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Black Stick Man

Great story thanks for telling and welcome to the Fortean Times MB.

What did you think made you so scared in the first place and what was your roommate doing at the time?

I can't remember what scared me away from my roommate and the senior. I went with them because of peer pressure, maybe I asserted myself and left? This was almost 40 years ago.

In spite of the stick figures seeming to chase me, I don't think they were aware of me. I think I was more scared of them because, what were they??? My child mind assumed they were devils, but they didn't seem evil.

A lot of the sightings on this thread are in forest areas. Maybe that's important?
 
I was reading a fun thread on Quora about the unexplainable, and a commenter mentioned black stick figure men, and I remembered my encounter with them. I hadn't thought about it in decades, but I suddenly needed to know what it was that I had seen. And now I'm here.

I've read most of what written here, but there doesn't seem to be an answer. Anyway, here is my experience. Maybe it will help someone figure out what they are???

Early November 1978, Idylwild California. Idyllwild is a forested town on top of a mountain range, very beautiful, perhaps there was an Indian/Native American history, I don't know. I was twelve. I'm 51 now.

My family was wealthy and falling apart, so I was sent to boarding school in Idyllwild. It was a good school, strong academics, but a lot of the kids came from a similar broken background. There was drinking going on, but drugs weren't an issue, or maybe I was too young to be aware of it.

That day a senior coerced my roommate and myself into hiking up into the hills and drinking Southern Comfort. I was very nervous about the whole thing. I hadn't had alcohol before and I worried that I would become alcoholic. I have no idea why i was so sure that would happen, but it actually did, which is not as weird as the black stick men but close enough. (I've been sober 30 years now)

We drank, I got drunk.

In my drunkenness I ran back through the forest to the campus alone. I was scared of something, I don't remember what at all, but I ran faster.

For some reason I turned around and in a clearing I saw six or seven black stick figure men. I froze and and burst into tears, staring at them.

They stopped. One stepped forward, and I started running again while looking backwards, crying.

I thought they were devils, but they didn't seem evil. Maybe it was their shape or posture?

But the one that stepped forward seemed boyish to me. He looked my way but I didn't sense he was that aware of me even though it seemed like they had been chasing me before.

This is weird... but I found him attractive (in a twelve year old girl way). Something in the way he moved.

I was terrified and my mind definitely thought they were devils but in retrospect and perhaps even then, they didn't seem evil. Maybe they were lost.

I ran back to school, and that was that.

I was drunk and i would drink a lot for eight more years but I never saw anything that wasn't real ever again. I do not have mental illness. It was real. I've told maybe two or three people over the course of my life.

My life wasn't great for the next eight years. I don't know if that has anything to do with the stick figure men or not. I'm just trying to give all the information so that maybe someone can figure out what they were.

Thanks for telling your story, Rina.

The Eskasoni tribe in Canada have a legend of stick people. A frightening encounter with them is described in the documentary "the fairy faith" if you can find it, it's quite interesting.

There are numerous other descriptions of "little people" in native lore, though I don't know how often they actually appear to look like sticks. There is also a legend of Stick Indians in Salish lore, but descriptions of these vary from tribe to tribe. Still might be of interest, though. http://www.native-languages.org/morelegends/stick-indians.htm
 
I can't remember what scared me away from my roommate and the senior. I went with them because of peer pressure, maybe I asserted myself and left? This was almost 40 years ago.

In spite of the stick figures seeming to chase me, I don't think they were aware of me. I think I was more scared of them because, what were they??? My child mind assumed they were devils, but they didn't seem evil.

A lot of the sightings on this thread are in forest areas. Maybe that's important?


What was behind the senior getting you guys drunk? I'm not from the States but I'm assuming he was around 17? Also are there any legends related to your sightings?
 
Early November 1978, Idylwild California... I was sent to boarding school in Idyllwild ... That day a senior coerced my roommate and myself into hiking up into the hills and drinking Southern Comfort.

would you be able to locate school, place in the hills and approximate route on a map ?

am i right the senior was male and you were 12 year old females ?
 
idyllwild school 26700 CA-243, Idyllwild, CA 92549, USA ?
 
@Ulalume Thank you! That was a good read.

@Naughty_Felid I guess he was 17. I was just trying to explain my mindset before the sighting. It was a weird thing for him to do, but whatever. He didn't assault us. He was probably just a weird lonely kid. I didn't like him or dislike him.
There weren't any legends in the area that I had heard of, but we were in a boarding school, not part of town life, so who knows?

@henry I wouldn't be able to place it on a map, but if I were there I could probably retrace my route. We were in the hills above the town and I ran back to school through the forest, not the main road because I didn't want to get caught for drinking. I may have veered around but there was only one route and I didn't get lost.

I don't think the older boy had anything to do with the sighting beyond making me a little nervous and perhaps in that nervousness making me more receptive to seeing the stick man.

It wasn't called Idyllwild School. The school is still there but it has a different name from the one I attended.

I spent an hour reading about black stick men last night after making the post here, and I remembered more of the incident. I think I may have figured it out.

