The thrill is gone!

Since acknowledging and confirming my atheism, movies and books that depend on the hinted creep factor of the supernatural have lost their appeal.

I am a amateur ghost hunter. I have been involved in a few paranormal investigations over the years, and I own some gear.

Am I a skeptic? Absolutely, but I try to keep an open mind. For me, it's fun. Kind of like a grown-up version of telling ghost stories around the campfire.

Tell us about your gear.

I have a few different EMF meters (to detect any electro magnetic radiation). I have a laser thermometer (to detect cold or warm spots in a room, or cemetery, or an old jail, and old hospital, or wherever). I have a small device that projects a laser grid pattern (this supposedly allows you to detect movement in the dark). Actually, a smart phone is all anyone would really need to do a ghost hunt. With a phone, you can take photos, videos, and audio recordings, plus you can purchase EMF aps.

I've spent nights in some creepy places. I've seen some things that I can't explain, but that doesn't necessarily mean that I believe I have encountered disembodied spirits. Maybe I have been in the presence of ghosts, or maybe (more likely) there is a logical non-supernatural explanation for things I have witnessed.

In any case, I'm not afraid of ghosts.

LOL

Sounds like someone took the Ghostbuster movie a little too seriously as a kid.

Yup ! *LOL*

Perhaps either of you can explain exactly what you’re laughing about. You might want to try going to a paranormal investigation sometime. You might find them interesting and entertaining.

Paranormal investigations are much like magic shows. Of course, I don’t believe that magicians actually have supernatural powers, but it’s fun getting lost in the experience. It would be far less fun if I knew how the magician did all the tricks. And nobody likes to have some buzzkill trying to explain every trick. It’s the same with paranormal investigations. I have no explanation for many of the things I have witnessed with my own eyes, and it would certainly be less fun if I had an explanation for everything.

Anything you cannot explain is therefore a ghost. *LOL*

WTF?!?!?!

Did you even read my post? I said “I've seen some things that I can't explain, but that doesn't necessarily mean that I believe I have encountered disembodied spirits. Maybe I have been in the presence of ghosts, or maybe (more likely) there is a logical non-supernatural explanation for things I have witnessed.”

I specifically said that a logical, non-supernatural explanation for things I have witnessed was more likely.

I did say that sometimes (like with magic shows) it makes it more entertaining if you can’t explain everything that happens. I never said that anything I can’t explain must be a ghost, and I certainly don’t believe that.

Please explain yourself.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/02/2021 04:57PM by CrispingPin.

CrispingPin Wrote:
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> Perhaps either of you can explain exactly what
> you’re laughing about.

(I will do it !!)

It is people who took the Ghostbuster movie a little too seriously

And I was certainly not a kid when Ghostbusters came out. I thought it was a funny, but (IMO) overrated movie. It had zero influence on my (much later) interest in paranormal investigations.

Ghostbusters absolutely set me on a path of Sigourney Weaverness!

Not a 'classic' beauty, so it must be her soul . . .

Try to get a UV camera. Its optics are made from UV quartz, not regular glass which would block short ultraviolet. Besides ghost hunting, you can get interesting nature shots and see what animals with UV receptors see.

CrispingPin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I have a few different EMF meters (to detect any
> electro magnetic radiation). I have a laser
> thermometer (to detect cold or warm spots in a
> room, or cemetery, or an old jail, and old
> hospital, or wherever). I have a small device that
> projects a laser grid pattern (this supposedly
> allows you to detect movement in the dark).
> Actually, a smart phone is all anyone would really
> need to do a ghost hunt. With a phone, you can
> take photos, videos, and audio recordings, plus
> you can purchase EMF aps.
================================
This stuff sounds pretty cool, actually (kind of a gadget guy)
Sounds expensive though

> I've spent nights in some creepy places. I've seen
> some things that I can't explain, but that doesn't
> necessarily mean that I believe I have encountered
> disembodied spirits. Maybe I have been in the
> presence of ghosts, or maybe (more likely) there
> is a logical non-supernatural explanation for
> things I have witnessed.
================================
Fer sure there's weird phenomena, sibling who has experienced stuff that's out of the ordinary

I understand. The woo kind of lost appeal after looking behind the curtain and finding out it was just some man.

