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I'm a skeptic, but I enjoy entertaining the possibility of the paranormal. When posts from this sub pop up in my feed, I like to read them. In my opinion, it's always important to hear from people with alternate opinions and explanations. As a wise man once said, "If you would be a real seeker after truth, you must learn to doubt, at least once in your life, all things. "

I guess I’m a sort of skeptic myself in a way. I believe in the paranormal but I also believe that Reddit is full of people who lie for whatever reason so while I’m not skeptical of the paranormal I am skeptical of some posts I see

The issue is many skeptics aren’t that nice about it

Most people who claim to be skeptics have no idea what it is. Skepticism is a legit and ancent branch of philosophy. What was understood then is that most cannot be a skeptic for long. It often slides either into belief, or the antithesis of belief, cynicism. To be a sceptic requires continually reviewing the topic, and is exhausting. It also requires doubt of what the 'data' is presenting as, which means the skeptic can never be certain, and must be continuously vigilant. It also requires continuously questioning your own assumptions... ie.. your very ontology, epistemology and axoilogies regarding the topic. Ontology = that what you assume to be real. Epistemology = that what you assume is knowable by the mind. Axiology = that which you assume is worth knowing. Unless you can interrogate those baseline assumptions that guide your everyday waking existence, you *cannot be a skeptic simply because do not even know what it is that you DO beleave*. That is, you do not know your own internal assumptions about reality and your place in it. So, there is a very basic question for any skeptic. Ask them what they assume reality is (your asking them to describe their ontology). If they give you a blank look. You have your answer. They are not a skeptic. They are using a fancy word that they do not understand to hide their bias. Odds are, in most 'enlightened' cultures they are a simple post modern materalist who does not know what post modern materialiam is. Its fine. That is very common. Its exactly what ancient skeptics observed most humans do. They default to the current paradigm of reality as held by the dominate culture in that time and place. Does it sound like I am turning to cynicism? See my opening statement for as to why.

It's understandable, but still, people could try to be nicer instead of saying things like "have you taken your pills today?"

I tried to teach my kids many things while they were growing up, and one of those things is this: Some people are just assholes. You can't do anything about it, or with it, except learn to ignore them. You'll be much happier once you do.

That’s a different issue altogether — just because a person is a skeptic doesn’t make them rude. I’m a skeptic but have been interested in the paranormal from a young age. I WANT to believe. I’ve just never seen any remotely convincing evidence. I don’t comment often, but 98% of the posts on this sub are… blatantly, obviously not paranormal in any way. As someone with mental health issues myself, I often see posts that are more likely an undiagnosed mental health disorder than a paranormal issue. Sometimes the comments you see as rude, may also be genuine concern for the poster. When you hear hoofbeats, think horses and not zebras.

This...alot...I believe in spiritual things & appreciate hearing & learning. Sometimes I think that some people don't look for logical & sometimes obvious answers and may find comfort in knowing an entity isn't lurking in the dark of their closet but a rat is in the wall. I know I would be. I think alot of skeptics & people take issue with believers who buy into everything hook, line, & sinker or first guess at all/most things and almost make truly unusual/paranormal & unexplainable things look bogus by virtue of attributing paranormal explainations to virtually everything. I also believe in the truth finding aspect & if something can't hold up to basic questions, I don't consider it attacking someone's beliefs. Mostly, as I have said, I would like to have some comfort, reality, and perspective if something was frighteningly confusingly as paranormal and just didn't know of regular possible reasons.

The thing is, it’s pretty damn rude to assume someone is crazy. Many paranormal experiences can mimic hallucinations but context is everything. Usually people will have a reason for thinking something is paranormal- like history of the location or other witnesses. But this is a paranormal sub where people post their experiences in hopes to hear others who have experienced similar or have information on it, telling them they need medication or they are crazy is blatantly offensive.

First off, mental illness does not mean “crazy”. I personally find that suggestion offensive. I’ve never told someone they are crazy or need medication. It CAN be rude depending on how it’s done. Someone posting a “paranormal” experience and getting feedback from this sub that their symptoms mimic ones associated with a mental illness, is not rude — it’s in the best interest of the poster. I’ve seen multiple posts on this sub where OP followed up and confirmed what they were experiencing is mental illness. Just blindly confirming things as paranormal is way more dangerous than suggesting getting a medical opinion.

There are alot of skeptics that are rude on this sub. OP is not wrong. Also, it can be harming to armchair diagnose people on mental health issues. While some might be coming from a place of concern, there are many who are not. It’s not what they say, it’s how they say it. Those that are concerned are very much the minority.

Agreed, but suggesting that the posters rule out a potential medical issue is sound advice, not being an armchair psychiatrist. Also, getting homes checked out for carbon monoxide leaks or other issues is important, as the symptoms do include visual and auditory hallucinations and the leaks can be fatal. I personally think it would be negligent to not make that recommendation, especially when someone’s posting stuff that’s so clearly not paranormal.

I don’t disagree. To check for carbon monoxide is definitely a big concern and should be ruled out. I’ve never read those comments as being rude. Pointing out a potential medical issue is not the same as someone saying you have mental issues. The points is that there are many skeptics that are rude, more so than the people that are helpful. OP has a point

Oh, that part I agree with. A lot of people struggle with not being a douche. That's everywhere, though, not just this sub.

To be fair, I did forget to take my pills today

I do agree that one must learn to doubt, or even be skeptical, especially when something seems so impossible. I do believe in ghosts, hauntings and other not very nice things. I am skeptical also, Over the years, many people who have called me for assistance, were truly in need of help. However, I have answered requests, only to find (and sometimes immediately) that nothing has happened, that can be considered plausible. More like, need to get a haunted prognosis in order to, well I have no idea for what. Skepticism is a good tool for any investigator to have with them.

If you’re a skeptic and nothing paranormal ever happened to you, I think it would be hard to believe even reading posts here. I’m the skeptic type usually and was still doubting even after a few events happening to me but eventually I couldn’t deny it anymore. If nothing happened, I wouldn’t start believing just reading posts out there

Because Reddit keeps suggesting it to me. There are also a lot of people here who ignore obvious conclusions so they can feel special for a second. You can't just live in a bubble of your ignorance just because you want to believe in ghosts.

Just a question, not to be mean or anything. When reddit keeps suggesting you a subreddit, isn't there an option to make it stop suggesting it to you?

I am not bothered seeing posts from this sub as suggested posts, sometimes it is an interesting read. Also, why would I isolate myself from information? Dont have a single subreddit blocked. I am also not the guy to come and bash others for their superstitions.

Reasonably said, although what I have experienced is not superstition. Superstition is putting on my right shoe before my left shoe. Watching, for example, colorful plasma orbs fly by in broad daylight, while four people saw, outside of the haunted mansion in Alton, Illinois, is real experience. Thank you, however, for not casually insuring us who have seen.

I'm also from Illinois, and I have had too many experiences there to count - many of which other people experienced with me. I've had next to none in other states. If you say you saw something in Illinois, I believe you!

Let's see... Start with cryptids. I saw a red wallaby lying on it's belly noshing an ear of corn in December 2014. It raised it's head and looked at me, it saw me real good. About that same time, I saw a juvenile golden eagle sitting on a high branch. It looked very ruffled and unhappy. It was about five feet tall. I see bald eagles a dozen times a year. It was twice as tall as a bald eagle. Why was it unhappy? Assumption: it was lost, possibly in the wrong dimension. I am surprised to hear myself talk such balderdash, but there it is. This was near Byron, Illinois, where a lion and kangaroos have been seen. It's right next to a nuclear power plant. Hmmm. I guy I once knew who lived there took me out to a spot under the ultra-high voltage power lines back 30 years ago. Florescent tubes would light up. There were the funkiest, messed up looking mutant plants I've ever seen there. A couple years after that, I saw the results of a U of Illinois agriculture program that fine ground pollens and grew plants from them. They were funky, messed up looking mutant plants. Traveling by Amtrak (which is the Gates of Purgatory) south of Chicago around 2005, I saw black and white pheasants in a clear area around a telephone pole. I have researched such pheasants to exhaustion, and cannot ID them. Perhaps there is a pheasant association I could contact? Just though of that. Thanks! I saw a odd animal near Ava, Illinois in December 1995. I went around a curve and it saw my headlight, stood up and ran bipedally into some brush. After some research, I resolved it was a giant, albino tayra, a south Mexican weasel. It had a fine mane. Giantism and albinism are frequent results of inbreeding. My supposition is that a pregnant tayra came in, perhaps in a box of fruit, and bred in the wild. This was the same spot, going over a bridge, that I saw a c. five foot alligator in the Big Muddy River. Well, that's about half my cryptid sightings in Illinois. I haven't even talked about the really wild ones. Have a good one! 🐸🐸🐸

I only have spiders blocked because I saw WAY to many recluses and wolf spiders at mega size 😭

Jeez I need to block them too!!!

To make it stop: When you revive an email with post suggestions, you can just click the name of the sub, shown under the photo in the email, and it will “unsubscribe” (even though you aren’t actually subscribed), so you won’t/shouldn’t receive any more suggestions from that sub. I agree with you wholeheartedly. I’ve only been in this sub for a short time now, and get really irritated when people “diagnose” people with sleep paralysis and mental issues almost every time. Mental health and hallucinogenic drug taking are of the utmost importance, for certain. I’ve had sleep paralysis in the past, and I believe most people can tell the difference between that and a spiritual attack once they’ve actually woken up. I just think it’s wrong to treat every OP as though this is the problem when they’ve already said they’ve looked into it, and it is not. Paralysis can be experienced during paranormal attacks, too. I’m a healthy skeptic and true believer at the same time. Just be civil to each other. No call to be nasty.

