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Legs With No Body, Running Along The Road

merricat

merricat

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Joined
Aug 2, 2013
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488
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UK
This didn't happen to me, but it did happen to my sister a few weeks ago so I thought it might belong in here!
She's a strange one at the best of times, although not especially interested in anything Fortean. Throughout her life she has certainly had her share of unexplainable experiences, which I would be happy to add here if anyone is interested. With regards to what I think of it all....well, these things definitely do seem to happen to her; a couple of them were witnessed by at least one other person, and she isn't the attention seeking sort. I suppose we will never know how many of them might have 'sensible', psychological explanations but they are interesting nonetheless!

So, the legs.
She is a nurse who often begins work at around 5-6am. Her place of work is very close to her home so she often walks instead of taking the car. On this particular morning she set out early when everything was still quite dark, and around half way to her destination as she passed by a very small old school, a set of legs suddenly appeared beside her, between herself and the school wall, that seemed to be moving hurriedly, dashing forward as if in a rush. She described the legs as being clad in 'black leggings' but 'not like the leggings women wear'. Unfortunately she couldn't describe the shoes, if any, merely repeated that the entire visible part of the legs were dressed in some sort of black cloth/textile.

I asked her how she had felt that morning - normal, ok.
I asked her did she have any strange feelings just prior to witnessing the legs - no.
I asked her how she felt afterwards - shaken.

Nothing since, although she did go to work in the car for the rest of that week.
 
Last edited:
merricat said:
I would be happy to add here if anyone is interested
Click to expand...
Does the pope sh1t in the woods?
Of course we're interested - that's why we're here!

Odd bodyless legs, that's a new one. My immediate question is "I wonder if there was a top half of the body, floating about at some other location?".
 
Hahaa! Will do when I have time today, on and off.
A few more details about the legs. In her initial emails before we spoke, she described the feet as 'curling up at the ends'.
That really gives me the shivers for some reason.
They were adult legs but she couldn't determine a gender.
Had at first thought it was car headlights shining on railings but quickly realised not.
She lost sight of them as she hurried to cross the road, gone in the blink of an eye.

A lot of her experiences took place in care homes where she used to work, and some from my childhood (my father and sister kept horses/lived on spooky old farm, etc).

Edit: yes, I too wonder what was going on with the missing upper body. Perhaps the legs were searching for it?
 
SimonBurchell said:
I am currently reading The Road Map of British Ghosts Volume 2 by Ruth Roper Wylde (who herself haunts these boards)... there are several accounts in there of bodiless feet or legs being seen walking or running.
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I've heard of such things before, too, although often connected to old houses and where a floor, step of doorway might have altered what was available to view, if that makes sense. Her description reminds me of some horrific pantomime.
 
brownmane said:
Did the feet curl up or were they shoes with curled toe points?
Eg.

https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/796664013/medieval-style-poulaine-black-color?ref=share_v4_lx
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I asked her about shoes but she could only say 'black feet things that curled up at the ends'. I suppose it was a lot to take in in such a small space of time, along with shock. I imagine whatever was on it's feet, they curled up at the toes. I didn't tell her this but I keep seeing a silhouette of Rentaghost.
 
A few more sister related tales. Some of her tamest, seeing as it's late :chuckle:

Shortly before my sister first moved into her own place, she was in her early 20's, and had the larger bedroom at the back of the house. She often told us that she could feel someone sit down gently at the end of her bed every time she settled in for the night. On the occasions when she stayed out or wasn't home I would sometimes sleep in there myself, to see what would happen. I never personally experienced anything in there, although I never felt entirely comfortable, even before she mentioned the bed sitter.

Her bedroom window overlooked the lawn and flowerbeds in the rear garden. One night she pulled the curtains back to look at the moon and saw a person-shaped white mist stood in the centre of the lawn, the outline of it's 'body' slightly vibrating or undulating slowly.

Around the same time, she had a friend over one afternoon listening to music in her room, chatting, tea/coffee, etc. Her friend (a female of same age) got up to go to the bathroom - the bathroom was the room next to my sister's, both of which faced the top of the stairs. As the friend turned out of the room to go towards the bathroom door, she claims someone pushed her very hard towards the top of the stairs and actually fell down 3 or 4 steps. She was very badly shaken by this, as was my sister (they were in the house alone at the time). The friend described feeling a definite shove from two 'hands' beneath her shoulder blades, and that the strength was enormous.

Oddly my mother used to iron there, at that very point at the top of the stairs and later told us that she'd once felt someone shove her violently, almost toppling over from the force.

