What was it?

The Hill Billy

I've read a few threads here describing "visits" that other posters have had & thought that I'd share my experience with you for what it is worth.

My wife & I were on honeymoon in Rome (staying here). One evening I was lying on the bed watching TV while Mrs Billy was in the bathroom beautifying herself when something caught my eye at the bathroom door (I thought she was walking back into the room). I turned towards the door only to see a dark shape.

The best I can describe it as being the same size & shape as a person around 5'6" to 5'8". It had a hazy outline & was a charcoal-grey colour but transparent. There were no features, not even the outline of limbs. It moved from the bathroom door, through the bed & through me towards the wall to my right. I don't know if it disappeared through the wall as I kept my eyes on the TV. (I thought - "Hill Billy - just ignore it & it'll be on its away.")

Anyway, that was that. Never saw it again in Rome & never mentioned it to the missus as she gets freaked out by the supernatural.

Fast forward a month or so & I am back in my apartment in Germany. (Commuting between there & our house in Skerries.) There I am again lying on my bed & watching a movie after a hard day's toil when who appears next to the TV only "my pal" from Rome. Kind of rattled - I seriously think that I am seeing things so I pick up a book & start reading (again thinking - "Just ignore it & it'll go away"). But no - it is still there each time I look up for a good 15 minutes or so.

(There may have been another incident in Germany, but I was too drunk to be quite sure.)

I decided to speak with my sister (who has an interest in such things) about "my pal". Even though I felt no badness from it during each visit, from the description - particularly the dark grey colour - she interpreted that it wasn't a necessarily benign thing. She strongly suggested that I needed to get rid of it if I saw it again.

Anyway, fast forward another 3 months & I am back home living in Skerries again. One mid-summer night (around 11:30/12:00) I'm out in the front garden having a smoke & there's my old mate at the end of the driveway. It is quite dark, but I can still see it clearly. Time now to put my sis's suggestions into practice to get rid of it. I took a mental picture of "my pal" & imagined bathing it in a white light of ever-increasing intensity until I was comfortable that my light overpowered its darkness. Once done I threw in a couple of "Hail Marys" for good measure.

Lo & behold - "my pal" was gone & I've not seen it for almost 5 years now.

It may or may not mean anything, but the last time I saw it while I was certain that it was the same "being" I'm sure that it was taller than the first time. Also, even though it didn't have any features (facial or body) - I am certain that it was looking at me each time I saw it.


So, have any of you any ideas what it may have been? If there's any more info you need let me know.

6th

FAct is that no one will be able to tell you for certain what it was but one thing I can tell you is that you handled it absolutely perfectly - A++.

You stayed calm and took in it your stride. Its when people start getting freaked over seeing things like this that the stress really has a negative affect on them - their sleeping, eating etc.

Spirits etc for the most part are harmless but the affects of experiencing them are not.

6th

Oh and this is a perfect example to show that spirits and hauntings are not just about places but can in alot of cases be about a person.

That said I dont think this guy had anything to do with you other than the fact that he noticed you noticed him ... and sure dont we all like a bit of attention?

sensitive_soul

I know IM going to sound really weird, but reading that I kept getting father or father FIGURE in my mind.....forgive me if your father is still living but that just kept coming to my mind as I read..

The Hill Billy

6th wrote:

FAct is that no one will be able to tell you for certain what it was but one thing I can tell you is that you handled it absolutely perfectly - A++.

Thanks 6th! I've experienced some other "unexplained events" that were totally harmless - even funny. (May post these later.) So that may have contributed to my calmness of the situation.

sensitive_soul wrote:

I know IM going to sound really weird, but reading that I kept getting father or father FIGURE in my mind.....forgive me if your father is still living but that just kept coming to my mind as I read..

I've heard weirder.
Grandpa Billy is alive & kicking, & there's no male that I could attribute to this spirit.
As a matter of fact now that I think about it I feel that the gender of the spirit had both male & female attributes. I can't say why though.

6th

Having both a male and female feel to it (or rather genderless) aswell as the looseness of the form reminds me of another 'entity' encountered by a few of use on a trip to Ross Castle ... Scraggy anyone?

I believe when entities begin to lose detail or certain attributes its done to how long they have been about. As the energy it once had starts to deplete it takes up a more energy efficent shape - possibly eventually becoming a "ghost ball' or orb and then gone .... would explain why we dont see any ghost dinosaurs!

Spirits dont stay around forever though when groups to a haunted area they charge it with their own energy and that can allow entities to hang around longer.

This might also explain why it was taller the more you saw it as the attention you gave it gave it form? Just some ideas.

WindSock

At least your not getting haunted by princess diana Thats what I've always wondered 6th, is there a time limit on spirits? Because a lot seem to go back to medieval times but no further. I wonder if its the same in other countries/cultures?

