Cameras have the endearing quality of watching the same spot for hours, days, weeks, years - all without getting tired of the view or stepping out to get a cup of coffee. So, they are "eyes on" whenever something does happen.
I have several cameras watching the perimeter of my house, and yes, they have caught the occasional oddity. I posted some of those videos in a thread at the old RN3 site. There isn't very much that spooks me, but I find some things to be a curiosity. Spooks that go bump in the night don't much bother me. I figure everyone, and everything, has to have a place to "be", so I rarely ever bother them if they're not being annoying to me. We just co-exist if they're not being a problem for me, I don't be a problem for them.
If they DO become a problem,or overly annoying, I throw them out. That's usually not too tough, although for the more recalcitrant ones, I keep sage and native tobacco on hand. That's one of the reasons I started growing the sacred tobacco (nicotiana rustica rather than the commercial nicotiana tabacum) so that I could always have some on hand. It's use was taught me by a Cherokee medicine man in North Carolina many years ago. I've got about a pound of it on hand right now, in various stages of aging, and have just sprouted the seedlings for this year's crop. They're doing fine, a lot better than I expected since I started them from old seed - seed from the 2020 crop.
In Native American traditions, sage "purifies", removes problem spirits, smudging with sweet grass and/or cedar brings in good spirits, who are drawn by the sweet smell to come to your aid, and sacred tobacco is placed to block entry of bad spirits or influences, either by sprinkling it around a perimeter, or blocking entryways like doors and windows with a hand of dried leaves or a sachet hung from windowsills or door frames. You can't just smudge around and drop herbs, though - you intent while doing it is everything. Frame of mind counts.
I "hear" things here pretty often - people walking when no one is there, doors opening and closing, and even the scrape along the floor of an ancient brown bottle of water that is used as a door stop. That water is probably 60 years old. My grandparents first started using it as a door stop some time in the mid 1960's. Sometimes in the night I hear it scrape along the floor when no one is there, as if someone were closing that door. There is one particular drawer in a cabinet in the living room here that occasionally opens itself, usually in spring. I checked it to see if someone was trying to draw my attention to something in it, but there is nothing of interest there - I reckon it's just someone or some thing saying "hi! I'm still here!", just a harmless action.
Curiously, while I was reading this thread, Mr. Jesterium's post just above to be specific, our door bell rang, twice in succession. When I went to answer the door, no one was there, and no one could have rang it and ran. They'd have broken their neck trying to get off the hill from the door before I could get to it.
Just another thing. Stuff happens here pretty often, but that's only the second time in two years the doorbell has done that. I double checked with Grace to make sure I wasn't just imagining it, and she did hear it, too.
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I have several cameras watching the perimeter of my house, and yes, they have caught the occasional oddity. I posted some of those videos in a thread at the old RN3 site. There isn't very much that spooks me, but I find some things to be a curiosity. Spooks that go bump in the night don't much bother me. I figure everyone, and everything, has to have a place to "be", so I rarely ever bother them if they're not being annoying to me. We just co-exist if they're not being a problem for me, I don't be a problem for them.
If they DO become a problem,or overly annoying, I throw them out. That's usually not too tough, although for the more recalcitrant ones, I keep sage and native tobacco on hand. That's one of the reasons I started growing the sacred tobacco (nicotiana rustica rather than the commercial nicotiana tabacum) so that I could always have some on hand. It's use was taught me by a Cherokee medicine man in North Carolina many years ago. I've got about a pound of it on hand right now, in various stages of aging, and have just sprouted the seedlings for this year's crop. They're doing fine, a lot better than I expected since I started them from old seed - seed from the 2020 crop.
In Native American traditions, sage "purifies", removes problem spirits, smudging with sweet grass and/or cedar brings in good spirits, who are drawn by the sweet smell to come to your aid, and sacred tobacco is placed to block entry of bad spirits or influences, either by sprinkling it around a perimeter, or blocking entryways like doors and windows with a hand of dried leaves or a sachet hung from windowsills or door frames. You can't just smudge around and drop herbs, though - you intent while doing it is everything. Frame of mind counts.
I "hear" things here pretty often - people walking when no one is there, doors opening and closing, and even the scrape along the floor of an ancient brown bottle of water that is used as a door stop. That water is probably 60 years old. My grandparents first started using it as a door stop some time in the mid 1960's. Sometimes in the night I hear it scrape along the floor when no one is there, as if someone were closing that door. There is one particular drawer in a cabinet in the living room here that occasionally opens itself, usually in spring. I checked it to see if someone was trying to draw my attention to something in it, but there is nothing of interest there - I reckon it's just someone or some thing saying "hi! I'm still here!", just a harmless action.
Curiously, while I was reading this thread, Mr. Jesterium's post just above to be specific, our door bell rang, twice in succession. When I went to answer the door, no one was there, and no one could have rang it and ran. They'd have broken their neck trying to get off the hill from the door before I could get to it.
Just another thing. Stuff happens here pretty often, but that's only the second time in two years the doorbell has done that. I double checked with Grace to make sure I wasn't just imagining it, and she did hear it, too.
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