Tales of the unexpected

Thirty years ago my brother in law died in an accident. It was a terrible time. My little niece, his daughter, then aged two was in the back of my car one day shortly after. While parked at the kerb she looked out the window and began to smile and wave. I looked to see who was there but the pavement was empty. I asked her who she was waving to and she answered, 'My daddy'. She was very happy to see him.

Oh dear, poor little girl, that made me feel so sad. What an awful time for you all. I'm so sorry.

It was a nice (but disconcerting for me) moment. She was very happy though which was a blessing.

There’s so much we don’t know or can’t explain, my feeling is that I don’t know if there’s a life after this one, I personally have had one experience whilst in hospital very ill. I know it happened, but when I told my close family they said it was imagination due to meds. I know it wasn’t so I never mentioned it again.

In 1984 I was staying at a friend's house in the Suffolk countryside. I decided to go out for a run on a beautiful sunny afternoon and was jogging along a long stretch of road with fields on either side. There were no cars or houses around me. I became aware of a presence behind me and looked behind me. About twenty feet away was a cyclist on a racing bike. He had blonde hair and wore glasses. He was dressed in a tee shirt and shorts. I looked forward again and waited for him to pass me but he didn't. I stopped and walked back along the road but he definitely wasn't there and he couldn't have turned off as there were no side roads or paths.

On our way to meet friends for lunch we drove past a lovely farm shop, crates of fruit and veg laid outside, a red and white striped canopy to keep the sun off them.

We were running late and the pub was just a mile up the road so I said we ought to call there on the way back.

Never did find it again.

When I was a child I went with my mum to visit some people who had twin girls. I played outside with them and fell in nettles and was stung badly. Several years later I mentioned the event to my mum and she said she didn't know anyone with twins and that I hadn't fallen in nettles. I know for certain that it happened. My mum was not a forgetful person, so it's always baffled me.

Similar thing as PerkyPiggy. - went for a walk in a country lane - there was a young man 20 feet behind me, jogging. I expected him to pass me but when I turned, he was gone!!!

I have many tales of strange happenings from the antiques world.

I collect Islamic furniture. Many years ago I bought an Islamic corner cupbored inlaid with mother of pearl and carved with Islamic writing. It was very distinctive. Fortunately the delivery and the purchase were insured (I paid with a cc) because it was stolen from the van on the way from London. The driver had parked in central London to do a delivery and carelessly left the vehicle unlocked.

A few years later I was in the antiques quarter of Brussels when I felt impelled to enter a dingy antiques shop to look around. Something led me to poke about in the back of the shop. There I saw "my" corner cupboard with a couple of chairs in the same style. It was priced quite a lot cheaper than the London price and I bought it immediately and paid for ttransport back to my city. We were still in the EU then so there were no customs charges.

I believe that the cupboard led me to the shop and then called out to me through time and space to find it, because it was always meant to belong to me. I still have it together with the matching chairs.

Thanks for all your tales of the unexpected. It makes me feel so much better and hopefully confirms I’m not losing it. 👍

I don't think you are NanKate. My Gran had a near death experience once and she never feared death again. It was a very positive experience.

Thanks Aveline that’s good to know.

Many years ago I was on holiday in Cornwall with the boyfriend of the time, we'd been together for nearly four years. We were waiting on a step outside the main door of a stately home when I experienced the sensation of a very fine mesh curtain falling down between us. I didn't say anything at the time but a few months later I discovered he had started seeing someone else just before that holiday and had eventually decided she was the one he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.

Last night, I woke up at 3 as I could feel the other side of my bed lift as if someone had gotten out of it. I live alone. I was frozen with fear then only a moment later felt someone get back into the bed beside me.
This has happened before.
This morning, when I checked my health app it did indeed show that I had lain awake for a full hour from 3 till 4 so I was not dreaming? Any explanation?

A few days after my DH funeral, I was awoken in the night by a big crash somewhere in the house (I was alone).
Nothing could frighten me at that moment as the worst had happened. I didn’t get up and went back to sleep.
In the morning, I found a large oil painting had fallen off the wall, bits of glass damaging it. It had been in his family for nearly a hundred years.
I hope it wasn’t a rebuke!

Happygirl I have something similar and live alone.
I feel movement as if under the bed or by my side and there’s no accounting for it at all.
Having said that, my son as a boy wouldn’t sleep in the room I’m using as he said it gave him the creeps.
Later on my dear mother died in it. I’m staying there regardless…

@hollysteers . It's weird. I am in shock and too afraid to move when this happens . I don't feel it's a threatening presence as such . But it's unsettling. It has happened a few times. It's always someone rising from my bed. The mattress is uncompressed as if someone is rising up from it and getting out of bed and then compressed as if someone is lying on the bed.
But as I said there's is no explanation for this as I live alone. I try not to be scared, but it's unsettling.

Not quite the same but there is a row of old houses along part of a route we travel when heading for Oxford.
Every time we pass them I go cold and feel as if I am about to cry.
No idea why this should happen as I have ( as far as I know) no connection to the area.

Hi NanKate,
It's always possible that you've made a mistake and convinced yourself that the antique shop was there before .
But it's possible that you've time travelled as Aldom suggests .
I've had a few of these strange experiences .
I used to find them quite unnerving , but now I just accept them .
I'm careful not to mention them to certain friends as they ridicule them .

Happygirl79, your experience sounds like some sort of parasomnia, something that occurs in a state between sleeping and waking.

Esmay I have only travelled on that road 3 or 4 times and the little row of shops was never there before when I passed in the car as a passenger. It was very clear the ‘vision’ I saw and I commented immediately to DH that I was surprised at having shops just out of the village centre.

My mum often saw things and my son when he was small, but I never have until last week, very curious.

I do believe you !

I never mention my strange experiences to anyone as they think I'm eccentric !

We moved into a small shabby house when I was a child .
I had one of those mothers , who was either pursuing her career or socialising .
A long illness made her house bound and she became quite unnerved .
Eventually , my grandma said, so you've sensed our ghost , have you ?

Our neighbours were rather unfriendly, but eventually when they thawed out we learnt that a poor 15 year old girl had died from TB and neglect in the house .
She always seemed to lurk on the stairs .
She used to be around you if you weren't well .
She used to freak out any pet that we had .

When I was about 15 and boys became interested in me - I found her presence unpleasant as if she were jealous .
And then , she disappeared never to return .

Years later , in my first house I used to wake up at 3.00 am every morning to hear loud discordant noises as if people were trapped in the walls with drums and pipes and then , truly frightening figures would drift across the room .
Some house guests experienced it and some didn't .

During the day , I couldn't use the fantastic artist's studio that the house had , because it was so icy even when when it was hot .

I was glad to leave it !

I recently had an unexplained experience. Woke up and tried to get the day, date, and whose turn it was to make the early morning cuppa straight in my head. Got out of bed, I always sit there for a minute (vertigo) then I noticed a light near the door and I was trying to work out who left the landing light on, when an Asian woman (dressed in western clothes) appeared and she frantically wanted me to look down at a child which was lying across her thighs, it was beautiful with a full head of black hair. I was thinking, I don't know anyone Asian and when I looked back at her face she disappeared. Strange but I was definitely awake.

Very scary.

Two very scary stories.

I definitely prefer life being ordinary and lacking these eerie happenings.