Sophia, that was a really interesting link and story. Partly because I used to be a runner so I get that part of the story, and partly because of the live photo they share that goes with the photos posted above.

My hunch is that it's somehow a reflection or shadow of the woman, because in the live photo for the split second it is visible, it's movements appear to mostly match hers.

For those who like Reddit, they have a subforum devoted to "ghosts." Most of what people post as evidence of ghosts is explained away by their resident experts. Cameras and electrical interference (or some such) account for a lot of it. Every now and then someone posts something with no easy explanation, but I've not seen anything that is convincing enough for most skeptics.

In the eyes and ears of the beholder. I have been to Gettysburg many times, and

if you (me) are quiet and thinking about all those young lives lost in History, you can

think you hear voices. I was there with a friend, and at that particular time, we

both thought we heard a voice saying something to us. Different things entirely. ;)

I (thought) I heard, "tell her I am ok". And, I can still hear the tone and longing in

that "Imagined" voice when I think about it, and feel sad.

I've watched the "Tyler Henry" series Medium. I think he's legit. I like his calm, not scary readings

Looks like a statue to me. Sparked a memory of my high school, which had previously been a seminary. Some kids found an almost lifesized plaster statue of a saint that they would randomly move around campus. I once opened the bathroom door and there it was. Scared the bejeezuz out of me!

Reminds me of the Cottingley Fairies: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cottingley_Fairies?wprov=sfla1

People will see what they want to see.

Wow on the link!

My friend's son must be playing a trick on her. Ha! Good one

Bookwoman....yes! My mothers church had a guest speaker.....on fairies. How real they were. My mother there after believed in them. When I was having problems with squirrels in my garden eating the flowers, she was adamant that I strike a bargain with the fairies to keep the squirrels away from my flowers. I tried to explain I'd personally never seen a fairy....and it was a cute childrens story....but....

My mother also went on a church retreat. They had an alien landing field. Just in case, never used. 🚀

To those who think he's a statue, go to sephia's link.

He is most definitely not a statue. It may be a trick in a different way? Or could just be real? I have no dog in this fight, I just thought it was interesting.

I do know there's a lot we don't know. Just because we don't have the equipment to capture something, doesn't mean it doesn't exist. Imagine somebody from a few hundred years ago would be very surprised to know that a fetal heartbeat can be heard through a microphone. And hearing it, they may not understand it's a heartbeat because it's so fast. But that doesn't mean we don't know what it is now!

I agree, it's definitely not a statue. If you go to Sephia's link, it's a pretty neat little story, with both the photos posted above and then a live clip from one of the photos.

I'm honestly not sure what I believe. I do believe there are things, forces, dimensions (whatever word you want to use) which we likely don't yet know about. I always think about atomic particles, and then subatomic particles and what our evolution of knowledge was there. And then I think about the vastness of space - which boggles my mind.

However most of the photos which people post as proof of ghosts don't always resonate with me either. I'm a skeptic by nature, and then hanging out on the Ghosts subreddit has taught me a lot - they have a lot of fun deconstructing stories/photos and can usually come up with a pretty rational explanation. (Usually, not always...)

I like what Neil DeGrasse Tyson has supposedly said - to paraphrase:

A lack of scientific evidence is not evidence that what you believe is true. We have science because human senses are so faulty.

There are plenty of times guesstimating becomes fact on down the line. Science is ever evolving. I work in a sciencey world, so I KNOW that's true.

It's worth repeating:

"A lack of scientific evidence is not evidence that what you believe is true."

People "believe" in what they want to believe in. Science doesn't evolve with pretend beliefs in supernatural things. In saying "I work in a sciencey world, so I KNOW that's true.", suggests you really don't understand the process. Have talk over lunch with a few people doing sciencey things and you'll understand it better.

Speculation, hypothesis, etc., are all done with a starting point of facts known, suspected, or thought to be possible. Sometimes things are found unexpectedly. Research doesn't advance from ideas gained when watching movies like The Hobbit or Harry Potter movies.

As far as ghosts and spirits, I just watched a Netflix non-fiction series The UnXplained narrated by William Shatner. One of the episodes covers a case of possession of a mother and son. During the questioning of the boy in the doctor office, the doctor and staffs saw the boy crawling up the office wall and at that point they called in the hospital chaplain who then requested an exorcism from a Catholic priest to get rid the evil spirits. Mr. Shatner would have to conclude that there were no scientific evidences or proofs to explain such mysterious phenomena, nevertheless the family was saved after the exorcism.

