Hi. Very entertaining stories, I enjoyed them all. It took few evenings to read the whole thread, but was good reading! Some of them are so very well written, they can stand alone as short tales in a book, really :thumbup:. Thanks to all who shared their experiences and stories.
I very rarely get the feeling when out in the wilderness. Quite the opposite, actually. Dont want to sound New Age here
, but I feel a sort of benign presences when entering a forest or climbing up the mountains. A kind of enhanced peace of mind and physical wellbeing. I really feel better, sort of cleansed and purer
. Trees, flowers, rocks, brooks, they all seem to welcome me. Even when alone on an over-night. When the darkness comes and I set up my camp, I know I will not be alone, rather surrounded by living beings, harmful or not only depending on my behaviors; but in no way evil. Animals and wild creatures have never been a problem for me. Bugs are quite annoying anyway
. I spray some repellent, keep a good fire going and always carry some fireworks with me (pretty nasty banging stuff). Only once, when camping, I had to lit up one, it was to move a heard of wild boars coming too close (my mistake, I set the tent too close to a stream and didnt dispose properly the food leftover ). Of course, several nights, when camping, I didnt really manage to sleep, due to the many strange sounds from the woods. But I never felt evil presences in the nature, really. I had though a bad experience with stray dogs once, when out running in the fields. That was scary. They circled me, growling fiercely. I was scared but I reacted. I started to throw stones, clods of dirt and to vawe menacingly the stalk of a corn plant, while retreating slowly. They let me go without attacking. I think I was lucky. I always bring a pepper spray with me since then.
Fortunately still, where I live, only certain type of people have as hobby hiking out in the nature, trekking and climbing and definitely are the real good guys. Never heard of hikers/campers being robbed at gunpoint by thugs or drifters in the mountains. Sure enough some weirdo is always around. I was 17 and hiking with a friend. At dusk, we decided to set up a tarp, pull out the mats and sleeping bags and start a fire in a wide clearing where some sheep and goats were grazing. We both soon had the "feeling" and started to be very attentive, scanning the treeline. 30 minutes later, a crazy shepherd came out from the woods, screaming at us and menacing us with his walking stick and his biiiig sheepdog barking. When things got too hot, I pulled out my Wetterlings and asked if we could have a civil conversation instead. He flew, we moved our camp and
they lived happily ever after.
Sadly enough, I get the feeling only in urban areas and mainly about people. I never had the proof that the feeling was right, but, based on that, I move myself and my family away from specific individuals or groups of people and get in the alarm mode. Sometimes, when its about people, its pretty obvious (thugs-like types), sometimes really not (harmless middle aged ladies, business men, repair men, etc.). I maintain the majority of fellow human beings are good and well intentioned people but, contrary to animals, some humans are evil and cruel.
When the feeling its about things happening, its blurrier. One story: I remember many years ago we were to a late afternoon party with my wife and my elderly kid that, at that time, was only 2 ½ years old. It was rather crowded but very relaxed atmosphere, nice place with a park, music and buffet tables with food and drinks. I had a couple of glasses of wine, chatting and mingling, letting my child play but always keeping an eye on him and being always less than 10 meters away. I started to have the feeling. Whats up now? What can be wrong here? I asked myself. I start scanning the place and people but I know the country club and no real strangers there! My wife calls me to greet friends and I have my child of out sight for maybe 3 minutes. The feeling gets sharper, I enter the alarm mode and I go looking for him. Not where he was playing before, I keep scanning around a couple of minutes when I spot him standing close to a buffet table, kind of standing still, gasping. I approach him, hes red in the face, not breathing. All slows down. I see him, quickly assess him, people around chat and move like in slow-mo; I hear the waiters chit-chat, hear the clinking of glasses, the laughter. I scan the table and spot a stainless steel bowl full of cherry toms. I grab him, turn him upside down and do the Heimlich maneuver. An intact cherry tom darts out. Hes crying. I hug and comfort him. Things regain their speed. No one really noticed anything.
The feeling for me it starts like the time and the pace of happenings slow down. Its not fear, not yet. It can become fear, though. I am becoming extremely attentive at the big picture of whats going on, but details get so vivid, the noises and sounds are incredibly clear, I feel like in an hyper-surveillance mode. It doesnt last long, maybe few minutes. I am compelled to do something. I cannot ignore it. Really, most of the time, now in my adult age, its just to move away from something or someone. As a kid, I picked up few fights instead, to defend myself or just not to "give ground"... kids...
I think there is no magic in the feeling. Its one of the oldest, primitive instinct we have. I think its the fight or flight response, a physiological reaction that occurs in response to a perceived harmful event, attack, or threat to survival. Its pretty well known and scientifically explained. Also animals have one. I believe we humans have a more complex one, though. Its our brain getting a number of inputs from the environment and processing those at the speed of the light. We are maybe not conscious about it but we get an output that something its just not right. Maybe its just a kind of unconscious situational awareness. Without intentional efforts, our brain have the ability to process billions of inputs and maintain a constant, clear mental picture of relevant information and the tactical situation including friendly and threat situations as well as the surrounding environment (terrain, weather, etc.). Whatever it is, it helps a lot
.
