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A Ghost With Some Issues

gattino

Justified & Ancient
Joined
Jul 30, 2003
Messages
2,517
You'll appreciate that thread title in a minute or two. I expect plaudits for it.

This is a "it happened to a friend" account. Or is happening, perhaps. The conversation in which im getting this information has been taking place via text over the last half hour. So there'll be much i don't yet know.

Renato, a decades-long friend in Australia, has just casually mentioned in response to one of my dream/coincidence stories that there's definitely weird stuff happening in his house.

Pray tell.

He concentrated on two repeated phenomena. The first is that neither the alarm inside nor the porch light outside can detect his presence. At all. And only him. Which is to say with regard to the first - which he says is sensitive even to spiders - he thought for a long time the alarm simply didn't work. Till friends stayed and told him it does. But not when *he* enters or leaves. Ever. The outside light comes on immediately when anyone but he approaches. But never for him. I questioned him does he just mean often it doesn't work. No he means never. But only for him. He had it tested and the lights changed twice. They found nothing wrong with it.. he claims its sensitive to even the passing presence of mosquitoes. Yet unless he's with someone else it seems to think he doesn't exist. For this to be true of two unconnected pieces of equipment is certainly passing strange. We'll throw in that - less consistently to be sure - his Google (which he says is only meant to respond when he says "hey google" ) randomly greets him of its own volition. Specifically when leaving the house to go for a walk it will occasionally call "have a good day Renato".

Electronics have their own mysteries of course and perhaps some of those could be explained by some of you. But the more obviously intriguing second phenomenon involves the regular appearance of a stack of magazines.
If my questioning has correctly drawn out and comprehended the details then for the last 18 months, every month without fail, a stack (always in the same order) of about 10 women's weekly magazines appears on his "front pillar". "I move them, dump them, leave them on the side of the road and they keep re-appearing stacked on the front pillar". Most recently he took them to a council bin "not far from mine" (a detail i include to allow open the option of a watching neighbourhood practical joker), returned home to do some work, and when he stepped out of hsi front door there they were again, stacked up in place.

I enquired if they ever show the wear and tear from all these attempts to dump them. He says no, they always appear looking pristine.

At some point they disappear themselves, but always reappear the next month, every month.

I've suggested some experiments to try. If he destroys one will a replica appear in its place? If he takes them into the house and leaves them there will they still disappear? I'll let you know if there are any results from such trials.

You'll be curious about any significance apparent in the magazines themselves. I questioned him as precisely as i could but his replies lack the same precision so I'm left to infer from his lack of denial or clarification that they are the precise same issues of the same magazines and the magazines are just modern, recent editions of women's weekly mags with no particular significance obvious in their titles or covers...eg they're not from the 1940s or anything suitably eerie like that.

Going, as we must or where's the fun?, down the ghostly route, we make an observation and ask a question. Any "ghost" is seemingly friendly, the possible theme of the electronic weirdness is he's no stranger or threat to the house but belongs there, and the magazines suggest it is a she. So who lived in the house before him? Did anyone die there?

He understands an elderly widow had previously lived there, but died leaving it vacant.....her one story house was therefore knocked down and his built on the same spot.

Which is just what we want in a ghost story.

I'll add if there are any future updates.
 
You'll appreciate that thread title in a minute or two. I expect plaudits for it.

This is a "it happened to a friend" account. Or is happening, perhaps. The conversation in which im getting this information has been taking place via text over the last half hour. So there'll be much i don't yet know.

Renato, a decades-long friend in Australia, has just casually mentioned in response to one of my dream/coincidence stories that there's definitely weird stuff happening in his house.

Pray tell.

He concentrated on two repeated phenomena. The first is that neither the alarm inside nor the porch light outside can detect his presence. At all. And only him. Which is to say with regard to the first - which he says is sensitive even to spiders - he thought for a long time the alarm simply didn't work. Till friends stayed and told him it does. But not when *he* enters or leaves. Ever. The outside light comes on immediately when anyone but he approaches. But never for him. I questioned him does he just mean often it doesn't work. No he means never. But only for him. He had it tested and the lights changed twice. They found nothing wrong with it.. he claims its sensitive to even the passing presence of mosquitoes. Yet unless he's with someone else it seems to think he doesn't exist. For this to be true of two unconnected pieces of equipment is certainly passing strange. We'll throw in that - less consistently to be sure - his Google (which he says is only meant to respond when he says "hey google" ) randomly greets him of its own volition. Specifically when leaving the house to go for a walk it will occasionally call "have a good day Renato".

