Let’s Discuss (Halloween Edition) – Do You Believe in the Supernatural?

Posted October 31, 2014 by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction in Let's Discuss / 18 Comments

Zombie Fortification Cabin ZFC-1

Have you heard? You can purchase a zombie-proof cabin! Yep, the ZFC-1 Zombie Fortification Cabin has everything you’ll need in case of a zombie apocalypse – barbed wire, arsenal storage, garden area, escape hatch, kitchen, gym, and (of course) an Xbox so that your kids can enjoy shooting zombies in the comfort of their own home while you’re in the gym. It’s a real thing! Honestly, you can buy one!

warm bodies

My friend is an OT and she was telling me not long ago that some of the kids she works with have told her that their parents have an emergency plan in place for a zombie apocalypse. I laughed it off at first, but she insisted that they were very serious. So, I got to thinking – are there things that seem crazy to some of us, but not so crazy to others? Well, yeah.

So, do I believe in the supernatural? Any of it? Honestly, I guess I have to respond with a resounding maybe.

First of all, I’m not a “have to see it to believe it” kind of person. At least not anymore. Let’s go with the big, obvious (at least to me) example – God. I believe in God. I’ve never seen him or talked to him on the phone, but I could give you a thousand examples of ways he’s shown himself to me (and other people) over the years. I used to be an atheist when I was a teenager – I was pretty sure that God was just something made up – but then he kept showing up, and my logical mind had to concede that there were too many coincidences piling up to be coincidences anymore. I became a believer.

Well, couldn’t that same principle be applied to people who sincerely believe in the supernatural? There are plenty of people out there who will insist that they’ve seen solid evidence of all sorts of things – ghosts, witchcraft, Sasquatch, psychics, aliens, maybe even vampires and werewolves. (I don’t think anyone’s claimed to have seen actual zombies, but people seem to think that there could be a virus that would turn us into flesh-eating monsters – I don’t quite follow, but who am I to judge?). I had two acquaintences in college – yes, TWO – who claimed to be supernatural beings. One who told me one night that she was a shapeshifter and one who told my best friend that he was a vampire. In all seriousness. Were they crazy? Probably not (my guess is just that they really felt the need to get some extra attention – I also had a friend who told mutual friends at one point that she was a famous singer who had a huge radio hit and was in college incognito – yeah, that wasn’t true).  But then I think about all of the paranormal books I read – when someone first finds out about the supernatural, they never believe, right? So, who’s to say something weird doesn’t exist out there that most people have never seen? Something hidden?

i-see-dead-peopleWhen I was a kid, I saw a ghost. I mean, I’m pretty darn sure I saw a ghost – or a spirit, or something. I was laying in bed and something walked straight through the door. It had the form of a human, but it was more like a glowing aura of light with no facial features or anything. I was terrified. Frozen in bed, I watched it walk into the room, and walk behind my bed (behind my back). At that point the idea that this thing was behind me where I couldn’t see what it was doing overcame my paralysis, and I jumped out of bed and ran into the kitchen to tell my mom about what I’d seen. Of course, she said that it was just a dream. And maybe it was. But I have no recollection of waking up – I would swear that I was already awake when it walked in. But I was a kid – the mind does strange things, so who knows. Still, that experience has always made me a bit more open to the idea that maybe ghosts aren’t so crazy after all. I’ve had a few other smaller unexplainable circumstances that gave me pause, but nothing else major that I can definitely point to. In fact, while I was writing this post in my head (in the shower – for more on how I write posts in my head at the most inopportune times, read my Why I Wish I Could Blog in Bed post!) and thinking about how I don’t really believe in most of this stuff, my phone mysteriously fell to the bathroom floor, making quite a stupendous crash – coincidence? You be the judge.

So, I don’t know. Maybe some of that stuff could be real. I’m pretty skeptical about most of it, but I can’t be positive. And there’s something kind of fun about that – not believing, but not being really sure that I don’t believe.

How about you? Do you believe in the supernatural? Have you ever actually experienced something that made you believe? Seen a ghost? Or anything else supernatural? I want to know!

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18 responses to “Let’s Discuss (Halloween Edition) – Do You Believe in the Supernatural?

