Creeped Out By Inanimate Object For No Identifiable Reason!
@AJ1952Chats (2331)
Anderson, Indiana
November 4, 2006 1:59am CST
Have you ever had the experience of being creeped out by an inanimate object for no identifiable reason?
By that, I mean, have you ever just gotten bad vibes from something that you don't associate with a bad happening such as you might, for instance, if you had grown up in a slum, been bitten by a rat, and were now horrified of even a baby mouse?
When I was four, there was such an object in my life: the damper on our fireplace.
I had never had a bad association with this damper but just suddenly began to notice that it gave me the creeps. The first time it gave me the creeps, it was just a kind of fleeting thing that I didn't think anything about.
In fact, it took a contrast to make me realize how eerie it was.
One day, I was just playing around with a piece of paper and pretending that it was magic and that it could turn into anything. I made up a little song as I went along, and my final act was to do a little dance, spin around, and head in whatever direction I happened to be turned in order to find something to put the paper on--which turned out to be the damper.
At that point, I got no bad vibe from it. I was just playing. It came out looking like a little girl in a dress to me, so I was very proud of it.
The next day, it was just the damper showing, because my folks had removed the paper sometime before I woke up.
My response was to run out of the living room with my hands over my eyes and go back upstairs to bed again.
My folks somehow knew that I was responding to the damper, so they told me to hide my eyes until they could cover it up again.
Anyway, to make a long story short, I didn't want it to be uncovered after that, and that went on for many years.
I've written a longer story about this called Damper Of Damnation, and you can do a Google search if you want to find it to learn more.
But, back to the original question, have you ever gone through something like this?
3 people like this
10 responses
@owlwings (43897)
• Cambridge, England
8 Nov 06
I don't believe I've ever been creeped out by anything for a long time but I once went to Birmingham (in England) when they were remodelling the town centre. Its on a hill, so walkways go in at 1st floor level and come out at ground level (add a story if you're American, lol). I walked around a bit, went up some stairs and came out at street level again! That freaked me out ... I remember I lost all confidence in where the ground really was and had to get out quick! I was 18 or 20 at the time. I've been back since and never had a problem!
1 person likes this
@AJ1952Chats (2331)
• Anderson, Indiana
8 Nov 06
I've always had a great sense of direction, but I remember how I would get turned around in my first high school (went there two years before the new one was built) so that the directions didn't seem right to me. Thinking about it now, I don't understand how I got so turned around but, at the time, north seemed like south and east seemed like west.
My phys. ed. teacher (who was also my guidance counselor and would become the dean of girls in the new high school) asked me how I was getting along in high school, and I told her that I was getting along fine except that, once I was in the building, I got my directions mixed up.
She decided that this meant that I needed to see a psychiatrist--this coupled with how I would want to sit out some exercises that I felt wouldn't be good for my trick-knee and that I had a crush on some of the younger male teachers (which she decided probably meant that I was like a cat in heat who was so ready to "do it" that I would choose a doorknob for my fun if necessary--or course, she was wrong).
Anyway, you've learned something new about me...
@AJ1952Chats (2331)
• Anderson, Indiana
13 Nov 06
If I get engaged in a conversation, so can I--not so much that I don't know where I am but more like I've forgotten where I'm going and have decided that I'm on my way somewhere else and am heading towards said somewhere else instead of my original destination.
@barbarella (354)
•
19 Dec 06
I'm glad its not just me then! That has happened a few times to me. Once when I was 12, my bedroom was really messy and I got this increasing feeling of unease about all of the objects on my bedroom floor. I have absolutely no idea why, it just felt like they all had this general malevolence directed at me. After a while I had convinced myself that they were all after me and would rise up in a revolt led by a pair of scissors because I had trodden on them. Went running from my room terrified!
More recently someone gave me one of those lamps with a figurine of an Edwardiam lady stood on the base. It sat on a chest of drawers in my room and I swear I used to hear her tapping the end of her parasol on the base of the lamp at night. I was sure she was doing it on purpose to scare me. Had to get my mum to take it away the next time she visited bur made sure I was in another room when she took it so that the lady wouldn't know I was involved and get angry with me! Did a similar thing with the Exorcist book. Bought it and then didn't dare read it and then got scared having it on my bookshelf so sandwiched it between 2 other books and threw them away together so that I could pretend I hadn't meant to throw it away if it got angry with me for it. Also, went through a phase of apologising to paving slabs when I tripped over them in case they were annoyed with me!!!
@AJ1952Chats (2331)
• Anderson, Indiana
20 Dec 06
Wow! That's really heavy!
It sounds as if you're really sensitive to something--perhaps, the same something--that is giving you bad vibes.
Somehow, this is getting played out through different objects.
I don't know if there's some kind of messed-up spirit (one fighting against God and what He stands for) that is infiltrating itself in different objects in your house or what.
With me, it seemed to be one particular object that was giving me the creeps. With you, the scare seems to be more widely-spread.
It could be that there's some kind of wayward spirit in your house, and you're picking up on it.
Have you ever thought of having a professional exorcist or ghostbuster to come to your place and check things out?
