"A ghost doesn't need to be real to haunt you."
— Rentaro, Nancy Drew: Shadow at the Water's Edge
"For the most wild, yet most homely narrative which I am about to pen, I neither expect nor solicit belief. Mad indeed would I be to expect it, in a case where my very senses reject their own evidence. Yet, mad am I not—and very surely do I not dream. But to-morrow I die, and to-day I would unburthen my soul. My immediate purpose is to place before the world, plainly, succinctly, and without comment, a series of mere household events. In their consequences, these events have terrified— have tortured—have destroyed me. Yet I will not attempt to expound them. To me, they have presented little but Horror—to many they will seem less terrible than barroques. Hereafter, perhaps, some intellect may be found which will reduce my phantasm to the common-place—some intellect more calm, more logical, and far less excitable than my own, which will perceive, in the circumstances I detail with awe, nothing more than an ordinary succession of very natural causes and effects."
— The Black Cat, by Edgar Allan Poe,
""I hope this sci-fi show does a story about the conflict between rationalism and superstition," said no one ever, and yet the wish is still granted for the umpteenth time in The Eternity Trap."
"Don't mistake coincidence for fate."
— Mr. Eko and John Locke, Lost
"Now, if something supernatural were to actually occur to someone in real life, anyone normal would just run a mile. They wouldn't have the author and reader's interest in unravelling the mystery and getting to the story's end. They'd simply flee ... I suppose the only way to handle it realistically is to rely on people's tendency not to believe that anything out of the ordinary is going on, even if evidence is mounting to the contrary."
— Robert Black, Providence
I guess we'll never know what this thing was! Magic — or the relic of some forgotten science — or how it took musical talent from Timos Achens and super-powers from me! A pity... such a device could have been a great good!
Buddy still did not know for sure if the black worm really existed in the form he imagined, sleek and black in its plated carapace, vestigial eyes buried at either side of its pointed head, its mouth little more than a ridged wound; or if it was merely his mind's way of picturing the corruption within himself, the foulness that had always been intrinsic to him.
—John Connolly, The Cancer Cowboy Rides
"It's not clear if I'm hallucinated
Or actually magic.
Let's leave it vague, it's more interesting that way."
Or actually magic.
Let's leave it vague, it's more interesting that way."
— Dream Ghosts, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Tony: The handle [of your hammer] is imprinted, right? Like a security code. "Whoever is carrying Thor's fingerprints," I think, is the literal translation.
Thor: Yes, well, that's a very interesting theory. However, I have a simpler one. (easily lifts the hammer and flips it with one hand) You're all not worthy.
Thor: Yes, well, that's a very interesting theory. However, I have a simpler one. (easily lifts the hammer and flips it with one hand) You're all not worthy.
Steve: Well, the Vision's Artificial Intelligence. A machine, so it doesn't count.
Tony: No. It's not like a person lifting the hammer.
Steve: Right, different rules for us.
Tony: Nice guy. Artificial.
Steve: Thank you.
Thor: He can wield the hammer, he can keep the Mind Stone. It's safe with the Vision; these days, safe is in short supply.
(beat)
Steve: ...But if you put the hammer in an elevator...
Tony: It would still go up.
Steve: Elevator's not worthy!
Tony: No. It's not like a person lifting the hammer.
Steve: Right, different rules for us.
Tony: Nice guy. Artificial.
Steve: Thank you.
Thor: He can wield the hammer, he can keep the Mind Stone. It's safe with the Vision; these days, safe is in short supply.
(beat)
Steve: ...But if you put the hammer in an elevator...
Tony: It would still go up.
Steve: Elevator's not worthy!
Rapunzel: Something brought you here, Flynn Rider... Call it what you will. Fate, destiny...
Flynn: A horse.
Flynn: A horse.
— Tangled
Supergirl: "That's odd... If the Sun turned yellow, why didn't the people gain super-powers, as we do under Earth's Sun?"
Superman: "Because it was merely an optical illusion! I've learned something about Krypton's geological history— This is the period when the Gold Volcano is believed to have been formed on the opposite side of Krypton, which was then uninhabited... And it spewed vast quantities of gold dust into the atmosphere, thus making the Sun appear yellow..."
Supergirl: "Then the color-change wasn't a miracle!"
Superman: "Wasn't it? Even on Krypton, which was rich in gold, that volcano was unique! And Jaf-El did predict the change, though he couldn't have known about the volcano!"
Superman: "Because it was merely an optical illusion! I've learned something about Krypton's geological history— This is the period when the Gold Volcano is believed to have been formed on the opposite side of Krypton, which was then uninhabited... And it spewed vast quantities of gold dust into the atmosphere, thus making the Sun appear yellow..."
Supergirl: "Then the color-change wasn't a miracle!"
Superman: "Wasn't it? Even on Krypton, which was rich in gold, that volcano was unique! And Jaf-El did predict the change, though he couldn't have known about the volcano!"
"I don't know if it was voices or Rao or luck, but you saved my life."
— Supergirl, The Hunt for Reactron
...And one piece of primeval matter formed in the Creat Creation that through some quirk of blind chance— or some miraculous circumstance...took a shape that one day became not that of an undefined piece of molten sludge... But through the foundry of space and the temperance of time— untouched by living hands— took the form of a sword...and came to be known— through that selfsame quirk or miracle— in millions of languages across the stars as... the Sword of Superman!
Gabi's Dad: "The true and honest answer to your question [on whether it's me or the Tooth Fairy writing the letters] is that I take the envelope from under your pillow while you sleep, I sit in a quiet place with a pencil in my hand, and when I hear the voice in my head, I write the words. But I think the real thing you're asking is: Is the voice I hear my own, or is it something else? A voice, perhaps, belonging to a fairy named Gwyneth? The answer to that question, Gabi, cannot come from me. That answer has to come from you and you alone."
