JustDisGuy

Ok - this is likely going to sound whacked out. I've not been 'round here for quite a long time, but I got to thinking I missed this place so here goes my first post in about a year. Should've probably started with something less weird. Oh well...

My kid is disabled, uses supplemental oxygen and has an O2 monitor that she wears while she sleeps. Almost every night for the last several months, I have been woken at 3am due to her alarm going off. I go in and flip her on her tummy and her O2 sats go back up. Usually this repeats every few minutes for about an hour and then I can get back to sleep and she quits tossing and turning. Lately, I've been getting the idea that this is not a random event, because it is so predictably centered on the 3am hour, and also because I notice areas of extreme cold when I'm walking between our bedrooms and in her bedroom. I still kind of wrote it off to our programmable thermostat and bad luck until the last two nights. Night before last, I had a truly bizarre dream. Myself and several people that I felt I knew in the dream but whom I do not remember or recognize now were being terrorized by a demon. We ran and fought and tried several strange things to ward off the demon, but it just kept coming. Then, in the dream, I tossed a pinch of salt at the demon and it just blew apart. That's when I woke up.

Yesterday, I did a brief bit of looking on the web, and apparently it is a long held Christian belief that salt is anathema to demons. So, I did something weird. I put salt in my daughter's bed, sprinkled it 'round the house, and in my bed as well, and left a small bag of it near the head of my daughter's bed. We both had an undisturbed and restful night's sleep last night.

Coincidence and paranoia, or justified concern?

MexicanOnABike

wow. insane!! definitely a cool story! If it keeps em away, then thats fucking great!

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Tyrell

I'm interested in learning if it continues to work. One night may be a coincidence, but every night for a week would be different.

AbigailAlfano

Wow. Creepy.

JustDisGuy

Seems to have done the job. Silent nights for several days now...

analog

......weird.

abaya

Dude, that is just freakin' freaky. Are you a Christian, or a practitioner of a religion with demons/evil spirits? Have you read any of Frank Peretti's books? I am no longer an evangelical and don't really believe in that stuff, but your story would fit right in that book. It is definitely freaky... let us know how long it lasts.

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pornclerk

I heard Sylvia Brown make a theory on this kind of thing once. I'm not saying I really believe it but I thought it might be cool to share. She says that the spirit world is very active between the hours of 3am and 4am. Something about the energy from them being very high I think. She says this is the reason why a lot of people wake up around that time in the middle of the night.

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Bill O'Rights

Ok...that's just too bizarre.

Well, be it just coincidence, simple paranoia or justified concern, I'm glad that it worked. Or something worked. Or...whatever.

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Bagezio2

In the movie the exorcism of emily rose, the lawyer defending the priest would be awoken at 3 am for many nights during the trial. She later learned that 3 am is the hour of the antichrist (or something like that) being that christ supposedly died at 3pm and the opposite would be 3 am. I haven't heard this elsewhere but I figured i would throw it out there.

Pip

We call the time between 3 - 4 a.m. the Wolf Hour (Vargtimmen) in Sweden. (There's an Ingmar Bergman movie dealing with demons with this very title.) According to folk legend it's the hour when most people die and when the most workplace accidents during the nightshift happens. Most late night weirdness seems to occur during this time. Perhaps it's due to supernatural activity, perhaps it's due to something in the circadian rythm. Maybe the human brain "reboots" during that hour? I know that hour is the worst to get through when I have to stay up all night.

abaya

Yeah, same here, and I've done it a LOT. I never knew about anything supernatural at that time, though... just figured my brain was out to get me after being awake for 20+ hours (and with no sleep for another 20). I like the reboot idea, though.

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absorbentishe

I've never heard of salt warding off the demons, interesting. It sounds like you could be on Discovery's A haunting.... This would be normal occurrence on that show. Need to let us know if this is still working.

I wouldn't do it, I'd be too worried that if I tried something that didn't work, and pissed the spirits off more, they'd do more harm.

hagatha

Anytime I've awoken from a nightmare, without fail, the clock says 4AM.
And I gotta track down that Ingmar Berman film, sounds awesome.

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Bagezio2

wow I thought I was the only one.. Maybe there is something to this...

JustDisGuy

Well, still all quiet here except for one night that my daughter woke up terrified. Also the night that my mom (who looks after my daughter during the day) had stripped the bed and I forgot to salt it again. (I feel like a loon even writing this...)

