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[appending_doom]

So, here's a question. I've been watching "A Haunting", a Discovery Channel show, for a while now

Comments

[miraling]

I'd probably have to see something, to put it bluntly, fucking weird (something I couldn't figure out an explanation for, I guess).

[foxfour]

oh man, i could rationalize the hell out of something fucking weird anyway.

i am supernatural resistant, when it involves dead things. when it involves animal spirits, i'm there. i mean, the ways i've talked with foxes, trees, ravens… a sea lion. i'm there.

[appending_doom]

Any particular reason why?

I mean, I sort of lump animal spirits and human spirits in the same broad category, so think they both have about equal chances of actually existing.

[foxfour]

yeah, but i feel like i have experience with one and not the other.

[alors_indikaze]

I like to think I'd do pretty well in a horror movie because while it would probably be a while before I honestly believed in supernatural forces, I treat every strange occurrence as a potential pattern, acknowledging that the occurrence is at least outside *my* current understanding, even if it's a well-documented phenomenon by scientists or ghost-hunters or what-have-you (or, you know, a candid-camera style hoax). I try to live by the spirit of science, rather than the accumulated body of knowledge that most people consider to be science.

This means I also have the bad habit of poking things trying to *evoke* patterns, which might be detrimental to my long-term horror-movie health. It really depends on whether or not a sense of danger has been established.

Regarding any sort of "belief meter" I do not consider myself a spiritual person, and I will pick at most beliefs you put in front of me, but I find rituals fun.

[appending_doom]

You'd sort of try to force the ghost to prove its own existence so you could deal with the problem?

[alors_indikaze]

Well, I'd probably behave as if it were real, and see what kind of responses I would evoke from it. Based on whatever reasonable rubrics I could cobble up on the spot to deal with systems of consciousness, I'd try to apply them to the situation.

On the other hand, I'm easily deterred by manifestations of displeasure. If it turned violent or started crying I'd probably back off and retreat to "social appeasement" mode, which is how I generally deal with strangers anyway. (this is probably the most dangerous reaction, horror-moviewise, because it might lead to doing dumb things like offering hugs to soul-draining monstrosities)

And any of these reactions will be overwritten by any fear responses, or the nagging feeling that I'm missing something (and need to look it up on Wikipedia/consult outside sources), in which case I'll probably leave at a speed directly proportional to the strength of the response.

In conclusion, what I'd do when dealing with a horror movie situation would greatly depend on the circumstances.

[appending_doom]

This is when I love natural science majors.

[mizzmarvel]

I'm a skeptic who still managed to suspect that my apartment was haunted by the ghost of the old handicapped porn-reading man who lived there before us and probably died in my bedroom, so I don't know. To seriously believe, I think stuff will need to go flying around or I'll actually need to see an apparition. Then I would pee my pants.

[appending_doom]

What brought about the suspicion?

[mizzmarvel]

Just a feeling I always had. I mean, I knew an old disabled man used to live there, but that was all I knew. Later, my dad mentioned that he always thought the apartment was haunted too, since he used to hear weird noises in the early morning when everyone else was asleep. He thought it was the same dude, and that we used to receive his old porn catalogues (which my dad threw away before we could see).

If he existed, the old man ghost was probably watching me undress for years.

[appending_doom]

That's creepy, and certainly about the same level of proof most people on this show have, anyway.

[appending_doom]

What would it take you to say, agree to letting a priest or professed psychic wander through your house in order to remove an offending supernatural presence?

Or would you just move out?

[appending_doom]

Well, drawing back to your first reply, how much would it take for you to accept that a ghost is affecting your vicinity enough that you would take steps to distance yourself from it?

[dukhat]

I would probably never believe certain things and just become convinced that I was crazy.

[appending_doom]

Which probably would make a poor "A Haunting" episode. :)

[scheisse_adc]

yeah, same here. i had been holding off on commenting until now because other people here seem to be much more open to supernatural possibilities and i felt like the odd (wo)man out.

[dukhat]

It's not that I am not open to believing in the supernatural, it is just I think it is much MORE likely I am crazy.