Voice in the Woods

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I found this story on Castle of Spirits. It is entitled Voice in the Woods and it is an account of a couple hiking and setting up camp in the woods of Manila in 2004. They tell of kittens that were bulging eyed terrified of a strange gust of wind. The couple's tent was almost blown away and when the wind died down the terrified crying kittens were missing.

This story has similarities to A Gust of Wind in Argentina.

"It was around February of 2004 when my boyfriend, Jake asked me to join him for a hike on a mountain. I never tried hiking before, so I was a bit reluctant to go, but, being a nature lover, I decided to give it a try. He told me that we were to go on a night trek, and that we will be staying there for 3 days, so I’d better be sure I’m really up for it.

We left Manila at around 7:00PM on a Tuesday, and arrived at the destination about 9:00PM. It was really dark and there was a full moon that night, so he told me that using a torch is not necessary. He told me that’s how I’d get a first hand feel of being one with nature, but being a coward when it comes to the dark, I still told him I will use my torch. We walked some 10 minutes more and across a small stream to reach the base point, and my heart just skipped a beat when I saw this huge shadow walking towards us.

I held his hand tight and was about to do an about face dash back to the highway, when he just laughed and told me, "Relax, it’s just a horse..." I was really close to tears upon reaching the entrance at the foot of the mountain, and I was already a nervous wreck when we heard this loud, sort of, squeal, as if there was a pig who got scared of our presence. Mind you, when I say loud, it really is LOUD. We looked at each other and he just tried to calm me by saying it must have been a pig indeed.

Mustering up my strength to take another step forward instead of backwards, I breathed in deeply and said to myself, if we make it through, this is going to be the first and the last time I’ll be doing this. Moving on, we passed by a tiny make shift house and registered ourselves, changed into our hiking gear and started the 2 and a half hour trek to the summit/camp site. But, before going, he told me there is only one rule to keep in mind. " Whatever you see or hear, just keep it to your self." After telling me that, I started regretting saying yes. Anyway, we’re already there, so there’s no use turning back.

Jake, being familiar with the trail went first, and I followed closely behind. The first hour of the trek was doing well, so far, he kept on talking to me and asking me questions, as if trying to make me feel at ease, for there were moments when I’d just be quiet all of a sudden. He is aware of my fear of the dark. I already have my rosary in hand and I have been tagging behind him with my eyes closed. After a couple more minutes, he finally asked me why am I so quiet. But, I just can’t seem to speak, remembering the rule he told me before starting the hike. So, I just said, I’m tired. Little did he know, I kept on glancing behind me because it felt like some unseen being was following us, I can’t see it, but I can definitely feel it. We have already talked about everything when I started to hear a water fall, so he told me we’re almost there.

Finally, after 30 more minutes, we reached the camp site. It was awfully dark and quiet. Except for the faint sounds of the rustling of the branches and leaves of the trees above and hoots and screeches of whatever it is out there. He chose a spot for us to pitch a tent and it was below this huge tree, it was so huge and tall, it covered the sky, and at least four grown ups will be needed just to be able to hold the trunk. What puzzled me that time is the fact that when we are approaching the tree, a strong gust of wind seemed to blow AROUND US. I decided to ignore it and just thought that we are in the woods, after all.

While he was busy taking out all our supplies and tent, I sat at this large stone. And saw a tiny kitty, I still remember it was gray with white stripes. I wondered how it got there, but the kitty looked like it was so cold, I took it and sat beside where Jake was finishing the tent and he was surprised when he saw me with the kitty, he asked "Saan mo nakuha yan?" (translation: "Where’d you get that?") I said by the rock, and he just looked at me like he was tying to say something. But I just shrugged and I continued to play with the kitty a while and I let it go when I had this need to "use the little girls room".

