Wiped From The Face Of The Earth

[Ulalume]

I often dream about our house in America, but it isn't our house exactly - it has extra rooms and things. There is nothing freaky about the dreams that I can recall, but I can recall getting the exact feeling of unease in the dreams that people have described above in waking life.

I've often heard that dreaming of extra rooms in a house represent new opportunities if the dream feels positive. If the dream feels negative, however, that's more likely to represent some buried feelings about your life that threaten to come to the surface. But they can feel very realistic when they happen. I'm always so disappointed when I wake up and realize there's no fantastic hidden library in this boring old house. :lol:

It's interesting you mention that feeling of unease. The reason I even remembered or thought to examine the false memory about the magazine article I mentioned earlier was because it had a "haunting" feeling to it. A strange sense as if there was something significant, something I should know about but was hidden from me. But the actual contents of the memory were so ordinary. Nothing even interesting about it. Well, until I realized it never happened.

Err...I was about to describe why I don't think think my false memory came from a dream, but quickly realized it defies description. Gonna have to spend some time thinking about that one.

 

[sherbetbizarre]

Oddly enough that happened on my first ever visit to Amsterdam with a coffee shop I found, I'd picked quite a distinctive one in an alley not far from my hotel... tried several times to find it again without success.

Same happened with me. Back in the 90's I found an Amsterdam Coffee Shop (in an alley) based around Pink Floyd's The Wall. Subsequent visits proved fruitless, as it had simply vanished, even though I thought I had found the correct alley... Of course, later on when the internet arrived, I found out the place had simply changed hands, and had become a more generic coffee shop, and yes, I was looking in the right place!

 

[poozler]

Poozler - very interesting story, that. Can you think back and determine at what point this memory evolved? That is, can you think of a time before you "knew" this shop was there and a point after which you "knew" it was? It would be interesting to figure that out, IMO

No, I don't remember exactly when these memory evolved except in a vague way. The two non-memory memories from my childhood (of which I still remember in great detail) were from the time I was around 6 and the other from when I was around 14 or 15. The 'interesting shop" 'memory' was from my early thirties, when I first moved away from my home town, but I can't pin an exact date on it.

The nature of my memories really hasn't changed, which is strange. I still ask myself 'was that real?' when I *know* for a fact they none of them were. I have wanted to ask family and friends, but I think they'd think I was nuts!

My two early non-memories were interesting: when I was little, I distinctly remembered opening up a door in a hallway in a large shopping mall and findings these fantastic (in the fun sense) boxes that I could climb up and up and up. Then I could go back out to the mall and rejoin my mother in our shopping. I do remember looking for the doorway in other malls throughout the next few years of my childhood, hoping to find the fun climbing boxes again. Of course, I didn't.

The other one, from my teens, involved my driving to the store when my mother went away and had entrusted the car keys to me so I could go to the local shops just to pick up milk and bread. I 'remember' having trouble manipulating the car (I hadn't had any driving lessons -- I was under-age), but I got to the little shop, picked up some milk and bread and jerkily drove home. Not an exciting dream. But it didn't happen. I never learned to drive; my mother would NEVER have entrusted the car keys to me; and I would never have attempted to drive a car without so much as a lesson (as I said, I still am not a driver).

As I write this, I realise that all three dreams are about shopping. I don't even like shopping!

 

[Naughty_Felid]

Has anyone else experienced this sort of thing?

Oddly enough that happened on my first ever visit to Amsterdam with a coffee shop I found, I'd picked quite a distinctive one in an alley not far from my hotel... tried several times to find it again without success.

The only other time I've lost a shop it was an east asianey clothes shop in Covent Garden that I happened upon by accident while exploring London after a meeting with work. Quite a few years later I found the explanation for that was because I'd actually lost all of Covent Garden and the time I'd found the shop I'd almost certainly come out of Leister Square tube station the wrong way without realising ie I'd been looking in totally the wrong direction.

Similar thing happened to us in Rome. Small restaurant about a 5 minute walk from our apartment. The food was so amazing we went there every night of our stay after we found it. You knew it was good as all the locals used it.

When we got back I remarked that it was weird that we never took a picture of it. So went searching on the google-view, down the street it was on and the surrounding streets and nothing. We found all the others where we lunched and the one before we found the special place.

Rome is not a big place and I've been down every street in a mile radius of our apartment and I can't find it. Also nothing on the internet, which is weird as it was a very modern establishment.

Maybe it closed down? Seems weird though as it was very popular with tourists lucky enough to try it and locals alike and so soon after we left.

 

[rynner2]

Did I dream it, or at some stage late last month or early this month, was there not a news story that some ISIS miscreants had been plotting to cause an ebola outbreak in the USA, using Coca-Cola bottles as transport for the disease?

