Why do ghosts wear clothes. WTF! They have no bodies!

originally posted by: Xarian6
The ones in clothes i believe to not be actual ghosts, but "replays" of past events, images burnt into ion ferrite or similar geological minerals..

The full ghost I saw and heard in Japan was clothed and he interacted with the living so he was aware of what was going on and wasn't a replay. He was an intelligent haunting and not a residual. So I'm thinking both kinds happen with clothed ghosts.

a reply to: pheonix358

why would anyone mess up a perfectly good death to come back to this god forsaken planet? clothes or no.

a reply to: FlyersFan

The full ghost I saw and heard in Japan was clothed and he interacted with the living so he was aware of what was going on

So what did he do?

originally posted by: thishereguy
a reply to: pheonix358

why would anyone mess up a perfectly good death to come back to this god forsaken planet? clothes or no.

If it was me, to make sure my kids were doing OK. Perhaps to just go "awe' at a new grandchild.

Perhaps to right a wrong visited upon them.

Some may refuse to go and stay around/

P

a reply to: SkippyBalls

When I was stationed in Japan back in the 1980s, two of my friends and I went to Kamakura and walked around the old part of town there. We got lost. While lost, we stumbled upon an old cemetery. It was dark and the cemetery was in the mossy trees. It was quiet and separate from the old city by a stone wall. It was kinda high up on a hill. It smelled like it was old and mossy. It was the time of Bonodori, when the living go to the graves of their ancestors and clean them, and leave offerings. No one was in the cemetery for the festival but we could see the offerings left at the old graves which had just been scrubbed clean. In the middle of this old cemetery was a big rock. On the rock was an old Japanese man and a white cat. We had our cameras and so we walked towards the Japanese man. I asked him in my Connecticut Yankee English if we could take pictures (we didnt' want to offend people by taking pictures if it wasn't the custom). He answered in perfect CT Yankee English ... 'sure, go ahead, the family doesn't mind'. (something like that). So I turned to my two friends and we all smiled at each other and said 'cool'. (something like that). When we glanced back at the man, who was sitting about 5 feet from us, he was gone. POOF. Gone. The cat was still sitting on the rock but the man was gone.

Later, on the train ride back to our barracks, it dawned on me that he had answered me in perfect English and that it sounded like he was from Connecticut. One of my friends was from Georgia and she said .. 'no, now that you mention it, he sounded like he was from Georgia.' My other friend was from Iowa and she said he sounded like he was from the midwest with perfect English.

We all heard him in the accent of where we are from in the USA.
It was freaky.

a reply to: FlyersFan

Interesting story. Thank you for sharing. I have never had an apparition speak so I found it fascinating.

P

a reply to: pheonix358

I think you make a very good point!

A bit like UFO's which are rarely seen in heavy rain and bad weather.

hmmmm

originally posted by: pheonix358
I have seen a ghost. I even gave an account here,

I saw a Ghost

Why are they clothed in every accounting of them.

People have near death experiences and everyone is clothed.

It just seems a bit weird!

One expects a ghost to be like Casper

But no, every account of seeing ghosts or seeing heaven or bright lights with your already departed loved ones, has everyone clothed.

Why? What would be the point, you left your body in the graveyard or had it cremated.

Any ideas.

I don't really mind. If Aunt Ethel is going to haunt you, better she is clothed than have her naked form flying around, but it is still strange.

P

Because what a ghost really is: A mental projection from your mind.

That's my opinion. Even when multiple people see them. Still a projection from your mind. Even if it's the undead, they tap into your mind and you make a mental projection.

originally posted by: WakeUpBeer
a reply to: pheonix358

Just because you're dead doesn't mean you can't have style.

There are actually reports of naked ghosts, however they are not as common.

LOl haha good one.

a reply to: pheonix358

Good Morning Pheonix,

Well, my thought's on this is what we actually see is perceived in our minds. We see what we know. We know (or sense) something is there, so our mind conjure's up a vision of what we feel. (Does that make any sense to anyone).

Anyway, I have only had one encounter that I can recall.

I was probably around 10 years old, I was sleeping in my bed, in my room. I had window's that were lenthwise across the top of the room. I loved to have the window open and I liked the drapes open that were right above my bed. ( I liked to fall asleep looking out at the sky)
I was awaken by the feeling of someone leaning over me, when I opened my eyes, I saw someone leaning over the bed and and reaching over and closing the drapes. I just laid there and did not move. I even remember thinking "am I awake".
I looked up and saw the drapes moving, and I thought "why did she do that" (meaning my mother).
I got up and looked to see if my mother was up. NOPE, she was in her bed, sleeping soundly, snoring lightly. So I went back to bed.
When I woke up the next morning, I remember opening my eyes and turning over to look at the drapes. They were in fact closed.
I asked my Mother and my dad later why they had closed my drapes and both of them said they had not been up and had not been in my room.

