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MY enclosed area theory and belief in ghosts

Cainkane1

Philosopher
Cainkane1
Joined
Jul 16, 2005
Messages
9,011
Location
The great American southeast
There is a house in my town that is huge. It has three full stories and an attic and full basement. Numerous sightings of ghosts have been reported mostly but not entirely by children.

Searching every nook and cranny of this building I have come to believe certain people see ghosts there because they feel someone should be there occupying all the empty spaces.

Humans evolved during times when large enclosed spaces were rare. If you came upon a cave someone or something was sure to be living there. You expected to see some human, hominid or animal occupying the cave or whatever.

The house is now occupied by a law firm and no spectral sightings have been reported.
 
Cainkane1 said:
There is a house in my town that is huge. It has three full stories and an attic and full basement. Numerous sightings of ghosts have been reported mostly but not entirely by children.

Searching every nook and cranny of this building I have come to believe certain people see ghosts there because they feel someone should be there occupying all the empty spaces.

Humans evolved during times when large enclosed spaces were rare. If you came upon a cave someone or something was sure to be living there. You expected to see some human, hominid or animal occupying the cave or whatever.

The house is now occupied by a law firm and no spectral sightings have been reported.
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I agree that this could be one of the reasons that some people see ghosts. Almost everywhere we go into on a daily base is in "use" in someway. I think when the lack of use seems out of place, as in the case of an abandoned building, it causes a subconscious reaction because your mind sees it as abnormal. Even something like going to your work place at night, when no one else is there, can be disconcerting. You're always there with other people, so your mind sees the lack of occupancy as an anomaly, putting you in a state of heightened awareness.

Once you get into that suggestive state, it becomes much easier to begin to imagine things that aren't there. If you already have a predisposition to believing in the supernatural, it won't be hard to make the leap that a place is haunted.
 
I find large buildings (more than a couple of stories) without windows slightly disconcerting: factories, granaries and the like. I don't know why but it's not because I'm thinking there's spectral activity going on.
 
This idea makes a lot of sense. I've had occasion to be in large office and industrial buildings when they are closed or abandoned. Often a very odd "spooky" feeling to them. The lack of something you expect to be there could well be the cause, similar to the startlement when a constant background noise (like a ventilator) stops. You didn't really notice when it was there, but it feels wrong when it's gone.
 
Cainkane1 said:
Humans evolved during times when large enclosed spaces were rare. If you came upon a cave someone or something was sure to be living there. You expected to see some human, hominid or animal occupying the cave or whatever.
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I'm sure this is part of the problem. There is something to be said for prehistoric/evolutionary conditioning. Combine this with cultural conditioning(folk tales, movies, etc) and it's no wonder large empty buildings develop reputations for being haunted.

If you think about it, they all have the same back stories where employees were killed in accidents (these are never confirmed), and later there are stories about street gangs/drug dealers/homeless people dying/murdered inside the buildings (again with no actual documentation). Over time these stories are shared without scrutiny of any kind, and are just accepted within the community where the building is located. Of course the stories of murder and mayhem get wilder over time, as do the ghost stories.

So by the time someone works up the courage to sneak inside one of these places they're expecting Freddy Kruger. Every noise is mysterious, hysteria takes over easily.
 
If this were the case then I'd see ghosts all the time, considering I work and have worked in numerous places after hours and on my own, including hospitals and various old hospital wings under-construction, yet have seen absolutely sod-all.

Most people who see ghosts are either intentionally looking for them, and thus see them around every corner (same with UFO hunters, Bigfoot hunters and everything in between) or are simply mistaken, drunk, or under some type of mental strain.

The amount of supposedly haunted buildings I've been in at night, on my own, and have never seen so much as a bloody orb. Heard lots of things, same as I have in my own house at night when it's settling down, nothing supernatural, just average noises that ghost hunters would assume came from some spirit, because that's what ghost hunters do.

Outdoorsmen see prints in the mud; it's an animal. Bigfooters see prints; it's a Bigfoot. UFO hunters see an alien craft, normal sods see a weather balloon. And so it goes. On and on.

This "spooky feeling" is essentially a load of nonsense, and is just a person's natural unease in an empty yet otherwise harmless building, and is brought about via ghost stories and Horror movies, and a real-life awareness of general weirdos and murderers being out there.

