Wednesday, June 7, 2017

The unexplainable heebie-jeebies

A few weeks ago, an article came out entitled "Some spooky things are happening at serial killer Ted Bundy’s childhood home."


It seems a contractor bought an old fixer-upper house and began renovating it to put it up for sale. But then some spooky, creepy, unexplained things started happening. "I’m not one to believe a lot of this stuff, but this house made me a believer," said Casey Clopton, the contractor, who ended up penciling Bible verses on the walls and bringing in two pastors to bless the house. Clopton didn't know the house's history before purchasing it. His only goal was to renovate and re-sell it. None of Bundy's murders occurred while he was living in the house.

Don and I got to talking about this story recently, wondering how real the "heebie jeebies" really are.

We like to think we're rational, logical people. We both have science backgrounds and neither of us has any patience with the "supernatural." Nonetheless I've had three instances in my life where I got inexplicable heebie-jeebies.

The first time was in college. It was my junior year and I sitting on a couch, studying a science textbook. The chapter was examining the scientific contributions of various and sundry people. I turned the page and freaked.

The page showed a photo of some guy from about the 1880s or so. There was nothing wrong with him -- he just had one of those solemn faces you always see in 19th-century portraits -- but there was something heart-klunkingly creepy about him as he stared out of the page at me. I instantly turned to the previous page so I couldn't see him.


Over and over, whenever I looked at that photo, I couldn't stand it and had to cover the scientist's face in order to read the text. I asked my roommate if the photo bothered her, and she said no. At last, since I had to study the chapter, I ended up folding a piece of paper in half and taping it over the photo so I could study in peace.

What freaked me out? I have no stinkin' clue. It was the unexplainable heebie-jeebies.

The second time was shortly before Don and I got married. I was renting a small house in a suburban neighborhood in West Sacramento. Every evening after work, I leashed up my dog and rode my bike around the neighborhood with her -- past a grocery store, up to the library, around some side streets, then back home -- so she could get her exercise.

One evening -- a calm summer evening around 5:30 pm -- I was riding with my dog past a broad vacant lot I'd passed dozens of times before. It was quiet and sunny and completely deserted, just as it had always been.


Suddenly I got the chills. I became horribly, irrationally afraid. I looked at the vacant lot and saw nothing, absolutely nothing, to cause concern. Still, I didn’t waste any time. I wheeled the bike around and urged my dog to a run to get out of there. I stopped a few hundred yards away to let her catch her breath.

I have no idea what caused that fear. I saw no one. I didn’t hear or smell anything. I even kept an eye on the news for the next few days but saw nothing related to that particular spot. The only thing I had to go on was instinct, pure gut. And my gut said run.

The third time happened in about 1996. Don and I were living in southwest Oregon. Older Daughter was a baby. I was working seasonally as a field biologist surveying owls for the BLM, which meant I worked from about 7 pm until around 3 am. The usual procedure on this job was to stop at "stations" about a quarter-mile apart and voice-call ("hoot") owls and listen for responses.

Most of my time was spent driving on dirt roads through towering forests or hiking around some very remote mountainous areas. I had many adventures, but was never afraid -- except once.

It was a quiet summer night and I pulled the rig (truck) to a halt at a juncture of two dirt roads, which made a broad clearing surrounded by forests. I stepped out of the truck to "hoot" (voice-call owls) and listen for any responses.


Suddenly I was terrified. I heard nothing, saw nothing, smelled nothing -- but I dove for the cab of the truck, rolled up the windows, and locked the doors. I probably looked like a fool, out there miles from anywhere, huddled in the driver's seat ... but I wasn't getting out of that truck for anything.

As before, there was no rational reason for my fear, nor did anything happen.

So why did I freak? Why did I lock myself in the truck? Well, I figure humans have cultivated an amazing ability to disregard sixth-sense warnings. We still have instincts we're often too “civilized” to heed. But instinct is there for a reason, and that reason might be very important.

Of course, why an old photograph in a textbook should trigger such an instinct is anyone's guess. It's not like it could do me any harm.

But heebie-jeebies are weird that way.

29 comments:

  1. you have the gift of discernment.
    there are demons, a host of them, and they hang around places as well as inhabit or shadow living things.
    possibly the scientist in the picture was a satanist or psychopath of some sort. look into his history, if you can. any evil he did may have been completely in secret or swept under the carpet, but it is possible that there is evidence of his sin to be found.
    i won't go into any details, but the Name of Power, Jesus, whether said aloud or in one's mind, will run them off, but leave immediately any place or person about whom the Holy Spirit has sent you warning.
    'the Name to which all power has been given.'

