Ghosts

Davie Weir's Ghost spotted at the Rangers FC burial after its death in 2012

 

Saw a ghost on a trip to Ireland for my 18th. I was looking out of a window towards a graveyard and saw a tall ganglely figure staring at a gravestone.

I've always been a bit of a paranormal nut!

 

People see Ghosts without realising it...they are among us...it's in times of great mental stress that you notice something...a shadow perhaps,a drop in temprature in a warm room or sunny day,some faint whisper,a tingling on your skin even a gentle breeze can signal that a Ghost is present...oh yes,thay are among us!!

 

I seen this one in a team photo once.

 

Ghosts shmosts!

 

Nope. I think it's rather sad that the majority of people do. As farfetched as * existing, Jelavic going for 10m and the Huns winning the tax bill.

How can ghosts possibly exist? Please, someone explain to me how it's even possible.

 

‘Ghost’ sightings soar as Covid spooks more into believing the paranormal

The spectre of the pandemic has cast a dark shadow over the lives of everyone. But for some, it is more than just a metaphor.

Ghost sightings have soared in the past two years, with paranormal investigators besieged with reports of hauntings, unexplained knockings, text messages from beyond the grave and poltergeist activity.

“We would say that during the last two years we have experienced an increase in the number of inquiries received, probably in the order of two to three times,” said Andy Wilson, of Paranormal Research Investigators UK.

“We did see an increase in cases reporting poltergeist-type activity from the full range of the social spectrum - for example, the unemployed, retired nurses, lawyers, ex-special forces.”

Hayley Stevens, a paranormal researcher and regular contributor to the BBC Radio 4 podcast Uncanny, also noticed a similar phenomena, with enquiries rising from once or twice a month to almost daily.

“In the week of the first lockdown I started to get a small trickle of contact, but as it went on I got more and more emails, which I thought was weird,” she said.

“I was curious to see whether it was happening to other people too, and when I talked to friends in the paranormal community they were reporting the same, being contacted by lots of people having strange experiences.”

Cases that have emerged in the past couple of years include the Shrubbery Hotel in Ilminster, Somerset, where footsteps, disembodied voices and hair pulling were reported.

The Wahlberg family in Oldham, Greater Manchester, claimed to have seen shadowy figures, strange smells and noticed objects going missing. Naomi Hudson Reed, an interior designer, heard ghostly footsteps in her home at Clyst St Mary, Devon.

'Magical thinking'
It is not the first time that cataclysmic world events have unleashed an avalanche of unexplained encounters. Ghost sightings also soared during the Second World War, while the Cold War coincided with a rise in reports of flying saucers - dubbed “UFO flaps” by experts.

Psychologists believe that “magical thinking” - which includes paranormal beliefs, superstitions and conspiracy theories - increases during periods of uncertainty, when people feel vulnerable and out of control.

It seems the psychological impacts of Covid have created a perfect spectral storm.

Professor Chris French, head of the Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit at Goldsmiths, University of London: “Not surprisingly, mental stress had been very high throughout the pandemic.

“We’re understandably focusing on Covid but we’ve already had the effects of Brexit and climate change, which is enormously worrying for lots of people, then along comes Covid as the cherry on the top of the cake.

“I’ve never known a period of such prolonged and ubiquitous stress in my lifetime.”

The parallels with Covid and ghosts are unmissable. A dangerous unseen force that can creep into the home, bringing fear and potentially death. It is little wonder that confronted with such an existential threat, thoughts have turned to the spirits and the afterlife.

Experts say many people have been forced to face their own mortality for the first time, as well as the deaths of family and friends.

“I think in the West we have this privilege of being removed from the reality of death, so I think when they are confronted by it in something like a pandemic, it can be quite jarring,” added Ms Stevens.

“You’re at home and you start thinking about the biggest questions of life and death.”

Professor Caroline Watt, the Koestler chairman of parapsychology at the University of Edinburgh, said she had noticed a “huge increase” in interest on her online parapsychology course during the pandemic.