Electronics have their own mysteries of course and perhaps some of those could be explained by some of you. But the more obviously intriguing second phenomenon involves the regular appearance of a stack of magazines.
If my questioning has correctly drawn out and comprehended the details then for the last 18 months, every month without fail, a stack (always in the same order) of about 10 women's weekly magazines appears on his "front pillar". "I move them, dump them, leave them on the side of the road and they keep re-appearing stacked on the front pillar". Most recently he took them to a council bin "not far from mine" (a detail i include to allow open the option of a watching neighbourhood practical joker), returned home to do some work, and when he stepped out of hsi front door there they were again, stacked up in place.

I enquired if they ever show the wear and tear from all these attempts to dump them. He says no, they always appear looking pristine.

At some point they disappear themselves, but always reappear the next month, every month.

I've suggested some experiments to try. If he destroys one will a replica appear in its place? If he takes them into the house and leaves them there will they still disappear? I'll let you know if there are any results from such trials.

You'll be curious about any significance apparent in the magazines themselves. I questioned him as precisely as i could but his replies lack the same precision so I'm left to infer from his lack of denial or clarification that they are the precise same issues of the same magazines and the magazines are just modern, recent editions of women's weekly mags with no particular significance obvious in their titles or covers...eg they're not from the 1940s or anything suitably eerie like that.

Going, as we must or where's the fun?, down the ghostly route, we make an observation and ask a question. Any "ghost" is seemingly friendly, the possible theme of the electronic weirdness is he's no stranger or threat to the house but belongs there, and the magazines suggest it is a she. So who lived in the house before him? Did anyone die there?

He understands an elderly widow had previously lived there, but died leaving it vacant.....her one story house was therefore knocked down and his built on the same spot.

Which is just what we want in a ghost story.

I'll add if there are any future updates.
Has he thought about setting up a hidden video cam pointing at his ‘front pillar’, see what happens. Sounds a bit rude doesn’t it..
 
Has he thought about setting up a hidden video cam pointing at his ‘front pillar’, see what happens. Sounds a bit rude doesn’t it..
You have the best, real life weird stories! I am beginning to think it is your karmic destiny or something, to share this stuff with us. I am grateful and greatly intrigued. Thanks for posting and please keep it up. You are an unusual person in a positive way.
 
Well I appreciate it ..but I am primarily just repackaging other people's experiences. I'm personally starved of weirdness lately!

Some tiny updates. As doubts began to creep in that I may have misunderstood I sought - and received - clarification that the alarm and the light are indeed two completely separate pieces of equipment.

The unprompted well wishes from Google have happened on two occasions.

His mum now informs him that the magazine ( it is literally the Australian "Woman's Weekly", ie that's its title, it's not as I imagined a selection of different weekly women's magazines) has not been produced since the onset of Covid two years ago.

Next time they reappear - assuming they do - he'll note the actual date on them and the day they turn up for hints of relevance.

Finally, prompted by my questions about the previous owner and layout of the house ( was location of the pillar he refers to previously inside the walls of the original property for example) etc , he's recalled there's a 73 year old lady 2 doors away who he can ask questions of when he sees her.
 
You'll appreciate that thread title in a minute or two. I expect plaudits for it.

This is a "it happened to a friend" account. Or is happening, perhaps. The conversation in which im getting this information has been taking place via text over the last half hour. So there'll be much i don't yet know.

Renato, a decades-long friend in Australia, has just casually mentioned in response to one of my dream/coincidence stories that there's definitely weird stuff happening in his house.

Pray tell.

He concentrated on two repeated phenomena. The first is that neither the alarm inside nor the porch light outside can detect his presence. At all. And only him. Which is to say with regard to the first - which he says is sensitive even to spiders - he thought for a long time the alarm simply didn't work. Till friends stayed and told him it does. But not when *he* enters or leaves. Ever. The outside light comes on immediately when anyone but he approaches. But never for him. I questioned him does he just mean often it doesn't work. No he means never. But only for him. He had it tested and the lights changed twice. They found nothing wrong with it.. he claims its sensitive to even the passing presence of mosquitoes. Yet unless he's with someone else it seems to think he doesn't exist. For this to be true of two unconnected pieces of equipment is certainly passing strange. We'll throw in that - less consistently to be sure - his Google (which he says is only meant to respond when he says "hey google" ) randomly greets him of its own volition. Specifically when leaving the house to go for a walk it will occasionally call "have a good day Renato".

