Encounters with the Unknown 3: Almost Human

In this continuation of the encounters with the unknown series, we descend into the uncanny valley to hear some more incredible true accounts of the supernatural, dealing with entities, that, perhaps were once human. Witches, vampires (graveyard variety & psychic), and of course, gnomes… there's something for everyone here. In our analysis, we bring to bear many of the things we have learned on these subjects in the past year, and more.

Transcript

Submitted for your approval. What does it mean to be human? Are we static, mortal creatures, limited by the physical laws of the universe, or beings of unknown potential, who through the focus of will, or some ancient esoteric art long forgotten to most of the world, have the potential to change our very essence, to become something more, or less, than human, or perhaps, something else entirely, transcending the very boundaries of our world? The stories you are about to hear will test the limits of what we think we know about the human condition and reality itself. Welcome to the hidden passage, your gateway to the unknown. A podcast where we explore all things supernatural.


1. The Maiden and the Crone, or, Cold as a Witch’s Tit  

My experience happened when I was around 18 years old, near my hometown in Lancaster County PA. It was the dead of winter, maybe late January, and around 1 o'clock in the morning. I was visiting my then girlfriend and ended up losing track of time. That day, having been distracted relaxing with my girlfriend, I had neglected to pay attention to the weather, or even look out the window for that matter, and a very intense snow squall had rolled into the county, which quickly developed into a blizzard. After realizing this, as well as the late hour, for some reason I concluded that the smartest move would be to leave and make the drive, which was normally 30 minutes in clear conditions, back to my house. Now, the place I live is rather remote, consisting of miles and miles of rolling hills, crop fields, and woods, with several small towns scattered throughout. For those unfamiliar with Lancaster, it’s known as the Amish capital of the world. Around ten minutes into the drive, I began having a very difficult time seeing through the endless onslaught of thick, fluffy snow, and to boot, I had left my glasses in my girlfriend’s bedroom. Now, my vision is mostly fine, but at night I prefer to use them due to my astigmatism. At any rate, I was driving slow, around 15 mph, because the roads had not yet been plowed and were pretty slick. Eventually I made it to a familiar portion of the route, about 3 miles from my old high school. Creeping down this back country road, I spotted some sort of colorful object about twenty yards in front of me on my side of the road, illuminated by the low beams of my car. Curious as to what I was seeing, I turned toward it to get a better look. As I got closer, I could make out that what I was seeing was a hunched over old woman. She was wrapped in some kind of colorful blankets and wore a long skirt. My first thought was that this was my chance to be a good Samaritan and save someone’s life. It was all of five degrees outside, and this woman was very far out in the nothingness of the land, the complete middle of nowhere with no homes or shelter of any kind in sight. I pulled up next to her and rolled down my window. At this point, my headlights had passed her, and I could just make out her shape in the darkness about six feet from my window.  I thought to myself, clearly there was something wrong mentally with this woman, maybe Alzheimer's or dementia or some other neurological disease, because nobody in their right mind would be out here at this hour and especially in this weather. I called out my window to her “Excuse me, ma’am, are you in need of any help? What are you doing out here? You’re going to freeze!” She didn’t respond, and kept on  slowly creeping forward through the snow. I took out my phone flashlight to get a better view of her. One of the blankets she was wearing was over her head like a sort of shroud, so I couldn’t see her face. I also noticed that she was barefoot. I was beginning to shiver just from the cold wind blowing in through the window, and the snow was coming down hard. Once more I asked, “ma’am why don’t you let me take you somewhere warm and we can get you some help.” Suddenly she stopped walking, and just stood there, facing away from me. “Lady, can you hear me?” I asked, in confusion. Almost as soon as the words left my mouth, she swiveled towards me and stood straight up. Her movements were strangely animated. This tiny, decrepit old woman, suddenly became a presence like I had never seen. As she straightened up, it seemed like she was adding several feet onto her own height before my eyes. Now she was much taller than she had initially appeared, taller than me, maybe 6 foot 4. That’s when I saw her face. As strange as this sounds, it was like her face, was not actually hers, or it’s. It seemed as though whatever this thing actually was, was wearing a hyper realistic mask made to look like an old woman. It had the most piercing baby blue eyes I have ever seen in my life. They were also the largest eyes I have ever seen, so large in fact that it didn’t seem humanly possible. They beamed at me, as if from behind two vacant holes where the old woman’s eyes should’ve been if it were an actual, normal human face. The sight took my breath away. Instinctively I slammed my foot on the gas, my car tires slipped and spun out in the snow as I tried to get away. Long story short, I did make it home, and called my girlfriend, telling her to lock her doors. Later on I told my parents, and they said it was probably some sick criminal trying to rob some sorry sucker like me. That’s what I try to tell myself too. But I know whatever it was I saw was not natural. Any human would’ve surely succumbed to the elements wandering that far out into a storm in sub zero temperatures. I’m a believer in the paranormal and ghosts, but this was a physical being. I can’t explain it any better than that, let alone give a plausible explanation for it. I hope I never encounter anything like this again. I’ve served in the military, and am now in the coast guard. I’ve been in many scary situations where my life was in danger. But not even in those moments was I nearly as afraid as I was that night.

