Greetings!

Thought I would post this as a starter and see what interesting stories that may pop up. Incidentally, I tried to post this yesterday but when I hit the "submit button"....it disappeared into cyber space. Perhaps an omen!

I moved here 3 years ago to escape my demented ex wife and during that time have had strange happenings.... nothing spectacular but just interesting which perhaps can be explained away.

Miscellaneous insignificant items would disappear. Now I am an anorak and I know where I put everything. But they disappear. I have a cat and it's collar disappeared. Searched high and low but gone. It turned up after a week under my bed which was one of the first places I looked on a number of occasions. That's the only thing that reappeared.

Items would suddenly fall over on top of my dresser. My gf saw her handbag move slowly across a table.

Found an intact well decomposed rat under my sofa where I sit. Wasn't there a couple of days prior.

Came home one night and found both internal fly screens laying on the floor.

My gf was having a nap waiting for me to come from town. Felt a hand on her shoulder and the sensation that someone had sat on the bed beside her. Thought it was me. It wasn't. No-one was there.

She woke up one night and saw "a face on the wall"

She has a friend who sometimes visits and sits outside. The friend saw "something" one evening left and returned placed garlic and salt on the window.

Two electronic devices (weighing scales and BP monitor) switched on by themselves.

Most recently which prompted me to write this:. She goes back to her family at the weekends and I leave the door unlocked on Monday morning so she can get into the house if I am still asleep. Couple of days ago, I awoke and found her and her teenage daughter outside. They had been waiting an hour for me to wake up. They said they couldn't open the door... even though they have a key. They said it must have been locked with the internal latch. It wasn't....I never use that. The door was also unlocked. I turned the handle with ease and it opened.

She reckons that my ex wife has got a witch to put some sort of spell on the house. I told her that she didn't need a witch... Which didn't go down to well.

Anyway...that's your starter for 10 as Bamber Gascoigne used to say.

A lot of incidents there, some with likely ordinary explanations, others not.

I have heard in the past and now sometimes from my wife about ghostly observances and happenings. Stories about particular trees featured twice. And recently my wife noticed a pregnant woman who was sitting on steep steps leading down to a beach resort. There one minute gone the next, she said. Was she a pregnant ghost, as she believes? Or just went quickly somewhere nearby...though later I saw there wasn't much scope for that.

There's a lot of witchcraft going on in certain places here, yes, but I don't know if beliefs in ghosts etc is especially common. I suspect it may be... due to low.education standards.....and a radio station my wife listens to airs long ghost stories in a low, gravelly voice, seemingly every day...even over Xmas.Though it can be argued belief in religion isn't much different!

Yes Raffin, as you say much of what occurred can probably be rationally explained, but I just keep an open mind on such matters. One such series of incidents which I neglected to mention (and I am sure there are others which will later come to mind) is her missing touthbrush. We keep them on the washbasin and a few months ago it disappeared. Found it a few days later down the plughole. Easily happens I guess, but it's happened half a dozen times times now. How did that happen?

This brings me to witchdoctors. Very many about it seems but sadly with negative reports. But there again, we only hear the negative reports. An acquaintance of mine ( local) was bitten by a dog a few years ago and he went to a witch doctor who treated it by rubbing leaves on the wound to prevent rabies. Sadly he died of rabies in very distressing circumstances 3 months later.

A middle aged gentleman pitched up to the local hospital here a few days ago to see the doctor. He had a leg that was swollen to twice it's size....and black. He had also gone blind. Apparently he went to a witch doctor to cure what I presume is diabetes.

In both cases, they could not afford to pay 150 PHP to see the doctor...or more likely to pay for medicines.

Then of course, we have the "White Lady". An apparition that appears for some unknown reason. My partner and her sister saw one when they were kids coming home from school one evening. I had no reason to disbelieve what they saw when I hear their story in such detail.

Incidentally, I concur with your last sentence.

I'm enjoying this thread, please keep 'em coming.
Philosophical 11, I must say how I miss your regular postings as your ability to write effectively and beautifully was truly captivating, albeit your distressing subject matter at the time.
I'm sure I'm not the only one who would look forward to a weekly blog of happy, interesting events in your unique style.
Greetings from FrogLand,
TP

Thanks Tweedpipe!