I love hearing ghost stores, but it is a bit of a downer to have someone keep saying that they are not real - once is more than enough - after that it is just annoying.

This is the time of year to tell ghost stories, as the OP said, and I was hoping to find more of them here. I'm especially fond of fantasies.

I was in a rural church once and the priest asked if anyone's ever had an experience with a ghost. An old farmer raised his hand and said, "Yeah, I have."

"What kind of experience did you have with a ghost?"

"Oh, GHOST. I thought you said goat."

"it is a bit of a downer to have someone keep saying that they are not real -"

It's the same downer for others to hear people keep stubbornly insisting there's any possibility that their beliefs, fantasies or range of unexplained perceptions (that many experience) are other than imagined. Beliefs of any kind versus facts, they're not the same thing. It's irrational to try to push something across the dividing line because of misunderstand the difference. As the old saying goes, "wishing doesn't make it so". Beliefs are fine and some want to have them, don't make them into more than what they are.

Fictional scary stories can be fun, they're part of the Halloween tradition.

LynnNM I really enjoyed reading you and your families experiences.

It's worth repeating

"Science is ever evolving".

Sorry you don't like it, but that's the truth.

Clearly you're an expert in the paranormal. 🤣

Oh wait, did you mean science? Yes you're very much an expert in science, of any sort. Pfft.

Okay you want to go there, let's use COVID.

At the beginning

" Oh my gosh! You have asthma, you're immunocompromised. You need to get vaccinated right this moment, because you have a disorder that lowers your immunity to any disease from the steroids you take."

Now
"Oh my gosh, you have asthma! You're so lucky, because you're protected from COVID!!! We don't know why, it could be because you don't breathe in deeply enough to take it enough particles, or it may be because you take enough stuff to protect you from breathing disorders, but really we don't know."

Be careful before you argue with me on this, because I've read peer reviewed articles on it.

-signed,

The person who got her bivalent booster yesterday

Though nothing changed, did it? All written in stone wasn't it?

My friend is so pissed off? She really thought was real? Which it may be, but she thought her son experienced it. Good clean fun.

I was bothered by the timing.

Elmer, if you don't like the topic matter, then please scroll on by. You're behaving like a person who keeps wandering out into the middle of a baseball game and telling everyone to go home because you don't care for baseball.

Rob, I'm glad you stared the thread. I think there are a lot of things we don't understand, and I think that talking with each other, thinking, imagining, and sharing can sometimes help in figuring out the unknown, or the not yet known.

Well, my sister and her family once lived in a haunted old farmhouse. She tells of chairs sliding across the dining room floor and the kids saw things fly off of shelves in their bedrooms. These are not people that make up stuff. They have not had any other things happen to them after moving from that place.

Lynn, ditto Hanzliks. Fascinating!

Kinda looks like an Indian wearing a poncho.

Here's a link for you Lars. It's old. From the Garden Party.

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/1549362/a-true-ghost-story

I had a boyfriend in high school who lived in a house his family said was haunted. They never saw anything (meaning, no visual apparitions) - but there were unusual sounds and one incident of an object getting thrown. I too believe them as they were not people inclined to make up stories. The father was a physician in town, and he was pretty sheepish as he told me a story about stuffed toy getting thrown at him shortly after they moved in. He was using the bathroom and said a stuffed toy came flying off a box and flew straight at him - that it did not fall over and hit the ground - that it shot straight off the top of the box with an inexplicable amount of force.

We (the boyfriend and I) had a hair raising event happen one night when we were in the house alone watching TV. We were definitely alone in the house, except for their Siamese cat who was sleeping in a chair near the fireplace.

We heard what sounded like footsteps slowly coming down the hall on the second floor. I have to say, it really did sound like footsteps. Very slow, methodical sounds of hard soled shoes on hardwood floors. Thud, a few seconds would pass, then another thud.

This was a big old (beautiful) house, and the 2nd floor hallway was really long.

The bf and I were frozen - just staring at each other in shock and disbelief.

