Could my childhood "bears" be aliens ?

a reply to: pennylemon

Well, that's interesting! I don't know of layout is a factor or not, but it 's interesting that you lived in a place where it was similar, and had experiences there. The conversation part, as opposed to play, is very odd as well. I'd be very curious as to what those conversations were about. Does your mother have any recollection of any of that? Even a little piece might serve to jog your memory. The comment on that song is a bit creepy. As a child, I heard it a bit, and it was sad, and sort of weird in some way I can't define. recalling it now, I do get the idea there is some underlying meaning to it, though I can't say what that is. Some songs are like that.

House layout, if it is a factor, isn't limited to that sort, though. An uncle of mine had a "ghost" for years, that seemed to follow them. When he and my aunt were starting out, there was a time they were very short on money, and weren't sure how they would buy groceries. next morning, they woke, in a completely sealed and locked house, to find bacon, eggs, coffee, etc. all on the table. When my cousin was very small, too small to make up tales, he went to my aunt in the kitchen and asked who the man in the living room was. Panicked, she ran to see, but again, no one was there, and the house was secure. The cousin saw a "man", from the living room, in his bedroom, holding a book, and dressed in old-fashioned clothing. he waved, the "man" waved back, and vanished. My sister had someone unseen move her hair, I had someone unseen "sit" on the bed next to me, and you could feel someone unseen brush past you going through the laundry area to the bathroom. The had a warm spot in the hall, too, with NO explanation - no wiring, no pipes, and no geological features (my uncle checked). A set of keys he had, one of the BIG rings with a lot from work, he dropped in the living room - no pets - everyone heard them hit, and they were GONE when he stooped to pick them up. Visiting the house since he died, I got NOTHING. Apparently, it went where he did.

I have some other pretty creepy stories as well. Might start a "share your ghost stories" thread for those.

a reply to: LadyGreenEyes

Interesting story about your uncle Lady. Growing up in the house as I did It has been discussed in my family often whether or not it is the house or us.

I say us because, while I seem to be the only one to refer to the thing as my bear, I am not the only one to have had experiences in this house. From the time it was built and my grandmother bought it, somewhere in 1944 or 45, almost everyone who spent time there have had some kind of experience or another. My mother, when she was a teen saw a "man" standing just outside the bedroom door. This man has been seen by friends going back to my grandmothers time there and the last time he was seen was two years before our immediate family left the house, by my daughter who was a one or two. She was sitting on the bed as I was waking and she turned toward the door and started waving and saying "hi man". This is the same doorway off the hallway that my mother was looking at when she saw the man. The same hallway that the thing was standing in when I saw it as a teen. The thing I saw was definitely not a fully formed man however.

I have lived away from this house for over twenty years now and while I've had a few strange happenings in the time since, I have experienced nothing like the constant goings on in that house.

I spoke with my mother to ask if she could recall any specific conversations between me and my bear. She said she never heard another voice and It seemed to her that I was doing a lot of listening and responding to questions. Looking back she said, it seemed that this thing was doing most of the talking and I was watching and answering.

Penny

a reply to: pennylemon

O, that uncle had a lot of fun stories! The "ghost" was a big one. Around them for years and years. Nothing overtly threatening, though, which is odd given the time frame. Things like that seem to escalate usually. I recall, vaguely, a house they lived in when my cousin and i were pretty small, that was very creepy, though. Well, more accurately, the woods around it were. We visited at night, usually, and none of us kids wanted to be outside at night unless the dads were out there, and even then, it felt a little unsafe. You couldn't have paid me to enter the woods. I had the impression something big with sharp teeth and claws was there, and would eat me if I did. Mind you, I LOVE woods, and always have. Those were different. With the ghost, though, it wasn't the house.

I wonder if your "bear" and the "man" were the same thing, or different ones. Hard to say in a case like that. The questioning is strange, though! I guess if your answers were mostly "yes" or "no" types, knowing the topic could be difficult to impossible. The whole thing does sound a lot like other "imaginary friend" stories I have heard, though. I always get creeped out by those. My kids never had them, though I can share something unusual with the younger set. The younger three are very close in age. The oldest of them started it, with this habit she had of watching the ceiling above our bed, when she'd be there in the mornings. Mind you, there was NO "ghost" feeling there, and ghostly things don't even show up when my husband is around, and he was there for this often. Well, what she would do is watch, and smile. When I asked what she was smiling at, she told me, "Pooh Bear", or some of the other characters from that story. She was always utterly delighted. This is at an age where she didn't talk much, being under two. The younger two did the same thing, though they didn't name whatever they saw as she did. We finally decided, based on the general feeling, and how peaceful they seemed, that maybe angels were visible to them, and that was what they watched. Never any communication or anything, and nothing like that when they were bigger, but still small. Of all the strange experiences I can list, that's the only one that wasn't a little creepy.

a reply to: LadyGreenEyes

I do know what you mean by the overwhelming impression of danger, not in a "bad guy" sort of way. The house I grew up in was smack in the middle of the city and I have found myself over the years in dangerous situations and there is a feeling that comes just before something happens when it comes to human aggression. I can understand this other feel and it's different. You described it very well here, the feeling that you are prey somehow, more animal than anything.

The kitchen in my old house was a long this rectangle that ran down the left side of the house. It was intersected by the door to the "den" halfway on the right and continued into the laundry room and straight again to the back door. My mother still gets a look on her face when she talks about this area and remembers her mothers friends not wanting to be in the kitchen alone, even in broad daylight, that area was frightening.

I live in the woods now and the only time I get a feeling that comes close is when there is a bear or a mountain lion in the area. In these cases it's pretty obvious whats going on. The chickens and other animals we have around here get Very quiet. Bears not so much but when it's a lion, even my sisters huge dogs get nervous. The feeling in that kitchen was much more palpable, even thinking about it now, I can recall the moment the hairs on the back of the neck would start to stand up and more than once I have seen an adult come rushing out of there. It seems instinctual.

This thread has got the family talking again about what it was like both growing up and raising our own children in this house. It's been over forty years since my conversations with the bear and my mother is enjoying the challenge of attempting to recall the specifics of any of my conversations. She is pretty adamant, even now, that had it been my sister she might have put it down to a conversation with an imaginary friend, but because it was me she doesn't think so. Interestingly, I am the only one who has never seen "the man" and also the only one who has seen "the bear".

I've been interested in what what would be considered paranormal. The wealth of personal stories when it comes to shadow people or other better known entities that seem to appear to many people, until now I have never heard other stories of, specifically "the man" and "bears". These seem to be for some reason things that people have kept to themselves, for what reason I don't know. It's obvious to me now that my self and my family are not alone in this, and what I thought was unique to the house may be more widespread than I thought.

Penny