Hole in reality? Very strange experience I (we) had

[Kawakaze]

I am a bit wary about posting this, as I am pretty sure what the response would be if I claimed this was paranormal or some other weird stuff. So before we start, I do not believe in ghosts, I do not follow religion, I am very much a believer in the scientific method. I am not claiming to have seen fairies, ghosts, or whatever else. I have however posted this same story on a few paranormal forums just to see what their input would be.

I had a weird experience last September at our workshop. I am a skeptic and a big believer in science. Yet I cannot find an explanation for this, nor can I find a similar experience online. What makes this so weird is that my brother was there and saw the same thing. He is also a non-believer, in religion or the supernatural. The creepy thing is it happened right after my dad died, literally a week after his funeral on our first day back to work.

We were in our workshop, a small industrial unit with boarded up windows, about to install a power line for a new machine. As we were standing in front of the meter cupboard. Something shadowy, yet compact and spherical moved right across the front of the meters that we were about to work on. About a meter in front of us. It happened in a split second, and has been on my mind ever since. Simply because we both saw it.

It s hard to describe, if pushed I would have to say it was like a hole in space itself. It was shadowy, but did not darken what was behind it as a shadow would. It was as if what it passed in front of simply was not there anymore. The thing was about the size of a ping pong ball with a feathery, poorly defined edge. The windows of our shop are boarded up (thanks to previous visits from thieving toerags), so there was no chance of it being a trick of light, there is no traffic passing this part of the building, so a reflection is out of the equation.

It was definitely not a shadow as it did not follow the contours the meters or the boards. It passed between us and the boards. It was clear in front on the electric panels, about 50cm. It faded in and out of view quite quickly, traveling about half a metre perpendicular to our line of sight in about half a second. Never seen it before or since then. There was no weird feelings as I have read. We felt no 'presence' or any emotions or anything. Nothing weird has happened before or since.

I saw it, thought 'what the hell was that?', as I turned to ask my brother if he saw it and before I finished turning my head. He said to me 'did you see that? what the %#^& was that?!', so we pondered about it for a few minutes and got back to work. I am not the kind of person who likes a mystery to go unsolved and I have been looking off and on for months for anything similar to it online.

I would like to believe this is real phenomena that we saw. Quantum physics has taught me that nature can be down right crazy. I accept this really does sound crazy. I know they fire neutrinos underground, but these certainly would not have an effect should we ever be hit with a beam of them, or maybe something else. It was a hole, really a hole... could it have been something as exotic as a wormhole? I have to admit again this sounds just as unlikely as ghosts.

Ok, it happened right after we lost our dad, but I think this is coincidence. Certainly a good spin for a paranormal story, but I honestly do not know what to think. The experience was as real for both of us as the laptop in front of me right now.

I am curious to what you have to say about this. Please be gentle, I am not claiming any kind of paranormal activity. I just would like to know what it was. I have been searching for months before I even told my missus about it, if my brother hadn't seen it too, I would definitely put it down to my brain playing tricks on me.

Finally, I would like to say that we do not use drugs, were not on any medication at the time or had suffered any recent head injuries. We do not even drink more than a few units a month...

 

[jedishrfu]

My guess is that you both saw your retinal blindspot at the same time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blind_spot_(vision)

 

[Kawakaze]

Thanks for the reply. But, wouldn't this only occur if we had one eye closed? I do like this idea though, it is very unlikely, which explains why in 30 years it hasn't happened before. Yet it should be possible to replicate the effect.

 

[jedishrfu]

I like these kinds of stories where something that could be perceived as supernatural is in actuality a rare but remarkable event. People do see things that can't be explained shortly after losing a loved one. I know it's happened to my family and so I don't doubt it. Some skeptics will say the brain is primed to notice patterns and coincidences and that this is often the reason behind what is seen.

Most recently, I've run across the rose blooming story where a red rosé bush suddenly blooms yellow roses. When it happens after a death, its considered a sign from beyond. The hidden story is that rose bush growers will often graft a red rosé stem to other hardier rose bushes of a different color and that over time the root ball will push up a stem with the original color. The grafting is done because red roses sell better but may not survive as well in the local climate.

Another story was about a guy working in a machine shop experiencing a ghostly presence of someone or something touching the back of his neck from time to time. One day he was machining a small thin part in a vise and noticed it was vibrating without any source of vibration. Searching for the source he discovered a newly installed ceiling fan was giving off the vibration and that that vibration was what he had felt touching the back of his neck.

And then there's the zombies, people touched by a concoction of powders made from fugu fish toxin that causes death or paralysis if used in small amounts. The science channel had a show on once talking about halloween stories like this.

 

[HeLiXe]

I think the problem with most of the unexplainable or unknown things mankind experiences which tend toward the 'paranormal' is it cannot be replicated or it only occurs once and is therefore not a good candidate for finding the answer to using the scientific method. Last semester I read about a group called the Fundamental Fysiks group who combined their knowledge (which I should note was great knowledge) of physics with investigation of paranormal occurrences and they often encountered the problem of not being able to replicate the occurrences for testing. Unfortunately even if someone offers you a suggestion on what it could possibly be, there is still no way to verify what it actually was, unless it begins to occur frequently enough to be tested. Until then I would recommend to still ponder it and allow your mind to think about it, but accept that it cannot be explained in a verifiable manner and will remain unknown until you are able to observe it regularly and examine it scientifically. Good luck with everything!

 

[russ_watters]

Are you sure it wasn't a moth?

 

[Evo]

Are you sure it wasn't a moth?

That was the first thing that came to my mind.

 

[zoobyshoe]

Are you sure it wasn't a moth?

I think you probably hit the nail on the head. When something startles you, your first impression of it can be very distorted. If it doesn't stick around long enough to focus on it and resolve it into what it actually is, your mind replays and reinforces the strange aspects of it.

 

[Evo]

The mentors have decided that since there is no way to resolve this, it can only be speculation, so the thread is closed.