» Tales of the Unexplained

The ghost in the garden
I woke up early in the morning about 3 a.m. Something just didn't seem right in the house. I lay there awake for a while and then decided to go downstairs to the kitchen to get a glass of water.

It had been raining the night before and I could see outside through our sliding glass door that looks out onto the back lawn that it was a little misty or even foggy out. I poured myself a glass of water from the tap and then sat down at the kitchen table. I was looking outside at the lawn through the sliding glass doors. I could see our big sycamore tree next to the fence; just beyond it was barely visible through the fog. That's when I saw it. That's when I saw the ghost.

I could tell that it was a human figure. It was so white that it seemed to glow. It was kind of billowing, too, like seeing a person who was swimming underwater. You can see them, but you can't really make out the edges. It didn't have legs – it’s body just sort of dissolved away toward the ground. It floated there for a moment or two and then I guess it must have sensed that I was looking at it because it turned a little toward me and then... and then... it just ascended straight up into the sky.

I stood there for what seemed like an hour, just waiting for it to come back. I didn't even realize that I had been standing. I must have stood up when I saw it fly up into the air.

The next morning I was telling my mother about it and she got this look in her face. I could tell that the story had got her scared. She said "You're moving with your auntie and uncle in Bel-air"

I whistled for a cab, and when it came near, The license plate said "fresh" and it had dice in the mirror. If anything I could say that this cab was rare, But I thought "Nah forget it, Yo homes to Bel Air."

I pulled up to the house about seven or eight, and I yelled to the cabby "Yo homes, smell ya later!" Looked at my kingdom, I was finally there, To sit on my throne as the Prince of Bel Air.
(Thu 3rd Jul 2008, 12:20, More)

» I'm going to Hell...

In sympathy
I sent my friend an 'In Sympathy' card as a joke birthday card one time. On the front was a picture of Jesus being crucified. To take the edge off it I drew shades on Jesus.
(Thu 11th Dec 2008, 13:50, More)

» School Days

“I’m going to kill you!”
That’s what R said to me. I don’t really recall the next few thinking steps I made. I was only 12 or 13 at the time. I just recall the fear I had and the belief that I really did think he meant it. I’m not sure, looking back, if I was just shell-shocked from all the past bullying or if I just felt that I was cornered and didn’t have any ideas on how to get out.

But somewhere over the next few days I made a decision. It is a decision I still think about. A decision made in fear and ultimately, in self-defense against what I felt was an aggressive, strong person. I decided to carry a weapon to school to protect myself.

OK, here’s where you start worrying. It has led to this. He is bringing a knife to school. Well, this was the 1980s folks. I couldn’t steal a knife from the kitchen without my Mum noticing it missing and taking a knife to school was pretty much unknown. What I’m referring to is a sharp file. It had a pointed end, but was a file for filing fingernails. Now I know some of your are laughing, but it was metal and pretty sharp. I realize now I couldn’t do a whole lot of damage, but at the time, I was not thinking that. I brought it every day with me. It sat in my pocket. I was paralyzed with fear.

I decided on another strategy as well. I decided to tell R’s friends that I had a knife and if he came after me, I would use it. Well, needless to say, this back and forth between R’s friends trying to tell me I was dead meat and me telling them I had a knife went on for several days. Then, the day came that I was dreading. I had been walking the path through the woods to avoid being seen. But R had found out about that.

After a 30 minute walk around the path where I tried to hide from the bullies, I emerged at the point where I could see the road. And there, looking down at me was R. I had no choice but to walk up to the top. I could hear him calling after me. I was petrified. I reached into my pocket and put my hands around the file.

“I’m going to kill you”, R said to me, calmly, almost deadly to me. My heart was beating. I didn’t want to fight him. I was tired of fighting. I pulled the file from my pocket. At the top of the path, where it met the road, R immediately threw down his backpack and took a swing at me with his fist.

