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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Made a twat of myself last night, WIBU to leave?

155 replies

Humpfree · 01/11/2023 10:47

Last night DH and I had booked onto a ghost hunt at a “haunted castle”. It was just a bit of Halloween fun. I’m an open minded skeptic in that I want it all to be real but I really struggle to believe it. That being said I would never take the piss or insult anyone’s beliefs, I went with the intention on taking it seriously.

Anyway the whole thing started off on the wrong foot when the guide started talking about a ghost that - due to me being a history geek - I knew never existed in real life. Still I didn’t say anything and just went along with it but I was getting more skeptical by the minute. He turned off all the lights in the dungeon so we’re all stood in pitch black darkness whilst he called out to these random “historical figures”. My back was hurting, I was so cold and I was getting restless stood in one place for so long. Should also add that I have ADHD so standing still for long periods of time is difficult but I managed to stand there for an hour with only internal struggles.

Next bit is where I caved. We had to form a circle and everyone had to hold hands whilst one person was the “receiver” stood in the middle. Half hour of stood in this position and one bloke was quietly complaining (whispering) to his wife that his legs were hurting, she kept telling him to be quiet - the whispering went back and forth until suddenly he shook off the hands at either side of him and said loudly “I’m sorry I can’t stand like this any longer” but it was so dramatic I started laughing - then I couldn’t stop laughing - everything became funny - the image of DH stood there holding hands with a random bloke - the person in the centre of the circle rocking back and forth as she’s “pushed around by a spirit”, I remembered someone tripping up earlier in the dungeon and everyone thought a ghost had pushed her … even after she said she’d tripped up … the thought of a big group of adults stood in pitch black darkness in the middle of a freezing cold castle trying to talk to Alistair Crowley …. I tried to stop laughing and I couldn’t. I tried to disguise it as coughing and DH whispered to me that it all seemed a bit devil worshipy … that set me off again. To save face I let go of both hands either side of me and apologised saying I needed to go out and get some fresh air, the guide then said “don’t break the circle!” And everyone looked terrified which made me laugh further and I ended up just walking out leaving DH stood there not knowing whether to stay or follow.

I know IWBU to go “ghost hunting” in the first place but WIBU to leave in the way that I did? I feel so guilty and I tried so hard to stop laughing but the more.i tried the worse it got. DH says it was obvious that I was laughing. I do suffer with nervous laughter so I think this is what it turned into.

WIBU to have walked out? Was this worse than stood there trying not to laugh??

OP posts:
TheFireflies · 01/11/2023 15:20

OP I am hugely disappointed as I was meant to be at Chillingham Castle on Halloween (staying over) but had to cancel, I feel like I might’ve missed out on witnessing some rather comical dramatics.

FictionalCharacter · 01/11/2023 15:22

Humpfree · 01/11/2023 15:13

Just to add - now that I’ve said where it was and what day it took place - the guide was lovely and it was definitely a me problem rather than anything he did wrong. He was doing what he was there to do. I just got the wrong idea of what the event would be like and reacted in a way I didn’t intend to. I certainly didn’t mean to cause a scene.

I’m not sure someone lovely would mislead gullible people like this! Or do you mean it’s obviously just a performance and he isn’t even pretending to really believe it?

EvilElsa · 01/11/2023 15:34

YANBU.
I went one one of these "ghost hunts" last year as, like you, a sceptic but open minded to it all. What a load of old shit. It was honestly the funniest (unintentionally) most ridiculous thing I've ever been involved in, and also the least scary. I did make an effort not to ruin it for anyone else but I think the organiser (who smirkingly said at the beginning they loved scaring the sceptics) was annoyed with me. We also did the circle thing with people wobbling about in the middle and I tuned out half of it as it was such ludicrous bollocks.

LifeExperience · 01/11/2023 15:42

The whole premise was ridiculous, so, no you were not being unreasonable to treat it that way.

Ollifer · 01/11/2023 16:04

This has really given me the giggles. I'd have been the same too op. And the poster who said about the furious violinist at the ballet 🤣🤣 I'm really bad at laughing once a tiny thing gets into my head.

LaurieStrode · 01/11/2023 16:08

LifeExperience · 01/11/2023 15:42

The whole premise was ridiculous, so, no you were not being unreasonable to treat it that way.

So if a skeptic burst out in hysterical laughter in church, where lots of "gullible" people gather to commune with the supernatural (which many of us consider a ridiculous premise), that would be reasonable as well? What about during a church wedding service, or funeral service? After all, it's just a bunch of bunkum, right?

I think animated films and things like Harry Potter franchise are ridiculous, and the people who follow them are gullible fools, but I don't try to spoil their fun.

I think gambling and better prey on the gullible, but I don't lose control in casinos and jeer at the gamblers.

The list goes on.

Princesspollyyy · 01/11/2023 17:50

I think you were a bit silly to book it in the first place. And I think you probably spoiled it for others.

Maatandosiris · 01/11/2023 19:27

FictionalCharacter · 01/11/2023 15:18

It’s all laughable bollocks, so laughing at it is perfectly reasonable.
If the guide believes his own nonsense he’s an utter idiot for trying to invoke the vile Crowley, a cruel man who sexually abused his followers. I suspect the guide just chooses names of the few occultists that the average curious tourist would have heard of.

Maybe the guide was a Thelemite?

