Anthony- you know nothing! A ghost totally whooped me this past weekend while out on the lake. Or was that the intensive waterskiing and beer?

Loiside - I'll keep your secret ;) I'm different - a bona fide ghost would be a perk for me.

As for believing in ghosts/spirits at all I was totally a non-believer until I moved to the UK for five years. After you walk on the same ground trod by Roman soldiers, the MacDonalds in Glencoe, American soldiers at Slapton Sands, etc - one begins to feel their presence around you. Never felt threatening or scary - sort of reassuring actually.

I hope to become one some day.

"Ghosts are cultural, anyway, and much more common in England, which tells you something about whether they exist or not."

I'm still trying to work out whether to take that as an insult or not ;-)

For anyone interested, York is 'reputedly' the most haunted city in the world.

Actually, as the one who started that thread, I should clarify my preferences and intentions. As I admitted on that Loire Valley thread, I am a bit of a ghost magnet so yes, I believe in ghosts. Do I seek them out? I try not to! My normal preference is to stay in a place that is NOT haunted, especially since I like to travel solo. But my travel companions are thrilled at the idea of experiencing a ghost. I figured, I won't be alone, so I am willing to check it out!

I often remind myself, as AnthonyGA points out, that we should be more afraid of those in the land of the living than those in the land of the dead!

I find ghosts and ghost stories to be fascinating and very intriguing. This is not to say that I would actually want to see one, but I have pondered, many times, staying in places that could be "haunted" just to experience something different.

To each their own.

Tracy

Caspar the friendly ghost, no problem. The poltergeist that took little CarrieAnne, no way.

I would think ghosts are like the people they used to be, some friendly, some not.

Poltergeists and ghosts are two different things.

Ghosts are dead people who don't realize they are dead (it's easier than one might think), or who have some extremely important tie to the living world that makes them feel compelled to stick around. Ghosts rarely last for more than a century or two; eventually they all catch on. They are generally unhappy, as being a ghost isn't generally fun.

MelissaHI
I am a bit of a "ghost magnet" myself, and have consciously tried to keep that door firmly shut! Still, I am fascinated by the stories, and, on the eve of a trip to England, have an entire stack of books on British ghosts and haunted places. Now, with someone to cling to, I might stay in a reputedly haunted room.
Have you read "Ghost" by Katherine Ramsland? That book gave me all the thrills of a good haunting vicariously!

Read a book? No way! Books spark the imagination in worse ways than reality for me! ha ha. It took me 2 years just to get up the courage to see "The 6th Sense" because everyone told me it reminded them of me. yikes!

>>> "Ghosts are dead people who don't realize they are dead (it's easier than one might think)... Ghosts rarely last for more than a century or two; eventually they all catch on. They are generally unhappy, as being a ghost isn't generally fun." <<<

AnthonyGA, I'm just curious... how do you know?

Thanks!

007

I don't think I believe in ghosts...however, a few years ago we booked a romantic 1 night stay on the Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA (retired cruise ship turned into a hotel)...But after we checked in and we went to our room, I just had this really eerie feeling...can't really describe it. I was so scared of something that I insisted that we checked out and stay somewhere else. I was not going to spend a single night at that place! Weird...

Later on that week, I saw a documentary on the Queen Mary and they say it is haunted and that ghosts still roam around the ship....

I've been told that many ships are haunted. Last month I was on the Holland America "Amsterdam," and a couple from England told me that they had visited the Falls of Clyde--a historical iron masted ship near my office. The husband told me that he had never believed in ghosts, but he saw one on the Falls of Clyde! He had never seen a ghost before, and has not seen one since, but he's absolutely sure he saw a ghost (a well dressed man) near the barrels on the ship.

I would like to say I don't believe in ghosts, but strange things sometimes happen, to perfectly rational and level-headed people. A friend of mine has had some very strange encounters in South America.

MelissaH; have you seen 'The Others' with Nicole Kidman? Just as spooky as the 6th sense.

Noooo! I would never see a movie like The Others. My niece went to see it and I simply had her tell me about it. The plot kind of made sense, actually.

Great thread! Melissa just told me about it in response to a thread I started on the US forum. I'm not sure how I missed seeing it myself.

Then again, I just realized that janisj is right. Clicking on a country rather than reading through the list of threads does cause you to miss out on a lot! Although I still stand by my contention that it's best to "file" your thread under a specific country if possible.

Anyway, had to butt in here to say that I loved "The Others". I just saw it again on TNT last weekend. I hate horror movies but really liked "The Others" and "The Sixth Sense". I don't think they really fit in the horror genre. Maybe more psychological thriller?

I found all the ghost talk on this thread fascinating. Would love to hear more stories of peoples' actual encounters. Although I would most definitely not want to have an encounter myself! :D

I started a thread a couple years or so ago about people's ghostly experiences in Europe, and many people had interesting responses. Unfortunately, I cannot find that thread.

Science would indicate that apparent ghostly encounters likely occur while one is in a hypnagogic state.

People used to talk about getting phone calls from the dead, but that seems to have stopped since people started getting call display and *69 access. I've never heard of anyone getting emails from the dead, which probably has to do with network traceability.

But I won't claim to know the last word on the existence of spirits, ghostly or otherwise.

I couldn't find it either, WillTravel. Wow, you're prolific! :D

Your response was very interesting.

Not having believed in an afterlife since the age of 16 I've never been bothered by ghosts, but perhaps paradoxically I still like a good ghost story. And by far the best filmed ghost story, for my money, was "The Innocents" with Deborah Kerr, adapted from Henry James' "The Turn of the Screw". You can choose to believe that the ghosts are products of the governess's fevered imagination if you like, but that doesn't stop the movie being genuinely disturbing. It was made in the early '60s, I think, and for some reason seems very difficult to obtain on DVD.

For written frights nobody has ever beaten M. R. James IMO.

The only visual ghostly experience I had was when I visited friends near Penrith near the Lake District. They had just bought Temple Sowerby House Hotel (have since sold it) which was built in the early 1700's.

I went into one of the reception rooms where there was a rather oddly dressed young man who nodded to me. I clearly remember he had curly hair. I smiled & turned to head for the kitchen from the doorway where I was standing then looked back & he was gone. I asked my friends who the man was, thinking he was a worker & they had no idea. There was no other door to the room & the windows were shut & latched.

It wasn't frightening in the least, was in broad daylight & the odd thing was I clearly remember the texture of the fabric of his clothes which was very different. Just a weird experience.