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!

And this is why abandoning the concept of truth vs lies actually matters.

Because refusing to distinguish between fact and fiction re idiotic rubbish about flying cheese and unplugged phone chargers is directly linked with the rejection of the idea that there is actually such a thing as truth when it comes to stuff that really does matter.

Like using homeopathy to 'treat' cancer, or deciding that mmr vaccines cause autism.

Let me enjoy my flying cheese, I really don’t care as much as to pick a fight with you. Don’t you have nicer things to do? Lovely weather ourside! 😘

But clearly without this kind of support, they wouldn't find it half as easy to prey on people.

I'm literally typing this while walking home from the gym. Is that OK with you?

Yes, or they are deluded, or are suffering from sleep paralysis, or are so keen to believe that a loved one hasn’t left them that they ascribe fanciful meanings to everyday events. A butterfly landing on the windowsill on the day their grandmother died, for example.

Or are you going to tell me that everyone who claims to have encountered a ghost is telling the absolute truth and exhibits both entirely clear judgment and personal disinterest? How about Derek Acorah? Do you think that he was 100% sincere about contacting ghosts and spirits on the telly? Doris Stokes? Psychic Sally? The psychic who claims that Princess Diana drops in to give her messages?

Even if some of the people who claim to have seen a ghost are telling the absolute truth, and there is a scientific explanation that hasn’t been found yet, why has no scientific evidence ever been provided? Either it’s a scientific, or potentially scientific, phenomenon or it is not. If ghosts are a manifestation of e.g. a variant of the Higgs boson particle, why don’t they manifest regularly where they could be observed by scientists? And why would they bother to impersonate gliding Edwardian ladies, or living coach drivers who are supposed to be in Torquay?

In this case, why has the OP not been able to record any of the plethora of supernatural happenings in the French gite? She isn’t short of opportunities.

OP, how was the rest of the holiday

(if you're still here!)

Have you SEEN Paranormal Activity!!!!???

Yes, or they are deluded, or are suffering from sleep paralysis, or are so keen to believe that a loved one hasn’t left them that they ascribe fanciful meanings to everyday events. A butterfly landing on the windowsill on the day their grandmother died, for example

Why on earth then I said I thought ghosts were hallucinations, sleep paralysis or a product of grief did you scoff at what I'd written?

Not more of this nonsense, we’ve only just got rid the last lot.

What have black holes got to do with a cheese throwing ghost?

You said that ghosts were either real or ‘real in people’s minds’ and that’s why we should all just obediently believe in them. See the difference?

I have a story to share.

Some family friends had bought a very old farmhouse (holiday home) in the centre of France. My uncle was driving from England to his house near Carcassonne & decided to stop over there & check on it. He is very much no nonsense, doesn't believe in superstitions, woo, very tall & big etc. When he arrived it was early evening & as he was making dinner he heard a huge thud from upstairs in one of the bedrooms. He went up to look & couldn't see anything that had fallen over so assumed he had imagined it. He got ready for bed & in the bathroom he had the sensation of being forcefully pushed but there wasn't anything there & put it down to driving fatigue. As he was getting into the bed some cleaning equipment in the corner fell over. He then decided to go downstairs & have a drink. He started to go back up the stairs but felt really uncomfortable & decided to sleep on the sofa. He didn't tell us about the above, it only came out after the family friends revealed they had stopped sleeping upstairs as they were scared & they soon sold the property. It always freaked me out as it's so unlike my Uncle to be spooked by anything.

"You said that ghosts were either real or ‘real in people’s minds"

I didn't say they were real as in objectively observable, or spritis of the dead or whatever, at any time, in any of my posts. There was no either/or about it.

I said they were real to the people having the experience at the time, real in people's minds. I also acknowledged that people amplify, misremember or make shit up. My grandfather was grief-stricken when my grandmother died, and reported some time later that he had seen her after she died sitting on the sofa and smiling at him. I think he had a hallucination produced by grief, that was comforting to him. I don't think he was lying about his experience, and I certainly didn't tell him he was deluded, and fanciful.

I ascribed none of the experiences I described earlier where I used to live to the paranormal, but the fact it was an old drafty, creaky house, with shit wiring, thin walls and surrounded by other houses, and that I have a rather over-active imagination at times.

If you don't like reading about what people say they have experienced in this regard, this probably isn't the thread for you.

Love that @hatchyu

I saw a man walk past the doorway of a friend's lounge once. Looked like he we was in his 70's and headed into the kitchen. The bloke sat next to me did a double take and said "did you see that?". I hadn't said anything because I hadn't trusted my eyes (I was a wee bit under the influence at the time 😁).

