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Minor Strangeness (IHTM)

Ha ha!

No. It was a particularly large Canada Goose, sadly disoriented by the thick fog.
As I approached, it hissed and flapped its way over to the far side of the road.
Given the aggressive reputation and rather nasty pseudo-teeth of these latter-day dinosaurs, I gave it a wide berth and continued on home.
 
Talking of geese, do they commute? Because I regularly hear them going one way in the morning and coming back in the afternoon. Have they got a pond in the city?
 
Driving out of the carpark at Heaton Park Sainbury's involves a junction of one part of the carpark with the main access road into it. Caution is required as traffic coming around the curve by the garage certainly does not obey the suggested 5mph sign! Most entering cars will turn left into the road you are exiting but others will continue further into the carpark. Similarly, you must wait if any vehicles are speeding down that straight stretch towards the curve.

Yesterday being Bank Holiday, traffic was quiet but I took care as usual. On my right, stationary, just before the bend on the incoming road, I saw a white saloon car. It seemed a silly place to stop. My impression was the lights were on and maybe hazard lights as well. Having registered it, I turned left to check the other way was clear, then back to the right. No car at all!

Once I had pulled onto the exit road, I rationalized that, in haste, I had misinterpreted an exiting white car as stationary and on the wrong side of the road. Yet there was no such vehicle ahead of me as I arrived at the red light onto the main road! :eek:
 
It would be white. I have a thing about white vans rather than cars.
My firm got broken into, having to stay there I noticed a white van go past.
About ten minutes later it went past again. And again.
Possibly the person or persons responsible for the break in, scoping out the place.
Scary.
I have a somewhat irrational belief, partly through that experience, partly through my interest in true crimes, that the most heinous crimes invariably involve a white van.
 
Ulalume said:
Do you live in a very humid region? When I lived in a high-humidity climate, eerie feelings like that were common in summer. Now here in a semi-arid climate, it doesn't feel that way at all. I've long suspected that high humidity and perceptions of the paranormal are related. Perhaps the water in the air acts as a conductor for...something.
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Not as such - it is a feeling I get anywhere in such conditions (and we do get about a bit). But yes the more humid it gets the more weird I feel. Could also be something to do with air pressure which I understand affects part of the brain. Interesting re your suspicion regarding humidity and paranormal.
 
gellatly68 said:
So....like Hitler invading Poland in a load of white vans, that kind of thing?
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Actually, contrary to belief the invasion of Poland and subsequent invasion of France wasn't solely mechanized and relied heavily on animals. So it was more likely white mule than white van.
 
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Sooo...what do you do if you have a white van in your neighbourhood that is named "The White Mule"?
I'm asking for a friend.
 
I have a similar theory to Ulalume's, but it has to do with daylight, which bombards us with multitude of various frequencies of radiation, that effectively blocks out the subtler "paranormal" frequencies. Which is why weird things tend to happen at night. (though I know that last part is a huge generalization! :))
 
Gizmos Mama said:
I have a similar theory to Ulalume's, but it has to do with daylight, which bombards us with multitude of various frequencies of radiation, that effectively blocks out the subtler "paranormal" frequencies. Which is why weird things tend to happen at night. (though I know that last part is a huge generalization! :))
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Yeah, there might be something to both theories, IMO. I've kind of mentally categorized things into daytime eerie and nighttime eerie. In the daylight there might be an uncanny feeling, as if something is "off'' but it's not quite clear what it is. When it happens at night, though, it's as something different and more obviously threatening rolls into town. That's how I tend to perceive it, anyway.

We like to joke about Southern Gothic literature, how it's so dark because the heat and humidity have driven everyone mad. :p But perhaps that's not too far off.
 
gellatly68 said:
So....like Hitler invading Poland in a load of white vans, that kind of thing?
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Funnily enough I watched the documentary on Nietzsche by the historian Bettany Hughes on BBC 4 last night.
There is a photograph of Hitler looking at a bust of Nietzsche, and that was very white, thus I think proving my point.
Although, I've sort of forgotten what my point was......
 
