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Photographs Of Gnomes

I am pretty sure I have previously written up my gnome/ Nisse story, but cannot see it here.

This is it in short. It was the day of Diana of Wales funeral my husband was watching this whilst our children were playing upstairs. I could not bear to watch those little boys following the coffin down the mall so decamped to the back garden with a newspaper and a rug to sit on.

This was a rented house with a very dark overgrown garden, There was a huge dense privet hedge separating from next door, in order to let in some light I had hacked back some of the lower levels leaving the stems bare with a bit of an overhang over some scrubby grass and earth. I sat a little to one side of this monstrosity looking towards the house, in case the kids came out.

I was not really reading the paper but flicking through just pondering the sadness of life. I noticed movements out of the corner of my eye, thinking it was a blackbird looking for grubs in the newly exposed area under the hedges; I slowly turned to look and saw a small "man" clad in what looked like coarse brown and dark green clothes, with a long droopy hat. Initially I thought her had a sack on his bag but it was a mouse, he was holding it over his shoulder by his tail.

I thought he was muttering to himself- but it could have been birds. When he became aware of me he scowled and definitely looked like he was swearing and scuttled through the hedge presumably into next doors even more overgrown garden. I can think of nothing that I could have seen that could have been mistaken for a gnome at such close quarters

The whole encounter lasted less than 5 minutes- I was too gobsmacked to react but definitely awake
I have just joined this site and not 100% sure how it all works but read my last post on here regarding the Leprechaun
 
Maybe,but we shall never know
Here we go ;)
the-ghost-tree-sandra-sengstock-miller.jpg
 
@Eyespy genuine question, did you get chance to watch it walk away with the mouse, how did it move, behave etc ? or did it vanish into the hedge forthwith
Henry, I really cannot recall anything about his walk or gait.

I worry that if I think about it too much I will end up creating something misleading. As far as I can recall he sort of pushed himself and his burden into the hedge. The "grass" was quite long and my viewing angle was low which might be why I don't recall this aspect.

Sorry Kev- was not ignoring you- I am just not a regular poster, more of a lurker

I do think you need to be a particular frame of mind to see things- shields down as it were. I guess a long bus ride or train journey could produce that effect. The only other times I have seen stuff have been when I was very, very tired or in a comtemplative state. The former I tend to dismiss, the latter- like my Gnome- I am not so sure about.
 
Henry, I really cannot recall anything about his walk or gait.

I worry that if I think about it too much I will end up creating something misleading. As far as I can recall he sort of pushed himself and his burden into the hedge. The "grass" was quite long and my viewing angle was low which might be why I don't recall this aspect.

Sorry Kev- was not ignoring you- I am just not a regular poster, more of a lurker

I do think you need to be a particular frame of mind to see things- shields down as it were. I guess a long bus ride or train journey could produce that effect. The only other times I have seen stuff have been when I was very, very tired or in a comtemplative state. The former I tend to dismiss, the latter- like my Gnome- I am not so sure about.
Oh don't be worrying about it as i know you weren't ignoring.I like you post by the way,brilliant
 
Finally found time yesterday to take a mirror and a crappy camera with a crappy zoom out into the woods to get a feel for gnome spotting. Unfortunately my favoured spot in the Chilterns (I have a thing for dappled light when on the bike) had been largely felled over Winter, taking the Eldritch atmosphere with it.
My second choice was woodland down Dancer's End Lane near Aston Clinton - a single lane Celtic track that intersects with the (Iron Age) Grim's Ditch network. Incidentally the bottom of the lane has a Gravity Hill for anyone interested in such distractions. But I lost the lane. It's somewhere nearby but I couldn't find where it had gone. I took the hint - another time.
Third attempt was a 100 aces of wood today near the Ice Cream Van at Coombe Hill (on Ridge Way and highest point in Bucks) ** SPOILER** I didn't photograph a Gnome. But I had a marvellous time and got lost on the way back to the bike by a good half mile.

