[FZRACER]

I itself faced one incident like this. Still thinking how it happens

8-9 years back i think - Myself, my Brother and driver use to travel to Mysore in AMBY from Coimbatore via Sathyamangalam-Banari for thrice in month for personal work.

1st Trip toward Mysore

Myself in passenger seat, driver doing his job and my brother was sleeping in rear seat. Front both wind screen is down for air as it was summer time. Myself and driver are talking about something(forget that). In Sathyamangalam-Banari Stretch(Around 12-13 KM hardly). After passing Chikkarasampalayam by 1 - 2 AM suddenly i felt high Jasmine smell with very chill air for 200-300 mts and confirmed with driver whether he also felt same. We were talking and thought some jasmine field is there so its smelling like that. Once reached Mysore we were informed my brother and he also felt same.

return trip to Coimbatore on same day afternoon

We all 3 looking for jasmine field, But not able found the field/no jasmine smell. We thought it was day time and doing 40-50 km/h so we missed it.

2nd trip to Mysore on next week

Same scenario, But this trip all three were talking. We crossed Chikkarasampalayam by 12 - 12.30 Am felt same high jasmine smell . This time my brother confirmed with us and noted the sign board saying forest area drive carefully. That night we reached Mysore, after that we were concluded to stop the car while returning back on same place where we noted to confirm field is there or not.

return trip to Coimbatore on same day afternoon

After Banari, We all 3 were looking for same sign board and stopped the car where we felt that Jasmine smell. To Horror - It is a deep forest area with no transparency board on both the road sides and saw Accident prone zone sign board(It is a straight lane with no deviations, no humps and no bridges, Discussed among us how come this is Accident prone Zone area). With no time we started the car and stopped in Chikkarasampalayam for having a word with villagers. We just asked why there is a accident prone zone sign board there in a straight road, Then they said that is the point which accident will happen frequently(That too most of the accidents happen with only one occupant) and he told us who crossing that area at some time they feel some jasmine smell. We shocked, laughed and started from there.

3rd trip to Mysore on next-next week

We started early to avoid night travel and reached Mysore by 8 PM stayed there night and returned back next day to Coimbatore.

[ashokrajagopal]

@luvDriving, I cant say I agree . Given the right atmosphere one can get frightened. I do, certainly. But what I am afraid of is not anything supernatural, its just other people.

@Fzracer, any talcum powder packing unit, small time perfume mfg, textiles etc. a lot of industrial places can put out a jasmine smell. Night breezes take care of perfect timing.

[iamahunter]

Originally Posted by FZRACER

I itself faced one incident like this. Still thinking how it happens

8-9 years back i think - Myself, my Brother and driver use to travel to Mysore in AMBY from Coimbatore via Sathyamangalam-Banari for thrice in month for personal work.

1st Trip toward Mysore
Myself in passenger seat, driver doing his job and my brother was sleeping in rear seat. Front both wind screen is down for air as it was summer time. Myself and driver are talking about something(forget that). In Sathyamangalam-Banari Stretch(Around 12-13 KM hardly). After passing Chikkarasampalayam by 1 - 2 AM suddenly i felt high Jasmine smell with very chill air for 200-300 mts and confirmed with driver whether he also felt same. We were talking and thought some jasmine field is there so its smelling like that. Once reached Mysore we were informed my brother and he also felt same.

return trip to Coimbatore on same day afternoon
We all 3 looking for jasmine field, But not able found the field/no jasmine smell. We thought it was day time and doing 40-50 km/h so we missed it.
....

After you cross Chikkarasampalayam, there is a temple. Sri Bannari Amman Temple.
The jasmine smells I think comes from the temple.

[FZRACER]

Originally Posted by ashokrajagopal

@Fzracer, any talcum powder packing unit, small time perfume mfg, textiles etc. a lot of industrial places can put out a jasmine smell. Night breezes take care of perfect timing.

Nope. That is Sathyamangalam forest area. No Companies around that place as I know.

Originally Posted by iamahunter

After you cross Chikkarasampalayam, there is a temple. Sri Bannari Amman Temple.
The jasmine smells I think comes from the temple.
Attachment 1484155

As I mentioned its between chikkarasampalaym and Banari. Next to chikkarasampalaym so I don't think the smell came from Banari temple.

[anirudh_85]

I chanced upon this thread after reading a tweet from the TBHP official handle and have been reading the posts almost non-stop. Finished the 40 pages in less than a day.

To those who have posted their episodes of sleep paralysis here: I too have experienced the same several times in my teens. The frequency gradually decreased with age and once I was aware of the phenomenon, the fear vanished as well.

