This post deals with the paranormal, just so you know before reading it

[ThirdGenRetail]

She has also tried to play fetch with the dog in the cemetery. Bubbles ran off, when I caught up with her, she grabbed my hand and took me down one of the aisles saying "Look, a big doggy! Hiiii doggy!" I asked what colour it is and she said "Is black doggy, happy black doggy." *picks up stick and throws* "Fetch doggy! Oh, he no play. Aww happy doggy!" Considering that it was standing between her and a sharp drop into a fast river near a weir, I'm taking it as protective apparition rather than a bad omen.

At first I thought that might have been a black dog/grim(Bad omen), but the wiki article led me to the Church Grim, so I think that may be what Bubbles came across. Which I'd guess is a good thing, because they're supposed to be attendant spirits to their particular church. Either way, I'd say your notion that it was being protective was a good notion, because it stood between Bubbles and the river, instead of chasing the stick. [/offtopic]

I've always had this feeling of being watched at night... It's part of why I hate being outside... In the dark... Alone... *Ulp* I tend to have a LOT of lights on, finding security in them for it. But before we moved here, that's all it was - Feeling watched(Though I may have been hallucinating it, I swear I saw this iiiiiitty bitty tiny cat or something in my sister's desk once when I was about 8 or so and wanted to 'camp' in her room).

And then we moved here...

One night, while I waited for my mother to come home(This was back in 2002, so I was 15-ish at the time), and at the time, we only had one cat(Tex - We now have... Four or five... *Headscratch*), and neither of the dogs we have now. Now, Tex is off on my left, and I swear, as I sat there relaxing in the chair, this HUGE BLACK SHAPE darted across the floor It looked like a rat out of the corner of my eye, but it was almost as big as my CAT! I look over, and....

Nothing.

About a year later, I had another experience. Now, I know this wasn't my mother, because she's worse at chess than I am(I proclaim 'novice/beginner' status on my abilities with it). I had the glass chess set set up on the table, because I intended to teach my mother to play... Or try to. Well, I come home from school after a couple days, and a piece had moved! So I moved one... Eh, why not? A few days later, another one moved! I made another move...

And then I think I scared whatever it was off by leaving a little note that said "Your go". Made me sad, actually... First game of chess NOT against a computer in a while, and I scared my mysterious opponent off. If I knew where all the pieces have escaped to and didn't worry about my animals knocking everything over, I'd set it up and try again.

Also, still get that 'I know it feels like/Someone is WATching meeee' feeling.

[ThirdGenRetail]

And after reading further through the thread after Mishi's post, I remembered something my mother and I shared when we lived up in Washington.

Before we moved, we rented a three-bedroom house. Nothing abnormal, really(Though that's where I started getting the 'I feel watched' feelings, particularly in the garage and my bedroom. The latter wasn't helped by the fact I had a Chewbaca standup, and... Yeah, that's startling to wake up to every morning, even knowing that it's there ). Well, one evening, I don't remember what I was doing, possibly playing with my stuffed animals, but I was in my bedroom, on my bed... And I heard this huge, VERY loud CAW outside my bedroom window I hurried to my mother and asked if she heard it - And she said she HAD It was like the BIGGEST crow ever had cawed outside my window! *Faint*

[Misanthropical]

I am 41 years old and I'm terrified of the dark. I mean complete panic attack if I'm alone in a completely dark room, all because of my experiences with the paranormal growing up. Mr. Mis understands this and doesn't mind that I need a night light.

I told Mr. Mis about my "gift" before we were engaged and some of my quirks. He told me he didn't have a problem with my "gift" even though he was a skeptic when we were first married (not anymore) and that my quirks are part of what makes me adorable.

He knows that when I tell him about things I have experienced here in our home it isn't because I'm trying to freak him out but because I enjoy talking about it with someone who believes me.

[Mishi]

@ThirdGenRetail: Yeah, it didn't make me feel sick so I wasn't worried.

@Mis: Just wondering if your shadow people looked like the Grim Reaper, minus the scythe and with darkness where the face should be.

[Cazzi]

I don't think I've had any paranormal happenings in my past, but then again, I don't seem to have the recall of my past most people do. I have fairly large gaps if I try to think back and only seem to remember odd bits & pieces that have happened within those gaps.

I live in this house with 2 older kids who spend a fair bit of their time in their rooms doing their own things. My son also has the habit of coming downstairs & poking me in the ribs when I'm sat at my computer with my headphones on and my back to the window.. really wish he wouldn't do that.

