Do you believe in the supernatural?

No. I think that things that appear to be supernatural have a natural explanation which we may not yet understand.

by Jennifer Muirhead

Can you give us an example?

There was a guy in the news recently who thought he'd caught a Chupacabra.
http://www.outdoorlife.com/blogs/newshound/2014/04/texas-man-claims-have-caught-live-chupacabra
It turned out to be a mangy raccoon. Then there are things like psychics who turn out to be frauds using cold reading and parlour tricks to fool people.

Sometimes a phenomenon is exaggerated or misreported. There's the story of Overtoun Bridge in Scotland where supposedly numerous dogs intentionally leapt to their deaths which people believed was for various supernatural reasons (eg. the bridge was haunted). http://www.slightlywarped.com/crapfactory/awesomemysteries/dog_suicide_bridge.htm
Brian Dunning of Skeptoid.com debunked that one pretty thoroughly. Firstly, though news reports gave numbers like 60 dogs there were only two confirmed reports. Secondly, because of the shape of the bridge, the height of the walls and the fact that it's made of stone a dog walking across it wouldn't be able to see the water and probably wouldn't even know it was on a bridge, but rather would think it was jumping over a wall into a field like the ones surrounding it. Thirdly, at the end of the bridge where the dogs jumped there were small animals like mice nesting, which the dogs would have been able to smell. There was more, but basically what it all added up to was just that a couple of curious dogs tried to investigate an interesting smell and ended up in the water. No supernatural explanation needed.

Thanks Jennifer.

I used to whole heartedly, and while I am no longer a firm believer in the supernatural, I am completely open to the possibility.

by Bryony Harrison

I believe in the notion of spirits and some elements of supernatural but I'm a general cynic of most stories I hear and encounter. I remain open to the idea of the supernatural but I need to see and hear more than a lot of the urban legends doing their rounds.

by helenonthesofa

I know it is real.
I also know we shouldn't go there, to seek it.
It is dangerous.Very.

by jonaja

Jonaj, I would certainly agree with you.

Yes I do. It has no explanation. But I feel it exists as it has many believers.

by Smita

Spirits yes, ghosts no.
Evil yes, devil no.

by Sasha

I always imagined spirits and ghosts to be the same thing.

Yeah they are Vee, but i just differentiate it as Spirits are positive and Ghosts are negative.

Yes, I see what you mean now.

But surely if there are positive spirits, there must also be negative ones?

Probably.Maybe the fact that I don't believe in those negatives has made it non existent for me I guess.

After a yoga relaxation I was driving home at night and saw a woman pushing twins in a stroller. It put me in mind of my recently deceased sister who had given birth to twins at least 25 years beforehand. The woman turned into a block of townhouses. Upon enquiry I was told there were no twin babies living there. This was around 9pm. I wonder about this incident 20 years later.

by grann

Hmm...

There're are various 'things' beyond our comprehension.

The Church prohibits Catholics' from going to seances, tarot card readings', fortune tellers et al.

Evil exists, in many different forms. The Church has the Rite of Exorcism for a very good reason.
What can happen is beyond imagination.
Stay away, & don't meddle with the unknown.

by donjo

AMEN!

Brave answer. I have a friend whom I saw a while ago. It was the first time we had caught up in years. She told me that she had been to a card reader or something, but I didn't have the courage to confront her. It has been bothering me since. Must do it. This has inspired some courage. Thanks donjo.

Oh! Vee, thank you, but I'm curious as to why 'brave'?
It's just an answer according to my belief, in which I was raised, & have been guided life-long.

Brave, donjo, because I don't think many people would be so honest about beliefs others might deem 'wacky' or 'extreme'. I agree with you, but was hesitant to say something similar myself.

I certainly believe in the unexplained or super natural. I've seen it for myself. The last experience I was nursing my mother and her sister died. I told everyone to not tell her. After 3 months my mother called me into her room and told me dont think im nutty but my sister came into the room and keeps prodding her. As she has lots of sisters I asked which one. She said it looked like the sister that had died unknown to her but it must be her older sister coming to say hello. I left it at that. Until it became a daily experience. I then decided to tell mum gently that her younger sister had passed away some time ago. We talked for ages. Whatever bothered mum never came back. It was her pesky younger sister im sure. Mum was irish and maybe her sister came to tell her she was waiting for her.

by nat_c

Goosebumps. Thanks for sharing, nat_c.

Hitting 'post reply', I realised my comment could be misinterpreted - sorry. To be clear, I meant that I got goosebumps reading your post. I was not making a reference to 'Goosebumps', the serial,

That's fine. I got goose bumps too at the time and so did the family. There is something more to living on earth. I think maybe that is one stage.