Really enjoyed this Jules. As you say, sometimes we have trouble admitting that we just don't know. Especially when it's hard to apply rationale. My mother adopted her 4 yr old nephew when her sister (his mother) died suddenly. Fast forward to his 20s, when he met and moved in with his girlfriend in Essex, miles from where we lived in New Cross. Anyway, soon after he got very merry at a work Christmas party one night, and, like a homing pigeon, travelled back to his childhood home where we still lived. It was an awful cold rainy night, we had gone to bed, and my brother was tapping the door so lightly at midnight (that way we do when we are apologetic about disturbing) that we didn't hear. Just then the light switch in the hall turned off and on, slowly, deliberately - not flickering, but as if someone was pressing the switch. Anyway, it woke us up and my mum dashed down, looked out of the peephole and saw him about the wander off. She bundled him in, got him out of his wet clothes and into a warm bed. To this day she swears it was his mother looking over him. Thirty years in that house and the lights never behaved life that before or after that night. I think it's lovely to hope there's an afterlife and that angels are looking out for us.
What a wonderful story! You could put it down to the poor weather affecting the electrics, but it had never happened before or since, so that would be a heck of a coincidence. God forbid he'd wandered off and been unable to get home - anything could have happened. It would be lovely to think that it was your auntie looking after her boy.
Gripping and brilliantly written Jules. Never been to a seance. Would be too scared 🫣But have had a few experiences that made me question what's rational. Perhaps it was my mind wanting to seek comfort from loosing my Dad or something else ⁉️ but I definitely felt a "presence". Interesting reading the experiences of some of your subscribers. Thought provoking for sure
Oh thank you so much Angie. Yes, it is a very grey area. There is an interesting series on Radio 4 called "The Uncanny". It's a bit silly really and deliberately sensationalist, but people come on the show, tell their story, and two experts comment, one being a believer, one a sceptic. The sceptic usually manages to suggest rational solutions for experiences that seem out of the ordinary.
I do think grief and stress can cause hallucinations, because I think I had one myself once. I saw someone who looked exactly like my mother walking across a roundabout - a place you would not normally expect a person to be walking. It was not long after she had died and think my mind was playing tricks on me. It was very strange!
I think our memories can be extremely intense. We tuck them away somewhere in our brains and every so often they come through very clearly. Perhaps that's why you felt a presence - you were having a kind of sensory flashback. Of course, as we know, there is another possible explanation...!
I think I'd like to listen to that Radio 4 program! Do like a good debate and always interesting to hear two opposing sides views. A grey area indeed. And I accept our minds does play tricks. And what you've said makes sense. Thanks for sharing your experience xx
Ooooh! This definitely gave me chills, Jules! Beautifully written and such wonderful suspense. I'm glad the lurgy eventually passed. I would've been terrified too. I'm totally a believer as I think you probably gathered and I've attended three seances in the past few years. Both of my parents liked to dabble. My mom says she used to host seances in our home when I was a young child, but I don't remember those. My dad would often bust out the Ouija board to play with when my brother and I visited him at his bachelor pad. I was always convinced Pops was pushing it around, but as an adult I've experienced what could only be explained as supernatural activity at seances. I went to one with a couple of friends and a well-known psychic/medium here in LA. In attendance were at least 8 other strangers. I believe there were 13 of us. There was a somber young woman sitting next to me who'd barely uttered a word all night. At the other end of the table were three older women, two sisters and their mom. At one point during the seance, those three women had their fingers on a planchette that started zipping around the Ouija board. They recited the letters for of all of us to hear "N-W-A" and then "E-A-Z-Y-E." Suddenly, the young woman next me piped up with tears in her eyes and said, "NWA was my brother's favorite band and he loved Eazy-E." We found out that her brother had recently died by suicide." None of us had any doubt that he was there and trying to communicate with his sister because those three women were the least likely people to spell out NWA on their board. There were other spooky occurrences at that night and my dad made an appearance too. The psychic said this man(ghost) was blowing something and she was filling her cheeks with air and blowing out and that made me laugh because my dad was lifelong chain smoker who died of esophageal cancer. I said, "Leave it to my dad to figure out how to smoke in the afterlife." Happy Halloween, Jules!!