We then heard the sound hit the top step of the stairs down to the main floor (the floor we were on). The stairs were just on the other side of the room we were in, and I'm telling you the hair on the back of my neck stood up. I never understood what that phrase meant until that second in time. Their cat FLEW out of the chair and went yowling for the door, begging to be let outside. We thought that sounded like a fabulous idea - and we all ran out of the house.

I don't know what any of that "really" was - but I do distinctly remember the sounds, and they really did sound like hard soled shoes coming down a wood hallway....

(I edited this to add that the dad had a word with the house one evening after another scary sound event. I wasn't there, my bf told me the story. Apparently Dad stood up and loudly proclaimed that they loved the house and were there to stay. That he understood if the "being" loved the house too and they were also welcome to stay and it was obviously their house too - but to please stop scaring everyone! They swear it worked and there were no more scary incidents after that.

Anyway - that's my only "ghost" story....)

I love hearing ghost stores, but it is a bit of a downer to have someone keep saying that they are not real - once is more than enough - after that it is just annoying.

Agreed Lars! I don’t like it when folks try to dampen the spirits of others. 👻

Never had a ghostly encounter myself - other than when I was 8 and my best friend and I hid in a closet with a Ouija board and a dog biscuit - trying to get the spirit we were communicating with to prove it by taking a bite of the dog treat. We could've sworn a teeny tiny piece of the biscuit disappeared 😃

And I do so enjoy reading these books to the older kids at playcamp...

carol, I’ve never had a ghost encounter either. I would love to, though.

Quite often when I’m home alone I will say out loud ”Okay, it’s just me here. Come and say hello.” I’m still waiting and hoping.

FWIW, I recently read an article about why some people see ghosts - apparently it's mostly about whether one believes in them or not - quelle surprise...

The lighting on the trees corresponds with the lighting on the objects shoulder, telling me it is a physical object. A moving person or statue.

ETA: I DID watch the video.

FWIW, @ Elizabeth - we have a Buddha statue in our yard, partially hidden by ferns, that the image in the photo reminds me of very much.

I was thinking of Kwan yin:

P.S. Want to add that ghost stories that turned out to be hoaxes are fascinating to me - and there are many.

@Ally De, I read your post and thought ”head to the door with the cat!” Yikes!!! I woke up one night to hear footsteps coming down the hallway. What they say about freezing in place is right! No idea why I didn’t yell and wake up DH. I just sat there and did nothing! What calmed me was our extremely timid cat came strolling in and seemed fine so I went back to sleep. Then a few days later during the day I heard the footsteps again in the hall. I peeked in the hall to find the cat clawing at the edge of a runner we had in the hall. The corner of the rug eing pulled up and hitting the floor were the “footsteps.” Ugh!

Elizabeth you obviously didn't look at the link.

🙄

I hear you chloebud! I don't know what it was. 🤷‍♀️ I've thought about it from time to time as this happened over 30 years ago now. Heating system kicking on? I don't think that's it because we could hear the sound moving down the hall and then it changed when it hit the stairs. Could have been a mass murderer, but he wasn't in any hurry. 😆 I probably could come up with something plausible except for the cat going from sleeping to screaming let me out of here!

I have no explanation for it. One of life's mysteries.

Just to clarify, it's obvious when somebody doesn't watch the video on sephia's link

It could be somebody wearing makeup stepping up into frame, for instance, photoshopping something to that effect, but it cannot be a statue. Because there is movement.

“I have no explanation for it. One of life's mysteries.”

Definitely! I’d say the cats’ behavior in both our cases was telling with mine what you’d hope for!

Oops - didn't realize there was a video, and now that I watched it, I see that it's something else - but what that might be is a number of things, IMO. it reminds me of that blurry photo of the Loch Ness Monster - definitely wide open to interpretation.

As for the story on that page - TLDR - sorry...

This article in the newspaper brought this thread to mind. I like this quote ”“Ghosts are socially real — people think and talk about them,” he said. Ghost stories “resonate across cultures, religions, class, race.”

The author is a Penn professor.. He also says what i believe.The probable thing is that when you die, your body slowly disintegrates and is part of the atoms of the universe again.

Except for that one time that my father came back to visit me!

Boo!

If anyone likes ghost stories they should watch the Travel Channel show "Paranormal Caught on Camera''. More ghost videos from around the world than you can shake a stick at. Good viewing for Oct, the creepiest month of the year.

