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

Minor Strangeness (IHTM)

I've mentioned before that every winter for a handful of years a Red Admiral butterfly would suddenly appear in the kitchen at mine. Not seen one for at least a couple of years but today found one clinging to the wall on the landing (just outside the room where all the weird events seem to occur). I carefully scooped it up and tried to put it on the plant in the kitchen where the others have appeared. It was very reluctant to get off my finger and clung on, possibly due to the heat in my hand, but I eventually managed to cajole it onto the plant. I've no idea where they come from and why suddenly they appear, seemingly out of nowhere. The weather is freezing where I am so I didn't want to put it outside. Should I have done? There are plenty of sheltered hidey holes in my back garden.
Have you ever had an infestation of 'cluster' flies on a window?
They're unbelievable. Very dopy, so easy to kill, but they just keep appearing and you cannot see where from.
 
I've mentioned before that every winter for a handful of years a Red Admiral butterfly would suddenly appear in the kitchen at mine. Not seen one for at least a couple of years but today found one clinging to the wall on the landing (just outside the room where all the weird events seem to occur). I carefully scooped it up and tried to put it on the plant in the kitchen where the others have appeared. It was very reluctant to get off my finger and clung on, possibly due to the heat in my hand, but I eventually managed to cajole it onto the plant. I've no idea where they come from and why suddenly they appear, seemingly out of nowhere. The weather is freezing where I am so I didn't want to put it outside. Should I have done? There are plenty of sheltered hidey holes in my back garden.
Insects such as butterflies and wasps will commonly come into houses in the winter to hibernate, tuck themselves into a dusty, forgotten corner to see out the winter, often without the human occupant(s) ever even knowing they were there. I believe patches of milder weather, when the temps climb into double figures and it starts to feel faintly like Spring, can make them stir, but there's never enough warmth for them to become fully active, which is why you'll suddenly find one resting on a wall. Heat would attract it, so yes, it would cling to your hand, and be very reluctant to leave it. Putting it in/on a plant was a good choice, especially if said plant has dense foliage the butterfly can tuck itself into. Outside hidey-holes are also a solid option, but there's always a risk they're already occupied, and you must be sure they're inside it, or they'd be easy food for garden birds.

In our household, we've gotten very used to the comings and goings of invertebrates, from male house spiders hunting mates in the autumn to dopey, freshly-woken wasps drifting around in early Spring, to random woodlice appearing in all kinds of places. We once found a large dung beetle indoors in the winter; put it in the earth of a small potted tree kept indoors that time of year, it immediately buried itself, never saw it again; presumably it dug itself out in the Spring, after the tree was put back outside. To our minds, it's just part and parcel of living in a 300 year old cottage in the countryside.
 
Last edited:
I don't know of any butterflies round here yet but some moths have been reported on the local wildlife recorder's site. I saw a bumblebee flying on Wednesday.
The Red Admiral may have been hibernating and was tempted out by the sunshine.
 
There are winter moths, can be quite a lot around some evenings as well. It looks odd in January or February.

https://ukmoths.org.uk/species/operophtera-brumata/
I recall well ~ butterflies appearing right through the winter months when I did work in a local factory.
They used to either hatch-out somewhere inside, and some (like the Painted Lady) overwintered there, and as soon as any kind of warmth arrived inside the factory
(as it was normally a pretty cold part of the factory where I did my main work), you'd see them fluttering up against the dirty windows covered in cobwebs where they would mostly succumb to in-house spiders, or not find there way outside ~ apart from the ones I happened to release myself.

In fact, I recall when on my break outside the factory, I happened to spot this pretty odd looking patch of colour on the brick wall, after a bit of research found out that it was a pretty rare
specimen a Huge 'Oak Moth.' When it took off to fly away after holding it in the palm of my hand, it showed a rainbow of colours as it's wings beat so fast, it's body was very large and it took it's time to eventually get airborne, but once it did - no problem flying away.
 
Last edited:
No. Tables. Most schools haven't had desks for years.
We had them in some classrooms, but a lot were stored down in the boiler room. A teacher got us down there one day shifting some stuff (it might have been the actual desks themselves- can't recall), and I enjoyed reading the graffiti in/on them from the 60s/70s. Mostly referrences to Led Zeppelin and The Who. Engelbert Humperdinck, not so much.
 
We had them in some classrooms, but a lot were stored down in the boiler room. A teacher got us down there one day shifting some stuff (it might have been the actual desks themselves- can't recall), and I enjoyed reading the graffiti in/on them from the 60s/70s. Mostly referrences to Led Zeppelin and The Who. Engelbert Humperdinck, not so much.
Well, that's your g-generation.
 
Engelbert Humperdinck, not so much
1676113595737.png
 
Happens to me but not all the time, however I did once lose a public toilet block due to ,'brain blindness'.

