Ghosts reacting violently to holy water

Ignore the gobbledegook text that runs for the first minute and eleven seconds. Just forward past it and enjoy the rest. (via Robert Popper)

[#1 posted by Anonymous, June 25, 2009 11:18 AM]

Unfortunate for that identity blob, i bet the facial contortions are the best part.

[#2 posted by Clemoh, June 25, 2009 11:23 AM]

So do all Hindi women have 'Ghosts'? Or just the ladies?
YAY for Christianity!

[#3 posted by Anonymous, June 25, 2009 11:25 AM]

If someone kept flicking water in my face, I wouldn't be too happy about it either. And my ghost is a well-mannered gentleman.

[#4 posted by Anonymous, June 25, 2009 11:25 AM]

Audio definitely NSFW, peoples

[#5 posted by Darren Garrison, June 25, 2009 11:26 AM]

I wonder if Holy Water gets "teh gay" out?

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gwceoRa76wAmeJzDIIvb3qb4raYgD9916IP00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhedHERfcXk

[#6 posted by Anonymous, June 25, 2009 11:30 AM]

Good news, ghosts seem to be very ineffective problem solvers. If making guttural noises doesn't make the holy water stop, try slapping the ground repeatedly.

[#7 posted by Anonymous, June 25, 2009 11:30 AM]

I'd like to see video of the entire experiment, where the Spiritual Science Research Foundation attempted to use regular water as a placebo and the ghosts did not react violently at all, proving their hypothesis.

[#8 posted by nmcvaugh, June 25, 2009 11:32 AM]

I wonder if Holy Water gets "teh gay" out?

As effectively as club soda! :-)

[#9 posted by coaxial, June 25, 2009 11:35 AM]

I always wonder what goes through the heads of the "possessed." Obviously they're delusional. I just wonder if they're actively thinking, "My ghost doesn't shouldn't be liking this because it works. My ghost would want to knock the water away. I should do that." Sort of like a kid pretending to be a dinosaur or something.

[#10 posted by dross1260, June 25, 2009 11:35 AM]

My cat acts the same when I hit her with the squirt gun

[#11 posted by kehoemj, June 25, 2009 11:35 AM]

Two ghosts one cup [of holy water]

[#12 posted by phillamb168, June 25, 2009 11:35 AM]

You know, it looks more like these poor women might have some developmental disorders.

Good to know some people are keeping to their pre-science roots, though!

[#13 posted by goldmineguttd, June 25, 2009 11:36 AM]

The gobbledygook is the best part. The video itself is kind of creepy and sad.

Did they do a control test with tap water?

[#14 posted by Anonymous, June 25, 2009 11:44 AM]

I get the same reactions if I try to sprinkle girls on the public transit.

What they don't tell you is that it's actually an acid. Hydroxic acid.

[#15 posted by Anonymous, June 25, 2009 11:45 AM]

My ghost would have totally knocked that guy out.

[#16 posted by Anonymous, June 25, 2009 11:46 AM]

I once was convinced that I was indwelled by the Holy Spirit. For a period of about an hour, I was unable to walk, and I could not stop laughing. No drugs were involved.

The human mind is an amazing thing. And I do not consider myself a weak-minded person -- I at least had the strength of mind to realize, in retrospect, that for many years I had believed a bunch of horseshit.

[#17 posted by Anonymous, June 25, 2009 11:46 AM]

Dang, I'd be pissed too if some dickwad was flicking water -- be it Holy, tap, distilled, BRITA-purified, spring, fruit-flavored -- in my face.

[#18 posted by Ted8305, June 25, 2009 11:48 AM]

I shudder to think what would have happened if the healer had been only 59.9% spiritual.

[#19 posted by Shelby Davis, June 25, 2009 11:52 AM]

So, what's to "enjoy" about people who appear to be suffering some sort of psychological disorder?

/overly-sensitive

[#20 posted by JoshuaTerrell, June 25, 2009 11:53 AM]

@TED8305: There is no telling.

This is pretty much exactly why I am an athiest.