I only suffered one frightening experience in that house; my parents and sister experienced more. Will add them when I can.
 
merricat said:
This didn't happen to me, but it did happen to my sister a few weeks ago so I thought it might belong in here!
She's a strange one at the best of times, although not especially interested in anything Fortean. Throughout her life she has certainly had her share of unexplainable experiences, which I would be happy to add here if anyone is interested. With regards to what I think of it all....well, these things definitely do seem to happen to her; a couple of them were witnessed by at least one other person, and she isn't the attention seeking sort. I suppose we will never know how many of them might have 'sensible', psychological explanations but they are interesting nonetheless!

So, the legs.
She is a nurse who often begins work at around 5-6am. Her place of work is very close to her home so she often walks instead of taking the car. On this particular morning she set out early when everything was still quite dark, and around half way to her destination as she passed by a very small old school, a set of legs suddenly appeared beside her, between herself and the school wall, that seemed to be moving hurriedly, dashing forward as if in a rush. She described the legs as being clad in 'black leggings' but 'not like the leggings women wear'. Unfortunately she couldn't describe the shoes, if any, merely repeated that the entire visible part of the legs were dressed in some sort of black cloth/textile.

I asked her how she had felt that morning - normal, ok.
I asked her did she have any strange feelings just prior to witnessing the legs - no.
I asked her how she felt afterwards - shaken.

Nothing since, although she did go to work in the car for the rest of that week.
Click to expand...

All l can come up with is that it was an early-morning jogger, the type of masochist l often see when l’m up & about early. Due to their clothing, and the unique lighting conditions obtaining at the locus, your sister could only see their legs.

Militating against this is how close we infer that the unknown was to your sister: “…between herself and the school wall…”

Perhaps she was beside a bus shelter, or similar structure, whose “walls” end a couple of feet above the pavement, and the jogger’s torso was concealed?

maximus otter
 
Similar stories to the 'legs' one have been posted here before.

I think it was suggested -or maybe I just came up with the idea -that a 'ghost' is made of energy, and just as an ordinary regular battery will run out of energy and lose power gradually, so a ghostly form may run out of energy and gradually fade away.
Just occasionally, the important bits fade away first, and what 's left is the extremities. Hence the legs.
 
Oddly, the "legs running with no torso" scenario can occur in real life. I recently finished re-reading one of Lyn Macdonald's excellent books about WW1. In it, she recounts a verbatim recollection by a veteran. He was charging toward the German lines when he saw a friend being bisected cleanly at the waist by a large shell splinter. Horribly, his legs tottered on for a few paces before collapsing.

maximus otter
 
A manananggal who hasn't realised it's the top half that's supposed to go out and about? :dunno:
 
maximus otter said:
All l can come up with is that it was an early-morning jogger, the type of masochist l often see when l’m up & about early. Due to their clothing, and the unique lighting conditions obtaining at the locus, your sister could only see their legs.

Militating against this is how close we infer that the unknown was to your sister: “…between herself and the school wall…”

Perhaps she was beside a bus shelter, or similar structure, whose “walls” end a couple of feet above the pavement, and the jogger’s torso was concealed?

maximus otter
Click to expand...
I will ask her the exact point, see if there was any 'street furniture'. I would definitely like to clarify with her how close it was..
 
merricat said:
Hahaa! Will do when I have time today, on and off.
A few more details about the legs. In her initial emails before we spoke, she described the feet as 'curling up at the ends'.
That really gives me the shivers for some reason.
They were adult legs but she couldn't determine a gender.
Had at first thought it was car headlights shining on railings but quickly realised not.
She lost sight of them as she hurried to cross the road, gone in the blink of an eye.

A lot of her experiences took place in care homes where she used to work, and some from my childhood (my father and sister kept horses/lived on spooky old farm, etc).

Edit: yes, I too wonder what was going on with the missing upper body. Perhaps the legs were searching for it?
Click to expand...
A most interesting story, thank you for sharing.

My immediate thought upon reading feet "curling up at the ends" was something akin to what a court jester would wear.
 
Schrodinger's Zebra said:
A most interesting story, thank you for sharing.

My immediate thought upon reading feet "curling up at the ends" was something akin to what a court jester would wear.
Click to expand...
I thought this too.
Sadly she hasn't given me any further information concerning the location so I will ask when I see her in person. A few days ago she said she saw a human figure 'vanish' whilst walking through a corridor at her workplace, describing the figure as dressed top to toe in black.

I didn't say anything but I wanted to suggest that the legs may have finally become reacquainted with their upper half :)
She does seem to collect ...odd sightings, although the legs actually scared her quite a bit.
I might be seeing her tomorrow, if so I will dig a bit deeper.
 
merricat said:
This didn't happen to me, but it did happen to my sister a few weeks ago so I thought it might belong in here!
She's a strange one at the best of times, although not especially interested in anything Fortean. Throughout her life she has certainly had her share of unexplainable experiences, which I would be happy to add here if anyone is interested. With regards to what I think of it all....well, these things definitely do seem to happen to her; a couple of them were witnessed by at least one other person, and she isn't the attention seeking sort. I suppose we will never know how many of them might have 'sensible', psychological explanations but they are interesting nonetheless!

