I genuinely did see a ghost when I was a child. From the age of about 5 until around 13 years old I would get this strange image of an old woman in my head, sort of like a vision but not, when I was going to sleep. We lived in a very large old Eduardian (UK) house, with plenty of weird stuff (suit of armour on the stairs, sarcophagus in the living room, etc), so I guess it was a stimulating environment in that sense. Anyway, a few times I actually saw her in shadows cast against the walls, or shapes in the room, and even more substantially, just wandering around. From the very beginning I'd hear her whispering. It was audible, but I could never make out the words, only the tone, which was sort of disinterested but not unkindly. Anyway, this sort of built up until one day I finally actually saw her clearly, again, as I was going to sleep. The window was open and she was stood with her back to me, in bed, and the window to her left. She was muttering, and sort of still, which was unusual because although I hadn't really seen her before I knee she always paced. Anyway, long story short, she noticed me looking and turned around, then ran at me and stood over me muttering as if she were furious. The last thing I remember of her is her crouching over me in bed, and feeling as if I could actually touch her fury. I never saw or heard her again.

Anyway, I've always been an atheist, and I've never believed in ghosts. We can't choose our experiences, and we can't choose the way our minds react. For me, I was pretty much always scared, but I never actually believed. I was just a kid, and we're all afraid of the dark, but I knew that this wasn't what it seemed, and it never once made me consider a belief in ghosts. I'm a rationalist at a really deep level, and I'm certain I'm quite capable of personal experience 'of God', and I'm certain I wouldn't take any of it at face value.