I slashed with the file. My heart pounding in my ears. I slashed and it made contact with him. I saw the surprise and then the pain on his face. He screamed out in pain. I caught him by surprise. I was sick to my stomach about having done it, but it was done. While I had the element of surprise I ran down the road for the long mile to my house.

I turned and then saw R running after me. He was angry and I assume in pain. I had no idea how much damage I had done. I just ran. I ran out of fear. I ran out of worry about what I had done. I ran because I figured if he caught me, he WOULD kill me. I was 12. I was terrified.

I ran the whole way home. There is no way I could do that today, run a mile. But I did then. He ran the whole way too. I recall my mother was at home recovering from an operation. There was a large driveway up to my house that I had to go up. I ran up that yelling for my Mum the whole way. R was right behind me. My Mother must have heard me, because the door opened just as I got to it and I ran into the house.

There was R outside the door. Yelling into the house. Yelling at me and saying I stabbed him to my Mother. He was still screaming when she told him to leave. I looked at his side and he had a rip on his shirt. There was a little blood and he had a scratch from the file. But for me, I might have well cut him deep. I never wanted to have or use a weapon. I regret having it, but the fear was too much at the time.

Well of course my Mother was freaked out. She was scared at the repercussions from the school, or police. She said "You're moving with your auntie and uncle in Bel-air"

I whistled for a cab, and when it came near, The license plate said "fresh" and it had dice in the mirror. If anything I could say that this cab was rare, But I thought "Nah forget it, Yo homes to Bel Air."

I pulled up to the house about seven or eight, and I yelled to the cabby "Yo homes, smell ya later!" Looked at my kingdom, I was finally there, To sit on my throne as the Prince of Bel Air.
(Wed 4th Feb 2009, 13:32, More)

» Call Centres

Someone called the other day and just went 'ng' 'ng'
Nothing else, they just wanted to phoneme.
(Thu 10th Sep 2009, 10:18, More)

» I'm going to Hell...

The Round Table
I once built a time machine. It was a clunky affair, not like the kind of machine glorified by the likes Of Emmett Brown, or Alexander Hartdegen - oh no. I'd describe it as more of a simple featureless steel box, which contained within all the wonderous equipment which made time travel possible.

Of course the discovery of the ability to transform the machine and its content into photons was key - as was the ability to project those photons at above the speed of light, thus allowing them to be projected into the past. Of course there also had to be the ability to put the box into complete stasis, allowing travel into the future. These two differing methods were not without their problems - how to put the photon projector within the box to retain internal control of the time reversal? One day I cracked it.

Oh the fun I had, travelling through the whole of history, all the while of course having to plan carefully - I had to make sure not to upset the thread of history, lest I caused a paradox, or changed things in too heavy a way.
What if you accidentally killed one of your ancestors? Would you cease to exist?

That being said, the further back in time I went the less chance there was of this happening, as travel and geography enabled the avoidance of ancestral links to become more predictable. I felt that since my ancestry lay in Russian peasantry I would be pretty safe in most parts of the world.

On one of my jaunts I visited Britain around the beginning of the 2nd Millennium AD. The people there were very backward, and I found it very easy to explain away my strange ways and mode of speech. I came to be one of the main advisors and friends of the King at the time. I especially made friends with a highly intelligent friend of his, who he had installed as his main scientific advisor. Between my hinting and the obvious intelligence of this man we made life very much easier for the King to instill a sense of peace on his kingdom. Until he unfortunately had a falling out with one of the soldier types over a girl.

It was of course a magical time, and sooner or later I had to take my leave. Unfortunately one of the servant girls happened to spot me getting out of the bath and drying myself one day. I hadnt realised she's seen me until I had returned to the present time and a colleague of mine (a historical scholar no less) showed me an ancient tapestry which had been found, which seemed to depict amongst other things a semi naked man wearing a Knights helmet.

She said "One of the Knights pictured on the tapestry seems to be lightly clothed, as if he had just been taking a bath"

I told her "I WAS one of King Arthur's Knights"



"I'm 'Gawain Towelle'"
(Thu 18th Dec 2008, 14:30, More)