• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

In The Corner Of Your Eye

GerdaWordyer

Justified & Ancient
Joined
Apr 16, 2012
Messages
1,052
The old cat of a dear friend passed along recently, and the news had me recalling that after our beloved household dogs and cats pass, I perceive glimpses, in my peripheral vision, of these friends for about a month after. It's never a clear, straight-on view, just a view in the corner of my eye. Does this happen to you? Is it brain/optics coping with grief, or real residual presence? Is it specific to peripheral vision only? I've found it comforting just seeing our Doberman romping in the backyard or seeing a kitty just rounding a corner in the house.
 
Dunno, but after our dear mutt Rocky died I saw him plain as day reflected in the glass of a door.
Well, I saw his distinctive brindle-patterned back and his unique curly tail as he walked past me and out through a pine cupboard and a brick wall into eternity.
 
Each time a cat I lived with dies I have the absolute feeling that the cat is still in the house for a few days, then suddenly it's gone. My rational brain tells me that this is me settling into my usual assumption about who is in the house and then suddenly becoming comfortable with the cat not being there, but I'm also open to the idea that it's the cat getting comfortable with its transation and then going.
 
This is my second week in working from home.

It’s boring but I’m not complaining, I’m lucky to have a job that allows me to work away from the office and that enables me to still get paid while this pandemic continues.

Anyway, I’ve set the laptop up in my bedroom where it’s nice and quiet, but as I’m sitting here tapping away, I keep seeing a figure in the corner of my eye, but every time I turn my head to look directly at the figure there is nothing there. I’ve been seeing the figure all this week, but don’t remember noticing it last week, which is curious

I can see it now as I’m typing this, its grey and appears to be a little taller than me (I’m 5ft 10in)

I can’t work out what it is, and before anyone asks, we’ve never had any problems with anything fortean – not in this house anyway.

Bizarre.

bedroom.jpg


bedroom.jpg
 
This is my second week in working from home.

It’s boring but I’m not complaining, I’m lucky to have a job that allows me to work away from the office and that enables me to still get paid while this pandemic continues.

Anyway, I’ve set the laptop up in my bedroom where it’s nice and quiet, but as I’m sitting here tapping away, I keep seeing a figure in the corner of my eye, but every time I turn my head to look directly at the figure there is nothing there. I’ve been seeing the figure all this week, but don’t remember noticing it last week, which is curious

I can see it now as I’m typing this, its grey and appears to be a little taller than me (I’m 5ft 10in)

I can’t work out what it is, and before anyone asks, we’ve never had any problems with anything fortean – not in this house anyway.

Bizarre.

View attachment 24518


View attachment 24518

Get your eyes examined as soon as it's safe to. Might be nothing but could be something serious like the start of a retinal tear. Sometimes people spot these in certain room because the lighting is favourable for it.
 
The old cat of a dear friend passed along recently, and the news had me recalling that after our beloved household dogs and cats pass, I perceive glimpses, in my peripheral vision, of these friends for about a month after. It's never a clear, straight-on view, just a view in the corner of my eye. Does this happen to you? Is it brain/optics coping with grief, or real residual presence? Is it specific to peripheral vision only? I've found it comforting just seeing our Doberman romping in the backyard or seeing a kitty just rounding a corner in the house.

The title of this thread had me earworming a song lyric - just the line 'the corner of my eye'. Took me at least a week to winkle out enough of the tune to recognise what it was.
 
Dunno, but after our dear mutt Rocky died I saw him plain as day reflected in the glass of a door.
Well, I saw his distinctive brindle-patterned back and his unique curly tail as he walked past me and out through a pine cupboard and a brick wall into eternity.

Years ago I was upset about a pet cat who'd died. A few nights afterward I dreamed that I was sitting in the back court when a cat who looked very much like mine walked past. I called his name, but he jumped onto the back wall then down the other side.

I woke up feeling peaceful and content for the first time since he'd taken ill.

Part of me has always thought that it was a message meant to tell me that the cat had moved on to a better place.
 
This is my second week in working from home.

It’s boring but I’m not complaining, I’m lucky to have a job that allows me to work away from the office and that enables me to still get paid while this pandemic continues.

Anyway, I’ve set the laptop up in my bedroom where it’s nice and quiet, but as I’m sitting here tapping away, I keep seeing a figure in the corner of my eye, but every time I turn my head to look directly at the figure there is nothing there. I’ve been seeing the figure all this week, but don’t remember noticing it last week, which is curious

I can see it now as I’m typing this, its grey and appears to be a little taller than me (I’m 5ft 10in)

I can’t work out what it is, and before anyone asks, we’ve never had any problems with anything fortean – not in this house anyway.

Bizarre.

