My two "paranormal" experiences

[lister]

Hi all,

Newbie here, just like to say what a brilliant site this is and love reading the forum and the weekly commentarys by Randi.

Anyway, thought you'd like to hear about two of my own personal experiences back when I was less rational, and which could easily have been interpreted as paranormal.

Firstly, when we were dating, my wife used to live with her parents in a genuine olde worlde cottage in the middle of the nowhere (I think it was about 200 years old).
Her house was accessed via lots of windy country lanes, and then finally by a small gravel track up to her gate.

One night at about 11.00pm we were "saying goodnight" when the TOTAL silence of the countryside at night was broken by a dragging sound coming up the gravel track. It would drag for a moment then pause. Drag then pause, for all the world like some unworldy beastie slithering up towards us.

Now although hearing this noise in the middle of nowhere at night caused the hairs on the back of my neck to rise, it wasn't until the noise got closer to us that we could see by the moonlight that there was NOTHING ON THE LANE!! :eek:

This unspeakable unseen thing carried on towards us: Draaaag. Pause. Draaaaag. Pause. I must admit to being more than a little alarmed at this point, and it was only the thought of not appearing cowardly before my new (tightly gripping!) beloved that prevented me from bolting for the house.

And a good job I didn't too, because just as it appeared the demon spawn had reached the end of the drive and would claim us for its own nefarious ends, a small dog appeared from behind the very low hedge that ran along the side of the track! :D

It turned out to be "Turk", a well known runaway from a cottage a mile or so away where he was owned by a rather forgetful old lady. The dragging noise was being produced by a largish branch that had become ensnared in his trailing lead! Both dog and branch were low enough to the ground, and close enough to the hedge to be obscured from our viewpoint, but the branch in the gravel sounded for all the world like it was coming directly from the center of the track.

I'm glad my evening ended with a happy dog panting in my ear whilst I drove him home, rather than me huddled wide eyed in bed wondering when the bogey man would return :D

The second situation occured in the exact same place! This time it was about 2.00am when all of a sudden the deathly silence was shattered when all the cows and sheep in the fields surrounding us suddenly started mooing and baahing at the top of their voices! This was disturbing enough, but then a BRILLIANT pure white light shone across the entire field from somewhere beyond the trees. There was no noise other than the animals, but the light was straight of a scene from the X-Files. The animals could just be seen as dark shadows blocking the light as it streamed out at near ground level. The light lasted about a second after which we hastily made our goodbyes and my wife retreated inside whilst I drove home breaking the speedlimit, and navigated the dark lanes whilst staring up through my sunroof convinced I was about to be abducted! :eek:

I made it safely home, and it remained a mystery for a couple of days until I noticed a small report in the local paper about a local power station overloading on that night and causing several people to be without power for the next day. We had not even known there was a power station near, but checking a map revealed that the light would have been originating from the correct direction from our viewpoint. I can only presume the animals felt or heard something that we could not which started them off before any light was apparent.

Anyway, I've rambled on for too long, hope I haven't bored you, but I love reading about people's experiences and the subsequent rational explanation, so I thought I would add mine. :)

[tkingdoll]

Even the most rational of people can get spooked, especially when it's dark and you're in a strange environment.

I'm a very rational thinker, but the other night I woke up at about 3am and saw a very unusual amber blinking light reflected on the bedroom wall, coming from somewhere at the foot of the bed out of my sight line. I wasn't properly awake, and my sleepy head immediately deduced that it was some sort of...tiny UFO. I don't believe in aliens in my waking life, btw.

I froze. My heart was pounding rapidly in my chest and I was too scared to turn the light on. I was only about 70% awake but I remember this very clearly. I very carefully shook my husband and whispered "Look! What's that light?". He grunted "it's my new electric shaver charging" and went straight back to sleep.

So much for rational thinking.

[tkingdoll]

duplicate

[Dogdoctor]

I have had so many experiences too many to mention all at once. However I have a funny one which had me baffled for a while. I had 2 birds kept in separate cages, a cockatiel and a peach faced love bird both of which were given to me unsolicited. Anyway it ultimately had to do with the peach faced love bird but my story goes like this: My wife collected a bunch of beanie babies and other popular stuffed toys and put them on a beam in the kitchen of our open beam house. They had been up there for a while but suddenly every day when we came home from work one or more of them was on the kitchen floor. Initially I thought perhaps a freak gust of wind came by and knocked them off. But then we shut the windows and it still happened. So I thought there was some heavy construction going on nearby and the vibrations caused them to bounce off. The construction stopped and they still fell down. Now I was really baffled and thinking perhaps it was the ghost of a person who died in that house or aliens from outer space or perhaps Elvis come back form the dead(joke). Anyway totally baffled I came home one day a little early to see the peach faced love bird flying and landing on his cage and then slipping back in under the plastic cover by his food dish. Of course Elvis was holding the cover open for him:) I guess the bird escaped every day from his cage flew up there and knocked them down for some reason then flew back into his cage and sat there innocently when I came home.

[Ripley Twenty-Nine]

I think I can actually pinpoint the moment that I became a skeptic.

I was young, probably around 9. On my way home from school, I walked past a large entrance to a sewer located under a bridge. At school, I started to hear stories about huge rats (The size of people) that lived in the sewers. I was curious about this, so I went with a friend to check it out...

We looked into the sewer entrance, and started yelling for the monsters to show themselves. Imagine our surprise when we heard a loud banging and thumping sound echoing through the sewers! I decided there must be a logical explanation for it, so I got closer. This time, I heard the same banging and thumping, and much to my horror... Two glowing yellow eyes staring back at me, blinking open and closed!