6th

I think they do go back further than the medieval times and that when we start to get distortion or a form which no longer resembles the form it hand in life. In my opinion they also get a better handle on things and like with the Scraggy incident they begin to behave in ways not expected.

The whole 'ghosts or knights, monks etc' stuff gets to me though. I personally get sick of hearing these stories ... some paranormal enthusiats seem to think people must have stopped dying 200 years ago as they are always seeing 'ye oldy' spirits. Just like that fact so many people have 'native american' spirit guides .... whats with that?

The Hill Billy

6th wrote:

I believe when entities begin to lose detail or certain attributes its done to how long they have been about. As the energy it once had starts to deplete it takes up a more energy efficent shape - possibly eventually becoming a "ghost ball' or orb and then gone .... would explain why we dont see any ghost dinosaurs!

...

This might also explain why it was taller the more you saw it as the attention you gave it gave it form? Just some ideas.

A very interesting hypothesis which has hints of vampyrism (sic?) about it.
The spirit feeding off my attention (energy?) to it allow it to grow or become stronger?.

Likewise, by envisioning the spirit bathed in light & causing that light to eliminate the spirit would infer that I - Hill Billy (a mere mortal) - have some manner of unexplained power to remove the spirit or cause it to be ineffective.

6th

Even mention vampire (though I understand why you did) gives it a negative conatation that people simple cant get away from.

Think of it terms of real people (because we're not that different) if you give someone attention and praise they will get more confident. Equally, starving someone of attention will tend to make them píss off - and thats how it works with unwanted people too "ignore them and they go away'.

6th

Hill Billy wrote:

Likewise, by envisioning the spirit bathed in light & causing that light to eliminate the spirit would infer that I - Hill Billy (a mere mortal) - have some manner of unexplained power to remove the spirit or cause it to be ineffective.

Just as using the word vampire has a negative feel to it, using the word eliminate has a very aggressive tone - though I cant blame you for your choice of words as I get where you're coming from.

Ghost 'hunting' and 'busting' are terms which I dont like at times either but seeing as i tend to be casual about it all i use them myself now and then.

Hill Billy, you do indeed have "POWAHS" but its the same as having power over people in your everyday life. We have the power to make people feel good or bad, to manipulative people and situations.

What you do have thats 'special' is to be aware of spirits & energy around you ... something anyone can do with practice. What you have that not enough others have is the ability to deal with these situations without over reacting ... therefore from this day your secret identity will be 'Captain Meh'.

beans

Interesting story. What strikes me is the method in which you dealt with it. I certainly would have had trouble acting so calm. But does the fact that you managed to deal with it using your mind and thoughts alone not suggest that whatever this manifestation was, that it came from within rather than without?

The spirit feeding off my attention (energy?) to it allow it to grow or become stronger?.

That it was a construct of your mind, which you banished using your mind?

It may not be this simple, but that seems the most logical explaination to me. Interesting phenomenon for sure.

The Hill Billy

I actually chose my words carefully in that post too.

I used "vampyrism" because I could relate what you had described back to tales of yore & the possibility that such tales derived from similar situations. Particularly where spirits were given too much attention by people who over-reacted to them. The subsequent stress of those encounters sapping their energy, thus making it seem as if the spirits were "draining" them.

As for "eliminate" - "vanish" & "disappear" felt too Paul Daniels-ish.


Captain Meh - LOL!!!:D

The Hill Billy

beans wrote:

Interesting story. What strikes me is the method in which you dealt with it. I certainly would have had trouble acting so calm. But does the fact that you managed to deal with it using your mind and thoughts alone not suggest that whatever this manifestation was, that it came from within rather than without?

That it was a construct of your mind, which you banished using your mind?

It may not be this simple, but that seems the most logical explaination to me. Interesting phenomenon for sure.

I know where you're coming from, but believe me - it wasn't my imagination. The instance in Germany confirmed that when I focused my attention on my book, but "my pal" was quite obviously still there in the far corner of the room each time I deliberately looked up.

beans

I didn't mean 'imagination', rather mind, psyche, whatever. You tried ignoring it in Germany and it persisted. You tried confronting it at home and it disappeared. Different things.

It's not that I think you imagined it, but that it was... I don't know, the manifestation of something that wouldn't be solved by being ignored, such as emotional pain? In the same way that if you try to surpress or ignore something painful that happened, it's going to hang around in your psyche, but if you make attempts to come to terms with it you may be more successful in dealing with it.

Did you really believe that ignoring this entity would work? I doubt it when first you tried it. Did you really believe that banishing it with light would work? From your OP I'm guessing yes. My thoughts were that it was this belief, this faith, that did the trick.

Just a thought.

