Oh, why didn't the spirits warn them beforehand? Not a blood-curdling "Look ooooouuuuttt!" Not even a softly whispered "T".
A man who was with about a dozen people who were looking for a legendary "ghost train" in Iredell County was hit by a locomotive and killed early Friday morning.
(...)
"During the investigation, witnesses told deputies they were at the site in hopes of seeing a 'ghost train'," the Iredell County sheriff's office said in a press release.
The sheriff said the incident coincided with the anniversary of a train wreck that occurred at the same location in 1891.
Confirming the fact that at least half the population are below average intelligence, there appears to be a new urban legend emanating from New South Wales that claims a ghost can be conjured (but only by P Platers — those new drivers on Provisional plates) and only be exceeding the speed limit.
Supposedly, the 'ghost' is a deceased motorcyclist, who is chasing the young drivers in order to make them slow down. EoR isn't sure whether this proves the gullibility of young drivers, or the stupidity of ghosts.
But the event that really made me realise that there is a real threat is when me and some friends went to go check out a ghost sight at lemon tree passage, NSW, Australia where a bikey had been hit and killed by young drivers and his ghost follows any young drivers that speed along this road at night which is a long straight road in the middle of bush and he dispeares at the turn of where he died. And as we got close to the area, a sickening feeling that everyone admitted to feel came over us. His ghost came and we did it a couple of times cause we were heaps fasinated, and everytime tears would stream out of my eyes though i didnt feel like i was crying and then on our way home, well away from his road. a faceless bikey on the wrong side of the road was riding right at us, his bike didnt make a sound and he disapeared when he hit the car and then a headlight appeared in the distance behind us and within 5 second he was 5metres behind us getting closer and closer. everyone in the car started screaming and crying and i started praying for us and the bikey and something weird happened. without me even meaning to, my hand lifted and made the sign of the cross and the ghost vanished.
Then, of course, there's the proof on YouTube as well: various shaky videos of a car headlight, and teenagers swearing profusely. Way better than those clearly fake photos Anthony Grzelka's got.
EoR expects that there will be a lot of competition for the Darwin Awards this year.
Of course, stupidity is not only an Australian characteristic, but is to be found all over the world, including the USA where one in five believe President Obama is a Muslim, even though there is not only no evidence for the proprosition, but a range of evidence against it.
Alternative therapies often rely on the "It works for me" declaration. This, usually proclaimed by the user rather than the vendor, claims that an alternative therapy was used, improvement in the condition was perceived and, ergo, the therapy was the causal factor in the improvement.
EoR's readers will recognise the fallacy in this view, and just how difficult it can be to separate perception from reality. We desire to see an improvement, so we ignore any other issues. We habitually look for patterns, so we see them, often when they aren't there.
Yet separating perception from the real is much more difficult than simply being aware of any errors it might induce.
Here is a hypothetical: You want to travel from City A to City B. City B is located south of City B A. Which direction is longer: travelling from City A to City B, or travelling from City B to City A?
Volunteers also estimated that it would take considerably longer to drive between the same pairs of U.S. cities if traveling from south to north, as opposed to north to south, says psychologist and study director Tad Brunyé of Tufts University in Medford, Mass. For journeys that averaged 798 miles, time estimates for north-going jaunts averaged one hour and 39 minutes more than south-going trips, he and his colleagues report in an upcoming Memory & Cognition.