I'm quite a newshound, but I never came across this story. In fact it seems quite unlikely, since the miscreants would be at serious risk of infecting themselves, as well as other people they weren't targetting.

But if there was any truth to it, the story might have been censored to avoid panic.

 

[OneWingedBird]

Same happened with me. Back in the 90's I found an Amsterdam Coffee Shop (in an alley) based around Pink Floyd's The Wall. Subsequent visits proved fruitless, as it had simply vanished, even though I thought I had found the correct alley... Of course, later on when the internet arrived, I found out the place had simply changed hands, and had become a more generic coffee shop, and yes, I was looking in the right place!

I was staying at The Quentin cira 2000 and the coffee shop was this Moroccan themed one in an alley just around from the American Hotel, surprisingly it was the next day that I went back and couldn't find it.

Perhaps that is a cornerstone of all the best coffee shop stories. :lol:

 

[rynner2]

I don't think they'd got beyond the 'back of a fag packet' stage, and fairly sure they wouldn't have the know-how or facilities to carry it off (even if it were possible, which it almost certainly isn't).

I am absolutely convinced that I saw this story, right down to the branded bottles, and in fact only just discovered its non-existence when I went to make a written reference to it and went to look for a suitable footnote source.

If it was a dream, it's stuck in my mind and had me 100 per cent fooled for a few weeks. If the story has been censored, it has been accomplished with great efficacy.

There is some material on the web about this (I found it with Duckduckgo), but most of it seems to be from wing-nut US conspiracy sites, just scare-mongering.

But no doubt the CIA, etc, are on the case, and they have better resources than we do to investigate. (Not saying they won't cock it up anyway, but they'll cock it up at a much higher level. )

 

[Iris]

At the beginning of the year a house sold in the court and it was rented out.
There were 3 really feral children who would jump in front of the car and swear and smash up things.
The middle one was the worst. They have quietened down after many complaints but now there are only 2. Everyone seems to think there always were 2 but I know there were 3.
Sometimes the father visits but I don't see the middle one. I can't think why I would remember 3 and noone else does.

 

[Naughty_Felid]

At the beginning of the year a house sold in the court and it was rented out.
There were 3 really feral children who would jump in front of the car and swear and smash up things.
The middle one was the worst. They have quietened down after many complaints but now there are only 2. Everyone seems to think there always were 2 but I know there were 3.
Sometimes the father visits but I don't see the middle one. I can't think why I would remember 3 and noone else does.

The kid may have been admitted to a youth facility, you won't necessarily have noticed as they don't have the white van anymore.
Admission can go on for weeks or even months.

Some cultures move their children around within the greater family if things are not working out. So a kid would go and stay with Aunty. A frind of mine was bought up by her childless Aunty and Uncle as her own parents could not afford to raise another child. She has no issue with this as it was the norm.

 

[Sogna]

I thought I’d revive this thread as I am experiencing something vaguely similar. I’ve worked in a government department for five years, having worked in similar roles most of my working life. I have a colleague that I like and respect and who I always feel that I worked with in another department when I was younger. We have a friendly sort of relationship as if we knew each other for a long time, but he didn’t work in my previous department and I didn’t know him before I came to the place that I work in now.

 

[Bad Bungle]

This thread is fascinating although I don't have any IHTM stories to contribute. In the early days of the internet I read of several FOAF (friend of a friend) accounts of a comic shop called Dark They Were (and Golden Eyed) in Soho that had mysteriously vanished when attempts were made to revisit - wiped from the face of the Earth but not quite from memory. Yeah simple, the shop had moved (and not far away).
But I think I recognise the unsettling confusion felt when a confidently tangible memory becomes intangible. I was tired and distracted when I visited my barber and surprised (and grateful) it was empty as its usually full of customers. I didn't recognise the Staff and five mins into the cut I slowly realise why my spider-senses were tingling - the mirror was facing in the wrong direction, the whole room was the wrong way round.
Had gone into female hairdressers (name same) next door by mistake. Did the same again two years later.

 

[Mythopoeika]

This thread is fascinating although I don't have any IHTM stories to contribute. In the early days of the internet I read of several FOAF (friend of a friend) accounts of a comic shop called Dark They Were (and Golden Eyed) in Soho that had mysteriously vanished when attempts were made to revisit - wiped from the face of the Earth but not quite from memory. Yeah simple, the shop had moved (and not far away).
But I think I recognise the unsettling confusion felt when a confidently tangible memory becomes intangible. I was tired and distracted when I visited my barber and surprised (and grateful) it was empty as its usually full of customers. I didn't recognise the Staff and five mins into the cut I slowly realise why my spider-senses were tingling - the mirror was facing in the wrong direction, the whole room was the wrong way round.
Had gone into female hairdressers (name same) next door by mistake. Did the same again two years later.

