Inexplicable Phenomena? Anyone?
 

So ... how many people here have had some kind of creepy experience that sort of lacked an explanation?
I know there's skeptics out there, and, as cliched as this will sound, I was a skeptic until about an hour ago. Now I'm just not sure. Bear with me, as this is a long post. Please read the whole thing before you decide to respond.

I'll start the ball rolling with a brief summary of events leading up to this morning (7:30 AM, eastern standard time).
My grilfriend (at the time of incident, we hadn't met yet) and several of her friends encountered what they all agreed was some sort of malevolent spirit. Regardless of what it actually was, there was something in the room - a presence - that made them all very nervous, uncomfortable, and more than a little scared. They each proceeded to recite some prayers, though none of them are too religious, and my girlfriend claims that there was some sort of protective circle drawn around them, and the presence of this protection somehow allowed all present to have peeks into previous lifetimes.
Now, it may have been a group hallucination, but the long lasting effects suggest that this is unlikely. Many of the people present seemed to develop a minor case of multiple personality disorder. It was common belief among them that these were personalities of past lifetimes manifesting themselves. Two of the boys present had to be put on medication, and one of them became very depressed and nearly suicidal.
Now, hear me out. I love my girlfriend, and didn't believe she'd make something like that up. At the same time, I didn't think any of it was true.
It seems now that whatever that force was has followed my girlfriend from our hometown and to our campus. And I think I had an enoucter with it this morning around 6:30 (EST).
I went to bed around 2:30, as many college students do, and fell asleep with little incident.
I woke up at six thirty, completely awake and aware with no real reason to be. I hadn't been having any nightmares that I could remember, I wasn't sweating or breathing funny. So I passed it off as weird.
Despite it being winter in New England (notoriously cold, if you didn't already know), my room was kept well heated, and I needed little more than a sheet to keep my feet (prone to coldness) warm. When I woke, I felt fine ... but soon I felt a chill on my legs. No big deal, my roommate probably cracked a window. I ignored it.
I suddenly felt very vulnerable. I sleep on my stomach, head facing out to the room, and feel fine on most occassions. But this morning ... nope. Not safe at all.
I soon grew colder than I should have been. Not like, the room is 70 degrees and I was feeling 20 degrees (I'm working in Fahrenheit), but like there was a cold breeze blowing over me minus the breeze part. It's hard to describe ... picture being out on a brisk day, and you feel a wind that makes you cold. Now, pretend that the wind wasn't there, but you got cold anyway ... I dunno. That's the best way I can think of to describe it.
So anyway, I figure "That's enough of that," and I flip onto my back, pull the sheets up to my chin, and close my eyes.
Sleep hasn't come back to me.
I was ready to pass off the whole thing as me getting nervous about my girlfriend, who had an experience with the "ghost" in my room the night before. But then, I realized I didn't remember breathing for a few minutes. I mean, sure, you never think about it, but you know you're aware that you're doing it, right? And I was like, "Okay, I've been creeped out, no need to worry." But then when I started to breathe normally, I didn't feel my chest moving like it should, even though I was taking in breath.
I don't know what it was. Something about that sensation set me off. I was out of my bed and down to the lounge in my building within a minute.
The sun wasn't quite up yet, and I decided that anywhere but my room would be safe until it was bright enough out.
So I came up here about ten minutes ago and had to keep awake (or at the very least, out of my bed). I checked to forums, and decided to share my experience.

It is my hope that either:
Someone will convince me that none of what happened has anything to do with ghosts or any past lives I may have lived, or
Hear that other people have had similar creepy experiences.
I want to be convinced either way. So share your stories and advice here.

"Oh, shut up. Only little kids and wimps believe in ghosts"

Now, zombie armies, THAT'S what you have to fear.