A very lot of water has passed under the bridge since those days, but for reasons previously stated, I no longer have the inclination to post here on that particular subject.

However... Going back to ghost stories:

Since I last wrote on this subject, a few things things have happened.... but three immediately come to mind.

Woke up one morning alone in the house (LL2 visits her family at the weekend) and walked into the sitting room to find a very odd sight. I have nailed on the wall (using the proverbial Philippine 6 inch nail) a wall clock and under that a calendar. I found that the clock was in place.... but the calendar was folded nicely on the chair below it. How to explain that? Since then on a number of occasions, I have woken up to find the calendar skew wiff under the clock. Me being me, like things in order and always straighten it.

I wear spectacles when outside. When I come back home, they are immediately removed and put in one of two places. About 3 weeks ago, I couldn't find my glasses and hunted high and low looking in obvious places. Fortunately, I have a spare pair.. I found them two days later tucked away and hidden behind my large electric water dispenser.

Finally, I should mention that I always wake up in the middle of the night for no apparent reason and then while the time away on the internet for about 30 minutes or so. About a week ago, whilst reading on the internet, I can only describe as a white apparition passed by the bottom of my bed.. It lasted no more than a second. A trick of the light? An optical illusion? Who knows? But I know what I saw.

With these goings on, LL2 has got it into her head that maybe my ex has got a witch doctor to put a hex on our place. Fortunately, she is not too bothered about it. Nor am I.

Regards

As it's been a bit quiet of late on this exalted Brit Expats forum, I thought I would post more "goings on" in my apartment.

Found out recently that my rental which is one of three ground floor semi detached apartments used to be a chapel a long time ago.

I'm one of those guys who is meticulous in knowing where my personal items "live" in the bedroom. Or an "anorak". But on a number of occasions...things have moved places...or just gone missing.

Example. I keep a crumpled handkerchief under my pillow when I have a cold. One morning, I found it nicely spread over the water bottle I keep under my chair next to the bed.

My gf has a 19 yo daughter who stays here during college. One night, the small 'clacker" ball suspended on string tied to a chair ( cats toy) was swinging on its own. She moved the fan. It still swung. She spent the night hiding under the cover.

My gf son (14) who stayed over one night was found in the morning under the table hiding under bed covers. He saw an apparition glide past during the night going to the kitchen. Vowed never to return.

Gf heard the clicking of the ignition on a portable butane cooker in the kitchen. Thinking it was her daughter who returned home unnoticed, went to the kitchen. No one was there.

In my bedroom, I have a cat litter tray. Heard the unmistakable sound of a cat scratching about. No cat was there. Went over to look. The sound suddenly stopped.

One afternoon I was in the bedroom and heard a chair scrape across the floor in salla. Went to investigate and nothing was about. As I was scanning the room I noticed in the corner of my eye, the chair I was standing next to, suddenly appeared to have repositioned itself about 12". Absolutely no movement.

Came back one afternoon, went to the cr/shower room and found the door had been lifted off 2 of its 3 hinges and just hanging there.

Sitting on my bed servicing my ecig which requires very small but special tools. Went to get one of them from the others laid out on the bed....and it was gone. Only used it a few minutes prior. Searched everywhere for about 10 minutes. Called my girlfriend to help and it was definitely gone. But where? Returned back to the bedroom and there it was... reappeared back on the bed with the other tools.

Gf was in the kitchen cooking rice. As they do. She turned round to get something from the fridge and then went back to the rice cooker. It was unplugged from the wall.

Returned home from town one day, put my e.cig on the table to put the shopping away. Returned to pick up the ecig and it felt light. The two batteries had disappeared. Yet the battery compartment was still latched. Gf daughter found them in one of her shoes outside the door later that day.

I'm sure there are other instances that I have forgotten about. But it does beg the question...can it all be explained?

I don't think so.



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[QUOTE=Philosophical 11;13235861

Found an intact well decomposed rat under my sofa where I sit. Wasn't there a couple of days prior.