Back on to the subject of weather conditions and the paranormal, on which I intend to bore for England, I would mention Seasonal Affective Disorder and Prairie Madness, the latter a combination of isolation and harsh weather conditions.
Some people who have experienced a paranormal event say it felt as though they were in a dream like state, or what Jenny Randles calls the Oz factor.
A hot, still summer day, with its sometimes unnatural (to urban ears) silence may be a contributing factor.
My theory, unsupported by anything as crude as evidence is that spring/summer is a particularly festive period, perhaps some evolutionary holdover from a time of plenty and warm weather conditions, freeing the mind to contemplate matters spiritual.
 
smokehead said:
Back on to the subject of weather conditions and the paranormal, on which I intend to bore for England, I would mention Seasonal Affective Disorder and Prairie Madness, the latter a combination of isolation and harsh weather conditions.
Some people who have experienced a paranormal event say it felt as though they were in a dream like state, or what Jenny Randles calls the Oz factor.
A hot, still summer day, with its sometimes unnatural (to urban ears) silence may be a contributing factor.
My theory, unsupported by anything as crude as evidence is that spring/summer is a particularly festive period, perhaps some evolutionary holdover from a time of plenty and warm weather conditions, freeing the mind to contemplate matters spiritual.
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Very, very interesting smokehead. For generations my mother's family came from farming/rural background in contrast to my father's side who largely inhabited urban areas. Strangely I feel at home both in rural areas (except in situations mentioned above) and urban environments. If someone asked me where I would like to end my days I couldn't choose between the two.
 
Gizmos Mama said:
I have a similar theory to Ulalume's, but it has to do with daylight, which bombards us with multitude of various frequencies of radiation, that effectively blocks out the subtler "paranormal" frequencies. Which is why weird things tend to happen at night. (though I know that last part is a huge generalization! :))
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There's a more straightforward explanation (or at least part of an overall explanation) that's obviously in play nowadays ...

Nighttime presents us with multiple environmental differences (versus daytime), such as number and type of human activities around us and active versus inactive animals (including birds).

In addition to such environmental changes, the absence or reduction of ambient light shifts our perceptual emphases away from the visual 'channel' and more toward the audial 'channel'. This shift is most radical with total darkness, which leaves us primarily reliant on sound.

Nowadays more and more folks rarely or never engage a 100% 'natural' background soundscape, owing to immersion in social interactions / settings, earbuds, etc., etc.

Beyond this, there's the problem of listening (actively focused audial perception, as contrasted with mere passive 'hearing') becoming a lost art / skill.

Modern folks - especially those accustomed to urban / suburban environments - are literally, figuratively, and / or experientially ill-equipped to serve as reliable nighttime witnesses.

There's no solid reason to believe weird things actually occur more frequently at night. There are demonstrable reasons to suspect average folks are more likely to construe things as weird in a nighttime environment.
 
Had a couple of odd things today. First of all I was in a coffee shop with my friend when a roll jumped out of the fridge with no one anywhere near it. Interesting thing this shop is the one adjoining where I work, have the ghosties expanded into them?

Second one is a tennis ball the seemed to come from nowhere. It came down and bounced across the road ahead of me. There was no one about in front of me and I didn't see anyone come to claim it (good luck if they did it was on the busy road by then). I did wonder if it was an apple falling from a tree at first but there aren't any apple trees there and when I got close to it it was a tennis ball. I've attached a satellite picture of where it happened. Someone could have sent it over the buildings but it'd have to go right over and apart from the two shops mentioned the others are empty and derelict. Also the park isn't far away if they wanted to play tennis surely it would be better there (although if the ball came from the park someone seriously overdid it).
 

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Gizmos Mama said:
Sooo...what do you do if you have a white van in your neighbourhood that is named "The White Mule"?
I'm asking for a friend.
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Anonymously tell the police that they're drug traffickers?
Seriously, no idea.
 
Ulalume said:
I've kind of mentally categorized things into daytime eerie and nighttime eerie.
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That is exactly what got me thinking about why that might be, as I have quite a bit of minor strangeness in my house. In the day, it's (occasional) low key noises, and, like you say, an "off" feeling, but not enough to be off putting, if you know what I mean. But at night, it can become uncomfortable to the point of menacing.

I'll give you a couple of examples.

One day, I was doing a general house cleaning, and was in the laundry room, in the basement. Just prior to that, I had been sweeping the kitchen, directly above the laundry room. I was switching the clothes to the dryer, and I distinctly heard the aluminum broom slide down the wall, where I had leaned it, and clatter on the hardwood floor, not a foot and a half above my head.

No big deal, I have to finish sweeping anyway, so I'll pick it up when I go upstairs. Except, when I come upstairs, the broom is still leaning against the wall. ???

Maybe something else fell, a curtain rod, or something? Nope, nothing had fallen, anywhere in the house, never mind in the middle of the kitchen floor, where I heard it fall.

Next example: One night, I'm in the kitchen, at the sink doing dishes. The basement stairs and the back door are on my left hand side, but when I'm leaning over the sink, the fridge blocks my peripheral view of them.

After about 3 minutes, I can barely stand to stand there anymore. It feels like someone is staring daggers at me. It is not possible for anyone to be looking in the back door at me, because it opens onto a mudroom, that is about three feet off the ground, and had the stairs removed for renos at the time.

