Out of time and out of place

reply to post by leapoffaith

Hi 'leapoffaith',

I found your account really interesting ... when you say that the gypsy guy and the older residents were reluctant to divulge details of the 'weird' stuff that they would only touch on ... it sounds as if this is a bit of a 'hotspot' (I think someone already mentioned the Bermuda Triangle)?

I should probably explain that I'm a bit of a 'hybrid' ... whilst my natural inclinations lean towards the esoteric and paranormal ... I also like to know how / why things happen from a logical / scientific point of view too ! That's why I've always thought that there is a scientific explanation for the strangeness of the 'BT' that actually merges with things we don't yet understand ... the paranomal is therefore an extension of the normal and is equally as valid. IMHO

And whilst you and your husband might have been 'under the influence ... the gypsy wasn't, so nothing is detracted from your story ... and it shows that you have been honest about it.

I have a strong feeling that if you did a little research about local myth / legend / folktales from this area of France, you might discover that this kind of 'timeslip' has been happening there for some time. Hence the reaqson for the locals being shifty about it (coul be they're just superstitious ... could be they depend on tourism and don't want to put people off with the truth)?

The other alternative of course is 'abduction' !

It's a shame you had indulged yourselves the night before because it would have been interesting to know if you had any kind of strange symptoms the next day as a result of the missig time (unfortunately the usual suspects - headache / nausea etc are also standard hang-over symptoms).lol

Either way 2hrs is along time to travel a relatively short distance ...and still not reach your destination. I'd love to hear if you find any other stories about this from the same area.

Woody

reply to post by Vanitas


Ahh! Vanitas,
Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you ... I've been scratching my head wondering why the name of that place sounded so familiar ... of course the Cathars.

Phew, I'd have been puzzling on that one all night.

Woody

reply to post by woodwytch


Hi Woody,
Thanks for your comments. I am a hybrid too (even with a degree in psychology), but any explanation is welcome.

Abduction?? That thought really never crossed my mind. How?? We didn't see ufo's or other objects.

There are some accounts in the Languedoc about timeslips but also with the same comment that people don't want to talk about it (kathleen McGowan-the expected one, a book on Maria Magdalena, mentions this for a fact. In fact that book was the trigger to put my experience online, hoping to find more information!

I am very happy with the information from Vanitas and will start my own research, keep ya posted!

Greetz

Phew, I'd have been puzzling on that one all night.

Instead of just coming back here...?

Originally posted by woodwytch

I found your account really interesting ... when you say that the gypsy guy and the older residents were reluctant to divulge details of the 'weird' stuff that they would only touch on ... it sounds as if this is a bit of a 'hotspot'

That's exactly what I was thinking!

I am not saying that it WAS so (how could I? And there are many reasons for people to be nervous, not least of them being having to drive strangers around for HOURS :-)) - but still, I found myself thinking... perhaps there was another reason why that gypsy man was nervous. Perhaps he remembered other strange things happening in the area.




[edit on 21-5-2008 by Vanitas]

leapoffaith, something doesn't add up for me, its just something i noticed and i wonder have you? if the gypsie turned the car at 4am, and it took two hours to get back to the road and another half hour to get back to the campsite, that would make it 6.30am when you arrived back at the campsite.

you said your friends were insomniacs and were worried because you got back late, but at 6.30 on the 9th of august 1993 the sun was rising and it would have been light for a good half hour before hand. so if i were your friends i would have said you didn't get back until the next morning.

so, my thought is, did you get back "late" by their reakoning, 4ish say, or next morning, 6.30ish.

its also strange you didn't mention that you trudged into camp as the sun came up, do you remember it being night or early morning on your return?

reply to post by pieman

'


We entered the road on foot in complete darkness and by the time we arrived at our tent it was getting light (I just asked my husband, he is sure about it) but I don''t know exactly the time we arrived.

Even now I see the green light of the car clock display very sharp in my mind, it was 4 o'clock when he turned the car. I am positive about that. The exact time we got out of the car is something else. I was very upset when he threw us out and very scared.

I just wrote our friends (an older couple who spended each summer there) were awake all night (which was normal for them). Their campingsite was at the beginning of the road in a field. They heard us walking by, we didn't stop to chat.
We spoke to them later after catching up on sleep.

thanks for clearing that up for me, thought their might have been a dihalation element to it, it's pretty weird.

there are some simular weird stories i've read, i think you were right to stay in the car, it may have acted as some sort of farridays cage.
one of my favorites involve witnesses seeing someone disappear from our reality before their eyes.

David Lang

reply to post by pieman


Hello pieman,

Thanks for your input and very interesting link!

I noticed I made another mistake: the event took place after midnight so it was the 10th of august 1993.
(9 august is my husbands birthday, we had dinner and went to the bar afterwards)

reply to post by pieman



You do know that "David Lang" is a totally apocryphal figure, Pieman?
(Take it from someone who LOVES - and collects - such stories.
In fact, the last entry so far in my - totally non-commercial - blog on time slips discusses his story and a similar one).





[edit on 22-5-2008 by Vanitas]

reply to post by leapoffaith


Hey there leapoffaith,

As I said yesterday your account really intrigued me (maybe because I've had a couple of experiences of missing time myself ... but that's another story).

Anyhoo, I decided to do a google search for 'folklore in Southern France' & 'Reported Timeslips in France'.
Didn't come up with anything that really fit the bill there ... but I did stumble upon one little gem that you might like to read.

VANITAS (you might find it interesting too re; 'Timeslips Anyone'); NOTE THE MONTH & WEATHER CONDITIONS !!!


'leapoffaith' before I post the link you'll understand what I meant when I said in a previous post that 'it's a shame you'd indulged' !

Because after reading this womans account I'm pretty sure the sensations you felt during the drive, may not just have been down to you and your husband partaking of the herb & vine.

