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Lion Man

oweny29

oweny29

Gone But Not Forgotten
(ACCOUNT RETIRED)
Joined
Jul 16, 2004
Messages
94
This happened to me when I was around 5 years old.

I awoke late one night, for no apparent reason. I got out of bed and went into the living room. I felt the urge to approach the window (I've no idea why). I opened the curtains.

A man-sized lion (or more accurately, man in lion costume) crouched behind the curtains, upon the window sill. The lion jumped off the window sill, and landed in the middle of the room.

It grabbed me by the arms, and "danced" aggressively around the room. It swung me around for a while, then eventually stopped. Finally, it "dropped" me on the carpet. I looked up, and the lion was gone.

The lion never made a sound.

I went back to my bed and hid under the covers. In the morning, there was no sign of the lion.
 
:shock:

Wow, that is quite a good story. Obviously I have to cover the most logical explanations first. Could it have been a dream? Why not, could you give more details?
If not a dream, could it have been an actual adult who was dressed up as a lion [who might have been drunk and hence danced with you so violently]?
If none of the above, I still believe that kids have sometimes very strange things happening to them.
 
When you say "dropped" do you mean it let go of your arms and you fell to the floor?

Also, could you describe the lion suite a little more? Was it realistic or cartoonish? Intimidating or goofy (or both)?

Thank you for sharing. This is one of the best I've read in this forum in a while.
 
Wait, this is jogging my memory... wasn't there a story about scary animals in the bedroom someone recalled from when they were little? I think it was on another site and was highlighted here. Sorry to be so vague, but this lion man story might not be an isolated incident.
 
That's the one! Thanks, Bannik.

As I say, it sounds pretty similar, doesn't it?
 
Yes, I was reminded of that one too. It's another one of my favorites from IHTM.

Also, I could have sworn there was a story called (or at least featuring) "Ghostly Lions" on the shadowlands website but I can't find it now.
 
Thanks for the responses. I'll try to answer the questions consicely:

1. Yes, it could have been a dream, but it certainly didn't feel like one, and since I didnt "wake up" from it, it seems unlikely.

2. The lion man was notably tall and lanky, his "costume" was not particularly realistic, but had a very thick, shaggy maine. The fur over the body was proper lion colour and velvety in texture (sort of).

3. The lion man was very intimidating. Not because it was ferocious or anything, just because, well, it was a lion that jumped out at me from behind the curtains and threw me around the room!

4. I was "dropped" on the floor as if being discarded, not thrown exactly, just dropped.

5. I really dont think alchohol was involved, and the idea of a drunken adult seems extremely unlikely because there was only my dad around and he hardly drank at all, and definately wasn't tall and skinny like the lion man was. Also, the lion man was totally silent throughout, which is inconsistent with drunken tomfoolery.

6. Thanks for the link Bannick, that story does indeed have similarities, especially the curtains and window being involved, and the creature appearing on the window sill.


I've also had several experiences with a demonic rabbit type creature. See my thread "Rabbit Monster" from a while back.
 
Interesting story!

Can you describe the surroundings a bit? How wide was the window sill? And what about the curtains? Did they go straight across a bay window recess for instance (giving the 'lion man' space to hide)? Was the window open?
 
Do you remember if he smelled like a lion?
 
Maybe it was Christian the Lion looking for his owners and he had gone to the wrong house by mistake.

Joe
 
If the Demonic Rabbit ever tells you how long until the universe ends, please be sure to let us know.
 
This is something I`d always passed off as a dream, but thought I`d add it to the thread.

When I was small, I imagine in the 4 or 5 range, I was moved into a different bedroom than the one I`d been in up until then. Nothing frightening, just a move from one room to the neighboring one.

Although I`d had no problems sleeping in the other room, each night when I would try to sleep in the new room something weird would happen.
I would see about half sized lions, leopards, and I assume white tigers leaping over my bed in a never ending loop. They never threatened me, just leapt over the bed, ran under the bed to the other side then leapt over it again. I could close my eyes and pretend they weren`t there and fall asleep. But it happened every night, and I complained enough that parents actually remember.

One night, on top of my dresser a small rhino appeared. It looked really friendly and it told me somehow that it would keep the big cats away.
My mother was in the room when this happened, and one of the strongest most vivid memories of my childhood is telling her to look at it, hurry, before it`s gone... And her turning around and smacking it off the top of the dresser. And me crying and telling her it wasn`t what had been scaring me.

I was too scared to sleep in the room after that, for fear of the rhino`s revenge... Or because I felt it had been what had been keeping the cats from attacking me.

Of course, my mother has no recollection of killing it.
 
tamyu said:
One night, on top of my dresser a small rhino appeared. It looked really friendly and it told me somehow that it would keep the big cats away. My mother was in the room when this happened, and one of the strongest most vivid memories of my childhood is telling her to look at it, hurry, before it`s gone... And her turning around and smacking it off the top of the dresser. And me crying and telling her it wasn`t what had been scaring me.

Of course, my mother has no recollection of killing it.
Click to expand...
That's interesting. I remember my aunt acknowledging some weird thing that was looking in through a bay window. It struck me as odd at the time because I just assumed it was my imagination.

I feel sorry for the poor rhino, Tamyu. :( Perhaps he would have served the same function as Filthy's guardian octopus.
 
