Faces on walls

[Mireli]

I decided after posting on this site for 2 years to tell you my experiences. Both are very similar.

The first occurred when I was about 4 years old and I was staying at my grandparents in the middle of the country. They had a large house and I slept in a family room with my mum & dad. I was in a single bed in the corner next to the window. Opposite my bed was a large old fashioned wardrobe.
Anyway, I woke up in the middle of the night and on the wardrobe door was the large face of a fox. It looked scary but I remember being fascinated with it and knelt at the end of my bed just looking at it. I thought there must have been a light source causing it so tried waving the curtains round but with no change. Now, I know that there would be no way that light from outside would have caused the face - just because there was no street lights where the house was. I tried waking my parents up to show them the truly spooky thing on the door but they just carried on snoring!

The second 'thing' that happened to me was when I was about 10 years old. I was back home in my own bed and I also woke up in the middle of the night (I was an insomniac even as a kid ). In the far left hand corner, next to the door was what looked like a silhouette of a girl with a bob haircut (she was in silhouette) but it was like I was seeing a negative of her in a square window, with her surrounded by light. Again, I tried to come up with rational explanations for it but there was no light from outside even though it was a terrace house in a town this time. Nothing had any effect on the light, except when I got out of bed and put my hand over the silhouette on the wall, I even tried to move my hand around the light a few feet from the wall and that didnt affect it. This time it was about at head height - at the same height as me at the age 10.

I remember feeling really calm when these happened - although later on I was a bit freaked out, especially when it came to the fox's face - there was something quite evil about it when I think about it now. I do know I was wide awake both times. I am just intrigued to see if anyone can shed any light on what they were or if there has been similar postings on the FT boards.

 

[RealPaZZa]

I decided after posting on this site for 2 years to tell you my experiences. Both are very similar.

The first occurred when I was about 4 years old and I was staying at my grandparents in the middle of the country. They had a large house and I slept in a family room with my mum & dad. I was in a single bed in the corner next to the window. Opposite my bed was a large old fashioned wardrobe.
Anyway, I woke up in the middle of the night and on the wardrobe door was the large face of a fox. It looked scary but I remember being fascinated with it and knelt at the end of my bed just looking at it. I thought there must have been a light source causing it so tried waving the curtains round but with no change. Now, I know that there would be no way that light from outside would have caused the face - just because there was no street lights where the house was. I tried waking my parents up to show them the truly spooky thing on the door but they just carried on snoring!

Any parent will tell you they are easy to wake up by their children (especially mothers), in fact becoming a mother makes many women become very light sleepers. As you couldnt wake your parents up, it makes this look to me like you where dreaming.

 

[Bannik]

Cool experiences.

In Chinese folklore the fox-fairy is a shape-shifting, malicious, trickster entity that often takes the form of a seductive woman but can also take the form of a deceased person and haunt people's homes as a ghost. It can be seen around the house in various forms at night but is invisible during the day. It is said to feed off of male sexual energy. From this page:

In his paper Watters discusses the two major perceived characteristics of the fox [hu-li] according to Chinese beliefs: its exceedingly long life, and its great preponderance of Yin, the female portion of things. The life of the fox, through its craftiness, was believed to extend to 800 or 1,000 years, and he could even achieve immortality. As a result, temples and shrines were built to the Fox-genius. The fox's accumulation of Yin is due to his nocturnal habits and this enabled the fox to easily assume the guise of woman. Further, as the fox naturally wishes to have a well-balanced constitution, it looks to gather Yang, the male element, wherever it can. Thus is created the powerful myth that the fox-spirit must prey on the life-force of men in order to achieve longevity.

 

[Mireli]

Quote: PaZZa

Any parent will tell you they are easy to wake up by their children (especially mothers), in fact becoming a mother makes many women become very light sleepers.

You haven't met my mother!

No seriously I know what you mean but it was very real indeed and I'd had problems waking the parents on other occasions so I dont think it was an isolated incident.

