Can You Feel It?

[Anonymous]

You know the feeling, it's late at night, it's quiet, you've been surfing the Fortean Times Messageboard for way too long and you start to feel something...

No I'm not talking about your bedtime rituals, I'm talking the strange sensations you get in the dead of night. You are convinced that if you wanted to, you could see what you really don't want to see.

The house is empty and you go into the bathroom, its still dead silent, every sound you make almost hurts your hearing... you stand in front of the mirror.. and your face looks almost foreign to you. There's something strange behind your eyes, and you avoid looking into them. You look down whilst washing your hands, and when you look up, there it is.. the tall shadowy figure standing behind you. Your heart stops and you quickly turn around, and there's nothing there.



Okay that didn't actually happen to me, but does anyone else manage to completely freak themselves out late at night? Does anyone else have a problem with looking in mirrors when you get these feelings? I think the whole thing is probably inspired by various horror flicks, the typical seeing-something-behind-you scenario.. and I'm not generally the type to get scared easily. I find that my own imagination is far scarier than any horror movie I've seen!

 

[Anonymous]

The house is empty and you go into the bathroom, its still dead silent, every sound you make almost hurts your hearing... you stand in front of the mirror.. and your face looks almost foreign to you

Oh heck yes. That's about the time you hear a small stirring sound coming from the shower stall w/the closed curtain/door, as something inside shifts slightly in it's hiding place.
Then as you drift off again you hear the footsteps upstairs, too light for a kid, too heavy for a cat.....hmmmm.....
Those are the things I try to convince myself are the house settling, a reflection in my glasses, plumbing noises, etc. they are also the reason I am up at 3AM watching the shopping network.

There are times, late at night, when I'm really almost sure I'm not alone in a room but since I can't see anything, that's just silly, right? :eek!!!!:

 

[Anonymous]

Yup, I get those too. I stick to the not-too-scary threads late at night. And I don't look in mirrors or out of windows for too long either.

Then again I'm scared of the dark. And I managed to really freak myself out in my last house, because there was a trap door to the attic above the door to my room and I kept on imagining something reaching out to get me from it...

 

[Anonymous]

Since I don't have a computer (at home) yet I haven't had the opportunity to do that, with me it's books of hauntings. I've finally gotten into the habit of only reading them early in the day. If I forget and read ghost stories anywhere near evening, I can practically guarentee you a dark & stormy night, complete with power loss....

 

[Anonymous]

I think it's probably safe to say that your own imagination is definately your worst enemy when it comes to these things... does anyone else get a little concerned when your cat suddenly wakes up and goes beserk at something you can't see?

Also, has anyone actually truly had a strange experience late at night in this kind of situation?

 

[SoundDust]

I don't get it that much on here for some reason, but a few weeks ago I was looking at one of those sites with "real ghost stories" on (sample: i was walking, I saw someone, i looked away and looked back and they were gone but there was nowhere they could have gone) and got the creeps really bad.

there was the time I went to see the first Blair Witch project at the cinema, bad enough being the day before halloween but I cycled home down the path near my house as it was getting dark and it was a lot creepier than normal iirc radio 4 had a program on about evp too . . . no sleep for me that night

 

[TVgeek]

I used to do the video press kit for
ghost researcher Hazel Denning.
She maintains that spirits are very
attracted to ANY sort of discussion
of the paranormal. She is adamant about
that point, and takes it very seriously...

Ever since then, I have always imagined
someone reading over my shoulder
when I access this site, or standing nearby
whenever I watch a program concerning
"the other side" or having a discussion about
it with friends.

TVgeek

 

[Anonymous]

I think it's probably safe to say that your own imagination is definately your worst enemy when it comes to these things...

Exactly, that's what I mean. I'm suseptible to the creeps at night, but I don't believe it is indicative of supernatural activity every time, quite the opposite. That's why I do my best to ignore it.

does anyone else get a little concerned when your cat suddenly wakes up and goes beserk at something you can't see?