[#21 posted by Phikus, June 25, 2009 11:54 AM]

I think I would have the same reaction if you kept sprinkling water on me like that.

RE: Gay exorcism vid: Why do evangelists feel they need to talk like Mark E. Smith of The Fall sings? What an interesting phenomenon that is.

[#22 posted by Antinous / Moderator, June 25, 2009 11:55 AM]

Clemoh,

Hindi is a language.

[#23 posted by Osprey101, June 25, 2009 11:56 AM]

I'd always thought ghosts were sort of pale and white-ish. I never knew they were actually tan ovals.

[#24 posted by Alexandre Van de Sande, June 25, 2009 11:59 AM]

The fascinating part is that (althought this may not be the case of this particular video) I am able to believe that such thing can happen to otherwise completely sane people, without any ill intention from anyone (like a con artist, actors, cheap tricks and such)

The thing is, your brain is this amazing organ and can do some real remarkable things to your body and your personality if it truly believes in something.

I wish we could see and discuss that, instead of the black and white: delusional vs con artist

[#25 posted by Anonymous, June 25, 2009 12:01 PM]

With the sound off it comes off as some creepy sexual fetish video.

[#26 posted by nnguyen, June 25, 2009 12:05 PM]

Goldmine, a control test with tap water would follow some sort of experimental procedures, and they ain't having none of that science bullshit!

[#27 posted by Lt DirtyFreq, June 25, 2009 12:11 PM]

I thought it was demons that possess people, not ghosts. Also if I were the demon/ghost, I would of just ran away instead of just sitting there making faces & noises. There was enough of the possessed there & NONE of them were running away.

[#28 posted by Anonymous, June 25, 2009 12:12 PM]

60% by what guage? You must be at least this spiritual to throw water at people!

[#29 posted by Triseult, June 25, 2009 12:14 PM]

The video claims that all their healers are at least at 60% spiritual level. I wanna know my spiritual percentage too!!

[#30 posted by jjasper, June 25, 2009 12:17 PM]

60% spiritual level? Can't I outsource some level gains to gold farmers in China or someting?

[#31 posted by Von Haus, June 25, 2009 12:19 PM]

I do love the way that part way into the "causes coughing and spluttering" bit,(at 2:33) the possesed stops to tidy her hair before continuing to choke and cough.
It's good to see ghosts care about their image.

[#32 posted by SamSam, June 25, 2009 12:20 PM]

Wow! I always wondered how you could tell if someone were possessed by a ghost. Now it's clear that you can tell from the fact that THEY HAVE NO FACE!

Also if I were sitting there and some jerk kept flicking water at me, I'd hit him too. But that's probably my inner ghost talking. If I didn't have a ghost I'd be fine with it?

[#33 posted by IWood, June 25, 2009 12:22 PM]

#5 posted by Darren Garrison:

I wonder if Holy Water gets "teh gay" out?

I had a deliverance once, by a pastor who discreetly leaned down and whispered in my ear that he was getting "a leading about a spirit of homosexuality." Lotsa glossolalia and hand waving and anointing-with-oil later, it was over.

It...half-worked, I guess you could say.

[#34 posted by Jay Acker, June 25, 2009 12:27 PM]

I loved that the ghost actually said "Eee Yow" at the 3:40 mark, haven't seen that outside of old timey comic books.

[#35 posted by Lobster, June 25, 2009 12:43 PM]

Oh well. Beats Nigeria, where you know your kid is possessed by demons if he cries when you beat him with a broom handle (demons hate brooms, obviously).

[#36 posted by invisibelle, June 25, 2009 12:43 PM]

It sure sucks to be mentally ill in the 3rd world.

That said... these ladies sure are well dressed for folks who supposedly can't control their own bodies etc. How do they keep their dupattas so perfectly hung whilst thrashing about?

[#37 posted by BJN, June 25, 2009 12:43 PM]

"Enjoy the rest"?

What kind of sick post encourages visitors to enjoy religious fools tormenting the mentally ill? If that's supposed to be ironic, you fail.

