Who do you talk to about this stuff?

[tyder001]

I find that I am about the only "oddball" in my family and friends and co workers who give a rip about the paranormal. This forum and other websites are the only outlet I have to discuss this stuff. My oldest friend in the world will discuss Braves baseball or Bama football for hours with me. But, ufo's or life after death or anyother esoteric subject and he just laughs nervously and changes the subject. He doesn't read much either but we are still life long friends so I guess I'll take the sports talk and leave it at that. Another friend is just going to see it through religious eyes which means he doesn't beleive in any of it unless it's demonic. So no discussion there. My wife will talk about Game of Thrones and how it all relates to Stargate She had some real problems with religion and is Agnostic for the most part on all of it including the paranormal. I have a friend in Colorado who is skeptical but will talk about things from a "Scientific American" angle but we are a long way from each other. Anyway, just wondered if others find it hard to relate to folks around themselves with this "wierd and odd" interest that some of us have. 8)

 

[Sean Elifritz]

I find that I am about the only "oddball" in my family and friends and co workers who give a rip about the paranormal. This forum and other websites are the only outlet I have to discuss this stuff. My oldest friend in the world will discuss Braves baseball or Bama football for hours with me. But, ufo's or life after death or anyother esoteric subject and he just laughs nervously and changes the subject. He doesn't read much either but we are still life long friends so I guess I'll take the sports talk and leave it at that. Another friend is just going to see it through religious eyes which means he doesn't beleive in any of it unless it's demonic. So no discussion there. My wife will talk about Game of Thrones and how it all relates to Stargate She had some real problems with religion and is Agnostic for the most part on all of it including the paranormal. I have a friend in Colorado who is skeptical but will talk about things from a "Scientific American" angle but we are a long way from each other. Anyway, just wondered if others find it hard to relate to folks around themselves with this "wierd and odd" interest that some of us have. 8)

Absolutely nobody...for the most part. 99% of the time my friends and family could care less. But once in a blue moon the subject gets brought up in a positive way by one of them. The interesting thing is that usually when that happens I end up taking the role of the skeptic because they've gotten themselves excited by a very easy to dismiss case. But mainly the only time I talk about this subject is with strangers on the internet. The people in my personal life aren't necessarily skeptical (Some are but most are open-minded), they just don't care one way or the other.

Edit: On a side note I have two family members that react to my interest in the subject in a funny way (Well, funny to me anyway). One of them (I've mentioned this here before) is a complete idiot. I'm talking illiterate, can't even look something up in a phone book. Anytime my interest in UFOs gets mentioned an unmistakable expression of intellectual superiority paints itself on her face. She can hardly contain her amusement. This person is probably less intelligent than your average 5th grader but if the paranormal rears its ugly head she suddenly feels a cerebral foot taller than me. The other person is extremely religious and gets mad that I am not (Lectures me CONSTANTLY. Tells me I'm going to Hell, the full nine). Sometimes she yells at me "There's more proof for that than aliens!"

 

[Angel of Ioren]

Apart from this forum, not much.

I do remember discussing ghosts with friends in the mid-nineties when I actually thought there was something to it. When it does come up though, I am able to discuss it intelligently because of this forum. I usually don't argue with people about it though.

The only time I get a little argumentative is when someone brings up a garbage claims like chemtrails, global warming denial, anti-vaccine, 9/11 conspiracies, organic food, etc... I have fun arguing about that in an amicable way.

 

[Xylo]

Anyway, just wondered if others find it hard to relate to folks around themselves with this "wierd and odd" interest that some of us have. 8)

I'm in the same boat, mostly. I do have a co-worker that would fall into the "believer" category. Same at my old job, there were two guys there that were "believers." So there are very few people with which I can actually discuss any of the aspects of the paranormal other than ghosts. For some reason people have an easier time dealing with the "ghost" category than with the ETH, interdimensional, crypto-terrestrial types of paranormality.

 

[exo_doc]

Almost no one else away from the Paracast.
Living in western North Carolina I'm mostly surrounded by very closed minded people who guffaw and roll their eyes at the talk of "little green men".
I fully sympathize with Wickerman about his family member. I know a LOT of people that fit that description around here.
It's the same with Karate for some reason. I've been practicing Shotokan Karate for years, and when someone here finds out, they always act like"....and do you go to a *snicker-snicker* DOJO ?" like I'm some weirdo no-life loser.

Back to the paranormal, no one around here wants to talk about anything not involving food, family, cheating husbands/wives, or country music. I live in a stinking cliche'!!!!!!!

Thank God I've got the Paracast at least.