“There is certainly academic research that shows when people are living in uncertain or dangerous environments, their paranormal and superstitious beliefs tend to be higher compared to those living in safer environments,” she said.

“And the psychological reason for this is probably that these beliefs can give a person a reassuring - but false - sense of control. The same might be said about religious beliefs.”

The coronavirus pandemic also has unique features which experts think might explain the spooky goings-on. Lockdowns, quarantine and self-isolation left people alone in their homes for extended periods, allowing the creaks of floorboards or banging of pipes to take on a new sinister significance.

Even ghost hunters believe some of the increases can be explained away by this change in behaviour.

“Our view is that levels of anxiety had increased due to the pandemic, there was more time to experience what appeared to be strange events at home because people were not going out,” added Mr Wilson.

“The proliferation of TV programs sensationalising the paranormal could also have been a factor.”

Investigators also noticed a trend in paranormal activity linked to .

Some “hauntings” were found to be staged by abusive partners to instill fear, a phenomenon which Mr Wilson and his partner Nick Howe have dubbed “paranormal by proxy”.

Studies have also shown that the and increased nightmares, leaving people fatigued and more likely to attribute absent-mindedness to ghostly activity.

Accidentally placing the car keys in the fridge or stacking cans precariously in a cupboard can quickly become a poltergeist incident in the troubled mind of the anxious, medicated or sleep-deprived, say experts.

The University of Arizona found that people who reported greater levels of Covid-related stress were more likely to have bad dreams about sickness, death, war, separation and the apocalypse.

There was also an increase in sleep paralysis, where an individual wakes but cannot move, a state often associated with seeing or feeling a ghostly presence in the room.

Ms Stevens added: “We know that when people are isolated it can cause them to have a sense of a presence. We’ve even seen it in astronauts, or people on remote mountains.

“It can be really unsettling having things happen at home. We used to have wooden cladding on the outside of the house and when the sun came up the front door literally popped. It sounded like someone throwing rocks at the door, and it made all sorts of groaning noises.

“One of the things I recommend is keeping a ghost diary and making a note of when things are happening, as you will start seeing patterns emerge, such as a neighbour getting home from work, which might be causing unexplained noises.

“I’ve been doing this since I was 16 and I've witnessed all sorts of paranormal experiences which can be explained by things like a badger underneath someone's shed, or even carbon monoxide or sewer gas.”

Just like previous times of upheaval, the trend for strange sightings has crept into other areas of the paranormal. According to the , the number of unexplained flying objects in the US rose seven-fold between 2019 and 2020 - from around 1,000 a year to 7,200.

Scotland also saw more UFO reports than usual, recording 47 in 2021, compared to 13 in 2019. Northern Ireland also saw double the number of sightings between 2019 and 2021.

As well as increased stress, experts said lockdown restrictions in the pandemic gave more people more time to scan the night sky.

The last two years have also seen a rise in conspiracy theories, with large numbers of people now believing in “The Great Reset”, a global elite plan to use Covid to establish a communist world order and enslave humanity with vaccines.

The Capitol riots in January 2021 were partially inspired by the , which holds that Democrats are trafficking and torturing children so they can harvest a chemical to help them to live longer - run from a pizza shop in Washington.

Prof French added: “Paranormal belief, traditional superstitions and unfounded conspiracy theories all tend to increase when we are going through periods of uncertainty when you feel that things are out of your control.

“It makes sense from an evolutionary perspective. Our brains have evolved to pay attention to any threats in the environment.

“The pandemic was a very traumatic time for a lot of people, people couldn’t visit their dying relatives, so I am not really surprised that we see this rise.”

Tellingly, as the pandemic recedes and life gets back to normal, the number of paranormal sightings is declining.

“I’ve noticed a drop in people getting in touch,” said Ms Stevens. “It could be that people are out of the house again and are feeling less anxious. I think a lot of people were just lonely and wanted a chat.”

