Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Weird Happenings


Posted by Lois Greiman


Once upon a time (about 10 years ago), in a land far away (okay, it was here in Minnesota) I bought a pretty little pinto mare for my son. She was young and foolish, but I thought, hey, they can grow wise together. But one fine spring day when I was out for a ride with my children, she bucked Justin off and hightailed it across some poor farmer’s freshly planted corn field.

Now here’s the thing…horses are extremely gregarious, very bound to others of their own kind. So, although she went galloping off like a crazed mustang, I wasn’t too concerned about getting her back. I just made sure Justin still had all his parts and carted the kids safely back home.

To make a weird story short, I never saw that horse again. I spent the rest of the night looking for her on foot, then, the rest of the month searching on horseback, in car, and from helicopters. I spoke to practically everyone in a ten mile radius, put up ‘lost horse’ posters, and notified every horse owner in the vicinity…but nothing.

She was gone. AWOL. Missing in action. Gone without a trace. Her tracks ended in the middle of a field and no one ever admitted to seeing hide nor hair of her again. It is, I believe, the strangest thing that’s ever happened to me and made me question all sorts of things I used to accept without question. Such as…pretty little pinto mares are NOT abducted by aliens. But hey, my mind is more open now.

So…what’s your weird story? Any curious extra terrestrials, visiting celestial beings or other weird happenings?

8 comments:

Unknown said...

Okay, I've never told this to anyone outside the family before but. . .

Years ago I was writing full time and not making enough to replace what I would be making working-- you know the drill. Constant worry about money and feeling guilty and like I'd never be able to send my kids to college. I had also been saying prayers about my career-- wondering if I was on the right track.

Then one morning, my printer (a then state-of-the-art dot matrix job!) was being stubborn and I may have stuck a print key just a little too hard or something. Suddenly the printer started printing out dollar signs-- pages and pages of them! Literally! Like this:

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ . . . well, you get the idea.

I tried pushing other keys and getting the thing to stop-- nada. It just kept printing dollar signs. I had four full pages of them and more coming when I finally gave up and pulled the plug on the printer, shutting it down. Then I stood looking at the pages of dollar signs, bewildered and a little spooked. When my hubby came home that night, I showed him the pages and we were both stuck with shivers. And then. . . a sense of peace came over me. It seemed like a promise from the cosmos. And from then on, I seemed to do better-- both mentally and financially.

Wierd, but true.

Unknown said...

Betina, that's so great. It's nice to have it spelled out like that. :)

Debra Dixon said...

I've got a lost animal story...

We always had Irish Wolfhounds but I also wanted a smaller dog to show. "Stacking" Wolfhounds in a show pose was hard for someone as short as me. I'm just not long enough.

So, a friend shoved a Smooth Fox Terrier pup in my hands. I had no idea what I was in for but the breeding was to die for. The puppies were to die for so I said, "Sure."

Fox Terriers are nothing like Irish Wolfhounds. They have little springs that come out from between their toes allowing them to flat-footedly jump over a 4' tall exercise pen wall if you turn your head for 2 minutes to talk to a dog show friend.

When you turn back around...they're gone.

So, I'm in full panic. I'm at an outdoor dog show. The bad outcomes are endless. Family and friends fan out.

I find my dog way the hell on the other side of the show grounds, in someone else's ex-pen with four other terriers. And I have to say, "Excuse me. I think that's my dog."

They replied, "You think?"

Michele Hauf said...

I have no eerie woo-woo stories.

I want an eerie woo-woo story.

Huh.

M

Helen Brenna said...

Deb, I know exactly what you mean about those Fox Terriers springing up. There are a couple I see at the dog park, and the owners don't even need to bend down to pick them up. They just put out their hands and the little things jumpt into their arms!

Betina, I can just see you getting flustered over all those $ signs printing out. Very funny.

I know I have a bunch of woowoo stories. I just don't remember them. Things happen. I go, "Huh." And then I forget, I think, because this stuff all seems so normal to me.

A friend of mine once got a fortune from a chinese fortune cookie that said, "Help, I'm being held captive in a fortune cookie factory."

Oh, I remember another one. My dh and I got engaged in Hawaii. The night he proposed and gave me the ring, he got this in his fortune cookie: "Wedding ring like tourniquet. Cut off circulation."

No lie. I have it saved in our wedding album.

Very cute pinto, Lois.

Kathleen Eagle said...

Yikes. Okay, I tend to THINK about woo-woo experiences until I come up with an explanation so they're no longer woo-woo. Mine are the odd moments throughout my life during which I had a feeling that this was going to be important. I carry photographs of those moments in my memory. I'll bet you do, too. I remember picking up the brochure that led me to apply for the program that took me to SD. It's a photographic memory--I can see the whole thing like a film in my head. Same with the first time I saw the ranch we ended up buying years later. I was teaching, was in a van dropping off kids after a school program, and I had a feeling about the house. When the back door opened from the inside (somebody inside opening it for the kid) I had a feeling, some sort of weird sense of connection. Didn't know why, but it stayed with me.

My husband has had some really weird things happen. Like ghostly stuff. I've been present during a couple of them and can't explain them away.

Kathleen Eagle said...

Lois, I remember when you lost that horse. You were frantic, and the Eagles were feeling your pain. When I started reading your blog, I was all set to learn that you'd just found her. I had her coming home like Lassie, or just showing up in the barn this morning. Got to the part about aliens and I was SO disappointed.

Susan Kay Law said...

Nothing wierd ever happens to me. I'm not sure if it's because it doesn't or I'm just not observant enough to notice.

I remember when you lost your horse. I'm sorry it never showed up.

Susie