So, the legs.
She is a nurse who often begins work at around 5-6am. Her place of work is very close to her home so she often walks instead of taking the car. On this particular morning she set out early when everything was still quite dark, and around half way to her destination as she passed by a very small old school, a set of legs suddenly appeared beside her, between herself and the school wall, that seemed to be moving hurriedly, dashing forward as if in a rush. She described the legs as being clad in 'black leggings' but 'not like the leggings women wear'. Unfortunately she couldn't describe the shoes, if any, merely repeated that the entire visible part of the legs were dressed in some sort of black cloth/textile.

I asked her how she had felt that morning - normal, ok.
I asked her did she have any strange feelings just prior to witnessing the legs - no.
I asked her how she felt afterwards - shaken.

Nothing since, although she did go to work in the car for the rest of that week.
Click to expand...
Where was this please? I've got several accounts of "legs only" type apparitions, so would be interesting to see if there is a correlation?
 
Trevp666 said:
Odd bodyless legs, that's a new one. My immediate question is "I wonder if there was a top half of the body, floating about at some other location?".
Click to expand...
I read a book called 'Terry Deary's True Ghost Stories' when I was kid (think it was that one) that had a pretty chilling tale of a pair of disembodied boots seen walking deep in a coal mine, wish I could find the story.

EDIT: Guess this is the one, very little detail though
Location: Goldthorpe (Yorkshire) - Colliery
Type: Haunting Manifestation
Date / Time: July 1985
Further Comments: A worker fled this coalfield after he watched a pair of disembodied boots moving towards him deep underground.
Click to expand...
https://www.paranormaldatabase.com/reports/colliery.php
 
merricat said:
This didn't happen to me, but it did happen to my sister a few weeks ago so I thought it might belong in here!
She's a strange one at the best of times, although not especially interested in anything Fortean. Throughout her life she has certainly had her share of unexplainable experiences, which I would be happy to add here if anyone is interested. With regards to what I think of it all....well, these things definitely do seem to happen to her; a couple of them were witnessed by at least one other person, and she isn't the attention seeking sort. I suppose we will never know how many of them might have 'sensible', psychological explanations but they are interesting nonetheless!

So, the legs.
She is a nurse who often begins work at around 5-6am. Her place of work is very close to her home so she often walks instead of taking the car. On this particular morning she set out early when everything was still quite dark, and around half way to her destination as she passed by a very small old school, a set of legs suddenly appeared beside her, between herself and the school wall, that seemed to be moving hurriedly, dashing forward as if in a rush. She described the legs as being clad in 'black leggings' but 'not like the leggings women wear'. Unfortunately she couldn't describe the shoes, if any, merely repeated that the entire visible part of the legs were dressed in some sort of black cloth/textile.

I asked her how she had felt that morning - normal, ok.
I asked her did she have any strange feelings just prior to witnessing the legs - no.
I asked her how she felt afterwards - shaken.

Nothing since, although she did go to work in the car for the rest of that week.
Click to expand...
Thank you so much for posting this and the follow up experiences, it is these sorts of cases that make IHTM the first pages I turn to in FT and my fist port of call on these pages.

I see you have made a number of posts so you are not a newbie, but as ever please don't be offended when forum members post possible rational explanations for your sister's experience as Forteans are by definition mildly skeptical. Nothing that is suggested will take away from how your sister and her friend must have felt and ultimately none of us were there. Thanks again :)
 
I think I remember something about someone seeing the lower half of a cyclist on the A30 near the Windwhistle Inn in Somerset. It might even have been me that saw it - I was quite unwell during the time I lived around there and don't remember whether I SAW the legs or read about someone seeing them.
 
Schrodinger's Zebra said:
My immediate thought upon reading feet "curling up at the ends" was something akin to what a court jester would wear.
Click to expand...
Medieval male dress codes were very particular about how long a man's shoes could be - it was one of those things like the kind of fur you could wear. The longest curly-toed shoes were reserved for the nobility, and, if I recall my history of costume correctly, some were attached to the calf with a thin chain to keep the curl upwards and allow the wearer to walk.
 
When I was at primary school a kid in my class claimed he saw a pair of shoes walking by themselves. Ran into school absolutely terrified and eventually he told us he'd been taking a short-cut through a field when he became aware of movement behind him. He turned and saw a pair of shoes walking along the path towards him and he ran like hell.
He reckoned he was the school hard case and didn't exactly have what could be called a vivid imagination, he certainly didn't seem the type to make up a story like that.
And now, 50 years later the field is a housing estate and I live there not too far from where the path used to be. Still haven't seen any walking shoes though.
 
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