Have any atheists ever had a 'weird' experience?

[mistermack]

Have any atheists using this site ever had any weird, or unexplainable experiences?

I'm personally a fully convinced atheist, but I'm interested in how superstitions start. I've had a few experiences that could in other circumstances, to people less cynical, appear 'other worldly'.

I'm fully convinced that the first religions grew out of dreams.
How could stone age people explain to themselves how they could be talking and touching their dead parents in a dream, and then wake up to reality.
Knowing nothing about the workings of the brain, it must be tempting to imagine that they had seen the "spirit" of their dead parent, in a 'spririt world' ?

Some people experience incredibly vivid dreams, very hard to distinguish from reality. Others have very vague dreams, or practically nothing. The vivid dreamers might have been the first "priests".
And of course, some kinds of schizophrenics might be dreaming while wide awake, and don't have the protection of knowing it was 'only a dream'.
So if you've had any weird experiences, get em off your chest here.
They do happen, and they are intersting, even if they could invite mockery on a site like this.
I'll start it off with two of my own, because I personally don't give a toss if I'm mocked :
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[mistermack]

The first one explains what I mean by the reality of some dreams, even if it doesn't directly lead to superstitious belief :

I woke up one morning, about thirty five years ago, when I was aged about twenty five. I had been dreaming I had killed someone, and hidden their body in a hedge. When I woke, I was at the point of pure depression, that I was sure to get caught, and my free life was over, I would spend the rest of my life in jail.

For some reason, I must have woken in a strange state, half asleep or something, because I didn't immediatly think 'oh, it was just a nightmare', as you normally would. I actually spent half the morning in a state of deep depression, thinking I was going to get caught. It was only after a few hours that I thought I should actually do something about it, move the body or something.
Then I thought, where did I leave it, which hedge? I couldn't remember. And it slowly dawned on me that if I had really done it, I would most certainly remember exactly which hedge. I said to myself, it couldn't have been a dream, could it?, and then it slowly dawned.
It was the most fantastic feeling ever, I was so relieved.

I have to say I don't hit drugs, or drink to excess, and that never ever happened again. Just a one off. But it showed me just how real dreams can be. And there must be people out there to whom that experience would be nothing unusual.

If a stone age man had similarly real dreams, it would inevitably lead to some belief in the supernatural. He would have none of our modern knowledge of the workings of the mind.
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[mistermack]

The second one had to be called a hallucination.

I was mad keen on trout fishing as a teenager. I was fishing on my own in Ireland, when I had a really strange experience. The river I was fishing was near a road, and just by a bridge was a rather beautiful waterfall, which made a fair amount of noise.
I was walking along the road, on my way home, out of sight of the river. The road was very narrow and bendy, with high hedges.
As I walked along, I could faintly hear music, and as it got louder, I made out that it was a marching band, just coming round the corner. It was absolutely crystal clear. I could hear pipes, flutes and drums and it was a tune I knew. I was fully expecting a band to be in front of me, as I rounded the bend.

But as I rounded the bend, there was nobody, and the music died away and was replaced by the noise of the waterfall.
I really couldn't believe my eyes, It was such a real sound of a band.
I was so stunned, I slowly walked back around the corner, and I actually could hear it again. I obviously knew it was 'all in the mind' by then, and walked back around the bend a few more times, testing it out, and in the end, all I could hear was water, and I could see how it sounded a bit similar.

I've got to stress here that this is all I've ever had, just two 'experiences' in sixty years. But I hope i've got across just how real these things can sometimes appear.

But I'm sure it can't be 'just me'. So anyone out there got the nerve to get any weird experience off their chest?

I wouldn't bother asking on a religious site, they have too much tendency to invent, but coming from an atheist, I would be more inclined to believe a story.
Mine are absolutely true to the letter, make of them what you will.
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[Posse Comitatus]

Right.

[AshtonBlack]

I've had times where I've been semi-awake, not able to move or talk and sure there is someone in the room. That one is a common condition called sleep paralysis and is a possible candidate for the incubus, succubus myths.
The brain/mind is a complex thing indeed.
People also forget the fact that we are hard wired to seek pattens of familiarity in nature even when there are none, hence mistaking a sound, or vision for something we already have a memory for.
I too have seen a person, heard a snatch of music or seen a face, only to realise it was nothing of the kind.

[kiki5711]

mistermack

I was wondering if it's possible that someone with a radio might have been in the area?

[Pappa]

I once had the very clear and distinct feeling that somebody touched my shoulder with their hand. It was a very unambiguous feeling, definitely like a firm squeeze rather than a soft brush or similar. I turned around and the nearest people were well over a metre away and weren't responsible. I have no explanation for it.

[Thinking Aloud]

Mrs TA once spent time observing a ghostly old lady in a rocking chair next to her bed. I once smelt lavender where there was no lavender to be found - in a room allegedly haunted by ghosts who left a telltale scent wherever they were - which happened to be lavender.

[mistermack]

mistermack

I was wondering if it's possible that someone with a radio might have been in the area?