Yes I know you are a believer H2, and that certainly is an intriguing story. I hope you all got some comfort from the experience.
I had my cards read once - some colleagues were going to see a local tarot reader and they cajoled me into it - but sadly I think she was a charlatan. She said things like "Have you recently been in a room with mirrors and red upholstery?" - standard decor for British pubs in those days - and "I can see a man with a black and white dog" - at the time I lived in Wales! Black and white sheep dogs were ten a penny! The clincher for me was that she did not pick up on the fact that I had just met and started a relationship with Craig - she was more interested in talking about past relationships, I guess because some people go to see psychics when they have had a break-up and they are seeking comfort.
As always my mind remains open. Thank you for sharing your experience. So interesting! I'd love to hear more!
I'm glad you enjoyed my little story - if it gave you the chills it had the desired effect! Happy Halloween to you too!🎃
Thank you for sharing, Julia. An interesting well written account.
I had lots of friends who did this sort of stuff but I would have been too scared. Like it would attract energies that would then stay with me. My views on the supernatural have changed over the years especially since I found out about the psychic mafia and Lamar Keene.
I still believe in that there are some real energies out there but that many are malevolent energies masquerading as good ones. I am happy with my tarot cards and that’s as far as I go
Yes, it's a fascinating subject and it captures the imagination, but I'm not sure that I would accept an invitation to dabble in anything like that now. I read a couple of books by Derren Brown once and he was very dismissive of mediums. There are a lot of people willing to exploit people's need for comfort, superstitions, etc.
Thanks for reading, Julie. Interested to get your take.
I still think there might be the odd genuine psychic but that they are few and far between, extremely rare. I think Tarot is basically giving yourself permission to speak your intuition by doing it via something else.
The radio 4 documentary series on Lamar Keene was very informative and well done.
Ooh thanks so much for the link! I love podcasts etc and that looks really interesting.
Yes I think you would have to sample a few psychics to see whether they are just playing elaborate tricks or whether they really have some kind of gift. I was once cajoled into visiting a woman who was very well-known in the area for fortune-telling. I thought she was definitely a fraud - she had no idea and kept asking me questions to try to get some clues. I was very polite but gave her the minimum of info because I was interested to see whether she had any kind of insight. She didn't have a clue. 😊
That description of the ouija glass getting ‘angry’ reminds me that that happened once at my friend’s house when we were tinkering. Very unlike our other attempts and it genuinely spooked us, so we didn’t play with the board again afterwards.
Thanks Wendy, that makes me very happy-just what i was aiming for! Very interested that a similar thing happened to you. I really can't say whether someone was pulling my leg, but if they were the trick was very convincing!
This was gripping Jules. I was always terrified of the paranormal as a youngster. Stories like the Enfield Poltergeist always scared me silly. So I didn’t dabble until much later. Who knows what’s out there?
Thanks M, I'm pleased you were gripped 😃 Yes I think most people are fascinated by these things to some degree, whatever they believe. The Enfield Poltergeist is really interesting. I recommend an episode of The Reunion on Radio 4 if you've never heard it. The guests seemed convinced that it was the real thing. The book by Guy Lyon Playfair was excellent too.
