Fear of the dark

[Bravo4]

Stranger things have happened at sea, they tell me.

Aye, from Slocum on down, singlehanders have seen some weird stuff. Too much "me" time....perhaps...

I like to think that I'm brave and I'll sleep just about anywhere. Sometimes you just don't know any better.

I saw this movie in the theatre when I was 13. It didn't scare me. And I didn't cry when ET died on screen the weekend before, right.

Buildings don't freak me out for the most part, but some do. How that guy ends up where he does, that scares me a little. The film is set in California but is actually shot in a dormant building that is scary indeed and just down the highway.

Like most places I guess, New Mexico has it's share of ghosts. More (You might want to hit the mute button; maybe leave it playin') ghost towns than real towns and I'm pretty sure they're still not letting out room 18 at the St. James Hotel down in Cimarron.

Let's see, Chupacabras and La Llorono I can deal with. I like critters and running up on some armed, crazy dudes out in the mountains at night, I can deal with. Headless horsemen riding down Alto street at night, I'm sort of at a loss as to how to proceed. Get out of the way I suppose.

The story seems to be that the guy got his head cut off by 2 witch sisters which would later meet the same fate. The sisters lived in the "oldest house" which is across the street from the PERA building (scroll down). Built on top of an old cemetery....hmmmm.

A short stroll from the PERA building and there is the river and a small greenbelt bordering. Now we're back to "Llorona Bruja de Acequia" and ten minutes walk later, we're back to the Headless Horseman of Alto street.

"In the old days of the Santa Fe Trail, the wagons of the poor who were in town to trade were forced to camp down by the river. Because of the rough crowd, there were weekly fights and murders."

OK, so the dead must be buried, which they were, probably here, or rather under this building.

It's Only Baloney
Pop Will Eat Itself, Axe of Men
...happens to be playing on my computer and I tend to agree.

So there is the river, the Headless Horseman of Alto Street, Alto Street itself and the Boy's and Girl's Club (730 Alto street) with an old sketchy cemetery possibly beneath. Behind the Boy's and Girl's club there is a small field for sports, and a fence. Behind the fence is Bravo4's crappy little apartment.

My neighbor thinks his place is haunted and if I tell him this he will absolutely turd out a brick. I'm not exactly thrilled about it now that I know.

....hello?...what do you look like?...Talk louder, I can't hear you...

 

[JonathanD]

I spent well over a decade in the private security business, starting out with bouncing and eventually having my own firm employing 6 staff. I've spent more solitary dark hours out in the middle of nowhere than I care to remember. I'm certainly not fearless by any stretch of the imagination but being alone in the dark certainly isn't one of them.
I've spent years at a time doing solo night shifts, basically getting paid to creep around in the dark. Stately homes, farms, universities and so on.
I don't mean to make light of what were understandably distressing experiences to those that have had the bottle to tell their stories in any way, however I couldn't help but notice that in each of them the person acted rather passively. I'd like to repeat, I'm not saying I'd have acted any differently, after all I wasn't even there. That said, if you act passively (perfectly natural when you're afraid) you'll stay scared. If you become more proactive the fear tends to dissipate quickly. Confronting the bogeyman is ultimately the less frightening option. If anyone was genuinely building up to attack you they'd likely do so whether you were sitting in the dark terrified or standing outside with a torch or a fire and a big stick screaming "Come on then you f***er!" at the top of your lungs. At least the second option stands a chance of scaring them off but more importantly you're actually doing something.

I'd agree with that, but I went out of the tent after I got up the courage the first time, and right away after it happened again. The fear of sitting in the tent was worse than confronting it as I was open to attack with zero defence trapped within the tent. I certainly wasn't passive then and went hunting with my PNGs.

As an add on to the above post, we did look around the area to find where the person had changed and taken their shoes off, but the only footprints we could find were ours.

 

[ged]

To all the scary stories I'd just say "there's an explanation". We just don't know what it is. That's OK.
When (if) we find the explanations for these things, we don't half feel silly.

