Fact or fiction

[rushlight]

Have you ever wondered about certain things that seem unexplainable? Such as sea serpents, ghosts, or UFO's? What if you saw something in the ocean? Something you have never seen before and it doesn't look like any sea creature you have heard of? Would you say it was a sea serpent? There has got to be an explanation for everything right? And what about those mystery shows where they have interviewed people or traveled with people who claim certain areas around the world are haunted? Would you actually spend some hours at that haunted place? There seems to be an easy explanation for UFO's. If there is something in the sky that doesn't look like a plane or bird, is it really a spaceship? I wouldn't think so. Do you think any of these strange things exist? Is there some logical explanation as to why something so unusual can occur?

[*Lifesonite]

Yes, sea serpents don't exist. Space is the modern day ocean, UFO's are the modern day sea serpent

[YYZed]

Hey rushlight,

I have had three mind-blowing situations.
Read if you have patience.

1. Early morning. Me and grandma woke up to the sound of a young girl calling for a cat. The cat-call was coming from the livingroom. Our cat ran from grandma's bedroom down the hall to the living room. Grandma got up and came to my room and we looked at each other. It happened again and we bolted down the hall to the living room. Our cat was sitting in the living room. Purring.

2. I was at my dad's house pet sitting. It was about 2am on a snowy, but warm night. My dad lives in the woods. I was studying. My sister asleep. We were both in the loft, a half-floor, looking over the living room. Dad's dog 'Daisy' perked and gruffed. She made her way downstairs to the main level and perched by the window overlooking the driveway. I thought nothing of it. Then, she started whining. Then I heard the screen door hiss open. Daisy started barking. I heard the front door open causing the cowbells to ring. I could hear daisy jumping, her claws making sound against slate. Then I heard three extremely loud 'pounding' sounds. My sister woke up. She's like "what the fvck...". Daisy is growling and jumping. Cowbells are ringing. I make my way down the staircase and <shiver> the front door slams shut. Daisy is clawing the door. I was confused and called for my sister to come down. I reached for the door. It was locked (!!). I released the deadbolt and chain. And unlocked the screen (!!). Daisy burst out into the driveway and quickly disapears into the woods. I grabbed my dad's (unloaded) rifle and proceeded to call Daisy. I told my sister to call the cops. I was standing in the driveway with a rifle at 2am- so surea and unreal. I noticed only my prints (and daisy's) in the fresh snow. The dog came back, tail wagging. The cops arrived and searched five acres and the house and found nothing. Me and my sister treked to the neighbors and stayed there.

3. When I was a kid ~ 30 years ago, I saw an 'earth golem' move across my bedroom and 'shift' into the bedroom wall. Afterwards, the wall had a black/brown stain on it. I screamed... So hard in fact that I lost my voice for about eight days.


I also have 'high contrast' images disturb me. Usualy of 'things' peering over the foot of my bed. Mostly they are animals, like tigers or pigs. But sometimes they are somewhat macabe, corpulent 'things'. They have a quality like cut-outs or perhaps similar to marionettes. I say 'high contrast' to describe a flourescent appearance.

My dad was attacked by a 'rock throwing' group of malcontents in Colorado on a camping trip. He peered out of his tent and he thought he saw huge monkeys.



Ever listen to Art Bell c/o George Noory?

[Devil's Advocate]

Have you ever wondered about certain things that seem unexplainable? Such as sea serpents, ghosts, or UFO's?

Sea serpents: possibly exist, but none of the "evidence" I've seen holds water.
Ghosts: nope.
UFOs: exist only in the literal sense of "unidentified flying objects." Not space aliens. Usually mis-identification of aircraft or of well-understood astronomical phenomena.

Would you actually spend some hours at that haunted place?

Sure.



YYZed - for your three, ummm, incidents, are you absolutely certain you were awake for any of them?

[Slaine mac Roth]

Would you actually spend some hours at that haunted place?

I can, without any shadow of a doubt, say yes. Mainly because the house in which I live is the THIRD haunted home I've lived in.

The first was a first floor flat in Stoke-on-Trent. I had my old computer in the absolute centre of a garden table (ie the centre of the computer was over the hole for the unmberella in the middle of the table) meaning that it was perfectly balanced. One night, I was watching TV with my ex-girlfriend in the living room when we heard a very loud crash. Going into the spare room, I found the computer had been tipped over. Not long after, my ex was putting on her make up in the bathroom, the mirror faced into the hallway, when she saw someone walk along the hallway. At the time, I was at work and both front doors had been locked. In addition, there was a disquieting atmosphere in the hallway, almost as if you were being watched.