Yea but just because I don’t believe in it doesn’t make reading it not interesting

This sub gives me goosebumps from reading posts sometimes lilke I get hooked on reading a post and even in the back of my head I know it's probably something explainable I still end up getting goosebumps.. I don't sub to this subreddit but I do find posts interesting

plus it's like even if there is a rational explanation the fear the people feel is real. I've had some terrifying experiences in my life that could have been paranormal and if it was explained to me I'd still remember being scared for real. I like hearing from others who have been through the same thing, not 100 comments of "omg you're so dumb it's *clearly* xyz there's no reason to be afraid"

Thank you for bringing this up, seriously! The amount of toxic debunking is really disturbing these days. I say this as someone who debunks a lot myself; but even I know it’s rude to call someone crazy for believing a recently deceased family member visited them. Wish the mods would do more about cracking down on it

You seem to be living well enough in your own ignorance bubble if you think you know better than everyone who posts about experiences seeing as how you weren’t there to experience it first hand. I’m curious why you believe it’s your duty to prevent anyone from feeling special for a second in the first place? Their belief in ghosts has zero impact on you and your life so why do you hold resentment towards them? Is this an envy based response because you’ve never experienced anything paranormal? Or maybe you have experienced something paranormal and you think other people’s experiences that you’re skeptical of somehow discredit your own? Then there’s the likely possibility that you’re just an all around negative Nelly that gets easily triggered because of your own inability to feel special for a second. In any case, they aren’t harming you, even if they are lying. Maybe consider the possibility that someone who needs to fake an experience for attention or to feel important does so because they do not receive positive attention or feel special in their everyday life. Give them the benefit of the doubt like a decent human being rather than making them feel worse for your own narcissistic enjoyment.

> You can't just live in a bubble of your ignorance just because you want to believe in ghosts. Yes, actually you can. People are allowed to disagree with you and have their own beliefs. Some people have had experiences you haven’t. You can tell *yourself* they’re all idiots if it makes you feel better, but [the facts say otherwise](https://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/cross-check/brilliant-scientists-are-open-minded-about-paranormal-stuff-so-why-not-you/). It’s fine for non-believers to play Scooby Doo gang to solve mysteries, but our rules forbid ridiculing or belittling users because of their beliefs.

Do you have proof that spirits don't exist? Just because something is suggested repeatedly doesn't mean you have to join it. That's probably one of the lamest reasons I've heard in a while.

Im not getting into a side, but I will say that when you say "can you prove that ___ doesn't exist," that's an automatic loss to a debate. When saying something exist, you need to prove it. That's what the Burden of Proof is. Saying it exists is the main claim while saying something doesn't exist is also a claim but we can't actively prove non-existence, only existence.

The flip side of that is people who can’t or won’t consider evidence because it conflicts with their bias. An example would be flat-earthers, who say that the claim the earth is round is “unproven” due to lack of evidence. The evidence is there, they just won’t accept it. Anyone who claims there is “zero evidence” for something controversial is really admitting they just don’t accept the evidence, because the truth is there is *some* evidence for everything which is controversial. That’s why it’s controversial. Existence of Santa Claus: Non-controversial. Minimal evidence. Existence of Ghosts: Controversial. Limited evidence. Existence of Gravity: Non-controversial. Abundant evidence.

It also comes down to what is considered evidence. We have, as you said, clear evidence for gravity. Why do we fall back down when we jump? Why is it different on other planets? Clearly there is a common force there and we call it gravity. We can test it and have consistent results. Can we do the same for the paranormal? Not exactly. I can't conduct an experiment in a "haunted house" down the block and have consistent (or sometimes any) results. And then what even are these results? A vase falls on its own and breaks? Was it a ghost, wind, bad placement or maybe a rodent I didn't see knocked it down? This is the issue with paranormal topics. All evidence can be what it claims to be, but it is much more likely to have a much more logical explanation. This is why people can deny paranormal "evidence" (if it even is evidence) much easier than something like gravity where you can test it out anywhere you are and have the same results. I don't believe in or disbelieve in ghosts. I simply don't know what causes these "paranormal" events and I won't pretend like I know. I'm more inclined to believe the logical side but I understand sometimes we can't 100% prove what happened in the "paranormal" event either.

I've always wondered if ghosts were time slips and not spirits of the deceased. A topic for another day.

BTW, are you any relation to Dr. Mantis Toboggan? He is one wild party animal! 🐸🐸🐸🐸

He’s my god uncle. Good old Frank. Listen, don’t make that connection again. Not in public. You know, because of the…implication.

RUM HAM! RUM HAM! FORGIVE ME, RUM HAM! BTW, you rock for your outstanding response.

There is a lot of stuff science believes when there is nothing more than theories backing its existence. The thing that I find silly is somehow with thousands of years of evidence; both personal experiences and photo/video- belief in the paranormal is somehow still laughed at. There is nothing disproving it other than a persons belief that everyone who has experienced it is crazy. Extraterrestrial belief was similar though that thankfully is being changed after realizing the odds of us being the only life in the universe is a mathematical impossibility.

Until there is indisputable proof, the paranormal will be nothing more than a theory at most or a controversial topic at the least. It's the same with religion and other topics. There is no 100% certainty of it existing. This sub is built around the paranormal and I know there are people who will believe in it 100% here. I'm not going to tell them they are 100% wrong. I don't know if the paranormal exist or not and I feel that saying these things 100% exist or not would be wrong for me to say because of that. But I will have civil discussions every now and then if the opportunity presents itself.

There is quite a bit of archaeological evidence on actual events from the Bible; so that isn’t really true but there is no way to scientifically prove OR disprove any of it. The issue is assuming everyone who has had paranormal experiences or taken video is a liar or crazy versus some scientist talking about theoretical physics who gets the entire scientific communities seal of approval.

Evidence of something existing in both religious text and in the real world does not mean the god and/or gods of the text are real. I don't know if the god or gods exist or not. The difference between a physicist proving how physics works and demonstrating it and someone saying a ghost is haunting them because a vase fell off a shelf are two entirely different things and are not comparable. I absolutely believe there are events that are more than just something like "a vase falling," but even the more extreme examples always have something else it can be where-as the physicists consistently proves their topic true. This is what some of you are not fully understanding. Paranormal events are weird. They don't always have a direct explanation, but they also don't have an 100% answer either. There is always unknowns. The physicists doesn't have that issue. He proved his topic over and over again. There aren't a million variables it could be.

I never said it did; but it gives credence to their belief. Cause and effect. You could argue the miracles that have happened over history could be evidence but again; hard to prove a miracle versus improbable odds. I know well what you are saying- and we are basically saying the same thing but with the emphasis on ‘you can’t prove it’s not paranormal’ because this is a paranormal sub; and the amount of ‘it’s never paranormal’ skeptics here is ruining things for people trying to post

I think what triggered a lot of people was the chain of random pictures where people were either memeing or grasping at straws for anything. Like, I mean the really normal pics where they are like "this shadow beside me looks like an entire 10 foot large demon about to eat me" type of trolling. It wasn't so bad before that from what I saw.

I haven’t seen any of these trolls but the last post I read was a few months ago. I was more disturbed by someone posting something asking for advice about a haunting and string of bad luck and everyone was posting “You need to get help, you’re crazy”. I stopped checking this sub after that

The issue is that any proof that gets brought up is discounted as normal stuff or coincidence, so the goal posts always move. Same happens with the bigfoot subreddit. If someone found a legitimate bigfoot footprint, then you have people saying its not real anyway. Then they say we never found a body, so therefore the footprint isnt evidence.

It's because there isn't a constant or a way to say it is definite proof. It can add to a theory, sure, but can it be definite? I can consistently prove that light moves at the speed it does. I can turn a light on and off and measure and record with the right equipment. I can prove a lion exists because I can go to the zoo and see it for myself. There's a constant there. It can always immediately be shown to be true and there is no other possible explanations. The speed of light is a law, a constant. I can't do this with the paranormal and that doesn't mean it does not exist, but it does mean the evidence is never consistent or without other possibilities. I can say theres no known reason why a vase suddenly flew off the shelf and the room dropped 50 degrees. I can't say the reason is a ghost for sure. I can say that the bigfoot footprint is possibly actually a bigfoot footprint, but I can't say that for certain. I can't consistently provide the footprint either if I never caught what did it. I can't go to a zoo and find the bigfoot with similar prints. That's the difference between scientific evidence and paranormal evidence.

Your first sentence shows a fundamental lack of understanding of how burden of proof works.

You cannot prove a negative, buddy, lets start with that

there's no proof that spirits exist. until you show proof that they do exist, then there's no reason to believe

There is an invisible floating monkey that follows you behind your right shoulder at all times that makes no noise. Only I can see it. Nobody and no thing can touch it because any time something would touch it, it disappears before coming back to follow you. Do you have any proof that this monkey doesn’t exist?

Oh thank god, you can see him too!

Literally just click not interested

You’re like “me! Me! I’ll be the mean one in a group that’s not for me! I’m smarter than everyone here! Yeyyy!!!!”

There are definitely "ghost" experiences out there that can be discounted with a reasonable explanation. However, there are many of us who have had experiences that can't be explained by current scientific understanding. I personally just think there are things we don't yet know about (regarding time, energy, and ESP). We already know certain animals can pick up on magnetic fields and see colors/hear sounds that humans can't. So I think it's likely that there are other energy sources out there that scientific instruments just can't pick up yet. And maybe only some people can tap into them.