Might be a good idea...
@AJ1952Chats (2331)
• Anderson, Indiana
26 Dec 06
You're not being an idiot--but there might be something going on with you emotionally in that case. It might be a good idea to find a trusted therapist to talk this over with, as this sounds as if it might be a case of having panic attacks. If it's neither the residence nor the object, it does sound as if it might be something going on within you, and it would be good to get to the bottom of why.
One more bit of advice...choose a therapist who uses talk instead of meds for therapy, and you'll have more of a chance of getting to the root of your problem(s) instead of simply having your problem(s) masked.
@barbarella (354)
•
20 Dec 06
It was in different houses. I don't think its anything like that, I think its me being an idiot! Thank you though.
1 person likes this
@Vallie26 (349)
• United States
6 Nov 06
I've never had a situation when I was creeped out by an inanimate object but I had a funny situation where my cat was.lol
I collect Buddha. One of them is green jade(it's really pretty)and it glows in the dark.
I had it placed in the living room on top of the tv one night and was laying on the couch watching tv with the lights off.
The buddha was glowing and the cat was really freaking out. I had to put it in a different location in the room where she couldn't see it.lol After I moved it she was fine.
1 person likes this
@AJ1952Chats (2331)
• Anderson, Indiana
8 Nov 06
Denise ate his chicken dinner with all the fixings just fine--but she just didn't want to look at the cook. Me, I could eat away while staring right at him. I've actually never met the guy before, but some of my friends have, because they ran one of his restaurants. Their dad/grandpa and The Colonel grew up in the same neck of the woods, and he was one of the first people to get a franchise. Also, there was this guy I liked back in 1973, and he, his parents, and brother were the ones to bring the franchise out to Southern California.
@rusty2rusty (6771)
• Defiance, Ohio
3 Feb 07
The only thing I have ever been creeped out from is the dark, some people when I first meet them , and some buildings or certain rooms in buildings...I would get bad vibes for some reason. There would literaly scare me not to go in there.
Great discussion. I give you a plus.
1 person likes this
@AJ1952Chats (2331)
• Anderson, Indiana
4 Feb 07
Thanks! I give you a plus for answering this! I think that the buildings and rooms thing comes close to how it was with the damper and me.
I was around the damper from the time that I was a little over a year old until I was four years old without any kind of bad vibes. Then, I began to have this kind of thing like I mentioned about when the light shone on it a certain way, but it didn't make me desperate to cover it up.
Only after I'd covered it up in a spontaneous act of imaginative play did it look unbearable to me when unadorned. I guess that having the cover over it for a short time made me aware of some kind of better vibes when it was out-of-sight.
There was even a time when I had a decoration on it where the damper was exposed--that being when a craft I made in kindergarten was placed on it so that the craft formed the wings and the damper formed the head and torso of a butterfly.
Perhaps, the butterfly wings shaded it from the kind of exposure to light that creeped me out--or it might have been that it had become a part of a thing of beauty instead of simply being the damper.
@cyntrow (8523)
• United States
5 Feb 07
I personally hate porcelin dolls. Even to this day the things give me the willies. There is something in the eyes, I think that makes me think they are staring at me. Or maybe it's just all the scary movies I watched as a kid where dolls came to life and did creepy things. I don't know, but its a fear that I've had since childhood and can't seem to break
1 person likes this
@AJ1952Chats (2331)
• Anderson, Indiana
5 Feb 07
This sounds like the fear of all inanimate objects of a particular kind--but it, possibly, could have come from a fear of a particular object of its kind that spread to other similar objects. Like, you might have been creeped-out by the Chuckie doll in the movie, and this fear spread to all dolls that had the appearance of staring at you.
There was a certain amount of time (not sure how long) when I noticed something unsettling about the damper, but I didn't know how to put it into words. It was just a feeling. It seemed to be when the light shone on it a certain way.
During this time, I remember that my mom would get her hair done by the nicest lady named Maxine (I called her Magazine). Part of her house she had turned into a beauty shop, and we mostly visited there.
But, one time, I think I might have had to go to the bathroom or something, so she took me into the part of the house where she and her family lived. I remember getting a glimpse of her living room, and it had a fireplace--and the damper on it looked quite a bit like the one on the fireplace at home, and the light was reflecting on it in a particular way.
Although I didn't have the words to express it at the time, I can look back and remember the feeling when I saw it, and my feeling was that it looked creepy.
This observation was insignificant to me at the time, so it was in the stages of being merely that: an observation. One that was fleeting and I couldn't put into words.
Anyway, those are just some thoughts off the top of my head on this...
@bicklelady (1404)
• United States
8 Feb 07
I have a master bath room attached to my bed room. For some reason, I can not go to sleep unless the bathroom door is closed. I don't think it is from the dark room. I am not scared of the dark. I just get scared if the door is open and I wake up.