I personally couldn’t give a flying fuck what others believe. People who have had experience in paranormal activity and managed to film anything constantly get the poo faced scoffing at how ridiculous and obviously fake everything is. I have video footage and never even bothered showing anyone because I don’t care for their opinions as it happened to me not them and I recorded it for myself to marvel at. I love woo stories, the more the better.

I'm staying in a very old but nice hotel, because of this thread I've walked into my room and said "now look if there's anyone in here, don't touch me, don't move anything, don't make a sound I'll be gone by 7.30 am" 🫣

I have 2 experiences I can't explain.
I once lived in a beautiful renovated house from 1890s. There was a huge back garden leading onto some woodlands at both the back and the side. The entire back of the house was large windows and the open plan downstairs would be flooded with light during the daytime.
.... but at night it was dark. Pitch black dark. There was no outside light.
The windows didn't have curtains and as I was renting I wasn't allowed to put anything up to cover the windows.
I could see eyes at night, always several pairs. I couldn't tell how far away they were but they usually seemed a bit staggered and at different heights. Initially I was startled to see them and would flip a flashlight on to see if it was deer or something but the light from the flashlight showed the garden to be empty. That's weird whatever it was must have moved quickly. Turn the flash light off and there were the eyes again. Why couldn't I see whatever it was with the flashlight?? There's no way something could have moved out of view and then back into view in the time it takes to turn on/off a flashlight 😧
During the day time I didn't mind sitting out in the garden nearer to the house but I wouldn't go back towards the woods. That area always seemed very dark despite how sunny the day was. It was like two completely different spaces, the house with area just outside the house and then the back garden towards the woods. I never went into the garden at night.
Nothing ever happened to me inside the house but I always felt watched particularly when I was downstairs towards the back windows. I ended up having to move as I was too uncomfortable there.

The second incident I can't explain is from a few years ago my friend and I were moving her into a new place during her divorce. I was downstairs with her and I said 'I'll be right back, just popping to the loo' she said 'ok' and I left to go upstairs to the loo. I came back downstairs a few minutes later and she was talking away. I laughed and asked who she was talking to and she said 'you' 'What do you mean?', I asked, 'I told you I was going upstairs'. She said 'Yes but then you ran right back downstairs and said you wanted to get something out of your bag first.' 😳 No! I didn't! I went upstairs, went to the loo and I've just come back downstairs.
She said 'no you went up, came right back down, went into your bag (in the entrance) I saw you go into your bag!' 😦
I go look at my bag. It has been moved but I swear I didn't do it. Nothing was missing from my bag it had just been moved from the floor to a table. I can't explain what happened there but it scared me enough I didn't go back to her house. She moved after her divorce was final.

Best comment on a thread ever 🤣

#TheCatInTheWindow

The first part of your story. They were behind you, you saw their reflection in the window 😱

Bump

Ok, I have a less than 3 year old (but discontinued) oven from John Lewis, and about three months ago I noticed that the screen suddenly started flashing and displaying weird combinations of letters and numbers (while turned off, though the screen shows the time on stand-by/knob in the off position). I was a bit worried about it, kind of turned the knob into programming position, back to off, seemed to stop it and I forgot about it. A day or two later me and DH were in the kitchen, when I thought what's this buzzing noise, sounds like the oven is on!

The oven did turn on!! We had stuff inside including a frying pan with a plastic handle. The knob didn't turn, but the light in the oven was on and it was heating up rapidly, and the screen was showing EXXX (error and combination of numbers). I panicked and tried to turn it off but it wouldn't respond to commands, so I had to switch off that red switch at the wall. Looked in the manual and online and that error code doesn't seem to exist. Was quite upset because the oven is relatively new and also it has a pyrolytic regime so can get to 450C so definitely is a horrendous fire risk if it was to turn that on with no -one around. In the end turned it back on the wall, it seemed to be ok and for a few days was too scared to leave the house without turning it off at the wall but it never happened since.

As for cheese slices flying out of the fridge at me - happened numerous times, any packets which I slid on top of jars etc, but especially our stupid freezer which has three sections of shelves rather than drawers, it is nearly impossible to open it without something falling out on your head (fridge and freezer side by side in one)

Mostly came here to defend the OP, that it's not THAT woo in the end. Enjoyed reading other woos stories. Actually have a couple myself about this house with the oven, we've been here less than 5 years and some things have happened (100 year old house)

@MairzyDoats agree about that comment, made me lol