Minor Strangeness

[Mythopoeika]

I know I've posted this some time ago here, but it's so strange.
A friend of mine's father passed on, and there was a very large family gathering at their house after the funeral.
The wife had gone shopping that week prior and purchased an old-fashioned telephone for the house. It was still in the box, brand new, and in the bag - it had never been opened or removed from the bag.
Everyone was having dinner and reminiscing, when suddenly this telephone started ringing. Everyone froze and did not mention it. It finally stopped ringing and they went on with their get together. But this phone was not connected to anything.
My friend was stunned, and she is not the type who believes in anything paranormal. Could it be that the man who had passed on wanted to let them all know that he was there with them? I wonder what would have happened if they had opened that box and answered the phone.

Old-fashioned? One with a dial, or a battery-powered cordless from the analogue wireless days?

 

[Ronnie Jersey]

Old-fashioned? One with a dial, or a battery-powered cordless from the analogue wireless days?

The type of phone you have to plug into the wall, a push-button.
This was in the nineties.

 

[Mythopoeika]

The type of phone you have to plug into the wall, a push-button.
This was in the nineties.

Wow. That's odd.

 

[Coal]

The type of phone you have to plug into the wall, a push-button.
This was in the nineties.

Tried to figure out a rational thing [I have one job... ], might have had a battery in it I guess...some phones did for the electronics which still needed to work when the line had no power (in the olden days phone were powered from the line).

But still, odd.

 

[Sillyhuron]

My dad's favourite music was The Warsaw Concerto by Richard Addinsell.
Dad passed away in 1986. 9 years later I had to go for an operation. I was scared spitless. I got into my car after hearing the news. Guess what was on the radio?

In 2005 I'd reached the end of my tether with my wife. Guess what I heard on someone's radio? (Still together BTW).

Yesterday I found out I have to have another operation.
Guess what was playing on the radio?

I've heard it couple of times on other channels over the years but the timing freaks me out.

 

[Iris]

My friend who sometimes has odd things happen in her home has been plagued lately by someone walking down the corridor at night and even felt someone standing beside her bed. She had thought it was her husband as he's in another room because he had an operation.
He had heard it as well and thought it was her.
She has just been told that her friend who used to live next door had been in a coma and has passed away.
I wonder if the noises will cease for awhile?

 

[Sogna]

Was it perhaps coiled into a shape that you weren't expecting or something? I get an idea of the shape or colour of the thing I am looking for, and if I imagine the screwdriver (for example) to be red, I am completely unable to see the ORANGE screwdriver in front of me. My inability to see a sink plunger if it is lying down on its side, is legendary.

My husband has the same condition. “IT’S NOT HERE!” he’ll bellow about something five inches in front of his nose.

I can’t recognise people if I see them out of context, though, and my encounter with Alistair from Escape to the Country still makes me cringe ten years later.

 

[Coal]

Was it perhaps coiled into a shape that you weren't expecting or something? I get an idea of the shape or colour of the thing I am looking for, and if I imagine the screwdriver (for example) to be red, I am completely unable to see the ORANGE screwdriver in front of me. My inability to see a sink plunger if it is lying down on its side, is legendary.

I get this, to the point where I make a conscious effort to picture the object I'm looking for. As it takes over 300ms for something to register and be recognised by the brain, I've also learned to slow down - if I'm scanning (say) my desk top for summat, I literally take a view, count 'one elephant' and then move on...

 

[Floyd1]

Was it perhaps coiled into a shape that you weren't expecting or something? I get an idea of the shape or colour of the thing I am looking for, and if I imagine the screwdriver (for example) to be red, I am completely unable to see the ORANGE screwdriver in front of me. My inability to see a sink plunger if it is lying down on its side, is legendary.

I haven't seen a sink plunger since 1934. Now I know why.

 

[Ronnie Jersey]

My husband has the same condition. “IT’S NOT HERE!” he’ll bellow about something five inches in front of his nose.

Oh I am so happy that someone else has the same husband I have!! LOL!

 

[Sollywos]

Oh I am so happy that someone else has the same husband I have!! LOL!

As long as you can be chief wife of course!

 

[kesavaross]

I haven't seen a sink plunger since 1934. Now I know why.