People can believe or not - I don't care. I was a skeptic until I started experiencing things in the home I lived in. I never saw the person but absolutely, without a doubt experienced things that could not be explained. Too many to go into here, but I know that I had "a roommate".

The person was mischievous - not frightening or angry.

After I'd lived there for several years I coincidentally met someone who had lived in that house previously. Without any prompting, after talking about the house and changes to it over the years, she said, hesitantly, "Um....don't think I'm crazy, but do weird things ever happen"? I also hesitated but said "yes". She said "Oh, thank God you don't think I'm a lunatic. We had strange things happen to us all the time in that house". She gave me examples that supported everything I'd "seen".

So - I'm a believer. I have lived in a couple of houses since then and, frankly, I kind of miss "my ghost!".

I’m neither a believer or a skeptic about ghosts. I had an encounter with a UFO once and don’t care at all if others believe it or not, because I know what I experienced. I feel the same about others’ encounters with ghosts. Doesn’t matter if I or anyone else believes. They do.

But something that bothers me about the Hawaiian apparition is why would anyone be filming in that exact spot? I didn’t read the text so maybe it explains why. But that is not a scenic spot, there appears to be no reason for taking a video, yet they were and just coincidentally there is a ghost?

Right? Who can say where? Why! Who knows?

Rob, I was implying that it is phony. It reminds me of watching things like 'America's Funniest Home Videos.' Some are obviously staged because there would be no reason that anyone would be filming the events shown as 'disasters.' The videos of actual events always make sense why someone would be filming; the others look like they are trying to create something that might win a prize.

I haven't seen a ghost but I had a fun experience a few months after my mom died. I collect perfume, and she only wore Shalimar her entire life.

I was in my guest room and noticed a bottle of my perfume was on the ground. I didn't think much of it, assuming the cats had knocked it over, so I picked it up and put it on the dresser again. The next day I went in there and it was on the floor again. I thought that was a bit odd so I put it up again and closed the door to keep the cats out.

Next morning....it was on the floor again, and the door had been closed. I picked it up, put it in the middle of the dresser so it would have to be moved a good distance to fall off and closed the door again.

The next morning, it was on the floor again, but this time, there was a small bottle of Shalimar with it. :)

I was agreeing with you oly.

But she does explain in her link why it is what it is. I sort of first saw it that way, but I guess it could be the way she says on her blog

I do not think I have ever had an experience with a ghost. One of my brothers and his wife think they have. The have told several stories. The one I can recall is the they were laying in bed, not asleep yet. My brother felt the bed move, as if someone was sitting on it behind him. Thinking it was one of their daughters who came to lay in their bed with them, he turned over to see, nothing. He got up, and all 3 of his kids were asleep in their own beds. This happened to his wife too, who felt someone sitting down at the foot of her side of the bed, but nothing was there.

I had an uncle and aunt who were killed by a drunk driver. Another aunt of mine took in their dog after their death. Every morning, at around 3 am, the dog would bolt out of her bedroom, and into the living room. he would be "playing: with something that wasn't there. He was so happy, tail wagging, jumping, spinning in circles, clearly focused on something that only he could see. He was a fairly young dog, and did this until his death.

My grandmother used to claim that the above mentioned uncle "visited" her. She said the same thing of my grandfather after his death. Perhaps it was wishful thinking, perhaps mental illness, who knows. She seemed perfectly stable otherwise.

I think I would like to be a ghost. But only for a little while. I wouldn't want to scare anyone. I would rather offer comfort.

Amylou's comment about the dog's behavior reminded me of my parents' dog, a pug named Dukie. My dad died in the hospital where he'd been for two weeks, but Dukie saw something in his bedroom. He stared at my dad's empty bed and howled. He wasn't normally a howler, but he kept it up all night. My mother said he was inconsolable.

Two years later I was with my mother when she died. Dukie, by now very old and totally blind, was curled up beside her. After the funeral director had come and gone, Dukie stared with his sightless eyes at a chair in the living room and howled. He kept it up all night. I took him into my bed, but nothing helped. I had thought he and I would have a couple of days to comfort one another, but he was in such distress I had him put down the next day. Then I took him to the funeral parlor. The attendant said she had a pug herself, and she knew exactly how to place him next to Mama. They were buried together.