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September 18, 2005
Something I've been meaning to tell you
Several somethings, in fact.
internet fame is mine! mwahahahaha
A few weeks ago I received a "hey there" e-mail from another Jodi Green, inspiring me to Google my name again and have a look. Not only did I discover that I'm now the number one Jodi Green on the internets,
(thank you, thank you so much for this honour; I'd like to thank my parents and my agent, and my web designer Peter, and Martina, my hairstylist, and Sally Ann my wardrobe consultant, and all my internet friends who linked to me, and. . . and Aloys Senefelder, and Mrs. Blackie, and. . . I couldn't have achieved this great honour without all of the little people. . . )
but I also found this blog post in which the blog's author, Arieanna, discusses having been quoted in a Vancouver Sun article without her knowledge. And, lo and behold, I'm in there too, in a reference to my April 23rd entry, Why I love Canada. Huh.
aliens gave me migraines
About seven or eight years ago I had a strange and scary experience; it was my first night home from Pennsic and I'm usually a little disoriented for the first few days after having gotten used to sleeping in a tent with the sound of drums and dancing going on all night. Some time in the middle of the night I sensed a presence in the room and awoke to find a man standing at the foot of my bed, looking down at me. He was wearing some kind of long black coat or cloak and a wide brimmed black hat, and had long dark reddish hair and a beard. I said, loudly, "who are you, and what the fuck are you doing in my tent?". He didn't answer, and I gradually realized that I was not in my tent but back in my bedroom at home. My bedroom in those days was in a walk-in closet, just wide enough to fit a mattress in so that there was a wall on each side of the bed, and I had to reach to the foot of the bed and about four feet up the wall to get to the light switch. I slowly sat up and reached for the light, terrified because I had to get pretty close to the guy in order to do so, and I could see his face now, his eyes; I was close enough to have felt his body heat, if he had had any. Of course, when my hand finally reached the light switch and turned it on, he wasn't there.
The other night Peter sent me a link to a New York Times review of a book which discusses alien abduction experiences. NO, I don't think I was abducted by aliens, nor do I think I saw a ghost. But it definitely wasn't a dream. One of my school chums insisted I'd had a visit from my "guardian angel" but even if I believed in that kind of crap I don't think I'd be too keen on having a guardian angel who looks like the Undertaker (this guy definitely didn't have the flashy belt though). Anyway, just for fun, here's some of my chat conversation with Pete about it:
peter: hey, remember the dream about the guy in your bedroom... the one you thought was really there?
jodi: oh god. yeah. did you see him?
peter: check this: "Dr. Clancy's accounting for abduction memories starts with an odd but not uncommon experience called sleep paralysis. While in light dream-rich REM sleep, people will in rare cases wake up for a few moments and find themselves unable to move. Psychologists estimate that about a fifth of people will have that experience at least once, during which some 5 percent will be bathed in terrifying sensations like buzzing, full-body electrical quivers, a feeling of levitation, at times accompanied by hallucinations of intruders."
jodi: what are you trying to tell me? I wasn't abducted.
peter: it's a nyt book review
peter: the topic is alien abduction, but her analysis isn't entirely limited to that
jodi: crazy
peter: it reminded me of your dream, mainly because of the realistic nature of your experience
peter: i don't know if you had any of those other symptoms
jodi: oh yes, it was real. but i was not paralyzed, i don't think.
jodi: i mean, i was able to sit up and turn on the light, although i was momentarily too paralyzed by fear to do so
peter: well, i don't think it was "real", although i don't doubt you experienced it as real
peter: and perhaps the paralysis actually preceded the fear?
jodi: i am not saying there was a real man in my room.
jodi: or that it was a real ghost
peter: i know
peter: i know
jodi: but something was there and it was real. even if it was just someone else's memory, or a ripple, or something.
jodi: but, i have had some of those other symptoms at other times. specifically the buzzing and full body quavers. a feeling of being close to leaving my body but unable to go all the way
peter: suppose what happened, to an external observer, was that you awoke in a state of sleep paralysis, which included a hallucination of an intruder; you attribute the paralysis to fear because, in your experience, you become aware of the paralysis and the intruder at the same time. The paralysis fades sufficiently that you can move and you immediately throw on the light
jodi: perhaps
peter: and i don't think the paralysis is complete, although i'm not sure about that
jodi: well, i was not abducted by aliens.
peter: i know... but you're not interested in aliens, particularly, or worried about being abducted; traits that abductees typically display before their experience
jodi: i am worried about male intruders in my bedroom!
peter: the author is arguing that these are two factors that make a person prone to an abduction experience
jodi: and i was prone to a man in the bedroom experience
peter: so lots of people are interested in aliens, but only a small percent of people experience sleep paralysis
peter: 5% of the pop at least once in their lives
peter: you also have a very vivid imagination, which i'm sure helps
jodi: i think 5% is kind of a lot.
peter: so it's not uncommon
peter: who knows, of course, if this is exactly what happened to you... but it's consistent
jodi: i believe the temporal lobe stimulation theory whole heartedly. but maybe only because i heard that same ideas program three hallowe'ens in a row
peter: well, the temporal lobe is undoubtedly involved
jodi: hey, is that near where my migraine is?
