Do ghosts have an expiry date?

Hi all,

Last night i was having a discussion with my girlfriend about ghosts, and the question came up of why you don't ever see ghosts from thousands of years ago?

My girlfriend asked, "Why do you never see ghosts of cavemen?"

We hear of ghosts dating back maybe a couple of centuries at most, but rarely any older.

Do ghosts spend some time wandering our world before going some pleace else, invisible to us?

Same with animals. Now and again you hear of the spirit of animals being seen or experienced, but never older creatures such as dinosaurs.

Let me add that both my girlfriend and i are both believers in the paranormal, and have both experienced a few things that were without doubt not of this world so to speak.

CX.

I guess we do have an expiry date.

Maybe we only see what we think we'll see. Or maybe they, the ghosts, are showing themselves for some significance, and cavemen ghosts see none so they don't. I dont know just a thought. Playing with a satanic ouija board in an old indian graveyard is not what I want to do again. They're there and or maybe they transform into something else in time. who knows, I don't. Just a thought.

Maybe we are eternal beings, created by the universe's forces or simply nature, and at the core of a being is something which never changes, containing all of existence and mirroring the outer world (maybe called the soul) which is received through the senses. Wrapped around that core is a kind of energy which is spirit and that evolves too, both in the physical world (to gather information or experiences) and in the nonphysical world (to analyze, integrate the information gathered and evolve).

So why there are no neanderthal ghosts is because those spirits have evolved into something else.

We'll I don't believe in ghosts but I have read legends that say that ghosts "fade" over time, the traditional grey lady type ghosts being an example of this where they often start out as being more fully formed and fade into greyness over the years, presumably completely dissipating over time.

I've heard this specifically connected to the "grey lady" ghost in the Tower of London and I seem to remember it being mentioned when I toured round it on a school trip but I can't seem to find any reference to it on the net

I found this interesting definition:

The rationale for a belief in ghosts and spirits is based on the "law of conservation of energy" which states that energy can neither be created nor destroyed. If a human being or an animal from its incipience is a physical embodiment of energy, it stands to reason that when the physical container (the body) stops functioning as a result of death, the energy is released into the environment.

If you think of ghosts as energy, then they've gotta be self sustaining. People who are alive feed our energy needs with food, burning it essentially for fuel. And even then after many years our machine breaks down. It stands to reason that these energy beings will reach a point where they can no longer maintain form and dissipate back into the universe.

reply to post by CX

 

My girlfriend asked, "Why do you never see ghosts of cavemen?"

We hear of ghosts dating back maybe a couple of centuries at most, but rarely any older.

I've always assumed that "ghosts" were always looking to move into the next stage of afterlife. But, some of them didn't, for what ever reason, quite make it at first which is why they become ghosts in the first place.

And the longer time passes, the more time they have to 'find the light' so to speak and move onto the next stage of afterlife instead of being stuck at the stage they are at (Being ghosts). So, the reason we never really hear of extremely old spirits, although I think It does occur still, is they just finally found the way into the next stage of afterlife and are no longer able to communicate with us.

That's just what I always thought, not even sure why.

Well isn't it said that ghosts are here because they have something they need to do still? Or they need to 'walk into the light' or something along the lines of that... Perhaps we don't see ghosts from that long ago because they've done what needed doing, and they finally moved on in peace, rather than staying here bored for the rest of time.

most spiritual explanations suggest such entities either go on eventually, or reincarnate after awhile. the theory of a "ghost" is that its basically hanging around trying to interact with this dimension for some reason, be it waiting on other family members, or looking after some favorite house or object..the more things change, the more they feel less compelled to hang around.

Of course this is assuming that a ghost is the conscious form of someone whom died...bold assumption. What is a ghost? meh...nobody truely knows.

Originally posted by JonahH3X

If you think of ghosts as energy, then they've gotta be self sustaining. People who are alive feed our energy needs with food, burning it essentially for fuel. And even then after many years our machine breaks down. It stands to reason that these energy beings will reach a point where they can no longer maintain form and dissipate back into the universe.

This is exactly what I was thinking!

Of course there are some locations that supposedly "feed" this type of energy. Locations near water or quartz deposits and maybe even limestone(?).

Could it be though, that the cave man ghosts are still with us? Could be we just be catching a glimpse while he/she has on their fur coat. Big foot maybe?

I don't believe in ghosts, but this is a valid point. If I'm honest this weakens the idea that ghosts exist. Why don't you see the ghosts of T-Rex's, etc.?

With regards to the conservation of energy argument, the energy does go somewhere: our bodies die and decompose via bacteria, plants, insects, etc.

yabbbidy yabba yooo

ghosts dont care about human goings on....

If you subscribe to the "ghosts are energy" theory, then you'll need to examine what mainstream science has theorized about energy; mainly that all energy dissipates over time and cannot be self-sustaining. There are a lot of assumptions in this theory, but I think it's probably the most wide-spread amongst the research community.

Also, I believe that the nature of the event that caused the haunting to occur may directly relate to the amount of energy the spirit would have. Many investigators will attest to the fact that areas reported to be haunted by spirits of a tragic nature tend to be very active or particularly "charged". This could be attributed to a knowledge of the events combined with the fragile nature of the human psyche.

There's also the "moving-on" theory, wherein the spirit finally comes to terms with its demise and skips off into the next stage of being. While this will appeal to the more religious paranormal researchers, I don't believe it's as plausible an explanation wherein it would unravel the energy theory rather than coexist simultaneously.

I think we need to take human consciousness into consideration as well. Ghosts and hauntings as we know them are only first experienced and recorded in the Bible. Before civilization and recorded literature, we have no way of telling how these occurrences were explained or handled. Perhaps you have to subscribe to the idea of ghosts and hauntings before you yourself can be involved in one.

reply to post by CX


From what I have heard, ghosts are only ghosts because they have unfinished business. So as soon as their business is done they expire...that's what I believe

Originally posted by punctual
reply to post by CX

 

From what I have heard, ghosts are only ghosts because they have unfinished business. So as soon as their business is done they expire...that's what I believe

A Gost is a soul who has to "make peace" with something/one before he/she is allowed "up" or to "rest"

Thank you all for the great replies, lots of interesting theories there.

I especially like the energy one, makes sense i guess, then again this is still a field that we know virtualy nothing about.

Maybe thats what is so interesting about it.

CX.