View attachment 24518


View attachment 24518
Can't see anything out of place.
 
When I'm reading in bed at night I sometimes think I see a bug on my mattress or pillow out of the corner of my eye. When I turn to look, it's nothing except the slightest little indentation in the sheets or pillowcase, causing a very faint, almost invisible, shadow. I figure that the contrast between light and shadow are emphasized enough by my peripheral vision so it looks like a dark spot. There are fewer color and more light and dark sensing cells in the peripheral vision (as you all probably know).
After reading Escargot's post though, I'm REALLY hoping that it's not the start of a retinal tear!
I doubt very much if it's the ghost of a bug.
 
This is my second week in working from home.

It’s boring but I’m not complaining, I’m lucky to have a job that allows me to work away from the office and that enables me to still get paid while this pandemic continues.

Anyway, I’ve set the laptop up in my bedroom where it’s nice and quiet, but as I’m sitting here tapping away, I keep seeing a figure in the corner of my eye, but every time I turn my head to look directly at the figure there is nothing there. I’ve been seeing the figure all this week, but don’t remember noticing it last week, which is curious

I can see it now as I’m typing this, its grey and appears to be a little taller than me (I’m 5ft 10in)

I can’t work out what it is, and before anyone asks, we’ve never had any problems with anything fortean – not in this house anyway.

Bizarre.

View attachment 24518


View attachment 24518

l’m betting that you gave a very common eye problem which affects a majority of people as they get older:

Posterior vitreous detachment.

l have it in my right eye. lt manifests as a greyish vertical streak seen at the outer periphery of my vision (a streak of light at night, like a rivulet of water running down a window pane, illuminated by a flash of light).

Harmless but disconcerting.

maximus otter
 
Last edited:
Years ago I was upset about a pet cat who'd died. A few nights afterward I dreamed that I was sitting in the back court when a cat who looked very much like mine walked past. I called his name, but he jumped onto the back wall then down the other side.

I woke up feeling peaceful and content for the first time since he'd taken ill.

Part of me has always thought that it was a message meant to tell me that the cat had moved on to a better place.

You're not alone in this. We have 'ghost pet' threads which you might like.
 
Morning dick turpin wow that looks like a really old house.Have you got any masons marks witch marks really old graffiti or writing on the fabric of the building

Morning

The building is very old, no one is 100% sure how old, although a surveyor told me it was probably built in the mid Tudor period.

However it wasn’t built as a house, it’s an old malting’s that was converted into a house in the late 1980’s.

It’s cool to live in such a quirky building, but alas no mason marks, or dead cats built into the walls to ward off evil spirits etc. and certainly no ghosts or ghouls.

A couple of strange things happened when we first moved in but apart from that we’ve experienced nothing.

Reading Max’s post, I think he’s right about PVD. I’d never heard of it before.

To steal a Rolling Stones lyric “What a drag it is getting old” :D
 
It’s cool to live in such a quirky building, but alas no mason marks, or dead cats built into the walls to ward off evil spirits etc. and certainly no ghosts or ghouls.


keep an eye out for scratches - an apotropaic V and M are used repeatedly at that date and earlier.
 
Hi DT yeah like krepostnoi says any faint scratch marks etc are proof of former owners/builders etc.
Also scorch/burn marks on the old beams.You are really lucky living somewhere like that.
That is till you need to do renervation work etc
 
Hi DT yeah like krepostnoi says any faint scratch marks etc are proof of former owners/builders etc.
Also scorch/burn marks on the old beams.You are really lucky living somewhere like that.
That is till you need to do renervation work etc

Hi WM

We consider ourselves to be very lucky living here, It’s been almost 4 years now.

We had put our old house on the market and accepted an offer within 2 days, so we really needed to get our skates on and find something that we liked, and then this place popped up.

Also what was lucky was the estate agent was old school, you know that my word is my bond sort of man, so when we shook hands on the price I was confident that we wouldn’t get gazumped.

Apparently he had almost 10 other offers all outbidding me, (one of them over the phone from Kenya of all places) but seeing as we’d shook hands on the deal he refused to backtrack on my offer.

He reminded me very much of Mr Carson from Downton Abbey - I was a little scared of him to be honest :eek: .

And talking about scorched wood – this is part of my living room celling and I have no idea what this piece of metal would have been used for.