Yes. The creepiest thing for me was reading about the man on the top deck of a double decker bus (if I remember rightly). As the bus passed the Enfield house he saw one of the girls levitating! Chilling! 🫣
Really enjoyed this Jules. As you say, sometimes we have trouble admitting that we just don't know. Especially when it's hard to apply rationale. My mother adopted her 4 yr old nephew when her sister (his mother) died suddenly. Fast forward to his 20s, when he met and moved in with his girlfriend in Essex, miles from where we lived in New Cross. Anyway, soon after he got very merry at a work Christmas party one night, and, like a homing pigeon, travelled back to his childhood home where we still lived. It was an awful cold rainy night, we had gone to bed, and my brother was tapping the door so lightly at midnight (that way we do when we are apologetic about disturbing) that we didn't hear. Just then the light switch in the hall turned off and on, slowly, deliberately - not flickering, but as if someone was pressing the switch. Anyway, it woke us up and my mum dashed down, looked out of the peephole and saw him about the wander off. She bundled him in, got him out of his wet clothes and into a warm bed. To this day she swears it was his mother looking over him. Thirty years in that house and the lights never behaved life that before or after that night. I think it's lovely to hope there's an afterlife and that angels are looking out for us.
What a wonderful story! You could put it down to the poor weather affecting the electrics, but it had never happened before or since, so that would be a heck of a coincidence. God forbid he'd wandered off and been unable to get home - anything could have happened. It would be lovely to think that it was your auntie looking after her boy.
Thanks for sharing Sharon. 😊
Gripping and brilliantly written Jules. Never been to a seance. Would be too scared 🫣But have had a few experiences that made me question what's rational. Perhaps it was my mind wanting to seek comfort from loosing my Dad or something else ⁉️ but I definitely felt a "presence". Interesting reading the experiences of some of your subscribers. Thought provoking for sure
Oh thank you so much Angie. Yes, it is a very grey area. There is an interesting series on Radio 4 called "The Uncanny". It's a bit silly really and deliberately sensationalist, but people come on the show, tell their story, and two experts comment, one being a believer, one a sceptic. The sceptic usually manages to suggest rational solutions for experiences that seem out of the ordinary.
I do think grief and stress can cause hallucinations, because I think I had one myself once. I saw someone who looked exactly like my mother walking across a roundabout - a place you would not normally expect a person to be walking. It was not long after she had died and think my mind was playing tricks on me. It was very strange!
I think our memories can be extremely intense. We tuck them away somewhere in our brains and every so often they come through very clearly. Perhaps that's why you felt a presence - you were having a kind of sensory flashback. Of course, as we know, there is another possible explanation...!
Thanks for reading 😊
I think I'd like to listen to that Radio 4 program! Do like a good debate and always interesting to hear two opposing sides views. A grey area indeed. And I accept our minds does play tricks. And what you've said makes sense. Thanks for sharing your experience xx
It's on BBC Sounds and they have done quite a few series.
Thanks for reading Angie. Glad you found it interesting 💛
Thanks for added info Jules ☺️xx
Ooooh! This definitely gave me chills, Jules! Beautifully written and such wonderful suspense. I'm glad the lurgy eventually passed. I would've been terrified too. I'm totally a believer as I think you probably gathered and I've attended three seances in the past few years. Both of my parents liked to dabble. My mom says she used to host seances in our home when I was a young child, but I don't remember those. My dad would often bust out the Ouija board to play with when my brother and I visited him at his bachelor pad. I was always convinced Pops was pushing it around, but as an adult I've experienced what could only be explained as supernatural activity at seances. I went to one with a couple of friends and a well-known psychic/medium here in LA. In attendance were at least 8 other strangers. I believe there were 13 of us. There was a somber young woman sitting next to me who'd barely uttered a word all night. At the other end of the table were three older women, two sisters and their mom. At one point during the seance, those three women had their fingers on a planchette that started zipping around the Ouija board. They recited the letters for of all of us to hear "N-W-A" and then "E-A-Z-Y-E." Suddenly, the young woman next me piped up with tears in her eyes and said, "NWA was my brother's favorite band and he loved Eazy-E." We found out that her brother had recently died by suicide." None of us had any doubt that he was there and trying to communicate with his sister because those three women were the least likely people to spell out NWA on their board. There were other spooky occurrences at that night and my dad made an appearance too. The psychic said this man(ghost) was blowing something and she was filling her cheeks with air and blowing out and that made me laugh because my dad was lifelong chain smoker who died of esophageal cancer. I said, "Leave it to my dad to figure out how to smoke in the afterlife." Happy Halloween, Jules!!
