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Weird IHTM Tales From Reddit & Other Sites

Long Haul Truckers: What's the creepiest/most paranormal thing you've seen on the road at night?
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Worth reading for the sighting of Bigfoot snacking on roadkill.
 
There IS a story about a man who opens a door that appears and disappears unpredictably, and so falls to his death. It's by H. G. Wells and is called [drum roll please] "The Door in the Wall."

Yup, I know that story well. It seemed to spookily predict the news story about a fence made of old doors along a cliff edge.
 
There's a Jan-Michael Vincent film called White Line Fever, thought it was a different kind of white line fever that proved his Achilles heel.
 
Little coincidence … I was just looking at this video advertisement (Chris Reynolds is a fortean genius):
 

Isn't that a premise behind Phantom Hitch-hiker stories ? Instead of a highway, you have a country lane bound by woodland at dusk where due to lack of sensory stimulation, the driver is effectively driving on automatic (right hand side of brain) . The hitch-hiker is dropped off but this isn't consciously noted by the driver at the time - when the analytical LHS of the brain kicks back in, the passenger has mysteriously disappeared.
 
Isn't that a premise behind Phantom Hitch-hiker stories ? Instead of a highway, you have a country lane bound by woodland at dusk where due to lack of sensory stimulation, the driver is effectively driving on automatic (right hand side of brain) . The hitch-hiker is dropped off but this isn't consciously noted by the driver at the time - when the analytical LHS of the brain kicks back in, the passenger has mysteriously disappeared.
Except the Essex version of the legend is based on or own deadman's (deadperson's? ) curve on the A127 which is dual carriageway.
 
Isn't that a premise behind Phantom Hitch-hiker stories ? Instead of a highway, you have a country lane bound by woodland at dusk where due to lack of sensory stimulation, the driver is effectively driving on automatic (right hand side of brain) . The hitch-hiker is dropped off but this isn't consciously noted by the driver at the time - when the analytical LHS of the brain kicks back in, the passenger has mysteriously disappeared.

I don't understand how this could work, though. Yes, you can drive on automatic pilot, but unless you habitually pick up the same hitchiker who asks to be dropped at the same place, the physical act of having to brake, pull over, open doors, say goodbye, will pull you out of any hypnotic 'driving fugue' state, surely?
 
I don't understand how this could work, though. Yes, you can drive on automatic pilot, but unless you habitually pick up the same hitchiker who asks to be dropped at the same place, the physical act of having to brake, pull over, open doors, say goodbye, will pull you out of any hypnotic 'driving fugue' state, surely?

Well I've done 5 miles of roundabouts, junctions, pedestrian crossings, lights and heaven knows what in a 'driving fugue' - arriving home with no memory of how. If a passenger had opened his own door and said goodbye, I might have nodded but not necessarily taken it all in. The alternative explanations for Phantom Hitchhikers are a little too hard for me to accept.
 
Yes, there's too much verbatim dialogue for it to be real. Or it's a highly embellished retelling of a retelling of a half forgotten story. The overall nature of it may be true, but I always suspect 'true' stories that use phrases like 'Bellies full, and excitement replacing fear'. That sounds like a creative writing exercise.
 
I have adored this thread and all its spookiness & the links (some of the reddit posts are a bit far fetched and unbelievable). I have to say though this post from escargot in one of the earlier pages of this thread has had me absolutely howling. Nothing to do with fortean but I ended up copying and pasting & sending to a friend because I was crying with laughing. I didn't quote it sorry and can't remember the site it was from or how far back it is but felt it worth a re-post haha

"I was walking home from shop when I saw my mate cycle past. I shouted and he looked round to see who it was. However, whilst he was doing that, a car just ahead of him had stopped at a crossing. My mate, who was going a fair speed hit the back of the car and his bike stopped dead. He didn't however, and the momentum carried him over the handlebars and onto the roof of the car. He would've most likely glided right over the car to land on the road at the other side if the car aerial hadn't snagged on his jogging bottoms, which caused him to slide out of them.

Now, the occupants of the car had spun round to see what the bang was and then turned back around in time to watch my mate slide down the windscreen minus his trousers with his bare genitals pressed against the glass and being stretched out, doing a fine impression of Deirdre's neck (from Coronation Street), finally coming to a halt, face first, with his chin resting on the car bonnet in a very awkward upside down position.