Needless to say, we ran out of there as fast as we could.. But I couldn't stop thinking about it. I mean, there couldn't REALLY be huge rats living in the sewers, could there? I went back a few days later to find out for sure.

Any guesses as to what I found? ;)

[UrsulaV]

Depending on how far apart the "eyes" were, a set of those flashing amber beacons warning that there's sewer construction (banging and thumping) up ahead and it's not safe to walk in?

[Ripley Twenty-Nine]

Originally posted by UrsulaV
Depending on how far apart the "eyes" were, a set of those flashing amber beacons warning that there's sewer construction (banging and thumping) up ahead and it's not safe to walk in?

Close! The entrance to the sewer was under a bridge. About 50 feet away was a road that was not heavily travelled. Sunlight shone through two holes in a sewer grate on the road and reflected down so they could be seen from a distance in the entrance to the sewer. When a car would drive over the sewer grate, it would make the banging and thumping sound, and make the 'eyes' blink.

:)

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

I once met a Jewish building repairman and, another time, a Jewish super.

If that's not a paranormal experience, I don't know what is! :D

[Ron_Tomkins]

Once I was kidnapped and raped by aliens, but then I found out it was just the air conditioner.

[Serenity's Light]

Lister, if you like hearing people's "paranormal" stories and the rational explanations they found for them, you should check out the "Scary Experiences" thread started by billydkid. There's some pretty interesting stories in there too.

Once when I was younger, my parents and I woke up in the middle of the night hearing a noise outside that sounded for all the world like a person crying out in pain or fear. My parents actually called the police, thinking that someone was being attacked nearby. The cops tracked down the noise, and it turned out to be some sort of animal that was either wounded or in heat (I forget which, as this was many years ago). I can easily imagine someone hearing a sound like that and coming up with a woo-ish explanation for it--and it really is incredible how creepy some of the noises made by animals can be.

[JoeTheJuggler]

I once met a Jewish building repairman and, another time, a Jewish super.

If that's not a paranormal experience, I don't know what is! :D

Sorry, EMM, but when I read this, all I could think was, "Jewish building? Is that a skyscraper with the upper balconies removed?"

[PB&J]

I was about 4 or 5 years old when E.T. the movie came out. In retrospect, the movie is kind of a feel-good movie.. but at 5 years old I was terrified (especially the scene where he bumps into ET in the field).

I had nightmares during the night and woke up and slowly opened my eyes and as soon as I started to focus, I swear I was looking right into the face of E.T. I immediately shut my eyes in terror and was too scared to move.... then "E.T." started to lick my face and I realized my dog was just lying at a weird angle really close to my face when I first opened my eyes :)

[timebomb]

It was late on a Saturday night. My wife and I had just got into bed and was preparing for sleep when we heard a noise coming from outside the bedroom door. It was like a clicking sound, like someone was turning the door knob and trying to open the door. We thought it was one of of our 2 teenage daughters so we asked, "Who's that?". There was no reply but the sound continued. We were puzzled so I went up to the door. But the moment I reached it, the sound stopped. I opened the door but there was nobody there. My wife was scared and turned pale. I was scared too but I pretended I wasn't.

"Go back to sleep", I said to the wife, "It's probably just the wind".

I closed the door and went back to bed. But as soon as I climbed on my bed, the sound started again. "Who's that?", we shouted this time. But as before, there was no answer. I went to the door again and the sound stopped when I reached it. I opened the door but again, there was no one there. My wife was really petrified this time and she pulled the sheets over her head. Strangely, I was less afraid the second time round though. There must be a logical reason for the sound, I thought.

So I closed the door again and went back to bed. The sound started again. But this time, I sat on my bed and listened carefully to the sound to try and find the source. It wasn't coming from outside the bedroom door but was emitting from the dressing table inside the bedroom that was just next to the door. I pulled the table aside and there on the floor was my daughter's pet hamster. It had escaped from its cage and was nibbling on the cardboard at the back of the table. The nibbling created a sound that was somewhat similar to the sound of someone turning a doorknob. And the hamster felt my footsteps and stopped nibbling the moment I approached the door.

[Naughtyhippo]

Back in the days my husband worked as a postman, I would be left alone in the wee hours of the morning. I kept hearing noises inside our house, but once I dragged my terrified arse out of bed, nada. Eventually led to those weird sleep paralysis type dreams, the ones where you think you have woken up but you can't move. I kept seeing some tall menacing guy in a biker jacket coming for me (sometimes after he had been up to something in the bathroom).

I was ever so glad when hubby started screaming because there was a mouse in the hall! Mice in the walls! No paranormal biker dudes out to kill me at all! Of course, turns out husband has a 'thing' about mice as well as spiders.....I get to do all the work....

[pr0k]

That was me, sorry, but if you leave the cap off the toothpaste again I will kill you this time ok?!

[Naughtyhippo]

ok, ok - do you also get annoyed about where I squeeze the toothpaste from? just wanna cover all the bases here you know

[pr0k]

For the purposes of suspense that shall remain A MYSTERY!!!

[EeneyMinnieMoe]

Sorry, EMM, but when I read this, all I could think was, "Jewish building? Is that a skyscraper with the upper balconies removed?"

Oh, my bad. :D He was a building repairman, as in someone a co- op keeps on regular staff. Actually, that building had two Jewish repairmen- one was an immigrant from Belarus and the other was an immigrant from Russia.

I also once caught a taxi with an Israeli driver but he told me he was a medical student moonlighting for a while, so I figured he wasn't an apparition. :p