Ghosts? Real or your mind playing tricks?

A question about : Ghosts? Real or your mind playing tricks?

I thought this would be quite an interesting discussion after having a paranormal encounter, well thats what i'm calling it. Early this morning about half 3 i was walking home after work. The part of the walk where it happened is pretty normal, its an unlit footpath with a road next to it and fields either side. At the bottom end is an army barracks and the top end is the outskirts of the town i live. I've walked it hundreds of times and never encountered anything weird. I'm aware of an urban legend local people call the ghost of the coachman. Apparently there was an old coach house along that part of the road in the old days where people were murdered and the coachman is seen walking by where the coach house was. Personally i dont take much notice of that sort of stuff.

Anyways when i was walking home this morning along that stretch, the road is to the right of me, the MOD coming from the barracks doing their night patrols drove by. I see them all the time and its quite handy when they do becuse the van lights up everything ahead of me well it drove by and there was nothing in front of me on the path or on the road. As soon as it went past on the side of the road it was driving on a figure of someone was walking along the road. All i could see was it had a long coat and like a cowboy hat but there was no noise of footsteps or anything and how it could have been on the road without being hit by the van is impossible. I legged it, it was one of those moments every hair on your body stands up and you get that sort of frission feeling. Now i think it was the ghost of the coachman!

Best answers:

• Nah your mind is playing tricks. No such thing as ghosts
• The human brain is hard wired for pattern recognition - especially for body shapes and faces. It's very easy to see 'ghosts' that are really just tricks of the lighting/shadows/surface features.
  No, there's no ghosts.
• If there is a sewer grate, and it's cold, the 'mist' above it can be very human shaped when your mind wants to find a pattern.
• The ghost of a coachman wouldn't be wearing a cowboy hat would he?
• Let us know if you see him again tonight
  One of my grandparents was a spiritualist so I'm used to hearing about ghosts or the spirit world, or whatever you want to call them.
• I'm of the opinion that people who don't believe in ghosts have not yet encountered one. I was a total sceptic until it happened to me, now I am more open minded...
• I don't believe until I really see one - undeniably.
  Your imagination can really grow when in situations like that. I sort of see it as a healthy sign that I actually have one, unlike a lot of people these days.
• I'm a strong believer in the spiritual world and also agree wholeheartedly...don't disregard something just because you have'nt experienced it.
• I think it is a good thing having an open mind, it would be boring if we didn't. Some people only believe in what is black and white.
• With all the mobile phones equipped with cameras you'd think that some (if not a lot) of these 'ghosts' would have been photographed properly by now but oddly enough this isn't the case. I can't think why not. Oh, hang on! I've worked it out - Ghosts don't exist.
• I definitely believe, and have been fortunate to see two with my own eyes - there is a chap that appears from time to time in my house, even my father in law saw him!
  Its not a scary thing though. Imprints in time I reckon.
• How do you know that this only happens at night time? Can you be sure that all of the people you see during they day are real and not ghosts.. Think of that film ' I see dead people' ! They didn't all look spooky. did they?