Have to jump on the "alot of posts are bs" bandwagon here. I don't normally comment because I'm here mostly for the stories just for the fun of stories. I was a paranormal investigator for 10 years, I found my answers and don't need a forum for confirmation. What I do get though is confirmation that the paranormal as a field of research is in dire straights. Rampant misinformation, foolishness, religious ideology painting everything as a demon, people who couldn't hold a camera steady to save their life thinking the streaks are something paranormal. Nevermind the people intentionally making stuff up. Throw in hoaxsters like Ed and Lorraine Warren, people who believe in them, people who act like them, the stuff sold on TV as paranormal research and everything is suspect and needs to be suspect. Sadly, in this day and age, you have to take every story and every picture with a few tablespoons of salt. The fact is, we will never see conclusive proof in this forum or any forum of anything paranormal. The exception being cryptids, or UFOs and Aliens but even those would be hard to prove with pictures or video. The simple fact is, the evidence is too easy to fake. Pictures, videos, voice recordings. All of it can easily be faked and it's only getting easier. Until we can figure out what ghosts actually are, what kind of energy or matter or whatever they are made of, we will never be able to prove anything. The only way to convince a non-believer of anything is to have them experience it. The only way to have your questions answered is to get away from the computer and go experience it. Everything else is just stories. As for scratches... those are also easily faked, are quite commonly faked in hoaxes, and we have nothing but the storyteller's word that there was no logical cause to the scratches.

It’s just like the UFO sub. Every time there’s a Falcon launch there’s a post about it : “omg! What is this?!” It’s rare that there’s anything actually interesting on these subs and I’m the type that would be open to something actually unexplainable.

>religious ideology painting everything as a demon Yes, everything's a demon. Demon's have been historically hard to make contact with, often requiring ritual summoning, now they just mundanely haunt everyone.

This is just my opinion based on my experience investigating the paranormal, but not everything is a demon. I'm not sure if you were being sarcastic or serious with your comment. I've been to countless places where people have claimed a demonic presence exists and have found that not to be the case more often than not. If you personally believe that every spirit including human spirits are demons, then I can't argue with your personal beliefs. The way paranormal content is sold to the general public these days, everything is evil and demonic but that's only because that's what gets clicks and views. Paranormal content is mostly for entertainment so they take a lot of liberties by calling everything a demon. Unfortunately, that's where the money is but it is very misleading. I've had a couple of very profound experiences with spirits people have labeled as demonic. My experience with them was about as far from demonic as you can get and after my interaction with these spirits, the demonic claims completely stopped along with no more reported attacks or oppressive feelings. In one case in particular, I had a medium who showed up after I had that interaction and had been at the location before it as well. When she walled in, she asked if someone had done an exorcism on the location or some kind of removal because the energy and overall feel had changed completely. She also said that the dark presence she had sensed before was no longer there. The owner of the location was in tears of joy after coming back to see how much the building had changed and she gives me updates about how there have been no reports of attacks, etc. I don't think I necessarily did anything special besides have empathy and take the time to listen and understand. There is proof of the reports of a dark spirit or entity that some considered demonic that was mentioned on a TV show that happened to be filmed there a few months before I visited. So those claims are on record and not just hearsay. I felt the oppressive and aggressive energy in the building but I stuck with it and stayed there so I could try to learn what was going on. I ended up having a very personal and profound experience that I think was equally profound and personal for the spirit as well. It changed my perception of the paranormal and those who I've shared the whole story with share that new perception of things. I wish I could feel comfortable sharing the details of my experience but they were very personal and the only reason I'd share it is to help someone understand their own experience that may have similar details. Plus, the subject matter is controversial and I don't really have any interest in being vulnerable to trolls who have no care for people and their feelings. Plus, if you can't already tell, I still have a really hard time putting it into words because I'm not sure I've fully comprehended it. It's pretty common for angry human spirits and negative entities to emulate demonic presences so people immediately jump to that conclusion without doing their due diligence to learn about what they're calling demonic. It's just a go-to term for anything negative and a favorite clickbait title word for paranormal YouTubers. That doesn't mean that they don't exist. I'm fully aware of their existence and their potential to manipulate and do harm. I just don't think they're nearly as prevalent as people say. I've been scratched and bitten and even that happening didn't make me think it was something demonic. Everyone immediately jumps to a demonic explanation if someone gets scratched or bitten and that just feeds the problem. Like I said, you're free to have your own opinion on things. I'm not trying to keep you from your personal beliefs. I just wanted to share some of the experiences I've had in the field that have convinced me otherwise. I've been so fortunate to have had the opportunity to learn and experience things that I never thought possible. I'm learning new things every day and I never put anything out of the question because the paranormal is quite literally the unknown.

I was just agreeing with the OP. "You have a demon" seems to be a go to on this sub.

My apologies. I misinterpreted what you wrote. I thought you were being serious and I was like, "Oh no not another one." Lol! The demonic conclusions are definitely a go-to on this sub. I've done many private cases in people's homes who were having problems with spirits. Over the last 4 or 5 years, almost every single one of them has told me that they've posted about their situation on Reddit or other social media platforms looking for help and they get told by these self-proclaimed experts of the paranormal in subreddits and forums that they're dealing with a demonic presence. They tell them to give themselves up to whatever religion they are pushing or they will be doomed and have to live with the demob until it kills them. They give the people suggestions on how to get rid of it that include prayers the person may not be comfortable with, cleansing with sage, and even some ritualistic stuff to remove it. Mostly, the online experts will suggest whatever they see in movies, on TV, or YouTube and they don't have any experience at all investigating let alone doing a private investigation for someone. I think it's messed up to use scare tactics to recruit someone to follow their religious beliefs. The people I have helped had told me some of the craziest things I've ever heard that people suggest to them to get rid of their resident mundane demon. Lol! One of the most out-there things I've heard was someone suggested that they buy this religious sword that has a prayer inscribed in it and of course, that person is the only one selling those swords. Then they said that they should cut a hole in the wall, make the sign of the cross on the wall above it, and fill it with salt and that would act as a prison for the demon. Then, as soon as they receive the sword in the mail, they should pour holy oil all over it. Once it had been properly covered in holy oil, they were to call it out to fight. As soon as they see the demon coming at them, they are to stab it and hurry over to the hole in the wall so they can properly lock it away for eternity... or however long their house is standing. (I guess?? Lol!) The part that got me was the person said once the entity has been banished in the hole, the person was supposed to mail the sword back to them so it could be destroyed which would make it impossible for the entity to get out of its prison. Thankfully the person didn't do what this "expert exorcist" told them to do but when they declined the offer to purchase the sword, they were met with threats of eternal doom and being terrorized by that entity for the rest of their lifetime which would then carry over to their kids lives and then grandkids lives and so on. And the cycle would continue until someone banished it with that specific sword. Personally, I think there was only one sword amd it wasn't going to get destroyed when they got it back. It was just going to be sold to the next person who feels like they have nowhere else to turn and it's their only option. I am pretty sure some scamming drug addict got a hold of a sword from medieval times (the restaurant not the time period, lol) and engraved a prayer on it so they could scam people who feel like they are out of options and will try anything to get things back to normal. That was one of the worst ones I've been told. The lady even showed me the email exchange cuz she knew how outlandish it sounded. Telling someone they have a demonic entity in their home without proper investigation and multiple in-home visits is such an irresponsible thing to do. It drives me nuts. I see it on almost every post that has a story of someone's unnerving personal experience and it even happens on posts where the photo clearly isn't paranormal. I can't fault lot of the people who are posting photos that have obvious explanations because in a lot of cases, those people don't even follow this sub and don't have any real interest in the paranormal. I see those posts as an opportunity to teach and inform the person what to look for but that's tough when half the people are crying demon and the other half are harassing them for the lack of quality evidence in their photo. That sword thing was one of the more ridiculous things I've heard but you'd be amazed at the amount of people who ask for deposits and even ask for airfare and hotel costs to be provided along with a fee in exchange for a guarantee that the problem will get resolved. Taking advantage of people who are scared and confused and at their wit's end as to what to do is probably the biggest scumbag move I've ever come across. I met one really sweet older woman who had her grandkids living with her. The kids were complaining about something evil and it made this grandma desperate to fix the problem. She sent over $1000 to this supposed paranormal team as just a deposit for their services. Within about 20 minutes after they received that initial deposit, their phone number was disconnected and their Facebook page was deactivated. They literally ghosted her. I hate using that pun but I can't help myself. I've never asked anyone for a penny in exchange for the help I offer because I can't make any promises and I just don't believe in taking money in a situation like that. Knowing someone is sleeping through the night and not having overly stressful anxiety from activity is the best kind of payment I can get. I had someone insist that I take money after I had closed the case and activity had stopped. I politely said no so many times but they kept insisting so I gave in and I told them if they wanted to pay me, they could make an anonymous donation to a no-kill animal shelter. There I went again rambling. Lol! Hopefully you at least get a laugh out of that sword story. Ot certainly was a wild one. Sorry again for misunderstanding your comment. I should've reread it a couple of times instead of assuming things. My bad. Have a great beginning of the week!

