Unusual encounters in the wilderness

[He' s left the building]

Science doesn't know everything, and in case you weren't aware a lot of the fundamental principles of science are breaking down with modern finds and research which are proving them wrong.

That's what science does.

You set out with a 'null-hypothesis', ie make a statement and then try to prove it's either true or not true. For example, a scientist would say 'smoking cigarettes does not cause respiratory disease' and then sets out to collect data/evidence to see if that statement should be supported or rejected.

If a 'modern find' proves science 'wrong', then we adjust our working hypothesis based on the modern findings.

Science isn't set in stone, if there is sufficient validated evidence then scientific opinion changes. It's never right or wrong, simply supported or unsupported hypotheses.

 

[Quark]

Never had any "real" sightings, if real they are.... But I love these kinds of stories, and I don't for a minute doubt there are things around, that does NOT goes bump in the night, and that there are things around we can't see. Or feel. or only sometimes we can... oh you know what I mean.... maby its a bit like trying to explain radio waves to a stone age man. We know about it, and use all the time, but it must be so far from his experience, it would be magic...
Anyway, I lived in an old inn in scotland for a time, and the other staff would swear that there was a ghost around, but I never saw anything... Heard noises, but what old house doesn't have noises...
But I have had the feeling sometimes, alone i the woods, that this place or that was not one to stay, just got the feeling to move on. Not hostile, just... I don't know, a kind of "move on, please-eredness" ... or sometimes i've stopped and walked another rute for no paticular reason. But it just felt right at the time.
I think I would "go the the toilet" in my sleepingbag, if I woke up with a ghostdog next to me, in the middle of the night:yikes: ... or there somehow was an ekstra man around the fire....

/martin

 

[saddle_tramp]

maby its a bit like trying to explain radio waves to a stone age man. We know about it, and use all the time, but it must be so far from his experience, it would be magic...

I guess once upon a time, the earth was flat and lightening was the gods showing thier anger, and anyone who argued different, would have been out thier tree.

Now science explains it all, and unknown phenomina, is much less common, but just because its uncommon, and the science of our time doesnt offer an explaination. . . doesnt mean it dont necessarilly exist. just means that in our time, theres no real answer, but in a thousand years time, such might be obvious.

 

[Dogbiscut]

Settling down for the night on a solo mission nearby to water always gets my imagination flowing a little, Start thinking i can hear the sounds of voices, Maybe it is?..

Ah Yeah!

Once seen a man eat is own head!

 

[Dogbiscut]

Where you folks experiencing all these things! Wouldnt mind camping there! Never had such an experience, Until then, Want to believe, But cannae. kin kin kin kin kin kin kihn kin kin .

 

[mentalnurse]

last year when i was out for one of our outtings we came across this strange beast sleeping under a tree!!! we backed off and walked around it in fear of waking it....

 

[pete79]

Nothing supernatural for me. A few years ago, however, myself and my girlfriend were walking on the North York moors, and we turned around a corner in the trail and stumbled upon what I can only assume was a photoshoot for a "gentleman's literature periodical". We weren't too sure where to look, or whether to say hello or what.

 

[BigShot]

On the subject of a bad feeling making you move on from a camping spot or some such, I think there could well be something quite natural about that.

In much the same way some animals seem to know when something bad is coming (moving towards shelter before the rainclouds come and such like) I have a suspicion that humans have a similar thing. (Some people look up at a cloudless sky and predict rain mere minutes or hours before a front rolls over the horizon bringing a downpour.)
I suspect that most of these bad feelings - particularly about walking or camping in certain spots - are more to do with something about the terrain than something supernatural/unexplained.

Flat, clear ground can be susceptible to flash floods, steeps can be dangerous in the event of slides (snow/mud/rock) and so on. Often there are subtle signs that these events take place in an area - subtle enough, perhaps, for us to "miss" them - while clear enough to make the parts of our brain responsible for ensuring survival aware that it's a potentially dangerous area - that gives us a "feeling" to move away (or more accurately, to find a safer place to travel/sleep)

Could the "nasty" feeling in a wood be connected to unseen "widow-maker" branches in the trees - or even just a hangover from ghost stories and watching too much TV?

Could the "not here" feeling on the side of a hill be connected to the subtle scars indicating mud/rock slides, or the patch of slightly younger trees which have grown since an avalanche stripped away the older growth a few years back?


Whether those feelings are inherent and instinctive, or learned and subconscious I don't know - I don't pretend to have any evidence to back up these thoughts, but I do think they make far more sence (and are far more believable) than the idea that there's some unexplained presence making you feel that way.

