Entirely possible, I guess. I'm going to offer no opinion on what I "saw" one way or the other- except to say that like "most Forteans", I am hugely sceptical (but would love to be convinced). Logically, I can't have seen a giant Pan in that field, that sort of thing "doesn't happen" (except when it apparently does).
The possibility that I was slipped a Mickey and that after all these years my ex-friends were harbouring guilt enough to have never mentioned it, ever, and to run off when I eventually brought it up... is fascinating. As a bunch of healthy 20-something's in the early to mid 90s, drugs were part of our normal experience. None of us were even approaching what you'd call "regular users" (or even Casual), but I can't quite square the later behaviour with our attitudes at the time. It would have been a big deal, but not so serious as to throw up a wall of silence and then a quick legging-it when it came out. We all did worse to one another over that four years!
But then again, maybe it was. Too many variables. Nothing is ever simple. This has made me think about perception and memory in interesting ways, so thank you very much.
My original hope was that someone would pop up with a similar experience in the same place, and I could feel that shiver of maybe seeing something important. Either that or one of the other 7 or 8 people I was with had spent the intervening time obsessed with the events of that night and would turn up with all the answers! Maybe there's no woo here, but I'm very glad I shared it. Even if I never get to the bottom of it all, it's made my life more interesting!
Jim Colquhoun, Glasgow
I was around 10 years old when I had my one and only encounter with The Great God Pan. I was walking alone through a place known locally as the 'Witches Wood' in Pollok Estate (now Pollok Country Park) on the south side of Glasgow. It was a bright summers day and the wood was well known to me. All I can really remember is a sudden and shocking increase in the insect noise in the wood. As is appropriate in these situations I panicked and legged it right out of there! It's one of those instances that has stayed with me all these years (I am 41).
It was as if that ordinary summers day had somehow suddenly 'intensified'.
and that's it... stu
Archived text here
Been there (figuratively). Happened to me in Cyprus when I was a boy. Once or twice since. It's that 'buzz' that does it, like distant bees. It's important not to run.Antiquity pushing down on me, this was not a modern site and it had an air of menace you could almost taste. Second was an increasingly loud insect buzz and in my mind came an image of a million mosquitoes hovering over black fetid water that hadn't seen daylight in centuries. Third was a rising panic, I was sure if I got too close I would somehow fall through the trees into the pondand would never ever get out again. I ran.
Thanks Coal, but there was no way on God's Earth I was going to stay put. I wish I had pictures - the text files were my first 3 attempts (newbie) to post and I would love to know how to delete them.Been there (figuratively). Happened to me in Cyprus when I was a boy. Once or twice since. It's that 'buzz' that does it, like distant bees. It's important not to run.
PS, your pictures haven't come out...the forum seems to think they are text files. I'd like to see them!
Delete them by clicking on 'Edit' and then editing that post.Thanks Coal, but there was no way on God's Earth I was going to stay put. I wish I had pictures - the text files were my first 3 attempts (newbie) to post and I would love to know how to delete them.
... the text files were my first 3 attempts (newbie) to post and I would love to know how to delete them.
Yeah, but walk. Firstly, it means you are far less likely to injure yourself and secondly, running will reinforce the panic and get you into full panic mode...Thanks Coal, but there was no way on God's Earth I was going to stay put.
...and thirdly, I'm damned if I'm going to let some low-level ghoul make me run away.* Even if the muscles in my back crawl and I can feel sweat running down my back. I'll walk, because I feckin' want to...
* I know this is irrational...
...walk, saunter, head up, shoulders down. You'll relax and get control of yourself. Plus you can flip an imaginary digit at whatever 'it' was.But but there was a black cumulus of Pan's biting arse-midges ...
(probably).
Good advice, but easier said than done, I suspect!...walk, saunter, head up, shoulders down. You'll relax and get control of yourself. Plus you can flip an imaginary digit at whatever 'it' was.
If I've read it right, there weren't any pictures to post...Have another go at the pictures, do, I'd very much like to see them.
Just found this thread, and it takes me back to a holiday in Scotland about 20 odd years ago now.
My wife and i were staying in a wooden cabin on the edge of a caravan park ( i cant for the life of me remember where, but the well of the seven heads was in the area !) and decided to go for an evening stroll out of the site , past a wooded area and onto a moor.
As we walked back past the wooded area in the failing light i got a really strong feeling we were being watched from the trees, and whatever it was was not particularly friendly.
I stopped and had a look, but couldn't see a thing, just the strongest feeling inside that there was something there.
My wife noticed me stopping, and i remember quietly telling her to go on ahead, not to run, and to get through the gate into the site.
Once she was through, i quickened my pace and , keeping an eye on the tree line, made my way to the gate.
Once through, the feeling went.
She later told me she had felt vaguely uncomfortable, but not to the extent i was.
It was not a feeling of fear as such, more a cold feeling in the pit of your stomach, like a fight or flight thing, the sort of feeling you get when you think there might be a confrontation or fight brewing, more anxiety than fear i suppose.
Strange....
Thank you for that great post, wow!
Someone here will be feverishly searching Google Maps as we speak for that very spot.
We also have a thread on 'Places that make you feel happy/uneasy' or somesuch, which might interest you.
I remember having a stupid thought in my head at the time about it being wolves or a big cat :Hobbes:, i also remembered a 70's possibly 80's "Horror" series along he same lines as "Beasts" (if you remember that series) that had an episode called "The Watcher in the Woods".
Thanks, i'll take a lookHere are a couple, but not exactly what I was hoping to find. Off to work soon so can't carry on looking just now.
Places that inspire fear
Places of extreme strangeness