jodi: oh, it was aliens! aliens abducted me and gave me migraines!
peter: you and the gang of four
jodi: what?
peter: "This heaven gives me migraine"
jodi: oh
peter: only he pronounces it to rhyme with Ygraine
peter: Arthur's mum
jodi: why would he want to sing about Foot's wife?
jodi: i mean, she is a nice lady, but. . .
peter: i told you it was Arthur's mum
peter: and not arthur atkinson de kyrkshawe
jodi: and foot's wife!
jodi: who?
peter: different chick
peter: wayne
jodi: oh yeah. i was racking my brain on the kyrkeshawe, it sounded familiar
jodi: woops, i didn't mean to change the spelling, how medieval of me!
peter: i noticed!
jodi: just trying to be all "period", and such.
peter: what's the connection between migraines and periods?
peter: wayne?
peter: gang of four?
peter: foot?
peter: holy
jodi: are you losing your erection over all this?
peter: nah
Yeah. So it all kind of goes downhill from there. But, have any of you guys ever had an experience like that where you saw someone that wasn't there (professional wrestler look-alike or not)?
Posted by jodi at September 18, 2005 10:38 AM | categories: dumbass
Comments
I have! twice. The first time I woke up just wide awake for no reason in the middle of the night and saw two people standing in my doorway. I thought it was some of my roomies so I said "Hey, turn on the light" but they didn't. They just stood there backlit from the window so I couldn't be SURE they were my roomies and I started to get scared. I said "You're freaking me out! Turn on the light!". They seemed to be whispering to eachother, then they turned and went out THROUGH THE CLOSED WINDOW. o_O
The second time was just a few days ago. I was sleeping, heard a noise or something and woke up to see someone crawling around on his hands and knees on the other side of the room near my bathroom door. I sort of screamed or went "Ah!", which woke up Steve. He turned on the light and the guy was gone. I looked in the bathroom and the shower and the closet. There was nobody there. I made Steve switch sides of the bed with me so he'd be on the outside and whatever it was would have to go through him to get me. haha, yeah I'm a good wife.
Posted by: Elabeth at September 18, 2005 03:14 PM
I have, and I don't believe in ghosts. But I do believe I saw my little brother, that I never got, when I was about 12. Probably an image of a ghost conjured by my brain, but real enough at the time. It's a looooong story, but I do believe it was my "need" of that brother that conjured him.
Posted by: Lisa at September 18, 2005 04:42 PM
Yep, staying at my parent's place, big shadowy man coming down at me, who I thought was my brother (who didn't live at my parent's any more either). I had the full body paralysis going on and was terrified. Somebody made a noise close by and he was gone.
Posted by: crumpet at September 18, 2005 04:51 PM
maybe.... Way back when I was loose-tooth age I could swear that my parents had pryed open my mouth to look at my teeth one night when I was sleeping. It seemed reasonable at the time as I was not keen on pulling out my loose teeth by myself. Then looking back I realize that I am a light sleeper, and that if anyone parental had been peering down at me I would have woke up and glared at them.
I've been half-assedly wondering if that was an alien experience of some type, but Peter's thing could work too. I was anxious about people doing things to my mouth, therefore I woke from a dream thinking someone was looking in my mouth.
Posted by: Melissa at September 19, 2005 04:47 AM
Yep, I have. Very similar, in fact, although the guy in my bedroom was my father, who had been dead for several years at that time. I never believed that he was coming to me as a "ghost", but that I created some sort of vision for myself that made him seem real.
I have tendency to wake up in the middle of the night, believing that something I dreamed was real and requires action. For instance, I found myself searching for the pearls from a broken strand at 2am not long ago. I think it's a function of stress, for me, and somewhat akin to sleepwalking. I eventually figure out I'm only half-awake and go back to bed.
Posted by: Snowball at September 19, 2005 11:26 AM
I'm freaked out by this very conversation. And I'll probably see something tonight and be REALLY freaked out. Yoipes. Good freaky, though.
Posted by: Rachael at September 19, 2005 12:03 PM
The other day upon the stair
I saw a man who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today
Oh how I wish he'd go away.
Or something like that.
Posted by: NWJR at September 19, 2005 08:10 PM
Hey Jodi:
My husband had this happen for a week after he came back from Burning Man. Pennsic is like SCA Burning man. Perhaps sleeping outside for a week in a tent having a good time with a lot of freaks brings em on?
Posted by: lunastrixae at September 22, 2005 03:22 PM
When I was at school in Philly, I walked thru the back alley to my apartment. I passed a bum going through the garbage, then I went in the front door and went to my room to take a nap. While I was sleeping, I heard a noise, a garbage bag rustling. I thought it was my boyfriend back from work early. When I rolled over, it was the bum from out back! I froze, he turned a left the room. I got off the bunk and locked my door and called my Boyfriend to come get me. He said no one was in the house when he got there, and none of my room mates noticed anything missing. I swore it was real at the time - you can feel a real person, their energy. But now when I think back, it doesn't make any sense! Who knows.
Posted by: Jamie at September 22, 2005 08:27 PM