Why do people believe in the paranormal? (631 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 1.29 on 27 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Uberjunkie (View user info) at 2006-09-15 16:16:40 EDT
Martin was hired to work with Microsoft on the development of a new video game. As an artist, Martin was commissioned to craft conceptual drawings of what the video game characters, weapons, and environments would look like. Since this type of work only takes about a week, Martin checked in to a 2-star hotel near downtown Seattle.
When he got to the hotel and discovered his room was reserved on the first floor, Martin asked to be moved to an upper floor because he was superstitious about bunking on the first floor. The hotel staff informed him that there were no vacancies in any other rooms tonight, but they would try to get him another room tomorrow for the rest of his stay.
As Martin entered the dank first floor room he decided that he would put up with it for just one night. That night Martin didn't sleep. He shaved and took a shower in the morning, got dressed in what he considered "boring" khakis and a silk shirt and off to work he went. He met with the video game team, learned what they thought the game should look and feel like, spent a few minutes outside for a smoke break, and returned to the temporary space they had set up for him. Martin began to sketch and by the time he knew it the clock struck six and it was time to head back to the hotel.
In an effort to avoid the hotel a little longer Martin swung by his younger brother's house to visit and meet his new niece. He was always kind of standoffish when it came to babies but he respected his sister-in-law for her patience. She looked tired but happy that the little one was finally here. Did he want a turn at holding the baby? Fuck no! He and his brother crept into the den for a nightcap. As the evening dwindled on it was eventually time to let the new parents try for a few hours of shut eye before the next feeding and diapering.
The front desk had taken care of the room change and Martin was pleased to hear he had been moved to the fourth floor. He exchanged yesterday's room key for the new one and headed up in the cramped elevator; capacity 200 pounds. Not quite enough room for a fat man and his luggage. The hallway on this floor was narrow and Martin imagined that at any moment someone could easily open a door on either side and yank him into a room for evil purposes.
Room 404 was about two thirds of the way down the hall and upon entering this obviously upgraded room Martin felt a sinking feeling. The room was nicer than the one on the first floor, but he had a "bad feeling" about this one. It was already midnight and he didn't even feel tired so he decided to get in bed and read a little from the book he brought on the plane. After about an hour Martin looked up at the mirror that hung on the wall facing the bed. Inside it he saw a world that was not a reflection of his hotel room. A little girl in a white dress hurled herself at the glass and pounded out a silent plea. Shaken but starting to feel a little sleepy, Martin tried to sleep. Two, Three, Four; the hours ticked by. Shit. No sleep again and time to get to work.
Another day in the makeshift space passed as Martin scribbled and drew; tanks, guns, buildings, aliens. The cubicle walls were filled with drawings held up by yellow push pins. The occasional passer-by would comment on how "cool" it all looked.
Tonight he headed to the local watering hole and filled up pretty good. He went straight to the hotel and avoided talking to his brother for fear of admitting what he saw in the mirror last night. Finally, by way of exhaustion, alcohol, and an AmbienTM, sleep arrived. Martin dreamed in whole thoughts rather than words or images.
You must bring a white rose.
Can I draw you a rose?
No.
6:00 A.M. - time for work.
The day flew by as Martin's hand glided over the large sheets of drawing paper. The pinned up artwork was now double- and triple- stacked on the cube walls. The video game creative team was getting excited and was starting to realize why they had agreed to pay top dollar for this amazing young talent. Several more people stopped by to Oohh and Aahhh at the images surrounding the artist. At the end of the day Martin stopped by the local grocery store to buy a single white rose. He fleetingly thought that the little girl in the mirror might have a mother and bought two instead.
When he got back to the hotel room Martin spent at least 20 minutes arranging the flowers on a coat hook attached to the back of the door. The long stems made it difficult but he got the roses to balance on the coat hook so that their heads were above the door frame and their stems and leaves were intertwined. That night he slept like a baby.
In the morning he awoke to find that the roses were still on the coat hook but were turned completely upside down. Dun dun dun! He also realized that there was a painting of a garden hanging above the hotel bed and in the far background there were white roses.
Why the fuck do people believe that there are ghosts and shit when it is totally obvious he was hallucinating and his imagination ran wild because of some stupid insomnia and a little booze?