Interesting story Dave. I can only say I'm still sceptic about ghosts and such. I think there is 'something' around us, but I never felt or seen it. And since I'm pretty much 'I'l believe it when I see it', it will take an actualy experience for me to actualy belief in it.
I am interested in it though, and somewhere I'm hoping I will someday experience something of the sort. But untill then... I'm sceptic.

I don't want to be a Negative Nancy here... actually who am I kidding? I love giving rational scientific explanations for mythical events!

Read the article below for some interesting facts. Quick precis: sound waves that have such a low frequency that you can't hear them can effect humans psychologically and physiologically. In particular, they can cause shivering, anxiety and breathlessness, as well as affect your eyeballs to make you think that you are seeing ghosts.

http://www.meta-religion.com/Paranor..._frequency.htm

About two years ago something creepy happened to me, but chances are, I was in some strange half-concious state.

Luke had just visited some city that supposedly had a haunted street or something, which he saw on a tour. The tour guide told the common ghost stories of the neighborhood--one including a little boy ghost who strangled a woman when she went to bed.

A few nights later, something woke me up... It was like a whirling, forceful wind circulating over my body. I tried to call out, but I couldn't speak: no voice would come out at all except for some light, raspy sounds. Then I somehow knew the boy was behind me, standing between the wall and my bed. It was strange... Like I could see behind me when I was faced away from the wall.

Anyway, I can't remember that little episode ending or anything; I guess I just snapped out of it.

I have mixed feelings about these sort of things, now there have been a few incidents in my life which are far too strange to be considered cooincidental, but there are other things which cancel out my belief in ghosts. Anyone remember the Grudge? Well, in Japanese myth, it is said that if you die bearing grudge, then your soul can't pass over into the other world, and you are forever chained to this world harassing people. Now see, my aunt lived in a house for three years where the previous inhabitants were all murdered by the husband and then he killed himself in the tub, soaking in everyone's blood. Seems like enough to impress some ghosts on the house? My aunt and her husband lived just fine for those three years (according to what I've heard).

So yeah, there is a possibility, and there are technicalities disproving it. Undecicivness...

I'm not 100% sure, but I think there's something in my room that just likes to irritate me... This has happened quite a few times now, all the electrics in my room, I don't just mean like the TV or radio, I mean Everything electrical in my room suddenly turns off. I thought the first time that it was a power cur or a blackout or something, but when I opened my door, everything outside my room was on and working fine. After a second all the stuff in my room turns back on again.

And another thing, every so often at about 3am, I get woken up by this tapping, it's like someone's just tapping a finger on the wall next to my headboard... I remember one night I was so peeved I sat up and yelled something along the lines of 'will you please shut up! I'm trying to sleep!' Tapping stopped, well for the time being anyway...

Really I think it's just a load of cock'n'bull, I mean, some of it might be true but I'm not willing to bet it all is...

Thats pretty much it right there. The tapping is probably Death Watches in the walls, little bugs that tap.

I somewhat believe in ghosts. I usually get the chills up my arm and down my spine. And sometimes my lights blink off and on, but that was at my old house.

Sounds like poor wiring and even worse plumbing. Remind me never to visit your house.

Lol, :lol: if I get electrocuted, flooded or my compy blows up I'll let you know. :D

But you're prolly right, more likely then some kind of ghoulie. :D

Thanks you guys. Nate especially for the article you found. It sounds resonable enough, although I'd like to hear about the tests that proved the waves caused certain psychological reactions. That'd make me feel better.

Of course! Alpha, i'll stock up on supplies and tools, and you get the Semi-automatic carbines, machetes, and ammo. Don't forget to get other weapons, just in case. Oh, and before I forget, buy this so we're ready for anything we aren't!

Really, Dave, I DO beleive in ghosts and such, just not really that much. The only experience I've had was when I was walking through an 'old, haunted house' in the town my family and I were passing through, and I could've sworn I'd seen something. Later, I felt something like a cold wind pass onto me, and stay there for a minute or so. It went away, and for some reason that night, I had a nightmare that was exactly how the myth about how the homeowners died went, except from the victim's view. It was a very weird experience.