People think about ghosts way too much, no wonder they're seeing them in every other nook and cranny of old, abandoned buildings.
 
Gilbert Syndrome said:
If this were the case then I'd see ghosts all the time, considering I work and have worked in numerous places after hours and on my own, including hospitals and various old hospital wings under-construction, yet have seen absolutely sod-all.

Most people who see ghosts are either intentionally looking for them, and thus see them around every corner (same with UFO hunters, Bigfoot hunters and everything in between) or are simply mistaken, drunk, or under some type of mental strain.

The amount of supposedly haunted buildings I've been in at night, on my own, and have never seen so much as a bloody orb. Heard lots of things, same as I have in my own house at night when it's settling down, nothing supernatural, just average noises that ghost hunters would assume came from some spirit, because that's what ghost hunters do.

Outdoorsmen see prints in the mud; it's an animal. Bigfooters see prints; it's a Bigfoot. UFO hunters see an alien craft, normal sods see a weather balloon. And so it goes. On and on.

This "spooky feeling" is essentially a load of nonsense, and is just a person's natural unease in an empty yet otherwise harmless building, and is brought about via ghost stories and Horror movies, and a real-life awareness of general weirdos and murderers being out there.

People think about ghosts way too much, no wonder they're seeing them in every other nook and cranny of old, abandoned buildings.
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Like I said the only people who "see" ghosts are children and some adults. One woman claims she saw one but she had been working two jobs and this was her second one waitressing when the house was a restaurant.

I personally do not believe in ghosts but I do believe that primitive man was leery of largely enclosed places such as caves because of the possibility that these spaces may be occupied by something or someone dangerous whether it be a bear or a disgruntled Neanderthal man with a stone axe waiting in the darkness.

Some people are prone to hallucination whereas others are not. You and I are not.
 
Cainkane1 said:
Like I said the only people who "see" ghosts are children and some adults. One woman claims she saw one but she had been working two jobs and this was her second one waitressing when the house was a restaurant.

I personally do not believe in ghosts but I do believe that primitive man was leery of largely enclosed places such as caves because of the possibility that these spaces may be occupied by something or someone dangerous whether it be a bear or a disgruntled Neanderthal man with a stone axe waiting in the darkness.

Some people are prone to hallucination whereas others are not. You and I are not.
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I'm sure plenty of people think they see ghosts. I've spoken to a bunch of them, from all walks of life, of many varied ages.

I just can't get on board with this as an explanation, considering the fact that ghosts are not just seen in abandoned buildings or empty spaces, but all over the place, and in frequently occupied buildings.

I think it's just down to the person, not the building. There are many reasons people think they see ghosts or apparitions, from superstition to them simply being highly suggestible.

So much of it has to do with a person already being exposed to such stories, and them being told they're entering a "haunted" place. If haunting's were truly a thing of reality, every square foot of the earth would likely be haunted, due to the amount of activity, "good and bad," that has gone on there, but this is rarely ever the case, and haunted places are usually pretty bog-standard on the ole spook-o-meter: graveyards, fields once used in battle, old houses, prisons, hospitals, mortuaries, etc.

When you look at ghost hunting, it generally consists of people running about old buildings in the dark, scaring themselves silly after droning on about some murder that took place there, or whatever else they spin to get themselves riled up for the hunt; basically foreplay.

When you have an environment like that, it's obvious that people will be seeing and hearing all manner of normal crap that they'll undoubtedly believe to be supernatural in origin.

For me, like Nessie and Bigfoot, a major factor in ghosts is people. We create them, we fear them, we talk about them and then we inevitably "see" and hear them.

We haunt ourselves.
 
Gilbert Syndrome said:
I'm sure plenty of people think they see ghosts. I've spoken to a bunch of them, from all walks of life, of many varied ages.

I just can't get on board with this as an explanation, considering the fact that ghosts are not just seen in abandoned buildings or empty spaces, but all over the place, and in frequently occupied buildings.

I think it's just down to the person, not the building. There are many reasons people think they see ghosts or apparitions, from superstition to them simply being highly suggestible.

So much of it has to do with a person already being exposed to such stories, and them being told they're entering a "haunted" place. If haunting's were truly a thing of reality, every square foot of the earth would likely be haunted, due to the amount of activity, "good and bad," that has gone on there, but this is rarely ever the case, and haunted places are usually pretty bog-standard on the ole spook-o-meter: graveyards, fields once used in battle, old houses, prisons, hospitals, mortuaries, etc.

