My dd is very upset by some paranormal thing 'following' her, please advise

[lottieandmia]

We are on the last day of a holiday in Devon and dd2 has told me throughout the holiday she keeps seeing a see through figure which has a derby hat and a long coat but no face and keeps approaching her with red and yellow lights. if she moves, it moves in front of her.

I know this sounds crazy but she is really upset, not at all like this at home and my dm has seen the ghost of a little girl on this holiday too.

She does not want to go to bed. Is there anything I can do to stop her seeing it? She's 9. We are going home tomorrow so hope that will be the end of it.

[WeirdAndPissedOff]

Please ignore the above - Zombie!
I have no idea at all how I managed to do that.

My apologies!

[WeirdAndPissedOff]

Lottie - re the "lights", I agree with possibly getting her checked, as it sounds like there may well be a medical cause here. (Most likely something as harmless as optic migraines, eye problems etc).

Just wanted to ask though - does she only see them when it's dark? And are they really tiny, and lots of them?
Cause if that's the case, I used to see these frequently when I was younger and recently googled - turns out it's something to do with optic nerves firing up when your eyes don't get any input, and I interpreted it as figures/lights/patterns. I also used to hear the blood pounding in my ears at the same time, so the combination of both left me terrified!

[mercibucket]

weird, sorry, i only got the first part of the thread before i posted, i see you are home now
please ask for the co test - imagine if it is co!

[mercibucket]

as cote says, i think anyway, if it continued i would speak to the gp, not so much about mental health but physical health that could be causing hallucinations eg something post viral. also an eye check. i am being serious, it is what i would do if it continued. perhaps she has a small vision problem for instance and thinks it is a ghost she sees?

for now, reassurance and comfort

[MrsCosmopilite]

Just a passing thought - if your daughter is of a generally sensitive disposition, Lottie, I wonder if the lights she sees all the time might be a form of synesthesia?

I remember hearing about this condition a couple of years ago. Plenty of information on the web, but in a nutshell, it is where several senses work simultaneously, rather than separately - so, as an example, seeing the colour blue may be accompanied by a sound, or taste.

[headinhands]

Did your dd tell the optician about the lights she sees? It is very much something they would want to know about.

[idiot55]

That's good to hear, hope she is fine now

[lottieandmia]

She's had an eye test recently.

[idiot55]

Sorry haven't read through all 7 pages but my first thought is please please please, get her eyes checked , not to scare you but there are a few eye conditions which cause the things your daughter is seeing

[lottieandmia]

She's better thanks toucan - I wrote the St Michael prayer out for her to say if she feels scared and that really seems to have helped. And I've bought her a book she wanted to read which will take her mind off it.

She told me she can still see the lights around her, but she said that she has been able to see these lights for years and didn't know not everyone sees them. She hasn't seen the hat thing again (thankfully!).

[toucancancan]

Lottie how is dd now you've been home for a few nights?

[lottieandmia]

crossroads - I did notice that there seemed to be a lot of people who looked like addicts in Ilfracombe, but that was a good distance away from us.

Last night she was still worried about going to bed but she is going away on Tuesday to Wales with her dad and sister which may help I think.

[Italiangreyhound]

Hope all is well now.

[valiumredhead]

Ha ha ha, pretty sure dd wasn't high from second hand smoke

[crossroadsdemon]

not sure if this will be of any help but that area of ilfracombe and few other bits that are close by are known locally for being the places druggies live/use. don't know much about drugs (except they're not good for you) so would not have a clue if the stuff they smoke/ the fumes travel and that might affect you.

[LEMisdisappointed]

There seems to be a lot of literature suggesting CO2 poisoning bring on hallucinations.

But then its more fun to believe the woo i guess.

[Faverolles]

I don't know Valium, but there was a poster on here a while ago who said her family started seeing things and it turned out to be co. once the boiler was fixed, nothing else was seen.
Iirc there were no other symptoms.

[valiumredhead]

Would you not be pretty ill in other ways if there was enough CM to make you hallucinate?

[AgentZigzag]

There's a facebook page which has all the spooky goings on in Ilfracombe, and Most Haunted have been to Chambercombe Manor (saying it's (yet another) most haunted house in Britain) just up the road from where you stopped, and if that's not proof there's nowt going on then I don't know what is

[Faverolles]

Recently serviced new boiler doesn't mean it won't be leaking CO.

I'd find it more comforting to be a result of CO tbh, as the cause can easily be fixed. (Assuming no-one is hurt by it of course(
Relocating a holiday home from the site of an ancient Indian burial ground might not be so straight forward :o

I would think for your dd a rational explanation like that would be far more reassuring than ghosts/mental health problems.

[youarewinning]

lottie I agree as this happened away from home and it's a 'new' thing that MH issues are unlikely and more likely from posters who are very anti woo (as it's been described here).

I didn't believe in 'woo' as such, although didn't disbelieve until I saw a ghost/ apparition or whatever you call it.

9yo is very young and an impressionable age. Children see things and then I think they try and make sense of them and that can fuel their imagination - even subconsciously. This overwhelming about of information can be very over whelming for them.

I hope she's feeling better today.

[lottieandmia]

The carbon monoxide theory is more scary than any ghost! But the boiler is very new I think and had been recently serviced.

[lottieandmia]

I don't disagree that our eyes can deceive us sometimes, not at all.

crossroadsdemon - we stayed here

[headinhands]

This test demonstrates one way our yes can deceive us

www.positscience.com/brain-resources/brain-teasers/rainbow-illusion

[crossroadsdemon]

I live very near ilfracombe and being as right nosey so and so would love to know where you stayed..can you let me know?