Ghost Hunters

[kokopelle]

Ok... answer me this. Why do people who look for ghosts get so freaked out when they find one? it is really difficult to document a discovery when you're running away from the noise/light/etc. Truly bizzare...

Comments

[breimh.livejournal.com]

People generally try to dampen down their disbelief, so those who are truely able to suspend their disbelief of something... like a child, or someone senile (or seen as mad/insane/disfunctional to a high degree) are much more capable of actually accepting what they are seeing/hearing/sensing.

At least, this is how one sociologist friend and I tried to come up with an answer to such a question, when it was posed while we were watching the movie Ghostbusters during a college cram session one night.

[moonvoice.livejournal.com]

Because it's fun and entertaining! :D :D :D :D Hee.

[brightlotusmoon.livejournal.com]

Oh, you mean "I'm looking for a ghost, I hope I find a ghost, I'd love to find a ghost... OMG, GHOST! Augh! Ghost! Run away! Scary!"

Suspension of disbelief can be much more difficult as we mature.
I'm reminded of a scene from Terry Pratchett's book "Hogfather" in which Susan mounts Death's horse, Binky, who is standing several feet above the ground, and Susan's classmates all attempt to rationalize what they see: A horse can't possibly float or fly. So it's not.

[franciscan.livejournal.com]

Totally true!

[r-monoxide.livejournal.com]

ha!

[chimerae.livejournal.com]

I find that there are two distinct and mostly unrelated elements to that.

Some people are adrenalin junkies and really get off on the safe and controlled experience of spookiness. They are LOOKING for the eeeek factor in a near exact pattern to those who adore the physical of rollercoasters and the like. The social, mythological, technical aspect creates relationship and community just like playing football or book clubs.

The other group are people with an impulse to break through. They have a sense/call to "something more" but an instinctive protective block. It's not unlike pre-teens or young teens and sex.

Even really gifted and experienced psychics have a fear of the paranormal.

It's kinda complicated (duh)and if you're at all interested the best resource I know is part of the audio collection:

ENERGY MEDICINE Part 3)Exploring Our Fears of the Paranormal – Charles Tart,Ph.D. It used to be available for download but I can't find it anymore. Here it is on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Energy-Medicine-L-Dossey/dp/1564556069/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1198158912&sr=8-3

[sunfell.livejournal.com]

I don't get the 'eeek'- factor myself. I mean, so what, we share our universe with all sorts of denizens from at least 11 other dimensions that intersect our own. Deal with it!

As for the ghost thing, a friend of mine came up with an interesting explanation of why we're not surrounded by a total fog of ghosts: souls are not immortal. They eventually break up and dissipate into molecules of possibility.

I was raised (and trained) to use my 'extra-ordinary' senses in an ordinary way. What would freak most people out is normal for me. A ghost? So, what? I'm more concerned with that positive ionic vent in the back bedroom, you know, the one that makes the 'creepy spot' in the house? I filter most of that out, with the exception of the geomantics. With the filters off, it's a really noisy place, because I'm like an antenna that picks everything up. So the filters stay on so I can think. I still get 'voices' what waft by with suggestions and ideas- and some of them are pretty good. I wish one of them would make me a millionaire, but I've had no 'takers' yet. They prefer to be 'drive by conversationalists'.

Darn it.