The day I got scared almost to death (1 Viewer)

[Bill Catherall]

These sorts of stories are far better and easily explained by human fears, power of suggestion, and mechanical malfunctions than by forces unexplained to science.

Sometimes we dismiss them as such, but I think it's because we can't explain them. Some stories are actually explainable, but just because some aren't we can't automatically assume they fall under the same catagory of the ones that are. And just because great big powerful magnets can cause people to see or feel unusual things, doesn't mean that what Scott or I or many others have experienced can be explained away with magnets. That's not good science. (Just an example, I'm not picking on the magnetic theory.)

 

[Carlo_M]

My only "weird" experience:

In High School my parents left me and my young sis alone while they went to Reno for a vacation. I called my girlfriend and went to pick her up since we thought we had the house to ourselves. When we drove back to my house, I saw my dad's blue car in the driveway. Correction: we BOTH saw the blue car in the driveway. We both were like "shoot, I guess I'll take you back..." kind of thing. Well we went to her house for like 10 minutes and decided that we would come back, even if my parents had come home early.

When we got home, the blue car wasn't there. I figured they had forgotten something, went home to pick it up, and then went back to Reno. When we went into the house my sister was alone in the den reading. The den has two windows that look directly at the driveway where the car would have been parked. I asked her why mom and dad came home and she flatly replied that they had not been there. We then explained that we both saw a car in the driveway and she says that there was no car there. She had been reading and facing the window and looked up often. She was only 13 at the time, but she and I don't lie to each other and I believed her completely. To this day I don't know what car we saw in the car port, but we both saw it.

 

[Paul D Young]

I can't say I believe in the supernatural, but when I read the story I felt a strong need to look behind me. Just to be sure no one was there!:b

 

[Cees Alons]

But isn't that the definition of supernatural? Something that is above and beyond natural or scientific explanation or comprehension?

Not in the way it is commonly used. Of course you are free to use your own definition.

But in common use, it is supposed to be more of contrascientific, i.e. something of which current and accepted science would predict it cannot possibly happen.

Cees

 

[Scott Hayes]

I wish the scientific world didnt turn down its nose at the so called supernatural. I know that much of what you see on tv and read on the internet about freak occurances seems to belong in the world of comic books and sci-fi and yet honest hardworking otherwise normal people have freakishly wierd experiances.
Take the abduction experiances people have. Many of these peolpe that report this are normal in every way yet have this horrifying experiance. Personelly I doubt that aliens are kidnapping people, yet so many people report it happening. Obviously something is going on, but what is it. Could be mass hysteria, odd earth magnetism, or maybe aliens really are out there. Somehow I doubt we will see a study from MIT or someother institution giving it serios study. It is a shame I think there is something to be learned here.
As far as my experiance goes, I am glad you all have enjoyed my story. I thought people might get a kick out of reading it. I just wish you could have been there. It makes me laugh now, but I tell you I had a hard time sleeping for a few days after it happened. Kept my pistol under my pillow for a while (like it would due any good but at least I felt a little better)
On a side note, were can I pick up Carl Sagans book, The Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark. I went to Waldenbook but they said they couldnt get it and I dont have credit cards to get it off the internet. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Julie K]

But isn't that the definition of supernatural? Something that is above and beyond natural or scientific explanation or comprehension?

As Cees pointed out, that's not the usual usage of the word. Supernatural connotes spirits, ghosts, and so on. It connotes things that science cannot (and will not) explain. While there are things our scientific models do not completely explain right now, I do not doubt that science can explain everything.
And as for explaining stories like these - I think they are currently perfectly explainable and simple (the best explanations generally are). Perhaps it seems like a dismissal to you, but we do not have any measurements or repeatable observations in controlled conditions. While science does change, it is a rigorous controlled process. There is simply no good evidence for the 'supernatural' (as the common usage would connote.)
BTW, the quote is from the opening paragraph of "The Call of Cthulhu" by H.P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft's work is strong in the theme that humans are mere specks in an unfathomable and uncaring universe. You might like it

 

[MikeAlletto]

My freakiest event was when I was really little living in a suburb of Chicago. It was late at night and I couldn't sleep so I was just laying there. Back then I slept with my door open so I could lay in bed and at the same time look out my door and down the hall past my brothers door. I was laying there and I swear I saw someone walk past my door carrying a bag and walk into my brothers room. I got up out of bed and walked into his room. He was at a friends house that night so I knew he wasn't home. I turned the corner into his room and there was nothing there. I even turned on the light and looked around. Nothing. I'll never forget that night.

Many other times I would be laying in bed looking out my door and I would see an indian in full head dress with tomahawk just standing against the wall between my brothers door and mine. He never looked at me, just stood there. I came to refer to him as my indian and I saw him/it quite often.

