To be really freaked out about seeing someone that wasn’t there??

[freakedoutseeingthings]

My partners mum, step-dad, brother and 2 nieces are on holiday at the seaside so to we took our little one for the a day trip to have a beach day with his cousins today.

As we were driving into where they are staying and my partner was packing I said to him ‘I didn’t know your whole family was here’ when I saw his grandma standing next to his mum. He must have assumed that I was talking about his stepdad as he didn’t respond to it in a weird way/ask what I meant.

Then when we were inside I asked where his grandma had gone and where she was sleeping as they only have 2 bedrooms. Well it turns out that she isn’t there and is at home and I couldn’t have seen her because she’s not there??

What on earth happened?? What/who did I see?? Am I crazy now? 🙈

I know @Marseillaise has mentioned that people have repeatedly failed to prove the existence of the paranormal despite the offer of prize money etc. My response here would be - how could you possibly record/measure/prove the experiences on here? Many people have reported ‘seeing’ a loved one at what turns out to be the moment of their passing. You may not believe this - of course. But if you wanted proof - how could you possibly obtain it? The moment is unexpected and fleeting. The same is true for most so-called paranormal experiences. I’m not saying they’re all real; I’m just saying how would you verify them? Genuine question.

The prizes in question have their own rules around what needs to be demonstrated. Clearly they don't and can't relate to claims around one-off instances, but it is nevertheless very revealing that, for instance, claims about allegedly repeated appearances by ghosts and spirits have never been substantiated, let alone claims by mediums and the like.

Not really. She had fleeting glimpses, saw something which she assumed was her father as she expected him to be there, but was mistaken.

Many years ago I went to stay with an aunt shortly after my uncle had died. My boyfriend came with me.
It was a long drive & after a cuppa & a look through some photos of uncle my boyfriend was tired so aunt suggested he had a lie down on her bed.

After about an hour I went up to the loo & popped my head around the door to see if he was still asleep, he stirred. I went back downstairs.

When he came down a little while later he said that he had seen my uncle in the doorway & described him.

My aunt was so delighted that uncle was 'there' I didn't have the heart to tell them it was me. He spoke about his encounter for years.

Before he

😂😂😂

That’s telepathy IMO. My DM was occasionally acutely telepathic over even very long distances, so I know it’s a thing. And I don’t think there’s anything ‘woo’ about it - we still don’t know what every last bit of the brain can do, so when you think what a very cheap radio can receive, it’s not surprising.

I agree, my ds was overjoyed when I managed to get a copy of a long lost book about poop.
He's 21!

@BikesIHaveLost "The same is true for most so-called paranormal experiences. I’m not saying they’re all real; I’m just saying how would you verify them? Genuine question."

You would have thought that at least some of them could be verifiable and repeatable. Particularly when the person making the claim is allowed to set the parameters of the test.

This happened to my mum when my granddad passed away. She had a call that he was in a bad way and drove to see the family. An owl swooped down and flew up at the time he passed away.

@canyouseemyhousefromhere

Was it The Story of the Little Mole Who Went in Search of Whodunit?

(Granddaughter' favourite.)

"I know it’s not a perfect comparison, but it shows how closed we naturally are to things that don’t make sense in our world view. "

I don't think we are closed. I am
more than happy to agree that there are loads of things we don't understand- I just don't want to put in a paranormal explanation. Because so far, we haven't needed one. In your example of the telephone, of course mediaeval people would have thought it was witchcraft or something. But it wasn't. It was something which fits perfectly with the laws of physics that we know now. Do you remember orbs? They were a big thing once-ghostly orbs that appeared in photographs. People used to get very excited about them. They turned out to be dust on camera lenses.

Orbs are still a thing though.

@ChishiyaBat "Orbs are still a thing though"

A thing which has been satisfactorily explained without needing to call on the paranormal.

Some of them could be dust camera overexposure or a different external light source, but some are not, it's not black and white. Some things cannot be explained.

I’m not talking about faith/religion here. Clearly people believe all sorts of things all the time. (And millions of people still have religious faith today, despite not being under the influence of the Middle Ages world view). I’m separating the two here, in case that wasn’t clear.

In the Middle Ages, despite the dominance of religion, people still knew what they could and couldn’t do within the realms of their day-to-day life. They operated within the confines of their technology and their scientific understanding of the world. They knew they couldn’t speak to someone thousands of miles away at the touch of a button. Sure, if someone claimed to have done just that, they might put it down to a religious visitation or witchcraft. But that’s not really the point.

Well, in fact, yes - they might put it down to witchcraft and believe in it on those grounds, because they knew it was impossible on the basis of the actual physical rules they knew about. Or they might have dismissed it as bullshit (not everyone believed in everything back then; I’m sure there were plenty of closet religious sceptics). Today, if someone claims to have seen someone who is actually dead (which is maybe a comparable level of absurdity to the telephone idea for the medieval peasant), we generally get to the ‘dismissing it as bullshit’ level sooner, and fewer people are prepared to attribute it to something spiritual.

The point I’m desperately trying to get to is that the telephone idea wasn’t witchcraft or magic. The two options (bullshit or woo) were actually erroneous because the phenomenon became part of scientific discovery. Those seemed to be the only options because scientific understanding was so basic. I do see it as quite arrogant for us to imagine we’re not in a similar situation; here we are going ‘ghostly apparitions: bullshit or woo’ and routinely going for the bullshit option - when there’s still that other possibility; that our understanding of the universal is woefully basic. Just like the medieval version.