Strangely enough, I borrowed a sink plunger from my neighbour tonight. My kitchen sink was blocked and 6 inches or so deep in rancid water. It did the trick, eventually.

My first go shot out loads of stinking water through the over flow thing where the chain attaches for the plug. It didn't taste so good. My t shirt looked like death on Halloween or something from the series Supernatural. Gaffer tape to the rescue after drying off around the over flow.

Sink plungers always remind me of the Daleks.

 

[Floyd1]

Strangely enough, I borrowed a sink plunger from my neighbour tonight. My kitchen sink was blocked and 6 inches or so deep in rancid water. It did the trick, eventually.

My first go shot out loads of stinking water through the over flow thing where the chain attaches for the plug. It didn't taste so good. My t shirt looked like death on Halloween or something from the series Supernatural. Gaffer tape to the rescue after drying off around the over flow.

Sink plungers always remind me of the Daleks.

Oh no! - (Far safer easier to just unscrew the trap and empty into a bucket).

 

[Victory]

Yesterday I found out I have to have another operation.

Wish you better and a swift recovery.

 

[GerdaWordyer]

Coal and cycleboy2, losing a parent at any age makes one feel strangely orphaned. Late but true sympathy.

 

[AmStramGram]

A minor weird phenomenon happened to me last week, when I was staying at my parents' home, in the Western suburbs of Paris. They live in a small house, built in 1998-1999, on the margins of a large wood. The house is fairly recent, and the place it has been built on doesn't have any historical significance. It is said that one of the favourites of king Louis XIVth once had a castle in the area, but I doubt this has any relevance with what happened. Anyway, the "castle" was dismantled in the late 19th century and replaced with rows of private residences. There is no history of haunting in the area and I spent years there without witnessing anything weird until last week.

So here comes the strange event :

One evening, we (me and my parents) had been watching TV on the ground floor. After the movie, we briefly chatted about their recently departed cat, a very nice animal, before I went to my room upstairs. Before going to bed, I decided to make a visit to the toilets, to empty my bladder. Now, there is a 4 m long corridor between my room and the toilets, which stand at the opposite. Once I came out of my room, the lights of the toilets were suddenly switched on. I immediately stopped in my way and thought : "oh, my mother must have been faster than me ! She must be in the WC". But at the same time I realized that the switch of the toilet's light was on the outside of the WC, clearly visible from the corridor and I hadn't seen any hand press it (I was looking straight at it when it happened). So I stood flabbergasted in the middle of the corridor, wondering what had just happened.

At that moment, I heard someone climbing the stairs. It was my mother coming up (my father was still on the ground floor). So I thought, if my mother and my father are not in the toilets, who is it who switched the lights on just in front of my eyes ??? I decidedly walked to the WC, opened the door, and it was indeed empty ! Bizarre !

Now I admit that downstairs, there is a light switch serving another room which sometimes does not work properly. One may press it without effect. So something similar may have happened upstairs. Maybe the switch had been pressed by someone into an unstable equilibrium. And when I walked into the corridor, the vibrations of my steps spread from the ground to the wall, and from the wall to the switch, imbalancing it and actually switching it on. That could be an explanation. But still, this isolated event was quite unsettling !

 

[eziofan]

A thing that happens to me quite regularly is that, on waking, I find myself singing an obscure song in my head, one that I havent heard for years and often ones that I have completely forgotten about! If I have the radio on it is always Radio 4, and it is never a recent song, always an oldie (but never a golden oldie!).
This morning was the strangest yet. The song was Conquistador by Procol Harum, a very minor hit back in the early 1970s. I have never liked Procol Harum (with the exception of Homburg), have never owned this record and cannot recall the last time I even heard it.
I am convinced we can pick up radio transmissions when we are in a hypnopompic state.
Anyone else have anything similar?

 

[maximus otter]

Maybe the switch had been pressed by someone into an unstable equilibrium. And when I walked into the corridor, the vibrations of my steps spread from the ground to the wall, and from the wall to the switch, imbalancing it and actually switching it on. That could be an explanation.

