If You Saw A Spirit....

If you saw what appeared to be a spiritual entity of some kind (angel, demon, ghost) what would you do? Would you assume that you are delusional or mentally ill? Would you tell anyone? If you don't currently believe in such entities, would it change your perspective or would you discount your personal experience as something else?

What if it happened to you more than once? I, for one, have not seen anything like this; but many, many people have claimed to witness supernatural occurences. Therefore, I feel like I have to at least consider the possibility that they're not ALL crazy.

My mother and and all my sisters says they saw my father after he died. I never experience anything like that so I can't say what they saw. But I do believe in angles and demons. I also believe they can either help or harm us. But both is only if God is willing.

Of course I too believe that people can have a mental illness or physical illness that can cause them to see things. As for the way to tell the difference I would have no clue.

Hallucinations can also be caused by certain drugs, sleep deprivation, hyperthermia and hypothermia.

Personally, I would consider the hallucination to have a natural cause such as delusion/mental illness/disease/sleep deprivation/drugs long before I would consider any paranormal causes.

I don't think you have to be crazy or mentally ill to see things that aren't there. Our ability to perceive things is on the whole reliable but it still falls ill to bias and flaws. Our brains are wired to see faces for example.

If I saw something that might be considered a spirit I may begin with the most likely explanation which is that it's a trick of lighting that is throwing my brain for a loop. Secondly I might consider a prank by someone. Thirdly I might consider mental illness. Fourthly...etc etc etc.

I go for the most likely answer and work my way along. If all these fail scrutiny, I will merely throw my hands up and say "I don't know what I saw"

Originally Posted by skycloud86

Hallucinations can also be caused by certain drugs, sleep deprivation, hyperthermia and hypothermia.

Personally, I would consider the hallucination to have a natural cause such as delusion/mental illness/disease/sleep deprivation/drugs long before I would consider any paranormal causes.

Would you only consider these first because of your pre-existing beliefs regarding the supernatural?

Originally Posted by Spooky

Would you only consider these first because of your pre-existing beliefs regarding the supernatural?

No, I would consider them first because they would be the most likely. For example, if I had a sharp pain in my arm and a tightening in the chest, I would assume it was a heart attack long before I assumed that it had anything to do with the paranormal.

If I saw a spirit then I'd probably realize I was dreaming and wake up.

What if you witnessed a monkey evolve into a human being. Would you believe it really happened or would you think that maybe you're a little crazy?

I saw a spirit when I was about 7, but I wasn't really scared...I know it wasn't my imagination or anything...I go through rational explanations, but I'm not close minded

Once I was up late and I heard this strange laugh from right near my window...I was tired, weird thigns happen in your mind when you're tired...One time i stayed up late and was on my computer...I heard something from behind but decided to ignore it. Then I heard it again and was sure something was there...so I turned around as my heart was beating fast...and THERE IT WAS!...my sister's hamster had escaped its cage again...I was like "Dammit Zoe! Keep your rat locked up!"

Many unexplainable things have happened to people I know...the existence of spirits makes sense to me so I'm not lose mined about it, but I'm not one of those people who hears a strange clicky noise and assumes it's supernatural; I'm open minded about everything really because I believe this universe is much more than humans will ever know

I believe in angels and demons too...that's kinda what I believe about some gods and goddesses, that they are either angels or demons

Originally Posted by Spooky

What if you witnessed a monkey evolve into a human being. Would you believe it really happened or would you think that maybe you're a little crazy?

what? If I saw a monkey literally transform into a human being I'd think I was crazy