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Ok, What Was It?

dlorde said:
The question that interests me is why some people seem to have so many more such stories to tell than the rest of us.
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There's an occasional poster here called PartSkeptic who goes around looking for odd coincidences, and consequently has lots of stories to tell about odd coincidences. Most people would barely notice them, let alone remember them.

If someone is looking for reasons to believe in the paranormal they will tend to notice and remember events which they can't immediately explain, but that most people would either not notice at all or dismiss and forget.
 
I don't think that's the complete explanation. It doesn't matter whether you believe in the stereotypical paranormal such as ghost, goblins, and whatever else gets the blame. I think personality tendencies have more to do with it than anything else. Extroverts are much more likely to be skeptical of extraordinary claims than introverted personalities.
 
William Parcher said:
IMO, false memory is more likely to be the explanation than simultaneous and odd vandalism to three different car batteries or simultaneous battery defects on three different car batteries.

For example: One of the car batteries may have exploded. Then the other two were inspected and found to have distorted cases which were bulging. It was announced that the other two looked like they were about to explode as well. Thirty-five years later the story is that all three batteries exploded.

This is well within the realm of false and changing memory and is fairly common with normal people.

ETA: And what Olowkow just said.
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You're on to something.

Bulging batteries are pretty common. Maybe they didn't actually explode.
 
Pixel42 said:
There's an occasional poster here called PartSkeptic who goes around looking for odd coincidences, and consequently has lots of stories to tell about odd coincidences. Most people would barely notice them, let alone remember them.

If someone is looking for reasons to believe in the paranormal they will tend to notice and remember events which they can't immediately explain, but that most people would either not notice at all or dismiss and forget.
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Good points, both. I was thinking along the lines that perhaps some of us are more naturally story tellers than others; for the vast majority of our species history our cultural memory has been verbal. On the other hand, perhaps some of us are more in need of social attention than others, and take whatever chances they can to collect and tell stories for this purpose (to impress, to fit in, to be noticed) ;)
 
JoeBentley said:
Another Woo Slinger trademark is the constant appeals to "But I know what I saw!"

As has already been pointed out this is a bad position. Evidence, logic, and reason sometimes have to override personal experience.

Now let us be very, very, very clear here. Pointing out that one's memory and perception can sometimes be faulty is not saying the person is lying, stupid, or crazy.

Allow me to relate a story. Many years ago I worked an ungodly swing shift onboard an aircraft carrier stationed out of Virginia. One dark, dreary early winter morning I drove to work in the wee hours of the dark, parked my car, and headed toward the ship. After taking a few steps something ran from under a nearby parked car and into some nearby brush. I'm rather short.

Now here's what I literally saw within my own perceptions. I saw a small bipedal figure run in a very humanoid like gate from under the car.

I'm a rational adult. I'm mentally sound. I don't do drugs or had recently used alcohol or prescription medication. I have fine eyesight when wearing corrective lenses, which I was at the time. I've actually literally had training on how to recognize a human figure moving against a background. The distance was no more then a few dozen meters and I saw what I saw for several seconds.

Option 1: I literally saw a tiny humanoid creature.

Option 2: A sailor walking to his ship spooked one of the of multitude of birds, feral cats or big rats that live on the base and when he looked at it some trick of light and shadow made him see something that wasn't there.

So which is more likely? That a species of gnome somehow lives but has escaped detection on one of the largest and busiest military facilities in the world or that a weary sailor had a brain fart?
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1980's? Norfolk? It was probably drunken me trying to get back for muster.
 
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Why would you tow all 3 cars?

I don't think you are recalling any of these events accurately.
 
Jodie said:
I don't think that's the complete explanation. It doesn't matter whether you believe in the stereotypical paranormal such as ghost, goblins, and whatever else gets the blame. I think personality tendencies have more to do with it than anything else. Extroverts are much more likely to be skeptical of extraordinary claims than introverted personalities.
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It was battery fairies. can you accept that explanation? why or why not?
 
Jodie said:
I don't think that's the complete explanation. It doesn't matter whether you believe in the stereotypical paranormal such as ghost, goblins, and whatever else gets the blame. I think personality tendencies have more to do with it than anything else. Extroverts are much more likely to be skeptical of extraordinary claims than introverted personalities.
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I'm calling BS on this extraordinary claim, and I've been introverted all my life.
 