Commentary:

I’ve been coming across this idea of certain spiritual or magical adepts who as a part of their ascent to a higher form undergo certain physical changes in the body. In Carlos Castaneda’s books, he describes how the Yacqui indian sorcerers he came into contact with had the most brilliant blue eyes he had ever seen, and one of them tells him that when a person begins to master their techniques that their eyes take on a certain sheen that is markedly different from the average person. It’s also claimed that they live longer, and can choose to appear decrepit and old or young and full of vitality, as a grotesque monster or beautiful. Allegedly they had remarkable stamina and endurance, and could perform all kinds of superhuman physical feats. Castaneda’s mentor Don Juan tells him that some of the old practitioners were even able to become immortal and were known as the death defiers. Mexico is not the only place we find legends like this. In the alchemical traditions of medieval Europe, it was said that certain secret orders held the formula for the philosopher’s stone and the universal medicine, which was the equivalent but to be used for humans. While the stone transmuted base metal into precious metal, the medicine transmuted the soul of man into spiritual gold. This along with rigorous spiritual practice was also said to confer immortality. In all these stories they often end up residing somewhere in the spirit world permanently.

So, are we dealing with some kind of witch in this story? Many of the elements of the being described here correspond to the qualities I’ve laid out. I also found that Pennsylvania has a rich body of witchcraft folklore that came with the Dutch and German immigrants to the state. Some of you might also recall the historical evidence I came across for the pre Christian belief in the superhuman witch in episode *. It’s not the first time I’ve run across encounters with what appears to be the stereotypical cackling witch. There was a time when I would chalk them up to some kind of illusion projected by some other entity or perhaps a screened memory. Now I’m not so sure.


2. Supernatural Stalker 

Something weird happened to me when I was very young, about 7 years old. One night at around 10 o'clock, my dad and I were on our way home, walking down a street in downtown savannah georgia. To our left was an old cemetery with a wrought iron fence, and to our right, across the street, was an old church. Holding my dad’s hand as we walked, something caused me to look over my shoulder. As I did, I noticed that there was a man maybe 60 or 70 feet behind us. He was walking on the sidewalk on the opposite side of the street, going in the same direction as us. He was the only person in sight on this long, empty stretch of road.  As he passed under the street light, I could see that he had very pale skin, long dark hair, and was wearing a long black coat and boots. Even as a child, I could tell there was something strange about the way he moved. His motions were smooth and effortless in a way that seemed unnatural even to my seven year old mind. It’s hard for me to explain it exactly. Suddenly, my dad started squeezing my hand and walking faster, pulling me along to the point where he was practically dragging me. I looked up at him to see what was the matter, and saw that he too was looking back at the strange man. I asked him what was wrong and he replied something along the lines of “I have a bad feeling. There’s something wrong with that guy.” I tried to press him to explain more, but he kept silent. All I could hear was the sound feet lightly shuffling on the concrete. After a few moments, I realized I hadn’t remembered to look back to see if the man was still there. When I turned my head, this guy, who had been a ways back, was now directly behind us, no more than five feet away. As I looked at him, he smiled at me with a really scary smirk. In a state of total shock and fear, I tugged my dad’s hand to get his attention. He stopped, turned around and pulled me behind him, staring down the strange man. He stopped in his tracks and looked at my dad. At first he appeared slightly confused, but then smiled even wider. They locked eyes for what felt like a long time, while I just stood there, cowering behind my dad’s leg. The next thing I knew we had made a break for it, and were running towards an area where we knew there would be people. As we turned the corner, I looked back one more time, no more than a few seconds after I had last checked, and this guy was freakin’ gone! To this day, I don’t understand how this was possible. There was nowhere for him to go. What did he do, jump the giant wrought iron fence without making any noise? 