Ceiling.jpg




metal.jpg
 
Morning DT thanks for the photos.It sounds like you were meant to have the house.
I have no idea what the iron bars would be used for.where were they found.
Just looked at the photos again obviously attached to the beam does it go in to the wall.
Your home looks brilliant
 
When I'm reading in bed at night I sometimes think I see a bug on my mattress or pillow out of the corner of my eye. When I turn to look, it's nothing except the slightest little indentation in the sheets or pillowcase, causing a very faint, almost invisible, shadow. I figure that the contrast between light and shadow are emphasized enough by my peripheral vision so it looks like a dark spot. There are fewer color and more light and dark sensing cells in the peripheral vision (as you all probably know).
After reading Escargot's post though, I'm REALLY hoping that it's not the start of a retinal tear!
I doubt very much if it's the ghost of a bug.

I get that when I'm tired. I'll see a spider scuttling past, from the corner of my eye. Thankfully, all ghost spiders so far. I'm assuming, like you, that its something to do with contrasts and the tiredness exacerbates it.
 
I had a funny little corner of the eye experience at the weekend. Our little cat is very distinctive in appearance and very rarely goes out. Saturday evening she asked to go out while I was washing up by the back door. I left the door open and after a minute or two glimpsed her running back past my legs into the house. I immediately locked the back door and went upstairs. That is her usual clue to follow me up to her bed, but after half an hour she had not appeared and going to look for her found her locked outside in the rear yard. There are no means of getting herself out eg by a cat flap or open window and no one else let her out and there were no other cats in the house! . Quite what I witnessed I don't know, but a little strange experience.
 
While seeing things from the corner of your eye is generally passed off as a form of anxiety disorder by medics, and they are correct to a large degree, this belies a number of things about the process. Firstly, our species' evolution of vision is very odd, seeing as how we have very bad eyesight by animal standards, except that we see colours while they generally see movement. Our peripheral vision is an interesting trait that is valuable our survival. Here is a sci am article on how to test yours: Peripheral vision test. In survival terms, our peripheral vision is very much like the development of the "occipital face area" in the occipital lobe of the brain, in that we often see faces that aren't actually faces (simularca) in objects. From an evolutionary perspective, seeing a face that isn't there is less problematic than missing a (hostile) face that is present. Much the same goes for peripheral vision. It is much better that our eyes warn of a potential threat in our peripheral vision than ignore it. This may actually be the autonomic nervous system springing into action to protect us. Yes, if you are a bit jumpy, you are anxious, and if there are no threats and you don't relax, you are taxing your body unnecessarily, and that can harm your health in the longer term, but the whole "detecting something that isn't there" thing isn't necessarily even a bad thing. Some day when you are unable to see a speeding car that will hit you, your peripheral vision might kick in and save your life. In short, this isn't either unusual or bad, unless it happens more than once or twice a week.
 
I don't know whether this is anything to do with it really, but there is a "double star" in the Ursa Major constellation that looks like a single star to the naked eye, however if you look to focus just to the side of this star you can see it is actually 2 stars that appear close together. So you are in fact seeing what IS there without looking directly at it
 
When I was a teenager a friends house had a big back garden with a badger set at the bottom.

My friends mum would often put scraps of food out for them at night and we would go upstairs to one of the bedrooms and watch them. I discovered I could see the beasts much clearer if I didn't look directly at them.

Rods and cones innit.
 
Seeing something out the corner of my eye was part of one the few genuinely strange experiences I've had.

A young lady I was seeing at the time was dog sitting at her dad's house. At some point we were sitting on a couch in the living room which faced a glass door leading to the hall. As we were chatting, I saw a shadow out the corner of my eye a few times. It seemed to go from left to right then right to left shortly after. There wasn't a defined shape, just a shadow. It wouldn't have bothered me that much but we also heard a crashing sound coming from the kitchen, like pots falling. My companion just gave a slightly puzzled but at the same slightly amused look, and we didn't investigate. One of the dogs also made some noises and moved its mouth as if It was trying to talk. I asked if the dog had done that before, but 'no' was the answer.

Apparently my companion's grandmother had lived there till death and would sometimes make her presence felt. It appears she wasn't keen on mine.

It was a slightly nervous drive home in the dark.
 
Seeing something out the corner of my eye was part of one the few genuinely strange experiences I've had.

A young lady I was seeing at the time was dog sitting at her dad's house. At some point we were sitting on a couch in the living room which faced a glass door leading to the hall. As we were chatting, I saw a shadow out the corner of my eye a few times. It seemed to go from left to right then right to left shortly after. There wasn't a defined shape, just a shadow. It wouldn't have bothered me that much but we also heard a crashing sound coming from the kitchen, like pots falling. My companion just gave a slightly puzzled but at the same slightly amused look, and we didn't investigate. One of the dogs also made some noises and moved its mouth as if It was trying to talk. I asked if the dog had done that before, but 'no' was the answer.

Apparently my companion's grandmother had lived there till death and would sometimes make her presence felt. It appears she wasn't keen on mine.

It was a slightly nervous drive home in the dark.

good post.
 
Back
Top