I saw a GHOST... an...
 

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I saw a GHOST... and another rider saw it as well. So it must be true 😉

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Brief story. Out riding yesterday and stopped to adjust something on the bike. Looked up and ahead on the trail was black figure hanging above the trail in the disatance (50m or so).

Moved on and thought nothing more of it, just put it  down to a tree or shadow or something. The trail forks right in front of me and another ride went done the othe opposite to shadowy black ghost. I then followed  other rider.

Later in ride, about 2 hours the other riding for some reason mentioned about seeing a shadowry form on the trail,  about in the same location but 90 degrees to where I was looking at it. I never mentioned it to him before hand, so he was not pre loaded with thoughts.

Did I (we) see a ghost, alien our future ghosts of us riding the trail. Weird and feels odd. Dont know why I did'nt try for a picture 🙁

We did independent sketches later and they are very similar when revealed. Creepy.

Anyone else seen ghosts, aliens, ufo's or whatever out riding? Tell us your stories. :-)))

 

 

 

 

 


 
Posted : 19/06/2025 2:54 pm
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Was he on a Sur-ron?


 
Posted : 19/06/2025 2:57 pm
oldnpastit reacted
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I've seen something similar to this on the trails but nothing else

image.png


 
Posted : 19/06/2025 2:59 pm
nicko74 reacted
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Ghost rider... He did look a bit like Nicholas Cage 😉

We need some AI mock ups 😉

 


 
Posted : 19/06/2025 3:01 pm
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It'll be the local vampire waiting for some tasty pumped up blood from the local MTBers.


 
Posted : 19/06/2025 3:15 pm
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Ahh yes! A 'ghost'.


 
Posted : 19/06/2025 3:25 pm
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Posted by: redthunder

Anyone else seen ghosts, aliens, ufo's or whatever out riding? Tell us your stories. :-)))

Did you see the dark shadow in the broad daylight, like under the sun bright light?  Or near or under the trees?  The former might be a genie (stronger hence able to stand in the light) while the latter is a ghost (weaker and hence prefer not to stand in direct sunlight). 

Yes, but not the dark shadowy type but white shadow peeping from the side of the door frame. i.e. like someone sticking a head to look at you.  

 


 
Posted : 19/06/2025 3:30 pm
retrorick reacted
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Never mind the ghosts OP I'd be more worried about the gremlins in your spell checker. 👻


 
Posted : 19/06/2025 3:39 pm
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Thats what I love about this forum ... grammar cops 🙂  diguised as Gremlins :-).

Even Ai cant cope with my spelling 😉

Is this better Teach:

Brief story. Out riding yesterday and stopped to adjust something on the bike. Looking up and ahead on the trail was black figure hanging above the trail in the distance (50m or so).

Moved on and thought nothing more of it, just put it  down to a tree or shadow or something. The trail forks right in front of me and another ride went the other way to the shadowy black ghost. I then followed  the other rider.

Later in the ride, about 2 hours the other rider for some reason mentioned about seeing a shadowy form on the trail,  about in the same location but 90 degrees to where I was looking at it. I never mentioned it to him beforehand, so he was not preloaded with thoughts.

Did I (we) see a ghost, alien our future ghosts of us riding the trail? Weird and feels odd. Don't know why I didn't try for a picture 🙁

We did independent sketches later and they are very similar when revealed. Creepy.

Anyone else seen ghosts, aliens, ufo's or whatever out riding? Tell us your stories. :-)))

 

@chewkw

Early morning, around 09:30'ish IIRC. Quite bright, the foliage was very green and bright. Also, as said before I could not see any feet as such; it was hovering if you like.

 


 
Posted : 19/06/2025 5:13 pm
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too spooky

https://flic.kr/p/53Wg7B


 
Posted : 19/06/2025 5:31 pm
nicko74 reacted
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Was it at the top of a long, steep climb cos I'm often hallucinating in those circumstances as well...?


 
Posted : 19/06/2025 5:33 pm
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d2a525_96ed095f45934cdda3d679f1119d1612~mv2.jpg


 
Posted : 19/06/2025 5:35 pm
dyna-ti, jimmy748, topper and 6 people reacted
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Did I (we) see a ghost, alien our future ghosts of us riding the trail.

No. HTH.


 
Posted : 19/06/2025 5:39 pm
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Pan flat trail.

Probably that Mint Sauce reaper above ;-).

Feels like that to me on every ride 🙁


 
Posted : 19/06/2025 6:54 pm
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Judging by the spelling in the OP, I'm thinking he may have actually simply seen a goat. 

🤔


 
Posted : 19/06/2025 9:05 pm
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Posted by: redthunder

Early morning, around 09:30'ish IIRC. Quite bright, the foliage was very green and bright. Also, as said before I could not see any feet as such; it was hovering if you like.

That's a genie or some may refer to them as mountain or forest spirit. 

You can see it because both of you are just happened to "tune in" the right frequency, hence able to see it.

 


 
Posted : 19/06/2025 9:14 pm
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Brocken spectre?


 
Posted : 19/06/2025 9:17 pm
robola reacted
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Yes my spelling is poor in the first post :-(. 