Back in the middle ages they didn't know the Earth was round - they said it was obviously flat and you'd obviously sail off the edge if you went too far in a boat. They burned people for witchcraft. This was all because they let their imaginations run riot, or believed someone who had done that for them, instead of sitting down to think it through.

When I was a kid I was terrified of the dark. My dad wasn't very understanding about it, and I was terrified of him too. So when I said I didn't want to go upstairs to bed on my own because I was scared, he just yelled at me -- and off I went to bed, terrified. If I'd seen any scary sci-fi on the telly in the past few weeks it made things worse. All night, hidden under the blankets, I'd imagine awful creatures were coming to get me. And often it really was all night, I suffered from insomnia from when I was a baby until quite recently.

Anyway, after a few years I noticed that the creatures didn't, in fact, get me, and I started to notice things about the things on the telly. Maybe you could see the strings, or the skin looked a bit too much like a rubber imitation. I started to realize I was being silly.

I don't want to say I started to grow up, because I don't just want to say to people who have this sort of problem "grow up". I've been there. I can remember what it was like to be paralyzed by fear for hours, night after night, trying not to let the things hear me breathing.

But it's something akin to growing up. It's personal development. It's knowing -- really knowing, not just telling yourself -- that there's a rational explanation for everything which doesn't involve anything 'spooky'.

Now for the difficult part. Sometimes you just have to say to yourself "I still haven't figured out what it is. That means my intellect may not be up to the task. I can live with that." The nearest thing I can think of is when you're lost. Well, all right, if you're a man and you're lost. You'll do anything rather than admit it, right? But it can be so much easier if you do.

I understand a little bit about what people call science, or the laws of physics, or, you could say, the laws of nature. Unlike the laws made by man, the laws made by nature cannot be broken. It is totally and absolutely not possible. I know that there are limits to my capacity to understand things, but I can guarantee that there are no creatures that are invisible, nor that can defy gravity. Maybe for some reason I can't see them, and maybe they can float or fly, but they are still subject to the same, simple rules as everything else.

The other day, in the early evening, I was out in a clearing in the woods having a little chat with a fox. She's a brave one as foxes go, and she comes quite close to me. OK, she's just had a litter, and she's hungry, so the odd dog-biscuit might have something to do with it. Somehow she got between me and one of my dogs. That wouldn't have been an issue, but I think I must have moved when she didn't expect it and she probably felt a bit threatened, with me on one side of her and the dog on the other. That fox vanished. She didn't just run away fast, she didn't just leap into a bush out of sight. She vanished. No sound. No movement. One instant I could see her there in front of me, the next instant she was gone. Just vanished, like magic.

Now I know that's impossible. So I know that what really happened was that she moved too quickly and too quietly for my (now rather dull) senses to register where she went. But if I my imagination had taken control I'd probably have thought that the creature was capable of supernatural things. I might have felt frightened, especially if her mate had started his howling at the same time and I didn't know what that awful noise really was. Instead, I felt a little bit jealous -- and more than a little bit honoured that a wild creature capable of moving like that would tolerate my blundering presence at all.

Nowadays, camping someplace deserted on my own is for me about as close as it gets to heaven. Yes, the calls of a fox or a peacock can sound a bit weird until you recognize them. Once I was awoken by something trying to get into the tent from underground, beneath my sleeping bag. It was just a mole. The worst that's happened to me out in the woods is getting bitten by three snakes and one ferret. And that was only because I was handling them and got careless. Most of the time wild creatures will just want to get away from a human. They're not silly.

 

[bushcraft_lad]

Jesus this thread just keeps getting freakier by the minute !
but as a wise woman once said to me (My nan) "It's not the dead you have to be afraid of it's the living" I just hope i don't come across any unusual encounters while bush crafting.

Regards,Jordan

 

[Bravo4]

I like a good ghost story but my relating them here in this thread... was other chatter I suppose.