The reason this scares me to this day is because of the things my dad said afterwards. He was just as confused as I was. He didn’t understand how this guy could’ve caught up to us in less than a minute from where he was, especially when we were practically running. He would’ve had to have sprinted, and yet we never heard a single footstep behind us, or any other noise. And every time we looked, he was walking at a normal pace. Surely we would’ve heard something, right? So how did he catch up to us in complete silence, and in such a short amount of time? What was he planning to do, and where did he disappear to? None of it makes any logical sense. My dad is one of those guys who doesn’t really admit to believing in things like that. I think he knows there are things in this world that we can’t understand or explain, but he doesn’t want anything to do with them. We’ve talked about it many times due to how strange the whole thing was, but the only thing I could ever get out of him was that he didn’t know what it was, but he knew it didn’t make any damn sense. As for what I think it was, for some reason when it was happening, my gut was screaming “vampire”. To me, that says a lot. To this day, I 100 percent believe that is what we encountered. Ever since then, I watch people compulsively, their faces, their eyes, how they move. The experience instilled a paranoia in me. Even the slightest noise freaks me out. I honestly feel kind of silly sharing it now, but hopefully somehow, somewhere, it helps someone. 

Commentary:

On the surface, we could chalk this encounter up to being a run in with a mere mortal man. A creepy one to be sure but nothing paranormal. The odd details like her perception that this man didn’t make any sound and seemed to catch up to them impossibly fast, could be explained away as simply a distorted childhood memory. A fearful mind can make all kinds of internal projections onto the external reality. Children can be especially susceptible to this with more active imaginations and a limited frame of reference in their life experience. But by the age of three most children are able to make a healthy distinction between the two and accurately perceive the world. Certainly by 7 this would no longer be a real issue. Now, another physiological fact we should take into account is the mind-body response to danger. When there is an unknown possible threat, the mind-body response is to actually heighten the senses in order to accurately identify and to deal with it accordingly. So hearing would naturally be heightened. Another aspect of this response is that the perception of time is actually slowed down. So the fact that she remembers this man catching up to them so fast in complete silence is more strange when we take this into account. And like she said, the fact that her dad thought it was just as strange is only further corroboration. So assuming this was indeed a paranormal event, can we make any sense of it? I would have to agree with the witness that the fact that she had this intuitive flash that said vampire is significant, especially since there was no obvious sign that that’s what this man was. We have to ascribe some kind of physicality to it, since we have two people, one of whom was an adult, getting a sustained look at him. Most adults unless they are particularly gifted or trained to do so normally can’t see into nonphysical reality. If you don’t believe in the existence of such a thing then you have to at least admit that two people can’t share the same hallucination. So there was a man there and yet he seemed to disappear as if he were some kind of ghost. Perhaps the theory on vampires we explored in past episodes could be of some use here, the idea that vampires exist as an etheric body that is partly physical and partly non physical, which stays with a corpse after death. It would check that box, especially since the event took place next to a graveyard. Theosophists further claim that man has progressed through epochs from more astral and etheric to physical. The idea of the etheric body being able to materialize isn’t unheard of outside of theosophical discourse. In my research on shamanism I’ve come across the belief that the skilled shaman can actually solidify his etheric double to the point where he can be seen in and interact with the physical world. This is how they allegedly perform feats of shapeshifting into animals because naturally this state is more fluid and able to be influenced and molded by intent. On the flip side of this, they can etherize their physical bodies to be able to actually penetrate into the spirit world. This idea naturally seems impossible to us here in the material world where everything is limited to physical laws and the limitations of matter, but in higher dimensions it’s believed that the operative forces are those of consciousness and therefore its limitations are mental. These dimensions interpenetrating one another produce effects that seem utterly impossible in their respective realms. 

I think becoming versed in the theosophical concepts of the astral and etheric and comparable beliefs in spiritual traditions, even quantum physics, would go a long way in helping paranormal researchers understand the nature of the phenomena they attempt to study. It would probably be more constructive than running around in the woods with night vision cameras, at least some of the time 