Now of course I don't think I was asleep and dreaming it since the indian thing happened so often. I can still remember both events very very clearly. I never felt scared, just curious.

 

[Scott Hayes]

BTW, the quote is from the opening paragraph of "The Call of Cthulhu" by H.P. Lovecraft. Lovecraft's work is strong in the theme that humans are mere specks in an unfathomable and uncaring universe. You might like it

I bought a box of books at a flee market the other day, a few of the are by H.P. Lovecraft. I think I'll start them first. I think that humanity has too much pride in our meager accomplishments. The sum of our knowledge can fit on the head of a pin when compared to the rest of the universe.

 

[Jim_C]

>>"The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the light into the peace and safety of a new dark age."

 

[Mike Lenthol]

Unless there were reports of ghosts resetting Leaning Universal Remote controls, or moving speakers out of their sweetspots ... I ain't scared

 

[KeithAP]

Here is something for you guys.
The house where Lizzie Borden's father and step mom were axed to death is now a bed and breakfast! Spend a weekend...if you dare! Muhwahahahaha

 

[Bill Catherall]

I wish the scientific world didnt turn down its nose at the so called supernatural.

I agree. Scientists should be open minded and not reject anything or make early conclusions without proper testing. Just because many tests turn up dry doesn't mean you've proven it false. I can look at the day sky with my bare eyes and say there are no stars. If you don't understand the circumstances which brought about the phenomonon you can't recreate it. Instead of saying, "Well that's just impossible" as science often does, we should be saying, "I haven't come across that before and without thorough testing and recreation I can't draw any specific conclusions." Then after thorough tests you can conclude, "These tests show blah blah blah. But that's not to say that other tests won't come up with different results." Science is about learning and when you close your mind you can't learn.

 

[Graeme Clark]

Unless there were reports of ghosts resetting Leaning Universal Remote controls, or moving speakers out of their sweetspots ... I ain't scared

Those are gnomes that do that. Watch out!

 

[Julie K]

My definition is exactly what you both said, but more general. Spirits, ghosts are part of it as well as UFOs, ESP, monsters (Big Foot, Lockness), etc. All these thing science has a very difficult time explaining.

Well, here I disagree. I think science can, and already has, explained these things.

 

[Keith_R]

hehe I've got a story to share too. Occasionally I'll go to visit my Grandfather at his house down in Miami(usualy at least once a year.) My Grandfather's house has been around for 30-40 years and he is the only one to have lived it in all these years.The story begins on a particular visit down there. I had just got done cleaning up and was in one of the back bedrooms getting dressed when I heard a breathing noise, it sounded like a dog breathing. I figured that since we had brought our dog with us he was in the room and I didn't realize it. Bearing that thought in mind I looked around the room (under the bed, the closet etc.) and I didn't see him. The breathing noise suddenly stopped.I was freaked out and hurried up and got dressed real fast just to get out of that room. The next day I asked my mother about it the next day and she said she had heard the same sound too when she was my age ( I was 13 at the time)and that she had never found it what it was either. She figured it probably was a dog who had met his end when the house was being built and probably was a ghost now. I'm 16 now and still continue to head down to Miami for visits or spring break and every so often I will hear that noise which sound like a really creepy raspy dog, it bothers me every time I hear it.

 

[Bill Catherall]

I think science can, and already has, explained these things.

Some UFO, Big Foot, Lockness, etc. sightings have been disproved. That doesn't mean that all sightings are fake or even explainable.

In the summer of '91 my family was outside observing some planets in the night sky. Much of the neighborhood was out too with binoculars and telescopes ready. Just as the sun was setting (the sky was still lit, but the sun was down) a UFO (meaning unidentified, not necessarily of alien origin) came flying into view. It stopped and hovered a ways off. It appeared to be about 1/2 mile to the west of them. It hovered for several minutes making no noise at all. My neighbor had enough time to go inside and grab his camera. He took a few shots, but because if the distance it didn't turn out well. It just looks like a small light in the sky.

The UFO then took off. What I mean by that is that it accelerated at an extreme rate directly "out," moving westward but upward out of sight. All the neighbors saw it. My mom called a friend that lived in the neighborhood it appeared to be hovering over and the friend saw it too. It was nearly above her neighborhood, confirming the distance. My sister called the local paper to report it and the article (including the names of several people that saw it from all over that side of the city) was in the paper the next day. A man called up my sister later that week and asked her to describe what she saw again. He said that he was visiting when he saw it too and just wanted to make sure he wasn't crazy.