[#38 posted by Tdawwg, June 25, 2009 12:46 PM]

I will never laugh at Bobby Jindal again: ghosts are scary!

[#39 posted by Anonymous, June 25, 2009 12:55 PM]

If I had an unlicensed Proton accelerator strapped to my back I'd sure know which direction to point it...

[#40 posted by Keneke, June 25, 2009 1:00 PM]

@joshuaterrell: You are an atheist because people pretend they have ghosts in them and post videos on youtube? Do Youtube videos of fast-talking perpetual motion machines make you swear off energy usage?

[#41 posted by Anonymous, June 25, 2009 1:01 PM]

I'd believe it if it were Crystal Pepsi...

[#42 posted by mdh, June 25, 2009 1:04 PM]

But will this method make the ghosts admit their Al Quaeda afilliation?

[#43 posted by Anonymous, June 25, 2009 1:06 PM]

I found it kind of hot.

[#44 posted by Anonymous, June 25, 2009 1:14 PM]

I witnessed an exorcism once. Kind of similar to this. Lots of coughing, choking, growling etc. I think sometimes people really hate some aspect of themselves, and want to believe they can just expel it. I wish it were that easy.

[#45 posted by Aloisius, June 25, 2009 1:20 PM]

You are an atheist because people pretend they have ghosts in them and post videos on youtube? Do Youtube videos of fast-talking perpetual motion machines make you swear off energy usage?

Drawing parallels between perpetual motion hoaxes and religion and using it as an argument against atheism hurts my brain.

[#46 posted by Anonymous, June 25, 2009 1:23 PM]

Hah. The manifestation is induced....blah blah...

interpretation: They're hypnotized and instead of "cluck like a chicken" they planted the "spaz out like you are in a remake of the exorcist" suggestion.

Totally believable. I see no holes in this at all.

[#47 posted by owza, June 25, 2009 1:24 PM]

Give them an Oscar!

[#48 posted by Sekino, June 25, 2009 1:31 PM]

What kind of sick post encourages visitors to enjoy religious fools tormenting the mentally ill?

So, what's to "enjoy" about people who appear to be suffering some sort of psychological disorder?

Why assume that these women are necessarily ill? They're merely waving their hands and grunting a bit whenever they feel a drop of water (and are absolutely poised otherwise). It could be that they are just stupid/attention seeking types trying to help their cult or beliefs reach some kind of recognition by acting in a pseudo-scientific video(not that it's working so well).

Then again, maybe it is a room full of psychologically ill, aquaphobe women.

[#49 posted by Vic333, June 25, 2009 1:31 PM]

Wow, it's the most convincing argument for religion ever! I must now become a Hindu!

[#50 posted by FoetusNail, June 25, 2009 1:42 PM]

Who is mentally disabled, the women on the floor who have come to believe, through religious indoctrination, that they are ghosts or are possessed by ghosts, or the mentally disturbed man, who, as the result of religious indoctrination, believes splashing water on them proves ghosts don't like water?

Maybe it's the billions of people who believe holy water has some special property, or maybe it's the billions of mentally disturbed people on this planet who, through religious indoctrination, still believe in ghosts after viewing this crap. Just because those people are chock full of poop, doesn't mean I am too!

Obviously, I think the concept of holy water is incredibly silly, not to mention the fact that a huge percentage of people on this planet believe in ghosts in the first place. Jesus H. Christ!!!

[#51 posted by M, June 25, 2009 1:47 PM]

I see at 3:25 that the "ghost" still maintains some modesty and knows to keep its knees together. Also, a few seconds later, "ghost" doesn't mind having its feet sprinkled. Or wasn't watching, and missed its cue.

The "mentally ill" ones here are the ones who are doing the exploiting, not the well-dressed subjects.