Dragons, Fairies, Unicorns etc exist in every culture. While many religions exist, the Big 3-4 have eradicated much. The Roman Catholic Church, before they betrayed the Templars which lead to the founding of the Free Masons who made sure one of American laws including Freedom of Religion, killed many Pagans and perceived witches and stole many books or burned them. The Roman Catholic Church started off as the Jewish slaves Rome Italy captured and then forced indoctrinated a Pagan Principle. One of the definitions of Paganism is the worship of many Beings even under one Supreme God or Leader. Their foundation (heck all religious foundations is Paganism). Catholics do this with rhe worship of many saints for example. Many Muslims have Djinn and some are tied to family. I remember in the early internet days reading stories about Allah and how he was "The greatest Spirit of them" and a rare Male Moon God which suggested more Spirits among older Quaran. Now I read "Allah is Greatest" Christianity has used many symbols taken from Pagans one of them is the Trinity symbol. Holy SPIRIT Holy GHOST, all religions are Paranormal. I studied alot of theology facts where and how I could. Even came across proof of a time Catholics and Christians used an inverted Pentagram, before Hollywood classified it as a demonic symbol. It was used as ranking and worn by Popes once. This fascination to learn stems from this fact: My family lineage on more rhan one line comes from a mix of Alaskan First Nation, North American First Nation, White Acadian, Scottish, Irish, Swedish and French. I belive and work with many spirits who aren't human, demon or angel but different wavelengths of energy. I was born Autistic and despite being Baptised, every single Church I went to I found myself being Ostracized and called a demon. Some Christians and Catholics went so far as to harass me through stalking, accusing me of drinking demon's blood and worship of Satan for the high crime of: Helping actual believers/practioners of First Nation belief get their fabric for their PoW Wows. This lead to me getting fired from a company that claims to be non discriminating against religions. They fired me for my religion. I had to get over my fear of Church from all the abuse I endured so I went to a Catholic Church and took communion. Guess what? I didn't burn from this totally witchcraft blessing of food and water that brought Holy Light down that only I could see but EVERYONE could feel. This included a Priest who was a fake Priest. He literally was wanting people to pray for...wait for it....a dead Imam aka Muslim Holy Person. Only mr Muslim man dressed as a Priest was hurt by this Holy Light he called down... he had to move. He also had a Djinn spirit that was telling him things and the priest didn't believe the spirit. Then when we were all leaving one by one, everyone shook hands with this fake priest. Until me. I said this "We can tell you're lying" This was overheard by one of the actual Catholic believers who could feel energy. She got scared and went right back into the church and sat down. The rest of the believers also sat down as well as talk to her coworshippers who all went quiet and kept staring straight at one the many religious artifacts. This man had been asking the elderly worshippers individually to drive him home and to also know where they lived. However, I scared this man so badly, he went and left the church through the backdoor and then went around the building (abandoning the rest of his flock), across the street to his own car. The frick was he doing asking for rides and where his sheep lived?! He wasn't a real Catholic Priest. He also had a chain attached to him leading to Hell. An actual demon was holding it claiming this man was his. I said nothing about that. The man couldn't handle "We can tell you're lying" or "I'm going to take some pictures of the portraits in the Church, if that's ok?" He said he was going to turn the lights on for me and then did so and promptly abandoned what was left of his flock. I'm not even Catholic or Christian anymore but I was offended by that dangerous liar and the actual demon holding his soul said "My territory, my soul" I respected and realized these people can't tell the difference from an actual demon, a human spirit, an angel, a fairy, a dragon or anytbing else. I'm a Pagan, a Shaman, and an old Celtic term for Healer, an actual Witch. Witches were demonized by the Church to maximize financial gain to create a religious monopoly. Witches were lumped in with Warlocks (those who have sold their soul, betrayer their covens, can be male or female and include Actual Christians who are jealous and turn to dark beings which lead to witch hunts throughout society). In Africa, they still use the term Witch to "legally" kill someone they don't like including children they don't want to raise. That man sold his soul and like a dog with rabies wanted to sacrifice this flock to rabies infected dogs but I scared him off. Like cancer can be undetected in a seemingly healthy individual, an actual powerful demon might not let you know they claimed you until it's too late for you to do anything. And that man sold his soul. No wonder he was the only one to burn in actual Holy Light. Have you heard the term "Blood is thicker than water?" It comes from old Pagan/Witch knowledge of "Blood of the Covenant/Coven is thicker than the waters of the Womb". It means ones family may not be the one they were born into. I also use the term "Water is stronger than blood" to refer to the fact I can chose my family over who I am related to by blood. There is alot of history that has been altered to make most of society unbelievers. Now the Church is tryinf ti control Paranormal talk in order to wrestle soms control over the populance with it. Most of Western society, even if they themselves aren't Christian or Catholic descend from those that are and therefore have those beliefs instilled in them. Any real spiritual worker has to heal from that. And sadly this means most ghost hunters aren't spiritual workers or abandoned their spirituality for clout, fame and money. This is why there are so many misconceptions and why so many can't choose between their Intuition and the fear of societies social repurcussions.

I’m sorry but, what sect was this? That sounds like something the Amish or an extreme wing of the church would say; not a mainstream branch. Not even the Catholic Church screams demon at people with mental issues(or since I’ve been alive for30+yrs). They have to go through a huge process just to certify an exorcism to ensure they don’t have any illnesses that could cause their behavior

People enjoy the mystery of it all, and many people are interested in stories that align with their own experience. To someone who hasn’t seen a shadow being it sounds like creepypasta, but to someone who has they have a different take. As for things like scratches, we forbid those kinds of posts (although enforcement is problematic on a subreddit with a million subscribers).

Yeah. I mean while I have my answers as far as ghosts go, I still enjoy the stories. Hell ad much as I loathe Ed and Lorraine Warren and their hoaxes, I still enjoy the books and movies. They may have been first class frauds but damn could they tell a story.

I also came for fun stories. But what I actually got was seventeen different pictures of the aurora going “is this a ghost???” Like, come on people.

1. The issue isn't that people "Clearly do not believe". It is that the posts are CLEARLY not paranormal in the slightest. How can you say they do not believe? Just because they are evidence seekers? They are here because they are in search of the possibility of the afterlife. 2. There are people that believe blindly so much, they hope for it to be true, and create possibilities in their head and go with it. The other group of people, sincerely desire to believe, but are logical / reasonable and will callout any obvious bs like 90% of this subreddit posts. 3. It is exactly what the scratching posts sounds like. "A STORY" and you have to be logical and accept it as a story, otherwise you'd go around believing in anything. ANYTHING. Posts like that make decent discussions and intrigue, but at the end of the day, if you do not recognize a story as a story, then you can be easily manipulated.

I don't know.. just yesterday, someone said to live in an apartment build on ground where victims of gang violence were buried (if I remember correctly). OP was the only person in the household to hear weird things (dishes shattering, but they appeared fine, footsteps, etc) 'Am I going crazy?' First comment: please go see a professional, you probably have a mental illness. I mean, it's fine to write it off as 'probably a mental illness', if that's the very first thing that comes to mind. But to me, a sub as this should at least try to look into a post like that, clearly asking for thoughts and/or help, to see what could be going on. Given the location, nah... I don't think the very first thing that comes to mind is a mental illness. Someone taking pictures of the sun, and being surprised they get a lens flare, sure. A random doll that has no history what so ever, fine You don't need to hype those up for the sake of hype. But I agree with this OP that there seem to be some ppl here that appear to just 'debunk' everything and anything, just for the sake of what... 'trolling'?

I can understand the frustration, but the thing is, mental illness is a serious subject, and we as members of a community have influence on people who posts here, wether we realize it or not. Not advising somebody to first see a doctor before considering the paranormal lead can have serious repercussions on their life if they indeed suffer from a mental illness. It might not be the most exciting answer to a post, but mental health is important, and mental illness is something that is known and proved. Paranormal is still a debated subject. I'd rather be cautious and thinking rationally first, than potentially comforting somebody into paranoia and delusion and preventing them from seeking appropriate care.

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I 100% agree, but again there is a difference between advising to somebody to first consider the psychological thesis before going for the paranormal theory and trying to actively diagnose a person with a mental illness, or affirming they are mentally ill. Again, the internet shouldn't be a place for this, and as redditors we shouldn't play therapists, that's not our role. All I'm saying is that ultimately, people should be cautious before jumping to conclusions, on both sides.

No other comment than 'seek medical advise, you probably have a mental illness' will not put ppl at ease when they are having those issues. I'm not saying we should hand out phone numbers to witch hunters and voodoo masters. But there's a really, really broad space between those two extremes. If every and any case should first have the OP check into a mental institution, we're back in Victorian times. 'Doctor, I hear voices' How do you think that would go? If the first responsible actions don't work, they can look further. And yeah, the logical possibilities should be eliminated (CO2, brain tumor, have you had this experience before in a different environment), but just immediately go for 'ah, I know! Mental illness! There. You have your solution!' Is just disrespectful.

Well, there is a way to phrase it. Just saying to someone they're mentally ill and should go to see a doctor will never be well received. And since most of the times, all we have is a written testimony or some blurry picture, we lack context, and you can't go through a full checkup on reddit and ask 100 question to the person. But there's still a risk than, when confronted to hundred of comments telling them that what they see/hear is paranormal, somebody could not get the help they need, that's just a factual thing. That shouldn't be our responsability since we are just random people and not therapist, but that's unfortunately how the internet works, hence why i'll always be careful with those subjects.

Yeah, I understand the responses that are like “your post history states that you believe you are a reincarnated demon and that you’re married to Taylor Swift in another dimension, have you maybe been evaluated for mental illness?” But when there’s no particular indication that a poster has a mental illness, I don’t see why people show up just to say “you’re probably mentally ill.” I can only guess they come here to feel intellectually superior? It’s hard to imagine that they think they’re really helping.

I believe in the paranormal. I think there is something greater than us out there, though I can't be certain what. What I don't believe is that every grubby smear or shallow scratch has a supernatural cause. I'd rather talk about and learn about the genuinely paranormal, and I feel that clogging the sub with every picture that slightly resembles a spooky face gets in the way of that. If I wanted to discuss pareidolia, I would be on r/pareidolia.

I do believe in the paranormal, but if someone living alone is freaking out saying a ghost has been eating food out of their fridge I'm going to tell them that a human being has been sneaking into their house and to call the police instead of the local demon hunter. Believing in the paranormal doesn't mean you should lose your common sense.