  1. I didnt believe in ghost until i saw one but at least i knew my ghost. Id prob pass out if i didn’t cause even knowing them was the most terrifying things in my entire life. I always thought i’d run or at least ask what they want but the fear literally freezes everything. i couldnt even reach my BF at the time who was sleeping a ft away. My mom died when i was 20 years old very unexpectedly of heart failure. I was living in NYC at the time. I saw her 2 days later standing in the corner of my bedroom. She was wearing a green party dress, you know the 80’s numbers with the ruffles and all. She didnt talk didn’t move or anything but she just stared at me. Then disappeared. @ secs later my boyfriend said what was that light? By this time i was shaking uncontrollably and sobbing. They though i was in some type of grief induced shock and maybe i was but i still saw what i saw. The craziest part is every single dream EVERYONE she is wearing that same green dress. That could prob be a manifestation of my subconscious or maybe its her letting me know shes ok since she is always dancing and happy. Its crazy i know and not many people believe me i can tell when they listen so i stopped tellng the story. It wasnt meant for them anyway and i dont need the justification. I used to get woken up to someone tapping on my shoulder and i went to psychic and they brought it up. The lady said that’s your mom. I was supposed to see a medium but i chickened out last minute. i want to think of her as happy the way i do now. Also a few weeks ago i saw a black smokiness at my ceiling in my house in PA. I thought oh crap im burning something. Alas i wasn’t cooking anything. Weird. I’m not sure about Zombies (although id kick some zombie ass Michione Style) but i know for a fact in my heart that there is an afterlife. I don’t know what it is but i know its there.
    ~ Britt @ Please Feed The Bookworm

    • You make a good point – whenever someone sees something supernatural, people automatically assume that they’re a little crazy or maybe suffering from a sort of mental breakdown. But there are LOTS of people who’ve experienced something like this – who knows what’s out there that we don’t want to see?!

  2. I actually don’t believe in the supernatural, which is weird because basically everyone in my country does. There are hundreds of “sightings” and tales from even my own neighbours, who claim to (I sh*t you not) use love potions made by what we call “dukun” (loosely translated into “shaman”), and apparently it works.. because these neighbours of mine are sex workers. This is the part you question my neighbourhood, but I actually live in a very well-off area, in quite expensive apartments. Anyway, these particular neighbours of mine tell me that they use these potions on rich foreign tourists, and once they return to their own country, they are still “in love” with them so much that they send thousands of dollars a month to continue their “relationship”.

    These “love potions” may or may not be true, but my neighbours’ fancy cars and Burberry coats certainly don’t lie.

    Amanda recently posted: Wild Seed
    • Oh my! Okay, I guess I shouldn’t judge your neighbors (will you think badly of me if I admit that I’m struggling with that?). It’s very interesting, though – guess it will remain a mystery whether the love potion is doing its job or if the idea that it’s working gives them enough confidence to hold onto those foreign visitors. Very strange indeed!

      • Don’t worry, I secretly judge them myself… although mostly because they’re sent thousands of dollars each month by a number of different men [with the agreement that they would stop “selling themselves” and instead stay faithful to him], and yet they STILL choose to do sex work instead of, I don’t know, using the money as capital to establish a salon or something else they can be good at. You can live off even one thousand dollars for an extremely long time in my country.

        Sometimes I think they’re blackmailing the men [which makes more sense to me than a love potion] but then some of them aren’t married or anything, so I dunno…

        Amanda recently posted: The Fire Seer
  3. I don’t believe in supernatural outside fiction. To me paranormal creatures are a myth and a great concept in YA books, but otherwise, I’ve never believed them to be real.
    And the whole ghost concept-I’ve always believed that they are an illusion.I’ve never seen a ghost in my life or encountered someone who’s seen one, so I’ve always believed in what I do.

    Mishma @ As the page turns recently posted: Review:Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
    • That’s usually what I think too – except for those days that I think, “Well, maybe …” As far as the ghost I saw – I was probably just dreaming, but it sure seemed real at the time! So, then I’m back to – maybe? 🙂

  4. Joycedale

    I completely believe in the supernatural. I’ve seen 2 ghosts at separate times and if we didn’t live paycheck to paycheck would totally have a zombie plan. I actually do have somewhat of a plan that my brother-in-law and I came up with because he knows we don’t have any guns. I once asked my husband for an assault rifle with a silencer after reading The Zombie Survival Guide and he just laughed at me.

    • Okay, now I’m just picturing you walking around with an assault rifle, watching for zombies and I have to admit that I’m laughing a little too. Glad to know I’m not the only one who’s seen a ghost (maybe – I go back and forth on whether or not I actually saw it! LOL!).

  5. I do not really believe the supernatural exists in the real world, but I will not dismiss it completely. For example the legend of Bloody Mary I don’t really believe in, but I won’t put it to the test either by saying her name three times in front of a mirror…

  6. I don’t, honestly. I have thought about it, and a huge part of me WANTS to believe in it all. Unfortunately, I am definitely the “have to see it to believe it” type that you mentioned. Or at the very least, have some kind of scientific explanation for the existence of something. Maybe if I saw it I’d think differently, but even then I think I’d just doubt myself, or rationalize it away. I kind of hate being so cynical! Great discussion topic, I love reading everyone’s thoughts on this!

    Shannon @ It Starts At Midnight recently posted: Stacking the Shelves and Other Weekly Shenanigans (33)

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