Auditory hallucination/felt presence - well, that was weird

[SirChenjins]

Has anyone else ever had this?

I've just been out for a walk with the dog, down in some woods where we often go. It's always deserted and there's a clearing in the middle of the woods where I throw balls for him and he runs about retrieving them and having a great old time. I was walking towards a ball to pick it up and I distinctly heard loud footsteps scuffling the leaves very close behind me and felt someone was there - you know how you know someone is right behind you before you see them? I turned round really quickly to see who it was, but there was no-one there - it really made me jump. Apparently it's an auditory hallucination or felt presence - but bloody hell, my heart was racing!

Are you sure they didn't hide behind a tree when you looked round?

Could it have been an animal making the noise?

Yes I'm sure - the dog would have barked and the clearing is too big for them to have run to a tree without me seeing them. Plus I would have then heard them running away.

No animal - it was right behind me and again, the dog would have barked or chased it. Animals tend to stay away from dogs who are running about. It definitely felt like a person - very weird. I'm pretty sure it's an auditory hallucination though, from the description of that.

Maybe intuition. Maybe some creep was lurking and you sensed it. My self defence instructor told me that, as women, we should never ignore this feeling because it saves lives!!

Were there leaves on the ground for them to scuff? If that is the sound you heard, it couldn’t have happened at this time of year so I think I’d try to rationalise it that way.
Is your dog the type to react to people near you/them and if they didn’t then again it most likely didn’t happen.

Have you had much caffeine today? Could you be on high alert without realising and your brain is compensating?

Yes, leaves on the ground - it's a very old wood, so there's always lots of leaves from previous leaf fall. No caffeine, I rarely touch the stuff, and I'm very relaxed there - it's our happy place. . The dog would definitely have reacted if someone was about to attack me so I know no-one was actually there - but the feeling and the sounds of footsteps was absolutely real which I guess was that felt presence phenomenon thing. If anyone else has ever had it then you'll know how weird it is!

I get this often at night when I wake up hearing someone either knocking on my bedroom door or the front door. The noise is v real but of course there is no one there. So not quite the same but auditory hallucinations can be v freaky.

its a pseudo hallucination probably in the context of hyper vigilance / anxiety - being on your own in a deserted place. Don’t worry it does not sound like you’re developing a psychotic illness, it’s very common.

It really was @flapjackfairy ! That's interesting you've had tge same experience.

I don't think I'm developing a psychotic illness- the thought hadn't even crossed my mind! - I've never experienced an auditory hallucination before, it was really weird.

I’m sure if it was anything weird your dog would have picked up on it as their senses are heightened compared to ours. Agree with poster Bettybee

Yes I get this quite often. I hear my late father say my name. He had a pronounced Glaswegian accent. Or I hear my son’s voice from when he was a child. As a PP also said I hear a knock at the front door or my dog barking when he’s fast asleep. I alway assume it’s some sort of replay function in my brain. It’s usually when everything is quiet as with your woodland walk @SirChenjins.

The human mind is a strange thing, and given that all “experience” is just our brain doing its best to make sense of all sorts of input constantly bombarding it, it is surprising we don’t notice little glitches more often.

Then again lots of people would probably insist that their brain was perfect and there had to be some other explanation for the “noise”. I think your interpretation is right though.

I've had it before, usually just before falling asleep or when I'm in that half awake stage early in the morning. I've heard one of my DDs saying my name right in my ear before but when they've actually been fast asleep in their bedrooms.

It's remarkable what our brains can do, I tend to think "ghosts" are psychological.....even if feeling very real.

But even if we take it as a glitch in the physiology of the brain, there is always the deeper question "Why did it happen there and then ?"

Synchronicity ? Acausal connecting principle ?

Probably a squirrel!

More than likely.

I've had the weird door knocking thing before , so real!

What age are you? I got those when I was in perimenopause, usually at night. I would wake, be wide awake and hear whispering voices, not hostile, they sounded like children. I would check all the rooms and no-one was awake. I think it may have been a dopamine surge? Oestrogen usually keeps it in check, but it has been linked to low levels of this, though it's rare. Or else my house is haunted.

A family member has this all the time, along with very convincing visual hallucinations. I was very scared that they might be experiencing psychosis or schizophrenia but after many sessions with a very experienced mental health nurse the general consensus is it's a stress response and not actually psychosis. Probably related to their autism as well which makes the brain process input in strange ways sometimes.

I would consider how you are doing in life in general, any lack of sleep or stress? Or perhaps hormonal issues as PP said? Having seen my family member go through a very severe form of this I don't believe in any woo ghost stuff anymore. I'm convinced that every ghost story is simply due to a brain glitch that we are all capable of at times.

Pray to God. May be change your route if you are scared. The world has definitely more paranormal, abnormal events recorded already so no one can claim it is all in the mind

Sometimes my brain interprets noises in the central heating as voices. I wonder if the felt presence was a result of your interpretation of a rustling sound as footsteps?

I would object this. Calling all phenomena just in someone's mind or brain glitch is honestly, plain ignorance. I had an autistic man colleague who was constantly telling me he hears voices and they are quite few and different - I would not call this just autism

Definitely not a squirrel - they scarper up the trees as soon as the dog appears and starts to chase them. If it had been he would have forgotten the ball in an instant and would have been after it! It was definitely the sound of human feet walking through dry leaves and then the sense of them being right behind me.

No stress, no autism and I'm through the menopause so no hormonal issues. Just an auditory hallucination I think - and one of those odd things that happen from time to time! It's interesting hearing other people's stories of similar experiences.

It was probably a squirrel…

Definitely not a squirrel 😁