None of this does anything to disprove the existance of the supernatural/unexplained. While I do believe that pretty much everything (ghosts, feelings and so on) people experience have far more mundane origins, I do believe there's more than meets the eye - I see science as a fascinating investigation into how the world/universe works - but it can't answer all the questions we might have. The nature of natural science is empirocal - that is limited to what we can predict, observe, test, measure and so on. If some people want to go beyond those limits and make "scientific" conclusions on things such as the origin of life, the existance or otherwise of supernatural beings, creators or whatever else that's perfectly ok - but writing someone's views off out of hand in the name of "science" when science doesn't reach that far is as illogical as the views they are writing off.



On the subject of past lives...
...I saw a documentary about a young scottish lad who said he had another family (I think in a place called "Barry" or "Barrow" or something - pretty sure it was an island anyway). The idea was that he'd started telling his family he had another family, that they weren't encouraging it and that he was adamant.
Turns out that while he was right on a few points - for the most part his story was falsifiable and found to be false.
The interesting part was watching his family - the way his mother spoke to him about his other family was VERY encouraging of it - leading questions, reinforcement of what he said and so on.

In these cases of past lives, and of dead relatives visiting, I can't help but think they are repeating, or inspired by something they've seen or heard - not as a game or maliciously - but an active imagination tickled and then reinforced by comments overheard and reactions they get.


I'm rambling a bit now - but I think the reality is somewhere between "hard-science" (as much as the extreme argument in that is somewhat softer than the proponents would like you to believe) and believe-in-just-about-anything-spirituality.

Hope this gives some of you a bit of food for thought. Particularly the part about the origin of bad feelings about an area.

 

[traderran]

Erm, yes and no.
At some point you have to have an opinion and make a stand.
I feel offended by the suggestion that God and religion can take care of the world. So why should I not reply to those suggestions? Why is it OK for people to bring God into it, but not OK for others to take God out of it?
Just becaus one cannot 'explain' the world, why do they have to see the divine in it? You say yourself that you do not understand the internet, but I bet you don't think little spirits carry all that information to another computer!? And if someone expressed the opinion that they did, would you really think, 'fair enough - if that's what you want to believe' (well, you may say that to their face, but I expect you'd be thinking something else)? Of course not.
So why should I 'shut the up!' for fear of offending their 'beliefs', when they don't care about offending mine?
Ho hum. When will we learn? What a terribly scary world it can be.

Aye durulz when you are as old as I you may understand But until then. When you are out in the dark woods by yourself.
And the thunder rolls and lighting flashes and you see things in the night. Keep your pistol handy and you're Bowie sharp Because in your case you are truly
ALONE.:yikes:

PS I forgot that in your land you can,t be trusted with a handgun so the pistol is a no no. So make sure that the bowie is extra sharp.:yikes:

 

[swagman]

Erm, yes and no.
At some point you have to have an opinion and make a stand.
I feel offended by the suggestion that God and religion can take care of the world. So why should I not reply to those suggestions? Why is it OK for people to bring God into it, but not OK for others to take God out of it?
Just becaus one cannot 'explain' the world, why do they have to see the divine in it? You say yourself that you do not understand the internet, but I bet you don't think little spirits carry all that information to another computer!? And if someone expressed the opinion that they did, would you really think, 'fair enough - if that's what you want to believe' (well, you may say that to their face, but I expect you'd be thinking something else)? Of course not.
So why should I 'shut the up!' for fear of offending their 'beliefs', when they don't care about offending mine?
Ho hum. When will we learn? What a terribly scary world it can be.

I agree with you durulz if you have an opinion why shouldnt you not air it.
God aparently put the rainbow in the sky after the flood but i can make a rainbow with the
sun and a hose so am i god.

 

[John Fenna]

Ah but can you make the water and the Sun

 

[durulz]

Ah but can you make the water and the Sun

Well now, as any school boy knows, the chemical formula for water is H2O. So, if I take two buckets of hydrogen and one bucket of oxygen, and give them a jolly good stir...

 

[BigShot]

Well now, as any school boy knows, the chemical formula for water is H2O. So, if I take two buckets of hydrogen and one bucket of oxygen, and give them a jolly good stir...