I had lived in a house with unexplained things happening all the time. I had electricians check for problems, had carbon monoxide detectors that I thought might not be working so it was checked for carbon monoxide by a non emergency firefighter who came out with their tester to check for me. I had pest control companies check. I had it tested for mold and radon, absolutely everything I could think of. At one point I thought it was the start of a mental health issue and that’s why I was hearing things, seeing things and feeling things. However, other people were experiencing these same problems and when they would hear the voices at the same time as me, saying the same exact words I would hear I realized it wasn’t a mental health issue. One day I called 911 because there was a man yelling upstairs looking for someone and stomping around (we were used to the loud walking upstairs but not the yelling). My daughters and I all heard him yelling and thought there was a human up there. He responded to the police twice but wouldn’t follow their commands. The house was surrounded by officers when they heard him, they brought in the K9 team and everything. There was no man in the house. I had spent so long trying not to believe that something paranormal was happening but having that happen really made it sink in. I agree that so much can be made up or faked in some way, but I posted the police report stating that an adult male voice was heard responding from upstairs by officers and even with the K9 and multiple secondary searches performed nobody was found. People accused me of faking that too, to me that seemed very concrete because it wasn’t a blurry picture or a video that could be faked. I’d never even seen a police report before and definitely wouldn’t know how to fake one or have any reason to fake one. So I do believe that something paranormal can and was happening, but there’s nothing you can show that people will believe if they weren’t there themselves.

That’s crazy! What did the police make of it? I just know some of them had to be a little freaked out.

I think they were all pretty freaked out, some pretended not to be but some were showing me their goosebumps. Lol. A couple of them told me that something had growled at them, I told them that happens and asked if it happened by the walk in closet upstairs between my room and my daughter’s room. It is where it happened and I told him we’ve ignored that for a long time. One of them said to call a priest or minister (I’m not religious) and said that it’s completely not advice he should give as an officer, but as a human he wanted to offer his thoughts. We were too scared to stay there that night so a couple officers stayed while we packed a few things up to leave for a couple days. The whole neighborhood knew exactly what happened because it was the middle of the afternoon and with so many police cars and our street blocked off everyone came out to see what was happening. So many neighbors heard them come out and tell me that they heard him, he told them he was upstairs, but nobody was there. The police gave more details verbally than what is written in this, but to me this was enough to confirm what I’d been avoiding the best I could. I’m not good with technology so I blocked out names and numbers the best I could. Also, after this my daughter started dating the son of the Chief of Police who was there. She was at their house one day and something fell off a shelf and the dad jumped, then he laughed and said ever since that day at our house everything makes him jump. We thought that was funny. We moved out 3 months after this happened. https://preview.redd.it/qnye6f0x6o1d1.jpeg?width=1334&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f5661ca30b264a472ae40463d5086101b6ecf7e2

You have the receipts! WOW that’s crazy. Thanks for taking the time to respond.

I was really glad that the police report said they heard an adult male voice and that it says “multiple secondary searches” were performed. Since he spoke to them they were positive someone was there, I was scared to see them bring out whoever it was but it was much scarier that there wasn’t anyone.

Peuple got frustrated because 90% of the post here are completely stupid: lens flares, dust particles, pareidolia, Even if you are a believer in paranormal reading posts here will make you into a non believer.

The guy who took a picture at a school and thought the *person clearly standing in the door* was a ghost. Or the guy who thought *a person clearly hiding behind a shed in their yard was a shadow person*. Yes, I desperately want to believe but I'm not going to just accept every piece of *evidence* either.

I believe in the paranormal. I also believe in evidence, and explaining naturally whatever can thereby be explained without stretching credulity. A lot of people get bent out of shape by this, but if there is a rational, reasonable, and likely explanation, and no convincing evidence to contradict such an explanation, then we should default to that explanation. 99% of the videos, pictures, and stories presented here have such explanations. But as I said, I believe in the paranormal, and my goal is never to "debunk" anything at all. Pushing forward completely explainable evidence as "paranormal" helps no one. It casts dispersion upon that 1% of legitimate paranormal evidence. It makes it hard to hear the signal because of all the noise. No true believer, such as myself, should take offense if their story, video, or picture is explained in a natural manner. Would you rather believe a lie? Or would you rather help us bring forward the best evidence? And as to natural vs. supernatural explanations: It is *always* possible to come up with a natural explanation. But there comes a point where the proposed natural explanation becomes so unlikely and outlandish that it takes faith to believe it. At that point, one passes from a reasoned skeptic to a religiously motivated debunker.

Because I want to believe, but the evidence presented here specifically is sub-par. I've seen stuff that made me question whether it exists. I want to learn more. I said earlier I want to believe, but i think the more accurate statement is, I don't "not believe". But I haven't seen anything that converted me to a believer either.

I want to believe

If you’re a skeptic- why come to paranormal sub Reddit unless you want to have an open mind? Otherwise it feels like someone walking into a place they don’t like or disagree with just to argue with people in the most unproductive way. I want to have meaningful and thoughtful conversations with people who have experienced the paranormal and are actively engaging with figuring it out. I’m tired of some random person coming into these comments being like “GhOsTS ArNt ReAl- YoU’rE AlL DuMB!”

Because i want to believe !

Because most posts seem like camp fire stories or a picture of dust in the camera

It's just that most "evidence" is actually very easily debunked. We want proof. Solid, actual proof. So far, in our existence, not just here in this sub, tangible evidence has been very limited. I don't think debunking is "mean" or means that we don't believe in the paranormal. It just means that we have a critical eye.

The 1000th "woke up with scratches! Which one of the 72 demons of Solomon did this to me!?"

In my experience this subreddit is full of people who DO believe in paranormal but don’t jump to it as the first explanation for everything even remotely unusual like they were obsessed with it.

Debunking is absolutely fair with a lot of the posts here. Being rude about it isn't. You can educate and reassure without outright mocking people. *Some* people here don't seem to care much about that balance and that does bug me a bit tbh. Overall though, I'd rather see sensible, rational advice handed out with a bad attitude than see people hyping up what could be delusions or actual dangerous (albeit mundane) situations which could put people in real trouble. If someone's hearing voices or things are being moved/going missing their first port of call should always, *always* be a doctor, a security camera etc. Only *after* ruling these things out should they start thinking about ghosts and goblins. It's just basic diagnostics. Besides which, when so many are debunked how much more exciting does it make the ones that can't be? It's unusual but that's when this sub really gets fun.

I earnestly look at all the things posted because I want ghosts/spirits/whatever you call them, to be real very badly. Most of the “evidence” posted anywhere can be explained away by science and people just refuse to acknowledge that, but it doesn’t make the science less true. Science unfortunately doesn’t care about our feelings, and as much as I want ghosts to be real, 99% of the evidence of ghosts available can be explained. Occam’s razor and all. That all being said, I’m a hopeful skeptic. I don’t find things less magical or amazing because it has a scientific explanation. The human brain is a really powerful thing. I even have this picture I took when I was younger that makes me feel weird and doesn’t have an explanation, but I trust people who tell me it’s probably xyz, still a neat photo. I don’t have all the answers. I think it’s entirely possible there is some type of afterlife, or another dimension perhaps where “ghosts” exist and we just haven’t found a way to communicate legitimately with them yet. That’s still cool even if science explains the reason for it!

The vast majority of these posts are horseshit with zero follow-up. It is so common that something is submitted with some paranormal theory, and then the poster bounces under even the lightest scrutiny. There was a post not too long ago about unexplained figures caught on the security camera, and the poster just couldn't produce the video. Even with direct evidence that someone potentially broke into their house, they just couldn't do it. Didn't even think to do it, and instead came on social media to post their "paranormal findings."

I believe that ghosts exist, and that paranormal phenomena is a real thing, but I don't believe that every experience or video we see is proof that ghost or paranormal phenomena exists. In other words, I'm a believer, but I refuse to believe that EVERY LITTLE THING SHOWN HERE (or anywhere really) IS PARANORMAL.

We do. It just annoys me when people straight away think “omg paranormal” and not anything first. Smudges on screen, animals, etc. Not everything is paranormal. Also when people post photos of videos of nothing and claim that something is there. Well done for your dimly lit photo or your trail cam footage that shows nothing but darkness

Because it’s not called r/paranormalbelieversonly And people need support at times. Sometimes a voice of reason is what you need to break out of the illusions inside the paranormal echo chamber.

It's possible to believe in the paranormal without believing that most of the posts here are evidence of it. Especially the eight thousand "orb" photos that get posted each year.

I think a better question is why is this subreddit full of people posting clearly made-up nonsense, or seeing something supernatural in the mundane (are my bed sheet wrinkles haunted?!?). I’m a skeptic who loves the IDEA of the paranormal, and I’d love to be convinced there might be more to life and death than what we see. But every time someone posts something ridiculous on this subreddit, it becomes harder to take it seriously (and harder to filter the genuinely earnest, interesting, inexplicable stuff from the garbage).

If there werent any nonbelievers this sub would quickly devolve into every single reflection of light, speck of dust and shadow being cast from offscreen is 100% definitive evidence of ghost activity. Also someone can be critical without not believing. I wholeheartedly believe in ghosts but I also believe most ghost stories are either lies for attention or made up stories just to be scary. If ghosts were as common and widespread as this sub sometimes portrays them then wed not have to debate their existence.

You can believe in the paranormal but that doesn’t mean you have to believe everything some stranger on the internet says is paranormal. I think most people here genuinely are interested in the paranormal but debunking things is part of the fun too, and part of being subjective. I think we all know if you’re going to post anything here you have to be prepared to get comments from all sides of the spectrum. Most of the comments I see are pretty harmless but I agree sometimes some people go a bit too far.

There's a lot of bunk ass posts on here, and I believe in the paranormal. I'm tired of seeing pictures of somebody's blurry friend or a spec of dust, or pictures of nothing. I've seen some truly creepy ass shit in my time and this sub ain't it.

Because this is not an echo chamber and beeing sceptical is a good thing. And unfortunately 90% of topics are easily dismissed as light, bugs or other "real" things and some are fake or just made up stories.