I think you've hit the nail on the head there. Unsettling, though.

maximus otter

 

[Ronnie Jersey]

A thing that happens to me quite regularly is that, on waking, I find myself singing an obscure song in my head, one that I havent heard for years and often ones that I have completely forgotten about! If I have the radio on it is always Radio 4, and it is never a recent song, always an oldie (but never a golden oldie!).
This morning was the strangest yet. The song was Conquistador by Procol Harum, a very minor hit back in the early 1970s. I have never liked Procol Harum (with the exception of Homburg), have never owned this record and cannot recall the last time I even heard it.
I am convinced we can pick up radio transmissions when we are in a hypnopompic state.
Anyone else have anything similar?

How strange - I wake up almost every morning with a song going on in my head, which tells me that I am feeling fine that day.
All this week nothing, not feeling myself.
The songs are always rock, and I am always singing along with them.

 

[EnolaGaia]

A minor weird phenomenon happened to me last week, when I was staying at my parents' home ...

How familiar are you with the details of which switch(es) control which lights in that house - particularly whatever lighting there is for the stairwell, upstairs landing / corridor, and the WC?

Was the upstairs corridor illuminated (or not) when you exited your room for the WC? If it was, how could you tell the WC's interior light came on with the WC's door closed?

It's not unusual to have switches at each end of a pathway (corridor; stairway) mutually controlling lights along / around the path. Your mother was starting up the stairs at the moment you saw the WC lights come on. Had she tripped a downstairs switch to illuminate the stairwell / upstairs corridor for her move upstairs?

 

[kesavaross]

Oh no! - (Far safer easier to just unscrew the trap and empty into a bucket).

I should have done that but I couldn't be bothered and yes, I know I'm lazy.

I couldn't work out why the sink was blocked. I rarely cook and when I do it's usually just steamed vegetables and I'm lazy when it comes to cooking as well.

 

[Mythopoeika]

How strange - I wake up almost every morning with a song going on in my head, which tells me that I am feeling fine that day.
All this week nothing, not feeling myself.
The songs are always rock, and I am always singing along with them.

When you're ill, do you wake up with some other type of music in your head?
Is it jazz/disco/rap or something else that's as bad?

 

[AmStramGram]

How strange - I wake up almost every morning with a song going on in my head, which tells me that I am feeling fine that day.
All this week nothing, not feeling myself.
The songs are always rock, and I am always singing along with them.

Wow ! That's a very positive way to wake up and start a day ! How lucky you are !

 

[AmStramGram]

How familiar are you with the details of which switch(es) control which lights in that house - particularly whatever lighting there is for the stairwell, upstairs landing / corridor, and the WC?

Was the upstairs corridor illuminated (or not) when you exited your room for the WC? If it was, how could you tell the WC's interior light came on with the WC's door closed?

It's not unusual to have switches at each end of a pathway (corridor; stairway) mutually controlling lights along / around the path. Your mother was starting up the stairs at the moment you saw the WC lights come on. Had she tripped a downstairs switch to illuminate the stairwell / upstairs corridor for her move upstairs?

The switch I am talking about only lights the interior of the water closets. There isn't any other switch for this purpose.

The corridor was dark (lights off), although the light was on in my room, behind me.

The door of the WC was actually "almost" closed. It was slightly open, with maybe a 1 cm wide opening. That's how I could see the lights being turned on inside. The 1 cm gap was dark, and a moment after, there was light coming out from it.

And of course, I heard a distinct "click" sound when the light was turned on. That's what inclines me to think that some vibrations may have moved an instable switch and caused the light to switch on.

And indeed, my mother turned on the lights of the staircase but only after I witnessed this spontaneous lighting of the WC.

 

[Ronnie Jersey]

When you're ill, do you wake up with some other type of music in your head?
Is it jazz/disco/rap or something else that's as bad?

I haven't been feeling myself all week, so no music at all in my head.
Otherwise, it's just various rock tunes.
And I didn't even realize it until I read 'eziofan's' post.
And I usually wake up singing along with these tunes.

 

[Floyd1]

A minor weird phenomenon happened to me last week, when I was staying at my parents' home, in the Western suburbs of Paris. They live in a small house, built in 1998-1999, on the margins of a large wood. The house is fairly recent, and the place it has been built on doesn't have any historical significance. It is said that one of the favourites of king Louis XIVth once had a castle in the area, but I doubt this has any relevance with what happened. Anyway, the "castle" was dismantled in the late 19th century and replaced with rows of private residences. There is no history of haunting in the area and I spent years there without witnessing anything weird until last week.

