A true tale of the supernatural

[Vic Vega]

Or so I've been told.

The bass player, singer, and I were talking before band practice last week and the bass player told me this story.

He and his wife were staying at his grandparent's house on Cape Cod. The house is very old and many people who stayed or lived there have reported experiencing various paranormal occurences. He and his wife were asleep in bed when they both woke up to find a glowing ball of golden light floating at the foot of the bed. He asked his wife if she saw it also. She said she did. After about a minute, the orb floated out the door of the room. When they woke up in the morning he asked his wife if she remembered seeing it. She said that she did.

I really didn't have much to say about the story and wanted to get to work practicing so I just shrugged my shoulders. He knows I'm a skeptic and don't believe in ghosts. He said that he would have thought it was a dream if his wife hadn't been there and seen it also.

What would you have said about that story?

 

[Maia]

If I were you, I would head on over to the "New Explanation of Paranormal Experiences" thread I started (well, that's close to the actual name; I can't remember exactly what it is.) I think there's actually a very good explanation for phenomena exactly like the one you just described, and we're discussing it over there.

 

[ugot2bekidding]

I find it odd that two people would see a golden orb floating at the foot of their bed, and then continue sleeping and wait till the morning to discuss it.

 

[Epok]

I find it odd that two people would see a golden orb floating at the foot of their bed, and then continue sleeping and wait till the morning to discuss it.

I wonder about that also. Something like that would keep me up for awhile. Also, its anecdotal evidence which is not very trustworthy.

 

[ImaginalDisc]

I find it odd that two people would see a golden orb floating at the foot of their bed, and then continue sleeping and wait till the morning to discuss it.

I call shenanigans on that very basis.

 

[MikeSun5]

I find it odd that two people would see a golden orb floating at the foot of their bed, and then continue sleeping and wait till the morning to discuss it.

Imagine him waking his wife up and her saying, "Oh that thing? Ugh. Stupid floating golden orb. I'm too tired to deal with a first-hand, once-in-a-lifetime paranormal experience. Wait until it leaves and go back to sleep."

Anyway, I'll give the OP my opinion on what actually went down that fateful evening in Cape Cod...

The bass player goes to Cape Cod to visit his grandparents and he and the wife get bored. He and the wife want to party, but they don't want to offend the grandparents. They weigh thier options: R&B (reefer & booze) make you smell, while MDMA and LSD make your pupils look crazy. So they decide to go for a walk in the woods and the rest is history.

 

[LightningStrike]

Often psychic things come in the overlapping condition between the sleep and wake state.

You know the time when you have half-woken and you are in the senses but the brain hasn't gone clunk, that's when psychic things can appear. They are registered within and without simultaneously, so it is not clear where the psychic vision is appearing, outside me or within me, all I know is that I am awake and the room is physical.

The one in the OP sounds quite benign and I am not surprised that they went back to sleep straight away. It is like that, there is nothing to think about, it has all been taken in by consciousness.

 

[Ashles]

Often psychic things come in the overlapping condition between the sleep and wake state.

You know the time when you have half-woken and you are in the senses but the brain hasn't gone clunk, that's when psychic things can appear. They are registered within and without simultaneously, so it is not clear where the psychic vision is appearing, outside me or within me, all I know is that I am awake and the room is physical.

And this effect is well known and thoroughly explained. (See also the link to Hypnagogic Hallucinations)

No psychic explanation required.

 

[Ashles]

Or so I've been told.

The bass player, singer, and I were talking before band practice last week and the bass player told me this story.

He and his wife were staying at his grandparent's house on Cape Cod. The house is very old and many people who stayed or lived there have reported experiencing various paranormal occurences. He and his wife were asleep in bed when they both woke up to find a glowing ball of golden light floating at the foot of the bed. He asked his wife if she saw it also. She said she did. After about a minute, the orb floated out the door of the room. When they woke up in the morning he asked his wife if she remembered seeing it. She said that she did.

As mentioned by previous posters, there seems to be a chunk missing from this story.

Both he and his wife, while supposedly awake watched "a glowing ball of golden light" hover in front of their bed for a minute then float out the door...

And then what did they do? Just roll over and go back to sleep?

Didn't they follow the orb out? See if anyone else had witnessed it?

Why did the husband need to ask his wife if she remembered it in the morning - didn't they stay awake to even discuss it?

This seems more like he experienced a Hypnogogic Hallucination, and the 'asking the wife in the morning' bit could be made up, misremebered, or the waife said 'Yes sure darling, now what time's breakfast'.
The story as presented just doesn't quite seem complete or likely.