They weren't like a child's drawing of stick men. They were elegantly shaped and their heads were more oval than circular, and their heads were not oversized. They looked to be about my height, which would have been about 5.5 at the time.

They weren't aware of my physical presence of that I'm sure, because when I stopped for a moment, they stopped, and one of the stepped ahead of the others and looked around. They don't have eyes, so looking around probably isn't the most accurate way to describe it. I think they sensed my energy, and when I stopped running, they lost track of it.

I was a in a drunken overly emotional state, running through a forest. I'm sure I was giving off a lot of energy.

I thought they were devils because my mind couldn't comprehend what I was seeing, but they weren't giving off an evil vibe at all.

Also, when I got back to school, I didn't tell anyone what I had seen. I wasn't scared of being disbelieved. It just didn't seem relevant. If I were scared of them as an evil presence, I think I would have mentioned it someone.

So, I have two theories:

1: I was a child and scared. My mind played a trick on me. The only problem with this theory is that I think I would have other bizarre experiences in my life, and I haven't had any. I've heard weird noises at night, but that's about it. And most likely, everyone on Earth has heard weird noises at night. It's not a unique or interesting experience.

2: They're protective forest spirits. Their shape is simple and possibly triggered by emotional or sleepy minds. I would imagine they're not visible otherwise, or else there would be a mountain of sightings.

I read one story last night where the writer claimed that stick figure had come into their home and tickled them. I think that's silly.
 
just got tagged !

whats the school now called ?

I don't know. I had lunch up there a few years and I asked my husband to drive by it, and it was still there, but very different. I think there are only three schools up there now. It's not the local public school, and it's not Idyllwild Arts.

The sighting was at the halfway point between the school and the town.
 
What used the school to be called? That would be a great help in finding out its current name.
 
What used the school to be called? That would be a great help in finding out its current name.

The school is now called Astro Camp. The campus is completely different now. I do think it's a forest phenomenon based on the little I've been able to read about it. I don't think the location is special. It seems to be related to the the state of mind and age of the one who encounters them in a forested area more than anything.
 
Sorry if this has been mentioned before but I don't recall anyone bringing it up.

I have had a renewed interest in the psychedelic compound DMT recently, and during my reading and studying found a reference to stick men entities. It apparently comes from Professor Rick Strassman, author of the 2000 book, DMT: The Spirit Molecule: A Doctor's Revolutionary Research into the Biology of Near-Death and Mystical Experiences. During his 1990 to 1995 research in which he studied the effects of N,N-dimethyltryptamine with human participants, he reported that more than half of his volunteers reported contact with non-human beings, and among the entities encountered were what the participants described as ''stick men.'' I thought this was very interesting, especially as DMT is believed to be produced endogenously in the brain (apparently in the pineal gland, see Barker SA, Borjigin J, Lomnicka I, Strassman R (Jul 2013). LC/MS/MS analysis of the endogenous dimethyltryptamine hallucinogens, their precursors, and major metabolites in rat pineal gland microdialysate)

I haven't got around to reading Strassman's book yet so can't give precise references. But a quick search for ''DMT stick men'' brings up a fair bit of discussion and information from people who experiment with DMT. Here's one thread with reports, https://www.dmt-nexus.me/forum/default.aspx?g=posts&t=20511
 
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That's an interesting thought. If something crosses into our dimension from another dimension, what would it look like? Indeed, what would we look like to a creature from another dimension?

Hmmm that brings to mind the book Flatland, you know, how 2D beings would see 3D beings etc. Similarly if there were 4D beings, what would they look like to us?. We would only see part of them... which might explain some of the oddities that are seen?

Just thinking out loud. :)
 
Hmmm that brings to mind the book Flatland, you know, how 2D beings would see 3D beings etc. Similarly if there were 4D beings, what would they look like to us?. We would only see part of them... which might explain some of the oddities that are seen?

Just thinking out loud. :)
Yes!
Although, I don't think a 2D being could exist.
 
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I was thinking about this thread last night and a vague memory came back to me.

I think there was an advert on TV in England, late 1980's, featuring a stick man painted on a wall which came to life and started walking down the high street. All I can remember was that it was very tall compared to everything else in the street and it walked from left to right on the screen. It lolloped along also (as described in previous posts), quite gangly but smooth and bendy at the knees. If I remember rightly the wall wasn't red bricks but brown.

I have no idea what the advert was for, nor if it was even real. I just seem to have a hazy memory of it. Anyone else remember it?

As I read this I was thinking yes! I know exactly what you're talking about! except... I haven't a clue what it was. But I remember it. Mr Zebra remembers it too. But a quick internet search doesn't turn up anything. Anyone know?


Yes!
Although, I don't think a 2D being could exist.

Well... yes, ok, you've got me there... :)



About these stick men though... they really creep me out. I remember reading a story about one which appeared on a road and doffed it's hat at the person who saw it (hopefully I'm not conflustering stick men with shadow men here) but either way... if I saw summat like that, I'd be out of there like a shot.

