I prefer a sort of an alternative ghost theory, that they're imprints of an event or a moment in time, rather than the traditional spirit related theory. Although much like I think with UFOs they could well be more than one thing. There are some hauntings that seem tied to locations and some tied to specific people, and sometimes phenomena that seem tied to a place attach to an individual and follow them. I've heard some horror stories about people opening themselves up to some dark stuff.
I also wonder how capable we are (we meaning people...) of generating phenomena, and how often what people experience matches what they expect, and how much of what people see reflects their religious or spiritual belief structure.
Speaking personally, I'm an atheist but as someone who was raised in and then outgrew the Catholic church I have kind of an irrational fear of ghosts while at the same time not believing in them, or in non-human spirits. Like the logical side of me says that the stuff western religion teaches is all fear-based social engineering and not real, but the little kid indoctrinated in that same church part of me wants absolutely nothing to do with them anyway.
It's like, while I don't think there's life after death or demons or anything like that, I still don't want to open that door anyway, just in case. No point in tempting fate. So if you want to explore haunted houses and graveyards, or play around with ouija boards, more power to you. Just leave me out of it.
