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I remember, about 25 years ago when I was in the military, marching at night after a week of sleep and food deprivation, that I started seeing things. Just over

I remember, about 25 years ago when I was in the military, marching at night after a week of sleep and food deprivation, that I started seeing things. Just over the tree silhouettes I saw a circus tent, and I heard circus music and ruckus. The mind does strange things when you are tired, bored, or stimulated to (eg flicker-induced hallucinations). I also firmly believe tales of gnomes and such are a way to explain what cannot otherwise be explained. "I don't know what caused this, gotta be the rascal tomte again." Reasons have always been invented even when the invented reasons themselves raise more questions than what they should explain.

withinboredom 4y ago
It’s even weirder when it’s shared. Also in the military, we stopped for an MRE break and my buddy’s MRE flew out of his ruck, held by some glowing creature and flew off into the woods. We both looked at each other and said, “did you see that?” His MRE was gone, we couldn’t explain it without seeming crazy and never spoke of it again.
- kuhewa 4y ago
  This made me recall trip reports from erowid back in the day, apparently tripping on several grams of fresh ground nutmeg similarly was noted to result in hallucinations shared between tripping partners.
- jasonwatkinspdx 4y ago
  I suppose it's possible it was a very bold owl. One time when I was camping late at night I took a piss out at this fence line facing a wide open field under a full moon. This freakin' huge owl flew right past a couple meters to one side of me, scaring the crap out of me. It was completely and utterly silent; no wing flapping noise. In the moonlight it did look like it was glowing.
  - withinboredom 4y ago
    That is certainly possible. We just dismissed it as being tired, hungry and seeing shit. I didn’t even remember it until being reminded of my own impossible military ruck experience.
  - retSava 4y ago
    Hahaha! On the topic, my wife did her thesis in Rwanda, researching the behaviour of monkeys living close to humans and how that affects eg food-gathering behaviour. One night, when they were camping in tents out on the savanna, she had to go pee. There was no toilet of course, but a bucket. So she went, and as she sat there, she flicked the flashlight around and was met by the reflection of two eyes, wide apart enough and at a height that it certainly was no small animal. Probably a hyena. They also had a hippo casually stroll through the camp. Hippos are really dangerous - fast, strong, aggressive. Kinda scary, but fun story!

withinboredom 4y ago

It’s even weirder when it’s shared. Also in the military, we stopped for an MRE break and my buddy’s MRE flew out of his ruck, held by some glowing creature and flew off into the woods. We both looked at each other and said, “did you see that?” His MRE was gone, we couldn’t explain it without seeming crazy and never spoke of it again.

kuhewa 4y ago
This made me recall trip reports from erowid back in the day, apparently tripping on several grams of fresh ground nutmeg similarly was noted to result in hallucinations shared between tripping partners.
jasonwatkinspdx 4y ago
I suppose it's possible it was a very bold owl. One time when I was camping late at night I took a piss out at this fence line facing a wide open field under a full moon. This freakin' huge owl flew right past a couple meters to one side of me, scaring the crap out of me. It was completely and utterly silent; no wing flapping noise. In the moonlight it did look like it was glowing.
- withinboredom 4y ago
  That is certainly possible. We just dismissed it as being tired, hungry and seeing shit. I didn’t even remember it until being reminded of my own impossible military ruck experience.
- retSava 4y ago
  Hahaha! On the topic, my wife did her thesis in Rwanda, researching the behaviour of monkeys living close to humans and how that affects eg food-gathering behaviour. One night, when they were camping in tents out on the savanna, she had to go pee. There was no toilet of course, but a bucket. So she went, and as she sat there, she flicked the flashlight around and was met by the reflection of two eyes, wide apart enough and at a height that it certainly was no small animal. Probably a hyena. They also had a hippo casually stroll through the camp. Hippos are really dangerous - fast, strong, aggressive. Kinda scary, but fun story!