Can we really contact the dead?

[venus]

After watching Derren Brown's séance last night I have been once again asking myself... Is there such a thing as "the spirit world" and if so can we make contact with those spirits by performing séance’s etc? Or is Derren Brown right in showing us the supposed contact with the spirits is purely psychological?

(For those of you who did not watch Derren Brown: basically he preformed a so called séance with twelve students. He took them through a series of experiments and they supposedly spoke to a spirit though one of the students. At the end of the séance Derren introduced them to the spirit they thought they where talking to who was most defiantly alive. Therefore proving that the result of the séance was purely a psychological illusion)

Recently my local naval base have called in a Ghost Busting team to investigate a series of supposed sightings of a "Bearded Sailor" roaming the hangman’s cell. The team claim to have very good photographic evidence that they are currently enhancing. The leader of the team stated “beyond any degree of doubt" that they had detected paranormal activity at the base. But have they or is there another explanation for this?

Personally I have had a couple of spooky experiences which at the time I thought where caused by paranormal activity but now im not entirely convinced and could think of several other explanations.

Has anyone else had a spooky experience or tried to contact the dead?

I was just wandering how everyone else felt about this controversial subject?

 

[Wij]

Don't believe in nowt like that me

 

[tris-]

that derren brown thing last night was fucking class. especially at the start when that bloke screamed in the box.

to answer the question - i believe slightly

 

[Frizz]

Overactive brain cells. Cba explaining.

 

[tRoG]

Most of it is the imagination, imo.

So, basicly... I think it's a load of bollocks

 

[GekuL]

All psychological. I don't believe in anything like that.
He's shown how these things were done before I think, was funny watching how hysterical they were getting when it was probably just a bloke with a fishing line moving the objects.

 

[Trem]

You die, you turn to dust....end of.

 

[venus]

You die, you turn to dust....end of.

LOL Trem we can always relie on you for a straight answer

 

[GekuL]

This kind of suggestion gets you thinking though. You know when they use hypnotherapy to help people remember so called repressed memories of abuse? Is it actually real?

 

[venus]

This kind of suggestion gets you thinking though. You know when they use hypnotherapy to help people remember so called repressed memories of abuse? Is it actually real?

exactly... the whole notion of regression into past lives to cure current fears, anxietys and illnesses is also interesting... are you really being taken back into a past life when you are regressed?.. does it actually work.. or is it just bollucks? (my head hurts )

 

[Driwen]

This kind of suggestion gets you thinking though. You know when they use hypnotherapy to help people remember so called repressed memories of abuse? Is it actually real?

well hypnosis has proved to be unreliable, but with a proper person doing the hypnosis it can bring up actual memories. However it can just as easy (or easier even) bring up false memories, so memories who are remembered by hypnotherapy arent to be trusted.

and about past life, I really doubt any of that is true. However that doesnt mean I wont try and keep an open mind about it, but at the moment I dont know anything that really supports any paranormal activity.

 

[Sigurd]

This kind of suggestion gets you thinking though. You know when they use hypnotherapy to help people remember so called repressed memories of abuse? Is it actually real?

According to Freud* this is possible... but in modern times there have been a lot of law suits over "false memory syndrome" which basically involves the psychiatrist hypnotising patients and telling them something happened in their past which didn't actually happen, leading to patients waking up thinking "OMG!! Daddy raped me!" As you can imagine, when the patients find out these memories are false, they get pretty irate, especially as they've usually just finished suing their parents or whoever.

*Freud believed people repressed horrific memories because they were too nasty to contemplate and would interfere with everyday life... but then, Freud also believed that little boys fancied their mummy and were scared daddy would cut their penis off...

On the subject of ghosts: I doubt it. I'd like to believe there's some sort of life after death, but I'm not going to believe in ghosts until I see one

 

[~Yuckfou~]

The supernatural is total bollox.
IMHO of course.

 

[Trem]

I wish it were true, I wish we lived on.....but we don't. You realise these things after seeing someone close to you die. It is a really nice thought, but it was made up by people who don't like the thought of this life being the only one you get.

I may go kill myself now

 

[GDW]

Last nights programme left a lot of unanswered questions for me. These are just some of them:

Did the suicide pact actually ever happen or was the whole theme fiction?

How did the majority of people think of London?

How did the medium know of certain 'facts' about the girls life, how were these suggested to her?

How did the metal goblet tip over and how did the seance ball float in the air?

 

[venus]

Last nights programme left a lot of unanswered questions for me. These are just some of them:

Did the suicide pact actually ever happen or was the whole theme fiction?

How did the majority of people think of London?

How did the medium know of certain 'facts' about the girls life, how were these suggested to her?

How did the metal goblet tip over and how did the seance ball float in the air?

yeah this was the problem that me and my boyfriend had it would have been nice if they could have explained how the illusion was preformed. We actually had a go at home and both came up with the photo of Jane (this was obviously some sort of mathmatical trick) and when attempting the writing i was torn between london and liverpool. For the london thing I guess somehow by using key words he puts the idea into your head. The ball and goblet where probably on string. I guess the medium may have been an actress?

