An Atheist in a Haunted House on Discovery Channel

A Haunting - Hell House - Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/v/skSA_dnPiZI&hl=en&fs=1

A Haunting - Hell House - Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/v/XKAcxmy067M&hl=en&fs=1

A Haunting - Hell House - Part 3
http://www.youtube.com/v/gIgwO1R81rI&hl=en&fs=1

A Haunting - Hell House - Part 4
http://www.youtube.com/v/gJW-rLKF5Gc&hl=en&fs=1

A Haunting - Hell House - Part 5
http://www.youtube.com/v/ejB7o-60fhw&hl=en&fs=1

A Haunting - Hell House - Part 6
http://www.youtube.com/v/CCD5TecRW5Y&hl=en&fs=1

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Guess who it is in the end?

[psychodiva]

your point being?

psychological and physical fear responses are not easily fought because our bodies are - at base- still primitive- its when the rational mind reviews what happened that explanations are found

[calpurnpiso]

Hey , where have you been? The medications did not work? FYI, there is no such a thing as a soul/spirit, demons or gods for that matter. They are creations of the BRAIN. BOOO

I don't see your point. Atheism is not the rejection of a belief in ghosts. I still believed in ghosts back when I was "just" an atheist. And I'm still somewhat scared of the dark, because stuff like that isn't easy to shake off, even if you're fully rational otherwise.

[Mog]

The problem with the show called "A Haunting" is that it relies entirely on eyewitness accounts and never actually shows any investigation into the stories.

If "SeekerOfAnswers" lived up to his name and attempted to find natural explanations for the sightings, he may have noticed that:

Often the witnesses experience these phenomenon when they are asleep, or about to fall asleep. Sometimes when I'm on the verge of falling asleep, my knee twitches, waking me up. We also may have mild hallucinations in this state. This kind of thing could be misinterpreted as a haunting.

A sound that is just below human hearing, infrasound, can often give us an eerie feeling, like a sense of dread.

http://www.abc.net.au/science/news/h...ish_941414.htm

The wiki on haunted houses attributes yet another cause of the phenomenon: Carbon Monoxide poisoning.

[psychodiva]

exactly

This is an interesting study basically about the meaning of hallucinations but it provides some good basic info about the hypnopompic and hypnagogic states that you refer to.

[psychodiva]

oh- this is a good one too

I dunno- give me a chance to talk psychology and I run with it- I'll shut up now

[psychodiva]

oops that last you have to access to- sorry - I'll find another- or not

[Whisper]

What is with american 'haunting' programs being so melodramatic?

Something else most people tend to forget is that fear spreads, rebounds and grows - if one person is already scared (perhaps because they're superstitious) they have an effect on the people around them, making the previously not-scared people, jumpy and more willing (unconsciously) to be scared themselves.

You see this happening all the time in the english program 'Most Haunted' - you can actually watch it happening. The presenters have a habit of jumping at absolutely everything, even if it is obviously just a creaky floorboard or a pet, passing on their hysteria to each other.

Though I must wonder at why Seeker has put this up - so what if an atheist has gotten jumpy in a building he has been repeatedly told is haunted?

I'm an atheist and I still get jumpy in the dark, but that is because of the fear of the unkown, not because of any belief in ghosts/spirits/demons/devils/gods/whatever. Fear of the dark isn't even irrational - it's a hang up from our pre-historic days, when the dark often contained big scary things that could eat you as soon as look at you.

I'm terribly amused by the introduction of the 'Psychic Researchers' that helped out in the Amityville horror - considering that is actually proven and doccumented as a hoax. The owners of that house did it all themselves so they could get money and avoid paying various debts. As can be seen here.

Another big problem with the ghost and psychic researchers, is that they want to find evidence of ghosts and psychic activity. So they're not exactly un-biased, are they?

And do you notice how 'Liegh/Lee', the medium, only starts channeling something after the researcher looks at the photograph and says 'it's a demon'?

Ah yes, this story is rife with the typical fraudulant practices of Psychics and Mediums, as well as the hysteria of the superstisious.

This program proves nothing. Except how badly made some programs can be.

I've had first hand experience of "poltergeist" a few times in my life and 1 time I had a witness (door handles moving , doors quickly opening and slamming shut all over the house along with heavy footsteps running up and down stairs while I'm looking at the staircase and seeing zilch)

I don't believe in ghosts being spirits of the dead so basically put it down as an unknown, which sooner or later someone will figure it out.

At no point did I freak out or think they were souls of the dead comming to fuck with me.

Yeah that stuff is pretty cool, paranormal stuff is awesome, doubt I'll have the courage to ever visit a haunted house, couple of my friends want to do it but that's just eerie.

[psychodiva]

oooohhhhhhhkay - very short discussion then - just agree witht he one that agrees with you

[Choobus]

SeekerOfAnswers wrote

Yeah that stuff is pretty cool, paranormal stuff is awesome, doubt I'll have the courage to ever visit a haunted house, couple of my friends want to do it but that's just eerie.

It's no more scary than riding a unicorn or buggering a pixie

[Mog]

SeekerOfAnswers wrote

Yeah that stuff is pretty cool, paranormal stuff is awesome, doubt I'll have the courage to ever visit a haunted house, couple of my friends want to do it but that's just eerie.

So you aren't interested enough in the answers to experience them first hand.

I think you meant to pose that as a question... But yeah, paranormal stuff is cool, I've seen a good share once, but when it comes to haunted houses, I can't stomach it. Could you?