The ghost stuff is right up there with Santa stuff to me now. People ignore and never disprove the most likely explanations and jump straight to supernatural explanations. It's the equivalent of "God did it" efforts to fill in gaps, feel special and make patterns. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

^^^ this

Since I left Mormonism I don't freak myself out imagining that evil spirits are present or that the adversary is out to get me, the way the Mormon church taught. I didn't realize how harmful such thinking was until a few years ago when my middle aged TBM friend had a melt down because she was sure an evil spirit was lurking around her husband. I had stopped believing in evil spirits after leaving "the church" and because of her I remembered how the Mormon church taught me to be afraid.

When I was in the MTC the missionaries were told that angels were guarding the MTC from evil spirits that were trying to get in. It was comforting to believe that angels were protecting us but also very unsettling to be told that evil spirits were trying to break in.

Missionaries were taught to always be with their companion so that that the adversary couldn't work on them. I almost had a nervous breakdown on my mission because I was left alone during a "split" and was sure an evil spirit was trying to get me in my apartment. I had to go outside to a phone booth and call the mission president to come and get me because I was so frightened. I was 22 years old and afraid to be alone in the daylight in a safe apartment.

My friend had a meltdown at BYU after her mission, also because she was afraid of being alone. She had to take medication.

The Mormon church teaches its members to be afraid of evil spirits so they will be dependent on the power of the priesthood for a cure. Fear is such a strong tool of power and control.

When I am sometimes afraid I remind myself that there are evil people but no such thing as evil spirits. It helps me sleep at night. I still can't watch scary movies though, lol.

I don't believe in ghosts. Well most of the time anyway. I had a companion whose girlfriend was killed in a very famous tragic accident where a large number of young people were killed, just before he left on his mission. He often talked about her, and sometimes he would talk to her as if she could her him. It was kind of creepy but I understood he had undergone a huge emotional blow so I just kept quiet and let him talk about her when he wanted to. One day we were tracting through a very quiet neighborhood high above town in some woods and the houses that were basically four-plexes with a central stairway and four families living in the very large old house. When we were in the upstairs level knocking on doors he said "I think I hear her, if that's you give us a sign." All of a sudden the stairwell got icecold and panes of glass that made part of a entrance way to one of the apartments began to shake and rattle like someone was pounding on it. I've never experienced anything like that since. My companions face was filled with complete shock and he turned around and we both ran down the staircases and out into the woods. He never mentioned his girlfriend again.

Creepy!

Just suppose that instead of being raised as Mormons, they'd had parents who valued education, evidence, rational thought, skepticism. Atheists or agnostics, even. Might those two children and the 3 or 4 murdered adults still be alive?

+1

When I was a kid, I used to love to watch “supernatural” type movies that would scare the shit out of me. As a young teen, being told in seminary to “extend my hand” to a visiting spirit brought a “Uhhhhhh…hell no!!” response from me. As an adult, in the LAST prayer I ever offered up, I asked for a visitation. If it worked for Bro. Joe, it could work for me…after all , God loves me SOOOOOOO much. Nothing special…The Big E., Jeho, Bro. Joe, and select family/loved ones who could appear and testify of the truthfulness of the gospel to me. In return, from that day forward, I would wander the earth proclaiming the truthfulness of the gospel. It has been 23 years. Still waiting.

A few weeks ago I took a trip to southern Arizona. I decided to do the “tourist thing” and Tombstone was on my list. Specifically, I wanted to take a tour of the Bird Cage Theatre. When I discovered there was an evening “Ghost Tour”, I was all over that.

There were around 20 of us on the tour. A few were serious Ghostbuster types. I whispered to my gal, “How much do you want to bet they have some sort of experience on the tour?” Her response was a sharp elbow to my ribs. Before starting the tour, the tour guide gave us all kinds of history and told us all sorts of paranormal experiences that had occurred in the theatre over the years, many that had been caught on camera. You would have thought that with so many occurrences caught on camera, there would have been some video for us to watch. But no. She also mentioned that the spirits would not appear to any “non-believers”. I whispered to my gal, “Shouldn’t the non-believers be the spirit’s target audience?” Another elbow shot to the ribs.

I was most interested in the history of the theatre. The tour guide would also point to areas where spirits had been spotted in the past. This sent the Ghostbusters scurrying. When the guide mentioned that images had been caught in the backgrounds of photographs, the Ghostbusters went into a cell phone photo frenzy. I had the pleasure of photo-bombing many of their efforts. Sadly, nobody was able to produce a photo with any supernatural image floating around in it.