The woman who wrote the account (also in a car at the time) described weird sensations that she referred to as 'runners high' and a whooshy slow-motion feeling ... sound familiar ?

Ok, here's the link;

www.paranormalsoup.com...

Scroll down passed the first account on the page to ...

'A Time Inconsistency' by Sheri Lowe

Woody

[edit on 22-5-2008 by woodwytch]

[edit on 22-5-2008 by woodwytch]

reply to post by Vanitas


i didn't know that but i don't mind if it is, i like those slightly weird stories and the fact that it may or may not be true doesn't really detract from it for me. you'll probably know better than me but i suspect late 19th century records were patchy at the best of times, so it wouldn't surprise me if the story was false or if the family hadn't been recorded. either way these things clearly happen and i suspect, at worst, the story is based in truth.

i took a look at your blog,love it, its right up my street so i've added it to my regular reading list, thanks for that.

leapoffaith, although this doesn't quite match up, it is close enough that i thought i might mention it. the artical is about a different region but ariege is mentioned as being linked to these legends. perhaps these are the local stories that freaked out your local guide.

There are many accounts of accesses to this underground empire. One finds these legends in French provinces like the High Loire (Pradelles), Ariège (Miglos), the Pilat (Annonay), the Ardeche (St Pierreville) the Maritime Alps (Falicon), Provence (the plate of Clansaye, Baux of Provence), etc., to only quote the best known.
Though details and aspects may differ, in essence, each story follows the same structure. Normally, it is an animal or a small child that falls in the opening and is found again, sometimes days later, in perfect health. But if this befalls children, it turns out they have no memory of their adventure. Sometimes, the missing person is an adult – a hunter, a shepherd, a poacher and in one case even a magistrate – who is discovered after a missing period of time. His beard has grown, but he has no memory of what happened to him. Two accounts speak of two men who had undergone this trial, returning with entirely bleached hair! Also, the people who stumbled into the darkness of the underground were never equipped with lighting, but somehow managed to move in this darkness, even being able to find an exit. Sometimes, the entrance is said to be guarded by a creature; sometimes, it is said that there are phenomenal treasures about… finally, there is often a story present of a gigantic underground lake, or of major rivers feeding them. But it seems that they are possible to be traversed, even to follow them, without knowing where they might go.

the magic mountain

[edit on 23-5-2008 by pieman]

sorry, i know, double post, but my random conection synapces are firing, piece i just quoted says people fall down holes but can't remember what happened afterward, so i've ignored the descriptions of treasure and gaurdians, if they don't remember the events then these are likely additions to the oridginal story.

two possibilities occour to me. the one i like the best is that the suggestion of falling down a hole in the legends is just the assumed cause of the disappearance in the first place, considdering the area is riddled with limestone caves. instead, these people are caught in a time slip for days on end and don't feel the time slipping by, what seems moments to them is actually days. beards etc may be just added to give the story spice, chinese whispers style.

the other one, a bit further fetched, if thats possible, is to do with your mention that the road ended 50m further on from the campsite at the foot of a mountain. ou guys simply drove into an open entrance to this underground world which was open at the time of night that people were least likely to notice, perhaps to allow air in or to get water from the nearby river.

can you describe the end of the road?

reply to post by woodwytch


Hi Woody,

I am very interested in your experiences, is there a thread of these?

reply to post by pieman


Hi pieman,

The road changed from from a double trail to a single trail, only accessable on foot. At this point there was a huge tree stem lying on the road as a warning for cars. The single trail changed (after 500 meters) in a steep goatpath going straght up the mountain with on the right side the river (we actuelly took a lot of pictures of this part of the river because of the beautiful cataracts here). The path was too narrow to walk next to each other.

Phew, this is very hard to try to explain in english...

Faith

i didn't know that but i don't mind if it is, i like those slightly weird stories and the fact that it may or may not be true doesn't really detract from it for me. you'll probably know better than me but i suspect late 19th century records were patchy at the best of times, so it wouldn't surprise me if the story was false or if the family hadn't been recorded. either way these things clearly happen and i suspect, at worst, the story is based in truth.

i took a look at your blog,love it, its right up my street so i've added it to my regular reading list, thanks for that.

Oh no - thank YOU!
(Maybe now I'l be motivated to find time for posting there more often... :-)
I am very glad we are on the same "street".

And yes, of course I understand what you're saying - in fact, I think I wrote about it myself in the blog: the fact (and it IS a fact) that it is made-up does NOT mean that there were no such happenings, or that the underlying reality of "time slips" is any lesser for it.





[edit on 23-5-2008 by Vanitas]

reply to post by woodwytch


Thanks, Woody - good work!

(Even though reading through such websites contributes heavily to my own time slipping away at an alarming rate... )

Originally posted by leapoffaith
I noticed I made another mistake: the event took place after midnight so it was the 10th of august 1993.
(9 august is my husbands birthday, we had dinner and went to the bar afterwards)

I see. So, based on your experience and the experiences of Mlles Moberly and Jourdain, it's safe to assume that August 10 is a very good date to travel, indeed... and much further than one might think.

reply to post by woodwytch


Hi Woody,

Thanks for the link you posted. I am not gonna apologize for being under the influence , if we weren't we may never had this odd experience.

But while I was reading from your link I realised something else: I had passed away somewhere along our trip and woke up just when the gypsy decide he had enough and searched for a spot to turn the car: 2 things cross my mind: When I woke up I had the feeling we were speeding and the road didn't feel bumpy at all, so I started a fight with my husband that we were on the wrong road (because the actual road was sandy with holes in it) Furthermore there were no trees so close to the road but when we were turning it was difficult because of the trees.

I am really grateful for all you people's feedback here on ATS!

Faith