At least he's a great artist or else I wouldn't forgive him for being such an ass hat.
User Reviews
Submitted by Uberjunkie (user info) at 2006-09-19 12:37:16 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Bull Durham is a great movie. Thanks Shlongy.
Submitted by Shlongy (user info) at 2006-09-18 17:55:35 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Well, I believe in the soul, the cock, the pussy, the small of a woman's back, the hanging curve ball, high fiber, good scotch, that the novels of Susan Sontag are self-indulgent, overrated crap. I believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. I believe there ought to be a constitutional amendment outlawing Astroturf and the designated hitter. I believe in the sweet spot, soft-core pornography, opening your presents Christmas morning rather than Christmas Eve and I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days. Goodnight.
Submitted by Chillax (user info) at 2006-09-17 12:52:36 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Acid?
Submitted by d_prime (user info) at 2006-09-15 21:58:14 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
are you one of these morons who not only have horrible English, which isn't a big deal, but gets mad at people who have good English and calls them stupid?
Submitted by TheCrystalShip (user info) at 2006-09-15 20:37:18 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
There is no such thing as the paranormal. People see what they want to see. People will disregard any attempt of a scientific explanation such as imagination, sleep deprivation, chemically induced hallucination, stress, etc. These are all things that we know to be true, these are things that are proven.
I used to go for bike rides at 2am through the country. There would be a moon lighting my way with nothing but fog and woods around. It is a spooky setting. I had wild thoughts running through my mind, but I knew that it was nothing more than my imagination. If my logic would have been dulled through alcohol or sleep deprivation I could have seen ghosts on those rides. If my imagination would have been enhanced through drugs I could have seen ghouls on those nights. Would that have made it real? No, I will never believe such things exist, even if I do see them. There is always an explanation.
Submitted by Darth_Famine (user info) at 2006-09-15 19:54:58 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
People belive because they see things that defy logic. whatever the reason they see them or experience them is not relevant to that person.
its a matter of faith
and true faith is invulnerable
Submitted by Snark (user info) at 2006-09-15 18:57:01 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Here's why I believe:
http://www.ubersite.com/m/46049
Submitted by JMG114 (user info) at 2006-09-15 18:09:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
"I share my apartment with the ghost of a little boy."
Big deal. I share mine with a REAL little boy. If by "share" you mean "keep under the stairs with some garden tools and old blankets."
Submitted by QueenAshlee (user info) at 2006-09-15 18:08:43 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Oh and my mom has an old tile from the french quarter of New Orleans, I think she got it before i was even born, and nothing anybody will ever do or say is going to convince me that that thing isn't haunted. I HAVE seen that ghost, more than once, and that shit is just plain fucked up.
Submitted by QueenAshlee (user info) at 2006-09-15 18:05:49 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Actually, especially in the last year, my life has been pretty consistently tied to events one might consider supernatural. Before I list any examples, let me first say this: I am EXTREMELY skeptical about pretty much eerything. ALthough I beleive in the paranormal, I don't call every shadow a ghost or assume that anything that doesn't add up right away has a supernatural explaination. The following examples are all a current or recent part of my life, and have all been subjected to the same judging eye and lenghy discussion that I approach any new thing with.
I'm fairly certain that I share my apartment with the ghost of a little boy. I haven't seen a visual manifestation of a child myself, but I have seen certain things that simply cannot be explained by any scientificially accepted means, such as crayon marks appearing on my walls when nobody other than me and my boyfriend have been in my apartment for days or weeks. also, when my stepdaughter was visiting, she talked about seeing a boy and a couple times I saw her talking to, apparently, the wall. She's a bit too young for imaginary friends, though she's pretty advanced in everything else so I suppose it's possible, but there was something about the way she acted that was creepy... I've seen her have both real conversations with people and pretend conversations on her toy phone, and there's a huge difference. The conversations I witnessed were way more like the ones she has with real people...