He thrashed about a bit trying to get down, and resigned to pulling his legs out of his trousers completely, whereby he rolled rather gracelessly off the side of the car bonnet and onto the pavement. He picked himself up and in front of a small crowd, stretched up to retrieve his jogging bottoms from the top of the car, giving him the opportunity to press his bollocks against the passenger-side window this time.

I laughed so much I started getting a bit light-headed and had to sit down, and for the next three days my sides ached as if I'd been beaten up"
 
Also kind of on topic, I posted this in my IHTM post and feel it fits the bill even though not reddit. It's a story from mumsnet that pops up often whenever a creepy thread appears.

Warning: it's very long (sorry) and very freaky, and if anyone can come up with a rational explanation I'd be extremely grateful because I'm generally a pretty rational non-woo where's-the-evidence person, but I've never been able to explain this and it still makes my heart beat faster and the hair stand up on my arms when I think about it, years later.

I was pet sitting for my friend several years ago. She had moved into a sort of small holding right on the edge of a village in the SW, with a huge garden that backed onto trees. At the time she had a right menagerie - chickens, ducks, a couple of Shetlands, cats and four black retrievers, three fully grown and one a half grown puppy. Originally DH had been going to come with me as a little holiday but the dates she ended up having to go away for work clashed with a couple of his medical appointments so he stayed at home with our dog and I went to petsit alone.

It was about halfway through my stay, a couple of nights to go. Late evening, already dark when I heard a massive commotion from the chicken shed, banging and thumping. I assumed a fox or something had got in so went out to check. As I was halfway across the garden the noise stopped instantly as if it had been shut off; by the time I got to the shed all was calm and the chickens were all settled, mostly asleep. No sign of any intruder or disturbance at all, nothing to explain the noise or any indication that the chickens had made a noise. Bit freaky but I didn't (and still don't) know much about The Way of Chicken so I locked up again and left them to it.

As I went back in the house a small black shape ran past me out of the back door and I realised the puppy must have got out. It streaked across the garden and off towards the woods. Cue much cursing, then calling her name in vain. More cursing when she didn't come back. I grabbed a torch and put one of the other dogs on the lead, partly for protection, partly because I thought the pup was more likely to come back if I had one of her canine companions with me and partly because I didn't fancy my chances of finding my way back to the house on my own even though there were a couple of vague paths that I'd followed when walking the dogs throughout the week.

Off we trudged into the wood along one of these paths, me calling pup's name at intervals and trying not to imagine murderers and rapists behind every tree trunk. We got to a point where it felt like the trees were starting to thin out and I remember thinking that I didn't remember a clearing on this path and we must have gone wrong somewhere when the dog with me slowed right down and started to resist going forward. I tried to jolly her along - while my stomach suddenly dropped like a stone - and she started growling, a really low serious rumbling growl. By this time I was practically shitting myself. I tried shining the torch ahead but the beam just sort of bounced back off the darkness if that makes sense? I got the sense of something - or somethings - moving but just sinuous deeper black shapes against the blackness and always on the periphery of vision. (The hairs on my arms are standing up again just remembering how completely and utterly terrified I was. I have honestly never known a feeling like it.)

At this point the dog sank right down, still growling, hackles up and refused to budge. I muttered something like "Jesus, you have got to be kidding me" and this ugly gurgling inhuman sort of voice hissed, right up close as if someone was right next to me "don't say that name". At the same time there was a horrible snickering sort of laugh. I cant express how utterly petrified I was. I can't remember having any coherent thoughts apart from the word "evil". That's the only clear thing I can remember. Me and the dog were frozen to the spot with pure fear. Then a different voice, really commanding, said "GO. BACK." That sounded more in my head but echoey, where the others had sounded out in the air IYSWIM?

Wherever it came from it did the trick. Me & the dog turned and belted back through the woods. She basically towed me, I just clung onto her lead stumbling to keep up and sobbing with fear. I lost the torch somewhere on that wild run but there was no way I was stopping to find it. How I didn't run blindly into a tree I'll never know, she guided me I guess. I can remember thinking desperately that I mustn't let go of her lead or "they" would get me.

When we got back to the garden she suddenly stopped - I did fall over her this time, onto my hands and knees - turned around and started snarling, proper teeth bared, rabid-looking snarls, back at the trees and the darkness. I thought I heard the snickering again but the blood was pounding in my ears so hard I can't be sure. I scrambled up and ran to the back door and she followed me but backing and snarling all the way as if holding something at bay. Oh, and the chicken shed was banging and thumping again. I got the back door open, me and her belted in, I slammed home every bolt behind us. The other dogs left behind were staring at the door and growling too with their hackles up and when I saw all three of them, puppy included, acting like that I started to cry properly because I honestly thought I was trapped in some horror film nightmare and was going to die. I don't know - I still don't know - what the black shape was that ran past me out of the house and triggered all of this because the puppy was right there in the kitchen.

