Playdo of Ataraxas
22nd July 2011, 14:27
I came across a Fortean Times article that brought to my mind an experience I have had. The title of the article is: Men and Apes: Neanderthals at Seancés and Monkey Ghosts http://www.forteantimes.com/strangedays/ghostwatch/5710/men_and_apes.html
Below is a pertinent excerpt from the article, of which, I have had a similar experience that I recount below. I am curious to know if anyone has had a comparable experience.
Dr Okolowicz later wrote a book on the mediumship of Kluski. He speculated that, like Gooch’s Neanderthal, the figure had its origins in the subconscious mind of a sitter – namely himself – as he had a strong interest in fossil man.
Beyond these séance room examples, actual apparitions of prehistoric men are notable by their absence. Folklore avers many barrows and standing stones are haunted, but spectres are varied – including White Ladies and Black Dogs, but hardly ever the phantoms of their builders..... The shaggy ghosts of a prehistoric family were reputedly seen near Neolithic earthworks at Lustleigh Cleave on Dartmoor by a friend of folklorist Theo Brown (in Transactions of the Devon Association 1952, cited in “Shug Monkeys and Werewolves” by Jonathan Downes and Richard Freeman, in Fortean Studies vol.5, 1997). Feelings of terror experienced by a walker at Rhossily Bay, Wales, were attributed to energies stirred up by ‘old Stone Men’
Regarding the italicized section above, I too have experienced terror from what I thought to be an apparition of a Neanderthal while sitting in a cave in Jena, Deutschland. The cave is called die Teufelslöcher, or Devil's Cave. While sitting in there and meditating, I began to see the city structures dissipate before me and I felt like I was viewing what that area looked like thousands of years ago. The cave rests at the foot of der Kernberg, a sandstone mountain, and from the mouth of the cave the valley floor gently stretches about half a mile or so to the Saale River, a moderately large, slowly meandering, gorgeous river that runs through Jena and Thüringen. My vision led me down to the river bank and I saw what I assumed was a Neanderthal (similar to the description given in the FT article) gathering water by the river, and then I watched him trek back to the cave I was in. When he got back to the cave, he dropped the basket of water and became quite outraged at my intrusion into his abode. At that moment, I awoke from my revery and jumped with fright, and I could sense an angry, malignant presence in there with me, and I took off and ran to my flat as fast as I could, but the entire way back, I felt its breath on my neck! I have honestly never felt terror like that before, and I never again set foot anywhere near that cave. It really screwed with my head, as I had never had such an experience like that before. I learned why it was named the Devil's Cave! That's why this article got my attention. Has anyone else had a similar experience?
Below is a pertinent excerpt from the article, of which, I have had a similar experience that I recount below. I am curious to know if anyone has had a comparable experience.
Dr Okolowicz later wrote a book on the mediumship of Kluski. He speculated that, like Gooch’s Neanderthal, the figure had its origins in the subconscious mind of a sitter – namely himself – as he had a strong interest in fossil man.
Beyond these séance room examples, actual apparitions of prehistoric men are notable by their absence. Folklore avers many barrows and standing stones are haunted, but spectres are varied – including White Ladies and Black Dogs, but hardly ever the phantoms of their builders..... The shaggy ghosts of a prehistoric family were reputedly seen near Neolithic earthworks at Lustleigh Cleave on Dartmoor by a friend of folklorist Theo Brown (in Transactions of the Devon Association 1952, cited in “Shug Monkeys and Werewolves” by Jonathan Downes and Richard Freeman, in Fortean Studies vol.5, 1997). Feelings of terror experienced by a walker at Rhossily Bay, Wales, were attributed to energies stirred up by ‘old Stone Men’
Regarding the italicized section above, I too have experienced terror from what I thought to be an apparition of a Neanderthal while sitting in a cave in Jena, Deutschland. The cave is called die Teufelslöcher, or Devil's Cave. While sitting in there and meditating, I began to see the city structures dissipate before me and I felt like I was viewing what that area looked like thousands of years ago. The cave rests at the foot of der Kernberg, a sandstone mountain, and from the mouth of the cave the valley floor gently stretches about half a mile or so to the Saale River, a moderately large, slowly meandering, gorgeous river that runs through Jena and Thüringen. My vision led me down to the river bank and I saw what I assumed was a Neanderthal (similar to the description given in the FT article) gathering water by the river, and then I watched him trek back to the cave I was in. When he got back to the cave, he dropped the basket of water and became quite outraged at my intrusion into his abode. At that moment, I awoke from my revery and jumped with fright, and I could sense an angry, malignant presence in there with me, and I took off and ran to my flat as fast as I could, but the entire way back, I felt its breath on my neck! I have honestly never felt terror like that before, and I never again set foot anywhere near that cave. It really screwed with my head, as I had never had such an experience like that before. I learned why it was named the Devil's Cave! That's why this article got my attention. Has anyone else had a similar experience?