So here comes the strange event :

One evening, we (me and my parents) had been watching TV on the ground floor. After the movie, we briefly chatted about their recently departed cat, a very nice animal, before I went to my room upstairs. Before going to bed, I decided to make a visit to the toilets, to empty my bladder. Now, there is a 4 m long corridor between my room and the toilets, which stand at the opposite. Once I came out of my room, the lights of the toilets were suddenly switched on. I immediately stopped in my way and thought : "oh, my mother must have been faster than me ! She must be in the WC". But at the same time I realized that the switch of the toilet's light was on the outside of the WC, clearly visible from the corridor and I hadn't seen any hand press it (I was looking straight at it when it happened). So I stood flabbergasted in the middle of the corridor, wondering what had just happened.

At that moment, I heard someone climbing the stairs. It was my mother coming up (my father was still on the ground floor). So I thought, if my mother and my father are not in the toilets, who is it who switched the lights on just in front of my eyes ??? I decidedly walked to the WC, opened the door, and it was indeed empty ! Bizarre !

Now I admit that downstairs, there is a light switch serving another room which sometimes does not work properly. One may press it without effect. So something similar may have happened upstairs. Maybe the switch had been pressed by someone into an unstable equilibrium. And when I walked into the corridor, the vibrations of my steps spread from the ground to the wall, and from the wall to the switch, imbalancing it and actually switching it on. That could be an explanation. But still, this isolated event was quite unsettling !

Have your parents ever mentioned anything about strange happenings at the house?

 

[AmStramGram]

Have your parents ever mentioned anything about strange happenings at the house?

No. Nothing. It's a very quiet place.

 

[Giant R]

Strangely enough, I borrowed a sink plunger from my neighbour tonight. My kitchen sink was blocked and 6 inches or so deep in rancid water. It did the trick, eventually.

My first go shot out loads of stinking water through the over flow thing where the chain attaches for the plug. It didn't taste so good. My t shirt looked like death on Halloween or something from the series Supernatural. Gaffer tape to the rescue after drying off around the over flow.

Sink plungers always remind me of the Daleks.

Oh no! - (Far safer easier to just unscrew the trap and empty into a bucket).

I quite like that sense of satisfaction though when you plunge a sink or toilet and it suddenly clears. I use a compressed air gun quite often and that can cause a spectacular splash back from the overflow if you forget to cover itor pump it up too high

I learnt long ago to remember to keep my mouth shut before pushing the plunger/pressing the button. I haven't been quite so successful though in remembering to keep my mouth shut at other times...

 

[Floyd1]

I quite like that sense of satisfaction though when you plunge a sink or toilet and it suddenly clears. I use a compressed air gun quite often and that can cause a spectacular splash back from the overflow if you forget to cover itor pump it up too high

I learnt long ago to remember to keep my mouth shut before pushing the plunger/pressing the button. I haven't been quite so successful though in remembering to keep my mouth shut at other times...

Bathroom basin traps are the worst. Small and hidden behind the pedestal. As ours is all tiled in it's even more awkward to fix. Last time it happened, I went outside, up the ladder and disconnected the push- fit waste pipe (not the glued type, luckily), shouted to MrsF to turn the tap on while I inserted a thin metal bar into the pipe to dislodge the blockage. Woosh- all the gunk came flying out. Put the waste back together and it's been fine ever since.

 

[Endlessly Amazed]

My dad's favourite music was The Warsaw Concerto by Richard Addinsell.
Dad passed away in 1986. 9 years later I had to go for an operation. I was scared spitless. I got into my car after hearing the news. Guess what was on the radio?

In 2005 I'd reached the end of my tether with my wife. Guess what I heard on someone's radio? (Still together BTW).

Yesterday I found out I have to have another operation.
Guess what was playing on the radio?

I've heard it couple of times on other channels over the years but the timing freaks me out.

Well, that is just an "amazing coincidence" or not. Hmmm. You have survived each episode of the music, so maybe its just a sign of an important change or decision point, rather than doom. Good luck with your operation. The older I get, the more I dislike doctors and dentists, and try to view them as necessary unpleasantness.