Yes I know you are a believer H2, and that certainly is an intriguing story. I hope you all got some comfort from the experience.
I had my cards read once - some colleagues were going to see a local tarot reader and they cajoled me into it - but sadly I think she was a charlatan. She said things like "Have you recently been in a room with mirrors and red upholstery?" - standard decor for British pubs in those days - and "I can see a man with a black and white dog" - at the time I lived in Wales! Black and white sheep dogs were ten a penny! The clincher for me was that she did not pick up on the fact that I had just met and started a relationship with Craig - she was more interested in talking about past relationships, I guess because some people go to see psychics when they have had a break-up and they are seeking comfort.
As always my mind remains open. Thank you for sharing your experience. So interesting! I'd love to hear more!
I'm glad you enjoyed my little story - if it gave you the chills it had the desired effect! Happy Halloween to you too!🎃
Thank you for sharing, Julia. An interesting well written account.
I had lots of friends who did this sort of stuff but I would have been too scared. Like it would attract energies that would then stay with me. My views on the supernatural have changed over the years especially since I found out about the psychic mafia and Lamar Keene.
I still believe in that there are some real energies out there but that many are malevolent energies masquerading as good ones. I am happy with my tarot cards and that’s as far as I go
Yes, it's a fascinating subject and it captures the imagination, but I'm not sure that I would accept an invitation to dabble in anything like that now. I read a couple of books by Derren Brown once and he was very dismissive of mediums. There are a lot of people willing to exploit people's need for comfort, superstitions, etc.
Thanks for reading, Julie. Interested to get your take.
I still think there might be the odd genuine psychic but that they are few and far between, extremely rare. I think Tarot is basically giving yourself permission to speak your intuition by doing it via something else.
The radio 4 documentary series on Lamar Keene was very informative and well done.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0bk74xd/episodes/player
Ooh thanks so much for the link! I love podcasts etc and that looks really interesting.
Yes I think you would have to sample a few psychics to see whether they are just playing elaborate tricks or whether they really have some kind of gift. I was once cajoled into visiting a woman who was very well-known in the area for fortune-telling. I thought she was definitely a fraud - she had no idea and kept asking me questions to try to get some clues. I was very polite but gave her the minimum of info because I was interested to see whether she had any kind of insight. She didn't have a clue. 😊
This elicited a Brrrrrr reaction, Jules!
That description of the ouija glass getting ‘angry’ reminds me that that happened once at my friend’s house when we were tinkering. Very unlike our other attempts and it genuinely spooked us, so we didn’t play with the board again afterwards.
Thanks Wendy, that makes me very happy-just what i was aiming for! Very interested that a similar thing happened to you. I really can't say whether someone was pulling my leg, but if they were the trick was very convincing!
This was gripping Jules. I was always terrified of the paranormal as a youngster. Stories like the Enfield Poltergeist always scared me silly. So I didn’t dabble until much later. Who knows what’s out there?
Thanks M, I'm pleased you were gripped 😃 Yes I think most people are fascinated by these things to some degree, whatever they believe. The Enfield Poltergeist is really interesting. I recommend an episode of The Reunion on Radio 4 if you've never heard it. The guests seemed convinced that it was the real thing. The book by Guy Lyon Playfair was excellent too.
Thanks for reading, and for the restack x
Thanks for the recommendations Jules. Even 40 years later it still gives me the heebee geebees.
Yes. The creepiest thing for me was reading about the man on the top deck of a double decker bus (if I remember rightly). As the bus passed the Enfield house he saw one of the girls levitating! Chilling! 🫣
😱