 

[Denver]

It can also be interesting how stories can mutate over time. Consider:

1) The guy is the only one who has the experience. It's a dream, and he also dreams his wife sees it.
2) The wife wakes up a couple times each night anyway, and recalls seeing some kind of light (from a boat, from the moon, etc), but it wasnt remarkable to her, so she didn't say anything.
3) In the morning he tells his wife the story. And asks if she saw anything. She says she recalls seeing some light. That confirms the husbands story, and viola, new paranormal anecdote.

Many variations and combinations of this kind of thing can happen, where one person thinks they see something, and uses another person to get some kind of weak confirmation (or at least, doesnt get an outright denial), and then the story is reshaped to something that, missing the real details, sounds remarkable.

Also, a couple people, away from home, staying on cape cod: sounds sort of like a vacation to me. Anyone ask how much wine they had that evening?

 

[Vic Vega]

I agree that much about the tale is fishy and I had the same though about them just going back to sleep after seeing that. I imagine I would have been up all night.

I'll ask him more about it at practice tonight.

 

[FramerDave]

Possibly there's another way it went down. The guy wakes up, thinks he sees something explained by a hypnagogic hallucination. Pokes his wife, and she, still groggy and mostly asleep, says she sees "it" too just to placate him and get back to sleep.

There's just not enough information to go on.

 

[Ashles]

I agree that much about the tale is fishy and I had the same though about them just going back to sleep after seeing that. I imagine I would have been up all night.

I'll ask him more about it at practice tonight.

I wonder if the story will change now...

 

[Dr H]

I find it odd that two people would see a golden orb floating at the foot of their bed, and then continue sleeping and wait till the morning to discuss it.

Unless it was a frequent occurance, and so didn't attract any special notice.

 

[Cainkane1]

Or so I've been told.

The bass player, singer, and I were talking before band practice last week and the bass player told me this story.

He and his wife were staying at his grandparent's house on Cape Cod. The house is very old and many people who stayed or lived there have reported experiencing various paranormal occurences. He and his wife were asleep in bed when they both woke up to find a glowing ball of golden light floating at the foot of the bed. He asked his wife if she saw it also. She said she did. After about a minute, the orb floated out the door of the room. When they woke up in the morning he asked his wife if she remembered seeing it. She said that she did.

I really didn't have much to say about the story and wanted to get to work practicing so I just shrugged my shoulders. He knows I'm a skeptic and don't believe in ghosts. He said that he would have thought it was a dream if his wife hadn't been there and seen it also.

What would you have said about that story?

Maybe they were bored like my Psychiatrist said I was when I saw my "ghost". I was alone at home when I was 22 and while watching a boring TV program I saw a short, scowling, hairy little man walking a few inches above the living room floor. I wasn't using drugs or alcohol. The 'ghost" saw me and when I got up he hid behind an easy chair. I looked behind the chair and nothing was there.

Like I said my Psychiatrist said that when we are deathly bored our minds try to entertain us with hallucinations. Being home alone apparently causes me to see things that aren't there.

 

[Xulld]

Well, I would have at least said that if it where me, I would have not been able to go back to sleep . . .

 

[MikeSun5]

I bet Ashles is right. I bet only one of them saw it.

I wonder if that one wears glasses, or fell asleep with their contacts in. My vision is terrible, and if I wake up suddenly in the middle of the night and there's any kind of light in my room, I see blurry orbs too.

 

[shandyjan]

Maybe a light shone through from somewhere..a moving vehicle, and in their drowsy state they saw it somewhat differently..one responding to the others excitement. It clearly wasnt enough to make them get out of bed and follow the light, or feel fearful.Shared reaction to a dream state? (Ive had that experience with my son, we both saw a mouse that wasnt there.)

 

[gerdbonk]

I was alone at home when I was 22 and while watching a boring TV program I saw a short, scowling, hairy little man walking a few inches above the living room floor. I wasn't using drugs or alcohol. The 'ghost" saw me and when I got up he hid behind an easy chair. I looked behind the chair and nothing was there.

There's always a secret door! Didn't you try pulling on the candlestick?

 

[LightningStrike]

And this effect is well known and thoroughly explained. (See also the link to Hypnagogic Hallucinations)

No psychic explanation required.

The references offered no scientific explanations apart from "Very little is known about the physiology of sleep paralysis" and hypnagogia has been described as a “well-trodden and yet unmapped territory.”

No scientific explanation given. Belief in the brain is so entrenched that the reality of direct experience is dismissed.