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

Minor Strangeness (IHTM)

Not really Fortean, but strange all the same..
This afternoon, sitting in the living room, my wife suddenly pointed at the wall behind me with a look on her face - the kind she has when theres a spider in the same room as herself.
So i look round to see a blue damsel fly resting up. I have never seen a damsel fly IN the house before, nor can i remember seeing one in the garden come to think of it? There are hundreds however around the canal and nearby ponds etc but these are approx 1/8th of a mile or so away (to the nearest one) so it is no huge surprise to see one .
However, what was strange today was after catching the damsel fly and releasing it back outside, about 5 minutes later there was a scream from my daughters room (her rooms above the living room) followed by shouts of "dad come and get this" sure enough, there in her room was... YEP.. a blue damsel fly or as she put it "a stick with wings" (id really like to claim its the same one but i have no way of confirming this as i didnt ask its name!)
Once again i had to do my catch and release routine
 
plastic wiganer said:
Not really Fortean, but strange all the same..
This afternoon, sitting in the living room, my wife suddenly pointed at the wall behind me with a look on her face - the kind she has when theres a spider in the same room as herself.
So i look round to see a blue damsel fly resting up. I have never seen a damsel fly IN the house before, nor can i remember seeing one in the garden come to think of it? There are hundreds however around the canal and nearby ponds etc but these are approx 1/8th of a mile or so away (to the nearest one) so it is no huge surprise to see one .
However, what was strange today was after catching the damsel fly and releasing it back outside, about 5 minutes later there was a scream from my daughters room (her rooms above the living room) followed by shouts of "dad come and get this" sure enough, there in her room was... YEP.. a blue damsel fly or as she put it "a stick with wings" (id really like to claim its the same one but i have no way of confirming this as i didnt ask its name!)
Once again i had to do my catch and release routine
Click to expand...

My guess would be the same one, who's really determined to get into your house for some reason :)

Incidentally I just googled 'damsel fly' as I wasn't sure exactly what it was - and realised that the things we used to get in our garden many years ago 'down south' were probably damsel flies, and not dragonflies as we'd always assumed! So there you go.
 
Schrodinger's Zebra said:
My guess would be the same one, who's really determined to get into your house for some reason :)

Incidentally I just googled 'damsel fly' as I wasn't sure exactly what it was - and realised that the things we used to get in our garden many years ago 'down south' were probably damsel flies, and not dragonflies as we'd always assumed! So there you go.
Click to expand...
You've just reminded me of an amazing thing that happened in Wychnor Park when I was a teenager. Myself and a neighbour's kid were bike riding through the park (sometime in the mid 80's, he's passed away now) and found ourselves in an enormous slow moving migrating swarm of electric blue mayflies, I mean, of biblical proportions and as far as the eye could see across fields. They were all flying in the same direction, it wasn't at all unnerving, I felt quite privileged to be witnessing it and being in the middle of it all.


(I've just tried to find a vid of blue mayflies and found this toe tapper instead)

 
Ghost In The Machine said:
More a slight "WTF" but I had a sort of weird one, on Monday.

Long story short - we had a couple move in next door ten years ago, with their dog, Sheba. Couple were very, very happy - it was the house of their dreams. 18 months back, the man died. Partner left alone, with Sheba in the house.

Inevitable happened, and several months back old Sheba died. Much loved neighbour decides she is rattling round a house with too many memories and now the old dog is gone, maybe time to move on. Puts house up for sale. It sells before even the for sale sign goes up. (But sale chugging through slowly). Meantime, she rents a house nearby and starts moving things out.

For one reason or another, I have hardly spoken with her for a while when, last week, I bump into her with two mutual friends, in the front garden about to drive away. She is carrying two pretty little boxes. Friends say it is the 2nd to last time she is coming back, now the house is almost cleared, and she is installed in the new house a mile down the rd. She has her partner's ashes in one box and Sheba's in the other. We hug eachother, and cry a bit, and I tell her how much I loved them both, and how much I'll miss her.

It was surreal seeing her partner and the dog literally being taken away from home for the last time, in little boxes. Ineffably sad. I remember the day they first viewed the house - it was this exact time of year. I was cutting roses when I first met them over the garden gate and I am in the front cutting herbs, when I see her. I feel like I saw J and Sheba in and I am seeing them out.