As for the 3am - 4am thing, I first heard about that from the film "Exorcism of Emily Rose" and I even cracked a joke by scoffing "I wonder if the demons follow daylight savings time?". Now, not so much. If I had a theory, it would be something along the lines of the position of the surface of the planet relative to the sun at about that time. I'm not an expert, but it seems to me that this would be about the right time for that spot on the earth to be furthest from the sun and in the deepest shadow, no?

MSD

You would be farthest from the sun exactly halfway between sunset and sunrise.

JustDisGuy

Good point. Do the math and it would be somewhere closer to 1am right about now. Well, guess that's what theories are for... to be disproved!

Xazy

I think that is cool and creepy. I am Jewish and I believe in all the silly superstitous stuff including ghosts and demons (i guess that is how it would translate in to English).

If it works go with it.

Lady Sage

I have been a pagan for 16 years. We commonly use salt (usually sea salt) for purification. The fact that this worked for you makes perfect sense to me. In fact, thats what I would have told you to do!

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Elphaba

JustDisGuy, first I am glad that you found something that allows you and your daughter a restful night's sleep. Second, I'm curious as to whether you explained to your daughter what you were doing and why. I think that the power of belief can strengthen a person, particularly children. Perhaps her belief in her father made her less vulnerable to whatever it is that disturbs her at night.

I am very open to the idea that the dead continue to exist in some form; energy perhaps. I and other family members have experienced "visits" if you will, too many times to just pooh-pooh it as an abberation. I don't recall anything of the demonic side, but who knows? I don't think I would want to remember something like that.

JustDisGuy

Nope - never said anything about it to her. She's about seven and a half years old, but she's about three or four mentally, she doesn't speak and I'm fairly sure she wouldn't understand what I was saying except maybe to notice the salt in her bed and eat it...

It's actually been a couple nights now since I changed her sheets and didn't put more salt in there with her, though the bag is still on her night stand. S'been all quiet, still...

Independant confirmation! Wonderful!

I've been reading a book on Guardian Angels this week, and it seems that there is a great deal of anecdotal evidence to suggest that our loved ones continue to take part in our lives after their passing. I often hope that it is so, though I've only once sensed my late wife's presence since her passing.

Thanks to everyone for your comments. Looks like for now anyway the issue is resolved.

Elphaba

Jus... I believe that our loved ones do look over us, and return when they are most needed. My father has done that for my mother.

Sweet dreams to you and your daughter.

JustDisGuy

...egads I felt someone squeeze the heck out of my ankle a few minutes ago, but there's no one else here. I went in to check on my daughter, who was awake but laying quietly. She grabbed me and hung on, and wouldn't let go...
This is just getting silly.

abaya

Time to call in a priest, man!!!

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for Love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.
--Khalil Gibran

IT2002

I do not believe in the supernatural. You asked for opinions so here goes. I would suggest that at best the salt gives you peace of mind through the placebo effect. As far as the 3 AM consistency it is difficult to tell, but I would offer that people have a biological clock which may help explain this.

I am not trying to rain on your parade. If it gives you peace of mind and no one gets hurt, keep on doing it. Good luck.

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JustDisGuy

Thanks IT2002 - I appreciate your input, and your points are well-taken.

I actually went ahead and after doing more internet research conducted a more in-depth ritual the day after my last post, and placebo or no things have been quiet (and warm!) since.

Lady Sage

You are keeping one step ahed of me! I was just going to suggest you do your own cleansing of the house. If, however, you decide you need to go one step further, let me know and I would be happy to be of assistance.

It does seem that you are doing just fine on your own. Many good nights sleep to you both.

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If only closed minds came with closed mouths.
Minds are like parachutes, they function best when open.
It`s Easier to Change a Condom Than a Diaper
Yes, the rumors are true... I actually AM a Witch.

JustDisGuy

Thanks, Lady Sage. If I do, I'll take you up on that.
Not on my own... I feel that I'm being led to these solutions, whether by a guardian angel or the spirit of my late wife, or perhaps by some other emissary of Christ.

I appreciate your and everyone else's well wishes.

SecretMethod70

Welcome back

You may want to take a look at this page ...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placebo

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JustDisGuy

Thanks - it's good to be back!
Thanks - I know what a placebo is. I'm just okay with someone else out there thinking that I'm benefiting from said effect. The point isn't whether they're right or not - it's that it seems to be doing the trick, which is what matters to me...!