1 person likes this
@AJ1952Chats (2331)
• Anderson, Indiana
12 Feb 07
Perhaps, the pipes in it make some sounds that have creeped you out in the past? Maybe, cars go by or some kind of light shines in spotlighting the toilet and reminding you of the urban legend about a toilet that ate people and, supposedly, sent them to hell. Perhaps, there are simply some bad vibes somewhere in that bathroom much in the way that there were some kinds of bad vibes associated with the damper. Is there one particular part of the bathroom that spooks you (e.g. shower curtains that look like ghosts) or just the entire bathroom?
@zuri25 (2125)
• United States
12 Nov 06
Yep, when I was young, around seven or so, I watched part of a Freddy Crugar movie and was really scared by Freddy. Well, my sister, being the brat she was at the time, decided it would be funny to put a plastic head of Freddy on our bedroom doorknob. When I saw it I freaked out and hide under my blankets vowing to never fall asleep because the Freddy head would come to life in my dreams and murder me. My sister refused to take it off (she even went as far as to hang a freddy poster on our wall) until my mom realized what was making me freak out and she disposed of them. I still don't like looking at merchandise from those movies.
@AJ1952Chats (2331)
• Anderson, Indiana
12 Nov 06
I saw the first movie "Nightmare On Elm Street" with my folks and uncle several years ago. Uncle Kermit had heard that it was good, but it was one of the stupidest movies I'd ever seen.
Scared? No. Bored? Yes.
UK was able to save face by taking us to a much better movie (wonderful, in fact) called "Mask" where Cher played the mother of this sweet teenaged boy with a deformed face.
I could imagine how you felt seeing Freddy's head on the doorknob. Probably looked about like that damper did to me.
@fairly4458 (842)
• United States
13 Nov 06
No, not with objects, but with people yes...I get vibes from people.
Most people are fairly neutral...not bad, not good. A few have made me want to run from them! One was a friend of my then boyfriend. He was decent looking, clean, intelligent, had a girlfriend & never was rude or anything bad towards me, yet the hair on the back of my neck would stand up when ever we were in the same room!
The other way, there was a man I went out with that I *know* we would never have had any problems. I wanted to be near him!!
He didn't feel it & went away & I am sad!
@AJ1952Chats (2331)
• Anderson, Indiana
13 Nov 06
I can't remember ever having bad vibes about people without knowing something bad about them, but I do know that I've had this feeling about people like you described with the man to whom you were attracted.
One of the strongest gut-feelings was when I saw a picture of this writer, and I said out loud, "There's my dream-writer!"
Just months before, I had come up with this idea of a dream writer, and this stranger seemed to fit that idea just from looking at his picture.
Years later, I met him. At the time, I had forgotten about the picture but, when I started falling in love with him, it came back to me.
It turned out that we had a friendship connection instead of a love connection, but it's a friendship that has lasted for going on 26 years!
@14missy (3183)
• Australia
17 Dec 06
I haven't personally that I can remember, but my daughter was always freaked out as a young child by a small bust of a harlequin clown that we had. I thought it was really nice, made of porcelin but she used to say it gave her nightmares and we had to store it in a cupboard for years. I brought it out again a few years ago and she said it really scared her but she didn't know why, so we eventually threw it in the bin.
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@AJ1952Chats (2331)
• Anderson, Indiana
18 Dec 06
Your daughter's feelings about the clown bust reminded me a lot of how that damper made me feel. I've seen photographs of it since then (in the background of stills and videos), and it hasn't given me nightmares. However, I have no idea what I would see in it if I sat in the room with it and looked at it long enough--and I don't believe I'd care to find out.
Even after I saw it that one time and didn't think it was a big deal--but, then, saw it in a light that creeped me out some--I saw it since then, and the creepy feeling didn't return.
However, the night that there was this brief flicker across it that seemed kinda spooky, my cousin and I were sleeping together, and I closed my eyes and saw it just as plain as day (looking spooky), so I opened my eyes right away and got my cousin engaged in some kind of conversation about boys or something like that. I didn't even tell her about the freaky vision. Just started talking to her, and, by the time we both closed our eyes and went to sleep, the vision didn't come back.
Over the years, I really haven't given the damper that much thought--until I got on the Internet and decided to ask if something like this had ever happened to anyone.
I've probably thought more about that damper in the past eight years (and, actually, more like the past five years) than I have my entire life.
I'd be curious to know more about your daughter and the clown.
@visitorinvasion (7709)
• United States
6 Dec 06
Yes, I certainly have been creeped out by an inanimate object. I went upstairs in my parents house to get something when I was young, don't remember what, but my dad had a few tools hanging on the wall up there. One of those tools was a handsaw. It rocked on the wall just a little and I freaked. Hysterically freaked, that is. lol
My poor mother didn't know what to do, she couldn't make out that I was trying to tell her daddy's saw was rocking on the wall. I didn't calm down till my dad got home from work about an hour or so later. He took that saw and put it in the garage, thank God.
@AJ1952Chats (2331)
• Anderson, Indiana
8 Dec 06
I could imagine how something like that would freak you out! Was there any sort of explanation for the saw doing this such as some kind of vibrations? Or did it just do this for no apparent reason? It was good of your dad to take it to the garage where you didn't have to deal with it. Did you ever visit the garage after that, and how did you react to the saw?