There's also what I call a ghost event, which I find happens in the wake of an extremely violent or emotional event, in the stairwell of my building. This particular one involves a rape: in some cases, people have had a brief mental concept of it (more of an idea or knowledge of something happening than an actual scene or "vision"), in others, the sensation of being chased up the stairs (which happened to me first, and is pretty regularly recurring). This doesn't happen to EVERYONE who comes into my building, but it's been described to me, unsolicited, by enough people who I never spoke about it to and who don't communicate with one another, more than often enough for me to think I'm not just crazy.
There are a lot of other things that add to the way I see the world, way too many to list here. In fairness, those two are both pretty extreme, even for me, but they're pretty powerful evidences to me that I can't always see, smell, touch, taste, or hear anything and everything that might be in the room with me.
Submitted by MyTeeOne (user info) at 2006-09-15 18:01:02 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
A little girl in a white dress hurled herself at the glass and pounded out a silent plea. Shaken but starting to feel a little sleepy, Martin tried to sleep.
This was too rushed. It was like the ghost line was just thrown in.
Submitted by Uberjunkie (user info) at 2006-09-15 17:39:58 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by QueenAshlee (user info) at 2006-09-15 17:35:45 (#)
Ranking: 0
(I'm nudging your rating back up because i just read on an old post that you play warcraft and that means you can't be all bad.)
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Fair play.
Just curious, you said maybe I don't think ghosts exist because I never saw one. Have you?
Submitted by QueenAshlee (user info) at 2006-09-15 17:35:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
(I'm nudging your rating back up because i just read on an old post that you play warcraft and that means you can't be all bad.)
Submitted by JoeyG (user info) at 2006-09-15 17:31:14 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
more of this, please!!
Submitted by Uberjunkie (user info) at 2006-09-15 17:29:38 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by St_Jimmy (user info) at 2006-09-15 17:19:04 (#)
Ranking: 2
I'm +2'ing this because it is waaay better than the camwhore crap you've been submitting and I think this post is a bit more representative of your potential. A few thoughts however:
1. I liked the story, but the ending was extraordinarily abrupt. It read like you were just sick of writing and wanted it to end right now.
2. The way you told the story, I don't think it was obvious that Martin was hallucinating. I'm pretty sure you need to be sleep deprived for more than just one night before you start seeing things. Same with the booze. You didn't describe him as drunk to the point of hallucinating (which I'm not real sure is possible anyway).
3. You mentioned in your first post about being superstitious about your D&D dice. That's pretty much the same as believing in the paranormal.
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Thanks for the feedback.
1. Attention spans on Uber are very short, thus the need to end so fast, but yeah, more detail couldn't hurt.
2. If you read it again you'll see he didn't sleep for two nights. I don't know for sure (even though I said it was obvious) that the sleepless nights and drinks caused him to see what he did, but I know there's no such thing as fucking ghosts in the mirror. I know that insomnia is often caused by anxiety (anxious over doing a good job maybe) and travel (plus new environment = hotel room). Once he headed down the path I think the rest just followed. My conclusion is not really the point here and I'm glad you see my "potential."
3. D'oh! You got me there. Stupid dice. We all have our little flaws.
Submitted by Brdn_Nkd (user info) at 2006-09-15 17:27:26 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
entertaining story overall.
Submitted by QueenAshlee (user info) at 2006-09-15 17:23:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: -2
A) I haven't partied like that in a long time. Those days are over for me. And just while we're on the topic, most of the experiences i base my beleifs on were not drug induced, nor were those of the people in my life. I mentioned those activities soley because, for someone like me, who has fucked with a LOT of mind-altering substances, the assertion that lucid hallucinations were caused by one night without sleeping and a bit of booze is a bit hard to swallow.
B) What is your basis for stating that "that shit doesn't exist"? Because you never saw anything like it? There's a big world out there, buddy. you should be a little less narrow-minded about it.
C) I AM an artist, and while my mind comes up with some fucked up shit when I'm well rested and haven't drank anything in a long time, That doesn't change the fact that alcohol =! a hallucinogen, unless you eat a bunch of acid while you're drinking (not adivised).
D) Calm the fuck down, you little twit. Just because I have a different perspective doesn't mean you need to resort to personal attacks... It's not like I kicked your puppy.