Being on the mountain, there’s no restrooms or what, so I asked Jake where I can do my business. He just told me to pee on the ground by the tree. I looked and when I saw it was dark, I just said never mind. So, when the tent was finally done, we settled our things inside and Jake told me he’d make us some coffee, so he took out his portable stove and when he was about to light the match, we saw the kitty walk up to us and sit by the tent door, with two more kitties behind it! I was about to get the kitties when he told me not to, then suddenly, another strong gust of wind came, this time it was stronger than before, it blew the fire out of the stove and the kittens started to meow like they were crazy, the kitten that I first saw even looked at Jake with all its hair standing on end, fangs bared as if it’s about to attack Jake. There was this scary and weird look in their eyes that really shook me and it rooted me on the spot. Jake had to drag me inside the tent. (I am getting goose bumps just by typing this. Believe me.)

Once inside the tent, the wind kept on blowing harder, almost to the point where the whole tent was shaking. The kittens are still meowing louder and, all of a sudden, as if on cue, when the kitten’s stopped meowing, the wind died down as well. That was really the point where I started crying and telling Jake that I want to go home. He just kept on telling me that every thing’s going to be alright. He told me to just close my eyes and try to get some sleep. As if I can sleep.

It became awfully quiet for a few minutes when suddenly it started to smell like something’s burning... RIGHT INSIDE OUR TENT! I sat up and looked at Jake, and what he did next actually surprised me. He hugged me and told me. "Let’s just pray." So we did and I closed my eyes.

I didn’t know how long I have my eyes closed, or if I have already fallen asleep, but, all I can remember is that it was still dark, it was probably around 4:00AM, when I heard footsteps, closing in on us. I squeezed my eyes tight, started praying again, waiting for the inevitable when I heard a woman’s voice say out loud: "Tao po! May tao ba diyan?" ("Is anyone here? Anybody there?") I thought Jake was asleep so I actually jumped when he told me "Ayan, may tao na. May kasama na tayo." ("There. Someone’s already here. We’ve got company.")And that was the only time that I drifted off to sleep.

We woke up when the sun was high and the birds are chirping. We got out of the tent and what I saw ALMOST made me think our ordeal the night before was worth it. We were camped about 15 feet from a water fall, our tent just a feet away from a fresh water spring and the sky was so beautiful, and it made me think that what happened last night was just a nightmare. There was even a small store and a house across the spring, and Jake told me that he wants to transfer our tent beside the small store, so we crossed over. I decided to buy some food for breakfast, when I remembered the woman who arrived, so I asked the person who owned the store "Sino po yung mga bagong campers na dumating kaninang madaling araw?" ("Who are the new campers that arrive earlier this morning?") The lady looked at me as if I was crazy, and her reply actually gave me the shivers. She replied "Anak, walang ibang dumating dito. Kayo pa lang dalawa ang nandito simula pa nung Linggo." ("Child, no one else came in this morning. No one else is here but the two of you since Sunday.") I ran up to Jake and told him everything. He just looked at me... And he was pale.

The kittens are nowhere to be found.

Prior to this experience, I was never a believer. I’m not saying I still don’t believe it, but, there’s a part of me that makes me think here must be a logical explanation. This experience still gives me the creeps whenever I think about it. I just thought that it’s only because of fatigue and panic that we heard that woman’s voice. It just the wind, playing with our imagination. About the part where we smelled something burning inside our tent, only one thing came to our mind when we went back to Manila 3 days after, (Yes, we still stayed in spite of it all... And I have a lot more to tell you as well...) Anyway, going back, Jake and I knew that the smell inside our tent that night only came from one "thing"... There’s this some kind of entity that we call "Kapre", a HUUUUUUGE man all covered in hair, wears only a loin cloth and smokes tobacco and sits on tall trees... (We both don’t want to agree on it, and we both don’t want to admit it.) Or, another logical explanation: Someone from the house must have burned some fire wood, the wind must have drifted the smell to our tent".

What do you think it was?