Yes, that's what really scares me, when my imagination starts waking up the cats.

 

[Anonymous]

... She maintains that spirits are very
attracted to ANY sort of discussion
of the paranormal...

Interesting... did she mention any basis for this theory? Experiences etc?

 

[OneWingedBird]

Yeah, I know this one all too well, I'm bad enough during the daytime, but at night I can quite easily give myself the heeby-geebies.

Marie

 

[TVgeek]

Interesting... did she mention any basis for this theory? Experiences etc?

Hazel is a clinical psychologist and has a
doctorate in meta-physical counseling(?!) -- which means
she now works with people who are or feel they are haunted.

Her "insights" come from 40+ years as a hypnotherapist.
People in pain suddenly started talking about past lives
AND about events that happened after they "died."

"True Hauntings: Spirits With a Purpose" is the book
she was promoting at the time. Uniquely, she tells it from
the ghost's point-of-view.

TVgeek

 

[SmirnoffMule]

The house is empty and you go into the bathroom, its still dead silent, every sound you make almost hurts your hearing... you stand in front of the mirror.. and your face looks almost foreign to you. There's something strange behind your eyes, and you avoid looking into them.

I know exactly what you mean, especially the mirror thing. You've made me do it right now; I have a grandfather clock in front of me, and I can see my face all shadowy in the glass, and I look scary as feck. What is it about mirrors? That when you're nervous anyway you don't want to look too hard at your face, or too hard into the mirror at all. I know exactly the feeling that if you look hard enough you'll start to see something you really don't wanna.

TVGeek, you've disturbed my sleep for about the next month! ^_^


Speaking of ghost-spotting animals, we have a twitchy new dog in the house and she jumps up and barks at any stray thread of air she finds offensive; makes me jump out my skin at least seven times a night. The first few times, she set the other dogs off too, but they've learned to ignore her now, lucky sods. I keep thinking the neighbours are going to complain, not so much at her barking all night, but at me, screaming; "Bonny, will you shut the **** up! No! Shut up!" every two minutes. Lucky for me, she's done it so frequently, I've stopped being scared and started being pissed off. Soon I will just be resigned. At at that point, as shouting at a nervous dog does nothing to make them less nervous, she will settle in and stop, and I will say "D'oh." And then the ghosts she's been keeping at bay with her vigilance will come and eat my skin.

 

[Anonymous]

When I get those 'feelings' I do two things: 1) I try to communicate with it 2) I hide under the bed sheets. :eek!!!!:

I prefer the latter:hmph:

 

[Anonymous]

On this board somewhere ( I think-it may have been another board entirely) there was a thread on mirrors and reflections and the observation that if you stared in a mirror for long enough ones face would alter due to eye exhaustion or whatever.

I tried that one night, when i was bored and I absolutely-bloody terrified myself.

Other than that I pad around the house with all the lights off and never get scared but once i turn the tv off I never look back at it thanks to those stories of faces appearing.

And I call myself a sceptic!!

 

[Anonymous]

i tend to be a sceptic most of the time too.. you know analysing things till you're blue in the face, an only then putting it down to something paranormal! scaring the crap out of yourself is quite fun sometimes though :heh:

 

[Anonymous]

My Aunt terrified me with mirrors. I'd never had a problem with them until when I was fourteen she told me that ever since she was a child she'd always been terrified of an unseen spirit that followed her and she 'knew' that this woman had long black hair, a long white nightgown, with a big smile but dead eyes. She couldn't say how she knew but felt her very close to her back and she was utterly terrified of any reflections that might show her this spirit as an undeniable fact. Then whenever I went near a mirror, or a reflection I began to get nervous about looking too searchingly in the background behind me.

What really scares the crap out of me is when the bed covers unaccountably slide off the bed even when you're trying to pull them back up again and you know you can't pull too hard in case your worst fears are realised! It's like the ghosties know you need the duvet for protection!