[#52 posted by Anonymous, June 25, 2009 1:58 PM]

The ghost remains calm for a while, then realizes it is in front of a blue curtain with pricks around, and hackles are raised. SRSLY WTF MILD ABUSE

[#53 posted by Anonymous, June 25, 2009 2:05 PM]

They said the holy water was made from ash. Depending on how they make it, it could be a fairly caustic solution of potash. I guarantee that if I agreed to have someone flick water at me and it started dissolving my skin and mucosal tissue, my ghost would look a little more Bruce Lee than that video's ghosts.

[#54 posted by Anonymous, June 25, 2009 2:13 PM]

Bad acting is bad.

[#55 posted by Celestyna, June 25, 2009 2:16 PM]

Between this and the Holy Ghosters of last week, I think I have a new fetish.

[#56 posted by Antinous / Moderator, June 25, 2009 2:20 PM]

What happens if you throw Holy Water on someone who's possessed by the Holy Ghost?

[#57 posted by Anonymous, June 25, 2009 2:26 PM]

Infinite recursion, followed by the Rapture.

[#58 posted by Anonymous, June 25, 2009 2:47 PM]

What a bunch of wusses. It's obvious by the lack of physical deformations of their bodies, no levitation and very little spewing of body fluids that this treatment is not sufficient to exorcise the ghosts. I think some "enhanced interrogation" techniques are in order. They should be waterboarded in holy water with their face covered by the shroud of Turin.

[#59 posted by hokano, June 25, 2009 3:03 PM]

And what about Great Caesar's Water?

[#60 posted by bonafidebob, June 25, 2009 3:08 PM]

Think we'll ever see a rigorous double-blind version of this "experiment"? That is, identical containers one with holy water and one with regular water, neither the douser nor the dousee/ghost know which is which.

[#61 posted by ianm, June 25, 2009 3:33 PM]

I watched very little of the video because both the concept and execution seem ridiculous from top to bottom and not really worthy of the BB-bump, BUT...

Given the context, I don't think these are ghosts in the traditional north american/anglo/disney sense - rather they are likely Jinn. My girlfriend, who was raised muslim in a muslim society, informed me of the pervasive superstition of Jinn and their possible effects and possession upon people (but they don't have holly water in Islam in way as the Christian tradition, so I could be way off):

In Islam and pre-Islamic Arabian folklore, a genie (also jinn, djinn, from Arabic جني jinnī) is a supernatural creature which possesses free will. They can be either good or evil. In some cases, evil genies are said to lead humans astray...Similar to humans, jinns have free will allowing them to follow any religion they choose. Jinns have significantly lower intelligence than humans but are physically stronger. They are usually invisible to humans and humans do not appear clear to them. However, non-Muslim jinn often harass and even possess humans (Muslim jinn are forbidden from doing so), for various reasons, such as infatuation (with a girl), revenge, or because of a deal made with a practitioner of black magic. Jinns have the power to travel large distances extremely quickly and live in remote areas, mountains, seas, trees, and the air, in their own communities.

My girlfriend said Islamic communities will take such things very seriously, and has heard (second or third hand reports) of certain people who become possessed and have their behaviour changed radically...

[#62 posted by Brainspore, June 25, 2009 3:37 PM]

Is there some limit to how much water can be sanctified with a single blessing? It seems like we could get rid of most of the world's demons in one fell swoop if the Pope or some other holy personage just took a trip to the ocean.

[#63 posted by Darren Garrison, June 25, 2009 3:52 PM]

Maybe if the Pope had some Ice 9...

[#64 posted by redsquid, June 25, 2009 4:02 PM]

Why isn't 'gobbledegook' considered politically incorect?
Also this behavior is backward and superstitious and not 'woderful' at all. These people need real help. Oh well, they can't all be as wonderful as that video of the Iranian girl getting shot. Oh wait... that wasn't wonderful either. Quick- we need a steampunk Disney indigenous unicorn goatse with a side of self promotion- that's always wonderful!

[#65 posted by SeamusAndrewMurphy, June 25, 2009 5:33 PM]

Saw one of the ghosts had a hot-foot. Thanks Holy Water!

I think the control for this experiment wouldn't be plain water, but would have to be demon water.

