Castle warnings from another dimension
Tale of the unexplained

Mate of mine had his thirtieth birthday party in a castle in Inverness near Loch Ness in Scotland. Heaps of us flew over (on planes, not broomsticks – it’s not that kind of story). For four days we absolutely caned it, drinking from the wee hours to the wee hours and imbibing a number of interesting substances in pill, powder and tea forms.

Whilst I am fully prepared to admit that the cocktail of amphetamines, alcohol and hallucinogenics in my frazzled brain could have conjured up all kinds of scenarios, here is the one I experienced:

We set off on the Sunday morning (it was to be the last day of the trip) to see Nessie. The boat on the loch had a bar and we were pretty much mashed by midday having merely topped up the alcohol in our sleep-deprived bodies.

On our way back to the castle, my body mysteriously stopped working and I had to be held up to walk to my bed, undressed by my then ladyfriend and left to try to sleep. It was at this point things became eerie.

Fitfully sleeping, I tossed and turned frequently, disturbing my ladyfriend from her own well-earned slumber. She berated me accordingly and I was left to struggle alone with Morpheus. Once I finally turned away from her conceding a consolation shag was utterly out of the question, I noticed a small child dressed in mediaeval rags crawling across the bedroom floor towards me.

The door was slightly ajar which it couldnt possibly have been as my ladyfriend was obsessive about her bedtime ritual and insisted on always sleeping on the same side of the bed, closing doors, setting alarms, placing her gown and slippers and her clothes ready for the morning in exactly the same manner nightly.

On the other side of the door, I could hear activity. I turned over to see if my ladyfriend was disturbed by this but she was unmoved other than by my moving back and forth.

The child crept closer. I closed my eyes as if to ignore it but was struck with an absolute terror of its imminent arrival. With a jolt, I quickly opened my eyes and he became stationary. It seemed I could now control his movement towards me simply by keeping my eyes open.

This immediately became extremely difficult as sleep got its clutches into me and insisted I come with it. My eyes grew heavy and as they closed, the infant moved towards me all the while growing more terrifying to my now shivering, weakened body which begged my mind for sleep.

I dragged my eyes further open. The child was trapped in my returning stare. The door opened a little further and the noise I had heard revealed its scene. It appeared to be a room in a hovel; straw on the floor, dark and smoky from a fire within and occupied by a number of long, lean figures dressed as bedraggedly as the infant. They paid me no heed.

Their obliviousness to me calmed me momentarily and my eyes fell heavy again. In the instant that occurred as my upper and lower eyelids met, I saw the infant reanimated and became instantly aware of my peril yet again. I dragged them open once more, this time even more difficult than the last. I was in dire need of sleep but no sleep would come with the terror that consumed me.

Something had to be done.

I climbed from my bed. The ice cold air shocked me. The infant looked up at me and mewled but appeared less terrifying now as I stood next to its tiny presence. I plucked him up into my arms and moved towards the door. The figures beyond it barely acknowledged me as I placed him inside their domain.

The infant crawled away and I shut the door.

Shivering, I returned to my bed and clutched at my ladyfriend who was oblivious to my presence. Normally my coldness would have shocked her into rancour but she felt not a thing as I wrapped myself around her, one ear and one eye cocked over my shoulder for a movement of the door to another time.

I didn’t sleep a wink as I recall. Moments later the sun began to rise on a beautiful day in Inverness, our castle view over the land the only grey in a dewy shimmering mountainous island of green.

We returned to Ireland that same day and only a small number of weeks afterwards, she left me.

Now, not word one of this tale is a lie. I reiterate, the cocktail of chemicals in my sleep-starved husk of a body was probably wreaking havoc on my rationale but this is not an isolated incident.

Having experienced a number of visions into other dimensions facilitated by psilocybin mushrooms, I try to avoid them as it is nothing short of pant-shittingly terrifying when it happens.

I don’t fervently believe for or against the existence of ghosts/other dimensions argument. I am merely relating to you an experience that I have had. I sometimes think like some of the other contributors to this QOTW that what we see, are in fact, warnings.

Rafter
baz
(bazmorningstar efil4nat3b, Fri 4 Jul 2008, 14:05, 12 replies)

I have had an experience like yours
inducing a trance state.. I saw things that would turn your shit white.
(TheRiddler Hmmmmm... I concur., Fri 4 Jul 2008, 14:16, closed)

@Riddler
tell the story?
(bazmorningstar efil4nat3b, Fri 4 Jul 2008, 14:19, closed)

I've added it.. "an Unsavoury place"
be interesting to hear what others see.
(TheRiddler Hmmmmm... I concur., Fri 4 Jul 2008, 14:56, closed)

hmm, warnings....
e.g. "don't take anymore psilocybin mushrooms, you twat"!
(haberman is singing in the changes, Fri 4 Jul 2008, 15:03, closed)

A bad workman blames his tools, they say
You cant blame the mushrooms, dude! They're innocent!
(bazmorningstar efil4nat3b, Fri 4 Jul 2008, 15:05, closed)

@baz
ha, you sound like my fella. He'll say "I saw the spirits of the trees" and I'll say "that's because you've been smoking skunk every day for the past 10 years" and he'll say "no, dude, the weed is a tool that enables me to see these things" and I'll say something like "*indignant snort*" and then we'll glare at each other suspiciously for the remainder of the day.
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Fri 4 Jul 2008, 15:08, closed)

@chcb
sounds like a wonderful relationship! My missus says things like, "I had a bad day at work today" and I say, "Booze, food or sex?". We're so happy.
(bazmorningstar efil4nat3b, Fri 4 Jul 2008, 15:16, closed)

^
"relationship" is such a strong word...
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Fri 4 Jul 2008, 15:17, closed)

relationship?
It's nice that you can have somone to enjoy the booze, food and sex with though instead of always on your own. What's best is that when she's away, the alone time becomes like this illicit thrill.
(bazmorningstar efil4nat3b, Fri 4 Jul 2008, 15:19, closed)

awwww
That's sweet. And not in a nauseating way.
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Fri 4 Jul 2008, 15:20, closed)

I call it pragmatic romance
Everybody wins. We do the dates, gifts and cuddles rubbish without any of the guilt or soppiness. Then I get what I want. I should write a book.
(bazmorningstar efil4nat3b, Fri 4 Jul 2008, 15:25, closed)

Cold Turkey Mate
it's a bugger.

If it happens again, you've got problems.
( buffet_the_appetite_slayer ٩(●̮̃•)۶ jacked in to the ICE on, Sat 5 Jul 2008, 20:58, closed)