Megathread of strange stuff

[HiddenHorn]

Okay, so this will likely get a bit bigger, especially when I keep updating it with new stuff. For ease of reading I'll try to keep it well formatted so it's not just a wall of text slapping you in your face.

Let's start with some background and context. I am in my mid-twenties and was never religious, spiritualist or something like that. My family was atheist so all occurrences of people seeing strange stuff were explained away with hallucinations, drugs or just a colorful imagination - and to be fair, I still believe that the majority of reports are just that. As a teen I had some mild to medium metal problems of anxiety and depression, nothing that made me do super bad stuff, but it affected me enough, and even though it's barely a thing anymore these days it kind opened my mind, made me more empathetic and generally shaped my personality a bit.

I went to university, studies computer science, and when I was done I finally moved out to live on my own. For almost a year there was pretty much nothing, and then the whole world got crazy. Covid & friends arrived, isolation, masks, home office and eventually layoff so I decided to use the time I git to get a bit into the paranormal. I was always interested in it - if more from a 'storytelling' kind pf perspective. I didn't believe any of it, but it was amusing to read wild stories, and some of the conspiracies and ideas would have been great world building if done in a fictional medium. I ended up actually recognizing a few past, almost forgotten memories there, but I'll drop the details in separate spoilers and try to not push out everything all at once so there can be an easier discussion.

 

Spoiler

 

[updated 15th September 2020]

Okay, I never actually wrote this down, or told anyone about this, so all I can hope is that it won't sound as stupid to you as it does for me. I enjoy bathing a lot, everyone does - sure - but for me it was always a bit of a retreat, especially in the past when I wasn't always in the best head space. There is something about warm water and darkness around you that's just relaxing, that makes you feel save and allows your mind to let go of worries, fear and other burdens. It's a meditative experience for me, in a way. I actually made sure the bathroom in my apartment here is internal and doesn't even have a window, so when I take a bath the only light is a little scented candle. The frame absorbs most of the light and the rays that get through get reflected on the tiles. Watching the flickering flame dance and seeing the walls themselves flicker is hypnotizing.

Enough context, there isn't an easy way of saying this, but I keep on seeing, or feeling stuff, something more than just random movement of burning wax. I can only compare it to the sensation when you are half asleep and your mind sees structure on regular patterns like your carpet, wood or the specs of dirt on a pane of glass. But it's not a perfect comparison, maybe because the flame moved, but I felt intent. More communication than anything else, not that I'd understand any of it. Still, there are flickers replying to my thoughts and feelings kinda entering me from outside. It sounds beyond crazy - and rational explanations seem way too obvious, trust me, I know that, and obviously that was what I thought to be true. But the thing is, I may be relaxed, but my mind isn't half asleep. I am having rational thought, I question it while it happens. It's no hard proof for sure, but I think I just want to hear that I'm not just losing it. Have you heard of similar things, or even experienced them before? What could this be?

 

 

Edited September 15, 2020 by HiddenHorn

[onlookerofmayhem]

22 minutes ago, HiddenHorn said:

What could this be?

Sensory Deprivation. 

[XenoFish]

26 minutes ago, onlookerofmayhem said:

Sensory Deprivation. 

This along with slipping into an in-between state of consciousness couple with the OP's reality tunnel.

[Chronus]

1. Welcome to UM

 

2. I don't 100% know, it could be, like @onlookerofmayhem said, sleep deprivation. But I never had sleep deprivation to where I was hearing and seeing stuff, and no one I know has had something like that happen.

It might've been because of the darkness and the candles, and because of that you were put in a different state, but you said you were awake to where you were thinking rational, and your eyes were open. So I don't know what it was.

[diddyman68]

11 minutes ago, Chronus said:

1. Welcome to UM

 

2. I don't 100% know, it could be, like @onlookerofmayhem said, sleep deprivation. But I never had sleep deprivation to where I was hearing and seeing stuff, and no one I know has had something like that happen.

It might've been because of the darkness and the candles, and because of that you were put in a different state, but you said you were awake to where you were thinking rational, and your eyes were open. So I don't know what it was.

He said sensory deprivation,not sleep deprivation.

Ive never been in a sensory deprivation tank,but heard they can get pretty trippy.

Being in the bath in the dark could have similar results i imagine.