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  2. Darn it, you beat me to it. I was also going to say that evil does exist, you are a Christian woman and yes indeed you will discern evil around you with no scientific evidence. I was once at a fast food place with a boy friend, we had already gotten our food and were about to sit down. A young man and his girl friend walked in and got in line, that was all he did, yet when I saw him I literally jumped with fright and alarm, the first words from my friends mouth was, "did he hit you", apparently he also saw something. You have to understand that I was about 15' away from him and of course would have been quite impossible for him to hit me. Apparently we were both disturbed by this guy, the fright was so severe I have never really shaken of the memory and it has been over 30 years. I know it sounds wacky, but I fully believed I saw evil that night. Keep up your vigilance and remember that God is always with you.

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    1. Ditto again!

      God Bless,
      Janet in MA

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  3. Call me a doubting Thomas but I'm bracing for the war stories.
    Montana Guy

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  4. I agree with Debrorah. I have had several instances where someone looked at me and the hair on my neck stood up, my stomach lurched and I felt cold. I have come to believe these are demons. After I get over my quick fear, I always pray Gods protection around myself and the people near me (as in wherever I am at). I also rebuke the Enemy in the name of Jesus. I believe some of have the gift of discernment. I don't take it lightly and my husband now takes me seriously when I tell him to be careful as well.

    LSM

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  5. In my line of work I've been required to take a number of self-defense classes. All the 'experts' will tell you "trust your gut". I worked as a child abuse prevention teacher for years, and part of our class presentation went like this "Raise your hand if you have ever had the creeps!" (Most hands go up) and we followed with this statement "Having the creeps is all the reason you need, to get out of a situation. Leave, walk away, tell someone"
    On top of that, I believe in angels and demons who can and do, operate in our dimension.

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    1. We were camping at a campground last yr, and the campground host gave me the creeps. I didn't say anything, but I kept a very close eye on my kids and kept vigilant during our stay. The 2nd day we were there, my then 11 yr old dd saw the man and told me she didn't know why, but he gave her the creeps. I told her I understood, and to always, always listen to your gut when you feel like that.

      I believe God gives His creation ways to protect themselves, and for women....it's their intuition. If we would just listen, and not try to override ourselves with politeness, it would be useful.

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    2. So glad you were supportive of your girl!

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  6. I'm dying of curiosity: who was the scientist? I want to see if he creeps me out as well.

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    1. Unfortunately (or maybe, fortunately) I can't remember.

      - Patrice

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  7. I believe sometimes it's the sense of actual but unseen danger. Other times, I believe there may be a demon nearby (I'm a firm believer).

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  8. Excellent response Deborah Harvey! So glad you saw her post and wrote. Yes, the Devil is real and so are his many demons. Love RR!!

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  9. I have had similar situations where I felt in danger for no apparent reason. Always trust those feelings. Once when my husband and I were driving down a beautiful country road in Oregon we both turned to each other at the same time said we don't belong here we both sensed evil, we turned around and drove away fast.

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  10. I couldn't agree more. When your gut tells you to run, you run. It doesn't have to make any sense at the time. It might never make any sense. But I believe that any time you get an overwhelming feeling of running away from something, there's always a reason for it.

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  11. Several times in my life, a person or place has given me the jeebie-heebies (what my family of contrarians calls them). Whether or not you believe there are demons in the spiritual realm, we know here are truly evil people in our world. Yes, we have instincts like animals do when they sense fear, even when it is hiding behind trees. God gave us the instincts to perk up our ears when someone gives us a sense of unease, to question in our heads when someone is deceiving or lying to us, and to run when we sense something bad is about to happen. Yes, ALWAYS trust your gut and don't listen to the tiny, pc voice that says running will make you look like a fool. Look like a fool. Just run and you won't end up on as the top news story on tv.

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  12. Mid 90's, before I got married. I woke up inexplicably one morning, around 2 am. It was summer here in Alaska and very bright for that time of "day". I felt I could not/would not go back to sleep unless I went for a drive! About 50 miles out of town, I was again compelled to pull over and assist two guys and their disabled truck. With no clue as to the malfunction, I agreed to take one of the men, named Daniel, back to his place in town. I don't know what happened to his friend.

    Daniel fell asleep on the way home, but as I got near his neighborhood, he awoke and directed me to a certain street. This neighborhood seemed deserted; we were the only thing moving, with one exception.

    There was one dark figure in a jean jacket with a hoodie under it and the hood was pulled up over his head. His face was obscured except for the mirrored sunglasses over his eyes. Though his face was heavily shaded, he gave the impression he was leering at us we passed. He never moved, but when I turned the next corner, I glanced back and he was gone.