3. Thoughts for Food 

My encounter took place at a BART station in Northern California. It was around 11 o'clock at night and I was on my way home from school. This was a few years ago when I used to take the train regularly as part of my commute. At the time, I was a nervous wreck, stressed out due to the pressures of being a student. I remember being worried about catching the train, because oftentimes the city will just cancel them without notice. I was relieved to see the platform was empty save for a few homeless people sleeping and a small Asian woman sitting on a bench. Her appearance was striking. She had long, neat hair, and was dressed very nicely in dark colored clothes. I sat a few seats away from her so that I wouldn’t feel alone, though I was facing away from her. I went on my phone for a few seconds, and when I looked up, this woman was right next to me. I hadn’t heard any movement, and she would’ve had to have moved quickly for her to have gotten to me in just a few seconds. Her features were just off. Her eyes were dark and much shinier than a normal person’s. She was very skinny, and had incredibly pale skin, but wore blush and lip gloss as if to try to hide it. It was like she was trying hard to look alive, but was not. Something about her movements was not normal, major uncanny valley, yet in the moment I didn’t realize how fucking creepy this was. I’m generally pretty aware of my surroundings, as well as the dangerous reality of human trafficking. I always carry mace and a multitool on me. But for some reason, this woman had a completely disarming effect on me, despite all the red flags. I’m a straight woman, and yet I felt some kind of strange attraction to her. She had a very commanding presence, and her gaze held my total attention. I felt an overwhelming desire to simply listen to her voice. We talked for a half hour or so, but strangely I have no recollection of anything she said. It was like I was missing time. Then all of the sudden my heart started pounding, and a sense of danger began creeping in, though the situation hadn’t changed, and just moments before we had been talking normally. I think she invited me to leave the platform with her, though I don’t remember to where she wanted to bring me. I could tell something was wrong, but the feeling was still vague and I was in some sort of daze. I started gathering my things to leave. I realized the train was fifteen minutes late, and I was convinced it wouldn’t be coming. Finally, I heard it approaching in the distance, and this was enough to keep me rooted to my spot. As the train pulled into the station, all my senses came rushing back, and I was able to fully process all the weird shit that had just transpired. The sense of danger became much more clear and urgent. I walked past her without saying goodbye, and when I took my seat on the train, I noticed that she was still watching me. In literally the blink of an eye, she was at the base of the stairs leading up from the platform to the city. Then, it was like she glided up them in an incredibly smooth, impossible way. I can’t describe how chilling it was to witness that. I’ve never felt a more primal fear in my life, not before or ever since. I felt like prey to some deadly predator. 

After it happened, my first impression was that it was some kind of alien, because of the missing time. I’m not sure how I feel about vampires, but recently they’ve been on my mind due to popular media and it reminded me of this experience. The few people I’ve told this story to chalk it up to me being tired, or that perhaps she was bait for human traffickers. But I really do feel there was something more.

Commentary:

The similarities between the first story and this one are hard to ignore. In both stories the witness felt the sense of danger, knew something was wrong as if through a sixth sense, even when there was no obvious sign of immediate danger. Both “people” are described as having the same uncanny, fluid movements and seem to cover distances in the blink of an eye. Both look human but are just off in some way. These descriptions fall deep into what is called the uncanny valley. The wikipedia definition of it reads, “In aesthetics, the uncanny valley] is a hypothesized relation between an object's degree of resemblance to a human being and the emotional response to the object. The concept suggests that humanoid objects that imperfectly resemble actual human beings provoke uncanny or strangely familiar feelings of uneasiness and revulsion in observers. 

It’s a phenomenon exploited in the horror film industry all the time, with the latest example of it being the new movie Megan. This might have something to do with the object putting the observer into a state of confusion in trying to ascertain whether or not it’s a threat, or what the threat is, which is at the root of terror. I’m reminded of the words of Stephen King on the difference between horror and terror. “Horror: the unnatural, spiders the size of bears, the dead waking up and walking around, it's when the lights go out and something with claws grabs you by the arm. And the last and worse one: Terror, when you come home and notice everything you own has been taken away and replaced by an exact substitute. It's when the lights go out and you feel something behind you, you hear it, you feel its breath against your ear, but when you turn around, there's nothing there...”

Here’s another interesting point on terror made by writer Ann Radcliff. “Terror and horror are so far opposite, that the first expands the soul, and awakens the faculties to a high degree of life; the other contracts, freezes, and nearly annihilates them.”

Maybe this speaks to why we all love a good paranormal story, because we naturally seek the sublime, things that surpass any kind of calculation. These stories, while they can make us afraid, also open us up to possibility and wonder. That is the nature of awe, which comes through contact with the transcendent.

Sometimes I wonder if there is a deeper reason for this specific response to things that resemble humans but are not. Could the answer lie somewhere deep within our subconscious ancestral memory? You hear of many types of humanoid entities in paranormal accounts, some of whom seem to masquerade as human for deceptive purposes. These ideas go far back into our history, recorded through our folklore and legends. 