I shrug it off and turn back to the sink. Not even one minute later, something touched my hair! I had it up in a quickie bun on top of my head, and, for the life of me, it felt as if someone gently squeezed the entire bun.

Now, you'd think I'd freak out, but I'm like"no way that just happened!" So I calmly reached up, to see if a strand of hair had come loose and was tugging on my shirt or something. Nothing! So, that's when I beat a retreat to the living room, and phoned my friend for moral support!


EnolaGaia said:
There's no solid reason to believe weird things actually occur more frequently at night. There are demonstrable reasons to suspect average folks are more likely to construe things as weird in a nighttime environment.
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,

I do agree with you on both points, as well as with the rest of your post.

I'm not saying I'm some above average person when it comes to sensing the "paranormal", but I'm very un-average when it comes to all of those things you mentioned. I'm not one for constant aural stimulation/distraction. I never wear earbuds/phones. I very often sit for hours reading, alone with only "natural" (traffic, birds, neighbours etc) background, no TV or music, both day and night and it doesn't freak me out in the least.

I also don't know how many "average" people might enjoy playing hide and seek, or going for a walk, on a moonless night, in the backcountry woods, with no flashlights, in bear country, but it was something I've done more than once, and was never "scared of the dark". (It does startle one though, upon standing in a field, looking up at the Milky Way, hearing a rustle and realizing there is a deer 15' away from you!)

Mostly, though, I'm consciously aware of the natural reaction of defensiveness and fear that comes from having our most primary means of sensory input diminished or removed. That's why, whenever something weird happens, especially at night, I doubly question if I'm construing it as something more than it is because of my psychological state of the moment, or if, in a calm, logical way, does it continue to happen/am I still getting the same "feeling" from the situation. (and, to be clear, what really changes at night, for me, is the intensity of the "feelings" I get. I know that's not very specific, but I can't describe it any better than that.)

My theory isn't that it happens more at night, just that we perceive it more strongly, because it is the "background radiation" which is overwhelmed by the intensity of daylight radiation.

(sorry for long post):)
 
PeteS said:
Very, very interesting smokehead. For generations my mother's family came from farming/rural background in contrast to my father's side who largely inhabited urban areas. Strangely I feel at home both in rural areas (except in situations mentioned above) and urban environments. If someone asked me where I would like to end my days I couldn't choose between the two.
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Being a fisherman my lottery win fantasy does involve yon idyllic cottage by the river.
On the other hand, my old house had everything on tap so to speak, including a Maccy D's five minutes walk away.
I loved my Saturday mornings, newsagent 100 yards away, so breakfast from Ron's, a cuppa and a read through the sport pages. Bliss.
I've probably spent too many very early mornings and nights out fishing to be frightened by anything in the countryside. I know how sound carries at night, especially across water.
Conversely, I travelled into Brum on a bus for the first time in ages. Along the way I noticed how many offshoots of Christian religion there are. Nothing against it but for some reason it spooked me a bit.
 
PeteS said:
So perhaps an idyllic cottage by the river next to a Maccy D's then?
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Sounds ideal. Do you know of such a place?
I suppose it's swings and roundabouts, I enjoy the buzz and vibrancy of a city, and the fact you can find anything you want in them.
They can drive you crazy. IF ONE MORE PERSON GETS IN MY WAY!!!! sort of thing.
Being unable to avoid listening to the political views of some people on the tram or bus will provoke unfortunate murderous tendencies.
So, a day by the river. Refreshes the spirit.
My first time was at Bewdley. The river was very high and nigh on unfishable, but I instinctively knew it was something wild and strange and I was lost.
 
My first time was at Bewdley. The river was very high and nigh on unfishable, but I instinctively knew it was something wild and strange and I was lost.

Instant poetry!
 
They have a "Sexshop at the Cathedral" in Utrecht. Notice the logo on the right :eek:
Indeed it's a stone throw away from the cathedral of the Archbishop.

sexshop.jpg
 
uair01 said:
Notice the logo on the right
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Sex and religion are never far apart. I can remember my mother dragging me away from a display in a Blackpool novelty-shop window.

A statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary was on a turntable.

My mother could have saved her energy: I had feasted my eyes on the veiny-side about eight times before she arrived. :)
 
JamesWhitehead said:
Sex and religion are never far apart. I can remember my mother dragging me away from a display in a Blackpool novelty-shop window.

A statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary was on a turntable.

My mother could have saved her energy: I had feasted my eyes on the veiny-side about eight times before she arrived. :)
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that's not a phrase I'm likely to forget in a hurry - thanks.
 
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