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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
 Posted - 05/30/2009 : 23:51:36
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What has been your strangest experience which you might have thought was paranormal (at first) but which turned out to have a completely normal explanation?
In elemenary school, we went to Camp Highroad in 5th and 6th grades. I don't remember specifics, but I'm pretty sure that it was an over-the-weekend sorta thing for us, since it happened during the school year. (And I remember nothing about it being a "Christian" camp at all, I'm pretty sure I would have noticed prayers or even Grace being said before meals.)
Anyway, one night we 6th-graders were hanging out in our bunkhouse. That describes the building pretty well: wooden thing with bunks inside and a couple of bare bulbs lighting it, with a sort of unfinished wooden porch out the front door, all surrounded by trees and bushes and other foresty stuff right up to a few feet of the house. Going to the bathroom involved at least going outside, if not down a normally muddy path to a large set of outhouses that served several neighboring bunkhouses.
Well, a handful of us were out on the porch enjoying the night air and being typical 12-year-olds away from their parents, when one of us (I don't recall who) saw a pair of green, glowing eyes looking at us out of the blackness of the forest, perhaps thirty feet away, down near a corner of the bunkhouse.
I'm sure that if you'd judged us by our language, you'd have thought that all of us pre-teens had turned into sailors.
Soon, every one of us was out on the porch, looking at the eyes, trying to figure out what they were, and generally scared shitless thanks to the eeriness of it all, coupled with the typical campfire ghost stories told earlier that evening.
After what memory says was hours (but was probably no more than 15 minutes), I somehow got "elected" to go get a closer look. After much badgering by my classmates, I began to creep down the front side of the bunkhouse (one of the long sides), away from the porch. The eyes didn't move, didn't even blink, and kept looking at me as I neared the corner of the house and then...
...they went black!
My heart was thudding in my chest. I turned and looked back at my friends, who were all obviously clenching as hard as I was (I like to remember that at least one of them gasped in shock, but I can no longer be certain). I looked back at where the eyes had been as I took a step back towards the porch, getting ready to bolt, and the eyes came back on.
But they were in the same place they were. Nothing had taken a bite out of me. The monster had had a handy, peer-pressured victim in easy reach, but hadn't gone for my throat or my very soul. I shifted my weight back towards the eyes and they went out again.
Hey, wait a minute, I thought, and turned around to face the bunkhouse. Sure enough, there was a hole between two of the rough-hewn boards that made up the "walls" of our bunkhouse, and the light from one of the bare bulbs deep inside was shining out like a laser. And it just happened to be shining on a vine which grew opposed pairs of olive-shaped leaves. It just happened to be shining on a single pair of those leaves which were horizontal.
I turned back around and waved my hand, making the "eyes" blink on and off several times. "It's okay," I said to my bunkmates, who walked over to take a closer look, and share a nervous laugh.
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- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 05/31/2009 : 05:24:17 [Permalink]
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I've seen Will o' the Wisp on a goodish number of occasions. The first time was when I was about 6 0r 7 and my uncle and teen-age cousin took me out one night to run a trot line in the pond part of a local swamp. "Will" popped up not too far from the boat and I all but freaked. Every ghost & monster story I'd ever heard flashed before my eyes as if I were drowning in the legendary manner. I was too scared even to cry.
Then I picked up on their laughter and figured I'd been had by one of their jokes (why do adults insist on tricking children so?). As I said, I've seen Will plenty of times since and know him pretty well, but, y'know, a tiny, niggling suspicion yet remains. 
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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Ricky
SFN Die Hard
USA
4907 Posts |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
 Posted - 05/31/2009 : 09:36:23 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Ricky
I find it rather interesting how the story changed (by a very small amount) from when you told it 6 years ago. |
Wow. I searched, and didn't find that. I thought I was being new and original.
And the differences are interesting. Of course, we're now talking about 30-year-old memories. I no longer remember any screaming, nor examining the vine with flashlights before my walk of terror, nor any ad hoc hypotheses about plants with glowing parts as "bait." And I now know that it didn't happen in 5th grade, because the Camp Highroad Web site says they only take 5th and 6th grade kids, and our first trip there was marked by a hailstorm (the first I'd ever experienced) which littered the flat ground outside the door of our bunkhouse with marble-sized spheres of ice. In other words, there was no porch on that bunkhouse, so the leaves thing must have happened in 6th grade. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9688 Posts |
Posted - 05/31/2009 : 12:28:26 [Permalink]
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I also recalled that old thread...