Mr Zebra doesn't see anything creepy about them cos he says they're just stick men (in fact I just asked him for a quote, and he said "they're just stick men, just let them be, they have a right to be stickkish if they want") :D but for me, it's the fact that they're so... not normal I mean... they're... *shudders* just creepy, that's all.
 
Yes!
Although, I don't think a 2D being could exist.

Interestingly Mario is all of these stored states.

upload_2018-9-16_21-4-52.gif


If he was sentient, this would be his physical prescence.

What if we are nothing more than a much larger multiple of such stored states in a holgraphic universe?
 
Interestingly Mario is all of these stored states.

View attachment 11717

If he was sentient, this would be his physical prescence.

What if we are nothing more than a much larger multiple of such stored states in a holgraphic universe?
That's an interesting thought. Hmmm.
 
Interesting about DMT being produced in the brain naturally, and those on it reporting seeing 'stick men'.

Maybe there is something inside us all that produces these images under conditions we don't yet understand? It's said that those swirly spiral designs so beloved of Celtic and other artists, are a by-product of experiences on hallucinogenics, and then there's the ubiquity and cross-cultural experience of sleep paralysis imagery.
 
When I first started going on the FT message board around 2003-ish (under the name of cat simon), this was one of the first IHTM stories I read, and its always remained one of my favourites. I've been away from the board for a while, and whats grabbed my attention that from reading the opening post, tomorrow is the 30th ANNIVERSARY of this event!
I wonder if its crossed the original poster's mind, and what, if anything, he'll be doing to comemorate it!

Now, here's the deal - I posted the above exactly 10 years ago, and I've been waiting years to be able to reply to this.
So, imagine how I felt when I found out the board is ending TOMORROW! The thread I post most on is 'Coincidences', so its probably the weirdest coincidence that the post I've been wanting to write more than any other on a specific date has been grasped from me by one day!

Like I said in the original post, I wonder if they're aware of the date tomorrow, and if they're all still in contact.

Anyway, I hope we all meet up again on the new board (or make the jump to hyper-space, as they say on Star Trek/Wars), and I wish you all the very best for the future!

Old 'Simonito' account now merged with new 'Simon' account [Yith]
 
Interestingly Mario is all of these stored states.

View attachment 11717

If he was sentient, this would be his physical prescence.

What if we are nothing more than a much larger multiple of such stored states in a holgraphic universe?

That was kind of the plot of Grant Morrison's The Invisibles, or at least one of the possible plots as it all gets a bit multiple choice towards the end - the we are all parts of a 4d entity trapped in 3d space and don't know it.
 
Was it this ad? It features from about 54 secs to 1 min 20.

I remember that advert and the character does have the same sort of motion as the one I remember although this isn't that one I mean.

I sense a few hours of youtube coming on...
 
I remember that advert and the character does have the same sort of motion as the one I remember although this isn't that one I mean.

I sense a few hours of youtube coming on...
Wasn't there an IHTM thread about someone who saw a strange 'thing' late at night on a street somewhere? It seemed to see him and moved in a 'lolloping' motion towards him.
 
Wasn't there an IHTM thread about someone who saw a strange 'thing' late at night on a street somewhere? It seemed to see him and moved in a 'lolloping' motion towards him.

I think I remember that too. Didn't he hurry home and close the front door, only for the thing to come up the garden path and try the door. He could see it's shadow through the rippled glass in the door.
 
I think I remember that too. Didn't he hurry home and close the front door, only for the thing to come up the garden path and try the door. He could see it's shadow through the rippled glass in the door.
I think that's the one. Genuinely frightening.
 
Wasn't there an IHTM thread about someone who saw a strange 'thing' late at night on a street somewhere? It seemed to see him and moved in a 'lolloping' motion towards him.
I think I remember that too. Didn't he hurry home and close the front door, only for the thing to come up the garden path and try the door. He could see it's shadow through the rippled glass in the door.
Post 8, this very thread. Same poster also posted hereabouts about an eerie guy with a mastiff in Manchester. I knew the poster from elsewhere. It occurs to me that it might be due to him that I found my way here in the first place.
 
Post 8, this very thread. Same poster also posted hereabouts about an eerie guy with a mastiff in Manchester. I knew the poster from elsewhere. It occurs to me that it might be due to him that I found my way here in the first place.
LOL - well there you go.

Jesus Christ - both me and Myth half-vaguely kind-of-remembering a post from yesteryear only to find it 8 pages ago in the same thread. Time to put us down I reckon.
 
Wow, that post was from 15 years ago!
 
LOL - well there you go.

Jesus Christ - both me and Myth half-vaguely kind-of-remembering a post from yesteryear only to find it 8 pages ago in the same thread. Time to put us down I reckon.
No shame in that - my own half-remembered post involves a woman who somehow came into the possession of a suitcase or other storage container that used to belong to someone who died. She saw glimpses of him around the house, and thought of him as benign. Her last post was of a sudden change in his demeanour, as he advanced towards her on the sofa, arms stretched out as though to strangle. But that's all I remember, and I haven't found it again.
 
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