Just throwing this out there, voices...

I think everyone at some point has thought they heard a voice saying their name, only to find that no one is there. This happens to me more frequently than I am comfortable with, but recently it happened at work and I heard it so clearly and like it was so close behind me that I turned around and was confused. I looked back at the customers I had there in my line and felt obligated to explain. When I said I thought I heard someone say my name behind me and no one was there, I tried to jokingly blow it off. The lady behind the lady I was currently ringing out, got a surprised look on her face and said that was strange, she at that same moment thought she heard someone say hers too! I said, 'wow, that's really strange.' or something like that. Then the other lady said that that had happened to her too just the day before. I said, 'ok, now this is just creepin me out.' and laughed it off. But I really do think it's a bit strange. She said, "maybe someone is trying to get our attention. Now we just need to figure out for what."

I'm curious to hear other people's stories of this phenomenon, and also, has anyone else had an increase in this experience more recently?

a reply to: Ellie Sagan

Things like this happen to me from time to time. Not necessarily hearing my name but hearing a voice say something.

I personally believe it's just my brain trying to make sense of background/white noise. Sort of like how we see shapes in the clouds.

a reply to: eluryh22

I agree with you on that for some of the times, but sometimes it's silent and I'm alone, and I hear it very clearly. Also, I guess the thing that got me this time was the other lady at the same time and the other lady the day before. Just thought it a little weird that way.

a reply to: Ellie Sagan

The following are just my layman guesses....

I agree with you on that for some of the times, but sometimes it's silent and I'm alone, and I hear it very clearly.

We all have suffered hearing damage. I don't like loud music or loud television but I work in the city and on construction sites no less. We all have small amounts of tinnitus. I'm guessing that has something to do with it.

I guess the thing that got me this time was the other lady at the same time and the other lady the day before.

My uneducated guess is that since you were at more or less the same location, the same outside stimulants were present.

Just thought it a little weird that way.

I don't blame ya.

a reply to: eluryh22

Yup, I actually do have tinnitus, gets really annoying at times. And the lady heard her name and I heard mine... I wonder if they are similar.

a reply to: Ellie Sagan

Sometimes used to hear my name when I was a teen listening to rock.
Can be an indicator for schizophrenia but not that unusual either.

More interestingly I read a great book called the Owl Called My Name.
A native legend in the book is when you are going to die you hear an owl call your name.

Many years later I was hiking through a forest, I've heard many owls.
What was unusual is that it was calling around noon on a bright sunny day.

It kept calling and sounded eerily like my name, so much so that I wondered if it was an omen of death.

A week ortwo later I has a major heart attack, in the old days befor stents this would have been fatal and even so your survival chances can be as low as 30%

So now I believe in the story and that an owl calling your name can be an omen.

a reply to: Ellie Sagan

What were you thinking at the time?

Sometimes I wil hear my name and feel it in my body at the same time (maybe because it is an impact via my nervous system(?)). When that happens it does not take much to figure it out as simply getting my attention. Like a parent would firmly state a child's name aloud to pull it into line. After stopping and going over my thoughts and feelings at the time, I often find I was thinking of someone unfairly or wrongly.

Sometimes it is someone saying "I am here" and/or "Look at me".

There is usually an 'impact' of some sort felt in the body that accompanies the thought/feeling.

And then there is the phenomenon eluryh22 spoke of in his post above. The chatter and white noise.

Sometimes one can catch a warm smile behind the words. Often it is not neccessarily the words that count but the feeling behind it.

I have the tinnitus too, it comes and goes. I am not entirely convinced on the medical explanation of tinnitus. I am not sure it should be counted as "noise" in all cases. Just because we can reproduce it, say with a gunshot close by, does not neccessarily close the book on the sound's origin. One might find the sonic impact dampens sound perception allowing other "sounds" to be "heard". But that's just me trying to figure tinnitus out.

a reply to: Ellie Sagan

I'm curious do you suffer with migraines?

Is this the only time that you've ever heard the voices or have they said other things to you.

Besides your name?

Thanks in advance!

a reply to: Ellie Sagan

All those people, in the line, experiencing the same thing at one point or another is weird enough. That you and another heard your own names RIGHT THEN is kinda creepy! Any feeling of something wrong at these times?

Not sure what to make of that.

Auditory hallucinations is the medical term.

Often connected to stress, sleep deprivation or drug use (both medicinal and recreational).

In some cases signs for mental health problems (schizophrenia) or other health issues (Alzheimer, Dementia).

a reply to: Ellie Sagan
Your not alone amigo. About 10 years ago almost I was at the movies with a close friend of mine and in between the trailers before the movie I heard somebody say my name just loud enough for me 2 hear it. And to be honest when this kind of stuff happens I just like to ignore it because I do not want to believe in the paranormal but my friend told me within seconds "did you hear that person say your name!?!?!" And then she began to tell me how she saw a shadowy figure down in front right next to the emergency exit sign and poof walked behind the wall and disappear. Me her and maybe 5 other people were in that movie because if I remember right it was a movie that had been out for quite some time so most everybody had seen it already. And back then I didn't believe in any ghosts or demons or anything like that whatsoever but since that day I have seen some scary things and even heard some things and this is why I don't like talking about it because now I'm afraid to go to sleep lol

Occasionally over the years, yes.
I soundly ignore the heck out of it too.

Am of sound mind an body an if it's truly paranormal I just don't care that much. LOL!

cryptic0void yeah, the old stories are true. Sorry you had to find out that way!

a reply to: Ellie Sagan

I have heard my name being said by dead people just after they die. I think they come to say goodbye.


Some people who have had alien abductions are being trained to hear their handler so that at some future date they will hear his instructions. It could be practice.

When I was a kid, used to happen all the time.

a reply to: cryptic0void

That's very interesting about the owl. You are right, in former times a heart attack most likely would have been fatal. I'm pretty sure I'm not schizophrenic though.

a reply to: Whatsthisthen

I don't think I was thinking anything in particular at the time. I felt no impact in my body, except for tingles when the other lady said she also heard her name too at the same time. I was just on autopilot while scanning grocery items and bagging.

It's interesting what you say about tinnitus kind of helping you hear other stuff, if I understood you correctly.

a reply to: TNMockingbird

Fortunately, I do not suffer from migraines. I have heard chatter at times, but nothing distinctive. I have often heard my name being spoken. Usually it's a man's voice, but this time it was a woman's. Also, when I hear the voice say my name it's always right behind me, close, not far away.

a reply to: LadyGreenEyes

No, nothing seemed wrong or right, just going about business. Maybe, we were getting the message that we needed to try to take notice and be in the moment more, connect with other people more maybe? Looking at it that way, it worked. It got us talking and acknowledging that maybe we needed to pay attention more.

a reply to: svetlana84

Thanks for your input. I know that I was not stressed (though can be at times, of course), I slept well the night before (for a change), and I don't do drugs recreational or otherwise. I know I don't have schizophrenia, and no dementia or alzheimer's that I'm aware of (I'm still relatively young).

a reply to: andyr1112

*chuckle* Well thanks for sharing that! It is interesting. Hope you slept well though.