I try to be careful about the spot I choose to spend the night. Anything like a landmark tends to draw people. I tend not to bivy in old abandoned churches these days. Not for fear of spirits but because it's a little noisy...(TeeDee's Ghost thread)

Often (but not lately:vio I hike at night and find myself cutting through someone's camp, which is situated maybe 6 inches off the trail. I'll tip-toe past but I am a bit of a prankster so now who knows.

For reference, might I suggest "Masked Camps" from Kephart's book on Woodcraft, chapter VIII, starting on page 232.

Certain topography tends to physically "draw'' men and beast alike. Gravity, the path of least resistance, water sources, landmarks, etc. Range cattle are also drawn to that one lone tree for shelter in the night. They often arrive well after dark. They scare you, you sit bolt upright and scare them, they thunder off which scares you back. The cycle of life continues. Dingbats out partying and carrying on are simpler than range cattle and can be as easily avoided.

 

[Laurentius]

When I was young and foolish I didn't worry about the dark. I did a lot of crazy things, being invisible was one of them. I think I posted about my experience with an armed response squad, well the reason they were called out apart from the fact that I looked like I was armed and dangerous was that the security gave out a report that there was this guy who looked like he was armed who just "disapeared" in front of them. Well all that I did was quicken my pace and get beyond there range of vision. I used to specialise in this, it was fun. I used to play my flute in the woods around the University I attended, and a lot of folk tried to find out where this was coming from, and even though I could see them they could never see me.

I do recall however one night how I charged through these woods and accidentally lost my glasses. The next morning I borrowed a pair of my dad's and found the glasses I lost by tracking my movement through the woods by broken branches and other stuff. Amazingly it worked.

I used to be damn good at concealment, whether I still am is entirely another matter.

I did have scary moments though, I can recall one night cycling on a country road which just felt a bit spooky, and I heard this crash behind me, it made me start for sure, but it was the pump falling off my bike.

If I am faced by the supernatural I have to resort to magic, but what else can you do

 

[Jericho]

Once I was awoken by something trying to get into the tent from underground, beneath my sleeping bag. It was just a mole.

I don't think i'd have hung around for a rational explanation!

 

[*Big Beast*]

great camp fire tales folks, enjoyed them all. Mine is a little bit different and no big mystery but did spook a good few campers at the time.
I used to teach scuba diving years back and one of the training grounds i used for deep diving and night diving courses was Hodge Close in Cumbria.
One planned trip involved 2 nights camping at Hodge and along with myself there was 2 burly divemasters and 4 male students and 2 ladies, a largish group really. To keep it short the diving went with out a hitch and in camp with the fire going, a beer in hand, they all stood in a semi circle talking about the dives, mistakes made,etc,etc, with me facing them all across the fire, the group had a steep hill behind them covered in silver birch trees, behind me was a flat area then a steep slate scree slope..
as we talked there was noises coming from the hill behind them, branches snapping, scuffling noises,etc, it`s about half past midnight by now and very dark. the noises stayed at a distance but did make my students a bit nervous, i explained that it was probably just sheep, or possibly a deer but nothing to worry about. The noises did come down the hill getting closer but out of range of the fire light, a torch was shone around and up the hill into the trees but there was nothing to see. After the torch went out the noises stopped, i turned and got more logs and placed them on the fire. Standing back up and looking at the little group i saw an extra face about 2foot behind them, a Mohican's hair cut,arms folded,combat jacket and across his chest from his folded arms was a 2 foot machete. he just stared and grinned, a stupid grin and from the eyes i figured high as a kite. hummmmmmmmm what to do,......... i said in a low whisper to my little group, please don`t turn round but make your way across to this side of the fire, like now please.
my 2 burly divemasters turned round looking for trouble but stopped dead at the site of this bloke, then with a scream he turned and walked off back up the hill and vanished, we could hear the branches snapping for a few hours afterwards, moving away, then coming back our way so nobody bothered going to bed that night.
strange people out there at night, i`m glad i wasn`t solo camping that night.