So just because some hoaxster throws a frisbee and takes a picture of it doesn't mean that what my family and others saw was a flying frisbee. Of course it may have been something like an experimental aircraft, but we have no idea. It was left unexplained, nobody tried to explain it, and we still don't know what it was. If someday the airforce reveals an aircraft that is capable of doing such things and looks like what they saw then the mystery will be solved. Until then it's left as "supernatural."

I believe that the issues surrounding some kind of a crash in Roswell are still unexplained...are they not?

 

[Ike]

Most things that are supernatural would best be helped by a strong does of skepticism.

You called this light in the sky that moved briskly a UFO-and even realized that meant most people would assume of alien origins. Already, we know that you have been filled with American lore-UFO's and lights in the sky. And the manner that you described-lights darting fast and hovering-is strictly an American idea of an alien craft.

What maybe a normal everyday anomaly in light bouncing, or a plane, or whatever else, is automatically a UFO.

I think the relative small number of UFO sightings almost means for certain they are people's imagination. I don't think someone could travel millions of miles (further than any telescope of ours can go), and make a quiet observance then leave. If they are evolving as we are, only accelerated, if we discovered a foreign society, would we not try to contact them openly?

Ghosts, things you heard, and other oddities are usually even more easily explained.

Everyone has a weird story that they think could have been something supernatural. One time when I was waking up, I could have swore I heard a baby crying as I walked downstairs. I looked for where it was coming from, and couldn't find it.

What was it? Who knows. But I can tell you one thing-not for one second in my head do I think it was anything other than something completely-and most importantly, boringly-natural.

I think the moral of the story is, as a rule of thumb, until you're aboard a ship with a probe sticking out of you, I wouldn't assume anything is "supernatural."

 

[Bill Catherall]

Ike - I didn't say they saw a light in the sky. I said they saw a craft of some kind. It had a light on it and that's what the picture showed. You couldn't see the craft in the picture because of bad lighting and the distance to the object. He didn't have a powerful enough lens to get a good shot of it.

A UFO is just what it means...it's an unidentified flying object. Unfortunately most people automatically think of aliens when they hear of UFOs, that's why I made the distinction. I'm just telling you what they saw, and it's not just an American idea. I'm keeping an open mind as should everyone. It could be alien, it could be man made, it could be from another time or dimension. Maybe there's some species of metalic looking birds that have lights on their bellies and are near extinction. Who knows. But if you've already made up your mind on these things then there's no changing it. That's unfortunate. We all must be open to new ideas and concepts. That's the only way to really learn. The "bazaar" may not be so bazaar when we finally understand it. My point is that many of these strange phenomenon have been left unexplained. Sometimes we too easily dismiss them as someone's imagination or some simple explanation (but never offer any concrete explanation). Sure there may be some simple explanation...once you fully understand quantum physics, or super-duper quantum whatever (some realm of physics/science we have not yet discovered). The time will come when these things will make sense, but for the time being why are we brushing them off so easily?

Now I'm not saying the supernatural or paranormal need to really fully occupy our time. There are other more pressing issues that need to be dealt with to further science and technology. Eventually the time will come when someone will make a discovery that will unlock many mysteries. But until then, why do we have to be so skeptical?

 

[Jack Briggs]

Big, bad science has trouble "explaining" so-called "UFOs," spirits, goblins, etc. for the simple reason that the "evidence" supporting claims thereof is so laughably not there. The whole "alien abduction" scenario is ingrained into the popular culture; in addition, people want to believe they have been "abducted" by "aliens," that they have been singled out in some strange way be "powers" greater than ourselves.

Talk to an amateur astronomer sometime. Ask him or her about having seen "UFOs." The answer you will get is that, sure, "I have seen things in the sky that people often think are flying saucers, but they're usually artificial satellites, airplanes close to the horizon, or planets." A person who knows the sky is highly unlikely to see a flying saucer.

As Arthur C. Clarke has pointed out many a time, "I don't 'believe' in UFOs because I have seen so many of them."

Back to Scott's original story, here's another suggestion: Given that he was "warned" by the house's owners about the place being "haunted," might the whole thing have been a clever hoax?

 

[Iain Lambert]

Re: Lovecraft and scaryness. I think he is wonderfully scary, myself, but in order to appreciate it you really need to read a bunch of his stories. Individually, they are (what now seem) fairly mundane ghost stories about 'things man was not meant to know', and the big plot twists have been ripped off so many times you'll probably see them coming. Also, his writing style is hardly Umberto Eco, which puts many off.

Where he works like no-one else however, is myriad little hints at a larger universe of horrific nightmares through the series of tales - its not so much what the story tells you thats scary, but when your racing mind starts threading all the clues together, joining the dots of fact and fiction until you're reaching nasty conclusions that you'd sleep a lot better having not thought of.