So let’s finally get to the meat of this story. This seems to be an example of what I described as living vampires in episode *. In modern paranormal circles this is often referred to as the psychic vampire. In its exoteric form the term usually refers to narcissists or people with similar pathologies who manipulate others psychologically for excitement or boosting their own egos. Many of them do this without really being conscious of it. In its esoteric form it refers to a person who literally feeds on the spiritual energy of others. We may be dealing here with two sides of the same coin, but to the latter is attributed a supernatural element, directed through the vampire's intent to draw out someone’s energy. Many of the examples I gave were of witches who did their dirty work in the astral realms, but I have come across modern accounts of what appear to be flesh and blood people in the ordinary world who seem to have this strange allure that almost hypnotizes their victims, and the next thing they know they wake up in some random place with no memory of what happened and feeling completely drained of energy. That’s actually happened to me several times, except there was no vampire involved, just spirits. Anyway, I’m glad this person had the wherewithal to resist and get the hell out of there and away from whatever this was. Always trust your intuition.

4. Cantankerous Kobold 

I have a very strange childhood memory that only later on did I begin to try to make sense of. I remember sitting in my parents' dining room, when suddenly a little man walked past me. He had brown hair and a beard, although I don’t remember what kind of clothes he wore. This man just kept walking around the room right in front of me and my parents, and I was so confused as to why my parents didn’t react to him at all, as if there was no one there. I just sat there watching him, and at one point he started crawling up and down the walls. He seemed busy and very focused, like he was carrying out some specific task, but I had no idea what it was. All the while he paid no attention to me at all. He didn’t look at me once, though I was watching him the whole time. Then, out of nowhere, apparently he did notice me, or realized I noticed him, and he made a really scary face at me. It was exaggerated in a way that seemed physically impossible for any human to make, in an expression of what I sensed to be irritation. He didn’t feel mean or evil, but more like a rough dude who didn’t want to be bothered by some toddler. Then, he just continued on going about his business as if nothing had happened. I got the strange sense that I wasn’t supposed to see this man, or whatever he was, and that he had made that face at me to get me to stop watching him. This memory has been ingrained in me my whole life, and I always believed it was a real experience until I grew up and found out that shit like that doesn’t happen… or does it? As I got older and learned about the paranormal, I assumed that what I had seen was some type of fae spirit.

Lately, I’ve been wondering if what I saw was a machine elf. I remember it being realistic and not visually trippy like the dmt experience, but it’s the same trope of elves going about their business and not wanting humans to look at them. Is there some age where the pineal releases or forms a bunch of DMT in humans? Or are these things inter-dimensional and both dmt users and small children can access that realm? Or is there some other explanation? I don’t know if this detail is significant, but the spot in my house where I had that experience seemed like a hotbed for other spooky shit. 

Commentary:

Those fae, always seem to be up to something. Always busy, always on the move. This seems to be a recurring theme in many of the sightings. It makes me think of Paracelsus and his theory of elemental beings, which Rudolf Steiner elaborated on, claiming that they were somehow intimately involved in the processes of nature itself, things like forming and gathering minerals for plants, appearing everywhere on earth as they are needed. If this is the case, then I would think it would probably keep them pretty busy most of the time. I’m not sure we need elementals to explain nature’s processes anymore but it is an interesting philosophy nonetheless. Steiner also claims that human beings who are unable or unwilling to move to the next phase of spiritual evolution end up becoming elementals. Because humans are composed of five elements and the elementals only of one, they are a less advanced form of life and so to become one is a process of devolution. This idea of humans becoming fairies is not unheard of in folkloric literature, as you might recall the story of King Oberon. 

Another motif we see in this encounter is the reaction to being seen. So many times we hear about this surprise or anger towards being spotted. I suppose the implication there is they usually pass by us all the time without being seen. To respond to the witness I would say yes that children, as well as people who are close to death may have access to certain psychic abilities. It’s said that both are closer to the veil. The soul of a child is still in the process of enmeshing itself into the body while the soul of the dying person is in the process of leaving, so both have one foot in and one foot out so to speak. And yea there is probably some connection there with the dmt. Of course in shamanic traditions and arguably some of the mystery schools, psychotropic drugs have been used to connect to the spirit world. The mythology regarding the ayahuasca brew of South America was that the gods taught them how to make it so that human beings could communicate with them. The active ingredient there is also DMT. You might want to look into Rick Strassman’s work on that. There’s some interesting tests being done with DMT that show a remarkable continuity among the things people see. It’s not just random hallucinations and usually very specific messages are being given to the subjects by the entities. Many of them come back reporting that the experience was more real than this reality, and also there’s been a lot of atheists who come back from the experience and are no longer atheists.