[openozy]

28 minutes ago, Chronus said:

But I never had sleep deprivation to where I was hearing and seeing stuff,

I've had this several times when driving long distances,it is nothing like paranormal experiences.

[Chronus]

27 minutes ago, diddyman68 said:

He said sensory deprivation,not sleep deprivation.

Ive never been in a sensory deprivation tank,but heard they can get pretty trippy.

Being in the bath in the dark could have similar results i imagine.

oh I read it wrong, thanks for telling me.

[+Desertrat56]

@HiddenHorn Welcome to the forum. 

[papageorge1]

@HiddenHorn     You spent a lot of time giving us good context but can you explain this flickering or whatever of the candle in more detail and in relation to what thoughts? Certainly you must have given air drafts and whatever fair consideration.

I can believe the paranormal can be involved such as an entity/guardian responding to your thoughts. A candle flame can make a low energy required way for an entity to give signs. As this is your starter thread I hope there is more strangeness to come.

Edited September 15, 2020 by papageorge1

[HiddenHorn]

Thanks for all of your replies, my first impression of this place is a pretty good one for sure. It's just not the kind of topic you feel comfortable sharing everywhere - and I purposefully started with one of the tamer things to test the water, so to speak.

Sensory deprivation would potentially be an explanation, but it's not totally dark. The natural flicker of the candle in the humid air is illuminating the whole room enough that (after a minute or so when your eyes got used to it) you can easily see everything you need.

-  A little tangent, but I don't seem to be able to edit my initialpost - or any other post for the matter anymore. Can you only edit your posts for a few minutes after posting, is there a global 1/day limitation or is it just me being stupid right now?

@papageorge1 If possible I'll later edit in the further details into the original post above, but for now I'll just drop it in here.

It's not like the flickering itself is any weird. There is an air draft for sure, and even without a candle moves, the wick isn't perfectly symmetrical after all. After reading around a bit this may be similar to the burning bush story, or other cultures using fire to communicate with spirits/ancestors or other ... beings. I obviously have trouble putting it in words, but there's an emotional response. I feel sentience and a kind of gentleness, something pushing against my mind from the outside. There is curiosity and almost a playfulness to it. One of my earlier thoughts was actually 'hey, shouldn't you feel afraid?', but it's more of a nice feeling. A compliment, in a weird way. Like the feeling you get when a random person at the streets smiles at you, someone says thank you or you feel someone being romantically interested in you. It's not the same of course, but it's a similar thing, it's the same direction.

[papageorge1]

2 minutes ago, HiddenHorn said:

 

@papageorge1 If possible I'll later edit in the further details into the original post above, but for now I'll just drop it in here.

It's not like the flickering itself is any weird. There is an air draft for sure, and even without a candle moves, the wick isn't perfectly symmetrical after all. After reading around a bit this may be similar to the burning bush story, or other cultures using fire to communicate with spirits/ancestors or other ... beings. I obviously have trouble putting it in words, but there's an emotional response. I feel sentience and a kind of gentleness, something pushing against my mind from the outside. There is curiosity and almost a playfulness to it. One of my earlier thoughts was actually 'hey, shouldn't you feel afraid?', but it's more of a nice feeling. A compliment, in a weird way. Like the feeling you get when a random person at the streets smiles at you, someone says thank you or you feel someone being romantically interested in you. It's not the same of course, but it's a similar thing, it's the same direction.

Thanks for responding. I was just hoping for more clarity on why this candle movement seems to be more than just creating interpretations for random movement.

[XenoFish]

4 hours ago, HiddenHorn said:

Sensory deprivation would potentially be an explanation, but it's not totally dark. The natural flicker of the candle in the humid air is illuminating the whole room enough that (after a minute or so when your eyes got used to it) you can easily see everything you need.

Sounds like a trance (due to high focus) and your subconscious kinda kicked into a dream state. As for seeing everything, that's really just eye adjustment.

[preacherman76]

On 9/15/2020 at 5:01 PM, XenoFish said:

Sounds like a trance (due to high focus) and your subconscious kinda kicked into a dream state. As for seeing everything, that's really just eye adjustment.

Yeah I was gonna say something similar. Sounds like the OP reached a deep level of meditation. 
 

All kinds of fun stuff can happen in that state. 

Edited September 18, 2020 by preacherman76