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Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3
"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
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Lilith
New Member
2 Posts |
Posted - 06/08/2009 : 18:52:46 [Permalink]
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I had a bout with sleep paralysis once:
I was having a hard time adjusting to a new work schedule which kept me up into late hours of the night. I had been battling insomnia and weird sleep patterns all week. After having a good 3-4 hours of sleep one night, I woke up lying in bed, thinking about getting up to use the bathroom. As I lay there looking around the room so my eyes could adjust to the dark, I heard sweeping footsteps on the carpet moving across the foot of my bed. I thought it was my oldest daughter who was up too soon herself. My eyes drawn to the foot of the bed, I didn't see anyone. Suddenly I felt the pressure of someone climbing onto my bed near my legs. I felt the blanket being pulled taught against my skin as far up as my chest. There was a pressure of someone being on top of me. I felt and heard breath approaching my head. Still no one was there. By this time I was freaking out a bit. I tried to nudge my sleeping husband with my elbow. This is when I realized I couldn't move anything but my eyes. I panicked. I heard what sounded like a low-vibration pulsating in my ears, then a static-electricity sound (clicks). All of a sudden I could move and the whole thing stopped instantly. I looked around and saw that no one else heard or felt a thing. I had my 18 month old sleeping in her crib next to my bed and she was still peacefully sleeping. I was so sure I was fully awake and fully conscious the whole time. Freaky. |
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tw101356
Skeptic Friend
USA
333 Posts |
Posted - 06/08/2009 : 21:50:41 [Permalink]
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I was 19 and living at home after high school, working to save up a little more money for college. My friend T was living with us and doing the same. We came home from an evening out and parked in the garage, then entered the utility room. This was a long, narrow, room with the kitchen door at one end, the washer and some indoor clotheslines at the other, and a refrigerator in the middle. T. went to the far end to see if his jeans were dry and I opened the fridge to grab a soda. As I reached into the back I saw a movement in my peripheral vision and thought I'd opened the fridge door too fast and caused one of my Mom's cheese packages to fall from the door shelf. With the blindingly fast reactions of a teenager with food at stake, I grabbed the package in mid-air as it fell.
It was warm.
It moved.
I screamed.
T. screamed too.
He had reached over the top of the fridge door to grab one of his root beers off the door shelf, only to have me suddenly grab his forearm and scream.
The paranormal experience only lasted a fraction of a second, but that was a loooooong fraction. :)
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I did have a sleep paralysis/fever delirium experience once when I was about 7. Thought there was a panther resting on a chair across the bedroom watching me as I lay in bed. Looked like a panther. I thought I saw it breathing. I waited for it to move, but eventually I fell asleep. I woke up 36 hours later. Serious measles and a 104.something fever will do that to a kid. (Apparently I was delirious for much of the 36 hours, but the fever broke just as my parents were going to take me to the hospital.)
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- TW
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 06/09/2009 : 07:38:59 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Ricky
I find it rather interesting how the story changed (by a very small amount) from when you told it 6 years ago.
As for myself, a couple of years ago I was admiring the night sky when I saw a flashing light. It would alternate colors: red, white, blue, (and perhaps yellow too) in a very quick fashion maybe changing 3-4 times per second with no discernible pattern. I was able to watch it for about 15 minutes but then had to go. I saw precisely the same phenomenon about 6-8 months ago here in Michigan. Never looked it up to figure out what the heck it was. Maybe I'll go try that now...
Edit: One thing I left out was that the light looked like a rather bright star. Not too bright to think that maybe it wasn't a star, but just on the brighter side.