Dark They Were was a great shop!

 

[Bad Bungle]

Dark They Were was a great shop!

They were great times. Several of the staff had been at my School although about 4 years senior, but I could lurk on the periphery as my best mate's older brother had been part of the group. Gordon has already mentioned the FT committee met in the upper room at the shop in the early years. Dark They Were disappeared for ever in 1981 yet lived on in Gosh !, Comic Showcase, Vintage Comics and Forbidden Planet (I & II).

 

[Floyd]

Only a few of years ago this happened and it was one of many experiences I had round about the same time. I was getting ready to go out convinced I was going to see some very dear friends at Mc Donalds in town. I knew them well and we worked together and everything and I was sure this had been arranged and everything - then as I was about to call one of them I realised I didn't have any of their numbers.. in fact.. I began to slowly realise that not one of them actually existed.. it was a bit disorientating as I was sure I knew these people and yet.. I didn't know them and I couldn't have known them. Either I am completely insane to have thought I knew non existent people or.. just maybe... something wiped them from the face of the Earth entirely - a time traveller perhaps? Did I slip into another universe and not realise..? This happened a few times in 2007 and 2008.. I kind of got used to it and didn't say anything.. but now looking back on it.. I wonder. Haven't experienced anything like it since.

That is without doubt one of the oddest things I've ever heard. And bear in mind, I've spent years listening to @Swifty's deranged ramblings.

 

[dannycheveaux1]

Only a few of years ago this happened and it was one of many experiences I had round about the same time. I was getting ready to go out convinced I was going to see some very dear friends at Mc Donalds in town. I knew them well and we worked together and everything and I was sure this had been arranged and everything - then as I was about to call one of them I realised I didn't have any of their numbers.. in fact.. I began to slowly realise that not one of them actually existed.. it was a bit disorientating as I was sure I knew these people and yet.. I didn't know them and I couldn't have known them. Either I am completely insane to have thought I knew non existent people or.. just maybe... something wiped them from the face of the Earth entirely - a time traveller perhaps? Did I slip into another universe and not realise..? This happened a few times in 2007 and 2008.. I kind of got used to it and didn't say anything.. but now looking back on it.. I wonder. Haven't experienced anything like it since.

Really intriguing. Sounds a bit like Richard Matheson's Disappearing Act short story, but to have that experience for real is spine chilling.

 

[Mouldy13]

Only a few of years ago this happened and it was one of many experiences I had round about the same time. I was getting ready to go out convinced I was going to see some very dear friends at Mc Donalds in town. I knew them well and we worked together and everything and I was sure this had been arranged and everything - then as I was about to call one of them I realised I didn't have any of their numbers.. in fact.. I began to slowly realise that not one of them actually existed.. it was a bit disorientating as I was sure I knew these people and yet.. I didn't know them and I couldn't have known them. Either I am completely insane to have thought I knew non existent people or.. just maybe... something wiped them from the face of the Earth entirely - a time traveller perhaps? Did I slip into another universe and not realise..? This happened a few times in 2007 and 2008.. I kind of got used to it and didn't say anything.. but now looking back on it.. I wonder. Haven't experienced anything like it since.

This sounds very much to me like temporal lobe epilepsy, before I went on meds I'd have these "de ja vous" type episodes fairly regularly.

 

[escargot]

This sounds very much to me like temporal lobe epilepsy, before I went on meds I'd have these "de ja vous" type episodes fairly regularly.

In a previous job I learned a lot about epilepsy and how it can cause these kinds of misapprehensions and many more.

As you may have found, and forgive me if I'm making assumptions here, someone with unsuspected epilepsy can have convincingly uncanny experiences that fall into place as auras after a later diagnosis.

When this thread was new I thought Hmmm, that's surely epilepsy! but didn't comment as it was a new poster and I didn't want to appear dismissive. Also, I'm not a neurologist.

We used to have threads on epilepsy. Fascinating and enlightening.

 

[staticgirl]

I have to admit I read it and thought 'epilepsy' and I know very little about the condition. An excellent story though with that particular flavour of oddness I only get on this form. I hope @Crookshank is well, wherever they are.

 

[escargot]

I have to admit I read it and thought 'epilepsy' and I know very little about the condition. An excellent story though with that particular flavour of oddness I only get on this form. I hope @Crookshank is well, wherever they are.

Some people sign on here with the purpose of anonymously disclosing their own weirdness, and afterwards they drift away.
That's cool of course but it'd be nice if they stayed longer.