 

[JonathanD]

Talking about diving. The old oval dive masks were great as you could pull them down over your mouth and talk underwater. During one dive in the Med in the mid Eighties my buddy did just that and boomed out "I'M NEPTUNE< LORD OF THE SEA". The poor bugger in front of us had the fright of his life. It could have been very dangerous, but looking back at it now, it still makes me have fits of laughter at the look on his face and the bubbles that escaped from between his legs

 

[*Big Beast*]

Talking about diving. The old oval dive masks were great as you could pull them down over your mouth and talk underwater. During one dive in the Med in the mid Eighties my buddy did just that and boomed out "I'M NEPTUNE< LORD OF THE SEA". The poor bugger in front of us had the fright of his life. It could have been very dangerous, but looking back at it now, it still makes me have fits of laughter at the look on his face and the bubbles that escaped from between his legs

i think i would have been laughing to. we used to pull tricks on each other under water to, i once had a red fireworm dropped in to the back of my swimming trunks by one of my mates , he laughed so much he nearly did himself in being under water. i paid him back though, but that`s another story. lol

 

[Hedgehog]

Pardon me if I repeat the advice of others I have not read the entire thread...

As many have said ones ears do twitch out there alone in the dark. I've been chilled to the core a fair few times, mostly by foxes screaming & even on one occasion a sheep hacking up in a near by field - a strangely human sound.

The most scary episode turned out to be some guy lamping with a couple of lurchers - they were thundering about just the other side of a large wall in a wide expanse of downland populated by cows & sheep. Que sound of dog growling, rabbit screaming & a whole chorus of cows & sheep - it sounded like they had all gone bizerk! I actually made for cover & hit the deck at that point, lol.

Blind fold 'Drum stalking' & other navigation/orientation exercises are a good way of building confidence in one's own ability to progress through woodland without sight.

I also much prefer sleeping under a basha rather than in a tent - when you can see all around you there is less room for fearful fantasies & should the 'worst' happen you can escape in any direction.

As many have said, to 99.9% of the population you will be the principal source of fear out there.

A little brush with one's own spooks & demons is no bad thing...

...now back to reading some of the cracking stories in this thread.

 

[JonathanD]

I've been chilled to the core a fair few times, mostly by foxes screaming & even on one occasion a sheep hacking up in a near by field - a strangely human sound.

Been fooled by those damned sheep pretending to cough on many occasions, crafty beggars.

 

[Hedgehog]

Been fooled by those damned sheep pretending to cough on many occasions, crafty beggars.

Yeah, I always thought they ate grass not smoked it.

Apparently not.

 

[bushcraft_lad]

Not much of a bushy scare experience but a truly magnificent one al the more.

A while back my great granddad's ashes where added to the river Clyde the next morning 1 single swan drifted toward's the shore;bear in mind the river Clyde is a industrial river and is not know for swan's to live on it and there it stayed for a good 10 to 15 minute's the it procided to swim off upstream anyway While visiting Glasgow in '08 to surrender my great nan's ashes to the river Clyde also the morning after this was done two white swan's came to the shoreline then again procided to waddle upstream and disappear into the distance immediate after this a bright ray of sun shone on my gran coincidence ? i think not suddenly then i felt a sense of relief the two where back together if only i could relive this moment once more it might sound stupid and hard to believe but i have picture proof of it if i only could upload picture's onto hear

#

anyway's that's my story

Moral; Cherish what little time you have with your loved one's as there not going to be here forever.

regards,Jordan

 

[zarkwon]

Not much of a bushy scare experience but a truly magnificent one al the more.

