Most Haunted Live

[poliphilo]

They had four web cams set up in various parts of the spooky old building.

People were invited to phone in and tell what they saw.

I saw corners of rooms and lengths of corridor.

Other people saw:

a dark figure in a cloak
children playing
two men fighting in a doorway
a wandering column of smoke
a hovering face

And so on and on.

Are these people suggestible?
Are they bonkers?
Are they having a laugh?
Am I missing something?

Comments

[halfmoon-mollie.livejournal.com]

Hm. Suggestible is possible. Everyone is bonkers. And some of them might well be having a laugh.

but I don't think you are missing anything. Maybe whatever *they* saw is not visible to you. I don't think every spirit is visible to everyone who sees spirits (or ghosts).

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I knew a man once who saw spirits everywhere. He was a little ashamed of his gift and liked to pretend it wasn't there, but I envied him.

[halfmoon-mollie.livejournal.com]

Maybe it's a bit like those silly puzzles where, if you kind of look PAST them, you can see what's hidden in the pictures.

Maybe it's different for everyone.

[kutsuwamushi.livejournal.com]

It's all four, I think.

You can get a thrill out of "believing" that there's something there even if you know that there really isn't. It's not quite the same as having a laugh, because rather than making stuff up, they could just be letting themselves get carried away.

Of course there are a lot of suggestible and bonkers people out there, as well.

I hate those shows.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid I find them addictive.

I suspend my disbelief for the duration and go with the magic....

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

Maybe they made it up!

How tempting it would be:

I saw a hovering figure carrying an axe...

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I'm sure some of them are making it up- in the hope of getting a brief mention on TV.

But others must be sincere.

One viewer reported that his dog was barking at the TV all the time the show was on.

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

Tony, it's a curse that you Do Believe in Ghosts and can't see them!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I guess I'll have to wait until I become one myself...

[jackiejj.livejournal.com]

I read a life-after-death account by a man who came back from death, and he said he saw his body and was afraid of it.

What a pleasant irony: a ghost afraid of a body.

[treehavn.livejournal.com]

I don't know if you can disregard just how susceptible people who *want* to believe can be. A few years ago I took part in a half-arsed vigil with two people, one of whom had had similar occasional 'paranormal' experiences like myself, and the other who was a rabid Most Haunted fan. Whilst we women put the occasional drafts and creaks down to a rational explanation each time, he instead heard footsteps and felt 'icy fingers'. He wasn't a bad bloke or a shyster, but just desperate to experience something outside the everyday. Which is the overall appeal of MH isn't it?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

That's certainly why I watch.

I'm hoping we'll see something marvellous and utterly inexplicable- even though I know we won't.

[paroxysma.livejournal.com]

They could have been on something.
Most likely they were full of shit, though.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I'm afraid most of them sounded simple.

[solar-diablo.livejournal.com]

Power of suggestibility. It's the same reason why some people can see the face of Mary in a piece of waterstained drywall, and others just see a repair headache.

That said, who knows? Maybe spirits are selective about who they appear to. Was A- watching with you? If so, what did she see?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Ailz won't watch them. She laughs at my gullibility.

But then she's the one who once saw a "spirit" on the CCTV monitor in a shop where she was working.