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Do You Believe in Ghosts? How Many People Believe in Ghosts?
It's interesting that at least one third of the population of the United States believe in ghosts.
And almost one quarter of Americans believe they have had some sort of an encounter with
ghosts. After 1013 participants were questioned about what they believe by telephone, a
2007 AP-Ipsos poll found that approximately 34% of Americans believe in ghosts, with about
23% claiming they have either been in the presence of a spirit or actually seen one.
For comparison, the Baylor Religion Survey released in 2006 used telephone and mail,
finding that 37 percent of people surveyed from around the country believed that places can
be haunted, with nearly 20 percent believing we can have communication with disembodied
human spirits - ghosts.
What's interesting is how the percentages of people who believe in ghosts changed when the
method of polling was different. For example, a 2003 Harris Poll found through surveying
2,201 adults on-line that 51% of people believe in ghosts. In their survey, 58% of women
believed in ghosts along with a whopping 65% of younger adults aged 25-29. Shockingly, only
27% of the people polled over age 65 believe in ghosts.
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More People Believe in Ghosts Than We May Know
Two factors could effect the percentages of those
surveyed who do not believe in ghosts. The first would be
a person's religious affiliation. Some religions teach that
ghosts are impossible to exist because people are in
another place - either in a blissful heaven or a torturous
hell. The second factor would be anonymity. Many who
have memories of ghost encounters sometimes bury them
only later to forget or discount the experience. Why do
some choose not to tell of their possible paranormal
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encounter? To believe in ghosts might require embracing the risk of ridicule by others who
have not yet had their own encounter with the paranormal, especially if those beliefs are
openly shared. Some people who have seen spirits question their own sanity regarding what
they encountered. It is altogether quite possible that some people secretly withhold sharing
their beliefs about ghosts and haunting.
For those who have come to terms with a haunting or ghost encounter, their mind is made up.
They believe in ghosts. Staunch skeptics will have a difficult time refuting people who openly
believe in ghosts because of the power of the believer's personal experiences. This is
especially true if experiences with ghosts and spirits occur after the death of a loved one.
Believe in Ghosts: Skeptics vs Cynics
Some scientists and cynics will often attempt to disprove the existence of ghosts by
attributing such ghostly experiences to either environmental factors or illusions produced by
the human brain. In some cases, this is indeed true; but these explanations fall short of
disproving sightings of ghosts that have been witnessed by multiple people. To be
open-minded and not sure is a good thing; it just means the person has not had enough of a
ghostly encounter to move beyond skepticism. Yet, they remain open to the possibility. To the
cynic, however, their mind is made up and closed. They will not believe in ghosts even if they
become one themselves...perhaps.
Believe in Ghosts: Surveys and Polls
Baylor University's Religion Survey
Harris Poll - The Religious and Other Beliefs of Americans 2003
2007 AP-Ipsos Poll on Ghosts
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Believe in Ghosts - Copyright 2010 Angels & Ghosts, LLC
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