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Classic Archive Merged: Pani(ic) In The Woods

I think that's Rosemary's Baby, or The Devil's Advocate, possibly the snooker with Hazel Irvine, not too sure on that one.
 
Mr T-H said:
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!
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You should read Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins ... he gives a leading role to Pan over the centuries in his book
 
Anonymous said:
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
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I've walked around the Witches Wood a couple of times over the years, I've only felt something strange once, around 10 years ago when I went out for a stroll early on a Sunday morning.

There was nothing definite than I can explain, just an uncomfortable feeling that may well have been in all in the mind - I had wandered down to a dip in the wood where the course of a dried-up stream runs, and had that I'm-being-watched feeling. I was convinced someone was watching from the top of the slope behind me, but when I walked up the bank, couldn't see anything. The whole place felt absolutely silent and still, which I didn't really take in til I walked back and climbed over the fence into the main bit of the park.

The other strange thing I felt that morning was the light in the wood somehow wasn't right - I can't really find the words to describe it as well as I'd like, but it seemed too bright, it felt like artificial light rather than sunlight. Again, I'm sure there are psychological factors that could explain this, but it was a seriously creepy feeling.
 
Reading through the Pan(ic) thread last night, it was the mention of an insect buzz that triggered a memory of 40 years ago. Inspired by Watkin's 'Old Straight Track' my mate and me wanted to walk the 'Primary Ley', although we didn't know where that was or even if it existed. With a ruler and large OS maps we drew a line from North Cove on the East Anglian coast to Penzance on the west, trying to take in as many ley points (churches, moats, mounds, stones) and as few motorways as possible. The adventure was basically to walk across England in a straight line.
One Summer evening we camped in a stubble field in Suffolk and I wandered off to look for a near-by pond marked on the OS map. In the gathering gloom I found a circular stand of trees where the trunks had grown so closely together you couldn't slide a piece of paper between them. I stepped up hoping to get a glimpse of water or indeed of anything behind the wall of wood and was struck by several sensations at once. First was a uncomfortable weight of 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.
All I can add is that the buzz was insectoid (it may have actually been a million flies) and not like I get in the ears before a faint or sleep and it was not like the hum of power lines.
 
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Bad Bungle said:
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.
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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!
 
Coal said:
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!
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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.
 
Bad Bungle said:
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.
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Delete them by clicking on 'Edit' and then editing that post.
Upload a file with the 'Upload a File' button at the bottom.
 
Bad Bungle said:
Thanks Coal, but there was no way on God's Earth I was going to stay put.
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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...

...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...
 
...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...
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But but there was a black cumulus of Pan's biting arse-midges ...
(probably).
 
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Bad Bungle said:
But but there was a black cumulus of Pan's biting arse-midges ...
(probably).
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...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.

Have another go at the pictures, do, I'd very much like to see them.
 
Coal said:
...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.
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Good advice, but easier said than done, I suspect!

Have another go at the pictures, do, I'd very much like to see them.
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If I've read it right, there weren't any pictures to post...
 
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....
 
Greymouser67 said:
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....
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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.
 
escargot said:
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.
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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".

Just looked on google, I think it was Glengarry Lodges on Ceann Loch. I remember a Trout or Salmon farm could be seen from the lodge.
 
Greymouser67 said:
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".
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Yup, that feeling that you are potentially 'prey' to something? Doesn't matter exactly what it is, your frightened mind will fill in the details!
 
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