Gnome0184a1.jpg Gnome0191b1.jpgGnome0194c1.jpg
 
Finally found time yesterday to take a mirror and a crappy camera with a crappy zoom out into the woods to get a feel for gnome spotting. Unfortunately my favoured spot in the Chilterns (I have a thing for dappled light when on the bike) had been largely felled over Winter, taking the Eldritch atmosphere with it.
My second choice was woodland down Dancer's End Lane near Aston Clinton - a single lane Celtic track that intersects with the (Iron Age) Grim's Ditch network. Incidentally the bottom of the lane has a Gravity Hill for anyone interested in such distractions. But I lost the lane. It's somewhere nearby but I couldn't find where it had gone. I took the hint - another time.
Third attempt was a 100 aces of wood today near the Ice Cream Van at Coombe Hill (on Ridge Way and highest point in Bucks) ** SPOILER** I didn't photograph a Gnome. But I had a marvellous time and got lost on the way back to the bike by a good half mile.

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That looks disturbing like a gibbet for a gnome?! Eeek!! Not just Bad Bungle, but Very Bad Bungle!
 
When a tree falls in the woods and there's no one around to witness it does it still make a noise?

To answer this, we first need to define what a noise is. Noise or sound is usually defined along the lines of vibrations that travel through the air (or other medium) and which are detected when interracting with the mechanism of a person or animal's ear. Thus, if there is no ear within range of the vibrations when the hypothetical tree falls, there can be no noise, as sound does not exist independently from auditory apparatus.
 
To answer this, we first need to define what a noise is. Noise or sound is usually defined along the lines of vibrations that travel through the air (or other medium) and which are detected when interracting with the mechanism of a person or animal's ear. Thus, if there is no ear within range of the vibrations when the hypothetical tree falls, there can be no noise, as sound does not exist independently from auditory apparatus.


Get that it's not noise but a falling tree is still producing vibrations through the air, whether something is there to pick it up is irrelevant.
 
Get that it's not noise but a falling tree is still producing vibrations through the air, whether something is there to pick it up is irrelevant.

The vibrations of air molecules will indeed exist, but will only turn into a SOUND if there is some auditory apparatus there to detect them. So, if the hypothetical tree falls but there is no ear there, then there can be no sound.
 
I find it difficult to picture a wood where there is not a single ear, be it deer, rabbit, mouse, badger, squirrel etc.
 
I find it difficult to picture a wood where there is not a single ear, be it deer, rabbit, mouse, badger, squirrel etc.

Exactly. That's why it's a philosophical/hypothetical question rather than a a practical/realistic one.

To illustrate this, NASA's Insight lander recently detected the "sound" of a Marsquake. As there are no ears on Mars to hear it, I would argue that the "sound" did not come into existence until it was recorded, transmitted to Earth and played on TV or Internet so that our ears and brain could turn it into a sound.
 
I always think it's just humans, being all human-centric.

'If a tree falls in a forest and there are no people around to hear it, react, spend all their time asking each other if they heard that noise, did it make a sound?'

If a tree falls in a forest and a squirrel hears it, that doesn't count. Except the squirrel is probably sadly thinking 'there goes Cousin Albert's place.'
 
The vibrations of air molecules will indeed exist, but will only turn into a SOUND if there is some auditory apparatus there to detect them. So, if the hypothetical tree falls but there is no ear there, then there can be no sound.

A sound wave is still a sound wave even without anyone/thing to sense it.
 
A sound wave is still a sound wave even without anyone/thing to sense it.

But the wave is no more the sound itself than a blueprint is a manufactured article.

I guess this goes back to what the definition of sound/noise is.

I suspect most people would regard it something you hear, rather than a vibrational pattern.
 
But the wave is no more the sound itself than a blueprint is a manufactured article.

I guess this goes back to what the definition of sound/noise is.

I suspect most people would regard it something you hear, rather than a vibrational pattern.

From Wiki :

In physics, sound is a vibration that typically propagates as an audible wave of pressure, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid.
In human physiology and psychology, sound is the reception of such waves and their perception by the brain.


So yes, we're both right, but I have a scientific background so I'll go with #1 :)
 
From Wiki :

In physics, sound is a vibration that typically propagates as an audible wave of pressure, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid.
In human physiology and psychology, sound is the reception of such waves and their perception by the brain.


So yes, we're both right, but I have a scientific background so I'll go with #1 :)

I guess that's why it's one of those philosophical questions - designed to promote discussion and open your mind to different views!
 