 

[Athena]

I saw a little of this proggy last night and well tbh it just reinforced that so-called 'contacting the dead' is rubbish.

 

[Athena]

Forgot to add that the photo arrangement was based upon some type of magic numbers setup

 

[tris-]

it was the goblet that floated in the air, you could see the shadow in the guys face.

it could be that they were all in on the thing and we, the viewers, thought they wernt.

then when he showed the girl at the end, we thought yeh well we knew it was fake but now we definatley know, but those guys dont. when in fact, they could of known all along.

the suicide thing was made up probably (considering jayne is still alive ). or it could of been true and she was added in.

people thought of london, just because you do. like most people think of carrot. notice some people didnt.

he also only selects people on how easy they can be manipulated. everything he does is some kind of secret suggestion, so it was likely she was intended to get the card, and if she didnt he would of started it again with some excuse.

i dont know wether to think he was tricking us or tricking them.

 

[Wazzerphuk]

It's probably nothing to do with the same part of the brain and whatever, but IMO it's the basic fundamental: we fuck our own thought processes up by trying to make 'more' of what 'is', because we can't accept what 'it' actually 'is', and that there is 'nothing more'

'.'

 

[SoWat]

and about past life, I really doubt any of that is true. However that doesnt mean I wont try and keep an open mind about it, but at the moment I dont know anything that really supports any paranormal activity.

I also doubt that people have had past lives, simply because those that claim they have ,were either princes/princesses, warriors etc. Nobody seems to have been a medieval shit-shoveller for example; so I'd say it was more a case of wishful thinking and/or subconscious fantasies.

 

[Wazzerphuk]

Anyone that says they have memories of a past life is a comedy clown.

 

[Paradroid]

Did the suicide pact actually ever happen or was the whole theme fiction??

Fiction.

(*cough*)

How did the majority of people think of London??

Derren has displayed his ability to influence anyone & everyone with subliminal suggestions, remember the Ad-men featured during his series? Added to this is the fact that all 12 students (as commented by Derren) were all chosen according to certain criteria, one of them was "open to suggestion". The guy who went into the booth (and the girl prior to him) looked, and probably were, hypnotised....to a certain degree anyway.

He did say he doesn't believe in spirits, and, that the whole exercise was supposed to show us how easily fooled people were by parlor tricks of yester-year.

How did the medium know of certain 'facts' about the girls life, how were these suggested to her??

See above (Subliminal suggestions).

How did the metal goblet tip over and how did the seance ball float in the air?

I did notice that the seance ball was actually a hollow mesh....very-easy to hook'n'line the seance ball with a fine fishing-line, then, knock-over the goblet....remember parlor tricks!
Why did he put all the lights out?
Why blow-out all the candles?

I personnaly didn't see the goblet "floating" around, but with all the lights off, anything could be happening.


As far as spirits and beyond death is concerned, have you all heard of the Voices of the Dead?

Veeeerry spooky.

Recording background noise and then filtering during the playback you can pick-up voices...often backwards and in ancient tongues (i.e. not for your average pleb with a tape recorder)...but the "messages" are always for the person making the recording.

(*cue Twilight Zone theme*)

Example...mwahahahaha!!!!

 

[Sigurd]

Having said I'm a sceptic of ghosts etc... I have to say, this is a little strange - a picture I took the other week with my phone, I was walking back from town, up my road and saw a fox.. decided to take a picture - missed the fox, but got some weird little white lights that looked disturbingly humanoid. Scary thing was, it was an empty street... unfortunately the picture quality is bad as it's a screenshot of my phone on webcam

 

[GekuL]

I saw on a program once, can't remember if it was Derren Brown or not, the objects were moved by a bloke dressed in black with a hook. Notice how he directed everyone to look at another object before the ball started moving (or was it the goblet, can't remember).

 

[GekuL]

Having said I'm a sceptic of ghosts etc... I have to say, this is a little strange - a picture I took the other week with my phone, I was walking back from town, up my road and saw a fox.. decided to take a picture - missed the fox, but got some weird little white lights that looked disturbingly humanoid. Scary thing was, it was an empty street... unfortunately the picture quality is bad as it's a screenshot of my phone on webcam

Just looks like white blobs to me m8

 

[venus]

Having said I'm a sceptic of ghosts etc... I have to say, this is a little strange - a picture I took the other week with my phone, I was walking back from town, up my road and saw a fox.. decided to take a picture - missed the fox, but got some weird little white lights that looked disturbingly humanoid. Scary thing was, it was an empty street... unfortunately the picture quality is bad as it's a screenshot of my phone on webcam

Dunno ? ... there could be something in it...(cue that twlight zone music)

 

[snake75]

I came up with London and the name Jane....but then i was pissed

 

[Sigurd]

Just looks like white blobs to me m8

The original picture is clearer... but the point is there weren't any white blobs on the street