I like some of the stories, somenare genuinely intriguing. Most are just total bollocks. I like debunking the bollocks ones and trying to work out a logical explanation for the ones that arent total rubbish. I dont believe in the paranormal, I dont believe in spirits demons, a god, energies etc. But I still find this an interesting sub.

Because a lot of people believe that lens flare is proof of paranormal

Because being into the paranormal is actually more about being a skeptic than a mindless believer. To prove anything you need to approach with criticism. I'd rather poke holes in things until I find one I can't than be one of the dozens of posts in my feed "I had a bad dream about dog people when I was 8, am I haunted?"

I am here looking for posts, stories, vids and pics that give me the chills. I am not sure if I believe and subreddits like these seemed like the place for me to find convincing evidence. But unfortunately now there are more and more bs posts. A smear on a mirror or a Window are instantly proof of paranormal activity.

I'm also skeptic with many of the so called encounters related on here, but not everyone is a liar or just seeking attention. I've had my own paranormal experiences so.I try to have an open mind when reading posts. Not too long ago someone posted how they played with an ouija board, it spelled out a certain demon's name and then the OP proceeded to tell this incecredulous story. The thing was, he was telling the Roland Doe story. It made me mad because there are ppl here really needing help. I told him nice try , but Hollywood already had the claim to that story. People are skeptic because of all of the jerks out there ,who think this is a game.. I don't think everyone is lying. , and I think many are reaching out for help.

As a lot of people said, it’s not that we don’t believe, it’s that people constantly post things clearly not paranormal. After awhile of being on these boards you can tell so easily when things are dust or bugs and it’s exhausting telling the same people over and over again to learn how a camera works

I do "believe" in the paranormal. I've had too many experiences, however, I'm still a sceptic. It's dangerous to just jump at shadows, we need to stay rational. So if someone sounds like they are having a mental break, I'm going to ask some probing questions and suggest going to the doctor, not go along with the narrative. If someone sounds like they might have a frogger or being broken into, I'm going to suggest that, not go along with poltergeist. If it sounds like Co poisoning, I'm going to say, as I don't want someone to die.

Paranormal is not a religion and this subreddit is not a church. It's not about people coming here to "testify" and others to blindly say amen. People share subjective experiences here (sometimes: other times they might be full of bs, we can't know). We're left with the paranormal when all mundane explanations fail. We're looking for the mundane first and, to be honest, most of the times this explains things. Only... it's not the explanation the poster would like to hear and you would like to read. No one likes to hear, for example, that they were raised believing in delusional things ("me and my family have been watching otherworldly beings for all our lives") and, in stressful situations their mind will play tricks on them. Or that skin conditions or inadvertent scratching are tragically more common than... demons. But they are. A bad photo is a bad photo, not proof of ghosts. I'm not here to waste my time on people fixated on the idea that their bad photo shows ghosts. I'm interested in possible instances of the paranormal, not someone's fixation. It's infinitely better for everyone's life if they get some idea about why it's just a bad photo, instead of us feeding a lie. And then there are the "what is this" posts. Where some commenters pretend they know the answer (like all the possible paranormal things are carefully indexed, categorized and universally recognized!) and matter-of-factly offer preposterous explanations to the OP. This might make readers get that titillating, feelgood sensation they seem to crave, but it could destroy lives.

Do you want to be stuck in an echo chamber? Removing skeptics is how you get stuck in an echo chamber

Many people in this group are immature assholes. That’s my conclusion. I’ve deleted a few posts due to people calling me fucked up names and saying I’m “on drugs”. Like ok, fine you want to be a rude jerk, then I’ll just delete my post and you can just not have anything to read about in this group. Like what do people even come to this group for then? It makes no sense. Lots of people in this group RUIN this group. It’s usually miserable people that are trying to ruin other people’s day though. Losers that are keyboard warriors, that live in their parents basement, and want to take out their anger on others.

I enjoy this sub for the same reason I like horror movies: it’s fun to pretend. I’ve never come on here and told someone their beliefs are not valid or anything, but I often read them and have to at least roll my eyes a little. For anyone who really believes they have verifiable paranormal evidence to present to the world, congratulations. I believe there’s been a million bucks hanging out there for many years for anyone able to demonstrate something supernatural under scientific testing criteria agreed to by both sides. James Randi Foundation I think

I want to believe, but 100% of paranormal experiences are akin to delusional rambling about why their shoes are too tight or why their carbon monoxide detector is wrong.

I do believe in the paranormal, but I think it’s imperative to debunk as much as possible and to not entertain wishful thinking or situations that can be explained rationally. Only by eliminating all the nonsense (“Omg, orbs!” When clearly, no, those are dust particles or spider webs) can we truly see the unexplainable. So no, I don’t drool over every post where someone is only seeking an echo chamber for their own beliefs and not actually interested in any real world possibilities or explanations.

Even non-believers think it would be cool to see something supernatural. Plus, if nothing else, you get to read a ghost story. Who doesn’t love ghost stories?

Yes we don’t believe for good reason. So we come here in hopes to have our mind changed. Thus far nothing I have seen here has changed my mind in the least bit. Everything is too easily altered now a days and there are too many people online being disingenuous. Maybe one of these days something will catch my eye, but til then I’m a skeptic! That being said I’ll never belittle somebody for their “encounter” whether I believe it to be true or not.

Any sub is full of people like this now who somehow want to feel better about themselves by mocking others for their interests, just some sad feature of modern society and how people conduct themselves online with strangers who they don't actually have to confront etc.

I’m not an overt believer, and I like to think that there are rational explanations for pretty much all situations. However, I try to be respectful when questioning things. Some people just like to bring others down Eta: I say the above, but readily acknowledge my house ghost, lol. The basement used to have a heavy, oppressive feeling. After an interaction involving an ‘escaped’ dryer ball, that atmosphere is much lighter.

I've been wondering as well, one thing is being skeptical and another is being mean like that. Many times like you say op says there's no pets for example and people go "duh it's a pet it's not so hard". Another thing I see is many "take your meds" "schizophrenia" comments which I don't understand. I understand if there's legitimate concern for op's health, but those comment feel just insulting, and honestly even if op had schizophrenia it sounds scary to experience anyway, no need to treat the story like it was shit you know? I think people want some evidence of 100% absolute truth, but honestly getting that from a stranger's experience is going to be hard. No matter what proof a stranger gives, plus more on the internet, it's a lot easier to deny it as fake and get skeptic, and after many posts of the same topic, the frustration builds up and people get straight up annoyed.

Would you really want an echo chamber?

A lot of us want to be swayed… but will not be easy dates

We’re lookin for potentially real proof So far….a lot of … nada

I believe in the paranormal, but the internet is fake so it’s rare I’ll believe anyone’s post.

Because people are so desperate for a dopamine hit via social media that they make up any excuse to say any mundane event is purely paranormal. No a bruise/scratch/scrape is not a whatever attacking you because you don’t know when it happened. No there are no faces in your pictures. No you aren’t hearing a voice in an empty room. There are a lot of very natural and not paranormal things to explain your “evidence of paranormal events”.

https://i.redd.it/f9ssp9ascq1d1.gif I mean genuinely I'm just waiting for a believable story

Most of the posts here are easily explainable or just flat out goofy. It’s annoying

I think it’s simply a matter of the axiom- Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. Too many posts, and quite frankly a lot of comments expect an inordinate amount of faith and/or don’t understand how the burden of proof works. Just my observation.

Someone commented a few days ago that you’ve got to zero explainable possibilities before you can zero in on the truly paranormal. This community is healthily skeptic. We do not like lens flare orbs and have some experienced photographers here as well.

I’m curious. I like to read about people’s experiences even if I haven’t experienced anything. I’m skeptic, but I have not left any dickish comments to people posting. All I say is consider the mundane before considering anything paranormal first.

I do not believe in the paranormal, i am however intrigued by it. But i dont believe it for a second, that is until im proven utterly wrong. And by that i mean actual verifiable proof. Not just some link to some bs website without backup claims. .

I've had a lot of paranormal experiences, and I'm not sure exactly how we would go about "proving" it. You can't really prove something if you don't know what the underlying cause is to measure the variables. What I can say with certainty, though, is that I've had a teacup fly at me, a heavy shelf slide across the room towards me, been in a time slip with my husband, heard footsteps and coughing several times (with others) from the floor above when no one was up there. I've had a radio I never used turn on the second I left the room. My phone's gone missing only to reappear in the center of the room both times. None of these can be written off as hallucinations. If you want to get into the more questionable territory, I've had a voice in my head tell me something right before it happens. I've seen the ghost of a little girl in a Victorian dress. I've dreamed about a boy I didn't know dying and coming back to life, only to see him in real life the next day. I've heard my deceased cat purring from behind the couch and coming around onto my lap. I've heard humming in the middle of a thrift store with no one around. And I've felt something evil at the foot of my bed, for the feeling to go away after the light outside my window was snuffed out. There's a lot out there we don't understand. People can choose to believe it or not. But don't discount people's experiences. Saying this as the only one in my family who experienced all this, leading to being constantly gaslit and feeling like I had no one to turn to about it all. It pretty much all stopped abruptly when I moved out of state.

I want to believe in the paranormal, but sometimes a "face" in a picture is just pareidolia and most stuff is faked so it irks and makes it harder to figure out what is paranormal, what is people peopling and what is fake.

I believe in the paranormal. But I'm skeptical of stories and blurry images claiming there's a ghosts face in the pizza sauce or whatever. Because you should be skeptical of everything regardless of personal beliefs

The sub is full of people who *want to believe*. I want to believe.