I will now go and shoot myself to keep you all happy.


 
Posted : 19/06/2025 9:59 pm
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Posted by: chewkw

That's a genie or some may refer to them as mountain or forest spirit. 

 

Those are not terms I would use.

 


 
Posted : 19/06/2025 10:07 pm
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Posted by: redthunder

Yes my spelling is poor in the first post :-(. 

I will now go and shoot myself to keep you all happy.

Aw, c'mon Mr Thunder, don't take it personally, and you have to admit the goat joke was funny.

Also, you started a thread which contains the most sense chewkw has made in years! 

FACTS! (to cross the streams of another thread)


 

 


 
Posted : 19/06/2025 10:18 pm
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Tom83 beat me to it 


 
Posted : 20/06/2025 6:50 am
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I'd rather have a piece of toast.


 
Posted : 20/06/2025 6:56 am
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Posted by: mogrim

I'd rather have a piece of toast.

I know it's a song lyric, but I do love toast.

 


 
Posted : 20/06/2025 6:59 am
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Those are not terms I would use.

Indeed. Nor just about anyone else I imagine.


 
Posted : 20/06/2025 7:11 am
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So it was a Holy Ghost .... toast


 
Posted : 20/06/2025 7:14 am
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Back to the OP…

When the kids were tiny we had a few “moments”.

Our house is 200+ years old and started life as two properties that were knocked through in the 1930s with a wall taken out and staircase modified. House was extended again in the 2000s.

For example:

  • A smoke alarm fell off the ceiling, bounced off the internal wall that had been removed in the 30s and ended up on the upstairs landing despite it being over the staircase.
  • Daughter aged about four sat in the middle of her room having very animated play and conversation with “the dust people”. Wife asked where they were. Daughter said “Behind you”.
  • We were looking for a lost Thomas The Tank Engine that was causing my toddler son some considerable distress. Helpfully it was gently tossed into the room through an open door, ending up between us at our feet. However, there was no one in the room from where it was thrown.

All of the oddness happens in the 1810 bit of the house and stopped once the youngest reached about the age of 10.


 
Posted : 20/06/2025 7:34 am
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Posted by: redthunder

Yes my spelling is poor in the first post :-(. 

I will now go and shoot myself to keep you all happy.

Sorry, no offence meant dude. Just being a light-hearted div. 😊🙏

 


 
Posted : 20/06/2025 8:28 am
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On my first proper night ride, solo, I was riding along and realised the route I'd chosen went right past the graveyard.

Imagine this in pitch darkness and winter. While carrying on and firmly telling myself not to be silly, out of the corner of my eye I saw a white hand rise up put of one of the graves 😱

After almost ending up in the river, I realised it was a bunch of flowers nodding in the wind. I may have put on speed slightly after that.

 

(Then later I had to return on the same path! Did not look in that direction 🤣)


 
Posted : 20/06/2025 8:33 am
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Posted by: redthunder

Early morning, around 09:30'ish

Which one was it OP? Early morning or 09:30ish? 😉


 
Posted : 20/06/2025 10:08 am
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Posted by: ossify

I may have put on speed slightly after that.

I suspect I’d have lost weight after that! 


 
Posted : 20/06/2025 10:09 am
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That graveyard story reminds me of a time I was out after darks and came round a corner at reasonable speed to be met by this. 

DSC_0599.JPG

Proper near shit myself. 

A stolen shop mannequin, placed presumably to have just that effect. 🤣


 
Posted : 20/06/2025 10:16 am
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Riding through Minley Manor one evening I came across a manequin hanging from a tree, was actually a prop from the film Overlord (think WW2 zombies)

  gave me quite the fright, but went back the next day to watch the filming.

Back to the OP's question when I was younger and alone in the house I felt and caught a glimpse of a presence sat in an armchair several times. One day my mother mentioned that she thought she's seen something in the same chair, a friendly presence. Anyway, my father moved the chair and added some extra lights and neither of us saw anything again. Was it just a shadow, I really don't think so, but don't know what it was.


 
Posted : 20/06/2025 10:34 am
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Daughter aged about four sat in the middle of her room having very animated play and conversation with “the dust people”. Wife asked where they were. Daughter said “Behind you”. 

Classic example of how some are predisposed to look for supernatural/paranormal explanations for the "unexplained" and some are not. My kids did similar with imaginary friends, so did the kids of most people I know. I've a vague recollection of doing the same when I was a nipper (a long, long time ago). It's pretty normal, maybe even universal child behaviour. I would default to thinking "child's imagination" in that situation. The thought that it might be something "spooky" or supernatural honestly wouldn't even enter my head. Likewise a smoke detector coming free and bouncing in an unexpected way.  Your TTTE example does sound odd, but forgive me - your two prior examples suggest to me you are/were sensitised to looking for a supernatural explanation.  The imagination is a very powerful thing and sometimes connects the dots in an odd way. Maybe it coloured your perception or recollection a little?

