Bit of woo going on at holiday home

[MushyWoo]

Nc'd for this as it's outing.

We arrived at our holiday home in France late on Thursday night to find that it's a (stunning) very old cottage, I would guess 300-400 years at least.

First thing that happened was that my husband plugged his phone in before going to bed and left it on the bedside table. Woke up the next morning to find the phone still there but the charger unplugged and on the floor in the middle of the bedroom a few feet away. Also, during the night, I could hear kids talking, but when I got up to check they were all fast asleep, and I could still hear the talking coming from somewhere in the house as I stood there.

Similar thing the next night, I could hear my daughter's distinct voice, except when my husband went to check the kids were all fast asleep, and I could still hear the talking. The house is very rural and isolated so not from outside, and everything else was switched off.

The morning after this, we were up at 6am to travel somewhere and as I stood in the kitchen brushing my daughter's hair, the electric oven knob turned itself to the autocook setting and began heating up. Bothyself and my daughter were watching it as it happened.

After that, we were away overnight and only returned last night. Today, I opened the fridge and a pack of cheese slices came flying off a perfectly level shelf and past my head.

There have been other corner of the eye things and random stuff moving (that may or may not be down to the kids, of course). I'm not frightened, it's more of a loaded atmosphere than outright sinister. But blimey, we've only been here 2 full days so far so it's a bit much!!

Anyway, tell me yours so that I can feel a bit better about mine 🙂 We're not headed home til Thursday so have a bit to go yet!

@1000Pieces

Yes that’s what I was saying, I agree with you. If it was just a thread of ‘make up a spooky story’ I’d maybe enjoy having a go of making something up but I don’t really understand gushing for an AMA from someone who is obviously lying about being an exorcist along with having a medical degree. It’s weird.

Because the point of all this is that we have to believe - temporarily or otherwise - that it's true.
Are people just very literal?

I am very relaxed about the lady claiming to be an exorcist, because as an adult with critical thinking skills, I use my own judgment over who or how much to believe. I don't care if she is lying because I am not going to go off and try to hire her for a small exorcism of my haunted compost bin. I see her as not much more odd than most of the people on the internet.

Bit "gaslighty" isn't it??

Yes, I am rather literal to be fair. I generally think if someone says ‘I’m a nurse’ they’re trying to pass themselves off as a nurse. It wouldn’t occur to me to think it was just part of a fun game unless someone had previously told me that we could all tell fun lies now. Same with if someone said ‘xyz happened to me.’ I’d presume they meant that they were about to recount something that happened to them. It would never occur to me to say ‘I have a medical degree’ if I knew I didn’t have one!

Look sceptics, you have killed a fun thread. Again. I get that it’s not logical or evidence based but it is fun imaginative distraction from the everyday shitness of life right now and some of us need that! In bed with covid (scientifically tested and verified, you will be glad to know) and definitely need some distraction. You terriers have made your point and scared everyone away but please just go elsewhere and point out other scientific illiteracy that this site is riddled with. How about telling all the gender reveal peeps that it’s actually ‘sex’? The conception boards could also use some science guidance. Your work here is done!

I don’t agree. I think spirits often need something and that is why they are stuck. A friend of mine bought a very old house with quite a lurid history. She was plagued with ghostly goings on and saw a lot of strange stuff too. She called in someone to clear it who spent several hours going from room to room.

The person engaged with the ghosts found out why they were there, what they needed and helped them move on. I watched the process. From that day in there was no more activity.

For someone in a holiday house, this is a different matter so maybe ignoring is the best policy. However if you are living with spirits a different approach is needed.

Suggesting that someone gather evidence?

I would suggest that not everyone reading these posts has the same critical thinking skills that you do - which is clear enough when you see how many people are sucked into paying money for things like 'exorcisms', 'readings', horoscopes, etc.. 'Caveat emptor' isn't very fair on the more vulnerable and damaged people.

I would also suggest that it's not OK for people to lie about things just because you believe there's some sort of tacit understanding that they are making it up.

Finally I would suggest that I, at least, and I would think most of the people on this thread, are quite a lot less odd than the woman claiming to be an exorcist with a medical degree who has been lifted up to the ceiling by a ghost.

Read a book or magazine. Watch a film or TV programme. There are many, many ways to enjoy 'imaginative distraction' that don't pretend to be something they're not.

Hope you feel better soon.

Well I was enjoying the thread.....

Yes, I am rather literal to be fair.

No shit.

No one on this thread believes that the 'Karen'-hating exorcist also has a medical degree.

It's fun to read spooky stories. I don't believe any of them - well obviously the one I posted happened but I don't believe it's actually a ghost, just a weird coincidence. But it's fun, and interesting, and taps into something that lots of people find fascinating.

You don't have to piss on everyone's chips all day long just because it's not your thing.

Watch a film or TV programme. There are many, many ways to enjoy 'imaginative distraction' that don't pretend to be something they're not.

I mean, most books and films are literally pretending to be something they're not, that's the nature of fiction. And telling scary stories is probably one of the oldest forms of story-telling, in fact.

But yeah, you carry on sneering at and patronising those of us enjoying a bit of harmless spookery, if it makes you feel better.

Thank cheesus the MNHQ have finally pulled a post by the fun police.

I’m mega invested to hear any updates on further cheese or non cheese based spookery 😁

I was literally apologising. I have literally no clue why that post was pulled at all! But carry on - enjoy!

I mean, no they're not. They even have disclaimers at the start of films/novels stating that it's a work of fiction.

Do you really think all of the storytellers on this thread are honest in the same way as that?

And I don't think this stuff is harmless. I think it feeds a very dodgy industry that preys on the vulnerable, lonely and mentally ill.

In a tone that suggests the OP is either lying or imagined it.

Read a book or magazine. Watch a film or TV programme.

But why? Why read a magazine if it’s actually a spooky story you’re after?

I like woo threads - I don’t need to believe the stories to enjoy them. It’s a form of storytelling, nothing wrong with that.

How should one express disbelief?

I must have missed the bit where the op and everyone else telling their stories explained that they were just making them up for fun. That it's a creative writing thread. Nothing wrong with that, but there is something wrong with presenting it as reality.

Oh FFS. Plenty of people believe in ghosts. i am one of them. I have also had experiences with what i believe to be ghosts. When I am recounting these I am not forgetting to mention I view this as a creative exercise, because I am telling what I believe to have happened to me.

Is it really so much to ask that people be allowed to have a bit of a chat without being told off?

Do you really need a disclaimer for someone’s account of how they saw a shadow from the corner of their eye or heard some mysterious knocking in the middle of the night?
Don’t you see how that would spoil the effect for people who do enjoy a spooky thread, whether they believe in ghosts or not?

Do you really think all of the storytellers on this thread are honest in the same way as that?

Do you really think everyone on this thread is actually being dishonest? Or are they just recounting stuff that's happened to them that is a bit 'spooky'?

I agree that things like fortune tellers, 'mediums' etc are an issue. Some of them do indeed prey on vulnerable people, often for profit. That is undoubtedly wrong. But if you genuinely think that's comparable to an MN thread where posters recount the night they spent listening to weird noises outside their room in a holiday rental well...it ain't.

Fully agree with this. When people start charging for their services that’s a different matter, but that’s not the case with woo threads.