Mysterious Things in the Woods; Mysterious disappearances, Missing People; Sometimes Found... (Something in the Woods is Taking People Book 1)


There's Something in the Woods


Missing Persons: True Stories And Disappearances Of Missing People: The Cold Case Files Of What Happened To Some Of The Worlds Missing Persons (Unexplained ... Files, True Crime, Missing Persons Cases,)

Dog Suicide Bridge

Black Dog Leaping off Overtoun Bridge
Image Credit

No one knows exactly when or why dogs began to leap from Overtoun Bridge Scotland. Studies indicate that the deaths began during the late 1950s or early 1960s, with an average rate of one dog per month. For reasons that no one understands or can explain, hundreds and hundreds of dogs have killed themselves from the same historic bridge.  During one six-month period last year, five dogs jumped to their deaths. All of the deaths have occurred at virtually the same spot, between the final two parapets on the right-hand side of the bridge, and almost all have been on clear, sunny days. The dogs which have perished have all-been long-nosed breeds: labradors, collies and retrievers.

Dorren Graham, of the Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals calls the phenomenon a 'heartbreaking mystery'. 'There are lots of owners whose dogs have died and who are trying to find out why they jumped.'

Built in 1895 by Calvinist Lord Overtoun, the ornate Victorian structure arches 50ft over Overtoun Burn, the stream which runs below. Now, thanks to stories posted on the internet, dog lovers from around the world are asking: could dogs be deliberately committing suicide on this particular bridge, and if so, why?

In an attempt to solve a problem which has left many local dog owners so concerned, they will no longer walk their pets on the doomed bridge, a host of specialists converged on the west Scotland town earlier this year to investigate - and finally solve the mystery. Rumours have long circulated that the bridge and nearby Overtoun House are haunted. In Celtic mythology, Overtoun is known as 'the thin place' - an area in which heaven and earth are reputed to be close. Certainly dogs have been shown in the past to be more sensitive than humans.

Were they 'spooked' by some supernatural or external force emanating from the bridge, and deliberately leaping to their deaths? Psychic Mary Armour took her own labrador for a walk along the bridge to test the theory. However, she reported no unusual sensations. 'Animals are hyper-sensitive to the spirit world, but I didn't feel any adverse energy.' In fact, Mary said she experienced a feeling of 'pure calmness and serenity' but admitted that her dog did pull her towards the right-hand side of the structure.

Perhaps the dogs jumped to their deaths because they picked up on some human cues. Dumbarton, near to where the bridge is situated, is a site of economic decline and regularly voted one of the most depressing places in Britain to live. Suicide among the adult population has risen 200 per cent in the past three years However, none of the owners whose dogs jumped from Overtoun Bridge reported any suicidal feelings and after careful analysis, Kendal Shepherd concluded: 'Human suicide is usually precipitated by a feeling that tomorrow will not be any better than today. But there is no evidence to suggest dogs have a sense of now and tomorrow.'

So if the dog deaths cannot be attributed to suicide, what is causing them?

In a final bid to solve the mystery, canine psychologist Dr David Sands was dispatched to Dumbarton to try to view the bridge - and the sensation of crossing it - from an animal's point of view. His first experiment was to recross the bridge with the only dog known to have survived the fall, to see how she reacted. When he took 19-year-old Hendrix to the scene of her near-death experience, the dog walked happily across the bridge until towards the end on the right-hand side she suddenly tensed. Because of her advanced age, Hendrix did not have the strength to jump, but something had clearly caught her attention, and Dr Sands concluded one of her three primary senses - sight, sound or smell - must have been so stimulated that she experienced an overwhelming urge to investigate. Sight was quickly eliminated, as from a dog's eye view the only thing visible on the bridge is uninterrupted-granite.

To establish if either sound or smell was the culprit, specialists from a Glasgow acoustics company and the RSPB's David Sexton, an animal habitat expert, visited the spot. Locals thought the nearby nuclear base at Faslane might be emitting some sound audible only to dogs, and there was also the possibility that nearby telephone pylons or the bridge structure itself might give off a sound only animals could hear. However, after monitoring sound levels across the bridge, acoustic experts found nothing untoward that might explain the dog deaths.