We see ourselves as so superior to those past people. It was evident in your post that you regard the Middle Ages as the era of the idiot. But future generations may look at us in just that way.

I am more than happy to agree that there are loads of things we don't understand- I just don't want to put in a paranormal explanation.

But that was the issue I was desperately trying to deal with in my last, long post; it’s only ‘para’ normal whilst it’s outside the understood science. Once you’ve cracked it, it ceases to be outside understanding.

This isn’t it. It happens to me with people I have seen for months or years and am not close to. One day I may just think about them fleetingly then later that day I’ll get a message from them!

It's interesting that there actually are scientific and rational explanations for why people see ghosts and apparent astral projections:

Hallucinations
Dreams
Reflections
Tricks of light
Mistaken identity

But so many people choose to reject those and seem to think a supernatural explanation is much more likely.

Maybe that’s because they know that in a particular case it wasn’t a hallucination, or a dream, it couldn’t have been a reflection or a mistaken identity, and it was highly unlikely to have been a trick of the light.

There have been cases where two people, who were wide awake, have seen exactly the same thing, where none of your explanations could apply. And, who, having been previously completely non-woo, were freaked out, to say the least.

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER "Maybe that’s because they know that in a particular case it wasn’t a hallucination, or a dream, it couldn’t have been a reflection or a mistaken identity, and it was highly unlikely to have been a trick of the light."

I honestly don't know how you could know that it wasn't any of those things. I've had several experiences in my life that, if I was so inclined, I could have called paranormal. But because i want rational explanations for things, I looked, and found them. Lots of people don't look. But if they did, they would be there. They always are. Buy me a pint and I'll tell you about the ghostly Victorian man riding a penny farthing I saw two evenings running.....

quite similar but not. When i was 20 i moved to liverpool, I was leaving the house and I swear to god I heard my dad shouting my name from inside the house.

my dad was in london at the time, it was so real I had a panic attack and called him. He was fine but to this day I cant explain it.

But because i want rational explanations for things, I looked, and found them. Lots of people don't look. But if they did, they would be there. They always are.

That’s a little unfair. You cannot possibly know that that’s the case for every instance. Some people would love a rational explanation and look relentlessly for one. I think this is where the accusations of arrogance come from; it’s hard not to see arrogance in a stance like yours. Imagine you’re someone who’s had a really alarming, life-changing experience that you’ve sought to explain; @CurlewKate , who knows none of the details, confidently explains to you that there is a rational explanation, but you’re too much of a numpty to look for it.

Many people are really distressed by the strange and seemingly inexplicable experiences they’ve had. It’s incredibly patronising to announce to them that it was just a trick of the light.

Incidentally, I’m not talking about my own experiences. I’ve never had one of these visions. But I find it bizarre that people can suggest that anyone can accidentally conjure up an image of someone who isn’t there. I have never, ever seen something that isn’t there. I’ve had the odd moment of confusion of course / where you think you see something but quickly correct yourself. But that’s clearly not what people are talking about.

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER "But I find it bizarre that people can suggest that anyone can accidentally conjure up an image of someone who isn’t there"

Have you never had an incredibly vivid dream and woken not sure whether it was real or not? Have you never "seen" your dead pet in a dark corner? I have-and it made my heart lurch. I had a traumatic miscarriage (a long time ago-please don't think you have to commiserate with me) and after several days of little sleep and much weeping, I thought for a split second I saw a little red haired child in my room. I didn't. But for a moment I thought I did. And some years later I had a red haired child. Not surprising considering my family's genetic makeup! Over a long life I have had many experiences which could have been interpreted as paranormal.

I am sorry for the people who are distressed by their experiences. But if,perhaps, they were a little more open minded, they could find explanations that would put their mind at rest. Incidentally, most people I know who say they have had supernatural experiences are either comforted by them or excited and made to feel special even if slightly spooked. Oh, and yes, I had read Danny Robins' book!

But two people can hallucinate/ imagine the same thing at the same time.

Once, aged about 13 I was out with a friend. There was a little cul-de-sac near our houses that we regularly crossed and never saw cars in.

We were walking along, chatting away, barely aware of our surroundings. But as we were stepping off the kerb at that cul-de-sac we both stopped dead because there was a huge lorry coming down it.

Only there wasn't. Once we got over that split second of panic that we were about to be run over we saw it was just a little cat sauntering down the middle of the road.

We both definitely saw a lorry though.

We must have both registered that something was coming down the road and knew that meant potential danger, so our brains made us see the most dangerous thing possible to make us stop immediately and stay safe.

So if my friend and I can both see a huge lorry that wasn't there, then I don't see why two or more people can't see something else that isn't there.

I think it was me you were quoting, not @GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER

I guess we’ll have to agree to differ. Essentially, you’re saying you’ve had the same level of experiences as those who’ve experienced ‘the unexplained’ but you react differently. I’d be more inclined to say you’ve had a different level of experience (ones that are easily enough explained) and have therefore reacted differently.

One summers night, me, my husband and our neighbour who is a good friend were out in the garden smoking around 2am, we were star watching when we saw orbs in the sky dancing about, we all saw them moving in strange ways then shoot off into the night, it was so strange and we still talk about it to this day, never seen them since though. So what were they? How did we all see the same thing? Who knows, but it was definitely inexplicable.