Saying that, lately I have quite often felt there is someone behind me about to touch my shoulder or something when there is no one there; or someone is passing me just not quite out of my range of vision. This is sometimes accompanied by the sound of someone clearing their throat.
Given in mind my sons habit of poking me in the ribs, at first I thought I was just tensing up waiting for that to happen, but it doesn't feel like it, I can feel the hairs on the back of my neck start to stand up. Similar for the movement, I could put it down to someone on the street outside or the tree in my front garden waving, but it doesn't feel like it!

I also feel very uneasy if I am in a room on my own with the doors that lead to an exit from the house closed. Hell, I even leave the bathroom door slightly ajar while I'm in there and cannot sleep in my bed with my bedroom door shut; although if I have company, the door being shut isn't a problem.

Typing this up also seems to have triggered a sort of memory. In my teens I sometimes had flashes of things just before they happened. Not often & I don't think anything major, but odd all the same.

[Misanthropical]

@ThirdGenRetail: Yeah, it didn't make me feel sick so I wasn't worried.

@Mis: Just wondering if your shadow people looked like the Grim Reaper, minus the scythe and with darkness where the face should be.

The one I saw during sleep paralysis did sort of look like that. It was bad enough when I just sensed evil during sleep paralysis it's a whole different kettle of fish when I "see" evil during it. When I was growing up, I had sleep paralysis and never saw a thing and didn't until a few years ago when I kept seeing that thing by the book case.

I forgot to ask my sleep specialist why during sleep paralysis it's always something evil people sense or see. It's never a warm fuzzy feeling. And, if it is just as sleep disorder why people all over the world see the same thing? Not everyone sees a shadow person but a lot do. Not everyone sees an old hag but a lot do. Why is that?

The shadow person my little guy saw just looked like a regular man that was darker than the a dark room would be. The little guy wasn't afraid of it since it just looked in the room he was in from the hallway and then left.

I saw one in the parking lot one night that just looked like a regular man walking by, but darker than the night. That is when I decided that the little guy and I had looked at the stars long enough and we should get in as fast as we could. I also saw a shadow cat (not a regular black cat, since I don't get a sense of evil off of them) and Oscar (the stray we played with) saw it too, hissed and ran into hiding, that is when I decided Oscar had the right idea and the little guy and I went back inside as fast as we could.

[Mishi]

I'm sure that I've posted about it before, but that's the type that I saw as a kid and it once tried to get me to follow it into a closed room with a hard to open door. I only ever saw them after worse than usual fights with my mother. I told her about them and she said that they were demons sent to tempt me due to my bad behaviour, the 'fact' that she was at war with the local coven and I was weakening her spiritually by misbehaving so they were trying to turn me to their side, that I needed to submit to her authority and pray a lot in order to stay safe. Yeah, I had an uber-pentecostal childhood too; it really sucks that I didn't see just how bad she was until I stopped talking to her and started feeling safe enough to go "Hang on, this is not normal and this is not how any child should ever be treated."

[Misanthropical]

I was scared spitless as a child because of the whole "spirits are really demons" thing. Of course, some of them were scary and would yell at me so that made me believe that they could all be demons.

When I left the church and home is when I started to fully believe that yes, there is really evil things out there but most of the spirits were not evil or demons.

I do fully believe that the shadow people are pure evil though.

[Sapphire Silk]

Panacea, that's seriously freaky. Did the counselor ever explain why she turned around so soon?

She said that she felt something was wrong as soon as she stepped on shore . . . and it got worse with every step. "Something doesn't want us here," was how she ended the conversation. We really didn't want to talk much about it as it was dark, and the next day everyone just wanted to forget the whole thing.

The temperature actually dropped a bit. It had been in the 70's all day . . . then felt like it was in the 40's, until we got far enough away.

I don't know what was in that house . . . and I'm glad I didn't find out.

[Amusement Gal]

Speaking of Pixies... My stones (mostly Amethyst and Quartz, luffs them so much) go missing on occasion. I mean, eventually I find them, but I can't help but wonder if I have some playful roommates that like to borrow them. That, and I have an Amethyst rock that no matter what, as soon as I found it, would be missing by the time I wake up in the morning. It's been about a year, and I still can't find the damned thing! I think it doesn't like me... And this isn't a separate incident. It's only that stone, and it always goes missing for months on end, and then I find it in some rinky-dink place I already looked eons ago. I think it's missing for good now.

