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

[Scott Hayes]

One of the things I always enjoyed about the X-files was how the Mulder character always seemed to have a wild explantion for whatever mystery they were investigating. Scully was just the opposite, and believed in the scientific explanation. Most of the time the truth was somewere in the middle. We need people with wild explanations and ideas just as much as we need people who are skilled in science to ground us in reality. The truth is probably somewere in the middle. With that in mind here are a few wacky ideas:
Wouldn't it be something if there were creatures that existed out side of our visual range. And they like to mess with our heads.
Maybe when we die we go to a dimension so close to our own that you can see and interact in a limited way with this dimension.
Maybe deja-vu is a glitch in time.
Perhaps ghosts and visions are simply our mind/body reacting to an unknown form of radiation (actually that makes sence, I'm scaring myself )
Maybe time is not linear and sometimes the past and future bleed thru giving us a glimpse of what was and what will be.
Maybe the little grey alieans are really us evolved 1000000years into the future and they travel back in time to see how we managed to survive the past 50 years.
Maybe those damn stereo gnomes that keep messing up my HT settings are real!!!
Any way something to think about, enjoy

 

[Ike]

Scott,
I love how you'd like to see science base itself around the X-Files.

Maybe deja-vu is a glitch in time.

Or a glitch in The Matrix.

 

[Paul Richardson]

You don't have a cat, do you?

Bingo!
By using critical thinking, you've discovered the true cause of my "unexplained phenomena." The story is true, as I stated...I just left out a few key details. I posted that exact same story at a site for believers in the supernatural, and got all kinds of speculation. The consensus there was that the original owner of the ring had returned from the dead to get it back. :rolleyes
Should I bother telling the story about the time I heard a baby crying and I went into the room and no baby was there? No, the television wasn't on in the room and there was no baby outside the window...the sound was clearly coming from the room. How is this possible?
A lot of these stories often leave out certain details (sometimes intentionally, sometimes not) that if we knew them would immediately solve the mystery. However, for some reason it's human nature to seek the most interesting explanation over the most plausible.
One common factor you see in a lot of these stories is that they'll often contain some line like "I'm not a believer in this stuff, but..." and an instance of "I couldn't have been [one possible explanation] because of..." These lines are subtle ways of making the casual reader think that the storyteller did a good job investigating all "scientific" causes of the event before declaring it "supernatural."
One plausible explaination that is possible in any one of these stories (especially those told on internet message boards) is that the teller is lying or mistaken. There's always the possibility of hoax in every case as well. Any of these is more plausible than "It must be a ghost!"
Hoaxing somebody into believing they've seen a ghost is remarkably easy. If you walk into a darkened room and see a floating head that looks at you and says "Avenge my death!" what do you do? If it happened to me, I would assume that it wasn't actually a ghost and immediately try to figure out what it was. Most people, however, would run from the room...they are too scared to do a critical investigation. Their fear makes the hoax that much easier.
Are there things in life that are unexplainable? Absolutely! However, a critical thinker will keep them as "Unexplainable" if they can't find an explanation, rather than jumping to conclusions and assuming "It must be a ghost/demon/alien/etc."

 

[Jack Briggs]

Well, I too have had conversations with noncorporeal beings--depending, of course, on how potent the psilocybin mushrooms were. ...

Hey, as it is being frequently noted here, using ideas from television fantasies being passed off as "science fiction" as explanations cannot work. Really, the mundane explanations for things that go bump in the night are the most likely.

We all like a good scare.

I once pitched an editor to let me and my photographer spend an evening in a downtown Los Angeles soundstage studio, one that we were told by employees is said to be haunted. Thought it would make for a great laugh, and that it would give me an opportunity to pound out some look-how-clever-I-am prose.

Of course the photog and I didn't believe the story, but it's Hollywood and we wanted to have a fun time.

The assignment fell through, though.

Bottom line: beware the human mind. It's so darn powerful, and it plays the most convincing tricks.

 

[Scott Hayes]

I love how you'd like to see science base itself around the X-Files.

Hey, life would be pretty damn interesting if science was based around the x-files. That wasnt what I ment though. I think we need people with imagination as much as we need skeptics. My experiance at that house was defintly peculiar, and over the years as I have recounted the tail I have though of some rather outlandish explanations for what happened. But then I read some of your posts and it brings me back to what I sometimes forget, sometimes the simplist explanation is the best. On the opposite end I hope that some of you who are sceptical of such things (probably the correct way of looking at odd occurances) are a little more open to a world of possibilitys. The world needs all of us, believer and skeptic alike.

 

[Kevin P]

Should I bother telling the story about the time I heard a baby crying and I went into the room and no baby was there? No, the television wasn't on in the room and there was no baby outside the window...the sound was clearly coming from the room. How is this possible?

Let me guess, the cat was playing tricks again? Or there was a baby crying in the room, and you wife picked it up before you got there? Or the cat was mad at you because you locked up your rings in the box--they can make noises similar to a baby's cry.
When I see or hear something strange, like most people I'll look for a rational explanation for it. If I see a light or object in the sky that looks unfamiliar at first, I examine it, figuring it's probably an airplane but wondering, maybe even hoping, that it's something else. Eventually, as it moves along it does turn out to be an airplane, helicopter, or balloon.
If I hear a strange noise or voices in the house, most of the time I can figure out what it is or where it's coming from. Most noises are house settling or the cats, or things outside (cars, neighbors talking outside, etc.). Sometimes, when lying in bed, familiar sounds can sound different, especially if you're lying on your side and have one ear covered so you can't pinpoint the location of the sound. But if I walked into a room and saw one of my dead grandparents sitting in the chair, assuming I'm not scared out of my wits I would try to figure out what's really going on. I would try to talk to them. I would try to touch them. I would try to take a picture if possible. I would look for rational explanations for the phenomenon (I must be dreaming! I'll pinch myself!) As Sherlock Holmes once said (I think, sort of), once all the possible explanations are exhausted, one of the impossible ones has to be the answer!
KJP

 

[Max Knight]

I've been a Lovecraft fan since the 8th grade, I love his style of horror.