 

[James_H]

this was really a bad thing for me to be reading right now. thanks.

 

[Yithian]

Things behind the curtain or just outside the window.

Could the fear of seeing things in the mirror be partly due to them showing you,not things as they are but changed and reversed. So that your image isn't really your image but some doppelganger. Also it allows you to see that which is behind you, and a few people suspect they're being followed by 10' slavvering eldritch beings.

 

[TVgeek]

If you are looking for a creepy story about this subject,
try Rose Wilder Lane's "Faces in the Window."
(And yes, she is the daughter of "Little House on the Prairie's" Laura Ingalls Wilder.)

It is featured in the "Little House Sampler." It is a story
from Rose's time as a telephone operator in the early
part of the 20th century, and told to Rose by one of the
other operators.

If you don't want to read it for yourself, I'll summarize:

As a child, the operator and her family moved into a
large house that is on the bank of the Mayfield river.

From the first night they begin to see faces staring
into their windows. Old people, young people, men,
women and children are seen just staring into the
house from the darkness. Just reflections of faces...
no bodies or movement. Just unblinking faces...
The family are terrified, and gather in the kitchen
(IIRC) with a light burning and curtains drawn.
By morning, they seem to think they were seeing things,
and try to rationalize their fears.
But the next night, the faces are back.
It isn't long before they can't take it anymore and move out.

The house is empty for a long time, and is finally
demolished. There, under the basement floor are
dozens of bodies.
It turns out they were settlers who were moving west.
The house owner would offer them accomodations,
then murder the settlers in their sleep, bury the
bodies in the cellar and sell off their provisions.

Check out her book for the complete story.
*shiver*

TVgeek

 

[Anonymous]

A few weeks ago, whilst reading the FT boards, I noticed an odd shadow on the wall, out of the corner of my eye. As I lifted my gaze up from the computer to have a look, it seemed to zip off up the wall and out of sight, "Hmm..". Same thing again, a shadowy spot on the wall, moving very slightly out of the corner of my eye, a quick glance up at the wall and ZIP it dissapeared again, "eh?.."

So I walk out into the kitchen to make a cup of coffee, and AGHHH! there it is again! ZING, ZIP, WHERE IS IT GOING!!!!!! WHAT IS IT?!??!! It's behind me, it's on the roof, now it's over there!!!!
My sweet lady comes out to ask me what the hell im screaming about and would I kindly shut the f**& up.
THERE ARE THINGS ON THE WAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!! LOOK THERE!!!!! THERE!!!!!!! HELP ME JEEEEEEEEEBUSSSSSS!!!!!!!

I had a piece of glitter stuck in my eyelash...

 

[Anonymous]

THERE ARE THINGS ON THE WAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!! LOOK THERE!!!!! THERE!!!!!!! HELP ME JEEEEEEEEEBUSSSSSS!!!!!!![/B]

I had a piece of glitter stuck in my eyelash...

 

[Anonymous]

...I had a piece of glitter stuck in my eyelash...

the paranormal dangers of glitter use.. consider yourselves warned! once dated a girl that used copious amounts of glitter... damn stuff gets everywhere :smokin:

 

[Anonymous]

My Aunt terrified me with mirrors....

I've had a new development as far as the being scared of looking into mirrors subject goes... recently shaved all my hair off to grade-one, scare the crap outta myself everyime I look in the mirror now :spinning

on a different tangent, has anyone else realised that smileys are all bald? doesn't anyone else find that strange? I can do some cracking impressions of smileys now...

yes doctor I'll return quietly.

 

[sixty10]

ghost researcher Hazel Denning [...] maintains that spirits are very
attracted to ANY sort of discussion
of the paranormal. She is adamant about
that point, and takes it very seriously...

Aaaaaaaaargh! EVERYONE SHUT UP NOW!

I'm not too bad with the dark, or with spooking myself... UNTIL I jerk awake from a spooky dream or nightmare with a full bladder and realise that I have to cross corridors of terror to reach the bathroom.