Also, old houses can be very atmospheric, ours is also 200 y/o and we get all sorts of creaks, noises and strange draughts. We've had stuff fall of the walls or shelves.  To my mind, picture hooks in crumbly old plaster, our clumsy cats, draughts etc. are far, far more likely explanations than "ghost", "genie", "forest spirit" etc. YMMV.

 


 
Posted : 20/06/2025 11:27 am
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 your two prior examples suggest to me you are/were sensitised to looking for a supernatural explanation

 

Nope. Calculating black and white type with a scientific background.

 

Anyway, it hasn't happened in years and when it did it was almost funny. Since the kids have got older I can't go blaming the ghosts for mysterious chips in paintwork or bad smells. I have to blame the kids now.


 
Posted : 20/06/2025 11:41 am
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Nope. Calculating black and white type with a scientific background.

Just wondering why then, you would cite normal 4 y/o behaviour as an example of a "moment" on a ghost thread?

Sorry, I'm not having a go honest! Loads of people do it and it seems lots, maybe even a majority of people's brains are wired to think that way. There's probably some evolutionary reason for it.

I think I'm a bit odd sometimes for having absolutely zero belief in anything supernatural when my wife, parents and many friends and acquaintances do. My kids seem to have inherited my scepticism though - I don't know if they should thank or berate me for it!


 
Posted : 20/06/2025 12:33 pm
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Posted by: ossify

On my first proper night ride, solo, I was riding along and realised the route I'd chosen went right past the graveyard.

Normally, there is really no spirits of the deceased there in the graveyard. But if there is one then the high likelihood is a demon (sometime disguise as other spirits)

I call it "genie" but the right term is demon (malevolent mostly) or spirit (can be good or bad).   

I only used the term "genie" because I thought the direct translation of jin was genie. 

 


 
Posted : 20/06/2025 12:47 pm
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Out night riding and surprised a big black cat with a rabbit in its mouth. It looked at me and nonchalantly pootled of the side of the trail and back into the woods. It's never going to bother humans when there's plenty of small furry bunnies and deer to chomp on, so it was quite a cool experience. 

Had some very "odd" experiences with work in old buildings and one that made me leave my site gear, go and have a fag break and come back later when it all calmed down a bit. 

also lived in a 1600's cottage that had some very strange goings on, that were witnessed by multiple folks at the same time. The logical stance is that it's clearly bollocks and human mind is great at finding patterns in things where none exists and can mis-interpret incoming sounds and images, but that it itself is quite groovey as it probably explains most myths and legends. 

had one "black formless terror" moment when I was a teenager and buggering about with the occult a lot, that was jolly 

 


 
Posted : 20/06/2025 2:43 pm
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Our resident fruitloop's definition of variations of Djinn aside:

The human brain is exceptionally good at pattern-matching and making 2+2=5.  Just look at the "argh my eye" thread, dozens upon dozens of pages of pareidolia.

Occam's Razor applies here, just because we can't immediately explain something doesn't mean we get to make up any old shit in order to sound rangy and exciting.  A rogue smoke alarm on the floor is more likely to have bounced off a dog or a four-year old than a poltergeist.  


 
Posted : 20/06/2025 3:59 pm
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As well as perceiving patterns where there aren't any, the mind also extrapolates from dispersed visual cues filling in the gaps.  The brain would be overwhelmed if it tried to process all incoming visual information, so it processes what seems to be the most threatening/relevant/useful and fills in the gaps based on prior experience to preserve bandwidth for other tasks/calculations. 

There have been studies to show that when someone scans a road for example when waiting to pull out, the brain doesn't process a continuous panning shot of what the eye sees. Instead it works in a stop motion fashion, processing individual snapshot images, then stitching them together. Filling in the gaps between the snapshots, with what it expects to see, rather than what was actually there. 

This is why people sometimes pull out having not seen an approaching vehicle, despite having looked.  It is also perhaps why people sometimes genuinely believe they have seen something they haven't. Or conversely, not seen something which was actually there, despite looking.

I reckon the little understood aspects of our brains and subconscious minds are far more interesting and mysterious than fairy tales and ghost stories.


 
Posted : 20/06/2025 4:23 pm
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Crikey, a pair of Spooky’s, I’d forgotten about them, always fancied one, ended up with Cove and Inbreds, instead! 😍


 
Posted : 21/06/2025 8:13 pm
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Posted by: blokeuptheroad

the brain doesn't process a continuous panning shot of what the eye sees. Instead it works in a stop motion fashion, processing individual snapshot images

"Saccades."


 
Posted : 22/06/2025 7:40 am
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Posted by: blokeuptheroad

There have been studies to show that when someone scans a road for example when waiting to pull out, the brain doesn't process a continuous panning shot of what the eye sees. Instead it works in a stop motion fashion, processing individual snapshot images, then stitching them together. Filling in the gaps between the snapshots, with what it expects to see, rather than what was actually there.

Posted by: Cougar

"Saccades."

 

I read an interesting article about this in relation to cycling. Someone linked it on STW once I think. Anyway, here:

https://www.portsmouthctc.org.uk/a-fighter-pilots-guide-to-surviving-on-the-roads/

 


 
Posted : 22/06/2025 9:54 am

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