Coming to spooky experiences of my own, yes, I have had a couple. Will try to narrate them to the best of my abilities.

1. This happened somewhere in 1999. I was 14 and we were on a family trip up North, starting from New Delhi and covering Haridwar, Rishikesh, Dehradun and Mussoorie in that order. I was with my parents and younger sister. My aunt who lives in Delhi was also accompanying us. It was a good trip throughout and we had a lot of fun. Finally we reached Mussoorie after covering all the other places. Now my aunt had a house in the city back then, (somewhere near Camel Back if I remember correctly) and that's where we were going to stay.

This house was basically a vacation home. It was quite big and was only occupied for a few days each year. A full time caretaker cum cook used to stay there the entire time. Now I don't know if it was because the house was empty or what, the moment I entered the house I was overcome by a strange feeling of eeriness. It felt as if we were being watched.

Nothing untoward happened in the couple of days we were there. But on the morning we were supposed to leave, I decided to take a photograph of the house. To do that, I had to go a slight distance ahead on the road abutting the house. The road was mostly used by pedestrians and used to be pretty busy during the day. So this is in the morning around 10 AM. My sister and I walk down the road to a point where we are able to see the house clearly and take the camera out. All of a sudden, an old gentleman comes up to us and asks us what we were doing. He appeared to be in his sixties and was wearing a brown kurta-pyjama (not white ).

So anyways, he asked us what we were doing. We told him that we were staying in that house and are taking a picture of it. He then asked us if that house belonged to us. To that we replied that no, we were visiting and will be leaving shortly. Hearing this he started on his way. Suddenly I had the urge to look back at him. But he wasn't there! It was as if he had vanished into thin air. The road was quite crowded and there weren't any other side roads which he could have taken to move out of sight. Besides, it was only a second after we had turned our backs on him. To date we haven't been able to resolve this mystery.

2. This happened a few days after my grandfather had passed away in 2004. Things were slowly getting back to normal in the house. The time was around 7-7:15 in the morning. I had to leave for college in an hour but was having trouble leaving the bed . I was somewhere in the middle of being fully asleep and fully awake when what should I see? My grandfather walking down the passage outside my room. I was shocked beyond words. Part of me was in total disbelief while another part of me wanted to go after him and talk to him. While I was caught in this indecision, he appeared in front of me! I was staring at him, dumbstruck. I wanted to talk to him...so many things to ask..."how are you?" being the foremost, but the words weren't coming out of my mouth at all. It seemed as if they were all stuck somewhere in my throat. The feeling was similar to the one you get when you try to stop yourself from crying. He saw my confused state and probably the Gods had allowed him to answer one of my questions. He said he was alright and the moment he said that, I snapped back to reality. I am both happy and amazed by that 'meeting'.

[shashanka]

Like many others before me, I discovered this thread & went through it with great interest and was surprised at the degree of polarization of opinion. With dedicated believers like tsk1979 at one end (though he maybe more tongue-in-cheek than he lets on!) and outright sceptics at the other end. I was surprised because the thread is avowedly one dedicated to spooky experiences - and it was to be expected that contributors would only be from the believers corner. But morbid curiosity (I have it in spades) always draws in believers & sceptics alike!

I am a believer and have no hesitation in saying so. Though, as mentioned to Samurai (during our light-hearted sparring!) in the posts following my introductory thread, my belief includes other phenomena too, aside from spooky experiences. My own experience goes back to 1976, and in today's light seems to be more hallucinatory & auto-suggestive in nature. But since it stuck in my memory (and strikes a chord somewhere) I started reading up on other people's experiences & their own explanations of these experiences. People who had achieved great eminence in their professional & public lives & who had everything to lose & nothing to gain by admitting to these beliefs. Because such belief would put them squarely within the lunatic fringe & would damage reputation & social standing.

Therefore fellow believers, let us take heart - we are in august company and can continue with our beliefs without any qualms!

[Drive&Smile]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Your introvert nature also saved you, because if they had detected your presence they would have rushed for you.
During the day, the solar radiation introduces a lot of noise and chaos, and spirit world influence decreases. Even when there are lot of humans present, the combined soul barrier energy disrupts and weakens the spirit world.
For possession, you need to have very few humans, no solar influence, and sufficient aggregation of spirit entities in a location.
You were a prime candidate for possession, but you got saved. Thank your start friend.

I always read your take on these experiences on this thread, really something which is new to me. Thanks for that explanation. Thankfully this was first and last time I felt something like this. Something surely saved me that day.