The second was an old terraced house in Mansfield Woodhouse. Once again, there was an unpleasent atmosphere, this time on the landing outside the bedroom at the bottom of the stairs leading up to the attic room. As before, there was the same sensation of being watched by something that wasn't all together freindly. Finally, I was asleep one when when I woke up to see a women in a white dress bending over me. I know somepeople will say it was a dream,, but I know for certain that it wasn't and what I saw was real.

My current home in Mansfield has had two regular ghosts for a while and we seem to have recently aquired another. The first one, which we have never seen, stands at the bottom of the stairs and watched you. I don't know why, but I'm certain its male and does nothing else to make its presence felt. The second one walks up and down the path utside the front living room window. Neither me nor my wife has ever seen it clearly, only out of the of the corner of the eye but we know its there. I have not encountered our latest addition yet but my wife has seen it looking through the window into the living room. At first, I thought she was talking about the second one, but she is certain that it is a different one. Most recently, I went upstairs after putting our children to bed to find that the hot water tap in the bathroom had been turned on full. Neither me nor my wife had been in there and the taps are too stiff for the children to turn on. We're not sure which one is responsible but, you never know, we may have a fourth.

[Sir Myghin]

those are very interesting stories. my grandmother has had many encounters with spirits, among other unrworldly beings such a those of celestial nature and demonic. seen other planes and the like, my famil seems to have weird perceptions run in it . We are all blessed by the God with something it would seem.

Devil you should not be too quick to dismiss what you dont understand such things can have dire reprocussions

[Kevin]

I am afraid of the ocean because of things like that. I grew up close to the Atlantic, in NJ, and my grandfather was a navy man. He used to tell me stories about the ocean, things like seeing huge squid, sharks with two heads, even a shit that mysteriously appeared and disappeared. To a young kid, these stories stuck. I would go out with my dad and grandfather, deep sea fishing, and I remember being scared to death of what could be right underneath our boat. Ever since, i've been afraid of the things I cannot explain, but more importantly, the things I cannot see.


A different story. The skies here in upstate NY are always faily clear, and a nice view of the stars is a common thing. One night, about two summers ago, I was sitting on my friend's front porch with him. It sat on a small hill, overlooking the beach of the lake. I was admiring the great view of the stars, hundreds of them seemingly, and I noticed one that was moving. At first I shrugged it off as a plane, but the more I watched it, the more I knew that it was something else. It travelled in a triangular pattern repeadetly, taking maybe ten minutes to complete the triangle and start again. Me and my friend watched it for quite some time, every night for a month or so we'd see it in basically the same spot in the sky, doing the same pattern. Then one day, it was just gone, and we never saw it again. I have never heard of any kind of satelite that travels in such a way, so I came to the conclusion that it HAD to of been something...else. What? Who knows, but it couldnt have been human.

[Me]

This is interesting to say the least. I got a few stories one I'll elaborate later only because its meaning has profond concequences.

Here is something to make the hairs stand up on the back of your neck. Before we bought the house in which we live now (which could be haunted as we all here someone or something walking upstairs in the attic or second floor, sometimes shutting doors while we know no one else is at home, none of us ever seen it, only here it) we rented. At the last house the next tenant went to the basement and shot himself in the head and the property we rented before that, the tenant hung himself in the closet of the bedroom my wife an I slept in. Maybe, probably just a coincidence.

I'm not going to spill my guts just yet but believe me when I say, it's going to get bizzar

[Devil's Advocate]

Devil you should not be too quick to dismiss what you dont understand

But in many cases I do understand, and in all the rest the fact that I don't understand does not mean they're beyond anyone's understanding or that the supernatural needs to be invoked.

... such things can have dire reprocussions

Such as...?

I was admiring the great view of the stars, hundreds of them seemingly, and I noticed one that was moving. At first I shrugged it off as a plane, but the more I watched it, the more I knew that it was something else. It travelled in a triangular pattern repeadetly, taking maybe ten minutes to complete the triangle and start again. Me and my friend watched it for quite some time, every night for a month or so we'd see it in basically the same spot in the sky, doing the same pattern. Then one day, it was just gone, and we never saw it again.

I can think of two possibilities: One, a helicopter. Two, a searchlight.

[rushlight]

I'm here but I am going to work in a few minutes! Great stories! I will make a good response later and DA, I have a challenge for you since you have an explanation for the hauntings.