Gabi: (after a long period of thought) "I just don't know, Dad, what the truthful answer is, but I'm going to believe that the voice is a fairy named Gwyneth, and that she is somehow mine and I am somehow hers, and I hope that she's alive and well in some magical place."
Who are we? Once we were called the spirit of the mountain. Father sun, mother moon. Ancestral spirits, animal spirits. Jinn. Ghosts. The green man. Then gods, demons. Angels. Poltergeists. Aliens, extraterrestrials. Leptons, quarks. The words change. We do not change.
— Minecraft, "End Poem"
"[Jei]'s gone...the lightning completely destroyed him...or was he really an emissary of the gods now gone to join them? I guess I'll never know."
—Miyamoto Usagi in what ended up being an inadvertent case of Tempting Fate, Usagi Yojimbo
When Ray's mysterious ghost lady friend shows up to seduce him is this really happening or is this a dream? Every time I watch this movie I change my opinion. Sometimes I think he's dreaming. Other times I think one little ghost found a clever way to keep herself out of the containment unit.
Boomstick: Oh, you think you can run away? Think again, idiot! he can teleport!
Wiz: …No he can't.
Boomstick: Oh yeah? How about the time that he appeared at multiple places at once on this dance floor? See, teleporting!
Wiz: Wrong! Hallucinations resulting from a mix of cocaine and panic!
Boomstick: Okay, smartass, what about the time he teleported from one end of this ship to another? How'd he get there?
Wiz: Actually, when watching the full scene for complete context, there was plenty of time for Jason to jump down the deck while off camera. He is quite athletic, after all.
Boomstick: What, without making any sound?! The guy's build like he's made of a hundred brick houses! Are we watching the same movie?!
Wiz: Look, fans have argued this for years, and while admittedly those moments are… questionable, they're not enough to prove actual teleportation.
Boomstick: Okay, how about this one? In Jason X, where three soldiers are shooting him straight on, and he just disappears! Poof! Gone! While they're looking right at him-GODDAMN IT IT'S TELEPORTING!
Wiz: I'm sure, uh, there's a logical explanation!
D.U.M.M.I.: I just stared at this scene while processing nine-hundred trillion frames per second, and Boomstick is correct.
Boomstick: HAH!
D.U.M.M.I.: Also, my eyes are broken. (Eyes turn off) Doy…
Ringmaster: Y'know, uh, Jason can actually teleport in video game, so I believe it!
Wiz: I suppose teleporting would explain how, despite his hulking size, Jason can move with ghostly silence and pick off victims one by one…
Wiz: …No he can't.
Boomstick: Oh yeah? How about the time that he appeared at multiple places at once on this dance floor? See, teleporting!
Wiz: Wrong! Hallucinations resulting from a mix of cocaine and panic!
Boomstick: Okay, smartass, what about the time he teleported from one end of this ship to another? How'd he get there?
Wiz: Actually, when watching the full scene for complete context, there was plenty of time for Jason to jump down the deck while off camera. He is quite athletic, after all.
Boomstick: What, without making any sound?! The guy's build like he's made of a hundred brick houses! Are we watching the same movie?!
Wiz: Look, fans have argued this for years, and while admittedly those moments are… questionable, they're not enough to prove actual teleportation.
Boomstick: Okay, how about this one? In Jason X, where three soldiers are shooting him straight on, and he just disappears! Poof! Gone! While they're looking right at him-GODDAMN IT IT'S TELEPORTING!
Wiz: I'm sure, uh, there's a logical explanation!
D.U.M.M.I.: I just stared at this scene while processing nine-hundred trillion frames per second, and Boomstick is correct.
Boomstick: HAH!
D.U.M.M.I.: Also, my eyes are broken. (Eyes turn off) Doy…
Ringmaster: Y'know, uh, Jason can actually teleport in video game, so I believe it!
Wiz: I suppose teleporting would explain how, despite his hulking size, Jason can move with ghostly silence and pick off victims one by one…
The so-called "gimmick" of my strip—the two versions of Hobbes—is sometimes misunderstood. I don't think of Hobbes as a doll that miraculously comes to life when Calvin's around. Neither do I think of Hobbes as the product of Calvin's imagination. The nature of Hobbes's reality doesn't interest me, and each story goes out of its way to avoid resolving the issue. Calvin sees Hobbes one way, and everyone else sees Hobbes another way. I show two versions of reality, and each makes complete sense to the participant who sees it. I think that's how life works. None of us sees the world in exactly the same way, and I just draw that literally in the strip. Hobbes is more about the subjective nature of reality than about dolls coming to life.
—Bill Watterson, The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book
Kevyn: The exorcism is complete, captain. No more ghost.
Tagon: You're sure?
Kevyn: I've cycled all the vapor out of the plumbing. You can now run the water without hearing voices.
Tagon: But what about the supernatural element?
Kevyn: Do you really want to believe there was a supernatural element?
Tagon: No. Now that you mention it, I don't.
Kevyn: No more ghost! See how easy that was?
Reverend Theo: This is a clear abuse of the god-given gifts of repression and denial.
Tagon: You're sure?
Kevyn: I've cycled all the vapor out of the plumbing. You can now run the water without hearing voices.
Tagon: But what about the supernatural element?
Kevyn: Do you really want to believe there was a supernatural element?
Tagon: No. Now that you mention it, I don't.
Kevyn: No more ghost! See how easy that was?
Reverend Theo: This is a clear abuse of the god-given gifts of repression and denial.
