something weird happened last night

[hold-on-one-minute-please]

Something weird happened last night and I thought this might be an interesting place to mention it.

Last night my wife – who is about as pragmatic as they get - went downstairs to our basement and saw a shadow figure. My wife was on the landing about to go down 5 more steps. It was only about 6 feet away and it traversed about 10 feet left to right. It went from an area that did had a bit of light into an area in which there was absolutely none. She said it was a solid mass that she couldn’t see anything through.

No lights were on down there at the time. There are three windows. One is totally blocked and the other two are obscured. There are cars and other light sources in the neighborhood, and light coming in from upstairs. Also, I am renovating that basement and it is stripped right down to the concrete walls. The only things in there are lumber and tools. It’s pretty much wide open.

I’ve heard of Pareidolia, and I know there is an obscure term for seeing things out of the corner of your eye that has to do with the way your eyeballs are constructed. So, can anyone offer some ideas about this?

I’ve lived here for 17 years and have never had the slightest inkling of anything similar. I do not believe this place is haunted – what self-respecting entity would haunt a raised ranch? However, this is one of those cases where someone utterly credible saw something really odd and it had us both scratching our heads. WTF ?

 

[Stagger Lee]

interesting coincidence, in that I believe last night's episode of "Monster's and Mysteries" on channel Destination America featured a piece about the elusive shadow people. I was not able to view, due to weather conditions fouling up my reception- but the title of the program led me to believe they went over as much. Did your wife happen to watch that program? Did she believe there was an intruder (As that would be anyones first thought) before dashing up the stairs to safety?

 

[Stagger Lee]

Edit for a double post..

 

[hold-on-one-minute-please]

interesting coincidence, in that I believe last night's episode of "Monster's and Mysteries" on channel Destination America featured a piece about the elusive shadow people. I was not able to view, due to weather conditions fouling up my reception- but the title of the program led me to believe they went over as much. Did your wife happen to watch that program? Did she believe there was an intruder (As that would be anyones first thought) before dashing up the stairs to safety?

No, we weren't watching any of that. In fact, she has no interest in those sorts of shows. Dancing With The Stars maybe. She's not a Paracast listener and just smiles when I repeat something I've heard along those line. She is the last person I ever expected to say something like that, and this house is the last place in the world I would even think of something like that happening. I believe her.

I was asleep on the couch. She thought it was an intruder and was annoyed because I wasn't taking it seriously. I wasn't taking it seriously because this is a small house and it's not that easy to break into. If someone did I would have heard it and the dog would have gone nuts. So, I went an looked...and failed to see a swirling transdimensional portal, green slime or anything like that.

I have spent several hours per day for the past several days down there framing, running electric and so forth. Maybe it's some sort of paranormal building inspector. Definitely peculiar. Frankly I really didn't know what to make of it and figured this is the one place I can mention it where someone may have a useful comment.

 

[Bob Watson]

when I was at the Winchester house I saw a "shadow panther" out of the coner of my eye.. I was very odd somewhat like what he saw.

 

[hold-on-one-minute-please]

when I was at the Winchester house I saw a "shadow panther" out of the coner of my eye.. I was very odd somewhat like what he saw.

Likely there is just something natural going on here. I've had periods of sleep deprivation, and after about two days on my feet I've had visual and auditory 'blips' or hallucinations - just quick things you think you see or hear. If mechanisms like that exist within us, maybe there are triggers other than exhaustion.

This is one of those minor WTF instances I suppose.

 

[Stagger Lee]

A good question to ask- was this significant enough to make your wife interested in subjects considered "unexplained"? Has she been hesitant to venture into the basement since?

 

[Randall]

Something weird happened last night and I thought this might be an interesting place to mention it.

Last night my wife – who is about as pragmatic as they get - went downstairs to our basement and saw a shadow figure. My wife was on the landing about to go down 5 more steps. It was only about 6 feet away and it traversed about 10 feet left to right. It went from an area that did had a bit of light into an area in which there was absolutely none. She said it was a solid mass that she couldn’t see anything through.

No lights were on down there at the time. There are three windows. One is totally blocked and the other two are obscured. There are cars and other light sources in the neighborhood, and light coming in from upstairs. Also, I am renovating that basement and it is stripped right down to the concrete walls. The only things in there are lumber and tools. It’s pretty much wide open.

I’ve heard of Pareidolia, and I know there is an obscure term for seeing things out of the corner of your eye that has to do with the way your eyeballs are constructed. So, can anyone offer some ideas about this?

I’ve lived here for 17 years and have never had the slightest inkling of anything similar. I do not believe this place is haunted – what self-respecting entity would haunt a raised ranch? However, this is one of those cases where someone utterly credible saw something really odd and it had us both scratching our heads. WTF ?

My first thought would be a shadow effect from a moving light outside such as a car's headlamps in the distance sweeping past the window and throwing a moving shadow. In the dark such a shadow might resemble a figure enough for the mind to fill in the blanks. That being said, I've caught glimpses of shadow figures as well as what most people would call an apparition, so stranger things than that do happen. I wouldn't be too concerned about it, but might raise my alert level up a notch to see if the phenomena repeats itself.

When we moved into our present residence, we had a situation where car headlamps coming down in the alley behind the house would shine through the window at the back and all the way up through to the triple pane picture window in the living room where it would reflect back to the living room couch in a sort of Disney ghost house fashion that made the lights appear to be outside the window at the front of the house. Once in a while it still catches me off guard. So the possibility of an illusion shouldn't be dismissed to quickly.