I always think it's just humans, being all human-centric.

'If a tree falls in a forest and there are no people around to hear it, react, spend all their time asking each other if they heard that noise, did it make a sound?'

If a tree falls in a forest and a squirrel hears it, that doesn't count. Except the squirrel is probably sadly thinking 'there goes Cousin Albert's place.'
Do squirrels really name their children Albert?
If a gnome is in the forest, and a tree falls, and the gnome, who isn't a human but is humanoid, hears it, is it still a noise?
Another instance of human-centric thinking; why are we not gnomeoid?

One limit to the human ear rendering the sound waves into a noise is that there must be a brain attached to that ear, since it is the brain that processes the input from the ear and translates that input into "noise". Now--stopping short of the condition where people spend all their time asking each other if they heard the noise--if a person is in a coma, and the tree falls, and the brain is stimulated by and interpretes the ear's input, is there still a noise if there is no consciousness to register that interpreted stimulation? You see how the complications multiply.

BTW, I am not drunk.
 
This has puzzled me for a while. I was going to post it before, but the whole thing seemed so absurd I deleted it.
Anyway, here goes...
Back in 1993 I was an art student in Langley - East Berkshire College to give it it's proper name. It was a one year arts foundation course, and over the first term we got to do a small 'taster' of different disciplines - fine art, graphic design, textiles. One of these tasters was photography - and in the days before digital photography, this involved dark rooms, chemicals, rolls of negatives etc... The project that we were set was to do with mirrors. I dutifully took my mirror out into the back garden of the house in which I rented a room, leaned it against the fence, nestled it amongst weeds and took some very uninspired photographs.
I wasn't particularly good at photography and all its associated arcane darkroom practises, so somehow got one of my classmates to develop my film for me while I went and had a coffee and cigarette downstairs. At some point someone came down, and said that I should really check my negatives - as both myself and another friend, whom we'll call 'Andy' - had 'loads of figures' on them.
Somewhat puzzled by this, as there was no-one about when I took the photographs, I returned to the dark room and looked on the negatives. There certainly did seem to be a figure sat in a chair. Hard to tell as it was in negative. I set about developing the photograph, suddenly excited at the possibility of accidentally capturing a ghost...
...which of course turned out to be a disappointing case of simulacra in the weeds and plants surrounding the mirror.
Oh well.
Andy's turned out to be quite different.
He had taken his mirror out to some local woods near where he lived in Reading - rested the mirror in streams, on tree branches etc. Looking at his photographs as he developed them, it became apparent there seemed to be a number of figures in the photographs - actually in the mirror itself. I only remember two of the photographs - though I think there were more. One photograph seemed to show what appeared to be a slightly blurry image of what appeared to be a gnome - rather like a garden gnome - big nose, hat etc. Except this gnome looked pretty pissed off - pissed off and surprised - and pointing an angry figure toward the camera. The other one I recall (I think this may have been the mirror laid in a shallow stream) showed the head and shoulders of a 'giant' 'lifting' itself out of the mirror. I say 'giant' but that's not really accurate (and after a distance of 25 years, I really don't think 'accurate' is a term I can use for any of this) - imagine a very rudimentary head and shoulders sculpted out of rock or granite. I think the thing may have had a nose / eyes / mouth - but it was all very basic.
I really can't describe quite how strange these photographs seemed. Andy - very sceptical and unbelieving of anything supernatural - seemed a little bit shaken up by this - protesting his innocence, and saying there was nothing even remotely odd when he took the photographs.
We went downstairs for a coffee. The darkroom we left unlocked - was always left unlocked. When we returned to the darkroom a short while later, all of Andy's negatives and photographs were gone. We turned the darkroom upside down looking for them - nothing. They turned up again the next week - except all the photographs and negatives showing the figures were missing.
It sounds utterly ridiculous doesn't it? Even now, writing it, the whole thing seems utterly absurd and completely unbelievable. I'm not in contact with any of the people involved any more - I have no idea where the wood was that Andy took the photographs. Maybe it really was a hoax? (The thing I'm probably most certain of it not being a hoax is that nobody 'owned' up to it - and Andy's puzzled, slightly embarrassed - almost a bit angry - reaction seemed very genuine). Perhaps it was just a case of simulacra after all, as it had been in my photographs? These weren't high definition photographs taken with a digital camera after all - but the first uncertain forays into black and white photography by inexperienced art students. Plenty of scope for accidental patterns to appear. Then the photographs disappear, and turn up again later on? With all the photographs showing any 'evidence' conveniently gone?
It all seems a bit too story-shaped to me - a nice twist in the tale to give some sense of closure (too much like the denouement of those ghostly hitchhiker tales to me). It's been 25 years since those photographs now, and I think what might - probably - happened was that my imagination filled in those gaps in my memory over the years - made those gnomes and figures more real - added in the disappearance and appearance of those negatives / photographs, (except they did disappear though - but did the other photographs / negatives really turn up again?)
I don't trust my memory on this. I don't believe my own story - but this is what I remember happening anyway. I'm on the verge of deleting it again now, because having read through it, it just seems so absurd, so I'm going to post this before I change my mind.


