Stormkhan
Disturbingly familiar
- Joined
- May 28, 2003
- Messages
- 8,537
Both of these incidents happened in the late nineties.
I was living with my (then) long-term partner in the Earl Court area of London. It was a simple, council-build one bedroom flat, the layout being a v. small hall from the front door, first door to the bedroom, second door to the main room and then a door to the bathroom. In the main room, it was a lengthy but slender (?) open-plan kind of place with the main 'living room' being one half and the kitchen/dining room being the other half. We had furnished it so that we could watch the TV from sofa or chairs and see most of the dining section but not the kitchen section. In the dining area we had a small dining table and chairs ... and the back/cabling area of my computer desk. Sitting at this you could just see the top of my head and the bookshelves behind me. The only other door to this room was one to the small balcony - we were on the first floor.
I've spent this describing this location in order to help you visualise the lay-out. Because what happened, briefly, was definitely weird!
One evening, my GF was sitting watching TV and caught a movement behind the computer desk. This part of the room was shadowed but the main light of the living room was on. She glanced up ... to see me stand up from behind the desk, pulling my outdoor coat on, then move around the desk into the 'kitchen' area and so out of sight. This took less than four seconds. I did not re-appear. She then started with shock - as far as she knew, she was behind her, in the bedroom! I'd been putting some clothes away. She called out to me and I strolled into the lounge wondering what she wanted. We rushed to the kitchen, putting all the lights on. Yeah, I know, reflex action but pointless. "I" was not there! There was no way I could've come from the bedroom, passed her - and the TV - and sat at the computer. She was watching the programme, sure, but neither intently not concentrating on something else such as a magazine. I would've literally walked beside the screen to go into the dining room/kitchen!
The second incident happened a couple of weeks after the first.
I was an organiser of a role-playing game club that met in The Bow Bells pub every Wednesday. I'd have to check the day, it was that long ago, but it was a weekday, weekly occasion. Though it was a bit of a schlep on the tube, sometimes I'd meet up with friend-members in the pub and I was what you might call a semi-regular patron. One evening, a Friday, one of my close friends and member of the club - Doug - who lived nearby was with a couple of his mates. He got up to go for a pee and, on leaving, glanced over the bar which was approximately horseshoe-shaped. It was Friday night, in a pub, so it was pretty crowded. He saw me clearly, apparently sitting in the lights of the counter - motionless anyhow. He waved but I didn't react. He assumed I hadn't seen him so pushed his way around the corner to talk to me, wondering what brought me there that evening. I was gone. Not a trace. Doug assumed I'd got up and ducked out the front door before he got to me. The following club night, he chaffed me about it, saying if I'd stayed then he'd have bought me a pint. I was shocked then got all the details and explained. It couldn't have been me. At that particular time, on that particular day, I was in Newmarket, Suffolk! I was in the car of a friend who lived there and who'd picked me up from the phonebox only three miles from her home! Doug swore black and blue it was me - I was sitting at the bar under a bright light, dressed in my usual clothes, staring off into the distance!
This second apparition could be put down to mis-identification or even a hoax; I might've (somehow) left the pub and travelled (I don't drive) from Plaistow in East London to Newmarket. Within an hour! But Doug actually confirmed the details with my Suffolk friend - without letting on the reason. Definitely creepy.
It must be said that this was an emotionally turbulent time in my life. Relations with my GF wasn't going well and I went through a form of nervous breakdown. This was one of the reasons I'd visited my friend in Newmarket; I wanted to escape from the 'usual' for the weekend.
Perhaps my turbulent emotions created images of me?
I was living with my (then) long-term partner in the Earl Court area of London. It was a simple, council-build one bedroom flat, the layout being a v. small hall from the front door, first door to the bedroom, second door to the main room and then a door to the bathroom. In the main room, it was a lengthy but slender (?) open-plan kind of place with the main 'living room' being one half and the kitchen/dining room being the other half. We had furnished it so that we could watch the TV from sofa or chairs and see most of the dining section but not the kitchen section. In the dining area we had a small dining table and chairs ... and the back/cabling area of my computer desk. Sitting at this you could just see the top of my head and the bookshelves behind me. The only other door to this room was one to the small balcony - we were on the first floor.
I've spent this describing this location in order to help you visualise the lay-out. Because what happened, briefly, was definitely weird!
One evening, my GF was sitting watching TV and caught a movement behind the computer desk. This part of the room was shadowed but the main light of the living room was on. She glanced up ... to see me stand up from behind the desk, pulling my outdoor coat on, then move around the desk into the 'kitchen' area and so out of sight. This took less than four seconds. I did not re-appear. She then started with shock - as far as she knew, she was behind her, in the bedroom! I'd been putting some clothes away. She called out to me and I strolled into the lounge wondering what she wanted. We rushed to the kitchen, putting all the lights on. Yeah, I know, reflex action but pointless. "I" was not there! There was no way I could've come from the bedroom, passed her - and the TV - and sat at the computer. She was watching the programme, sure, but neither intently not concentrating on something else such as a magazine. I would've literally walked beside the screen to go into the dining room/kitchen!
The second incident happened a couple of weeks after the first.
I was an organiser of a role-playing game club that met in The Bow Bells pub every Wednesday. I'd have to check the day, it was that long ago, but it was a weekday, weekly occasion. Though it was a bit of a schlep on the tube, sometimes I'd meet up with friend-members in the pub and I was what you might call a semi-regular patron. One evening, a Friday, one of my close friends and member of the club - Doug - who lived nearby was with a couple of his mates. He got up to go for a pee and, on leaving, glanced over the bar which was approximately horseshoe-shaped. It was Friday night, in a pub, so it was pretty crowded. He saw me clearly, apparently sitting in the lights of the counter - motionless anyhow. He waved but I didn't react. He assumed I hadn't seen him so pushed his way around the corner to talk to me, wondering what brought me there that evening. I was gone. Not a trace. Doug assumed I'd got up and ducked out the front door before he got to me. The following club night, he chaffed me about it, saying if I'd stayed then he'd have bought me a pint. I was shocked then got all the details and explained. It couldn't have been me. At that particular time, on that particular day, I was in Newmarket, Suffolk! I was in the car of a friend who lived there and who'd picked me up from the phonebox only three miles from her home! Doug swore black and blue it was me - I was sitting at the bar under a bright light, dressed in my usual clothes, staring off into the distance!
This second apparition could be put down to mis-identification or even a hoax; I might've (somehow) left the pub and travelled (I don't drive) from Plaistow in East London to Newmarket. Within an hour! But Doug actually confirmed the details with my Suffolk friend - without letting on the reason. Definitely creepy.
It must be said that this was an emotionally turbulent time in my life. Relations with my GF wasn't going well and I went through a form of nervous breakdown. This was one of the reasons I'd visited my friend in Newmarket; I wanted to escape from the 'usual' for the weekend.
Perhaps my turbulent emotions created images of me?