A day or so later she reappears briefly. Then again. Then Monday I finally, finally get to chat with her. She says the sale hasn't yet gone through and it it falls through she may even come back to stay. She is just renting in the village to see how it feels to live elsewhere. (Our mutual friends had implied it is hard trying to get her to leave). I think in her heart of hearts she doesn't want to leave. I feel incredibly sad.

Husband comes home and we go shopping. I tell him about the conversation I just had with my soon to be ex neighbour. He forgets something and pops back in to Tescos for it. I wait in the car. When he gets back he hands me the receipt. There is an ad printed on the receipt. For cat food. (Nowhere I can host this online, so I won't photo just tell you what it says):

"BRING HOME THE SHEBA"

FFS.
Click to expand...

I'm a cynical old thing, but that was rather sweet.
 
catseye said:
I'm a cynical old thing, but that was rather sweet.
Click to expand...
Aw, cheers! More sad, as she moved out last week. So the Tesco's receipt wasn't prophetic! She bought me a present, left it outside as she couldn't bear to say goodbye face to face, then returned specially in the evening because she had to hug me!

Tesco receipts are not going to be the new Paul The Octopus, that's for sure.
 
Odd happening last night.

I go to bed late. Usually between two and three AM.

Last night It was 02:30 when I turned in. As I don't sleep well I was still awake when, at 03:30 i heard a quit loud but dull 'Thud'.

'That was in the house' thinks I. And taking a firm grip on my trusty battle axe (a replica, but just as lethal as the original) I set of to go downstairs.

But I was surprised to find, laying on the staircase upper landing, a framed picture.

Now, I know this picture had been standing propped against a book case when I came to bed.

There as no droughts (still air) and no reason for it to move at all.

My wife told me it had happened before.

Yes, very odd.

INT21
 
INT21 said:
and no reason for it to move at all.
Click to expand...
How far was it from its original propped position?

I predict that:
  • it WAS face-down when you found it;
  • it is both large and light, and unglazed;
  • it has a taut wire/twine/cordage lashing within the rear of the picture-frame (for hanging)
 
INT21 said:
Odd happening last night.

I go to bed late. Usually between two and three AM.

Last night It was 02:30 when I turned in. As I don't sleep well I was still awake when, at 03:30 i heard a quit loud but dull 'Thud'.

'That was in the house' thinks I. And taking a firm grip on my trusty battle axe (a replica, but just as lethal as the original) I set of to go downstairs.

But I was surprised to find, laying on the staircase upper landing, a framed picture.

Now, I know this picture had been standing propped against a book case when I came to bed.

There as no droughts (still air) and no reason for it to move at all.

My wife told me it had happened before.

Yes, very odd.

INT21
Click to expand...

Some years ago I was having a heated argument with my teenage son. He was standing in the hall beside the front door and there was a picture on the wall beside him. When were really started shouting (which was rare, might have been the only time it happened) the picture shot off the wall and landed at his feet.

I shouted 'LOOK what you've made me do now!' - more for comedic effect than anything else - and we both stared at it in shock and then calmed down and had a nice cup of tea together.

The picture didn't fall, it moved right away from the wall as if someone had flipped it upward off the nail and landed face-down. It was just a print of a little girl with a dog, nothing personal or valuable.



No-Title-Girl-Praying-in-Bed-with-Dog-P-778.jpg
 
When I was in my early teens, I had to endure countless weekends with my parents in their touring caravan in various places that were within a couple of hours driving distance from home. On one particular rain-sodden weekend, we had gone to stay at a caravan park outside of Cirencester that was close to some big lakes. I didn't like the feel of the area and I simply wanted to stay at home. When we arrived on the site, I started acting like the typical sullen teenager and simply asked if we could turn around and go home. The journey itself had been clogged with traffic and roadworks and everything felt 'off' about the trip. My folks, being their usual stubborn selves, overrode my pleas and decided to 'give it a try'. So we got the caravan parked and set up in the rainstorm and sat at the table in the tiny little 2-berth caravan for a cup of tea. Then all the electrics went off, so my Dad had to go outside to check the breaker on the power hookup. My Mum then said that she also felt uneasy and wanted to go home. At that moment, a glass of water slid clean off the table and onto the floor, soaking Mum and me in the process. We both screamed and jumped up. None of us had even touched the table at the time.

Needless to say, we decided to pack up and go home. This wasn't the first time a family weekend ended early due to something weird happening, there's also my account of the funny experience and the vivid, screaming nightmare at Butlins in Minehead that I think I have posted elsewhere on this site.
 
escargot said:
Some years ago I was having a heated argument with my teenage son. He was standing in the hall beside the front door and there was a picture on the wall beside him. When were really started shouting (which was rare, might have been the only time it happened) the picture shot off the wall and landed at his feet.

