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Rumors of Monsters
Thanks to Gina for pointing out a really excellent article on the belief in Iceland of “hidden people” such as elves, trolls, gnomes, land spirits, etc. One of the best passages in the piece I think is this:
“A friend of mine, a retired professor of ethnology, did some studies on the local beliefs in hidden people” he says. “He was a very pragmatic man and, as scientists do, he was trying to prove something that he thought he already knew. He sent out some general questionnaires to people and sneaked in the question: ‘Do you believe in hidden people?’ 90% of people said ‘No’. He then drew his conclusion, which was that Icelanders didn’t believe in them. But then, just to double check, he changed the question to ‘Do you know anyone else that believes in hidden people?’ This time 90% of people said ‘Yes’. He also asked if they believed the stories that the other people told them about hidden people, and again they said ‘Yes’. In other words, people believe, but they don’t want to admit to others that they believe.”
This is brilliant on several different levels. In my other post, I asked if anybody reading this had seen any monsters or strange entities themselves. Many more people have than you’d expect, and a lot of very intelligent and together people. But let’s rephrase the question a little though: how many people have a friend or family member who has told them about an experience like this?
A good one I can think of off the top of my head: a friend of mine told me about how her aunt woke up one morning to discover that a duo of honest-to-god leprachauns were dancing a little jig on top of her sleeping body. I didn’t get to ask the aunt about this personally, but the girl who told me this story seemed to think her aunt was pretty serious about it actually happening.
On a related note, I have a pretty decent book by paranormal/occult investigator Brad Steiger called “Out of the Dark” which has many anecdotes like this. There are first-hand stories of people wrestling with trolls, meeting pale-skinned robed figures in abandoned mines, and having sex with demons. Steiger collects accounts from people who’ve had all manner of unusual experiences, investigates some and publishes them as books. Really fascinating stuff. Here’s a page on Brad’s site about the questionnaire, and you can even take it yourself and send it to him.
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September 13th, 2005 at 6:03 pm
My immediate family all believe in ghosts, demons, monsters, UFOs and whatnot. My older brother insists that he was visited, as a child, by a “little gnome” who would talk to him as he was preparing to sleep in his bed.
I have never experienced such phenomenon. But ironically, I can draw things while doodling that are just as fantastic as these creatures that my family members speak of. I have always been obsessed with vampires and werewolves and the Loch Ness Monster, but I think it’s because I don’t really believe they exist.
Hallucinogens have allowed me to see things I couldn’t imagine on my own, but I have never taken such an amount that I had trouble distinguishing between reality and the trips themselves.
It bears noting that my family is very religious and even a tad superstitious. We were recently booked to go on a reality show called “The Scariest Place On Earth”. We were supposed to fly to Europe and we were going to be locked up in some old castle or something. I was so ready to do it but my family backed out at the last minute. Wanna know why? Because they found out a Ouija board would be involved…
An all-expenses paid trip to Europe, down the drain, simply because they wouldn’t touch a Ouija board…
September 13th, 2005 at 6:06 pm
Holy shit! That’s incredible. How in hell did you get hooked up with that opportunity?
September 13th, 2005 at 9:31 pm
didn’t i tell you about that documentary called INVESTIGATION INTO THE INVISIBLE WORLD, Jean Michel Roux?? its all about iceland and the supernatural…
its fucking fantastic. last i checked, it waqsn’t availible in the States though… maybe it is now.
September 13th, 2005 at 10:04 pm
i forgot all about that!
September 14th, 2005 at 12:29 am
Is there a torrent of the Roux documentary?
In response to the topic, I’ve been dating a girl who experiences night terror and sees entities when she’s alone. She’s terrified; I tried time and time again to explain, in a secular way, banishing practices to her. “Imagine light radiating out of you and filling the room.” “Imagine being surrounded by an impenetrable bubble.” “If the things you see are imaginary, it follows you can use imaginary and visualization to get rid of them.” Etc. I think it’s something of a case study in “Normal People Responses to the Supernatural”: for most people, the supernatural happens to them, and humans can’t participate. Magick doesn’t work, but there are angels everywhere who will protect us, at their own whims.