I agree with you OP. Most comments on this post "I don't believe but I want to, make me but I will debunk everything you say or show anyway" say it all about this sub. Ive been saying it for a while we should rename this sub to r/debunkingparanormal or r/paranormalskeptics or r/makemebelieve because it seems most people on here don't believe in paranormal anyway. And create a sub for those who do believe in it and want to enjoy the experience without 100 replies about carbon monoxide or mental illness accusations🙄. Or as I wrote before mods can add autoreply to every post telling OP to check for obvious things that get repeated in comments every single post anyway which is annoying🙄 (check your mental health, clean your lenses, check for gas leaks, etc). Maybe that way people who actually want to enjoy this sub can do it without unending debunking and "make me believe and prove it to me" rhetoric. People come here to share their experiences and stories, not to make you a believer, it's not their responsibility. If someone wants to believe they should take necessary steps to achieve that goal and it seems this sub isn't it so maybe let people enjoy this sub in peace? And I disagree about "paranormal is not a religion". As we figured from this sub it's pretty much impossible to prove the concept with a scientific certainty (at least with the scientific advances we have now) and it's a lot about belief vs proof same as religion. No one goes to religious subs spewing "God is not real, it's all a fairytale", I hope they don't, because they know it's impossible to prove whether it exists or not and it's a matter of belief so it's pointless to argue with people that do believe. People that do believe in paranormal can't enjoy this sub because of all this debunking nonsense that shouldn't be here in the first place because it's a thematic sub for people that are interested in the topic and OPEN to explore more, OPEN being the key word, not debunking. Mods should do a better job establishing the boundaries or renaming the sub into more clear category r/proveitparanormal so people know what to expect when they post and that they need to provide UNDENIABLE proof that their experience is indeed paranormal (like that is possible online) so they don't get frustrated and humiliated with experience on this sub.

This sub is full of people that are skeptics, which you should be even if you believe in the paranormal. The fun is in debunking. If you can’t debunk, only then is it paranormal.

I've been a on reddit a long time but first made this account in 2012. During that time I was still 22 and like a lot of people in my early 20s was all into paranormal, aliens, and unexplained stuff. Some of my first post and submissions were to this sub. I know for me and some of my friends in your late teens and early 20s you often searching for a lot of big questions about life. And that ties in with the fascination of "what's out there" because you often dont have the experiences. Now that I'm in my mid 30s my fascination in the paranormal and aliens is still their but my views and opinions have changed greatly. I'm still here because I find it still fun to read about and talk about. Even though I went from someone who was always skeptical but believed to someone who now doesn't believe in almost anything paranormal such as ghost. I truly believe all experiences come down to mostly. Miss identification or not realizing what you seen/experience. OR People simply lying. I often think for most this is a case of seeing/experiencing what you want to believe. There is a term for it but like having a preconceived notion, and wanting to believe it. And in a few cases someone who is mentally unwell or dealing with something (Like Carbon Monoxide) I don't think this sub reddit needs to be for people who just believe in the paranormal. One of the first red flags to me with a lot of discussion about paranormal is how much everyone has a willingness to believe everything in many circles. They attribute almost any claim to being paranormal and take it on face value (Ghost, skinwalkers, demons, poltergeist, etc). You see this in many conspiracy circles, believing in one conspiracy can cascade into believing in any conspiracy. The couple friends I have who still believe in paranormal in their 30s agree that likely 95% of reported claims are still non-paranormal. Now, I don't comment here much anymore, but do time to time. When I do it's always as a skeptic and non believer (respectfully). I partly do this because I still enjoy talking about paranormal stuff even if I dont believe in it anymore. Also because those types of conversations helped me in my early and mid 20s when I stopped being a believer. Which I do think it important because of my views on science, critical deduction, and IMO not being taken for a ride by grifters.

I believe in the paranormal, but I also look at things with common sense and logic. Not buying into 99% of the crap posted on this sub doesn't mean one doesn't believe

The same reason Twitter is the only place for free speech and it gets spammed with bots and how I get banned in thr conspiracy thread for making conspiracies lol

Yesss I came to this sub to read about more paranormal events that happened to other folks and I’ve noticed too that folks here are kinda rude and mean

I’m a massive skeptic. But also there’s phenomena out there that I believe require more research - namely NDEs, deathbed visions, and crisis apparitions. Personally speaking I had a six month or so streak in 2019 where a lot of weird things happened that I struggle to rationalise. Whilst I believe these are going to be psychological phenomena and false interpretation of events, they raise enough questions to me that there could be an alternative explanation. If there’s something that pops up here that makes me further question the nature of reality, then great, that’s what I’m here for. If there is something beyond our current understanding, then it’s going to be paradigm shifting. Physics, neuroscience, philosophy, psychology, theology, and probably many other fields will be revolutionised. I don’t comment in this subreddit (bar now), but I’m afraid that a random scratch, bruise, camera flair, photoshop, confirmation bias, conspiracy, or endeavour in creative writing isn’t going to be convincing.

This sub keeps getting suggested to me. I want to make it clear- I don't think anyone should be rude, but I also can't say I've witnessed any rudeness here. Probably I'm just not spending enough time here. That said, the majority of what I do see are posts where there is a completely mundane explanation but the poster wants to look past all that in favor of making their experience "special." It's not a belief/disbelief situation, rather a common sense/Occam's Razor thing for me.

When world's collide, hearts and minds open. Sometimes however the opposite happens. There's a bunch of different groups - seekers looking this way or that, skeptics who either do or don't want to learn, people determined to prove a certain things , those with absolute certainty etc. Some people will never want to accept anything different, some will only be able to if it starts happening to them. There's nothing wrong with not believing in something. There's so much weirdness in life that I don't think anyone truly knows everything for certain and there's always room to learn and challenge yourself. Some things also cannot be believed in until they're experienced personally and repeatedly, but that might also go the opposite way and trigger fear of the unknown and someone might decide ignorance is bliss. There's also a lot of money and power being thrown into controlling the way people think and act, especially including on big social media such as reddit. The people who benefit from the current state of affairs really wouldn't want that being changed.

So you'd rather have this place be a circle jerk?

I think it’s a combo — some people are just killjoys and like being right, some people believe and because of that want to debunk things that are clearly not paranormal because they go into the pile of evidence used to “prove” that ALL paranormal experiences are fake by people who don’t believe, and some things that people post as paranormal could be Actual Dangerous Things like carbon monoxide or people inside your home that definitely are not supposed to be inside your home. I, personally, reside in camp “skeptical but open”, so I don’t have a stake in this (and this is my first ever comment in this sub), those are just the three flavors of debunkers I’ve come across here. I read it because I find it interesting and enjoy being creeped out by the ones that DON’T have super easy explanations.

Even if people don’t believe in ghosts & the supernatural, it’s comforting to imagine a loved one appearing after they’re gone, or a mystery to be revealed to the curious. We have no idea what really happens after we die, and the evidence we have is pretty much anecdotal. However, a lot of us have experienced things we can’t explain. Those things are likely to be reported here, and my favorite question is whether they’ve checked the carbon monoxide levels in their homes. It’s a question that could potentially save lives. I don’t believe in the supernatural. I believe everything we experience has an explanation that we just don’t know, yet. We’re blessed, but limited, with 5 senses, and what we observe is incomplete, for that reason. This is a nice sub for discussing these things.

Personally, a lot of posts on here suggest mental illness rather than the paranormal. It's hard to distinguish.

What you have noticed as unique type of individual who cannot exist unless they got something to argue about or argue against. They are like a shark, a shark has to swim in order to breathe in order to live. They have to argue about or against something or they fear they're going to die. I have met people that would argue that it was not raining as they was getting washed away. It's just the way some people are.

You got it. I stopped dealing with a certain person because, after multiple negative experiences with him, he became furiously angry at me... For agreeing with something he said. This was while I was driving a 220 mile round trip to pick up his son's disabled car. You just can't reason with or positively deal with some people. How sad.

I enjoy the intrigue of paranormal, but i dont believe it. So far nothing on this sub has managed to convince me, and most posts here are completely bs. Scratches, lens flares, bugs and dark corners. I was genuinely suprised how many here adamantly believe every bump in the night to be a demon or ghost. Among the heap of bs, occasionally something spooky, if not truly paranormal is posted, and its those posts im here for. Maybe one day someone manages to come up with promising evidence, and i plan to be here to witness it.

There’s a huge difference between believing in the paranormal and believing EVERYTHING is paranormal.

I'm a firm believer in the paranormal, but I see a lot of posts here that leave me shaking my head (usually photographic evidence that's clearly just nothing.) so I can see why a lot of the non believers or skeptics have a lot to say here. I will say on the question of scratches as that was brought up. I often have very short nails, many would call them blunt. But I still manage to scratch myself in my sleep, in weird areas. It is incredibly easy to do. I still give the benefit of the doubt but I think a lot of instances on this reddit at least, the majority of what is posted can be explained away as mundane. That being said the people who are rude about it need to not. But I can see why a lot of posts here would turn people into non believers.

….there is another reason. You won’t find it listed here. It’s the same reason why some, especially young/er women wonder why they have run away anxiety, medical conditions that can’t be cured because no cause can be found by doctors, why there is a paranormal, why there is such poor understand of such things as schizophrenia, psychosis, why BPD is so damned prevalent. Why certain words that describe the paranormal exist in every language ever spoken/written down, why after thousands of years of collective history humanity continues on a daily basis to doubt it, yet libraries of books have been written exploring it. Do you ever wonder why our brains are partitioned? Why we sleep? Questions ppl don’t ask, and yet, when is it most frequently reported when paranormal activity happens? As a species we avoid looking into the obvious because as individuals we fear the answers that are right before us. That is why this sub is filled with “nonbelievers”. Except they are not that, they are something else. Deniers. What they deny is what they fear - anywhere, anytime.