A scientist walked up to God and said "We don't need you any more."
God replied "Oh, why not?"
The scientist said "Well, we figured out how you did it. We've made our own man, from dirt and breathed life into him."
God asked for a demonstration.
The scientist got his artist friend to sculpt a human form from dirt, and the scientist and a few engineers, doctors and the likes wheeled in a machine that breathed the breath of life into the dirt. The dirt came to life as a walking talking human male. Rather predictably they called him Adam.
God said "That's a nice trick... now get your own dirt."





Really though - people who write off God because of "science" are as blind and as illogical as those who write off science because of God.
Science, by its very nature, is strictly limited to what you can test and measure in repeatable units. Anything else is interpretation of the facts and as many times as a person says "science" doesn't make them right - no matter WHICH side of the debate they are on.

Anyone who is offended by someone's spiritual beliefs or lack thereof needs to grow some thicker skin... or maybe a spine.
Granted, some theists and atheists are bloody offensive in the way they talk about other people, that might be offensive. But to be offended just by someone believing and saying God does (or does not) exist and play a part is nothing short of pathetic.

 

[Toddy]

Aye durulz when you are as old as I you may understand But until then. When you are out in the dark woods by yourself.
And the thunder rolls and lighting flashes and you see things in the night. Keep your pistol handy and you're Bowie sharp Because in your case you are truly
ALONE.:yikes:

PS I forgot that in your land you can,t be trusted with a handgun so the pistol is a no no. So make sure that the bowie is extra sharp.:yikes:

Ah well, you see, in our land the usual response is, "Come away in, the kettle's on" We don't usually greet strangers and potential guests with weapons.

not being fascetious either......if the door creaks open the general response is "Come in!" , well you never know.....if you're monotheist it might be an angel, if your pagan it might be a godling or a spirit of air, if your an aetheist it might just be a chance visitor


Mod Hat On

Folks, religion is not considered a suitable subject for the forum. Please let that element of the thread die here.

atb,
Toddy

 

[traderran]

Ah well, you see, in our land the usual response is, "Come away in, the kettle's on" We don't usually greet strangers and potential guests with weapons.

not being facetious either......if the door creaks open the general response is "Come in!" , well you never know.....if you're monotheist it might be an angel, if your pagan it might be a god ling or a spirit of air, if your an atheist it might just be a chance visitor
Toddy

Hello Toddy
nice to see you today. And yes I know that there is a big difference in your land an the USA over hear in the deep woods we have stuff that will eat you also there is a vast difference in the size as we have woodlands bigger then some country's. You never know what will walk into your camp. as to my being PC no I am not. and never will be some
say Texans are hard headed they may be right.
Have a good day.
Traderran

 

[durulz]

I know it's snowing and the weather's going a bit potty, but I didn't realise the moon was out as well...

 

[traderran]

I know it's snowing and the weather's going a bit potty, but I didn't realise the moon was out as well...

O but yes and the dark shadows are moving across the sky.
and on the stormy lands. IT TIS PICH BLACK and COLD AS A WITCHES TIT out tonight:AND THE Ghost and Wampasnannys fly. but how great
to be alive

 

[traderran]

Come on I know there are more storeys out there.

 

[traderran]

Come on I know you want to

 

[traderran]

OK Since no one has stepped up I will be your Huckleberry.
One time about 30 years ago I was on a camping trip to The
Sabine river. We went down the river to a old town that was abandon when the river changed is course and by passed the town back in
the late 1800 s . We found the place we were looking for. And
landed the boats an unloaded our stuff. We decided to go squirrel
hunting to get some fresh meat to make a mulligan. As we were walking in to the woods we found a old house and decided we would use this instead of putting up our tents. well we got quit a few squirrels
AND left 2 men at the old house to dress them. while the other three
went and got the stuff from the boats.. We then went about getting the house cleaned up and putting our gear inside. we had a good supper of
Squirrel mulligan. It was quite late by then so we set up our cots And went to bed an went to sleep as we had a hard hunt set for the morning
well about 1am we were awakened by the doors and windows opening and closing. At first we blamed the doors on the wind but then the doors started going up an down by themselves at this point we started grabbing gear an getting the he$$ out of there and running to the boats.
we went out to the home of our friend And spent the night on the porch as not to wake the household The next morning the father ask what had happened to our hunting camping trip. We told him the whole storey. Well he starts laughing and said you-all went to the old town and stayed at the old Miller place. And we told him that we had and what we had seen an herd.He then told us this had happened to him and some friends 20 years before said that place was haunted said he was told this by his grandmother before he went the first an last time.Well we have not been back to that old town since then and never will as far as I am concerned. I had enough of the old place.

That was over 30 years ago and we were all grown men
believe it or not if not go see for yourself if you dare