For those interested in reading some Lovecraft, try the following short stories (he pretty much only wrote short stories):

The Lurker in the Dark

The Call of Cthulhu (a classic!)

The Dunwich Horror

The Music of Erich Zann (I think I spelled that right)

Pickman's Model

If you read and enjoy, pick up the Arkham House editions of his work, they are beautifully made books (incidentally Arkham is an imaginary New England town Lovecraft created).

-Max

 

[RobertR]

As Sherlock Holmes once said (I think, sort of), once all the possible explanations are exhausted, one of the impossible ones has to be the answer!

I have to correct you on that, Kevin. Holmes said that when you have eliminated the impossible (or what clearly CAN'T be true), whatever remains, however improbable (which is very different from impossible), must be the answer.

 

[Henry Carmona]

Id like to share something that happened to me.
There is a place here in San Antonio referred to as "The Ghost Tracks".
Years ago, there was a school bus that was hit by a train there and it is said that the childrens ghosts still haunt that railroad crossing.
Some have told stories about how if you place your car in nuetral and throw baby powder on the rear of your car, that your car will start moving and you will find childrens hand prints on the back where they have pushed you over the tracks. Ive never seen this to confirm it.
My story is about one night a friend and i drove up there to see if they REALLY push you across the tracks. Most people have started above the tracks when placing their cars into nuetral, but there is an obvious hill and gravity will roll you over the tracks.
We decided to park ON the tracks and wait. It was about 3am and we were in an old Chevy van.
It was dead quiet and all i could hear were crickets. Well after sitting there for about 2 or 3 minutes we said "Srew it this is BS".
So my buddy started the van and let me tell you if i didnt have a heart attack!!
As soon as, and i mean not a dam inch after, our rear tire crossed the damn tracks that a friggin train came steaming past us hauling ass barely missing the rear of the van!!
It was loud as hell and had no light on it!
We couldnt believe it, here was this 1/4 mile long train, sounding as loud as any train sounds, shaking the ground, and there wasnt a single sound before it got there.
Ive never gone back.

 

[Ike]

Should I bother telling the story about the time I heard a baby crying and I went into the room and no baby was there? No, the television wasn't on in the room and there was no baby outside the window...the sound was clearly coming from the room. How is this possible?

This was my story too, and it also, I figured out, ended up being a cat outside.

 

[Eve T]

My house is haunted and that's no lie. I've suffered from sleep paralysis as well. I have many pictures of orbs in my home which I sent to the ghost hunters society of Indianapolis. I immediatly got a response. They want to investigate. YIKES.

There are some things in life that have no explanation. It's left up to us to make our own determinations. If it matters..I believe you.

 

[Jack Briggs]

Despite that, Eve, welcome to the Forum.

We're friendly here--even if many of us are skeptics. Which is to say that whatever is going on in your house I am certain it can be explained via physics, not paraphysics.

 

[Scott Hayes]

Eve,
Can you post some of the pics of the orbs in your house, I would love to see them.
Also I am a little curious, I read your profile and saw that you are a fragrance model. How do you model a fragrance since you cant really see a fragrance?

 

[Bill Catherall]

See Jack's already made up his mind.
How do you expect to make any kind of discovery if you've already drawn your conclusions? That's not good science.
Edited to add:
*wink* *wink* *nudge* *nudge* Didn't want anybody to take it the wrong way.

 

[Henry Carmona]

I agree Bill,
Can we be so arrogant as to think we posess every tool needed to explain everything which needs explanation?
Welcome Eve!! Dodge Darts Rock!!

 

[Dave F]

some friends of mine asked me to babysit their kids for a night

Ok, what I really want to know is how much of a tip you got that night!
-Dave

 

[Scott Hayes]

Ok, what I really want to know is how much of a tip you got that night!

The only tip I got was the grey hairs on the tip of my chin

 

[Ike]

How do you expect to make any kind of discovery if you've already drawn your conclusions? That's not good science.

Because, I'm sure, as any American who has basic cable-allowing the essiential viewing of the rather oddly named Learning Channel-that orbs and other haunted oddities are rather common. And that because they are, that, most likely, Eve is the rule, not the exception. He doesn't need to go and investigate the house to say, more likely than not, it's normal activity.

And if you are talking to the dead, I'd suggest seeking some professional help-not to make fun, but you may actually have some issues.

 

[Dome Vongvises]

Why is it that people are scared of ghosts? Unless they were trying to eat you or hurt you in some way, I could care less if they were rattling chains.
Oh, the closest I came to seeing a ghost was "something" in the shape of my grandmother sitting against a wall, but that's another story. Of course this happened after her funeral. I dismiss it now as me being regretful.....hey wait a minute, that's another story :frowning:
Anyways, the other closest I came to seeing ghosts was last night when I woke up and saw some ghostly figure staring right back at me and my stomach going in knots. Turns out to be the picture of Don Corleone from my Godfather poster and me needing to take a dump in the middle of the night. Man those midnight s**ts really hurt..... Damn wings and beer night.....

 

[Eve T]

Dear Jack Briggs, thank you for your post in welcoming me to the board. And I also thank you for your opinion on via there being a scientific explanation for what's going on in my home. However, I still hold fast to the fact that there is a different world out there that many of us have never glimpsed before and that not everything can be explained by science. After all much of science is based on theory and so is the paranormal world as well. So it's kind of a toss up as to what one wishes to believe. That's what makes us all different. Thanks for your reply post and have a great week.