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That was the first and most startling. I have a couple of others that gave me pause.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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astropin
SFN Regular
USA
970 Posts |
Posted - 06/09/2009 : 07:50:48 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Lilith
I had a bout with sleep paralysis once:
I was having a hard time adjusting to a new work schedule which kept me up into late hours of the night. I had been battling insomnia and weird sleep patterns all week. After having a good 3-4 hours of sleep one night, I woke up lying in bed, thinking about getting up to use the bathroom. As I lay there looking around the room so my eyes could adjust to the dark, I heard sweeping footsteps on the carpet moving across the foot of my bed. I thought it was my oldest daughter who was up too soon herself. My eyes drawn to the foot of the bed, I didn't see anyone. Suddenly I felt the pressure of someone climbing onto my bed near my legs. I felt the blanket being pulled taught against my skin as far up as my chest. There was a pressure of someone being on top of me. I felt and heard breath approaching my head. Still no one was there. By this time I was freaking out a bit. I tried to nudge my sleeping husband with my elbow. This is when I realized I couldn't move anything but my eyes. I panicked. I heard what sounded like a low-vibration pulsating in my ears, then a static-electricity sound (clicks). All of a sudden I could move and the whole thing stopped instantly. I looked around and saw that no one else heard or felt a thing. I had my 18 month old sleeping in her crib next to my bed and she was still peacefully sleeping. I was so sure I was fully awake and fully conscious the whole time. Freaky.
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I've done that many times.....but don't get the pressure sensation. I just keep trying to move but can't....until I finally snap out of it.
Lately I've had a single trigger that tells me I'm dreaming and I become fully aware that I'm in a dream. Light switches don't work....usually in the bathroom but not always. Problem is even when I do become aware that I'm dreaming I don't have a lot of control over it....some, but not always what I'm attempting.
One night I had a combination of becoming fully aware I was dreaming and sleep paralysis. I walked into the bathroom and flicked the switch and the lights did not come on, but it also did not immediately trigger my awareness this time. I then walked into the hallway and flicked the switch. Neither light came on....then I knew, except I did not like this dream. It was dark and creepy and could tell it was not heading in a good direction....I wanted out. I ran downstairs (in the dream) and ran up to my wife who was sitting in a mostly darkened living room. In a loud voice I told her to "WAKE ME UP, WAKE ME UP" She looked at me kind of funny but got up and started shaking my shoulder. In the real world I was mumbling almost incoherently due to the sleep paralysis. It was loud but mostly unintelligible. My wife started to shake my shoulder to wake me. She was afraid I was going to wake up and freak out the kids.
I could hear both my clear voice in the dream and the mumbled voice I was really uttering. Sounded like heavily medicated really old man who was pissed about something. |
I would rather face a cold reality than delude myself with comforting fantasies.
You are free to believe what you want to believe and I am free to ridicule you for it.
Atheism:
The result of an unbiased and rational search for the truth.
Infinitus est numerus stultorum |
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Kil
Evil Skeptic
USA
13477 Posts |
Posted - 06/09/2009 : 10:04:14 [Permalink]
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Yeah. Sleep paralysis is really a weird sensation. I have had several of this awake but asleep episodes. The worst is when I feel that if I just let go when it's happening and not try to wake up, I will slip into death. My goal is to move. If I can move even a finger, I wake up. I have heard a baby crying, a buzzing that gets louder and louder, and it is almost always accompanied by a feeling of dread.
Sometimes, after I will myself awake, I fear falling back to sleep, as though something is there waiting to complete the job. (I wonder of the concept of Freddy came from such an experience?) But then, in my case, I have never felt the presence of another being exactly. Just dread.
Having had those experiences, and still do from time to time, it's easy for me to understand why some people think they have been abducted by aliens while actually going through a bit of the nightmare that sleep paralysis usually is. The feeling of being awake, but unable to move, while actually still being asleep or asleep enough so that your dream state is accessible to at least a partial conscious mind, seems very real. And the paralysis part, which is how your mind protects you from physically acting out dreams in the "real world" is scary as hell. |
Uncertainty may make you uncomfortable. Certainty makes you ridiculous.
Why not question something for a change?
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9688 Posts |
Posted - 06/09/2009 : 11:36:41 [Permalink]
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I've had an experience that reminds a bit of the description of sleep paralysis.
I was lying in my bed sleeping and something made me come awake. I didn't really see anything more than a blurry silhuette (I don't wear my glasses in bed) reaching over the bed and pulled the night lamp's cord out of the socket. Then I fell asleep again.
In the morning, I noticed that the cord was unplugged, but everyone in my family swore they were never in my room. They had no business in my room, and my bedroom was on another floor from the rest of the family.
The mystery is still unsolved. I don't think I pulled the plug myself in my sleep since I have such a vivid memory of someone else doing it. |
Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3
"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder. |
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Weirdest non-paranormal experience?