No, it's absolutely not, but it's a fair question. I can't stress enough just how real and clear that music sounded. It wasn't ethereal or feint, it was loud and absolutely real. ( to me ). And I had the weird experience of walking back around the bend, and hearing it again, crystal clear, and then going back around, and actually hearing the transition as it changed to the sound of the waterfall.
I did it several times, and by the end, it sounded like water when I was fully out of sight of the waterfall. I could see the similarity, but I can't stress enough how real it was at the time.
No 'round the bend' joke please, I've done all those already.
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[mistermack]

I've had times where I've been semi-awake, not able to move or talk and sure there is someone in the room. That one is a common condition called sleep paralysis and is a possible candidate for the incubus, succubus myths.
The brain/mind is a complex thing indeed.
People also forget the fact that we are hard wired to seek pattens of familiarity in nature even when there are none, hence mistaking a sound, or vision for something we already have a memory for.
I too have seen a person, heard a snatch of music or seen a face, only to realise it was nothing of the kind.

I had that dream as a kid, unable to move. But never semi awake. I always woke up and realised it was a dream. But it certainly felt real at the time. I always dream't there was something horrible in the corner, but it was just too dark to make it out, but you try to move, or shout or cry out, but nothing comes out.
I think that one must be fairly common then.
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[AshtonBlack]

I've had times where I've been semi-awake, not able to move or talk and sure there is someone in the room. That one is a common condition called sleep paralysis and is a possible candidate for the incubus, succubus myths.
The brain/mind is a complex thing indeed.
People also forget the fact that we are hard wired to seek pattens of familiarity in nature even when there are none, hence mistaking a sound, or vision for something we already have a memory for.
I too have seen a person, heard a snatch of music or seen a face, only to realise it was nothing of the kind.

I had that dream as a kid, unable to move. But never semi awake. I always woke up and realised it was a dream. But it certainly felt real at the time. I always dream't there was something horrible in the corner, but it was just too dark to make it out, but you try to move, or shout or cry out, but nothing comes out.
I think that one must be fairly common then.
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Yep.

[Rum]

At almost the age of 60 I have never had an experience of any sort which could vaguely be called 'supernatural' or have a supernatural explanation, except existence of course. Every report I have read has been second hand - even the ones here.

I have however experienced extreme states of consciousness, which were very strange indeed and might in previous times have been considered 'magical' in some way. LSD was the cause of those, and occasionally weed and speed mixed..deadly and to be avoided!

[mistermack]

I once had the very clear and distinct feeling that somebody touched my shoulder with their hand. It was a very unambiguous feeling, definitely like a firm squeeze rather than a soft brush or similar. I turned around and the nearest people were well over a metre away and weren't responsible. I have no explanation for it.

That sounds a bit similar. The reality of it. As a stranger, hearing that, I would guess maybe some idiot did it for a laugh, ( they are about ) and then acted completely innocent when you turned round. But only you could know if that was not possible.
It's the 'realness' that is hard to get over to other people. When I rounded that bend, I was wondering what the hell a band was doing miles out in the countryside, and I was absolutly amazed when there was nobody there.
.

[kiki5711]

I've had times where I've been semi-awake, not able to move or talk and sure there is someone in the room. That one is a common condition called sleep paralysis and is a possible candidate for the incubus, succubus myths.
The brain/mind is a complex thing indeed.
People also forget the fact that we are hard wired to seek pattens of familiarity in nature even when there are none, hence mistaking a sound, or vision for something we already have a memory for.
I too have seen a person, heard a snatch of music or seen a face, only to realise it was nothing of the kind.

I had that dream as a kid, unable to move. But never semi awake. I always woke up and realised it was a dream. But it certainly felt real at the time. I always dream't there was something horrible in the corner, but it was just too dark to make it out, but you try to move, or shout or cry out, but nothing comes out.
I think that one must be fairly common then.
.

Yes, I've had those too. It also happened when I had that "dark shadow" near me, the one many people experience all over the world, and most times is accompanied by the dream where you can't get up or wake up. I remember being in that paralized moment and just said to myself that I will count to 3 and I will get up. I counted to 3 and sat up with a gasp glad that it was just a dream.

[Pappa]

I once had the very clear and distinct feeling that somebody touched my shoulder with their hand. It was a very unambiguous feeling, definitely like a firm squeeze rather than a soft brush or similar. I turned around and the nearest people were well over a metre away and weren't responsible. I have no explanation for it.

That sounds a bit similar. The reality of it. As a stranger, hearing that, I would guess maybe some idiot did it for a laugh, ( they are about ) and then acted completely innocent when you turned round. But only you could know if that was not possible.
It's the 'realness' that is hard to get over to other people. When I rounded that bend, I was wondering what the hell a band was doing miles out in the countryside, and I was absolutly amazed when there was nobody there.
.

I'm certain nobody actually touched my shoulder. I always put it down to something like a combination of some random sensation (either internal or external) and my brain incorrectly filing in the gaps to present me with the physical sensation that my shoulder had been squeezed. I never really cared much about the details as I know that kind of thing is common anyway, but the physical sensation itself and realising it appeared to have no obvious cause, was quite eerie.