Deep down, they know that it's real, and most of them can't understand it. Communing with spirits is difficult to comprehend.
Here's a way to visualize what's happening: Imagine a piece of paper. Now imagine a race of 2 dimensional stick people living on the paper. You (living in this three dimensional reality) see one of these stick people, and you say, "hey you!" the stick man looks around, but there's no one near him on the page. You say, "Hey, I'm talking to you," and you push on the man against the paper. He feels an odd and unnerving sensation for which he has no ability to understand. You press yourself against the page, and a sort of shadow of yourself appears on the page. This is very much like the relationship which we have with beings from the other realm. Humans exist in a primarily 3 dimensional universe, but scientists predict that there are many other dimensions. Whether or not this is exactly what is going on, it feels a lot like what is going on.
So the decision becomes, run away and tell yourself that there is a logical explanation, and besides it never happened anyway, because it's easier than accepting the truth that this reality doesn't work in quite the way they think it does. I don't have that option because I've seen proof.
As a child the chandelier used to swing from side to side, and the radio would turn on by itself in the middle of the night.
One time on a camping trip I was walking back from the bathrooms at that moment right between day and night and I saw someone walk across the front of the site and stop behind a tree. So I figure one of the people is going to jump out and try to surprise me, so I pull out my flashlight, walk up to the tree, turn on the light, and there's no one there.
One time I was alone in a house, and I felt a presence. I looked a mobile hanging motionless, and said, "If there is anyone else here, make the mobile spin." The next moment, the mobile began to spin.
One time I was driving into Ponca State Park to set up a large camping gathering, and the sides of the road were lined with spirits. All standing there, clearly visible to everyone, calmly welcoming us back.
On another camping trip, we felt a spirit near the bon-fire. We had a ring of 40 tiki-torches around the bonfire. It was a still and windless night, but all the tiki flames near the spirit bent in. One of the people in the circle had a fancy camera. After the campout she went to get the film developed, and all the photos from before the visitor turned out, but after that all the film was blank. She took the camera in to be repaired. The repairman asked if she'd been in a nuclear power plant. All the innards were fried from electromagnetism
My grandmother died while my niece was in utero. After my niece was born, she would look up at areas where no one was standing, and laugh and giggle. We all knew that she was looking at gramma, so we never showed her any pictures. Finally, at about a year old, she could speak, and my sister showed her the family photo album. My niece picked out her photo and said, "That's Old Gramma."
I once saw a one legged witch turn a storm.
My first ritual, we were all comfortable throughout the ritual, but the instant the ritual ended, we realized that the room was cold. The heat hadn't been on and the whole time and it was spring equinox.
I do spiritual healing with singing bowls. I play the bowl in someone's hand, and feel the vibrations as they extend through the person, and can tell them where the vibrations are and what they're doing.
I used to work with a Reiki master who could put healing energy into people and tell people many details about their lives while we were doing our energy work. Very specific things