I'd been living in Wales for a while and being flush with my B and B earnings had gone up to Birmingham to visit an exhibition. Bursting for the loo and not liking to use the ones on the train I rushed onto the concourse as soon as we got to New Street. I could see the loo I knew it was there somewhere but where exactly?

Half of my brain was saying 'it's here' and the other half was saying 'but where?' Hopping on one leg turning round in circles I just couldn't locate it.

In time I spotted it (no embarrassing accidents thank goodness).

I'd been been desperately searching for the sign 'MERCHED' not the one saying 'LADIES' (after living in Wales for less than a year duh').
I lost an entire supermarket.

My mum had sent me out shopping into town. I was probably about 14 and supermarkets weren't really on my radar, but I thought I knew where this one was. When I arrived at the location, I'd been thinking of a different shop and the supermarket required wasn't there. Whatever this item was, it could only be bought from this one supermarket (we are talking mid 70s here, and we weren't awash with huge supermarkets like we are now). So I went home without.

The supermarket was later found, skulking around on the opposite end of town. I was not a particularly aware child, and rarely went shopping with my mother, hence the mistake.
 
I lost an entire supermarket.

My mum had sent me out shopping into town. I was probably about 14 and supermarkets weren't really on my radar, but I thought I knew where this one was. When I arrived at the location, I'd been thinking of a different shop and the supermarket required wasn't there. Whatever this item was, it could only be bought from this one supermarket (we are talking mid 70s here, and we weren't awash with huge supermarkets like we are now). So I went home without.

The supermarket was later found, skulking around on the opposite end of town. I was not a particularly aware child, and rarely went shopping with my mother, hence the mistake.
A German comedian (forget his name) said that during training for national service they had to go through the woods and pick out mess tins/helmets/uniforms etc. When he got back he reported to the Sergeant what he had seen who asked ''You didn't see the tank then?''

Mind you, not as bad as missing a whole supermarket......
 
I lost an entire supermarket.

My mum had sent me out shopping into town. I was probably about 14 and supermarkets weren't really on my radar, but I thought I knew where this one was. When I arrived at the location, I'd been thinking of a different shop and the supermarket required wasn't there. Whatever this item was, it could only be bought from this one supermarket (we are talking mid 70s here, and we weren't awash with huge supermarkets like we are now). So I went home without.

The supermarket was later found, skulking around on the opposite end of town. I was not a particularly aware child, and rarely went shopping with my mother, hence the mistake.
I used to go to a supermarket with Techy and his mother in a shopping centre. Sometimes the centre entrance would be on the right of the road, sometimes the left.

Baffled me until I realised that there are two parallel roads with the centre between them, and we were approaching from one road or another depending on where else we'd been. :chuckle:
 
I suddenly caught a really strong whiff of smoke. It was exactly like a pan of badly-burned food.
[. . .]
Nothing is on fire and there's no smoke. We have smoke alarms anyway which didn't go off.

When Techy came in he couldn't smell smoke.
Will you please verify that you haven't had a stroke?
 
Thank you for your concern. :)
No, I am perfectly healthy and haven't had a stroke.

It might be a lingering effect of Covid. Gave me a start. :chuckle:
Aside from the dream I mentioned elsewhere on the board, this latest bout of Covid seems to have messed up my hearing.
Laying in bed this morning I clearly heard the wife slide open the wardrobe, I asked her something but she didn’t reply, I turned over opened my eyes to repeat the question and…no wife. She wasn’t even in the house, she was out walking the two elder dogs. Wardrobe door was closed.
About half hour a go someone distinctly tried to whistle next to the bed. It was as if someone couldn’t form a proper whistle and only the sound of escaping breath could be heard. I was on this board, wide awake and sitting up. Initially I thought it must be someone outside on the drive (we live in a bungalow) and went to get out of bed to go outside and breathe on them. Then I heard it again and realised it was the sound of a dog toy on the wooden floor.
The ear buds will go in tonight with something playing in the background or I’ll be up all night hunting for ghosts or burglars.
 
Last edited:
I've had two slightly strange things happen recently. There's a small obsidian mirror on my desk and a few days ago I thought I saw a reflection of something moving behind me or else something was in the mirror itself. I've looked at it many times since and it's at such an angle that nothing in the room would be reflected.
Last night I'd gone to bed and just got comfortable when I felt something tap my hip, seemingly through the blankets. My first thought was the elastic waistband of my PJs was twisted but it was a good two inches lower than that. I suppose it was a muscle spasm but it seemed a strange place for that.
I think I must be getting old and losing my grip.
 