Interesting details about the foxes and ghosts in Chinese folklore, Bannik.

 

[Iris]

Paza i know from experience being woken 2 or 3 times a night and sleeping lightly. The time my youngest came in complaining about the little flying hats though and even looking out of the window to see if they were still there was different though. I suddenly felt extremely sleepy and went immediately to sleep. I would have liked to have at least looked and my daughter still complains that I wouldn't look although she's 23 now.

 

[rynner2]

The time my youngest came in complaining about the little flying hats.....
I would have liked to have at least looked and my daughter still complains that I wouldn't look although she's 23 now.

:shock: A classic flying saucer description. Seems like the Oz factor affected you, Isis.

 

[konajinx]

Do you think it's possible you could have been doing the classic dreaming while awake thing? This has happened to me countless times. So much so, that I will often act out my dreams with my eyes wide open. I have been known to get up from my bed, walk out to the living room and find an object that is in my dream and then hide it under the bed or other such nonsense. I did this most recently with my wedding ring. I thought I had most certainly lost it, and then I recalled having a dream where I had taken it off and placed it into a bowl in the room. I walked over to the bowl, and saw it had a used paper towel in it. I thought I was crazy for looking, but sure enough, I moved the paper towel, and there was the ring, much to my delight.

I've had other spells where I sit up in bed and have conversations or am "seeing" things and trying to interact with them. Sleep's a funny thing, and can occur even if you think you're wide awake. Not saying this is indeed what happened to you, but just offering up my own experiences as I know I've done and "experienced" some pretty nutty things while dreaming awake or sleepwalking or whatever it is you call that. Ultimately it's annoying as it's not restful at all, but does indeed make for some funny stories.

 

[Anonymous]

I think they might have been optical illusions. I used to have them (or should I say create them?) all the time, 2D and 3D. One of my favourite passtimes was to find landscapes on paper wall or on the ceiling whenever my parents would force me to take a nap and I was not sleepy. I used to see faces everywhere too (nice and evil!) Sometimes when I was bored and couldn't sleep I used to stare at things to see "beyond them" and try to scare myself to death ;p

I personally found that most static images are optical illusions, and the ones that present movement can range from visions to actual entities.

This is fun: http://www.liquidgeneration.com/sabotag ... botage.asp

 

[milk23]

wow this is great
or maybe not. the thing is this, i was reading these accounts and was very interestd as i have always seen faces, landscapes etc in every surface anywhere I ever went. i put this down to a predisposition as i have been drawing cartoons since i can remember and can still recall the faces and leapiing figures contained in the patterns on my bedroom ceiling that influenced my pictures as a child. i used to simply stare at the ceiling until i went to sleep...none of this eyes shut and 'going' to sleep nonsense for me.Well anyway here's the eye opener for me just now after Banniks post....
i am currently living away from my woman and as a result haven't been doing what comes naturally for about 5 months now. just lately i have also been seeing things in the periphery of my vision, you know the stuff, fluttering white animals, things that peep out and disappear when you look round. Well I have also been having dreams of a previous girlfriend of mine who was somewhat of a drain on my life force (for want of a better phrase), not her fault really we just didn't match so good... well anyway she's been turning up in my dreams there and the other night she had her long fingernails gripped onto me as i was trying to swim away through a down hill pool (pretty good dream as it goes, real vivid)... i had to wake myself up before it turned into an erotic dream. Ok so not such a big thing until two nights ago i was having a dream like i was sat in my house there and trying to spot the ethereal beasts that have been surrounding my vision in my waking moments. It was with some apprehenson that in the dream i looking to some movement behind the telly forcing myself to see what it was that elluded my full sight... lo and behold out walked a baby fox!!! Up until just now I have been thinking 'ahh a little fox, how cute' Now you can imagine my frame of mind after putting together a sexual harpy with talony fingers having a reach for my 'life force' and a wee fox revealing itself in a dream as to the shadows that play on the edge of vision.
holy juice !!! i reckon i aint sleeping th'neet!!