The Hill Billy

Beans - My bad. Now I see what you mean.

When I ignored the entity in the first couple of instances it was more to show it that I wasn't going to be bothered or intimidated by it (if that was what its intentions were).

To be honest - it didn't bother me when it was around. As a matter of fact I thought that it was quite cool in a strange way to be followed around Europe by a "ghost". I only decided to get rid of it when my sister explained that it was not a "good" spirit & strongly advised that I should take action get rid of it.

As for it being a manifestation of "emotional pain" or somesuch - I don't think so. Life really couldn't have been rosier - I had just been married, we were expecting our first child, plenty of other good stuff going on.

The Hill Billy

With regards to the other "unexplained events" that I mentioned earlier - here's an example of what I had experienced.

Background: 5 days after my Nan died I moved to England (I had gotten a promotion at work). I was only there a couple of weeks when I had to come back home to work back in the Dublin office & stayed the weekend. It was my first opportunity to see my family after the funeral.

On the Saturday afternoon my Dad & I were alone in the house watching football on the TV in the living room. The living room runs the depth of the house. All is fine until my baby brothers toys, which are under the dining table at the far end of the room, start moving. I can clearly see bits of Lego & cars moving a couple of inches this way & that on the wooden floor. Then his ball rolls 18 to 20 feet from the far end of the room right up to the sofa myself & Dad are sitting on.

Me: Jesus! Did you see that?!
Dad: Oh, take no notice. That sh!t's been happening on & off over the past few weeks.

I'm fairly disturbed by this, but my Dad's reaction reassures me & I chill out.
Later that evening a blow-up globe that had been sitting on a dresser slides off & bounces across the floor.

The following morning there's me, my Mum & the baby in the house. The others have gone to mass. I come down to the kitchen to make a pot of coffee & my Mum tells me that there is enough water for a shower if I want one. Grand so. Mum & the baby go to the local shops. While they are out I have cup of coffee, slice of toast & a smoke. I do not leave the kitchen. They come back 15/20 minutes later. My Mum says, "I thought you were only having a shower - why is the bath running?" I notice then the sound of the water running. I run upstairs to find the bath almost full.

I didn't leave the kitchen. There's no-one else in the house. If my Mum had started the bath before she left it would have overspilled. WTF?!

My Mum told me that she regularly would find her various items turned upside down around the house after she had used them when no-one else was in the house. All told, whatever was going on was harmless & seemed to be "playful" & that has given me a balanced view of unexplained events since. It isn't all Wes Craven sh!t that goes on.

I mentioned earlier that my Nan died shortly before all this started happening. One thing I am sure of is that it wasn't her doing this carry-on around the house. She was a rather strict person, very set in her ways & not one for "messing about". I can't picture her digging stuff out of old boxes buried in the bottoms of wardrobes & leaving it in very obvious places around the house just to try & freak my Mum out.

nicolo

k hate to be the skeptic here (im not skeptic in anyway but i like to try explain away things, that said just giving possible examples
I noticed that all three experience where when you had been looking at something bright (the sun going down reflects off things you might not realize)
right I've had a similar experience to yours with regards the shadow. and i noticed it only happened if id been watching tv or sitting outside with the sun going down or even glinting off something it can create a dead spot in your vision. like if someone shines alight in your eye and you go blind. i remember bein in a gaff down in Wexford which had a kind of back patio thing looking over the sea and the moon was full and it was a clear night and i was looking up at the moon for ages and then i went inside and seen what i can only describe as a long shadow moving around with me in my peripheral vision. then i copped that what gave it its human shape was the head was the blur on my eye from looking at the moon and the body was the glare of the reflection off the sea, was rightly freaked out till i realized what it was. also if you closed your eyes while you where doing the banishing you might have relaxed your eyes.
also the Lego moving has happened in my parents house too(not lego so much as objects on the floor and round objects up higher) but only when there was construction work going on,you couldn't feel any vibrations through the floor but things would only ever move when construction was going on. and it was going on the complete other end of the street!.
The bath and the mysterious appearing objects are harder to explain away. cool story.

The Hill Billy

Nicolo:

Believe me - I tried to think of rational explanations for each incident myself, but am at a loss. With regards to the possibility of a visual disturbance being responsible for the visitations - not a goer I'm afraid. Lighting was different in each instance. Rome - Dimly-lit interior. Germany - Brightly-lit interior. Home - Dark & cloudy with no moon.

As for some construction nearby work making the objects move - you may have something there. The movements/antics did carry on for some months though. My folks eventually spoke one of the local priests (a friend of theirs) about it & asked if any action should be taken - just in case it was being caused by a malign spirit.

He said that as it was apparently playful & no-one was getting freaked out by it there was no need. However, he did bless the house & things came to an end pretty soon after.