Needless to say, it’s an irresponsible response. Fuck that. Reality is open-source, goddamnit. The girls I know who are into astrology, I sometimes try to suggest that maybe, maybe if these invisible planetary energies can manipulate us, we can manipulate invisible energies. The typical response is “huh?” or “nope.” In Transactional Analysis, that would be called “playing a Child role” while the universe played a “Parent” role. Why you would choose to continue to let invisible people terrify you to the point of losing function in everyday life, I don’t know, but I do know it’s counter-evolutionary.
September 14th, 2005 at 12:40 am
Well have you suggested that she simply ask her guardian angel for help? That stuff really does work for some people. Not that I really know you or your girlfriend, but the problem could also be that you’re trying to over-secularize it. Some people simply can’t relate to light/bubble imagination exercises. In can be too intellectual of a response. A guardian angel in this case might be more concrete of a figure to work with, and it may also like you said if part of the situation is regression to a child-like state. No sense in arguing with people about what they think. Simply translate it into language that works for them. Anyway, that’s my unasked for two cents.
September 14th, 2005 at 1:14 am
Thanks, Tim, but it’s hard for me to address that sort of blase Deism, you know, that remnant of Xianity, at all. It’s not secular, it’s not sacred. Kind of… Ahrimanic, the gnostic paranoid says. Regardless, I agree completely with you but can’t really find a port on that aforementioned to jack into. And I apologize for characterizing the child-parent thing as feminine, both genders are guilty.
In a tangentially-related vein, did you see the posting on Technoccult by Fell about women having stronger will-over-reality but men having more reliable? It seems up your alley.
Back to the topic at hand, some of the categories on that questionaire–Chronic neck pain? Swollen joints? All those years of wrestling did pay off, they clearly cause psychic powers. And about those vertebrae… “93% believe that their physical or spiritual ancestors came to Earth from some other world or dimension…. Sherry and Brad were literally brought together as the result of an act of angelic intervention.”
September 14th, 2005 at 11:50 am
Yeah some of the Steiger Star People stuff is goofy. But overall, they both seem to have really good hearts and a sincerity that I think is irreplaceable. His books are very much “pulpy” I would describe them. But they are a great fun read because there are so many firsthand accounts.
Christianity doesn’t have to be all “blase Deism” as you’re calling it. That’s just your hang-up. That’s not what it is. It is what you make it into.
Do you have a link to that Technoccult post?
September 14th, 2005 at 12:35 pm
for adults who experience night terrors, it is instructive to see the methods they employ to create them.i.e. what they see, what they hear, etc. and how they amplify the images to get the feelings of terror. when you build an ecological book on the experiencer then you can predict and manipulate the experience. the experiencer will tell you how they do night terrors. they are the expert, after all. just don`t tell them they`re doing it to themselves. ask how they know they are about to be terrified. what they see, hear, feel, smell and taste. notice thier reaction to how they are talking about thier experience. you will see a persons eyes bulge if they imagine strong images or they will look around slightly as if listening. these are general clues as to a person`s internal state. mostly the clues a person gives are subtle but when it comes to fear and terror the reactions can be quite extreme. this is a lesson in paying attention to another person in an intense way that is applicable in any situation involving others. it is a deep practice of knowing other people. you can be surprised how easily you can drive other peoples thoughts this way, so be responsible, compassionate and understanding and don`t fuck about with people`s fears.
September 14th, 2005 at 4:54 pm
In re: “Scariest Place On Earth”– my sister, ironically, set it up. She applied three years ago, and we’d been on a waiting list to be on the show… unbeknownst to me until a few months ago.
She wanted me to definitely come along because, in her words, “you’re not afraid of the same things we’re afraid of.” In other words, I would’ve been the counterbalance, the one finding rationalizations for the scary stuff. I was flattered by her assessment of me– after all, she and my family know me the best. Too bad they couldn’t get over that Ouija board thing– I would’ve liked to have visited the Catacombs in France, where no doubt they would’ve taken us.
September 14th, 2005 at 5:05 pm
Allistair, I tend to be sensitive to that type of thing in others–perhaps too sensitive, I can find myself beginning to move from sensitivity to literal sympathy, something not good with terror–but I also just don’t know what to do once I get there, which tends towards inaction on my part.
Said individual related to me that she lived in a room she believed to be haunted, not haunted like “I feel like there are ghosts in here,” but haunted like random grease stains showing up on windows and sudden changes in temperature.
Hey, james, can I go to the Catacombs instead?