 

[Anonymous]

No Fear!

This sounds similar to something that happened to me, once, about 25 years ago when I was a child of about 7, and once very recently (much to my surprise, as this sort of thing had not happened to me for some years).

When I was 7, I awoke in the night sitting bolt upright in bed. I was looking across at the open bedroom door, and there was a shape in there that looked like the kind of image you get if you tune your TV into nothing (jumpy dots in grey and white). I also felt no fear, only intense curiosity. This in itself seems odd, as I was a very nervous child who hated the dark. I remember staring at it for minutes before getting up and walking across to it and trying to touch it, at which point it faded, and I became terrified and went get my Mum.

It happened again recently while I was on holiday, only this time it was a shadow in the corner that looked like a tall person in a long coat trying to cower back as far as they could against the wall. Again I awoke in the night, sitting up in bed, staring straight at it, and felt no fear. In fact I sat for ages tracing every last detail of the shape in my mind so that the next day I could work out what had caused that shadow. Needless to say, the next morning there was nothing that could have caused it, and it was not there the next night. Also needless to say, I did not sleep in that room again!!

What surprises me about my experiences, and the ones mentioned above, is that usually, if you see something scary, in a dream or awake, you are frightened, especially if you are a child. I have seen many strange things that I can not explain, and many of them scared the willies out of me, but these two were not frightening until afterwards. And I know from the more recent one, that there is no way I was asleep.

Curious . . .

 

[Loopee]

pattern recognition

I had to take down a picture in my room - it was a fairly ordinary pre-raphaelite painting of a knight and a lady and a moorish guy standing near a castle, but in a dim light and looking at it from a horizontal angle, there was a very clear and unfriendly man's face. It was weird, I could see it really, really clearly. I cannot track down the name of the painting, or the artists name though.

I put it down to simple pattern recognition, but at midnight it's not particularly pleasant to have a nasty face scowling at you, even if you know absolutely that it is a figment of your imagination! :cry:

 

[RealPaZZa]

Re: pattern recognition

I had to take down a picture in my room - it was a fairly ordinary pre-raphaelite painting of a knight and a lady and a moorish guy standing near a castle, but in a dim light and looking at it from a horizontal angle, there was a very clear and unfriendly man's face. It was weird, I could see it really, really clearly. I cannot track down the name of the painting, or the artists name though.

I put it down to simple pattern recognition, but at midnight it's not particularly pleasant to have a nasty face scowling at you, even if you know absolutely that it is a figment of your imagination! :cry:

Probably a deliberate "trick" by the artist, if you still have the picture, why not post a scan/photo of it? You may like to show where you think the face is too, for those of us that cant see it (I NEVER saw ANYTHING in the famous MAGIC EYE pictures and your supposed to always see a picture in them, I eventually came to the conclusion only the weak willed and simple see a picture in them [NO OFFENCE if any reader can see something there!])

I remember reading somewhere about classical pictures that have hidden images in them (cant remember where i read it though, FT maybe lol)

 

[Loopee]

scary face

I'll have a look around for it, I have a feeling I put it away somewhere (or maybe threw it behind something... )

 

[nickedoff12]

I think I know exactly what you're talking about, Bojangles - was it black and white?

I've got a book with quite a few optical illusions in it, and it seems like I've seen your poster before.

 

[Mireli]

Woah it seems I opened a whole can of worms there

I've seen the picture that Bojangles is talking about or something similar.
Shelly's story was interesting - the lack of fear thing especially. I was always petrified of the dark as a kid, so scared that I would have used the 'Monster Snorkle' in the Far side Cartoons, to sleep under the bed covers (had they been invented of course ). It is odd considering what a wuss I was as a kid that I wasnt scared during the event.

 

[Bannik]

Re: No Fear!

Milk - From what I've read if you cut off the fox fairy's tail while it is in its fox form it will be forced to leave you alone because the tail is the source of its power. Personally, I couldn't do that to a small furry animal even if I did suspect it of being an evil, life-sucking demon but I'll leave that up to you.