Anyway I made sure every door and window was locked and bolted, I turned on every light in the house, I wandered round mumbling all sorts of weird half-religious half-spiritual shit to ward off evil spirits. Gradually the dogs settled down and stopped growling, and eventually stopped glancing at the door. Funnily enough I didn't sleep for one second that night and I rang my DH and begged him to come over the last couple of days. I know I didn't dream it because I was covered in scratches from running through the woods and had grazed hands from where I fell over the dog in the garden.

Nothing like that has happened before or since and I hope it never, ever does. It was the single most horrible, terrifying experience of my entire life.
 
I laughed so much I started getting a bit light-headed and had to sit down, and for the next three days my sides ached as if I'd been beaten up"
So... this would be about a former friend of yours?
 
I have adored this thread and all its spookiness & the links (some of the reddit posts are a bit far fetched and unbelievable). I have to say though this post from escargot in one of the earlier pages of this thread has had me absolutely howling. Nothing to do with fortean but I ended up copying and pasting & sending to a friend because I was crying with laughing. I didn't quote it sorry and can't remember the site it was from or how far back it is but felt it worth a re-post haha

"I was walking home from shop when I saw my mate cycle past. I shouted and he looked round to see who it was. However, whilst he was doing that, a car just ahead of him had stopped at a crossing. My mate, who was going a fair speed hit the back of the car and his bike stopped dead. He didn't however, and the momentum carried him over the handlebars and onto the roof of the car. He would've most likely glided right over the car to land on the road at the other side if the car aerial hadn't snagged on his jogging bottoms, which caused him to slide out of them.

Now, the occupants of the car had spun round to see what the bang was and then turned back around in time to watch my mate slide down the windscreen minus his trousers with his bare genitals pressed against the glass and being stretched out, doing a fine impression of Deirdre's neck (from Coronation Street), finally coming to a halt, face first, with his chin resting on the car bonnet in a very awkward upside down position.

He thrashed about a bit trying to get down, and resigned to pulling his legs out of his trousers completely, whereby he rolled rather gracelessly off the side of the car bonnet and onto the pavement. He picked himself up and in front of a small crowd, stretched up to retrieve his jogging bottoms from the top of the car, giving him the opportunity to press his bollocks against the passenger-side window this time.

I laughed so much I started getting a bit light-headed and had to sit down, and for the next three days my sides ached as if I'd been beaten up"

Hahaha, you've just made ME laugh again with that one! It's originally from Reddit. We have a 'What's the funniest thing you've ever seen?' thread and I might've stuck it on that.
 
I have to say though this post from escargot in one of the earlier pages of this thread has had me absolutely howling. Nothing to do with fortean but I ended up copying and pasting & sending to a friend because I was crying with laughing.
This is indeed a priceless contribution and great stress reliever, so hooray to you both, Escargot and Happiness. :cheer:
The NHS should reimburse the Forteana Forums, Escargot and Happiness for the good health benefits this post provides.
 
Not Reddit but Twitter:
Some I like:

When I was six or seven I talked to my doctor about hallucinations I was having of a tiny king marching his troops across my bedroom floor shouting orders in a high squeaky voice.

My grandma telling me the world is made by the mind.

That our personal horizon points are the end of the world

repeated a word consistenly in my head; its last syllable joined with the first one, so you could think about it like another different word; I did it for a long time and suddenly words lost meaning and I entered a trance state

one of my earliest childhood memories: I was living guam about 5 years old, woke in the middle of night to see a long limbed humanoid (proportions were off, small torso/long limbs almost ape like) crawl right to left across my window seal.

Maybe more metaphysical than occult, but aged 5 or 6 and wondering whether anyone experienced reality at all the same way as anyone else. The idea that other people might be seeing infrared, or in negative, or in x-ray, but we all assumed we were describing the same thing.

I remember trying to mix a 'lion potion' with dandelions because their name contains 'lion' (in German, too).

When I was very young I would see and converse with a leafy swamplike creature I called Mooky

My entire fourth grade class used to bow backwards to the clock at 11:34 because it was the "hell number"
 
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