[Slaine mac Roth]

Sea serpents: possibly exist, but none of the "evidence" I've seen holds water.
Ghosts: nope.
UFOs: exist only in the literal sense of "unidentified flying objects." Not space aliens. Usually mis-identification of aircraft or of well-understood astronomical phenomena.
Sure.

"There are more thingds in heaven snd Earth
Than are dreamed of in your philosophy."

[rushlight]

Whoa! Kevin, you never saw this thing anymore? Did it even make a noise? Maybe it could have been just some weird satellite or some new type of aircraft.

Slaine, did you want to get out of the house when the strange things were happening? And each place you lived in was haunted? I wouldn't be able to come up with a logical reason as to why all of those things were happening.

When it comes to hauntings, I'm not sure what to think about when it comes to ghosts. There are some things you could do to make a "ghost" come out on to a photograph. I've seen some of the parapsychologists on television do that. If I was in the house and something so out of the ordinary happened right in front of me or if a ghost happens to take shape in the corner of a room, I wouldn't be able to come up with any other explanation and of course I would freak.

D.A. since you think the possibility of ghosts is impossible, how would you explain it if an animal reacts for no apparent reason. Dogs know very well if something odd is inside the house. Even in the horror film The Fog, which talks about ghosts, a character said her dog just looked towards the ocean (where the bad guys were coming) and started growling. Cats also have the sense if something that is invisible to one's eyes is standing there in the room with you. How do you explain such a phenomena?

[Devil's Advocate]

D.A. since you think the possibility of ghosts is impossible, how would you explain it if an animal reacts for no apparent reason. Dogs know very well if something odd is inside the house.

Dogs have hearing far more sensitive than ours. What if there was a mouse scampering about under the floorboards? Or above the ceiling? (Although some mice do seem to wear clogs...) Or if there was some noise outside the house, where you couldn't hear it, but the dog could?

Even in the horror film The Fog, which talks about ghosts, a character said her dog just looked towards the ocean (where the bad guys were coming) and started growling.

Psst. The Fog is a work of fiction.

Cats also have the sense if something that is invisible to one's eyes is standing there in the room with you. How do you explain such a phenomena?

Umm. Cats can stare into space if they want to. It doesn't mean they're looking at something in the centre of the room, even if they appear to be.

[Slaine mac Roth]

Well, we do have a sceptic in our midst (rubs hands gleefully hoping for a rousing debate on the subject).

First of all I'd like to say that living in a place that's haunted doesn't phase too much. In most of the houses I've lived, the presence has been a bit of an inconvience - ie going to the toilet in the middle of the night is a bit unnerving if you think someone's watching you. However, I live in England - the country that has more reputed ghosts per square mile than any other in the world.

Perhaps, DA, or should I call you Scully, you could shed some light on some experiences a group of us had about 14 years ago.

My sister had recently broken up with her partner but the two of them were still living in the same bedsit as she had not yet found alternative accomodation. I, along with a couple of friends, had gone to stop with her for the weekend when things got a little strange.

During one of the nights, everone sleeping on the floor in the living room (about seven of us) heard the sound of glasses being smashed around 3am despite the fact that all glassware had been removed from the room to allow sufficient sleeping room. Next morning, a concentrated search of the room found no broken glass anywhere. However, my sister's acoustic was full of beer. The next night, a light weight foam chair was placed on top of one of the sleepers in the room despite the fact that it had been moved into a corner out of the way, again to provide floor space, as well as someone playing her bass guitar in the night. The only people in the room with any musical ability were my sister and I. Both of us were on the opposite side of the room and would have been unable to reach the guitar without standing on at least three people. Finally, on the day I was due to return home, a hairbrush was seen to fly at my sister's ex, narrowly missing him. This was witnessed by about five people, especially the fact that no-one was stood near the surface where the brush had been lying.

Discussing the events with my sister, she told me that strange things had been occuring for a few weeks prior to my visit. Initially, she thought nothing of them as it was simple things like cups and plates being rattled in the kitchen - the sort of thing that could have a rational explanation. She changed her mind, however, when, after neatly stacking some books on a chair, she came home to find them neatly laid out on the floor, titles showing.

None of us found this particulalry disturbing. In fact, for many years it was a source of great amusement to all involved.

[Kevin]

DA - I dont know about helicopter, this thing was up there...and the pattern it was moving in, why would a 'copter move like that, and everynight for like a month at that? Search light, dont think so, there was no beam leading to anywhere.


rushlight - nope, never saw it again. Last time I was over there was last month, and there was nothing. I've never heard of a satelite that moves like that...