[/QUOTE]

Cat put it there for later?

Our old house is suddenly haunted after about 25 years, we rent it out and had guests stay there over Christmas. Both the tenents and guests complained about hearing a bouncing ball and one of the tenents saw a white lady. a week or so ago.

No... That was when we first moved in and didn't have any cats then. The first of two came about a year later.

P 11
With all the strange happenings going on I have to write, expressing my concern that you may be a victim to ageing. Ponder on that please.
As for myself, up until six months ago I was taking one simvastatin pill a day. Now I have a cataract nicely ripening in my left eye. I now take one tablet per day to alleviate high blood pressure, and one aspirin per day to thin my blood.
Yesterday I was diagnosed with sciatica and to combat that I now take one vitamin B complex tablet a day. So at 77 aging has certainly caught up with me!

Sorry to hear about that B. I hope there's no further deterioration. I am still a whipper snapper at 76 ...or used to be, but now appear to be a victim of COVID Vax injury. But that's a completely different story which I may write about later.

Back to the original subject.

I was in two minds to write about this, and will just put it down as a dream. I have been suffering from a sleep disorder for about 2 years now which I have put down to the aforementioned Vax injury.

I wake up every night after a couple of hours sleep and lay awake for anything from 30 minutes to a couple of hours. I don't feel particularly tired during that time.

Couple of weeks ago, I woke up at 3.33 (easy number to remember) according to my cell phone and then proceeded to read as I normally do for a while until I feel the need to sleep.

This time I was reading for about 30 minutes and then felt the urge to sleep. Looked at the time before I put the phone into airplane mode.. it was still 3.33.

On the subject of age related conditions.....something that gets I suspect gets neglected in the calculations of Expat retirees.
Who may just focus on the more serious conditions.They can require regular consultations, meds and tests. Expenses every month.

Reported it here but to repeat...last year I discovered, by accident, that I had a cataract in my left eye. Although vision seemed OK I got it done, at no small cost, then when my eyesight didn't improve a retinal scar was found. They can be removed but expensive and with a poor success rate. So the doc prescribed corrective glasses, which are useless, but helped me get a 10 year driving licence. It's easy to get eye test charts on a computer monitor and do a DIY eye test. You can have no idea you have a cataract or scar if your other eye is OK.

Just getting 1 or 2 hours continuous sleep at night is something to really worry about because you would then need many hours in the daytime to total enough.I get 4 or 5 hours at first, then can sometimes get a bit more, or not. I believe that is not unusual in your 70s. Then sometimes a little in the day. Anyway the experts say not getting enough sleep badly affects your overall health.

Another very age related condition is benign prostate enlargement. Apparently affects 90% of men by late old age. Looking back I think my Dad had it in his 80s. but said and did nothing about it. I have it.. It can be treated with tablets, but if they don't work it's surgery. Regular testing needed.

Thought I would report the latest most bizarre incident.

Cat just had a number 2 in the litter tray and thought I would dispose of the evidence immediately.

Used the gardening trowel which is always placed nearby and disposed the offending exhibit down the CR using the flushing water to clean the trowel.

After I completed the operation, I noticed that my hand was partially covered in what appeared to be a purple dye. Going to the washbasin, I looked in the mirror and part of my face was also coloured in purple dye. Everything washed off quite easily..... but it all adds to the unexplained mysteries.

As an aside, I keep finding myself logged out of this forum. Anyone else?

Also, there used to be a feature for "private messages". That appears to have gone.

Edit. The"messages" function has just been restored by magic.... after about 3 weeks.

I'm sure it can all be explained, but not necessarily in rational or other terms that everyone will accept. To be frank, I don't believe in ghosts or the supernatural, but I am sure that there is much we neither know nor understand. After all, 'There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy' ...

Thanks.

Personally, I have an open mind on the subject and if the "events" were just a one off, I wouldn't have bothered writing about it here. It would have been forgotten as just "one of those things". But theres too many now to ignore.

Another "happening" occured a few days ago and awaiting further investigation from the landlady before I go into print.

Regards