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.

[Kithulu]

OP I hope you got a good nights sleep yourself after last night, and have an easy journey home.

[Rooners]

It's probably something to do with her eyes imo.

(hope that doesn't make me rude and unhelpful)

[noddyholder]

I think cote has thrown up the most likely scenarios It can only be either a hallucination or a bit of a tall tale. Obviously comforting your daughter and keeping an eye on her when you get home is all you can do.

[AmazingBouncingFerret]

A combination of excitement of being on holiday and having to sleep in a strange place imo.

What's your house like OP? Is it modern? A Georgian apartment would have much higher ceilings and more creaks and lots of alcoves that would cast strange shadows compared to a more modern built house.

It's the end of your holiday, she probably also homesick.

[AmazingBouncingFerret]

Plus when you get home I would not mention it at all.

[sashh]

Hope everything is OK and you are on your way home now.

I had a friend who constantly woke up at 4am with the feeling someone/thing had been in her bedroom

She wanted to move.

One night her and her dp started talking in bed and ended up talking all night. At 4am their neighbour set off to work, as he backed out of the drive and turned the car around two perfect circles of light made their way around the room and appeared to leave by the window.

It was just a reflection of the neighbour's headlamps.

OP I hope it is something as simple as that.

Rather than dragging her to the Dr I would think it was something like lights or light being reflected.

A poster for a circus showing a clown in the same window as somewhere selling those glass fishing floats that seem to be brown/orange with strong sunlight could easily reflect at a child's height. Does she wear glasses? That would add to the effect.

If it something like lights, or if it is a ghost, either way it should stop as soon as you leave.

[Pozzled]

This thread is quite bizarre.

Ghosts and schizophrenia are both incredibly unlikely explanations. I would put it down to a strange house, the excitement of being on holiday, out of routine etc. She's probably seen something out of the corner of her eye which looked scary- something as simple as a coatand hat hung up looking like a person. And then got scared and in a state to 'see' other things.

I wouldn't even think about MH issues unless it continued to happen at home or in a range of different situations. Or unless the things she was 'seeing' were a lot more detailed.

[SolidGoldBrass]

All imaginative kids are capable of scaring themselves at some point. It's unfortunate if they have parents silly or gullible enough to believe in ghosts themselves, because that's going to make it more upsetting for the child.

[lottieandmia]

Thanks to those of you who posted kind messages. We are going home now - I am sure she'll be fine at home. We do live in an old house anyway but the holiday place was odd - there were a lot of incidents that couldn't be explained that I won't go into that my mum and dad experienced too and they are skeptics. OTOH children are certainly very suggestible so who knows what it was but I don't care now that we've left. I did post in this topic because I thought that being in religion and spirituality it would not annoy people but then I do see people posting on threads on this board telling others not to be so stupid of course God doesn't exist so I'm not surprised in a way.

[allthingspossible]

lottieandmia hope you have a safe journey home and DD feels more settled once she is back in her own environment.
headinhands no offence was intended, apologies if I offended you. My comment was directed at the tone and flavour of some of the posts being made and in no way reflect my own opinion.

[ScarletWomanoftheVillage]

Did you visit a place called Chambercombe Manor? (I know someone who works there and it is apparently haunted to the point where some people who visit feel quite ill while they are there.)

Maybe your dd overheard something that set off her imagination?

[lottieandmia]

No we didn't go there Scarlet - but I saw it signposted. I am of course not going to mention it again. On Tuesday she's off to Wales with her dad so I asked him to keep an eye on her.

[GoldenHares]

Can someone tell me what's a 'woo?'

[DioneTheDiabolist]

Lottie, unfortunately there are a few Westboro Baptist style atheists in this section who cannot tolerate beliefs that differ from their own. Indeed you would probably have had more help and less grief had you posted this in Chat.. Have a safe journey home.

Perplexed, you have misread my posts. What I meant was they were not at home and you were recommending they go to the doctor.

[HaveIGotPoosForYou]

I hope you didn't I was being rude. I was just suggesting all avenues. I would be deeply shocked if there was anything wrong with your daughter I imagine a lot of things contributed to how she felt.
Perhaps she picked up on the nervous vibes of your parents, perhaps she had an over imagination or a number of other things.
I hope she is doing good now and has fun with her pets :)

[breatheslowly]

Dione - comparing the posts of sceptics on here to Westboro Baptists is rather offensive. When atheists start picketing funerals then it might be an appropriate comment but either you are intending to offend or you are trivialising the actions of Westboro Baptists.

[lottieandmia]

I do realise of course that some people are not spiritual in any way and that's fine. But don't assume everyone is the same - it's quite rude to call people gullible when you cannot prove your own belief anyway. We all think differently and insults are unnecessary.

In any case I wouldn't necessarily say it was a 'ghost'. But thanks for all the advice. My dd has been worried today that this thing might follow her home - hopefully in time she will forget about it.

[ExcuseTypos]

Lottie, just tell Dd that things like that can't follow people.

I'd also tell her that she'll never see anything like that again and that she doesn't need to worry or think about it anymore.

[carlywurly]

I really like boozy bear's suggestion of the light visualisation.
And am a bit surprised at some of the closed mindedness on here.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but there's an awful lot of sweeping statements being made and not a lot of room for open discussion without being ridiculed.

Lottie, I hope it was purely the location which triggered these episodes and your dd is ok now she's home. I really disagree with the posters who said you should be dismissive. I'd let her talk about it without passing judgement if she feels she wants to. I was a terrible worrier at that age, and internalised loads more than my parents realised.

[Clobbered]

Not quite the same thing, but the son of a friend of mine was very frightened by some graffiti that he saw (a weird face of some sort) and became quite obsessed with it - couldn't sleep, kept getting upset, for some months afterwards. He was 10 or 11 at the time, and he eventually just got over it and forgot about it. I think kids do go through one of these odd phases sometimes. Hopefully the change of scene when you go home will spell the end of this..

[valiumredhead]

Completely agree with SGB.

Reassure her and let her sleep with you, at no point let on that you think its real, because it's not.

If this happened to my child I would most certainly be taking then to the gp if it continued.

[lottieandmia]

'I was a terrible worrier at that age, and internalised loads more than my parents realised.'

Me too, my parents were very dismissive of my feelings about things, often because they thought that would be best for me but I don't think it was. The reason I have an open mind about things like this is that I have experienced a few odd things that I couldn't possibly explain when I was much younger. This was from teens to early 20s. Nowadays I see nothing at all. Plus it still cannot be easily explained why my mum saw a child in the apartment who was definitely not any of my dds.

[CoteDAzur]

"Plus it still cannot be easily explained why my mum saw a child in the apartment who was definitely not any of my dds"

Have you considered:

(1) Attention-seeking

And

(2) Schizophrenia or another MH disorder that causes hallucinations/delusions

[lottieandmia]

GoldenHares - 'woo' means (I think) someone who is easily persuaded in the belief of the paranormal.

[headinhands]

you cannot prove your own belief anyway

Someone who rejects the claim of some spiritual realm have nothing to prove. It's not a belief it's a rejection of believer's claims in light of there being no evidence. Just sayin'.