Aside from that and being paranoid when I'm alone and it's dark, the only other main thing is a slight feeling of being watched sometimes (I openly admit that I have an overactive imagination. This is probably most of the cases), and seeing an orb on the day I moved to my boyfriend's house. Still think Grandma said 'Hi'.

[dragon_wings]

I'm not very aware of the paranormal but I respect those that do. Both my boyfriend and my ex girlfriend are aware of the paranormal. I'd like to think I'm more aware then I used to be but I can't say for sure. I know I'm a lot more open to it then I was and I know to be cautious.

[Moogles]

Wow. My whole family is sensitive in some way. My mom can sense what is wrong with people, its what makes her such a good nurse. She can look at a baby and give an exact time that they'll go into cardiac arrest (she did that in front of a doctor once, never again did that doctor question my mother ordering meds). She knew I was pregnant before I even did, and she has some sort of sense of things that have happened.

My aunt can see auras. She described the aura of a girl in her class as being a rainbow mohawk. Turns out the girl had epilepsy.

My brother can sense things, but he has chosen to ignore it.

It's hard to tell who's more sensitive to things, myself or my mother. I think my beliefs (I'm a spiritualist) make me more aware of whats happening. Ex: We had to put our first dog down because he went insane. That night, I woke up to him sitting on my bed looking very sad. To this day I think he visited to let me know he was sorry for snapping at me. I can sort of see the future. I get these dreams about what will happen, and I get to know what my possible choices are, BUT I only see the outcome of one choice. These used to make me pass out when they came true, now I only get a little dizzy. The spirit of my grandmother is in my house, but as an angel. Whenever I pay certain songs on my piano, I feel her there, and when I turn around I see the most beautiful wings moving away from me.

My husband was a little skeptical about all this when we were dating. After the first few times that I told him I knew exactly what he had gotten me for gifts, he admitted defeat:P He knows he can't surprise me.

My daughter is sensitive as well. We co-slept with her shortly after she was born (and yes, we had a proper bassinet in the bed). One day she woke up and shrieked. I turned around, and there was the ghost of my husband's great-uncle in the door to our room. I told him that while I understood he wanted to check on her, right now it was scaring her. He left and she calmed down immediately.

[isitdeadyet]

I've had a host of strange things happen to me and my friends over the years. The creepiest being the animals of unnatural size. I've seen rabbits the size a german shepherds, monstrous coyotes and other size mismatching. There are quite a few reservations in these parts and I've heard enough about skin-walkers to just happily go the other way, quickly.

When I was younger some friends and I got a very, very stupid idea in our heads to do a seance. We started around midnight and everything didn't fizzle out until well into the early morning around 5 or 6. It had only felt like half an hour. The details are fuzzy, since it was so long ago, but I remember seeing a wolf out the second story window and hearing this...humming. The weird thing is I had heard it before I didn't place in until weeks later. It was the same song I heard being whistled out from behind my TV when I was the only one awake.

We also seem to have extra pets and have learned when we call our dogs in to never, ever just say everyone. Did that once and there were four dogs and we only have three. It's the same with our cats. We don't count the cats. When, Modern Warfare, i think came out my husband got the night vision goggles and was mucking about with them and I guess peeked into the bedroom. I was asleep at the time, but her told me there were two cats in the bedroom and one in the living room. Quill was in the living room and Pru, my cat, was sleeping above my head. We only had the two so cat number three was worrisome.

[protege]

I was asleep at the time, but her told me there were two cats in the bedroom and one in the living room. Quill was in the living room and Pru, my cat, was sleeping above my head. We only had the two so cat number three was worrisome.

Maybe the previous resident had a cat that died in the residence?

I too have a ghost kitty. Snow, my 2-year-old, deaf (but very sweet) white kitty had a heart attack, and died in my kitchen. Before she died, she seemed very happy here, especially when you consider that she spent quite awhile in the shelter before I adopted her. Nobody wanted a "defective" cat. From what I was told, she spent months in the shelter...and would have probably been put to sleep had I not adopted her. So, it's only natural that she would "stick around."

After she died, I never saw her directly--she always showed up as a white flash, usually running in and out of the living room. It's been awhile since she's made herself known. But, I do think that my current kitties can see her...and will chase her around the house

Snow can stay as long as she likes.

[Eireann]

My darling kitty has made her presence known to me. She developed an odd smell (no doubt due to the virus), which left when she did. At least four times, I've encountered that same smell, and I know it's not my other kitty. I've also seen her out of the corner of my eye at least once.

And I'm so glad.