Electronics have their own mysteries of course and perhaps some of those could be explained by some of you. But the more obviously intriguing second phenomenon involves the regular appearance of a stack of magazines.
If my questioning has correctly drawn out and comprehended the details then for the last 18 months, every month without fail, a stack (always in the same order) of about 10 women's weekly magazines appears on his "front pillar". "I move them, dump them, leave them on the side of the road and they keep re-appearing stacked on the front pillar". Most recently he took them to a council bin "not far from mine" (a detail i include to allow open the option of a watching neighbourhood practical joker), returned home to do some work, and when he stepped out of hsi front door there they were again, stacked up in place.

I enquired if they ever show the wear and tear from all these attempts to dump them. He says no, they always appear looking pristine.

At some point they disappear themselves, but always reappear the next month, every month.

I've suggested some experiments to try. If he destroys one will a replica appear in its place? If he takes them into the house and leaves them there will they still disappear? I'll let you know if there are any results from such trials.

You'll be curious about any significance apparent in the magazines themselves. I questioned him as precisely as i could but his replies lack the same precision so I'm left to infer from his lack of denial or clarification that they are the precise same issues of the same magazines and the magazines are just modern, recent editions of women's weekly mags with no particular significance obvious in their titles or covers...eg they're not from the 1940s or anything suitably eerie like that.

Going, as we must or where's the fun?, down the ghostly route, we make an observation and ask a question. Any "ghost" is seemingly friendly, the possible theme of the electronic weirdness is he's no stranger or threat to the house but belongs there, and the magazines suggest it is a she. So who lived in the house before him? Did anyone die there?

He understands an elderly widow had previously lived there, but died leaving it vacant.....her one story house was therefore knocked down and his built on the same spot.

Which is just what we want in a ghost story.

I'll add if there are any future updates.
He needs to burn the magazines then see if they reappear..?
 
It's not the '73 year old lady two doors down' starting with dementia is it? 'Passing on magazines' that she has dug out of her attic to a neighbour that has absolutely no interest in women's magazines would be about par for the course on that one.

And also, women's magazines have a ubiquity to them such that it is almost impossible to distinguish individual editions, so they may be different ones every time. Source: someone who has occasionally bought multiple editions of the same magazine believing them to be ones I haven't read yet...
 
The problem with that solution is it doesn't explain their reappearance in the same spot each time he removes them to dump them .. including in a council bin within the space of a couple of hours.

Without them currently in his possession or an existing photo of them ( he'll take one when they turn up again) I can't of course guarantee there's no misunderstanding/misperception and that they are in fact not the exact same issues each time. All I can do is quote his texts verbatim:

"They are Womens Weekly magazines.
Every month they reappear
A stack of Womens Weekly magazines
I move them, dump them, leave them on the side of the road and they keep re-appearing stacked on the front pillar
Every month
*Same magazines*
I try and catch someone out but never happens
Last week I dumped the last stack in the council bin not far from my place
I went back to start work at home
At lunchtime I went out and they were back"

"The magazines always re-appear pristine
*Same order from top to bottom of stack*
Most of the time I’m just annoyed to see them again
I should take note… I think I flipped through them once and didn’t notice anything in them."

" No, they are always a stack of about 10 different Womens Weekly magazines.
The last ones I put on the side of the road but later that day they were on my pillar again
But then then after they come back they disappear
And then come back again a month later
Hope that makes more sense
It’s a nonsense kind of scenario anyway"


Given we've separately established that they are all one publication, "Woman's Weekly", then his words "the same magazines" and "same order from top to bottom of the stack " certainly seem to imply he means they are the exact same issues each time. If they varied on each occasion in what other sense could they be in the same order?
 
Update.

The Google thing has just happened again.

"He did it again. He said: “thanks for asking me along, have a good time,” as I was heading out the door. I took that as being sarcastically funny".

Now we've all read or heard stories of Google or Alexa etc freaking home owners by talking randomly, and/or their suspicions conversations are being recorded by the device. An online article suggests it's usually that it mistakes other phrases or background sounds for its trigger words ( "hey Google"). But nowhere can I find an explanation for the content of it's responses in his case. They seem to always be relevant to both the fact and timing of him leaving the house.