Biscuit said:
Why would you tow all 3 cars?

I don't think you are recalling any of these events accurately.
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Dad said he couldn't get the batteries out and he wanted the mechanic to check the other parts to make sure they were OK.
 
John Jones said:
I'm calling BS on this extraordinary claim, and I've been introverted all my life.
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It's not a direct correlation type of thing but here are some research articles that back up my opinion:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23397237

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22481051

Nothing is 100% and you know that there are other factors that affect perception rather than just whether you tend to be extroverted or introverted.

Extroverts tend to be more objectively oriented and impulsive. An introvert is more analytical, methodical, but also relies more on intuition and tends to be fantasy prone.

I think it takes an introvert more effort and self awareness to apply a skeptical approach towards something than it would an extrovert. The extrovert would be more oriented towards and comfortable dealing with objective fact.
 
Jodie said:
It's not a direct correlation type of thing but here are some research articles that back up my opinion:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23397237

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22481051

Nothing is 100% and you know that there are other factors that affect perception rather than just whether you tend to be extroverted or introverted.

Extroverts tend to be more objectively oriented and impulsive. An introvert is more analytical, methodical, but also relies more on intuition and tends to be fantasy prone.

I think it takes an introvert more effort and self awareness to apply a skeptical approach towards something than it would an extrovert. The extrovert would be more oriented towards and comfortable dealing with objective fact.
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Your cited studies don't support your claim. And your additional claims are unsupported.
 
bruto said:
With regard to the bathroom door, the obvious question arises: how did you get out again?
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I have another question. From my very limited knowledge of poltergeists - all gained from watching bad movies - they are not exactly the quiet sort. Of course one must consider that knowledge of poltergeists is likely faulty, but...I find it hard to believe they should be able to close a door without making the same door closing sounds as any human might make. Jodie claims she would have heard the door scraping as it closed, and that she didn't hear that noise. Well - a poltergeist would have made the same noise.

Personally I think poltergeists are as fictional as it gets. But I think it is safe to say that any ghost, poltergeist, sandman or Bigfoot would have had to make some noise to close the privy door. Leaving me to think that Jodie misremembers, and closed the door herself.
 
Jodie said:
Dad said he couldn't get the batteries out and he wanted the mechanic to check the other parts to make sure they were OK.
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If the batteries had truly exploded - quite a lot of the other parts would be not okay.
 
Modesty78 said:
I have another question. From my very limited knowledge of poltergeists - all gained from watching bad movies - they are not exactly the quiet sort. Of course one must consider that knowledge of poltergeists is likely faulty, but...I find it hard to believe they should be able to close a door without making the same door closing sounds as any human might make. Jodie claims she would have heard the door scraping as it closed, and that she didn't hear that noise. Well - a poltergeist would have made the same noise.

Personally I think poltergeists are as fictional as it gets. But I think it is safe to say that any ghost, poltergeist, sandman or Bigfoot would have had to make some noise to close the privy door. Leaving me to think that Jodie misremembers, and closed the door herself.
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No, I'm positive that I didn't close the door due to the sag of the door frame. It has only been 4 years ago since this incident happened.
 
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Jodie said:
If they didn't explode, would they leak when the batteries became swollen?
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If they merely cracked they would still leak profusely, and depending on position, they could make a big mess. If a prankster shorted them enough to boil the electrolyte, they would not need either to crack or explode to exude electrolyte and make a mess. If a prankster took a hammer and whacked the side of a battery, it would look very bad, and make a big mess too. Battery cases are not very strong on the sides.

If, as you say, the vehicles were towed away to assess the damage, can one not presume the damage was assessed? Of course it's a bit late now, but it would be interesting to know what an actual mechanic thought of the situation.
 
Jodie said:
If they didn't explode, would they leak when the batteries became swollen?
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They could develop leaks without exploding.

One battery may have exploded then the others were inspected and found to be bulging and/or leaking. But those conditions may have developed independently and not in simultaneous coincidence. A leaking or bulging battery case might not be noticed until there is a reason to look closely at it.
 
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