The “highlight” of the tour came at the end when the guide seated us in the main area of the theatre in total darkness. There were some “paranormal sensing” devices set up to detect any spiritual movement. None were set off. The tour guide would occasionally call out to any visiting spirits to come and touch one of the devices to set it off. Nada. It was a windy night outside which caused a few sounds in the old building. The Ghostbusters ate this up. And as I predicted, they “heard footsteps”, “saw shadows”, “felt something brush my leg”, etc. I had to suppress laughter when one of them claimed to have seen a blinking red light in the corner of the room. He was convinced it was a spirit manifesting itself to the group. The tour guide pointed out that it was the light from an infra-red camera. The darkness sitting went on for 30 minutes. It was excruciating…like sitting in a fast/testimony meeting with nobody getting up.

The best part was towards the end when the tour guide said that if anyone wanted to take a random picture in the darkness (you know…to maybe capture a spirit floating in the room), to announce that they were going to “flash" so others could protect their eyes from the flash in the pitch black room. People would speak up and say, “O.K., I’m going to flash”, and we would cover our eyes. I whispered to my gal, “I’m going to say, “O.K., I’m going to flash…but it has nothing to do with taking a picture”. Big time elbow to the ribs.

The tour was fun, saw some old west history. The Ghostbusters were happy because they heard a few “bumps in the night”. Now when there is a noise in my house I tell my gal, “It looks like the Tombstone spooks followed us home!” Then I cover up my ribs.

Hahaha. Your ribs must be sore.

I watch horror for the suspense. Ghosts exist only in our stories. And I love stories.

Too many use worn-out tropes and scenarios--the teenagers at a camp or cabin in the woods and that stuff. It's a serious challenge to hint at, develop, and then deliver a credible and scary evil. And all too many substitute gore for fright.

caffiend Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Too many use worn-out tropes and scenarios--the
> teenagers at a camp or cabin in the woods and that
> stuff. It's a serious challenge to hint at,
> develop, and then deliver a credible and scary
> evil. And all too many substitute gore for fright.
================================
Imagination of mind is always scarier than the screen

I agree that too many themes are used over and over. And that gore is too common. The recent trilogy on Netflix, "Fear Street" has a ghastly gore scene in the second movie. I did not care for that. I like classic horror suspense.

Titles for me: House on Haunted Hill, Pumpkinhead, The Tingler, The Haunting.

Such subjects are for me right up there with fantasy and comic "book" movies but I am of a different generation and they don't make films for my age bracket. For a number of years I worked on comics for children and to me that's where they should be left.

Anybody remember “Rodan” and “Son of Rodan”? Or “The Attack of The 50-Foot Woman”?

Them was the days of scary movies.

“Teen-Age Werewolf”?

Skeptics like to ridicule anything and everything 'ghostly' . . . until something strange happens to them!

https://michaelshermer.com/sciam-columns/infrequencies/

Personally, I still love horror movies and stories. I don't think demons are out to possess folks, but I still like "The Exorcist" for the way it was filmed and the acting. I don't think there are dark unknown forces out to get humanity, but I still think aspiring filmmakers should study how the original "Evil Dead" got made (horror is a Do-It-Yourselfer's dream genre). I call bullshit on seances, but I still like the 2020 film "Host" because some people dealt with COVID lockdowns by making a horror film on Zoom (some folks cope with public tantrums, others cope with films meant to scare them). Just because I know they're not based on reality doesn't mean I can't enjoy the theatrics and inventiveness of horror.

Of course, you can always enjoy stories where humans are the real monsters. I know I do.

The fact I was never scared by ghost stories or scary movies was probably an early indicator that, despite my upbringing and indoctrination, I didn't really believe in supernatural stuff, and was therefore an atheist. It just took me 23 years to become aware of that.

I am afraid of having to face 8' tall, hairy, baby-eating spiders with mandibles of death dripping venom and making goo-goo eyes at me.

I think it stems from watching my great aunt Petrita skinning and slicing up Sonoran Desert tarantulas as she prepared her famous spicy tarantula & avocado dip.

EOD, I’d say you have a case of Post Tarantula Trauma!

No, he has Arizona PSTD - Post Skinned Tarantula Disorder.

Utahns have a similar problem after seeing the film “Attack of the Killer Brine Shrimp” (giant brine shrimp created by exposure to nuclear radiation)