Try google. There was tonnes of stuff that I didn't post for the sake of simplicity and clarity.

Just search for 'ghost sound frequency' or something similar.

Dave, I've also had countless experiences with these things, whatever the hell they are. One of them has been buggin me a few weeks ago, but just yesterday I felt his or her presence fade away. No, this is not a joke.

Well perhaps you just commonly hang out in places with low frequency vibrations.

From the way you worded the choices, I had to pick one that I normaly wouldn't.
I belive in the idea of metaphysics. The mind is not purely physical, there are things beyond us.

What these things are? I dunno. Are they ghosts... I don't think so.
I believe in Chi (since I have felt it before) and some parts of the occult (like crystal healing/protection... again, because they've worked for me).

Mind over matter seems mores likely to me. If you believe something will work for you your body will then recognize this as a cure and voila! You are healed. I'm a skeptic, I guess but I won't deny that it is possible.

I will agree that the placebo effect is a big hinderance to the occult/paranormal. "Mind over matter" works, undoubtedly.

However, when you've got a visible rash and can "feel" energy flowing from a crystal onto the rash and it goes away (this is what happened to me), you begin to wonder whether it was just your mind. Still, I can't prove anything beyond doubt, and there's still the placebo argument.

I've felt that 'energy flow' myself and I truly believe it has only to do with the fact that you are concentrating on that one body part.

The biggest proof against spiritual healing chartalans I can come up with is my brush with 'muscle testing'. The theory is that the energy flow in the body becomes weakened in adverse situations, such as when you are near something you are allergic to or you are lieing. So if you test the strength of someone's muscles it will tell you what their energy state is.

So my brother tried to prove it to me. He had me raise up my arm and he tried to push it down. He had me say "My name is Nathan" - no movement. He had me say "My name is Bob" - my arm dropped. So I accused him of pushing harder the second time and he admitted I was right, but only because he was trying to prove a point!

Another time he and a friend wanted to test whether mobile phone radiation caused your muscles to go weak. Once again, I accused his friend of pushing harder when she knew the phone was near me, so we did a blind test. She pressed down on my arm three times, with my brother either holding the phone near me or not. The first time my arm didn't move, the second it dropped a little and the third it went all the way down. She said "So, you must have had the phone there the third time!". But my brother had to admit that he had got distracted and the phone was nowhere near me for any of the three tests.

So muscle testing is all in the mind of the tester. The only concession I'll make is that it is probably subconscious in most cases.

Concentrating on one area of the body can make it feel very odd... however those muscle tests remind me of an old trick my Sensai used to show us the power of distraction.

1.) Get someone in a bear-hug style grip.
2.) See if the person can break free (without them trying too hard)
3.) See how easy it is for them to break out when they run one finger lightly up your fingers.
4.) Wonder how the heck they did that.

Lieing on purpose in a lie detector test (well, Polygraph lie detector test) will not give a difinitive lie, unles your actualy being deceitful. Saying "I'm a boy... I'm a girl" to see what happens won't give a definite outcome.

The mind is too easy to trick. The best example of how easy it is to trick (since it's easy and creepy) is to get a friend to hold up their palm to yours (i.e. touch both right-hands together) and then run your left thumb and index finger up both right index fingers at the same time (so you'll be touching the back of your index finger and the back of your friend's index finger). It's so damn creepy... and shows not to trust the mind alone.

Yeah, I said that thing about the lie detector but was told that apparently the body is sensitive to lieing even if a) you're not being deceitful (like being told to say that my name is bob) and b) you don't know you are lieing! So my brother to uses it to teach people what their subconscious is thinking.

I have never heard of a subconscious lie detector... unless you watch "Stargate".

It's very hard to control your subconscious (in fact, that's what makes it diffrent from your consciousness). Trying to "judge" someones subconcious would be very innacurate, since even they don't know what's going on.