"I try recording it before I go out but he’ll never spk".

I've asked if he was maybe speaking on the phone as he was heading out the door. Waiting for a reply.
 
He confirms he wasn't speaking on the phone when it made its comment.

I've suggested he experiment by actually asking it questions the potential answers to which might indicate conscious awareness.

Personally I'd freak out if I got anything but an obviously preprogrammed answer. But I've suggested he ask such unsearchable information as why do the magazines keep appearing, who lived in the house before him, and why his alarm doesn't recognise him.

I then suggested another set of questions to test if something is actually able to "see" him: ie What am I wearing? What colour are my socks? What's inside this envelope? etc.

Let's hope he doesn't regret trying it.
 
So he's just dumping the entire magazine stack as it is? Someone's going after him and pulling them out. Maybe if he tries burning them?
 
More this morning ...
Screenshot_20220804-091909__01.jpg
 
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I know car alarms will often go off continuously if there's an interruption in supply, so maybe this is something similar?

I used to drive a car whose headlights would go off if you cornered too sharply, but that was just the rubbish cars I drove. Maybe yoor friend has got mice in the wiring?
 
So he's just dumping the entire magazine stack as it is? Someone's going after him and pulling them out. Maybe if he tries burning them?
Actually a shame if he is dumping them. Perhaps take them to a charity shop next time - I'm sure Womans Weekly would go down well.

Sounds like someone is leaving them at the wrong address perhaps. Unless the guy has gone through the entire pile I'd be sceptical that he could remember the sequence and whether they were exactly the same issues. There will be some sort of explanation .Still a funny experience though.
 
Well bear in mind he claims this has been going on for 18 months..and that there are two types of reappearance happening: their monthly arrival, and their swift returning after he has removed them. It wouldn't take a memory man to feel confident its the same cover/s and certainly top cover that he's looking at each time. Imagining myself in that situation i feel certain once i'd perceived there was a pattern to it that I'd as a minimum check the first, second and last cover each time. He numbers the total as "about ten", so its not an enormous slog. They'd surely be burned into his retinas by now.
 
Without wishing to sound rude or cast judgement, and it's a curiosity question really, how do you know he's telling the truth?
 
Well ive known him for 30 years, there's no history of such invention, and ....well its not like he's claiming anything terribly Hollywood in terms of spectacle or drama. It is after all a series of electronic malfunctions and a curious nonsense with the Woman's Weekly. No apparitions or bumps in the night have been reported.

There is of course the more human failing that he may, we might imagine, be exaggerating or misremembering with his insistence on absolute consistency in each of these things...ie is it really 18 months and not 4 or 5? does the alarm or the porch light really not react to him EVER or just very infrequently? Did Google spout out more random sentences, or at other times, which would undermine the spooky implications? Well all we can do with that is ask him and report the answers. And then we're back to square one...he's either responding accurately or he's had a change of personality.
 
The most reductionist interpretation i can think of is...there is some electro-magnetic problem in his surroundings that's effecting multiple items in odd, random ways. OR each of the electrical malfunctions is unrelated and coincidental. OR that some tech wizard friend has messed with all these things as part of a long running practical joke.

AND, separately, that either the imagined friend above or a neighbour is placing and replacing the magazines as part of a very long and very tedious practical joke.

The problem with thes explanations however is they don't stop you scratching your head. What technical glitch or practical joke would cause the sensor on both the alarm and the porch light to be completely unresponsive to the presence of one specific human being? It's not like it could be scanning his DNA. And the practical joker leaving the magazines can be getting very little satisfaction out of an awful lot of effort...apart from the sheer time devoted to it for no obvious pay off, s/he would have to be watching the house from a safe distance each time to make sure they see him find the mags, watch to see when and where he gets rid fo them, and wait for him to be securely out of view to return them...and all just for, what? I suppose if there is a friend he tells each time it happens and that friend is the culprit there could be amusement to be had in that. But it would have to be a slow period in your life to never give up.
 
Well ive known him for 30 years, there's no history of such invention, and ....well its not like he's claiming anything terribly Hollywood in terms of spectacle or drama. It is after all a series of electronic malfunctions and a curious nonsense with the Woman's Weekly. No apparitions or bumps in the night have been reported.