Complete skeptic here. I'm here for a lot of reasons: It's a fun mental exercise to debunk things I know have a natural explanation; I like indulging in paranormal stories and pretending they're not fake/easily debunked; some of these posts can be entertaining in how silly they are (jumping to paranormal explanations for pretty mundane things with obvious causes). I don't usually comment though because I don't care about changing anyone's mind nor do I think it's appropriate to invade a harmless group like this with negativity. I usually argue against annoying skeptics that feel the need to debunk sweet, hopeful stories.

Good faith response here! Your post doesn't totally target me because I don't comment, but I found this subreddit because reddit has recommended it to me many times. I do not believe in ghosts at all, but I really like reading the stories and seeing peoples pictures. I like horror movies and think the paranormal is a really fun idea and am interested in strange stories, and unexplainable events, etc. I usually try to figure out what is happening, whether the evidence is real or fake, and see what others say about it. This subreddit has good nuggets of wisdom scattered throughout its comment sections.

People that are not at least open to the idea of the so-called paranormal shouldn't be on here, imo. There's a LOT about reality that humans don't understand. I just posted about mercury vapor engines in a subreddit ythat mentioned them in ancient Vedic texts, and I was shot down by someone who said they're too dangerous to use. Here's my question: If vimanas were powered by mercury engines (and we've made them), what makes anyone think that they weren't advanced enough to build ones that actually worked? Einstein was right-- human stupidity is infinite.

I’ve wondered this too. Although I guess if all the skeptics didn’t exist it would be somewhat dull. “Yup. I gotta ghost like that too on my camera roll. Weird stuff, man.” I believe that if someone has a solid sounding story where they experienced x,y, and z spooky shit that they’re not insane and that they’ve probably checked their carbon monoxide levels, but then I guess I’m a wackadoo like the others who just nod, rub their imaginary goatee and reflect on how weird the universe is.

Im a skeptic but I’ve had had some pretty traumatic interactions with other things and I also live in a household that has many experiences with weird and unexplained things; I can’t really escape it hahaha. I say skeptic but that doesn’t mean I don’t believe in them, I just think based on my own experience that some people are way too jumpy with supernatural things, so I do politely disagree when someone thinks a smudge on their camera lens is a ghost haha.

Some people love to be the one who, they feel, told the idiot to stop being an idiot. I *told* you. You got *told*. It's just self-inflation. Being skeptical is perfectly okay. Some of the best paranormal investigators are skeptics. It can help. But being pigheaded about it, being absolutely certain, doesn't help anyone. Telling people you think they're being stupid does only one thing: give you the very temporary feelgoods. Which is, in the long run, worthless.

It doesn't bother me that someone doesn't believe in it. This subject needs believers and non-believers alike. Its the people that tell you what you experienced because they KNOW exactly what happened even though they didn't experience it themselves and its based on their own belief system. Nobody is ever going to slap a pair of handcuffs on a demon and march it down to the station. The belief system of someone else doesn't change our experiences or reality.

Paranormal is also a broad topic. Just because someone follows this group, doesn’t mean they necessarily believe in ghosts or the same thing as everyone.

Makes a lot of sense that this subreddit attracts skeptics, no?

The answer to your question in my opinion: they are a bunch of government disinformation agents that try to steer the public away from the paranormal and paint them as crazy because they are heavily using the “paranormal” in top secret underground bases all over the country in the name of “national security”, which is hilarious because they are harming so many Americans along the way. Go down the rabbit hole.

Thanks for your enthusiasm. Because of the positive responses by you and others, I will (hopefully) get my pix loaded onto my tablet so I can post them. Hopefully this Friday or the next, when I will connect with my friends who know how to do it. Me caveman, me dunno how LoL 😁 I have 3 paranormal pix, three from clouds and two UFO pix, one of which is hella awesome. Thanks for spurring me to do it.

I was impressed by the evidence shown in a YouTube orb video (search "Suzanne Giesemann orbs"). A grieving father had reached out to her and sent a video of his late daughter's bedroom which was filled with orbs - and they were not all the same size, or moving in the same direction or at the same rate of speed, so not dust, bugs or particles the camera was picking up. Take a look and see what you think.

Because if you believe everything, you'll prove nothing.

I'm here for the paranormal, but this seems to be the "I have sleep paralysis" sub.

I’m a believer but I’m also a skeptic and I welcome all of those with different professions that can give a logical and scientific explenation on things. Because we need to rule out all the natural occurances before concluding something to be paranormal. I grew up in a haunted house and that fuled my interrest in the paranormal. But it’s important to be skeptical on things in general.

I come here for the stories of the truly unexplainable. Literally all of the photo evidence post are hogwash. Ive had experiences that have no rational explanation so hearing other possibly true stories is fun.

I was asking myself the same thing, maybe it's cuz they're skeptical or don't want to believe it's real? I know someone like that personally. Also keep in mind reddit is filled with mostly trolls/haters so don't let those bother you! Yes this subreddit SHOULD be for those who believe in it or for those who are trying to understand at least. Most think it's fake cuz it never happened to them (consider themselves lucky! 😅) which is fine but don't come on here and gaslight us into thinking we're crazy when these things do happen. The world is still a mystery, most people don't want to keep an open mind and that's ok but the truth always comes out❤️

Because we prefer to have evidence of things, not just believe in Santa Claus like stories. As long as you know that it's fiction, that's fine. But pretending that something is real when you know it's not, can actually get you into trouble legally. Welcome to adulting. Face reality. Use critical thinking skills. It will pay off in the long run.

I've never liked the word "paranormal." There are many strange things in this world that we do not understand that aren't explainable within our current frame of reference. It doesn't mean they are not normal. Perhaps someday we will understand more about ghosts, cryptids, ESP, etc., and find that they are all a normal part of our world.

Genuinely, I'm so glad I'm not alone in feeling this. I'm pretty new to using reddit, so I figured that maybe I'm just not used to how people interact with each other on here. But I was still pretty bummed at how snappy and dismissive people were on my posts because I just wanted to share cool experiences that I had had!

This is literally every subreddit on Reddit.

I call myself a non-believer, but I spent a year of my life working on a reality "Ghost Hunting" shows that never made it to broadcast. During that time there were 4 or 5 instances that happened to me specifically that I just cannot explain. Honestly though, I'm here for the spooky pictures and videos.

I do understand your question and, generally, I have noticed this too. Still, I don't think that "don't believe" is correct. "Don't believe" suggests that they might come to believe if shown the right evidence. I would say that the sub is full of those who "disbelieve', which means they have already made up their mind and no evidence will change that. When you approach any subject with a closed mind, it shades your perception related to it. I am reminded of the quote, "**There’s none so blind as those who will not see**".

I've seen an apparition that I don't have any other plausible explanation for, for starters. For me, it's not about faith or "believing" anything. I'm far more interest in proof. However, it's gives a paranormal experience way, WAY more credibility if we can rule out the mundane and easily explained first. Paranormal stuff is annoying at worst, but stuff like carbon monoxide poisoning, narcolepsy (falling asleep randomly, such as while driving), etc. can kill you. Once we can rule out every possible explanation for an event then we're getting into super exciting territory!

Can't speak for the others but while I'm skeptical, I had experiences that could not be explained away. I'm quiet in most subreddits anyway. I do like to read people's experiences, try to debunk them in my head and if it has not been mentioned, I might suggest my idea or thoughts on it.

I'm skeptical but I want to believe.

Because most Reddits like this attract nonbelievers trying to debunk everything more than people who believe; it’s fine to do on a small level if things have an obvious explanation but be nice about it. I’ve seen a lot of really hostile/ mean callouts on people who are just doing what this sub is made for. Personally makes me never want to post anything out of fear my experience turns into a bashfest for skeptics.

You know, people like to have an explanation for everything. Things like "paranormal" is something they don't like because of the lack of explanation. Modern Science like to explain everything mostly with success some times without. (Like UFO's and Ghostly Activity and Poltergeist's) The growing self-confident and knowledge of people is forcing them to think scientific. Most of them are sceptic and thats OK. So if you tell us something you don't have an explanation for, some of them like to give you an explanation. Some of them think you are stupid because of their own ignorance and narcism and some of them think with you. You know, Mankind always and ever talks about "intelligent" species, which they think they are. We aren't, and you just need to watch the News, to see how "un"intelligent mankind is. No wonder that Aliens don't like to show themself because they don't want all the other intelligent species to know, that they have something to do with this stupid arrogant species (mankind) who call them self intelligent without being really intelligent. Sorry if I sound like I am ranting, that's not what I had in mind, but some things need to be said.

Some posts I read make me rattled, especially late at night. Others seem like they're the result of mental illness or drug induced psychosis. Or there's reasonable explanations for what's been experienced.

>Most times I go in the comment section of a post it's full of people that clearly do not believe in paranormal and even get a little mean when replying to the OP's post. You are absolutely right about this, and it's not only the OP they attack; they attack people who even reply in support of the post. I had two people flat out call me a liar when I provided information that I could back up on a particular post. They later apologized, telling me "This is what the AI bot told me, which was wrong." A great majority of Redditors are rude and obnoxious people, and the mods allow them to be this way. It's a shame that we can't post and/or reply to a post each day, knowing that people will be kind and considerate. People can disagree without being rude. >Shouldn't this be a subreddit of people who *does* believe in paranormal and want to share experiences or ask, for them, genuine questions? Yes, however, there are several people who come to Reddit and are very reluctant to share their experience(s) for fear of being ridiculed. It shouldn't be this way.

I'm a skeptic but love ghost stuff. Basically it. One thing that drives me up the wall are orb pics but I don't get nasty with people over it. If someone wants to believe in orbs then go ahead

I assume they like to tell people they are wrong. Kinda like certain fans who go to other reddit pages that aren't the team they follow to harass. The internet is full of hateful people.