I've had two slightly strange things happen recently. There's a small obsidian mirror on my desk and a few days ago I thought I saw a reflection of something moving behind me or else something was in the mirror itself. I've looked at it many times since and it's at such an angle that nothing in the room would be reflected.
Last night I'd gone to bed and just got comfortable when I felt something tap my hip, seemingly through the blankets. My first thought was the elastic waistband of my PJs was twisted but it was a good two inches lower than that. I suppose it was a muscle spasm but it seemed a strange place for that.
I think I must be getting old and losing my grip.
Oooooo... obsidian mirrors! Used in ancient Mesoamerica for a variety of uses, including divination and communicating with the gods. John Dee had an obsidian Aztec mirror that he used for scrying. Here's an article I wrote on Wikipedia years ago, it looks largely unchanged.

Edit: I often find mirrors unspeakably spooky for no good reason. As for obsidian mirrors... shudder. Who knows what ancient horrors lurk within.
 
There's a small obsidian mirror on my desk and a few days ago I thought I saw a reflection of something moving behind me or else something was in the mirror itself. I've looked at it many times since and it's at such an angle that nothing in the room would be reflected.
Paging M.R. James! Paging M.R. James! :)
 
I don’t think my wife and I are crazy or sleep walk.

When we woke up this morning some of our hanging clothes in our bedroom were on the floor next to our bed.

I seen strange in the past, but this has never happened before.

My wife said maybe a poltergeist ?
Could either of you have been sleepwalking? Sleepwalking people do things like that.
 
I don’t think my wife and I are crazy or sleep walk.

When we woke up this morning some of our hanging clothes in our bedroom were on the floor next to our bed.

I seen strange in the past, but this has never happened before.

My wife said maybe a poltergeist ?
If you've got suspicions that something is happening that's hard to explain, then I would suggest setting up a test to see if it still happens.
 
I don’t think my wife and I are crazy or sleep walk.

When we woke up this morning some of our hanging clothes in our bedroom were on the floor next to our bed.

I seen strange in the past, but this has never happened before.

My wife said maybe a poltergeist ?
Hi charlie,
I can definitely see how such a happening could give you the creeps.
To understand the situation better, I have a couple of questions. Were your "hanging clothes" hung on clothes hangers in your closet(s)? If so, did the clothes on the floor still have their hangers attached? Or were the clothes hanging on hooks attached to the wall? If they were on hooks, is it possible there was some large draft or a breeze from an open window? (The open window is less likely this time of year, I know, but when living in Germany, I discovered that a significant number of Germans I knew liked sleeping with windows open, even in winter.)
 
Oooooo... obsidian mirrors! Used in ancient Mesoamerica for a variety of uses, including divination and communicating with the gods. John Dee had an obsidian Aztec mirror that he used for scrying. Here's an article I wrote on Wikipedia years ago, it looks largely unchanged.

Edit: I often find mirrors unspeakably spooky for no good reason. As for obsidian mirrors... shudder. Who knows what ancient horrors lurk within.
There are quite a few obsidian mirrors on Ebay if anyone wants to try one out.

https://www.ebay.com.au/sch/i.html?...0057.m570.l1313&_nkw=obsidian+mirror&_sacat=0
 
Two pebbles of cheese have disappeared from my fridge. they were in there last time I looked - I'd purchased a selection from a creamery. I love cheese but I'm only allowed small quantities for digestive reasons. I did not eat the cheese, and nothing else has gone missing. Really strange.
 
Two pebbles of cheese have disappeared from my fridge. they were in there last time I looked - I'd purchased a selection from a creamery. I love cheese but I'm only allowed small quantities for digestive reasons. I did not eat the cheese, and nothing else has gone missing. Really strange.
Either: You have a mouse?
Or do you sleepwalk?? :)
 
Aside from the dream I mentioned elsewhere on the board, this latest bout of Covid seems to have messed up my hearing.
Laying in bed this morning I clearly heard the wife slide open the wardrobe, I asked her something but she didn’t reply, I turned over opened my eyes to repeat the question and…no wife. She wasn’t even in the house, she was out walking the two elder dogs. Wardrobe door was closed.
About half hour a go someone distinctly tried to whistle next to the bed. It was as if someone couldn’t form a proper whistle and only the sound of escaping breath could be heard. I was on this board, wide awake and sitting up. Initially I thought it must be someone outside on the drive (we live in a bungalow) and went to get out of bed to go outside and breathe on them. Then I heard it again and realised it was the sound of a dog toy on the wooden floor.
The ear buds will go in tonight with something playing in the background or I’ll be up all night hunting for ghosts or burglars.
I've written here before about the haunted house I lived in for ten years, when I was younger.
I would wake up with a start, and at first I wasn't sure what woke me - then I would hear heavy breathing at the right side of the bed, as if a man was standing there. There was no mistaking it, and I was alone.
It would scare me to death, and trying to get back to sleep was awful!
 
Back
Top