What's Been Up (latest Encounters)

I've had a few brief experiences since I last wrote on this site and I thought to share. Those who seek thrill and horror should immediately look elsewhere. I think my posts will turn up so mundane, you will fall asleep. However, you might see a nightmare then if you're lucky.

Last October/November (who can remember...) we had some strange vibe in our house. First of all, out of blue (without any particular context) I recalled YGS site which I hadn't thought about for a long long time. I didn't make anything of it and didn't visit here either. Then we started having strange noises in the house which could all be explained away by the heating. It had just gotten colder and the house has to get used to the hot air in the pipes. Much like love...

But our cat also acted strange. We took him in recently and he has had quite a troubled past so he's generally anxious. But he's very fond of the kitchen. Sometimes he sleeps there not to accidentally miss a mealtime. Those days he started acting frightened/aggressive in the kitchen area, running away from there suddenly or not wanting to enter despite food promise (very very suspicious behaviour...) And sometimes he would stare over my shoulder into empty space with eyes focused and attentive. As I was preoccupied at the time with life drama, I was not that scared because I simply felt a potential ghost behind my back was comparatively much less of a problem than the troubles I was having in my head.

I also felt weird while cooking meals. I like to spend loads of time alone in silence and unexpectedly sing or dance a little. I couldn't be doing that freely at the time. I felt like my privacy was being intruded and kept my jolly outbursts to my room (I'm a very versatile human being and I have jolly outbursts even during times of sadness if you started wondering...).

I suddenly remembered it was actually the time of year when our pagan faith used to leave little bits of food on table for the dead who come to visit at nights. It's supposed to be a period in seasonal passage when the "gates" are not so tightly shut and our ancestors can come to be shocked and awed by how little we have learned from them. Our family doesn't do that. Nor leave food, nor learn from our ancestors. We always say we should but we never do. To both.

My mom can hear spirits, at least she says she can. She's not a very trustworthy lady, I'm afraid. However, she doesn't really tend to invent lies. She just takes the truth and applies it as make-up. I asked her if she was noticing anything unusual lately and she said - yes, she has.

That night I also heard footsteps. I thought it was my Dad who is not satisfied with smoking 16/24. He aspires to use the entirety of his lifetime for this activity. But it was just one or two isolated footsteps on our small staircase which is very noisy (I'm sorry I forget but it was one or two, not more). Nothing followed for me to tell who it was. You know, Dad's cough, door opening, Mom sighing. I was busy crying my eyes out so an entity which was not there to console me and to pass me a handkerchief and camomile tea didn't interest me much.

All the noises went away in a week's time. Now I can sometimes sense something "out of place" but it's not that tense and I'm not even sure it has anything to do with ghosts.

Then I got depressed again. I seem to have my encounters when I am feeling really low. I also seem to be less scared of these experiences when I am depressed. I went for a walk in the park to let the woodpeckers cheer me up and I noticed a younger guy ahead of me. He looked like one of those guys who are quite nice and cordial and frequent the gym but then they get drunk and steal a car and drive it into a lake or something. As far as I noticed, he was wearing a simple black and white winter jacket with a hoodie and he was carrying something over his shoulder. To describe the manner of it, I should say - it's like when you carry sports shoes and wish to look like you are too cool to be true or when Santa Claus carries his gift bag. He walked behind a tree or electricity post, I'm not sure which. I inspected him briefly to determine what kind of face I should put on (I felt like my actual expression would frighten even a second-term prisoner).

Then I looked away (to focus on my face) and when I looked back he was gone as if he walked behind the post and never came out on the other side. Now, there are some people in our town who would like to run away from me quickly like that... But after the initial upset-stomach-kind-of-shock I inspected the scene and realized he would have to be lightening fast. And nobody hates me THAT much:) There's that "Oh it's her, now there's an interesting shop to look into..." kind of avoidance but nothing more. Also it's winter and it's very easy to see through the trees. There's just one way he could've escaped my company - a downward path to the river. He wasn't there as I looked and it was quite further away. He was also walking in the opposite direction.

All this encounter had this strange feeling to it. As he wasn't paying me any attention, to spare my feelings (because I consider myself very pretty to look at), I assume he might have been a "replay" of a scene from different time, not a conscious entity. But I felt like (this might be my post-factum imagination) the entire scene was out of place. You know, during my walks I meet people and I talk to them about their dogs and stuff. Usually I can recall with some clarity where I met them and for how long we talked. In this occasion I can't measure it in my memory. I can't say - it was about 2 minutes and it was around here, a meter or less.

There is a different sense to these memories. It felt like in this case the time and space were somehow distorted. My grasp of space and the time passing corrupted somehow. Does that make sense? Like it's foggy or expanded. It should have been brief but in my memory it feels like a much longer time. I know all the trees and stones there to the heart but when I have to place myself and the guy in this surrounding, the scenery feels distorted like the distances are not real. I was wondering exactly about these sensations and I would appreciate comments on them. I could be just the adrenaline factor, though.

I continued my walk periodically looking over my shoulder. I also prayed for the guy if that was a soul. It wasn't really out of pure heart. More like "God bless you, now leave me alone". I have never seen him since and I walk there almost everyday.

For those compassionate souls, I am feeling quite fine. I'm just passing some stressful life exams. Which have definitely made me funnier and, hopefully, wiser.

Thank you for your attention and possible insight.

Ieva