I shouted 'LOOK what you've made me do now!' - more for comedic effect than anything else - and we both stared at it in shock and then calmed down and had a nice cup of tea together.

The picture didn't fall, it moved right away from the wall as if someone had flipped it upward off the nail and landed face-down. It was just a print of a little girl with a dog, nothing personal or valuable.



No-Title-Girl-Praying-in-Bed-with-Dog-P-778.jpg
Click to expand...
Pic doesn't load for me.
 
escargot said:
Some years ago I was having a heated argument with my teenage son. He was standing in the hall beside the front door and there was a picture on the wall beside him. When were really started shouting (which was rare, might have been the only time it happened) the picture shot off the wall and landed at his feet.

I shouted 'LOOK what you've made me do now!' - more for comedic effect than anything else - and we both stared at it in shock and then calmed down and had a nice cup of tea together.

The picture didn't fall, it moved right away from the wall as if someone had flipped it upward off the nail and landed face-down. It was just a print of a little girl with a dog, nothing personal or valuable.



No-Title-Girl-Praying-in-Bed-with-Dog-P-778.jpg
Click to expand...

I can't get the picture to load either .
 
escargot said:
Some years ago I was having a heated argument with my teenage son. He was standing in the hall beside the front door and there was a picture on the wall beside him. When were really started shouting (which was rare, might have been the only time it happened) the picture shot off the wall and landed at his feet.

I shouted 'LOOK what you've made me do now!' - more for comedic effect than anything else - and we both stared at it in shock and then calmed down and had a nice cup of tea together.

The picture didn't fall, it moved right away from the wall as if someone had flipped it upward off the nail and landed face-down. It was just a print of a little girl with a dog, nothing personal or valuable.



No-Title-Girl-Praying-in-Bed-with-Dog-P-778.jpg
Click to expand...
No-Title-Girl-Praying-in-Bed-with-Dog-P-778.jpg
 
I thought a bit on the 'happening' with my picture.

For it to fall over it would need to be stood almost vertical to the bookcase it was leaning against.

If it just fell over then the bottom edge of the picture would be about two inch from the position it was when it was stood up.

But it was a good nine inch away from this position.

As the surface of the picture is flat (actually not in a frame but more like a thick (1.5 inch) flat sheet weighing about a kilo), then as it topples the air wedge between it and the floor would tend to push the bottom towards the bookcase. not away from it.

Conclusion: It didn't just fall over.

INT21
 
Vardoger said:
No-Title-Girl-Praying-in-Bed-with-Dog-P-778.jpg
Click to expand...
My former art student son has just finished uni and boomeranged home, for a while. Amongst the stuff he's accumulated in 4 years at uni - a hideous painting. (I'll try and get a shot of it later if I can find where he's hidden it). His landlord's mansion was flooded and landlord paid his student tenants to go across to his house and help chuck the flood damaged stuff. Amongst it all was this original (bad) oil painting, of a scary little boy with grapes or something. No-one else would touch it and they wanted to skip it, but son rescued it (landlord said they could take what they wanted - he was a nice man).

Son's gfriend won't let him hang the painting (and i made him take it out the living room here, even though it was propped behind the TV where no-one could see it). It's ugly and freaky and looks like it might step out the frame and kill you at night.

Son is totally oblivious. He knows it is hideous but he loves freaking everyone out with it.
 
Ghost In The Machine said:
My former art student son has just finished uni and boomeranged home, for a while. Amongst the stuff he's accumulated in 4 years at uni - a hideous painting. (I'll try and get a shot of it later if I can find where he's hidden it). His landlord's mansion was flooded and landlord paid his student tenants to go across to his house and help chuck the flood damaged stuff. Amongst it all was this original (bad) oil painting, of a scary little boy with grapes or something. No-one else would touch it and they wanted to skip it, but son rescued it (landlord said they could take what they wanted - he was a nice man).

Son's gfriend won't let him hang the painting (and i made him take it out the living room here, even though it was propped behind the TV where no-one could see it). It's ugly and freaky and looks like it might step out the frame and kill you at night.

Son is totally oblivious. He knows it is hideous but he loves freaking everyone out with it.
Click to expand...

Ooh, is it one of those 'cursed' pictures? I do believe we have a thread on those!
 
