Talk:Poltergeist

From RationalWiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search

I like it. If you want moar science, there's stuff floating mysteriously around teh innertubes about infrasound causing "spooky" feelings. Fetch! Totnesmartin 18:42, 8 May 2009 (UTC)

Huh?[edit]

"A transistor radio starting up unexpectedly after someone with years of decades in contact with the Center for Inquiry had worked on the radio in question." Can someone please translate this into English? And why is it such a great example of 'non standard poltergeist evidence'? Leuders (talk) 14:57, 17 February 2016 (UTC)

I have trimmed the paragraph and removed what I assume was intended to be snark: "Shermer couldn't have known how to alter the radio adding modern components so for example a remote signal would start it." While it's theoretically possible that Shermer could have had modern radio control components installed in the old radio then secretly triggered it with a hidden R/C controller (all done to fool his new wife and promote superstitious thinking on his website)...I find this scenario highly HIGHLY unlikely. Leuders (talk) 18:02, 18 February 2016 (UTC)

There are poltergeists[edit]

... they are moving the things you want to find in a hurry (or changing their features), altering the space-time-continuum of car parking spaces, making 'a pile of things' fall down with a clatter etc. Some are computerate enough to rename computer files and put them in folders the live-human originator does not expect. 82.44.143.26 (talk) 16:36, 27 September 2016 (UTC)

"I thought I had a Poltergeist. Turns out I actually had ADHD." Reverend Black Percy (talk) 17:19, 27 September 2016 (UTC)
The alternative to the first is 'things jumping into a parallel universe and back' but occasionally getting it wrong (things you know you had but never see again, and things sitting there which everyone denies acquiring).
What is the relationship between poltergeists and Alien Space Bats? 82.44.143.26 (talk) 18:22, 27 September 2016 (UTC)
Well, the only thing we can verify scientifically is the fact that "Alien Space Bats" would make a pretty great band name. Reverend Black Percy (talk) 18:33, 27 September 2016 (UTC)
Sounds too much like Alien Sex Fiend, and nobody wants to go back to there... do they? BicyclewheelToxic mowse.gif 19:28, 27 September 2016 (UTC)
'The poltergeists and their pet wormholes did it' #is# a useful get out clause for the sort of thing described above (however sceptical/realist one is). 82.44.143.26 (talk) 16:19, 28 September 2016 (UTC)
It's a bit hard to say poltergeists did it if you don't believe in poltergeists... BicyclewheelToxic mowse.gif 19:18, 28 September 2016 (UTC)
So what 'humorous or other pseudo-explanation' can one use for the type of annoyance described? (Mis-remembering the colour of something/a minor draft sending objects a-clattering sounds so pedestrian. And computers are very good at putting your documents where you don't expect.) Besides poltergeists may be like horseshoes (which provide luck whether or not you believe in the idea.)82.44.143.26 (talk) 14:25, 30 September 2016 (UTC)