A while back my great granddad's ashes where added to the river Clyde the next morning 1 single swan drifted toward's the shore;bear in mind the river Clyde is a industrial river and is not know for swan's to live on it and there it stayed for a good 10 to 15 minute's the it procided to swim off upstream anyway While visiting Glasgow in '08 to surrender my great nan's ashes to the river Clyde also the morning after this was done two white swan's came to the shoreline then again procided to waddle upstream and disappear into the distance immediate after this a bright ray of sun shone on my gran coincidence ? i think not suddenly then i felt a sense of relief the two where back together if only i could relive this moment once more it might sound stupid and hard to believe but i have picture proof of it if i only could upload picture's onto hear

#

anyway's that's my story

Moral; Cherish what little time you have with your loved one's as there not going to be here forever.

regards,Jordan

Swans and ducks will often come to someone standing on the bank of a city river. They have learned it pays well. That seems to me a much more reasonable explanation than proposing an entire supernatural realm for which there is no evidence whatsoever despite thousands of years of searching, as comforting as the idea might be sometimes.

 

[JonathanD]

Swans and ducks will often come to someone standing on the bank of a city river. They have learned it pays well. That seems to me a much more reasonable explanation than proposing an entire supernatural realm for which there is no evidence whatsoever despite thousands of years of searching, as comforting as the idea might be sometimes.

Think you are missing the poignancy of the post somewhat there.

 

[zarkwon]

Think you are missing the poignancy of the post somewhat there.

Indeed. Should poignancy trump reality? The post is in a ghost story thread. I don't believe in ghosts and wish to give heart to those who might have a "fear of the dark" by saying as much. The illustration is a particularly good one in my view as it demonstrates that we interpret our surroundings according to our mood and personal beliefs and how we notice only those things which fit our purpose. If we can refrain from confusing those interpretations with reality in a case where we might want to believe them then we will be better armed to employ the same rationality when we don't. Thanks for being the one whom I had anticipated would come along and give me the opportunity to both elucidate and get the thread back on track.

 

[gowersponger]

lovely story about the swans bushcraftlad

 

[Tengu]

its a great story.

It could be the Clyde is getting cleaner these days, more food and therefore more birds

 

[JonathanD]

Indeed. Should poignancy trump reality? The post is in a ghost story thread. I don't believe in ghosts and wish to give heart to those who might have a "fear of the dark" by saying as much. The illustration is a particularly good one in my view as it demonstrates that we interpret our surroundings according to our mood and personal beliefs and how we notice only those things which fit our purpose. If we can refrain from confusing those interpretations with reality in a case where we might want to believe them then we will be better armed to employ the same rationality when we don't. Thanks for being the one whom I had anticipated would come along and give me the opportunity to both elucidate and get the thread back on track.

Poignancy over reality, yeah, everytime in cases like that. I don't believe in ghosts either, but I may be wrong and I'm open to that very very small possibility. Should you be afraid of the dark.. no, but be afraid of the possibilities that the dark creates, as that is when the bad, the nutty and the criminal come out and our main sense is impaired significantly.

I'm one of the most rational people alive, and have used those skills to investigate scenes and incidents on a professional basis. I have a scientific mind that evaluates facts available to come to a logical and pragmatic conclusion. The paranormal has never ever come into it. All the more reason why that incident freaked me out considerably. In my story, I had not concluded it was paranormal, and am open to suggestions that can be cross referenced so that a rational explanation can be found. So far it has eluded us, and that is interesting as I still wish to know, how, what, why etc. I believe someone was out in those woods with me, no doubt at all. Someone, a person, very real. How they managed to do it eludes me in every way. And no one can explain that yet.

I can't put you in my mind to see and hear what I heard, so you can't understand what you don't have access to. But very occasionally things cannot be understood because what we have seen or heard has not been explained in science or rationality, or is above our current understanding or technology.
Weird stuff that cannot be explained does happen, and some people will choose to look to the paranormal as an explanation, while some other people who are equally confused will write it off as having a rational explanation, but don't know what that is yet. There are also some folks that will not choose either of those options as they believe it is neither. We simply cannot prove or disprove any of those beliefs at the moment, and science will probably offer some explanation in 20/30 or 100 years, that to our minds now, is just as unbelievable as the paranormal is to me now.