My brother's fright

[w0rm]

Hi, something interesting happened over the weekend that I would like to share.

I don't have any experience in this subject so I thought I would consult the local David Icke forum experts. ;)

So, it's the night (around 11PM) of my younger brother's 12th Birthday. I'm upstairs with my girlfriend about to watch a movie when my brother walks into the room and quite flatly says, "I've just seen a ghost."

Knowing his imagination, I laughed and replied: "Really, where'd you see it?"

At this point he didn't answer me and just sat down, putting a blanket over his own head. I continued to pry, thinking he was just kidding around but still he didn't respond. My girlfriend told me to shut up and leave him alone.

After a few minutes, my girlfriend, suspecting something was actually wrong walked over to peel the blanket from over his face only to find him crying and shaking.

This is completely out of his character, I've only ever seen him cry when he's been very hurt or one time when he had his World of Warcraft account hacked. (:rolleyes:)

He reluctantly explained the situation, as follows: I was in the backroom, on the computer but I got bored and wanted to go to bed. I left the room and saw an arm sticking out of the living room. I wondered what it was so I looked into the mirror of the hallway and in the reflection I saw a dark, completely black figure standing in the living room doorway looking at me.

I didn't know what to say, I just told him he was imagining things so that he would calm down.

Some interesting things to note:

- He'd been awake since 8:30 AM
- He'd been to Laser Quest with his friends
- We have dogs, one of them was in the living room, the other in the hallway. Both were asleep but neither of them noticed anything.

What're your thoughts?

[passing]

An intruder would be more likely than a ghost, wouldn't it?
And maybe youthful imagination is more likely than either of those...

Not saying it couldn't be a ghost...

[w0rm]

An intruder would be more likely than a ghost, wouldn't it?
And maybe youthful imagination is more likely than either of those...

Not saying it couldn't be a ghost...

I don't agree with the intruder part. Our house is very secure, our parents were awake and in the living room at this time, me and my girlfriend were upstairs. My sister was awake.

Oh, and as mentioned we have dogs who would have been first to notice an intrusion.

However, I do agree that youthful imagination is the more likely option.

[size_of_light]

The main thing is to help him integrate the experience and come to terms with it according to his own understanding.

Whatever it really was, the fact of the matter is it gave him a terrible shock, which is something he'll probably dwell on now and then while he's lying alone in bed, so if you can do something to diffuse any fear he might associate with what happened through humour, without denying the possibility that ghosts can crop up now and then but are no big deal if they do and are nothing to be frightened of, that will help him during those alone times.

If he comes to view it as an interesting experience instead of a scary one he'll be doing alright.

[w0rm]

The main thing is to help him integrate the experience and come to terms with it according to his own understanding.

Whatever it really was, the fact of the matter is it gave him a terrible shock, which is something he'll probably dwell on now and then while he's lying alone in bed, so if you can do something to diffuse any fear he might associate with what happened through humour, without denying the possibility that ghosts can crop up now and then but are no big deal if they do and are nothing to be frightened of, that will help him during those alone times.

If he comes to view it as an interesting experience instead of a scary one he'll be doing alright.

Thank you for the reply, I've pretty much been doing what you have said. Joking around with him and stuff to take his mind off of it.

What's weird is, is that if this isn't his imagination creating things then his description doesn't match up with the usual ghost archetype. He described it as all black, a shadow, no face.

That's something I'm not familiar with.

[biblegirl]

is he alright now?

[w0rm]

is he alright now?

Oh yeah, he's fine :). Whatever he did see just shook him up I guess.

[cultofexperience]

I don't want to be critical, but since you asked for opinions...

I think it can be harmful to tell someone that "it is your imagination" and to ask them to ignore it. It makes children feel very isolated, and the next time he has a problem he might feel that he can't come to you because you don't believe him when he tells you something. If he has more such experiences and feels he cannot tell anyone, he might start believing he is mentally ill.

I would encourage him to talk about it and his feelings and hopefully even if you don't believe in ghosts or whatever, you can assure him that you believe he is capable of knowing the difference. Maybe that will empower him to not be so fearful if there is a next time?

[w0rm]

I don't want to be critical, but since you asked for opinions...

I think it can be harmful to tell someone that "it is your imagination" and to ask them to ignore it. It makes children feel very isolated, and the next time he has a problem he might feel that he can't come to you because you don't believe him when he tells you something. If he has more such experiences and feels he cannot tell anyone, he might start believing he is mentally ill.

I would encourage him to talk about it and his feelings and hopefully even if you don't believe in ghosts or whatever, you can assure him that you believe he is capable of knowing the difference. Maybe that will empower him to not be so fearful if there is a next time?

I asked for opinions on what he saw, if I wanted lessons on how to react in these types of situations I wouldn't be posting under the paranormal section.

Thank you.

[cultofexperience]

I asked for opinions on what he saw, if I wanted lessons on how to react in these types of situations I wouldn't be posting under the paranormal section.

Thank you.

Sorry, just had the little tyke's self-esteem in mind.

Have you read the Shadow People thread? It sounds like a similarity?

[w0rm]

Sorry, just had the little tyke's self-esteem in mind.

Have you read the Shadow People thread? It sounds like a similarity?

Apologies if I sounded a little blunt, naturally I'm defensive when it comes to my family and I hope you understand.

I didn't include everything I had told him in the paragraphs above. I merely summed it up as 'It was probably your imagination' for the sake of not rambling.

And yes, I glanced over it earlier and showed him one of the pictures. He said it was just like the figure in the cloak, just without the hood.

Who knows, aye? Just thought it would be a good idea to see what other people thought.

[cultofexperience]

Thank you for your response. I really didn't want to be obnoxious, but it is hard to be succinct and not ramble as you point out. I appreciate you not taking it personally.

I'm starting to believe that our eyes and brains block things out that we don't understand or have a reference for. Maybe that is why we see an absence of something, instead of seeing the details. I think Douglas Adams called it the "SEP Field" as in Someone Else's Problem.

And sometimes it is just the fact that this weird thing happens out of nowhere with no time to prepare. I raised snakes when I was younger and had no fear of them. However, when one got out of his cage and went hiding somewhere in my apartment one day it had an entirely different feeling. I felt very stressed thinking that I could just be walking along or open up a cupboard and he could just pop out at me - Boo!

I think for that reason education is the best solution. Knowledge and familiarity can take away some of the fear. Next time he can say "oh hi dude, how's it goin?"