Submitted by St_Jimmy (user info) at 2006-09-15 17:19:04 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I'm +2'ing this because it is waaay better than the camwhore crap you've been submitting and I think this post is a bit more representative of your potential. A few thoughts however:
1. I liked the story, but the ending was extraordinarily abrupt. It read like you were just sick of writing and wanted it to end right now.
2. The way you told the story, I don't think it was obvious that Martin was hallucinating. I'm pretty sure you need to be sleep deprived for more than just one night before you start seeing things. Same with the booze. You didn't describe him as drunk to the point of hallucinating (which I'm not real sure is possible anyway).
3. You mentioned in your first post about being superstitious about your D&D dice. That's pretty much the same as believing in the paranormal.
Submitted by Uberjunkie (user info) at 2006-09-15 17:09:45 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by QueenAshlee (user info) at 2006-09-15 16:51:20 (#)
Ranking: 0
Maybe I should clarify my question...
I suffer from insomnia, and even after being awake for days drinking, sNorting coke, eating ecstacy, and doing whatever the fuck else we were partying with, I never had lucid hallucinations of people trying to escape from mirrors. What in God's name makes you think that one night with no sleep and a few drinks could cause THAT?
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Submitted by QueenAshlee (user info) at 2006-09-15 16:45:03 (#)
Ranking: 0
How, exactly, is it obvious that he was hallucinating?
Your question is pretty general... I couldn't tell you why "people" belIEve in the paranormal, everyone's different from everyone else and blah blah blah. I, personally, beleive in things that science doesn't explain based on my own personal experience and on the stories of people in my life. Superstition and belief in paranormal events is a lot like religion or politics: to each their own. You can't change mine and I can't change yours. And just because two people don't agree doesn't make one person any more right than the other.
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Um, okay you coke-head, ecstacty eating lunatic, let me put it this way -- THIS SHIT DOES NOT EXIST.
Relying on "your personal [drug influnced] experience" and on "the stories of people in (your) life" does not make something true. As you pointed out, "everyone's different from everyone else" so I guess that means just because YOU didn't see ghosts in the mirror while tripping on acid it is possible that a few sleepless nights and some alcohol could cause someone to see that. Never underestimate the mind of an artist to come up with some crazy shit.
Submitted by QueenAshlee (user info) at 2006-09-15 16:51:20 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Maybe I should clarify my question...
I suffer from insomnia, and even after being awake for days drinking, sorting coke, eating ecstacy, and doing whatever the fuck else we were partying with, I never had lucid hallucinations of people trying to escape from mirrors. What in God's name makes you think that one night with no sleep and a few drinks could cause THAT?
Submitted by QueenAshlee (user info) at 2006-09-15 16:45:03 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
How, exactly, is it obvious that he was hallucinating?
Your question is pretty general... I couldn't tell you why "people" beleive in the paranormal, everyone's different from everyone else and blah blah blah. I, personally, beleive in things that science doesn't explain based on my own personal experience and on the stories of people in my life. Superstition and belief in paranormal events is a lot like religion or politics: to each their own. You can't change mine and I can't change yours. And just because two people don't agree doesn't make one person any more right than the other.
Submitted by Uberjunkie (user info) at 2006-09-15 16:42:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2006-09-15 16:41:11 (#)
Ranking: 2
Room 404 - not found
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Ooooo, spooky!
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2006-09-15 16:41:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Room 404 - not found
Submitted by Uberjunkie (user info) at 2006-09-15 16:41:08 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
No offense taken, I was more interested in my friend's twisted story too, i was just not sure how to frame it.
I don't know what he actually drew up in Seattle and his name's not really Martin, but he did draw the posted pic and kudos to anyone who knows who he is.
Submitted by Antioxident (user info) at 2006-09-15 16:39:56 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by WildcatMcGee (user info) at 2006-09-15 16:22:42 (#)
Ranking: 2
Pic reminds me of Warhammer
Submitted by DudeThatsBOSH (user info) at 2006-09-15 16:35:22 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
ok so i got the point..
but I thought the story was more interesting than your opinion on the paranormal.
no offense to you
Submitted by WildcatMcGee (user info) at 2006-09-15 16:22:42 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Pic reminds me of Warhammer. I was never into it but it seemed alright.