When I was 7, I awoke in the night sitting bolt upright in bed. I was looking across at the open bedroom door, and there was a shape in there that looked like the kind of image you get if you tune your TV into nothing (jumpy dots in grey and white). I also felt no fear, only intense curiosity. This in itself seems odd, as I was a very nervous child who hated the dark. I remember staring at it for minutes before getting up and walking across to it and trying to touch it, at which point it faded, and I became terrified and went get my Mum.

Welcome Shelly.

A similar experience to yours is described here.

 

[Loopee]

scary face

I think I know exactly what you're talking about, Bojangles - was it black and white?

I've got a book with quite a few optical illusions in it, and it seems like I've seen your poster before.

Nah, it's colour. As I recall, there is a knight with a moustache facing left and scowling and a lady in the middle, facing the knight and on the far left a man who is walking into the picture, but is looking over his shoulder at the knight - he looks moorish - v. dark with, i think a turban. He is carrying something and his expression is pretty unfriendly. The painting is highly finished - it looks like the kind of finish you get from painting on porcelain.

I could never see the face in daylight

I think I got it out of one of the books in the Phaidon Colour Library series

(and before anyone says anything about cutting up books (I normally hate that sort of thing ), they are cheap editions with v little text and big colour plates - perfect for taking apart and framing individually)

 

[James_H]

I tried waking my parents up to show them the truly spooky thing on the door but they just carried on snoring!

This in itself seems odd, as I was a very nervous child who hated the dark.

These are both typical of the "Close encounter of the fourth (or is it fifth?) kind, entity encounter - in some cases the alien/ghost/angel whatever makes a hell of a noise and the witness' partner a few feet away fails to stir.

 

[Anonymous]

Well well well....Interesting. When I was four, I remember vividly screaming and running into my parents' room after seeing a figure of a person in shadow form move across the wall. It had wild hair and had its arms out in front and had detail of clawed fists.
A few years later...I saw a square of light on my bedroom wall during the daytime and my curtains were open. In the square of light was a shadow of what I thought to be a German shepherd or similar snarling and barking. I ran also!
Now, if this had been what I now think it was, how come there was no dog bark noise from outside? I remember the curtains being closed when the human figure appeared although it was daylight.

Fox, wolf?....I wonder if there's a psychological connection there with children and fear.

 

[krobone]

I tried waking my parents up to show them the truly spooky thing on the door but they just carried on snoring!

This in itself seems odd, as I was a very nervous child who hated the dark.

These are both typical of the "Close encounter of the fourth (or is it fifth?) kind, entity encounter - in some cases the alien/ghost/angel whatever makes a hell of a noise and the witness' partner a few feet away fails to stir.

Also typical of sleep epilepsy or lucid dreaming.

 

[milk23]

Thanks for the advice there bannik. i actually went in the following night a little apprehensive after reading all this and told the 'whatever' to f*** off.
That seemed to work although i am not counting my chickens before they hatch. This is all in the same house which i mentioned in another thread having laughing ghosts in the kitchen. in the dream i can clearly recall the fox was very small and young..even had that thick looking fuzzy fur and i can say without a shadow of a doubt it's tail was barely visible.

 

[Mireli]

James H wrote:
Mireli wrote:

I tried waking my parents up to show them the truly spooky thing on the door but they just carried on snoring!


Shelly wrote:
This in itself seems odd, as I was a very nervous child who hated the dark.

These are both typical of the "Close encounter of the fourth (or is it fifth?) kind, entity encounter - in some cases the alien/ghost/angel whatever makes a hell of a noise and the witness' partner a few feet away fails to stir.


Also typical of sleep epilepsy or lucid dreaming.

I HAVE sleep epilepsy - but I only developed it at the age of 26 and its nothing like my experiences as a child. The 'deja vu' I get if I'm about to have a partial or grande mal seizure has nothing on these experiences.