I see no reason I would fake it.

Other than the lols one doesn't always need a reason to fake something.
case in point, Uncle Voodoo's Army Stories: The mad sh*tter incident
Though keep in mind I nor anyone is accusing you of doing this. Just pointing out that people don't really need a reason to hoax something.

I am also not one of those people who hear voices.

You hear a disembodies voice talking and you're not one to hear voices huh?

I remember when I was very young. Maybe 5 or 6. I saw a ghost in my room.

Repeating myself only three pages in.
"It's actually normal for people under the age of 16 to hear and even see things that aren't there. This is going on because the brain is still developing."

You hear a disembodies voice talking and you're not one to hear voices huh?

I never said I heard a disembodied voice. So no I'm not one who hears voices.

"It's actually normal for people under the age of 16 to hear and even see things that aren't there. This is going on because the brain is still developing."

Fair enough. But my friend heard his dead dad's ghost. And he's older than 16.

Fair enough. But my friend heard his dead dad's ghost. And he's older than 16.

It can continue on after that age. It's just usually to a lesser degree.

okay guys this is it WHO ****ING CARES JUST AGREE TO DISAGREE OKAY PLEASE

It's actually normal for people under the age of 16 to hear and even see things that aren't there. This is going on because the brain is still developing.

Case in point, when I was young, at a hotel, I was sure that their was something weird going on with the light, it was changing shapes and and fluctuating.

Now that I am older, I realize, maybe it was just the result of having just seen a Silent  (/sarcasm).

as for ghosts being real, maybe they are, but I have never seen one, and there has never been documented proof. (Before you say that Christians say ghosts appear to people, I don't consider saints and angels appearing to others to be ghosts.)

~~~Darth Caedus

That somewhat explain what I'm trying to say?

Yeah, it does. But it shows the necessity to define "afterlife" in this context, because for me, afterlife includes everything that comes after death.

One thing I'd like to point out is, we have not one objective piece of evidence on the existence of ghosts, just individual experiences. However we do have explanations for at least a big part of the experiences. Here some links that might support/expand on the already mentioned in this thread:
- Part 1
- Part 2
- Part 3
- Part 4

To answer the second question (Can atheists believe in them), yes of course. Personally, as already mentioned, I do not make a link between ghosts and a religion like christianism, despite the (only) common assumption of souls or similar stuff. Why would a soul have to complete something on earth before entering heaven? I don't think any religious text makes mention of this, and I think it's something people asusmed to explain their experiences and adopted as truth way too easily.

I don't think ghosts (I.E dead people still hanging around) are real
But another phenomenon  baffels me.
The pridiction of future.
Many times it has happenned to me that something have happenned which I had envisioned some time earlier.
I 'll give you an example.
Once I dreamed that I am walking with a group of people  I don't know downhill and talking to them, I can't see their faces but I remember the conversation.
Fast forward 6 months, I have made some new friends and we go to a hill top city we are talking while walking downhill using same words and street have the exact same structure as my dream.
This still baffles me.
Also, when something bad is about to happen, for some unknown reason I feel it.
Not like an itch or tingling but something just does not feel right.

ever went back to the house and see if the new owners have seen it.

Nobody lives in the house at the minute because it flooded last winter.

maybe it was just a story of grany or school when you 2 were younger that played whit your mind later and your mom just plays along.

My sister was 21 when it happened, so yeah...

what about your father, he never seen it?

Not that I know of, no.

maybe you just made up the story.

What would be the point of that?

my friend heard his dead dad's ghost. And he's older than 16.

He may not have heard it. He might have just wanted to believe he heard it, if you believe such a thing for so long your mind can actually deem it to be true.

okay guys this is it WHO ****ING CARES JUST AGREE TO DISAGREE OKAY PLEASE

You don't actually have to read through the thread nor prove your idiocy by posting.

using same words and street have the exact same structure as my dream.

That's somewhat odd, even though I can think of a few people that this has happened to.
For example; one night my mother dreamed that someone she knew had got run over by a train.
She told us that morning when she woke up the dream she had, that night he had died after running out in front of a drain while he was drunk.

when something bad is about to happen, for some unknown reason I feel it.
Not like an itch or tingling but something just does not feel right.

Many people can feel something isn't right, it's kind of hard to describe but it's happened to me before.

Once I dreamed that I am walking with a group of people  I don't know downhill and talking to them, I can't see their faces but I remember the conversation.
Fast forward 6 months, I have made some new friends and we go to a hill top city we are talking while walking downhill using same words and street have the exact same structure as my dream.
This still baffles me.

It's called a deja vu. I highly, highly, highly doubt you remembered all that clearly what your dream looked like 6 months past. Then you saw a similar scene (and let's face it, a hill in a city isn't special) and you were talking with some people. Eventually that's going to happen regardless.

Also, when something bad is about to happen, for some unknown reason I feel it.

This is called intuition, and also confirmation bias. You remember all the times you felt this way and something bad happened, but not all the times you've felt that way and nothing happened. We tend to remember things which stand out, not stuff that is mundane.

On another note, I forget where I heard this or if it's accurate, but plane crashes often have a high number of cancellations before the flight ever leaves...significantly more than normal. If anyone wants to look into that go ahead, I can't recall where I heard it.

my mother dreamed that someone she knew had got run over by a train.
She told us that morning when she woke up the dream she had, that night he had died after running out in front of a drain while he was drunk.

Speaking  of mothers, when ever an elder relative of mine watches someone getting married in a dream, the other person dies with in next 24 hours, weird.