Excellent account. I love this... something about it being about film photography (as opposed to digital photography) makes it so much more interesting in my mind. (I don't think I could bring myself to photograph mirrors though... they creep me out at the best of times).

One thought that occurred to me... (if I put on my sceptical beret and squint a bit)... when the photographs re-appeared after going missing, could the two that you originally saw the gnome(s) in, have still been there, but whatever it was that you thought you saw, no longer manifested itself that way?

To rephrase:
You originally saw the gnome(s) in two photos. Said photos go missing, then reappear, so there is a period of time (several days?) in which the photographs were not there to be looked at, so the details of what was depicted would, therefore, 'fade' somewhat in your memory.

Then, when the photographs reappeared, you could no longer see the gnomes in any of them. But, would it be possible that all the photos were in fact there, but your mind no longer saw gnome anomalies in them?

It's a stretch, I know, and hopefully what I'm saying makes sense. Was a count done of the number of photos, such that you knew later that there were two less? Etc.



Also @Eyespy, again an interesting encounter.



My gnome story is much less interesting (in terms of details) but I'll throw it in here anyway: my mum once told me that, as a little girl, she'd seen a gnome on the stairs of her house.

I've yet to find (hopefully someone on here can prove me wrong? :) ) any other accounts of gnomes inside houses rather than outside..
 
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Just had a quick look in my copy of Fairies: Real Encounters with Little People by Janet Bord and found these...

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Oh wow thank you! I note with interest that a couple of those indoor encounters also took place on stairs, just like my mum's encounter. Dunno if that means anything (as clearly not all of the indoor ones were on stairs) but still it stood out, to me.
 
I am sure there is something on the site about Liminal spaces like staircases and hallways being especially common locations for encounters with the odd.

My mother came out with this old rhyme last week in one of her more lucid moments " As I was going up the stairs, I met a man who wasn't there. He wasn't there again today, I wish that man would go away"
 
I am sure there is something on the site about Liminal spaces like staircases and hallways being especially common locations for encounters with the odd.

My mother came out with this old rhyme last week in one of her more lucid moments " As I was going up the stairs, I met a man who wasn't there. He wasn't there again today, I wish that man would go away"
The hallway of the house I grew up in was an old farmhouse, and it had rooms on either side of the hall, leading down to the kitchen. On one wall, my mum always had a floor length, huge dressmaker's mirror she had inherited from her Aunt. I now have it in my living room. It's very much like those mirrors in 'Jonathan Strange' that Jonathan learns to step through to go into other worlds.

I live near the village where my great aunt lived when she had the mirror (she was born in the 1890s). And if we walk the dog at night, there are so few people around, folk often leave their curtains open and as you walk past, you see right in. A number of the older houses have identical or very similar huge mirrors. Someone must have been selling/making them round there! But they seem to be a thing. And the stairs with mirror at the bottom were always creepy. Both brother and I often sleep walked as kids and you'd wake up to find yourself at the bottom of the stairs with no idea how you got there. Very steep, wonky old stairs so brother fell down more than once. We'd sit on them and wait for mum to come home from work. It was one of the creepiest parts of a very creepy house.

And possibly liminal because originally, one really liminal thing was water - and in the times before mirrors or even bits of polished metal existed, to see yourself you'd have to look at your reflection in water so I guess the mirror mirrors that!
 
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