Sexton, on the other hand, who laid bait in the undergrowth beneath the bridge, soon discovered that mice and mink resided there, while evidence of squirrel nests was also found in cannons embedded in the bridge's structure. In order to narrow down which smell might be attracting the dogs, he distributed odour from all three species in a field and unleashed ten dogs - of the varieties which have died at the bridge - to see which one most interested them. His findings were remarkable. Of the ten dogs tested, only two showed no interest in any of the scents while the overwhelming majority - 70 per cent - made straight for the mink. It would also explain why the deaths have all occurred on sunny, dry days - relatively rare on the notoriously wet west coast - when the mink smell has not been diluted by the damp weather. Why are dogs in pursuit of them only jumping to their death from this particular bridge? According to Dr Sands: 'When you get down to a dog's level, the solid granite of the bridge's 18-inch thick walls obscures their vision and blocks out all sound. As a result, the one sense not obscured, that of smell, goes into overdrive.' Yet why are all the deaths centered around the final two parapets on the right-hand side?

 In 2006 paranormal investigators were called in to investigate the continuing problem. There were several correlations in what people felt. Three people felt anxious, depressed and disorientated and four felt negative feelings.

• "There were definite themes of children and several mentioned a Victorian woman in a grey shawl at the far end of the bridge.
•  I felt lots of children grabbing my legs as I walked across and I felt drawn to the right-hand side. I felt very sick and uncomfortable at certain parts and sometimes it was as though I was sinking through the bridge.
• I got a sense of children being around and a negative feeling at one end of the bridge. You could analyse why the dogs are jumping till the cows come home, I honestly don't know why they do it.
• I got the feeling of a man who was possibly a minister. He kept saying he didn't understand evolution, I can't assimilate what I know as Christian with Darwin.
• I thought maybe a workman had fallen off the bridge to his death and his ghost was down in the gully calling the dogs. I felt lots of children grabbing my legs as I walked across and I felt drawn to the right-hand side. I felt very sick and uncomfortable at certain parts and sometimes it was as though I was sinking through the bridge.
• I got a sense of children being around and a negative feeling at one end of the bridge. You could analyse why the dogs are jumping till the cows come home, I honestly don't know why they do it."

I felt lots of children grabbing my legs as I walked across and I felt drawn to the right-hand side. I felt very sick and uncomfortable at certain parts and sometimes it was as though I was sinking through the bridge."

·One psychic known as Mishka had a similar experience. "I got a sense of children being around and a negative feeling at one end of the bridge. You could analyse why the dogs are jumping till the cows come home, I honestly don't know why they do it, "

According to Amanda De Warren – Medium, Healer & Animal Communicator: 
“There is energy around this bridge that dogs can sense and we can't. The dogs that have jumped in the past have told me that it’s like a connection that they cannot resist even though they don't quite understand why they feel the urge to jump but know it will probably be the last thing that they do on this earth. None of these dogs had any reason to want to end their lives but feel is it like a portal to another world that they can see and feel and want to be as part of it once again.” Dog owners should keep their dogs on a leash when going across Overtoun Bridge. It's better to be safe than sorry.
https://www.facebook.com/amandadewarren1?hc_location=stream

According to Psychic Focus
"The first thing I get is I hear this beat in my head that reminds me of a heartbeat... .Then I get that it isn't a sound coming through in that frequency, but rather some electromagnetic pulse is "beating" which somehow "scrambles" the dog’s brain waves for a moment. The dogs feel disoriented for a moment (then I get the analogy that it is similar to the feeling someone with Alzheimer's gets when they find themselves lost and alone in public- complete panic and anxiety stricken). That feeling and moment of what feels like dementia creates this odd behaviour. They are confused, terrified and anxious all at the same time.

I get there is a huge amount of paranormal activity here (the area had a lot of death, and I get the death was disease related?). This paranormal behaviour that looks static to this area has shifted the balance and altered the normal flow of energy. The constant need for balance is being fought by the extra energy force that resides there. There is a constant push and pull of energy. Every tug of energy in an opposite direction creates the "beat"."
http://psychicfocus.blogspot.com.au/2014/07/strange-animal-behavior-overtourn.html

Source

Daily Mail 

Herald Scotland