There is of course the more human failing that he may, we might imagine, be exaggerating or misremembering with his insistence on absolute consistency in each of these things...ie is it really 18 months and not 4 or 5? does the alarm or the porch light really not react to him EVER or just very infrequently? Did Google spout out more random sentences, or at other times, which would undermine the spooky implications? Well all we can do with that is ask him and report the answers. And then we're back to square one...he's either responding accurately or he's had a change of personality.
That's perfectly good enough for me. Thanks.
 
Well ive known him for 30 years, there's no history of such invention, and ....well its not like he's claiming anything terribly Hollywood in terms of spectacle or drama. It is after all a series of electronic malfunctions and a curious nonsense with the Woman's Weekly. No apparitions or bumps in the night have been reported.

There is of course the more human failing that he may, we might imagine, be exaggerating or misremembering with his insistence on absolute consistency in each of these things...ie is it really 18 months and not 4 or 5? does the alarm or the porch light really not react to him EVER or just very infrequently? Did Google spout out more random sentences, or at other times, which would undermine the spooky implications? Well all we can do with that is ask him and report the answers. And then we're back to square one...he's either responding accurately or he's had a change of personality.
I guess marking the magazines in some not easily identified manner will establish whether they are exactly the same issues being returned. Certainly weird behaviour on someone's part.
 
Has he ever taken the magazines and just held on to them? That way he can check whether they are the exact same copies in the exact same order?

And, forgive me for the suggestion and I hope nobody is offended by it, but, since I don't know the age of the person concerned - is there any chance that dementia could be a suspect in his case? The paranoia about the lights (which could have been a mistaken observation of passing lights flashing in a window) or the non-reaction of the porch light (which may, indeed, react, but just not immediately)?

Just want to rule that out so we have all bases covered.
 
He's 52.

The headlights coming on at night by themselves...if you Google it you'll see a number of people asking about the same issue on car/mechanic websites. ( The purported solution being a potential wiring issue. Which doesnt undermine any spooky interpretation in this case as mechanism and cause aren't the same thing).

My understanding re the porch light comes from his words. As with the magazines I'll quote them verbatim:


"The sensor light outside
I park my car at night and hope it turns on
Never turns on
So I replaced the sensor lights twice
Twice was told nothing wrong
They tested them in Summer
It even picked up mosquitoes
But never turns on when I’m arriving or leaving
If anyone else comes in the backway,it immediately turns on".

Also: "The alarm and sensor lights - NEVER pick me up" and "The alarm and sensor lights… never work as long as I’ve been here."

I'll leave you to interpret that in your own way. My own perception is that multiple references to other people and it being tested certainly gives the impression others have witnessed it not working for him and he has certainly witnessed it working for other people.
 
He's 52.

The headlights coming on at night by themselves...if you Google it you'll see a number of people asking about the same issue on car/mechanic websites. ( The purported solution being a potential wiring issue. Which doesnt undermine any spooky interpretation in this case as mechanism and cause aren't the same thing).

My understanding re the porch light comes from his words. As with the magazines I'll quote them verbatim:


"The sensor light outside
I park my car at night and hope it turns on
Never turns on
So I replaced the sensor lights twice
Twice was told nothing wrong
They tested them in Summer
It even picked up mosquitoes
But never turns on when I’m arriving or leaving
If anyone else comes in the backway,it immediately turns on".

Also: "The alarm and sensor lights - NEVER pick me up" and "The alarm and sensor lights… never work as long as I’ve been here."

I'll leave you to interpret that in your own way. My own perception is that multiple references to other people and it being tested certainly gives the impression others have witnessed it not working for him and he has certainly witnessed it working for other people.
Car electrical problems... is it a Citroen or Alfa Romeo?
 
The car lights - l’m guessing it might be caused by our current hot weather affecting a switch or contact.

Cars can develop weird “afflictions”; my ancient Triumph Spitfire would sound its horn constantly when l steered right. That got me some dirty looks on roundabouts…

maximus otter
 
It's not the '73 year old lady two doors down' starting with dementia is it? 'Passing on magazines' that she has dug out of her attic to a neighbour that has absolutely no interest in women's magazines would be about par for the course on that one.

And also, women's magazines have a ubiquity to them such that it is almost impossible to distinguish individual editions, so they may be different ones every time. Source: someone who has occasionally bought multiple editions of the same magazine believing them to be ones I haven't read yet...

Two good points here.

The deposited magazines could be someone with dementia or some other psychological issue, stacking the same or roughly the same pile of (roughly?) the same magazines and replacing them if moved seems like a ritualised sort of behaviour.
 
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