[King_pin09]

Originally Posted by tsk1979

However, with the silicon revolution, now we have the body elements in abundance. What is a body without soul, without consciousness.
Well its processing unit + memory.
And that is what computers are. Processing units and memories. But there is no soul.
So as computers get more and more powerful, spirits realize that they can inhabit them.
Due to this reason, a lot of them get drawn to data centers. Now souls are designed to inhabit organic bodies, but not silicon. This causes a lot of issues, and confused souls cause havoc. Due to this reason, many data centers have inexplicable issues, server failures etc.,

Hey dear, normally your explanations are spookier than the experience itself. After having read your explanation this time, it seems the Ghosts have now claimed for a blunt edge.

I mean Ghosts getting their space into electronic parts, why? when they have a hell lot of unsold flats still left out in Mumbai/ Bangalore. The possibility of printers and PCs being kept on live network which receives signals for printing from remote computers and start printing without any local commands cannot be ruled out. Did somebody check as whether what matter was being printed and whether any printouts were generated apart from bare sounds?

I still fail to connect the following from the Original Poster,

a. It cannot be a mere coincidence that you hear sounds for eight months each night from a corner and yet see none.
b. One does not feel the need to get up from his chair and move around few minutes for eight months, even to attend nature’s calls.
c. Moreover your PC did not develop any issue all along so that you need the help of IT guys who were supposedly working there.

I am just trying to analyze as what prevented him from checking out that place so long, except for him claiming to be an introvert.

[nkrishnap]

Originally Posted by FZRACER

With no time we started the car and stopped in Chikkarasampalayam for having a word with villagers. We just asked why there is a accident prone zone sign board there in a straight road, Then they said that is the point which accident will happen frequently(That too most of the accidents happen with only one occupant) and he told us who crossing that area at some time they feel some jasmine smell. We shocked, laughed and started from there.

3rd trip to Mysore on next-next week

We started early to avoid night travel and reached Mysore by 8 PM stayed there night and returned back next day to Coimbatore.

I have travelled on this so many times at night and quite a few times solo. Did not experience anything spooky there. One thing for guaranteed, the truckers drive more rashly, mostly due to influence of alchohol.

[Gansan]

I am reminded of Tamil writer Sujata's response when a reader asked him what he thought of ghosts and devils, and whether he had ever seen them.

His response:
"Many times; Only, they were not aware that they were ghosts or devils!"

[ashokrajagopal]

To the believers in this thread, if it is not already clear to you, tsk1979 is pulling your legs.

Originally Posted by shashanka

I am a believer and have no hesitation in saying so. Though, as mentioned to Samurai (during our light-hearted sparring!) in the posts following my introductory thread, my belief includes other phenomena too, aside from spooky experiences. My own experience goes back to 1976, and in today's light seems to be more hallucinatory & auto-suggestive in nature. But since it stuck in my memory (and strikes a chord somewhere) I started reading up on other people's experiences & their own explanations of these experiences. People who had achieved great eminence in their professional & public lives & who had everything to lose & nothing to gain by admitting to these beliefs. Because such belief would put them squarely within the lunatic fringe & would damage reputation & social standing.

Therefore fellow believers, let us take heart - we are in august company and can continue with our beliefs without any qualms!

No personal offence meant sir, but I think your statement about eminent personalities and belief is quite untrue. Nobody loses anything by admitting faith. In their professional and public lives, people only gain by beliefs. You only have to look at the heads of states of all countries in the world and count yourself.
On the other hand, you have everything to lose if you admit to your lack of faith.
I mean no shots at any particular political figures.

[shashanka]

Originally Posted by ashokrajagopal

To the believers in this thread, if it is not already clear to you, tsk1979 is pulling your legs.
No personal offence meant sir, but I think your statement about eminent personalities and belief is quite untrue. Nobody loses anything by admitting faith. In their professional and public lives, people only gain by beliefs. You only have to look at the heads of states of all countries in the world and count yourself.
On the other hand, you have everything to lose if you admit to your lack of faith.
I mean no shots at any particular political figures.

Hello Raj,

Thank you for your observations, and while I respect your point of view, I firmly believe that faith and belief are not the same thing. While not wishing to get into semantics & hair-splitting over the issue , believers in the paranormal (in the west certainly) have had to suffer the indignity of being persecuted & sidelined from the main stream for their beliefs. Witch-hunts & burning at the stakes are recent history & prejudice against superstition continues to this day.
In India matters are different, with Godmen being held in high esteem (even by the high & mighty of the country!) - Even after many have been publicly defrocked & exposed as frauds.