[#66 posted by Anonymous, June 25, 2009 5:42 PM]

I'd say that guy might even be around 80% holy. That was some pretty holy shit.

[#67 posted by dman, June 25, 2009 5:44 PM]

I hope this helps demonstrate to the Christian apologists that BB doesn't pick on just them when it holds up loopy evangelists for ridicule.

We mock all different flavours of crazy!

[#68 posted by Phikus, June 25, 2009 5:46 PM]

Hokano@~59: I would have spewed beverage at that comment! Hopefully no one has been saving Great Caesar's water all this time.

I wonder what would happen if you substituted Folger's Crystals water...

[#69 posted by caseyallen, June 25, 2009 6:02 PM]

How do you know a science research foundation is the real deal? The founder's bio refers to him as "His Holiness" no less than 3 times in the first 3 paragraphs.

I don't think Enron's top finance guy even called himself that.

If you visit their site, don't forget to read the section "Spiritual Facts".

It's all science here, folks.

[#70 posted by hack aff jones, June 25, 2009 8:46 PM]

ummm...sounds like bad porn, but i guess that's what it is anyway ~:-}

[#71 posted by ill lich, June 25, 2009 10:02 PM]

Finally the proof we've always needed . . . that splashing water on someone will make them pissed off.

[#72 posted by ill lich, June 25, 2009 10:05 PM]

Ahhh yes, but like Roky says, "If you have ghosts, then you have everything."

[#73 posted by Takuan, June 25, 2009 10:20 PM]

I can get the same effect by flicking good single malt on just about anyone.

[#74 posted by irrationalpoop, June 25, 2009 10:44 PM]

This was much more satisfying for me to watch when I imagined the subtitles being narrated by Henry Kissinger: "De holy vadah hass a bahning effegd on de ghosd."

[#75 posted by Anonymous, June 25, 2009 10:44 PM]

As a child, I was taken to an event by a family I knew. They were purportedly devout Catholics, to the point of having a poster in their *house* against abortion. They wanted me to melt a necklace I had they said was a 'good luck horn' They had ten kids of their own, and were 'christianising' an Indian brother and sister that they adopted (though to their credit, they didn't treat differently than their other kids as far as I could see) The house was littered with Chick tracts, and I'm sure the reason I was singled out for this honour was my fascination with Dracula.

The event itself consisted of people falling onto a concrete floor and 'speaking in tongues' -- it was like being in a movie asylum! Maybe all religions gain from extremist enthusiasm

[#76 posted by rationalist, June 25, 2009 10:52 PM]

I'm melting! MEELLLLLTINNGGGgg....

[#77 posted by qw1, June 25, 2009 11:49 PM]

Hinduism was good until free looters and crooks in India ruined it. This all is crap to collect Cash by any means possible

[#78 posted by Anonymous, June 26, 2009 6:42 AM]

Isn't this the normal reaction of a 6 year old not wanting to take a bath. i bet there will be more ghosts once this You Tube video gets loose. hehe.

[#79 posted by Anonymous, June 26, 2009 8:17 AM]

Try that with a squirt gun and an 8 year old, and you get the same effect.

[#80 posted by Anonymous, June 26, 2009 9:56 AM]

I looked away and then looked back at 3:18 and was amused that they were protecting the identity of here foot.

[#81 posted by noen, June 26, 2009 1:16 PM]

I think it's really arrogant to label people "mentally ill" just because they have a belief system that is different than yours. It's the same kind of cultural imperialism that demands Islamic women remove the hijab. These people are perfectly normal and performing behaviors people in both the West and East and all through history have engaged in for thousands of years.

Of course there are no ghosts as such but their world view includes them, therefore they exist and have real world effects.

[#82 posted by invisibelle, June 26, 2009 2:14 PM]

I LOL'd, @ #81. At least for my part, I called them mentally ill because of their behavior (though the 2nd part of my comment was questiong whether it was for real, as I know all too well how scammy people can be in the motherland).

I actually am Hindu. Hahaha. Irony!