    I can't help think of the similarities between this figure and "The Walking Dude" in the Stephen King novel, "The Stand".

    Overactive imagination or spiritual encounter (of a bad kind)?

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  13. Oh I can see this episode bringing in a lot of responses.

    I was in a grocery store with baby and 3yr old one day. Too early for lunch or naptime but you could hear a lot of small children fussing. Some of them quite energetically. As I was standing in the checkout line with my angelic non-fussing children a man stepped into the line next to me. Immediately the baby yelped as if he'd been pinched and began yelling. The 3yr old flung herself against my legs and began crying. A terrible feeling of the creeps hit me like a brick. I looked around at this man, who looked like a serious gang biker in black leathers and chains, and could hardly bring myself to stand still and not reach for the pistol under my coat.

    When we got out to the car to put the groceries in the trunk my 3yr old piped up and pronounced,"Mama, that man was so ugly. Not outside, but the part inside that knows the angels. We should have run away."

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  14. I go out to the barn alone every night and always feel at peace, but a few months back, I felt such fear that I had to have my husband and gun accompany me for about a week. Now it is all fine again - no idea. Never saw or heard anything!

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  15. I like to hike in the woods of Western Oregon. Once while hiking in the hills near a medium sized city I noticed that someone had dumped trash over a hill by the road. Looking down on it I could tell it was bones, perfectly clean white fresh bones. Just down the street was a place that sold their pig meat so I concluded that they dumped the bones and such here. Looking around I saw a number of perfect big cat tracks in the mud, it was raining (did I mention it was Western Oregon). But the tracks were free of water and shiny like they had just been made. I swear the hair on the back of my neck stood on end as did the hair on my arms. Looking around I couldn't see a cougar but I knew he was there and probably watching. I did take a picture of the tracks (always carry a camera). When I got home I noticed that the tracks on the picture now had a little water in them. That is in about a minute the tracks accumulated water but there was none when I first saw them. I'm guessing the cat was eating from the carcasses and left when it heard me approach.

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  16. Demons are real. Jesus dealt with them. I once walked into a bookstore and felt dark oppression immediately. There was a large collection of paranormal and occult books near the entrance. They soon went out of business.

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  17. The motherlode of heebie jeebies stories is the 'Creepy stories from the outdoors' thread (6k posts) at

    http://www.survivalistboards.com/#/topics/57236?page=1

    I mean, that thread is epic. Some silly posts, but a lot of entertainment and enough to make you believe people really can sense danger.

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  18. I can't recall having any strong 'heebie jeebie' reactions but I think if I did I would definitely trust those instincts or whatever they are!

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  19. That happens to me at a certain place in a park near my home where an Indian battle was fought.

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  20. Hunting deer alone in the Black Hills S.D. I came across a set of foot prints in the light snow, as i followed these prints into a very narrow and steep canyon, I noticed no sound of other wild life and began feeling the heebies. The hind foot print looked like a young child's print in the snow. Later after backing out, I stopped and talked with the local DNR Officer and he confirmed it was a wolverine. One of the most dangerous predators.

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  21. It's a sensitivity /specificity issue. For most people the freakout sense is not specific (leading to false alarms) but it's hopefully sensitive (kicking in when it has to). No harm in going with it, or running away with it as the case may be.

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  22. Always, always, always listen to those creepy feelings. I don't care if you think the human mind is processing data subliminally or if you think God is warning you of danger. LISTEN!!

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  23. It was late July of 1969 , I was living in West Los Angeles bordering on Santa Monica .For no apparent reason I became so frightened that evening ,I went around and made sure that every door and window was firmly secured. That was the night of the Gary Hineman murders by the Manson Family. While I have had dozens of similar feelings and some very supernatural experiences, this is the only one that has had an explanation .

    Dee in the South West

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  24. We have acreage in southern Florida. It was a beautiful summer morning and I was greasing up the loader backhoe. I had been working everyday for several weeks as we were clearing several acres to develop a driveway and turn around path. I had the grease gun in my hand and suddenly the hair stood up on my neck and arms. I grabbed my cell phone and called my partner and explained that I was feeling creeped out. My partner said get the heck out of there for the day, so I got in the truck and left. A couple days later I went back out there and the flatbed trailer I had sitting there had several tufts of hair on it and in further inspection I saw two large paw prints of a very big cat. I never felt those creeps again but I think that day I was being scoped out by a Florida panther.
    I now know that creepy feeling and will scat if it ever happens again.

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