 

Don't believe in ghosts, but one night while driving my taxi on my own early hours of the morning, driving by The Poor Clare's convent I saw the figure of a young girl dressed in all white standing alone outside,a few minutes later driving back down the round there was no one about the place, don't know what I saw but my only explanation is that it was a ghost, but keep telling myself I don't believe in ghosts

 

My niece's daughter of two started talking to her Granny in the garden however, her Gran had sadly died the day before. My niece and her man just put this down to a one off however, when she went to visit another member of the family she began talking to her dead Gran again as well as her Aunt who had died about 6 months prior to that. I know children have a strong imagination but my niece and her man said it really freaked them out and it does make you wonder.

 

I hope they do, would mean it wasn't the end. However I could see them being another life form that we've just not discovered yet living on a different visual plane or something.

 

Anyone who knows me knows I'm not a religious person but even I think that there could be something in it. Having seen a few folk die over the years I couldn't help but be struck by the moment. A person lit up with all that human energy and suddenly poofff it's gone. That energy is so strong I find it hard to believe there isn't a purpose to it. Most of us have had a moment. Mine was with my father. I was really into genealogy and he was less than enthusiastic about helping me worrying about what I might dig up! Anyway he died a couple of years after I started the tree and I had been stuck on it for a long while. I had all the pieces but couldn't join them together. I was sitting at the computer when I felt something I can't explain. It was like I was being urged in a particular direction and suddenly I looked at the screen and it was clear as day to me that I had solved my puzzle. Somehow I knew it was him. I felt it like he was trying to make amends by helping me. Bizarre as it sounds I believe it.

 

I was in my local in Rutherglen with a few mates and all the wifes. My wife doesn't come to the pub with me very often. When we got home, she said she's seen a small black mass/shadow in a corner of the pub. I never thought any thing of it. A few weeks later, my mate and I were standing in the back of the pub, and something blew in my ear. I turned round and there was nobody there. Ii asked the owner about it and he gave me a wierd smile a a wee wink. Spooky as *. So yes, I do believe in ghosts

 

I've had a couple weird wee experiences, but couldn't for sure say it was ghosts, and suspect it was probably to do with being under the influence or lack of sleep, tricks of the mind type stuff.

My old man said he was staying in a hotel one night, down in Ayrshire I think. Said at his window there were some kind of blinds, and then some curtains. He closed the curtains and said that a big picture on the wall on the other side of the room just fell off and broke. He told the manageress about it and was saying it was broken, and sorry but it wasn't his fault, happened by itself. She said seriously, aye the place is haunted by the original owner, and he doesn't like it when you close the curtains.

I'm kinda on the fence. I'd need to actually see one right in front of me, while I was stone cold sober. Have visited a fair few supposedly haunted places just cos I'm interested in the history, the dungeons in Edinburgh, Amsterdam etc, that Hellfire club in Wicklow, stayed in the Drovers a few times, but never saw anything.

 

My mate gets called the Exorcist, as when he leaves your hoose there’s no spirits left.

 

You Die.

The end!

 

Dont believe in them but when me and wife walk the dog in the cemetery opposite us i love telling her ghost stories. Keeps telling me to shut up.

 

Don't believe but there was a team a few of us went to the dark hedges in North antrim, one of the game of thrones filming locations. There's also the story of the grey lady and it was around Halloween time so we were on the hunt for a scare driving up and down it a couple of times then all 4 of us looked out and shouted/screamed at the same time and I floored it straight home, we all described seeing the same thing which was like an old lady deessed in victorian style clothing basically. Closest I've came to experiencing anything but categorically do not believe still in spite of that lol

 

https://youtube.com/shorts/EqIPdyXuuKo?feature=share

 

Remember house sitting my dads and was standing in the garden having a * back when I smoked. I was walking around near the back door and his neighbours garden light flicked on and shined near my dads bbq. I saw a very quick glimpse of a woman for a split second. Shook me up real bad. Was a fair few years ago though and never had any other experiences.