 

[The Pair of Cats]

Great thread Steve! I'm lucky i suppose. My wife and children have similar beliefs to my own but have their own take on these subjects. When i was reading Tarot (before i semi retired) my wife was the one bringing me the clients! Most of my friends know of my interest in UFOs/Paranormal and are tolerant of it. They have their own views and have been able to converse with me about them, for the most part, in an intelligent and reasonable manner.
I remember in the nineties i was part of a small group with interest in the paranormal who would meet weekly. Two members were a husband and wife team, both psychologists. One being a Professor of Psychology at a University here in Adelaide, his wife was a lecturer at the same Uni. They were both fascinated by the subjects and were eager participants in things we were discussing and trialling.
I asked them both how their colleagues felt about their involvement in this field and both said they were reluctant to talk to them about it as their jobs would be in jeopardy.

 

[pixelsmith]

My son says I am a nut job... imagine that.

 

[vonmazur]

Tyder, show up in B'ham some time...we can visit the local religious nuts and drive them crazy...

Dale

 

[Hotkafka]

Confirmed. My interests have painted me as a bit of a pariah amongst friends and some family. However, I've managed to translate this interest into my professional sphere, both through contacts with like minded psychology types and through clients looking for a safe conduit to explore such issues therapeutically. I feel pretty damn lucky, but getting here was no accident.

 

[dyingsun]

I just keep this topic and any other 'metaphysical' related things completely separate and away from my circle of friends. I reckon some know my interest, but that's about it, and I like to keep it that way.There are still certain Stigmata attached to these topics.

 

[Sean Elifritz]

I just keep this topic and any other 'metaphysical' related things completely separate and away from my circle of friends. I reckon some know my interest, but that's about it, and I like to keep it that way.There are still certain Stigmata attached to these topics.

It doesn't go that far in my case. No stigma or anything like that. Only on very rare occasions will anything negative be said (The religious person I mentioned earlier likes to bring it up sometimes if we're disagreeing about something totally unrelated). It's more of just a complete lack of interest. Most of them think there might be something to it, they just don't care until if and when they're face to face with it. The most embarrassing thing for me is all the backpedaling I've done in the last few years. Things I once endorsed to them as the real thing I now say probably isn't. In my 30s now I never bring this stuff up. It only gets discussed if it's brought up to me. But in my 20s I talked about it a lot, perhaps even obsessively so in my early 20s. Was a whole lot of stuff I told people they could take to the bank back in those days that I don't believe at all now. Nowadays on the rare occasions when I'm in a verbal conversation about this subject I come off sounding like a debunker as I shoot down every incident they bring up (Almost always will be something they've seen on TV) and go on to explain that 99.99% of this stuff at a minimum is absolute garbage.

 

[boomerang]

My wife is an open minded listener and mildly curious. She has had a fair share of paranormal experiences involving ESP and other things. But she's not really into the subject of ufos.

I live in a very fundy religous small town. This place is to the right of the RNC. What's odd is that the small local library has one of the largest collections of books about ufos I have ever seen in a public library. There are also alphabet agency connections hereabouts not much discussed. Hmmm.....???

The bottom line answer is "no one". I've given up on convincing my wider family that there is a kernal of truth to the ufo mystery. The room becomes suddenly quiet and---well you know the routine.

 

[kukalakana]

I find there are a few people that I can talk to; we none of us have strong opinions on the subject, but do find it quite intriguing. Except maybe my mum -- she's an extreme skeptic. But most of the people I "talk" to at all are online, and these in common interest groups. I move in rather esoteric circles sometimes, with much of my interests involving sci-fi, writing, mythology, and so on -- all of which are well complimented by an interest in the paranormal. So a lot of friends who are interested in one or more of these things tend to be interested in others which are similar. My mother may have managed to tame her odd-ball husband, but she gave up on taming her oddball (aspie Trekkie nerdy eccentric) daughter ages ago. Or I gave up on letting her try!

But the thing is that a lot of people aren't going to keep an open mind about these things -- they are going to scoff the moment you bring it up. They are missing out on some fascinating stuff, regardless of whether they believe in it or not. Their loss.

 

[campbell71]

I have a friend who is involved with a paranormal group - they go to old houses, old mental institutions, decommissioned nuclear bunkers and air raid bunkers etc etc., so you think he'd be pretty open minded to the idea of ufo's yet he looks at me like I'm a few bricks short of a hod when I mention the subject. I plug the paracast to him saying it's not just ufo's but he won't be having any of it... ghosts and spirits are ok - life beyond earth is a bit too far fetched supposedly.....

ps - has anyone noticed the increase in programs that advise you what to do in the event of an alien invasion? and.... why does Prof. Michio Kaku seem to be in alot of them. Is there something he knows that we don't?

 

[JD Thompson]

Other than this forum, I don't really discuss the paranormal. My coworkers think of me as a pretty boring fellow. With my friends, it's mostly poker and sports. However, with my really close friends, from high school and before, we talk about it sometimes, but not very often.Like another poster said earlier, there is a stigma to these issues----and that's because lots of kooky people publicly espouse them, frankly.

---------- Post added at 07:28 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:27 PM ----------

why does Prof. Michio Kaku seem to be in alot of them. Is there something he knows that we don't?

Ha! I'd thought the same thing. He's either got a great agent, or knows something that he outghta tell....