from the corner of my eye

I keep getting the sensation of seeing something out of the corner of my eye, a dark fluttering thing. It only ever appears in my peripheral vision and only occurs in certain locations. When I turn my head to observe, there is nothing there at all. I have only experienced this recently and it seems to go hand in hand with another frequent recent experience, a sort of awareness of cold spots, even in warm, sunny rooms.

Because this only happens in certain locations, I suspect that it is not a medical problem and, anyway, my eyesight is absolutely fine.

Has anyone else experienced this or have any information about what this could be?

I see them all the time. I have no idea what it is.

Is the room typically well lit when you see this?

i see them since i know for me, i tough its normal is it?
Black spots flushing with very high speed 1/4 of a seccond, from the far right.

you got same ?
i think its in our nature ot so.....

Your retina has two types of cells that pick up light - rods and cones. cones are responsible for colour differentiation and are located predominantly around the central area of the retina. rods are responsible for guaging light intensity, and are located all over, but in large numbers in the peripheral area of the retina. These are very sensitive cells, and pick up movement that you might not notice, or take notice of in your forward field of vision. Becase these cells don't relay a great deal of information compared with your forward field of vision, your brain tends to fill in the gaps in a makeshift way.
You are probably not seeing anythinig paranormal, just normal things with the added sensitivity from the perophery of your vision. Saying that though, because of the high sensitivity of rod cells, if you were to see something paranormal, it would probably be from the corner of your eye.
I sometimes get the sensation you describe, but have yet to put it down to ghosts, for now.

[Edited on 28-5-2004 by Paul]
typo central today

[Edited on 28-5-2004 by Paul]

Who really knows, looking out of the edge maybe you can see things that you can't straight on or maybe there's so little information that the brain is trying to compensate by attempting to fill in the missing pieces in it's failed attempt you notice the difference between frames which creates the illusion of movement.

Hey thanks paul, you posted while I was typing. I guess my WAG wasn't too far off.


[Edited on 28-5-2004 by outsider]

Here's a cool little site for kids that can help you see where your "blind spot" is, the natural point of your eye where the optic nerve connects that creates a spot of comeplete lack of vision. Pretty nifty little thing.

faculty.washington.edu...

I dunno if this helps clear this question up for you, or if it's just pointless information.

Thanks, firstly I'm glad it's not just me.

In answer to some questions, the sensation doesn't just occur in brightly lit rooms, it can happen in twilight or in electric light, too.

I don't feel that it is 'dark spots' or floaters (although I get this too).

The movement often seems close to me. For example, if I'm sitting in an armchair, it will take place below my field of vision to the far left. The automatic split second response that I've had a couple of times when this has occurred is 'oh, is there a trapped bird in here?'.

It could be nothing and a completely natural and occurrence but it always gives me goosebumps.

I can go for long periods without this happening at all and then get lots of occurrences in a short space of time, again making me think that there isn't a 'biological' or medical cause.

I'm usually completely unperceptive to the paranormal, as well. When I was a kid we lived in an old 17th century house and my brothers and other relatives have since told me that they regularly saw ghosts or experienced paranormal phenomena while there. I don't remember experiencing anything.

Well, I don't mean to alarm you, or anything, but I remember reading somewhere that one of the signs of demonic possession/ghost visiting etc. was seeing things out of the corner of your eye. I have looked, but I can't find a link that supports this, only my own dusty memory. Perhaps someone/thing from the "other side" is attempting to contact you?

I hope not! Is there any way of testing for ghost visiting, i.e, any other signs which I should watch out for?

Ack, I really wish I could find a related article, but all of my searches have so far come up with nothing. When I was younger, I did a ton of research on this stuff, and remember reading that some of the symptoms were things like hearing voices, sudden drop in room temperature, a feeling of being watched, and a palenss in the skin, or loss of color.

I will keep on looking, but I really can't promise anything. Anyone else know something about this?

Harrisjohns, it's funny you should mention this, but I have seen people out of the corner of my eye..... at my workplace, which I believe is somewhat haunted! I have seen a person approaching me, to the point of raising my head and greeting them, only to discover that there was noone there to begin with!

I have also felt "cold spells" and other workmates have spoke of spooky experiences.... I believe that you may have had paranormal experiences, and the next time they occur, you should keep a log of what happened as the imagination is a powerful (ally?) when dealing with this sort of thing.

I checked out the link (thanks RockerDom) but that seems to deal with things that you DON'T see as opposed to things you see, but don't think you should....?

Edit: Whoops, thanked the wrong guy!

That's alcohol for you.....

[Edited on 28-5-2004 by EchoSierraDelta]

Originally posted by RockerDom
Here's a cool little site for kids that can help you see where your "blind spot" is, the natural point of your eye where the optic nerve connects that creates a spot of comeplete lack of vision. Pretty nifty little thing.

faculty.washington.edu...

I dunno if this helps clear this question up for you, or if it's just pointless information.

They missed a part of the test in the explination on that site though.

The moment you stop seeing the spot is not the moment you should stop your head moving towards the paper or screen.

You should stop getting closer, the moment that the dot is visible again.
Then move your head back till the point disapears again.
Note down the distance you have then and start moving your head away from the paper or screen, untill the dot reappears again.

Thats your full blind spot range. When you move close enough to the paper or monitor again, everything gets visible again and in rather great detail.

Originally posted by EchoSierraDelta
Harrisjohns, it's funny you should mention this, but I have seen people out of the corner of my eye..... at my workplace, which I believe is somewhat haunted! I have seen a person approaching me, to the point of raising my head and greeting them, only to discover that there was noone there to begin with!

I have also felt "cold spells" and other workmates have spoke of spooky experiences.... I believe that you may have had paranormal experiences, and the next time they occur, you should keep a log of what happened as the imagination is a powerful (ally?) when dealing with this sort of thing.

I checked out the link (thanks Outsider) but that seems to deal with things that you DON'T see as opposed to things you see, but don't think you should....?

I get the same feeling at my school. Its supposed to be haunted. Some one hung them selves in the Aditorium. When I'm in a class, or in the school library, I get the feeling this person in black is sitting right next to me!

I watched a documentary recently that discussed this type of "seeing things in the corner of your eye", and they endeavored to see if this haunted castle (in the uk) was really haunted, so they went to particular areas considered to be the most haunted parts of the castle, that were reported by visitors, and found that these areas had an abnormal magnetic feild reading, or something to that effect, but anyways they decided to study other considered haunted areas, and also found this to be the case.

They then treid to simulate these "seeing things in the corner of your eye" effect and were to some extent sucessful, as they placed many people in this sort of confined area and increased the magnetic feild, and it made people see "things" form the corner of their eye, it also made them feel as if they were being watched or that they were not alone.

So it might just be a faulty equipment causing the effect of seeing things from the corner of your eye..... or it might actually be a ghost.... hope this helps....

I had the sensation again last night. The room was dark with only the television playing and I became aware of a gentle dark fluttering/pulsating (difficult to describe but this is as close as I can get) to my extreme right. This time I deliberately didn't turn my head to look and the sensation remained for about 20 seconds before stopping. The dark shape gradually slowed down until it came to a complete stop just before the sensation ended. I felt very cold and very uncomfortable during this experience.

Thank you all for your input. I'm going to contact a spiritualist to seek their advice on this as I'm really freaked out by this phenomenon. It maybe just nothing, but I'm increasingly believing that a shadowy something is stalking me.

Over the last couple of days, I've also felt an unusual urge to keep looking over my shoulder, too.

Creepy and weird.