Bumps in the night

[BirdBrain]

Here is another story of how our hearing can mess with our reality.

In the spring of 1996 we had an ice storm that knocked our power out for about a week. The family stayed in he house that first night. As it dragged on, I stayed alone to make sure pipes did not freeze.

That first night, my 7 year old daughter started screaming for me. I ran to her room. She was crying and claiming someone was breathing in her bed. I did not dismiss her. I knelt at her bed and prayed that God would reveal to me what she was hearing. I told her to move over and let me listen. Immediately I could hear a deep inhale and exhale. This went on and on. So I laid on the floor. It went away. I walked around the room. It was gone. I laid back in the bed. It came back. My daughter whispered, "Do you hear it?" I did not know what to do. I prayed again. Then it hit me that deep tones can travel. I jumped out of bed and raised her bedroom window. Off in the distance, I could hear a generator cycling. That was the culprit. I had my daughter listen as I slowly closed the window.

How many parents would dismiss their child over such a thing? Can you imagine if I told her to go back to sleep? We do not always know the answer to strange sounds. We should not dismiss people with stories of strange sounds. They might be made up. They might not be made up. Strange noises can freak a person out. Often we never find the source. Regardless, ears are not good indicators of what is out there.

[rickb]

I always sensed BB was a good egg, but now he has gone and removed all doubt.

As such, I will not ask again for him to expound upon his strange encounter. I would like to take the opportunity to note that perhaps the most famous of all alien abductions took place very near the AT -- in Franconia Notch.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_and_Betty_Hill

[canoe]

I always sensed BB was a good egg, but now he has gone and removed all doubt.

As such, I will not ask again for him to expound upon his strange encounter. I would like to take the opportunity to note that perhaps the most famous of all alien abductions took place very near the AT -- in Franconia Notch.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barney_and_Betty_Hill

Thats a story right there

[rickb]

Thats a story right there

A few years ago the state of NH erected a historical highway marker to mark the history of this important event along Route 3 in Franconia Notch.

Looks just like the one in Crawford Notch marking the site of the Bretton Woods Monetary Conference, but different copy of course.

http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=74571

[August W.]

I have never seen any aliens or sasquatch but one of the most startling bumps in the night hit me in the head as I walked under some pine trees. It knocked my hat off and flogged my shoulders and head as it flew away. I would like to think it was an owl with a sense of humor but I was too preoccupied with flailing and spinning to get a look at it. I didn't laugh nearly as hard as my friend did.
This next event didn't happen at night but it's memorable enough; and those of you who have spent countless hours stealthily wading in creeks and rivers should get a chuckle. It was Sunday morning shortly after sunrise and I was alone on the New River flipping flies. I was working very slowly upstream in water that was over my knees. It was summer so I was in shorts and wading boots. I had the whole river to myself and was totally absorbed, in the zone, just me, my rod,the water, the sunshine , and more bass than trout. I had been standing still a while to change flies and just as I took a cautious step forward something big hit the inside of my leg about at my knee, and just inches in front of my knees the water splashed violently as a beaver thrashed it's tail trying to swim away from me. Not only did it ruin the serenity it nearly ruined my shorts! I never wanted to walk on water but that darn beaver taught me how to!

[Bigfoot86]

7Bowl

Bigfoot? Bigfoot!

what? I've never been up that way

[Kerosene]

My last night of a section hike from Atkins to Damascus, June 6, 2007, at the end of a 24-mile day (my 3rd consecutive 20-mile day, and the last time my knees will let me do that) I tented outside Saunders Shelter. I had sampled a bit of whiskey with Drunk Warren and Big Dave from Alabama, and Otay on his first night out. We had chatted about recent bear sightings in the area. From my journal:

I was emptying my bladder by the tree-line over the side of an embankment just before I headed to bed. It was now quite dark, with crystal clear stars directly overhead. Gradually my eyes adjusted to the darkness, but just before I finished I caught sight of something glowing in the trees below. There were at least two “objects”, but they were far enough apart that they didn’t seem like the eyes of a single animal. I tried to get a better view by moving to one side, but they disappeared, almost as if something had turned away. I tried not to think about it, but as I zipped up my tent I kept an eye out toward the tree-line and eventually saw a single object moving. So now I’m wondering what it could be, when suddenly it appears not 10 yards away and heading straight towards the tent! I let out a loud exclamation that seemed to scare away the object and attracted the other campers, who scurried over thinking it was a bear (we had been talking about the rumors of a mother bear and cub frequenting this shelter). I never did figure out what I was seeing, but figured it was small enough that I could forget it.

Definitely qualifies as eerie, in that I still can't figure out what it was unless is was a chain of coincidences with a pair of photo-luminescent bugs. They/It didn't make any noise that I could discern, and I only had a sip of whiskey (or was it moonshine?) and hold my liquor well. Definitely weird. Didn't keep me from sleeping soundly once I got to sleep however.

[MuddyWaters]

I find great comfort in the fact that, despite all the frightening things that people see, hear, or even imagine, ive never heard of anyone being harmed by any of them ( except other people). So i put my earplugs in, and just go to sleep.

Not talking about on the trail, but ive been startled awake many times from deep sleep by loud noises, feeling things, etc that were just......imagined apparently. Its incredible how real some things can seem.

[Another Kevin]

I stand corrected. All I know is the females I caught were larger than the males. I got $180 on average for the females and $150 for the males on average. I was told the females were preferred. I put one and one together and got three. Never read anything on them. What I knew was from trapping them. I did not know it was the hair that made the price difference. Learn something old every day.

I've seen the odd fisher or two. You're right, they're very shy. They are also incredible predators. A fisher can bring down a porcupine.

About 35-40 years ago, I had a shapka ushanka (Russian trooper's hat) made of fisher, which turned up in a thrift store, of all places! Wow, that hat was warm. Alas, it didn't go into cold storage when I moved to the Southwest in 1978, and silverfish got into it.