I actually like that picture of the girl and the dog - the pious little girl is beyond twee, but the dog is rather like my young Patterdale bitch (except she's got a black head and is rather patchier). The expression is exactly right!
 
INT21 said:
I thought a bit on the 'happening' with my picture.

For it to fall over it would need to be stood almost vertical to the bookcase it was leaning against.

If it just fell over then the bottom edge of the picture would be about two inch from the position it was when it was stood up.

But it was a good nine inch away from this position.

As the surface of the picture is flat (actually not in a frame but more like a thick (1.5 inch) flat sheet weighing about a kilo), then as it topples the air wedge between it and the floor would tend to push the bottom towards the bookcase. not away from it.

Conclusion: It didn't just fall over.

INT21
Click to expand...
What is it a picture of?
 
Ghost In The Machine said:
Snail, I will get a photo of it later - if I can find somewhere to host it. It looks cursed.
Click to expand...

A painting of a little boy with some grapes rings a bell. As I mentioned, we have a thread on the subject of 'cursed pictures'. Turned out there were lots of them and not just one dangerous image!
 
escargot said:
A painting of a little boy with some grapes rings a bell. As I mentioned, we have a thread on the subject of 'cursed pictures'. Turned out there were lots of them and not just one dangerous image!
Click to expand...
My Grandad used to have this one

aboygrapes01.jpg


This one's more creepy if it's this one ?

aboy-eating-grapes-joaquin-sorolla-y-bastida.jpg
 
First one looks like Caravaggio's work.
Second one is weird.
 
Onetwothree,

..What is it a picture of?..

Just an innocuous woodland scene.

Nothing sinister at all about it.

INT21
 
This thread reminds me of a few years ago when I sent a painting that I had bought from an indigenous woman to a friend in Ohio.
He loved it and put it up on his wall next to a photo of his son,but asked me awhile later if it was cursed or something as it kept falling off the wall.
He eventually put it in a different place and it never fell off again once he found out his son was on drugs.
 
heisenbear said:
When I was in my early teens, I had to endure countless weekends with my parents in their touring caravan in various places that were within a couple of hours driving distance from home. On one particular rain-sodden weekend, we had gone to stay at a caravan park outside of Cirencester that was close to some big lakes. I didn't like the feel of the area and I simply wanted to stay at home. When we arrived on the site, I started acting like the typical sullen teenager and simply asked if we could turn around and go home. The journey itself had been clogged with traffic and roadworks and everything felt 'off' about the trip. My folks, being their usual stubborn selves, overrode my pleas and decided to 'give it a try'. So we got the caravan parked and set up in the rainstorm and sat at the table in the tiny little 2-berth caravan for a cup of tea. Then all the electrics went off, so my Dad had to go outside to check the breaker on the power hookup. My Mum then said that she also felt uneasy and wanted to go home. At that moment, a glass of water slid clean off the table and onto the floor, soaking Mum and me in the process. We both screamed and jumped up. None of us had even touched the table at the time.

Needless to say, we decided to pack up and go home. This wasn't the first time a family weekend ended early due to something weird happening, there's also my account of the funny experience and the vivid, screaming nightmare at Butlins in Minehead that I think I have posted elsewhere on this site.
Click to expand...

We'll need full details, please, even if they're already posted. You know you want to!
 
escargot said:
We'll need full details, please, even if they're already posted. You know you want to!
Click to expand...

1990. I was 12. My folks decided to have a break from their touring caravan in various Welsh coastal towns. We ended up going to Butlins in Minehead on an off-season cheapo deal as my Dad wanted to try something different. We had a chalet that stank of stale cigarettes and Windolene and it was decorated in that distinctive style commonly known as '1975'. The first night, my parents dragged me to the bar and cabaret. I soon got tired of Redcoats doing 'The Sand Dance' and pretending to ride a comedy camel, so I was given some loose change to waste in the arcade. There weren't many kids around so I ended up wandering around outside by the pool and play park on my own for a bit. Some older kids came along and started making fun of my clothes so I got fed up of their crap and went back inside, got lost and spent about half an hour trying to find the cabaret lounge. I wanted to go home. That night, I had a screaming nightmare about a dead toddler floating face down in the swimming pool. I screamed the place down and a camp attendant knocked on the door to make sure nobody was being murdered. My folks looked terrified. We ended up packing up the few things we had taken out of the cases and drove all the way home through a very bad rain storm. Holiday camps still give me(and still do) the creeps.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top