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Ghostly Visit on a Rainy Night

 

I had an interesting experience this summer in France. I was trying to get to sleep alone in a tent on a very stormy night. I was a little jumpy because the rain was coming down in such hard torrents and I wasn't very confident my tent wasn't going to collapse! As I was finally falling asleep, I became convinced there was a man outside my tent -- I had an image of his walking along side it outside. I grew more and more anxiety-ridden.

Suddenly, it was as if there was a man --a soldier-- on top of me. He was holding me down with his entire body, and using a hand to cover my mouth as I struggled from beneath him. He spoke quickly in another language (German? I've only had one semester of it, so I'm hesitant to pinpoint it as such). It was dreamlike in the sense that I couldn't really move or scream, which if this sort of thing really happened I am absolutely positive I would have no trouble doing either.

Then, I woke myself up with my own cries and gasps--and I was there alone in my tent and just fine. I slept there for six weeks with no other incident (I'm an archaeologist, it was our field camp), though someone with a tent nearby mine got up one morning about 2am or so, to urinate and claimed he saw a figure pacing the end of the field we were camped in, along the edge of some woods (actually around where my tent was).

One other girl, with a tent a bit further down from mine, also claimed at one point that she felt some sort of presence--an unpleasant one at that, whom made her uncomfortable--outside her tent. I almost always have unpleasant, often disturbing dreams, but this was by far the most vivid--I didn't realize I had even fallen asleep until I woke up.

I think what I dreamed/experienced may be related to the other two incidents that occurred in camp?

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Comments about this paranormal experience

The following comments are submitted by users of this site and are not official positions by yourghoststories.com. Please read our guidelines and the previous posts before posting. The author, katharine, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will read the comments and participate in the discussion.

Giesele (1 posts)
 
16 years ago (2008-06-06)
thats really scary. But its interesting I wouldn't want to stay there anymore If I was there. I'm a big scardy cat when It comes to things like that 😊
katharine (1 stories) (1 posts)
 
16 years ago (2008-02-15)
Hello everyone, I appreciate all of your responses! :) I will try to address everything that was brought up.

I am leaning towards sleep paralysis, which a few of you suggested as a possible explanation... I have never experienced it before, and did a little research (as well as read some of the stories on here!), and it fits- I was in the process of falling alseep, and apparently scary hallucinations and weight on the chest characterize it (as you all probably know). And admittedly I do have a rather vivid imagination to begin with! I also happen to be afraid of the dark, and creeped out by woods in general, so I'm sure those fears factored in somewhere. It's still interesting to contemplate "what if", I suppose! Regarding what the others experienced--I had my dream but didn't go into detail about it, mentioning only something along the lines of trouble sleeping and bad dreams. Then a short time later the figure was sighted, and then the other girl reported the presence, so it could be I experienced sleep paralysis, and the other girl was imagining things out of fear after hearing about the figure, and the figure, well I don't know about it! Haha. It is tempting to link these things but it could very well be three isolated events, all with different causes. The man was wearing a dark uniform-- the figure the guy saw had white around it. I didn't ask too many details. The camp has been used by workers at that site for a few years now, I should have asked one of the few that had been there before if anyone in previous years experienced anything out of the ordinary.

A lot of you mentioned the site--- it was actually a 45 min-1 hr drive from the camp. It's a Neandertal site predating any human presence in Europe. However, the area itself is rich in history--we were separated (at the camp) by a cornfield from a church constructed in the Middle Ages, across a road from a look-out of the same age range carved into a cliff, and a short walk from a Roman thing of some sort. The area was deforested in WWII, giving the forests an eerie unnaturalness about them because all the trees grow in neat rows from being replanted that way. Don't know why the trees were cut exactly. And regrettably, I know very little about the area and its recent history. I find it all interesting but my primary interest is early prehistory and that's about all I know.

KimSouthO, as Frawin mentioned, France was occupied by Germany in WWII. However I am not sure what exactly that entailed in that particular region, and wasn't too successful finding anything about it online. And as Kecoughtan pointed out, there are other reasons a German speaker might be in France. Though it's true I'm not 100% sure what I heard was German-- I only speak some Spanish and some Welsh, no French, and very basic conversational German so that's just my guess. :)

ChrisB, I grew up feeling "presences", and had some experiences beyond just feeling as well, but for the past few years I've tried to reason away those experiences and maintain a very James Randi-type approach. Now I'm trying to find a happy medium, where I can acknowledge these types of things but still maintain a rational, reasoned approach to understanding, and sometimes explaining, them.

Once again, thanks everyone for your replies so far. I enjoyed reading them and appreciate your comments and insight!
KimSouthO (27 stories) (1960 posts)
 
16 years ago (2008-02-15)
I am also very curious, why a German soldier in France? If not fo this fact, I would say it was a very lucid dream or sleep paralysis.

As far as your 'encounter' being realated to the other camps hapopenings. It is possible that the very area you are camoing in is extremely active.

A thought just occured to me, as you are an archeologit, there must have been something significant reagrding the area where you camped, right? I would be very curious to know what is significant about that area of land.

God Bless!
whitebuffalo (guest)
 
16 years ago (2008-02-14)
It is possible, Katherine, that all of these incidents are related. You are out here on a dig, what did you hope to uncover?

Hmmm, you do have me thinking here. I was going to say that this was sleep paralysis, and as you were on Frances soil you had subconsciencly created a German soldier out of the mist, but if this other female also got the same sense, though not as vividly, I am leaning towards an intelligent haunting.
Perhaps his rushed words were spoken out of an urgency that only he can remember. Perhaps he entered the tent of a comrade and was there to warn, but had to use the hand over the mouth to keep his intended party from yelling out in fear as the enemy was upon them. Can you remember any details to the uniform, by chance? That could help you out in finding the identity of the man, or at least his troop, or which side he was on.
I think you should all get together and separately write down what you witnessed, what you felt and what you heard. You may be surprised as to the similarities as well as the differences.
Thank you.
FRAWIN (guest)
 
16 years ago (2008-02-14)
Hello Kathrine. It could have been the soldier you seen was indeed a German WWII soldier seeing how Germany occupied the biggest part of France during the Great War. He may be attached to the land, either unable or too afraid to go to the LIGHT. Take Care.

FRAWIN 😊
Kecoughtan (1 stories) (211 posts)
 
16 years ago (2008-02-14)
Katherine-

Thanks for sharing your experience--you must have been very frightened. I've always felt exposed and vulnerable in tents because of the reduced visibility and very thin walls.

The borders of France and Germany have shifted so much that I think it is difficult to attribute hearing German spoken to soldiers from WWII. There have been many invasions of France and even today there are enclaves of ethnic Germans living in the country.

I am also an archaeologist and have encountered some inexplicable events while on excavations. What kind of site were you excavating?
ChrisB (6 stories) (1515 posts)
 
16 years ago (2008-02-14)
Hi Kathrine. I bet there is a haunting on that field. During war many people die and ecspecialy during world war 2.Try finding some information on the battles that have taken on that field. I just have one question. Are you a sencetive person? If you are maybe its trying to contact you. And sencetive people are a lot easier to make contact with. I hope to hear from you soon and take care
Cirdan (guest)
 
16 years ago (2008-02-14)
This was interesting, maybe the soldier died there under World War 2? I don't know, but since the others noticed something there as well, it couldn't just be a scary dream.

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