I can think of several prominent individuals who have had to pay a price for their unorthodox beliefs and am mentioning the following two:-

1) John E Mack – Harvard clinical psychiatrist and a tenured professor at Harvard Medical School. Became interested in the alien abduction phenomena and in a 10-year long investigation made case studies of 200 victims of the phenomena and published the book “Abduction”, regarded as a definitive book on the subject.
He had to suffer the indignity of an investigation by a committee of peers, appointed by the dean of Harvard medical school, Daniel Tosteton – the first such investigation of a tenured professor in Harvard’s history – and had to fight a long legal battle to get his name & reputation cleared of the damage & stigma. He also died in a supposedly mysterious road accident in London, when he was run over by a drunk driver.

2) Sir Oliver Lodge, a renowned British physicist (1851 -1940) and writer involved in the development of, and holder of key patents for radio. He identified electromagnetic radiation independent of Hertz' proof and demonstrated an early radio wave detector he named the "coherer". In 1898 he was awarded the "syntonic" (or tuning) patent by the United States Patent Office. In 1898 Lodge also gained a patent on the moving-coil loudspeaker, utilizing a coil connected to a diaphragm, suspended in a strong magnetic field. Lodge was Principal of the University of Birmingham from 1900 to 1920. In political life, Lodge was an active member of the Fabian Society and published two Fabian tracts: Socialism & Individualism (1905) and co-authored Public Service versus Private Expenditure with Sidney Webb, George Bernard Shaw and Sidney Ball. They invited him several times to lecture at the London School of Economics.
His belief in the after-life and his active research while communicating with the spirit of his son Raymond, who was killed in the WWI in 1915 and his continued espousing of his beliefs resulted in public criticism and accusations of being an incompetent researcher, and this stigma was to dog him for years.


It is not as though hard sciences (physics & mathematics) & the paranormal have not been tackled by prominent scientists in present times – but this is a thread for spooky tales & I can already sense members grumbling about going far off-topic!

[perty]

Circa 1997, family and extended family trip to pilgrimage centers in North India.
We were staying at a hotel at Gaurikund for the night, before embarking on the climb to Kedarnath the next morning.
There was no electricity in the town and all happenings were by candle light only.
After dinner, I stepped out of the hotel to take a short walk.
It was quite dark outside with faint moonlight and I could see the road somewhat indistinctly, although covered on both sides by tall trees.
Just before the road ahead curved away, about 30m from where I was standing, I saw the silhouette of a teen girl who was in our group.
First questions that came to mind:
a] What the heck is she doing outside, at this time and in a place so far from light sources ?
b] Am I seeing correctly ? Indeed I am, its her all right. Braids, dress style and all. Looked long and hard into the distance to be sure
c] Why is she standing so still and seemingly looking in my direction (there isnt enough light to distinguish her facial features)

Rather worried, I went back into the hotel to get some torches/pull other people to see whats happening.
There was a smaller group of about 10 people gathered around a candle and discussing general topics inside the hotel lobby and to my shock, this girl was also sitting there !!
Needless to say, I didn't venture out to continue the rest of my walk.

[ashokrajagopal]

Originally Posted by shashanka

Hello Raj,

Thank you for your observations, and while I respect your point of view, I firmly believe that faith and belief are not the same thing. While not wishing to get into semantics & hair-splitting over the issue , believers in the paranormal (in the west certainly) have had to suffer the indignity of being persecuted & sidelined from the main stream for their beliefs. Witch-hunts & burning at the stakes are recent history & prejudice against superstition continues to this day.
.
.
.

Thank you for the reply and really appreciate you for the tone of your words. I may not have been clear enough. When I said they have nothing to worry, I meant in this era, and not necessarily in their exact science field.
To give an instance, a doctor of modern medicine researching on effect on prayer on healing lets just say. He faces a stigma from his co doctors, but he is welcomed by the society in general. It is not like he is outcasted from the world. Both the instances you have shown are about academics who did research in fields directly opposing their fields. It is natural to be stigmatized amongst other academics.

I get your point completely. However in this era, there are best sellers created out of nothingness of the universe. There are many many people who have sold thousands of books on afterlife and aliens. It is not quite true that the society as a whole looks at these studies with suspicion. Some sections, I agree.

[ashokrajagopal]

Originally Posted by perty

Circa 1997, family and extended family trip to pilgrimage centers in North India.
We were staying at a hotel at Gaurikund for the night, before embarking on the climb to Kedarnath the next morning.
There was no electricity in the town and all happenings were by candle light only.
.
.
Needless to say, I didn't venture out to continue the rest of my walk.

You could have just walked up to her and confirmed if she had gotten out. You could have taken out a torch right there and confirmed with one or two others if it was indeed your imagination or there was an actual person. The spooky experience would have been solved right there.