Anyone believe in Ghosts ?

This is mostly a reply to sic71dart. Ghosts don't necessarily repeat the same actions endlessly for aeons. Usually when a repetetive "haunting" like that occurs, it's because of an event that had particularly strong emotions attached to it, generally negative ones. Examples include a woman who has lost her children and can be heard wailing through the halls of a house, or, as in the case of irelandmoss's aunts, someone who suffered severe abuse or terror in that location. The event basically imprints itself upon the location, and occassionally or regularly replays the event, so it's not really a "conscious" ghost doing this. It's more like a recording replaying itself endlessly.

As for ghosts helping with scientific research and things like that, I don't honestly think they would be capable of that. I think they're fairly limited in the ways they can interact with the living world and the amount of mental faculties they can call upon when attempting to interact. I'm also inclined to think that any communication between the living and the dead is similar to playing "underwater telephone" when you were a kid. You can definitely tell that something is trying to come through, but just what that is isn't clear. Maybe someone just needs to change the filter? ;)

Hopefully this adds a bit to the conversation and gives everyone a few morsels to chew on. :)