Humpfree · 02/11/2023 07:57

EvilElsa · 01/11/2023 15:34

YANBU.
I went one one of these "ghost hunts" last year as, like you, a sceptic but open minded to it all. What a load of old shit. It was honestly the funniest (unintentionally) most ridiculous thing I've ever been involved in, and also the least scary. I did make an effort not to ruin it for anyone else but I think the organiser (who smirkingly said at the beginning they loved scaring the sceptics) was annoyed with me. We also did the circle thing with people wobbling about in the middle and I tuned out half of it as it was such ludicrous bollocks.

This guide asked if anyone had been to the castle before and a few of us said we’d been before during the day. He laughed and said “yeah, it’s a different place on a night time, believe me”

everywhere seems different in the dark though doesn’t it? My house is a bit eerie on a night time! 😂

OP posts:
wildwestpioneer · 02/11/2023 08:17

I did this in Edinburgh recently, we did a ghost walk under the city. We had to stand in a pitch black room whilst the tour guide spouted some shit and I got a case of the giggles and ended up having to walk outside. Thankfully my friends also saw that it was utterly ridiculous and was laughing at me. A bit like at school when you can't look at a certain person when you've got the giggles. The tour guide wasn't impressed

Beansinyourears · 02/11/2023 08:31

I can't stop laughing! This sounds so good! Hahahahaha. I hope your DH found it funny too. Literally laughing out loud.

Maatandosiris · 02/11/2023 08:33

wildwestpioneer · 02/11/2023 08:17

I did this in Edinburgh recently, we did a ghost walk under the city. We had to stand in a pitch black room whilst the tour guide spouted some shit and I got a case of the giggles and ended up having to walk outside. Thankfully my friends also saw that it was utterly ridiculous and was laughing at me. A bit like at school when you can't look at a certain person when you've got the giggles. The tour guide wasn't impressed

Well no, I don’t suppose they were. You essentially looked like you were laughing at someone’s belief system.

OverTheCountryClub · 02/11/2023 08:37

Oh yanbu! I thought reading the first bit of your OP that you were going to say you'd shouted at the guide or something. Laughter is fine - I bet it happens all the time! People laugh nervously a lot and personally I tend to 'giggle' (not a proper loud laugh but still definitely laughter) when I'm scared so I'd have been doing that as soon as the lights dimmed tbh! It does sound hilarious, I'm tempted to book one Grin

Rainbowx90 · 02/11/2023 08:39

I'm laughing my head off just reading your experience, there is no way I'd have held it together and my laughing is really obvious.
You cannot help what you find funny, you probably did the right thing leaving though 🤣

TheGoddessFrigg · 02/11/2023 09:14

Oh god this happened to me at a Spiritualist meeting, and it was AWFUL. Trying to hold the laughter in was absolutely excruciating. I had to feign an asthma attack just to go outside.
My mother had died not long before, and in a very traumatic and painful way. And all the medium could do was point at me and say 'You lose a lot of umbrellas on buses'. (I don't ) That was the end for me.

wildwestpioneer · 02/11/2023 09:31

@Maatandosiris

Well no, I don’t suppose they were. You essentially looked like you were laughing at someone’s belief system

He was stood there with a touch his chin, shouting a word in every sentence to try and make people jump is hardly a belief system

Maatandosiris · 02/11/2023 09:55

wildwestpioneer · 02/11/2023 09:31

@Maatandosiris

Well no, I don’t suppose they were. You essentially looked like you were laughing at someone’s belief system

He was stood there with a touch his chin, shouting a word in every sentence to try and make people jump is hardly a belief system

Actually people who do believe in these things have by definition a belief system. Do you wonder into churches and start giggling. So disrespectful!

postcardsfromitaly · 02/11/2023 10:09

Omg this is too funny 😂 I literally just pissed myself laughing haha

wildwestpioneer · 02/11/2023 10:10

@Maatandosiris yes I would if he was making spooky sounds and shouting to try and make me jump. Yes I absolutely would start to laugh. But I also know the difference between belief systems and someone making money out of scaring people, the tour was no more than a trip on a ghost train at an amusement park. I do know the difference between a religious setting and entertainment !

DeadbeatYoda · 02/11/2023 10:14

It sounds like an absolute pantomime. You're supposed to laugh at such pretence, surely?

CharlotteBog · 02/11/2023 10:34

TheGoddessFrigg · 02/11/2023 09:14

Oh god this happened to me at a Spiritualist meeting, and it was AWFUL. Trying to hold the laughter in was absolutely excruciating. I had to feign an asthma attack just to go outside.
My mother had died not long before, and in a very traumatic and painful way. And all the medium could do was point at me and say 'You lose a lot of umbrellas on buses'. (I don't ) That was the end for me.

Why did you go to such a meeting if it not something you believe in or thought you would gain anything from?

CharlotteBog · 02/11/2023 10:35

DeadbeatYoda · 02/11/2023 10:14

It sounds like an absolute pantomime. You're supposed to laugh at such pretence, surely?

No, I don't think it was a comedy event. Some people believe in ghosts.

Awwlookatmybabyspider · 02/11/2023 10:38

I love and believe in everything supernatural. However from the way you're describing things I think I'd have been in hysterics, too. On a serious note though I'd never go to anything like that in case one of the ghosts attached itself to me and followed me home.

Fallenangelofthenorth · 02/11/2023 10:39

CharlotteBog · 02/11/2023 10:34

Why did you go to such a meeting if it not something you believe in or thought you would gain anything from?

Maybe because her mother had died not long before and in a painful and very traumatic way?

I'm not seeing where she says she didn't believe in it or thought she'd gain anything from it? I did the same thing when I lost my daughter tragically. Grief can make you desperate.

Banrion · 02/11/2023 10:41

How long did it go on after you left?