Saturday, July 07, 2007

Guided By Voices

Several years ago, when I were but a wee 'un, I used to hear things.

Now, before you all jump to conclusions, let me clarify. I'm not talking about the old Devil on the shoulder, telling me I should cheat during my Maths exam. Nor am I talking about a disembodied voice which instructs me to maim, kill, or torture innocent people.

No, my psychosis seemed much more benign.

I used to hear a laugh. Whenever I was in a relatively crowded location, such as a busy street or shop, I would be happily intent upon my merry way. But sometimes the laugh would come, sometimes not... yet always the same laugh. I'm sure we agree that no two laughs are the same, and this one did not mock. Rather it was a happy laugh, a content laugh.

Were I a logical man (and on the whole I am) I would put it down to stress. At the time I heard it I was going through the youthful period bliss of examinations and I guess a certain amount of that weighed down on me. Inf act I cannot say the last time I heard the laugh. It was at the very least more than ten years ago.

Now then, I have started hearing other things, still just as benign. I hear my phone tell me I have a message... I feel it vibrate. Sarah calls me, but yet she didn't. I awake to the doorbell, but with no one there.

Pleas don't take these for daily events, for they most certainly are not. I probably wake up to the doorbell once a year, and then after checking drift off quite happily. But occur they do. I could put it down to some other stress, something else that isn't quite right with my life (read back in my blog).

But what I want is for someone to say is Yes! Yes I get that.

13 comments:

Phil said...

Wow, that's odd - I can understand maybe imagining hearing the phone or someone call your name, but a laugh is creepy... sorry ;]

Stark-raving-bonkers, go see a shrink :0)

Becky said...

I get that. I get the phone thing. I'm always feeling it vibrate when it doesn't. I get paranoid about it. You know that feeling when you know someone is looking at you but you can't see them? It's like that. I'm not sure if it was really my phone going off, or really my name being called, but I kind of have to look anyway just to keep up this weird act. Just in case. Even when I'm 99% sure that I'm just going doolally.

It's not just you.

Anonymous said...

Yes yes, I get that. Especially when stressed.

I usually hear someone calling me - usually someone related to the stress... so if I'm stressed at work eg. then I'll hear my boss call. But it's always in context. It's the sort of time he _would_ call if he were there, but he's not.

Only once have I had a totally out-of-context auditory hallucination, and I was _very_ stressed at the time... I was driving along in the mini, and a baby on the back seat gurgled and laughed. Scary.

Lisa & Adam said...

I've had the wake-up-to-the-doorbell-that-wasn't thing a few times. When I used to do night shifts it happened when I slept during the day after.

I assumed it was a dream - probably caused by having actually been woken by the doorbell on several occasions by the postie trying to deliver parcels.

Kourosism said...

Wow. Much more common than I realised... and at least Stu proves that the laughing thing doesn't make me a freak (though granted I'll accept a little odd).

*twitch*

Jeangenie said...

I get the doorbell thing too. And my dad's chuckle. And "Mum!" being called.

And sometimes I'll start humming a song, turn on the radio, and that same song's playing ... that's odd.

Unknown said...

This looks like the Stress Bunnies forum. Where do I sign up? :)

I hear my alarm going off when it's not. Thing is, being an alarm and thus designed to make me wake up in time for work, well I'm never very happy about becoming fully awake at say 3 am. I do manage to get back to sleep, of course, but it's never the proper deep sleep where I'm blissfully unaware of anything.
Only happens a few times in a year, thankfully.

Kourosism said...

JG - In a way, I can understand the "Mum!" thing or in my case, Sarah saying something to me. It's just something you come to expect and so there it is, at the back of your mind.

But the laugh? I dunno - it genuinely surprises me that more than one person has some experience of this. Hearing your dad's laugh puts it into a context, but still, it's there...

...now, if only I could do something about the sound of the drums, the never ending drums.

Lord Hutton said...

I'm with you on this. Bloody knocks on the door waking me up, but no-one else hears them

silver horde said...

I get the mum thing, esp in a crowded area I also get the radio thing, but rarely. I also have been puzzling over what to call a scrapbook lo. Suddenly a title will come to me and then moments later I'll hear a song with the word in it!

Rich said...

No! No I don't get that.

Max said...

Thankfully not.

Stu's mini experience - very freeky

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