I am curious to hear from materialists on the phenomenon of poltergeists. For the purposes of this thread, we will define materialism as follows:
materialism:
1. Philosophy. The theory that physical matter is the only reality and that everything, including thought, feeling, mind, and will, can be
explained in terms of matter and physical phenomena.
Poltergeist activity as most of you know, can mostly be defined thusly:
Poltergeist:
1. A ghost that manifests itself by noises, rappings, and the creation of disorder.
Further to that definition, one of the hallmarks of poltergeist activity is the manifestation of physical phenomenon. Objects moving, substances
materializing out of nowhere, objects levitating or disappearing and reappearing, etc.
One famous case (which had over 30 witnesses) that I am sure most of ATS is familiar with is the Enfield poltergeist, which you can read about briefly
here
. The Enfield poltergeist is probably one of the best documented cases of poltergeist activity, and while the linked article is a good overview of
what happened, there is much more material regarding the case on the internet, including recordings. Now the obvious conclusion a materialist would
come to is that the whole thing was hoaxed. But what if it wasn't? There are accounts and evidences all over the world for poltergeist activity,surely
every case can't be a hoax?
Usually when a phenomenon is observable and there is evidence for it, it is the duty of scientists to investigate it. Outside a fringe group of
paranormal researches, mainstream scientists generally regard the subject with derision, and often claim there is no evidence for it (when there is
actually a wealth of evidence for it). Hypothetically speaking, if poltergeist activity does occur, what is the materialists explanation for such
phenomenon?
In closing I will leave you with a personal experience I had while living in a house that I considered to be haunted. Aside from other events which
led me to that conclusion (some of which were witnessed by multiple people), there is one event that occurred in that house that defies any attempts
at rationalisation. The event occurred as follows:
It was a sunny summer morning, and I was about to leave the house to head downtown. I had just had a cup of coffee and was alert, sober, and in good
spirits. Before leaving the house, I went back into the living room to make sure I'd turned off the stereo. Verifying that I had indeed turned it off,
I turned to exit the living room when an ashtray (sort of a tin cup that we used as an ashtray anyways) which was sitting on top of the speaker to my
left, flew off the speaker and across the living room in a straight line, striking the wall opposite the stereo (about 18 feet away). The ashtray did
not fall, it did not get knocked off the stereo by a breeze, and I did not touch it. It flew (seemingly of it's own power) in a straight line with no
arc at high speed and impacted the opposite wall with force.
I remember thinking that I must be hallucinating or something, so I left the ashtray where it was (butts on the floor and all) and exited the house in
a hurry, being somewhat spooked. I figured if I returned and everything was where I had left it, then it would serve as a confirmation that I had
indeed just witnessed something very unusual. When I returned, the ashtray (and cigarette butts) were exactly where they had been left after impacting
the wall.
My experience is 100% true and I have nothing to gain by fabricating such a story. So my question to the materialists is this: What did I witness?
What is your explanation not only for my experience, but for the 1000's of other accounts of poltergeist activity (some of which are extremely well
documented)? Are we all liars?
edit on 12-8-2013 by DeadSeraph because: (no reason given)