To this day, I think about that. At some point in my life, I came to believe it was my Grandmother (who had passed when I was a baby) watching over me. Even though I was very young, I remember her. She was alway's very good to me, and I felt safe when I was with her.

I don't remember seeing clothes, just the feeling of someone there and seeing an arm reach across me.

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to tell my story. Never told anyone that story. I always felt people would think I was goofy.

Hope everyone has a good day.
Crappiekat

a reply to: FlyersFan

FF, if true (and no reason to doubt you) that's one of the more convincing and interesting ghost stories I've read. Can we have more details? Did you and your friends look around behind the large rock and nearby tombstones to see if the man had ducked behind one? What kind of clothes did he wear (asking in order to stay on topic of the thread). Was the cat in his arms (if a ghost - suspended in the air!) or on top of the rock itself? Thanks for sharing your fun/creepy/inspiring experience.

a reply to: Aleister

We were standing five feet from him and it was just a second or two that we were looking at each other before we looked back at where he had been. There is NO WAY he could have gotten out of there without us seeing. The tombstones there aren't like the stones here. People there are cremated and put inside the stone. The stones were probably two feet tall at most so there was no hiding behind them.

He did not pick up the cat. The cat was just sitting next to him on the stone. The cat didn't disappear with him. It stayed and followed us around the cemetery a bit.

I'll dig through my photo albums and see if I can find the pictures in the cemetery. Obviously I don't have a shot of him .. he disappeared. But I do have pictures from the tombstones and the bonodori celebration that had taken place.

It might take a while but I'll give it a try ...

a reply to: FlyersFan

Since this is such a good ghost experience, and you are a trusted source, I really appreciate you adding to the telling. Interesting about the small stones, and the cremated remains packed inside them. You did mention in your first post that he was sitting on a large rock. Did someone look behind the rock to see if he was playing a joke and had ducked behind it? Was it large enough to block a person from sight if they were crouching down. Your story is 'FATE Magazine' worthy, thanks again!

a reply to: Aleister

Found one of the pictures ... dated 1985. That's me in the long hair standing. One friend is taking the picture. The friend with the short hair crouched in front of me is the one from Georgia. I know I have one with the small tombstones. It had the bonodori bucket and scrub brush next to the stone because the relatives had just cleaned it for the festival. Still looking ....



ETA ... this is in the cemetery a few minutes after seeing the spook ...

OOOOOH, I love these kinds of threads. Coming back later to re-read it!

This isn't that cemetery .. it's one in the city outside Tokyo. But I'll post it so you can see. These stones are larger than the old Kamakura ones but you can see how close they are together. They put the cremated remains inside the stones instead of underground.

a reply to: FlyersFan

Nice pic, you're quite the cutey (and probably still are). But...wait....for thread topic purposes...what was the ghost wearing? (and about the 'large rock', large enough to duck behind, or to put a duck behind, or bigger than a breadbox? Apologize for digging deeper, pun intended, but every great ghost story needs some semi-pretend-skeptical questioner).

a reply to: pheonix358

If they were to be naked, well then...You CANT handle the truth!

originally posted by: FlyersFan

originally posted by: Xarian6
The ones in clothes i believe to not be actual ghosts, but "replays" of past events, images burnt into ion ferrite or similar geological minerals..

The full ghost I saw and heard in Japan was clothed and he interacted with the living so he was aware of what was going on and wasn't a replay. He was an intelligent haunting and not a residual. So I'm thinking both kinds happen with clothed ghosts.

Agreed, but even you yourself say that wasn't a residual haunting. I have a theory on the kinds of entity's that interact like you say.. but not having dealt with that type it's just that.. my theory and it's rather "religious" based on warnings given in old books about those that interact.. i don't think those ones are "ghosts".

But heh.. this world is full of the unexplained, and in that many different levels of things we don't understand even when we grasp the basics the finer points elude us.. sure is fun learning though.

originally posted by: Aleister
for thread topic purposes...what was the ghost wearing? (and about the 'large rock', ...

Sorry for the off topic. I'm a taphophile so any chatter about cemeteries and I get ramped up ....

The ghost was wearing what I'd expect an older Japanese fella in 1985 to have been wearing. Plain, loose fitting clothing. Western style ... not 'traditional' Japanese. It fit with the time we were in. Nothing dated or 'vintage'. He looked like he belonged in that time period. The rock he could have ducked behind but we looked all around and he wasn't there.

The SPEECH is what got me. He spoke to me in perfect English with my New England accent. But the other two women with me heard perfect English in the accents they were from - Georgia and the Mid West. That was freaky weird but we didn't even notice until we found the train station and were headed back to Post (Camp Zama). On the train we started talking about it and that's when we figured out the speech pattern.