Hi oweny29! Great story!

Do you remember what time in the night it was? How long you might have been asleep for? Just me entertaining some ideas about hypnopompic phenomena...

Thanks.
 
The interesting thing is that animals seem to be a reflexive symbol of the unconscious (i.e. the subhuman, but therianthropic...creature forms with human characteristics). I am reminded of Aldous Huxley and his 'zoological' forms glimpsed at the "Antipodes of the mind".

Shortly heading for the Antipodes myself (of the Earth that is, not the mind...well maybe that as well :D )

FEB
 
FractalElfBreeze said:
The interesting thing is that animals seem to be a reflexive symbol of the unconscious (i.e. the subhuman, but therianthropic...creature forms with human characteristics). I am reminded of Aldous Huxley and his 'zoological' forms glimpsed at the "Antipodes of the mind".

Shortly heading for the Antipodes myself (of the Earth that is, not the mind...well maybe that as well :D )

FEB
Click to expand...

So, you are proposing that the Lion Man is a manifestation of the unconscious. Interesting proposition. The unconscious dancing with the conscious mind (in some kind of liminal 'space'). There seems to be some antagonism between these anthorpomorphic animals and the conscious human state, given that they often serve to intimidate the human who has no idea what is going on. I wonder if it is intrapsychic symbolism or a literal manifestation.
 
I think I read somewhere that Jung believed big cats in dreams symbolized unconscious rage.
 
The surreal nature of it (especially no sound) reminds me of some EXTREMELY real and vivid seeming dreams I had when I was very young. I sometimes wonder if the young mind can produce more real dreams than adults... Then again, maybe my dreams weren't dreams!
 
MachineElf said:
So, you are proposing that the Lion Man is a manifestation of the unconscious. Interesting proposition. The unconscious dancing with the conscious mind (in some kind of liminal 'space').
Click to expand...
If the unconscious is metaphorically dancing with the conscious in Oweny's story, I wonder what it's doing here. Expressing anger at being neglected?

Mister Awesome, I'd love to hear about those dreams you mentioned if you feel comfortable doing so.
 
Bannik said:
MachineElf said:
So, you are proposing that the Lion Man is a manifestation of the unconscious. Interesting proposition. The unconscious dancing with the conscious mind (in some kind of liminal 'space').
Click to expand...
If the unconscious is metaphorically dancing with the conscious in Oweny's story, I wonder what it's doing here. Expressing anger at being neglected?
Click to expand...

Thanks for that Bannik. Like I said, there seems to me there is a natural antagonism between the unconscious and the conscious mind, and it manifests in phenomena such as this and demonic enounters, alien abductions, sleep paralysis, poltergeist phenomena, weird animals, etc.
 
Bannik said:
I think I read somewhere that Jung believed big cats in dreams symbolized unconscious rage.
Click to expand...

Jung was actually pretty careful to never over-generalise about any aspect of dream symbolism. One man's (or woman's) lion was another's hobbyhorse. it was through collaborative analysis that he enabled his clients to discover their own myths and stories. Freud on the other hand was much more regimented in his symbolism.
 
What puzzles me is that this story has such a different feel from the other youth-experience stories. I see three possibilities, and excuse me for nr. 3 but we have to keep an open mind:

1) It was a strangely vivid dream.

2) There really was a person in a lion suit in the room.

3) The story is a hoax.

My personal score would be: 1: 80% chance, 2: 5% chance, 3: 15% chance.

2 seems very unlikely, because there is no rational explanation for why anyone would do something like this.

3 gets a chance, because the story lacks that vague, dreamy quality that many of these tales have. And because there is no mention of any emotions.
 
I just had to reply to this post to tell you about my daughter. From a very early age, she has always had imaginary friends, i use the word imaginary very lightly, but that is another story about a little girl she used to play with!

When she was about 3 years old (she is now 10) she used to always be chattering away to somone called Lion. At first i didn't take much notice of it as she was always chattering to someone! But as she grew older, Lion never went away, he was always somewhere in the background. At the age of about 5 -7 years he was very prominent in her life. we lived in a high rise block of flats. The nightly ritual of going to bed was the usual of read a story, tuck in, kiss goodnight etc then i would have to go an open the curtains half way and open the window a fraction (locks in place!!) so that Lion would be able to get in. This was so I was told by her so he could watch her while she was sleeping to make sure she had a good night. He liked to sit at the end of the bed. I have even had to pull the car over to the side of the road, in order that we could let him in so he could travel home with us!

I did ask her to describe him to me. she told me that he was a boy who had a face that looked like a lion, he had wings like an angel. She said that they were the best of friends. I asked her what they did when he came over, she said that they played, and he made her laugh, you could always hear her laughing in her bedroom. But most of all he looked after her.

Now that she is older, Lion still appears but not so often. Even only a few weeks ago she told me that lion had paid her a visit.

At first I did feel that it was strange, but this friend became a strong part of her life.

Please be gentle with any replies as I stop by and read but never post :oops:
 
Quite a nice story! Even if it's only her imagination, it sounds benevolent. And if not her imagination, it still sounds friendly.
 
Hello Biernie,
If you're of the Christian persuasion, have you thought about the fact that St Mark the Evangelist is represented by the symbol of the winged lion?
 
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