When you look at ghost hunting, it generally consists of people running about old buildings in the dark, scaring themselves silly after droning on about some murder that took place there, or whatever else they spin to get themselves riled up for the hunt; basically foreplay.

When you have an environment like that, it's obvious that people will be seeing and hearing all manner of normal crap that they'll undoubtedly believe to be supernatural in origin.

For me, like Nessie and Bigfoot, a major factor in ghosts is people. We create them, we fear them, we talk about them and then we inevitably "see" and hear them.

We haunt ourselves.
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I agree and I couldn't have described the phenomena more accurately. Thank you.
 
I understand this sort of thing is an area of research that Richard Wiseman is working on. The subjective feeling of "spookiness" is real but ghosts are [assumed] not [to be].
 
Can anyone point to documentation from non-Western cultures that show the same phenomena -- not the ghosts, but the belief in them and the sightings of ... something ... in similar settings?
 
xterra said:
Can anyone point to documentation from non-Western cultures that show the same phenomena -- not the ghosts, but the belief in them and the sightings of ... something ... in similar settings?
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Good question, I believe Asia and Japan have similar traditions about spirits in buildings, but then they also have similar traditions of building large, permanent, structures. I'd be really interested in traditions relating to nomadic cultures in this respect. Haunted Yurts?
 
xterra said:
Can anyone point to documentation from non-Western cultures that show the same phenomena -- not the ghosts, but the belief in them and the sightings of ... something ... in similar settings?
Click to expand...

Many countries around the world share the same typical archetypal ghosts and phantoms as we do. It's generally the same regarding "haunted places." Changi prison, in Singapore, is a renowned hotbed of supernatural activity, like many of our Western prisons are supposed to be, and it's the same for all other manner of typical haunted places.

Ghosts/spirits are pretty much a worldwide thing, for many cultures. The settings are mostly the same, too. It's a human thing, not really a regional thing.
 
P.J. Denyer said:
Good question, I believe Asia and Japan have similar traditions about spirits in buildings, but then they also have similar traditions of building large, permanent, structures. I'd be really interested in traditions relating to nomadic cultures in this respect. Haunted Yurts?
Click to expand...

With stretches of sea, land and desert said to be haunted the world over, it's a far-reaching thing.

There are stories of ghosts attached to almost every place on earth, and I say "almost" because I can't verify that it's actually everywhere, but it honestly wouldn't surprise me to learn that it was. From ghosts beneath the waves at shipwrecks, to ghosts in castles, houses, hospitals, prisons, caves, mountains, lakes, forests, fields, etc, etc; it's as common as muck.
 
P.J. Denyer said:
Good question, I believe Asia and Japan have similar traditions about spirits in buildings, but then they also have similar traditions of building large, permanent, structures. I'd be really interested in traditions relating to nomadic cultures in this respect. Haunted Yurts?
Click to expand...

Nomadic cultures tend to have mobile spirits. The Bedouin have the Jinn for example. Their superstitions mix with their mythologies due to their keeping of oral traditions, which is charming, but not always helpful.

Ancient temples being patrolled by vengeful spirits and curses goes all the way back. It was a great way to keep people from sneaking in and stealing things.

Ghosts were used for public safety, example: people get lost/eaten by bears in the nearby forest. Solution? Forest is haunted.

The irony being that today most people don't believe in ghosts, but still do stupid things around bears.

Go figure.
 
As we speak I'm living alone in a house that for forty-seven years was occupied by three people. No ghost sightings but the bumps in the night and sometimes in the days are a bit more disconcerting.
 
I’m aware of experiments where small groups of people were taken to old homes under various pretexts.... If the group were told by the “guide” that the place had a reputation for being haunted, at least some of the participants would report some sort of “incident”.....Noises, footsteps, whatever.

If a similar group was not so informed.... No incidents.

We have a building on campus, the old Chancellor’s residence, that’s been reputedly haunted for many years. Now and again, the burglar alarm would go off for no apparent reason (hardly unusual). So we’re checking the place one night and the reason for the alarms becomes apparent.... A bat has taken up residence in the place.
We had officers who refused to go into the place.
 
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