Brr..

 

[Anonymous]

When I was about 16 or 17 I spent the night talking ghosts and mysteries with friends and we all scared each other silly.
When I got home, I went up to my bedroom and trod on something squishy.......it was a transparent gunk, running in a straight line across the room, missing out in some places but continuing in a general line for about 5 metres on the carpet. There appeared no point of origin for the gunk and I was mystified.

My heart started racing, I was convinced it was ectoplasm. Perhaps a poltergeist had heard us all talking the night before and decided to pay me a visit. I was genuinely frightened.
Hours later I braved the room again, this time investigating thoroughly. If I had to do battle with the dark forces, then so be it.
Just under my bed was a sample sachet of moisturiser. I must have trod on it and sent the contents off in a straight line the day before. Or maybe it wasn't a human who trod on it after all.............

 

[sixty10]

I just thought I'd let you all know that I've the flat to myself tonight, it's dark out, the wind (or a banshee) be a'blowin' outside and I'm reading the new additions to the IHTM thread.

And I'm fine, really.

Only... what's that faint scratching noise I can hear....?

 

[Pete Younger]

Originally posted by Little My




Only... what's that faint scratching noise I can hear....?

Rats, your never more than six feet away from one apparently, now that is scary.

 

[Yithian]

...spirits are very
attracted to ANY sort of discussion
of the paranormal.

I can almost believe the idea that spirits are drawn to thought or discussion of them, although that may be because i'm almost convinced that most such cases are either self-projections of the subconscious or just plain hallucinations brought on by suggestion.

Anyway, about eight years ago i regularly used to take a 45min walk home from a friend's house at around 11 or midnight a couple of times a week. I knew the route like the back of my hand as it had been around my old stomping ground as a cub scout years before and i had to pass through a couple of hedge-lined paths and a church replete with Graveyard before getting to the inhabited end of the journey. Anyway, never any problems, i enjoy walking at night as it gives me time to think and besides i tread lightly and so rely on the fact that i'd be aware of anyone (or thing) before it would be of me. One time though...

I'd decided to take my walkman with me on a whim. Bang, hearing and spatial awareness out of the window. No problem...except i'm listening to Radio 4 and their radio dramatisation is Salem's Lot. It was a good dramatisation, with eery music and i'm starting to get jumpy: imagining i'm being followed, catching glimpses of my own shaddow, watching the treeline and fancying i see movement. I take my headphones off as the play finishes and i swear something is rustling the trees slightly to my left so i pick up the pace, the sound grows louder until i'm positive there's something within as its making a very noticable noise. I'm all set to run when a fox comes dashing out of the undergroth and across the pathway scant feet ahead of me. I nearly collapse, first with fear and then relief.

Nothing supernatural. In any other situation i would have reacted more calmly and probably would have waited to see if i could catch another look at the fox but tonight i marched home and didn't settle down fully until my house was locked securely. All suggestion? Or was the fox there with a purpose? I wasn't waiting around to see - the denouement of every horror film has the 'rational', 'safe' dummy explanation to lull us into security before the murderous beast appears

Remember that folks, the everyday, rational explantion that puts you at your ease is merely the harbinger of the horror around the corner

 

[Tyger_Lily]

When ever I go downstairs when it's dark I get a very uneasy feeling of being watched. It might have something to do with the patio door being the first thing I see and the blind is normally drawn so the window is exposed but I will not look out into the garden incase I see something/someone.

Not so much now but I used to get a real sense of terror that something really malevolent was on my landing. It never came into the bedroom but lurked outside waiting for me, knowing how terrified I was.

I always thought there was something "wrong" with my house. It seemed to be a very sad place as though something really dreadful had happened and the atmosphere had soaked into the very fibres of the place. A couple of years after we moved in, our neighbour cheerfully informed us that a previous owner had twin daughters who had lived here and who'd died in a car crash aged about 16. So maybe that was what I was picking up on. Either that or I'm just plain miserable!!