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Original poster

'Woo' stories - an explanation?

3 replies

NameChangedForThis1985 · 10/02/2025 18:26

Inspired by another thread to share my experiences with strange goings on. I cannot for the life of me find any logical or rational explanation for these things happening.

It started in my mum's house when I was younger - about 3-4 times in the space of a couple of weeks really strange things happened. Things went missing and turned up in places they couldn't logically have been put, items moved themselves from one side of the room to another when there was nobody else in the house. Then my dad died suddenly aged 41. A Clairvoyant (I've always believed in this type of thing, and ghosts, etc.) told us that it was indicative of some sort of spiritual doorway/gate being opened between the living and the dead.

It happened again last month. At the time my mum was worried her cancer had returned and weirdly enough the theory prompted her to visit the hospital. She's fine... however, the cat only went and died this time.

I've not had anything happen in my house per se, but I have two very strange stories which again just can't be explained...

  1. Lost an expensive earring in my old house - was moving shortly and figured it would turn up - it didn't. Only two of us moved things from one house to the other and neither of us found it. Until I came home from work one day (to the new house) and found the earring sitting dead centre on a shelf by the front door - no way I wouldn't have seen it earlier if it had been there.

  2. Went to London to watch a football match. Packing stuff up the next morning in the hotel room and find a badge with the team crest on it. Neither of us have ever owned this badge, we didn't buy one the day before, it's actually an old club crest not the current design, and the way it was placed there was no way it could have been caught on anything...

Anyone else? Or am I just slowly losing my mind...

OP posts:
Gummibärchen · 10/02/2025 18:36

The author Ross Barrington wrote at length about exactly the phenomena you've described OP; she called them JOTTs and listed six categories of their occurrence. Here's an excerpt from her book:

"Barrington has over 180 cases of jott on file, grouped by similarity of occurrence into six categories as in Walkabout – article disappears from A to reappear at B; Turn-up – a known article from an originally uncertain position just appears somewhere else; Come-back – article disappears from its usual place and returns there again: Flyaway – article permanently disappears without trace; Windfall – article from an unknown origin (someone else’s flyaway?) is found where it could not have been present before being found, and Trade-in - a personally known article disappears and is replaced by a similar article of unknown origin. There is also the oddjott, which is so ‘impossible’ an occurrence that the mind just boggles. Those who report the occurrence of jotts are termed as jottlers.

Barrington presents 74 detailed cases of jott and here are seven examples:
A woman had left her gold locket and chain on her desk overnight, but when she went to pick it up next morning it had disappeared and despite carrying out a thorough search it remained disappeared. Some three years later ‘my son took his washing out of the machine and, lo and behold, the locket and chain was on top of his clothes’ (walkabout). "

Still doesn't explain why it happens but at least you're not alone!

Original poster
NameChangedForThis1985 · 10/02/2025 18:40

Gummibärchen · 10/02/2025 18:36

The author Ross Barrington wrote at length about exactly the phenomena you've described OP; she called them JOTTs and listed six categories of their occurrence. Here's an excerpt from her book:

"Barrington has over 180 cases of jott on file, grouped by similarity of occurrence into six categories as in Walkabout – article disappears from A to reappear at B; Turn-up – a known article from an originally uncertain position just appears somewhere else; Come-back – article disappears from its usual place and returns there again: Flyaway – article permanently disappears without trace; Windfall – article from an unknown origin (someone else’s flyaway?) is found where it could not have been present before being found, and Trade-in - a personally known article disappears and is replaced by a similar article of unknown origin. There is also the oddjott, which is so ‘impossible’ an occurrence that the mind just boggles. Those who report the occurrence of jotts are termed as jottlers.

Barrington presents 74 detailed cases of jott and here are seven examples:
A woman had left her gold locket and chain on her desk overnight, but when she went to pick it up next morning it had disappeared and despite carrying out a thorough search it remained disappeared. Some three years later ‘my son took his washing out of the machine and, lo and behold, the locket and chain was on top of his clothes’ (walkabout). "

Still doesn't explain why it happens but at least you're not alone!

Immediately off to get this book now! That's exactly what happened...

OP posts:
Gummibärchen · 10/02/2025 18:46

I misquoted her name above - should be Mary-Rose Barrington. There's another writer Dr Tony Jinks who has continued the work in a similar vein, except he calls it Disappearing Object Phenomenon. However Barrington got there first, imo! Anyway, her theories are well worth a read OP.

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