and distinctions between mind, body and spirit, but am unaware of any Buddhist exorcism practices: I could easily be wrong here and haven't researched that subject prior to this post.

I have posted previously (more than once in the last month) regarding my personal experiences in OTB NDE so will not repeat them here.

The house I lived in from the ages of 10 through 18 had genuine spirit activity, though if it was of a ghostly or more of a poltergeist-type activity based on the projection of emotion made manifest by living entities will never be/can never be properly explained. I will say that I visited the house several years after we left and was let in because the then-current owner was a sister of a classmate of mine in HS who recognized my name (and, eventually my face as well); in response to a very simple question regarding whether or not she'd experienced anything unusual in the house, she broke into tears and began reciting a litany of the same issues we'd experienced while living there.

As to the question of alien abduction, no lesser a mind that John Mack, a Harvard professor, went from dismissive to skeptic to understanding eventually, that something is happening on both a psychological and verifiably physical manner that defies rational explanation in otherwise healthy (mentally and physically) individuals. He was a close friend of one of my very good friends, though, to my regret, I never got a chance to meet him before he died.

I've had some very odd things happen to me regarding "aliens" that are difficult to explain except as hallucinations, but how and why would a young child with no knowledge of the experience (I was under the age of seven in both examples that I remember most clearly); later events in my adulthood can (perhaps) be explained as such. At no time, however, have I ever experienced a typical encounter, no do I ever recall consciously seeing anything not obviously terrestrial, FWIW, and I distrust hypnotic regression as a tool to uncovering buried/suppressed memories, so I've never pursued it.

Yeti and other "wildman" legends could be any number of things, though I cannot discount the possibility that there's some type of ape that exists in minuscule numbers but which does, in fact, exist. Gorillas were considered imaginary until one was finally located in the 19th century (again: too lazy to properly research and link, but that is a commonly-known fact). Homo floresiensis would have been considered mythological up until the moment they were discovered, too.

For reasons of privacy and an unwillingness to discuss the specifics, I clicked on to the other poll options, too :cool:
 

HiddenLacey

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My grandmother used to say if you see something white out of the corner of your eye and look quickly and it's gone it was a unicorn.

I can turn my head pretty fast and I've never seen one.:frown1:

I did have to go with none of the above as I have never experienced any of these things. I have had some rather creepy moments but I tend to blame them on my over active imagination.

I certainly believe there is other life in the universe, but that we have been visited? Sorry, no.
 
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ManlyBanisters

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I think it's a pretty infinite universe so certainly there must be life somewhere else in the great beyond.

I fully expect that there are other life forms in the universe, the statistics basically make it a certainty

To both of you I offer this:

"It is known that there are an infinite number of worlds, simply because there is an infinite amount of space for them to be in. However, not every one of them is inhabited. Therefore, there must be a finite number of inhabited worlds. Any finite number divided by infinity is as near to nothing as makes no odds, so the average population of all the planets in the Universe can be said to be zero. From this it follows that the population of the whole Universe is also zero, and that any people you may meet from time to time are merely the products of a deranged imagination."

:smile::wink:

(Brownie points for the first to cite the source)
 

D_Gunther Snotpole

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To both of you I offer this:

"It is known that there are an infinite number of worlds, simply because there is an infinite amount of space for them to be in. However, not every one of them is inhabited. Therefore, there must be a finite number of inhabited worlds. Any finite number divided by infinity is as near to nothing as makes no odds, so the average population of all the planets in the Universe can be said to be zero. From this it follows that the population of the whole Universe is also zero, and that any people you may meet from time to time are merely the products of a deranged imagination."

:smile::wink:

(Brownie points for the first to cite the source)
Dougie Adams ... who else?
And brownie points?
I want brownies.
 

Bob Ross

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I did not vote on "witchcraft" because I'm unclear on what the term means to the OP and would appreciate some form of clarification.

I also declined on the issue of possession and exorcism; possession because I see it more a question of influence than any form of out-right "takeover", and exorcism because, at least as it's practiced to the best of my knowledge, it's a religious exercise, and I believe that most (if not all: haven't done an exhaustive survey) religions have a poor grasp of spirit and its influence on the material. Buddhism is probably the closest to align with my experience and beliefs in the overlaps and distinctions between mind, body and spirit, but am unaware of any Buddhist exorcism practices: I could easily be wrong here and haven't researched that subject prior to this post.

By witchcraft I do not mean Wicca or a "pagan" religion...I mean a witch (or warlock) who is in consort with Satan and casts spells, hexes, curses, etc. which have an actual physical effect on other people.

As far as possession and exorcism; I mean an actual "takeover" of someone's body by Satan or an evil spirit and a ritual which is effective at removing said spirit
 

Mickactual

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By witchcraft I do not mean Wicca or a "pagan" religion...I mean a witch (or warlock) who is in consort with Satan and casts spells, hexes, curses, etc. which have an actual physical effect on other people.
I was gonna say yes on that one until You clarified with this explanation. So...no...I don't believe there are green Margaret Hamilton lookalikes flying around on broomsticks in the night sky (tho I've met some women in my lifetime who are close contenders :wink:).

I'm not a believer in any of this X-Files nonsense, but I'll keep an open mind regarding an explanation for Bigfoot (an as yet unidentified animal species?) and possible extraterrestrial life (tough to swallow...yet colossally egotistical not to).
 

maxcok

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oh come on! how can more people believe in psychics than extraterrestrial contact? that's the only one that's even plausible!
The only one that's plausible to you at any rate.

My clairvoyant sense tells me that you believe yourself to be omniscient,

so I guess you got me beat. :wink:
 

D_Tim McGnaw

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The only one that's plausible to you at any rate.

My clairvoyant sense tells me that you believe yourself to be omniscient,

so I guess you got me beat. :wink:


Well omnniscient or not, he is half right, in as much as the existence of other life in the universe is a certainty, even if they're not likely to have actually stopped by.

Clairvoyance on the other hand has failed to stand up to scrutiny.

To be fair...:biggrin1:
 

midlifebear

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Having made the pilgrimage, sat around endlessly to see them, and then finally seeing them, I have to say the Lights of Marfa (Marfa, Texas) are real and have yet to be satisfactorily explained -- unless you believe in marsh gas. There are no marshes within 100 miles of Marfa. See: Marfa lights - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

As for the UT Dallas investigation, it's pretty much all bull shit. The direction one sees the lights are not the same direction one sees car lights coming and going on Highway 67. And I've yet to see a Buick fly several thousand feet above a highway.

Edit: And although I do not believe in "witch craft" in the pedestrian sense, I do believe and have experienced "bitch craft," which in and of itself is enough to keep good people indoors at night with all locks and window clasps secured.
 
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witch

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By witchcraft I do not mean Wicca or a "pagan" religion...I mean a witch (or warlock) who is in consort with Satan and casts spells, hexes, curses, etc. which have an actual physical effect on other people.

As far as possession and exorcism; I mean an actual "takeover" of someone's body by Satan or an evil spirit and a ritual which is effective at removing said spirit

As a practicing Wiccan, I would call your term of “witchcraft” more Black, Dark or Negative and there are people who cast spells of that nature, believe in the Christian Satan along with other Dark gods.

In fact many Pagans cast spells of varying natures too, good, bad and in-between.
 

Calboner

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As a practicing Wiccan, I would call your term of “witchcraft” more Black, Dark or Negative and there are people who cast spells of that nature, believe in the Christian Satan along with other Dark gods.

In fact many Pagans cast spells of varying natures too, good, bad and in-between.
She's a witch! Burn her!