He’s seeing and hearing things the rest of us can’t — and as much as I tried to explain it away, after everything that’s happened, I’m starting to believe him.This has been going on for about two years now. Before I get into it, I know some people will immediately think “mental illness,” and maybe that’s still part of it. But what I’m going to share doesn’t fit cleanly into that explanation. I’m not looking for attention — I just need to share this somewhere people might understand that not everything can be easily explained.My family lives in Tennessee, about two hours west of Nashville. My parents have been together for over 30 years and have four kids — my sister (38), my brother Aaron (33), me (28), and our youngest brother (22). My sister lives in New York for work, so we don’t see her much except around the holidays. I’m at UT Knoxville finishing my degree, and youngest brother is currently deployed overseas with the Marines. We were raised Lutheran, though only my parents still practice regularly.
>>41471813Aaron joined the Army right after high school. I don’t know much about the military, but his role was in Military Police, and his rank was Sergeant First Class. He was stationed all over — Afghanistan, Iraq, Germany, Honduras, and a few other places I can’t remember. I know he’s seen combat. He’s always been upfront and straightforward — the type who tells you the truth even when you don’t want to hear it. That’s part of what made this so hard to process.About two years ago, he was deployed to Africa for what was supposed to be a ten-month rotation, training local security forces. Eight months in, he was sent home early and medically discharged after a suicide attempt.After he came home, he stayed with our parents for a while. At first, they thought he was just struggling to adjust — but his behavior quickly became disturbing. He stopped sleeping at night and would only rest a few hours during the day with the blinds wide open. He kept all the lights on in his room, and my parents could hear him pacing and talking to himself through the night.
>>41471829One weekend when I was home from school, I went into his room while he was out. There were strange symbols drawn on the walls. His desk was covered in books — the Bible, the Quran, and others on witchcraft and African folklore — with sticky notes full of scribbled, frantic handwriting.Then things escalated. He started “patrolling” the house at night with a flashlight and a loaded gun, saying he was protecting everyone. That’s when we all agreed something was seriously wrong — maybe PTSD or the onset of a psychotic disorder. There’s no history of mental illness in our family, but that’s what made the most sense at the time.Then my parents started noticing things they couldn’t explain.Objects would go missing and turn up later in strange places. They’d hear knocking or scratching noises throughout the day and night. The temperature in the house would drop randomly, even with the heat on. Their dog — a Chow named Ella — began acting terrified. She would bark at corners, refuse to go outside after dark, and started having accidents indoors, which she’d never done before.The final incident happened when Ella got into Aaron’s room one night and began barking and lunging at him. By the time my parents got upstairs, Aaron was trying to choke her. They pulled him off and told him to leave. Since then, none of them have spoken to him.And the strangest part — as soon as he left, all the activity stopped.
>>41471813There is a lot of reason to believe that some "mentally ill" people are actually not mentally ill. They are just more open to the "other side" of reality and see things that are manifest over on that side. There is good reason to say this, but I'd like to hear your thoughts on it. Do you think this could be the case?
>>41471838Aaron now lives alone in a small cabin near Camden. He keeps to himself and only contacts me occasionally. Every few months, I drive him to Costco to buy groceries and supplies. He doesn’t have a car or internet. The only phone he uses is a prepaid flip phone, which he keeps powered off and with the battery removed most of the time.I’ve been inside his cabin a few times. It’s extremely minimal — no TV, no radio, no computer. Just stacks of books, mostly on religion, witchcraft, and demonology. The walls are covered in more of those symbols and notes, like what I saw in his old room. I’ve offered to stay with him, but he always refuses. He says it’s “safer” that way.He never talks about what happened during his deployment. If I bring it up, he shuts down completely or gets angry. The same thing happens if I suggest therapy or any kind of help.I’ve tried reaching out to a few people from his unit on Facebook to learn what happened overseas, but no one has responded. I’m not sure if they can’t, or if they just won’t.At this point, I honestly don’t know what to believe. Maybe something broke inside him — or maybe something followed him home. I haven’t personally experienced any of the things my parents did, but I can’t deny how much he’s changed. It’s like he’s carrying something heavy — something that isn’t entirely his own. And I don’t know how to help him without putting myself in danger, too.
>>41471842I honestly couldn't tell you. He was never into anything paranormal. He was pretty level headed and always did his best to explain things away logically
>>41471848>>41471813Prompt?
>>41471857What I've come to realize is that the whole idea of "paranormal" is really not "paranormal". The reality we live in is full of varying phenomena, from long distance communication to particles moving along a metal wire powering devices. That basically kills the idea of the paranormal. It's all normal in this reality, even stuff like spirits and powers. Once you start to grasp this, then you can rationally appreciate all phenomena that you see and perceive.
He has mystic eyes.
>>41471883At this rate, I just want to know what causes him to revert to this state. I love him and I know they rest of the family love and miss him to, but for their own reasons don't want to associate with him.I'm practically the only family he has now, and I want to help him. I'm thinking about forgoing Thanksgiving with my parents and spending it with him at his place. I know he's going to push back, but I don't care at this point.
>>41471883Paranormal phenomena are mechanisms for "waking up" individuals to the broader reality of consciousness. These experiences are engineered by the consciousness system to help people realize the limits of their current understanding. Once an individual eradicates their inner demons, they won't be "haunted" by such phenomena.
Sounds like something attached itself to him. Something very similar happened to my buddy when he came back from the sandbox, and to another friend i had growing up who stuck his nose into something he shouldnt have. Does he have sleep paralysis and/or weird reoccuring dreams OP? Has he been checked for CTE or whatever its called when the brain gets shaken?
>>41471838theres a theory that emotional disturbances themselves causing hauntings, his paranoia, strangeness, fear, etc could have caused the haunting symptoms themselves, and your brother has some sort of ptsd
>>41471954It's a consequence of having the ability to see the other side of reality without being ready for it. Most of the people who gain the ability to see go through initiations that prepare them for it. People who are not prepared see things that confuse and horrify them, so it's not good at all in that situation. Look into Shamanism around the world and how it helps those people.>>41471956Yes. This is close to the truth.
>>41471957He was sent to Germany for medicine evaluation for a month or so. I would assume a number or tests were ran on him.As far as the sleep paralysis or strange dreams, I couldn't say. He won't talk about anything. He sleeps during the day for a few hours and then he's wired and on edge for 20+ hours. >>41471974He wasn't emotional or disturbed to be best of my knowledge before his deployment. And he's been pretty ope about expressing his thoughts and emotions.>>41471979How does one just manifest "sight" out of nowhere?
>>41472034>How does one just manifest "sight" out of nowhere?It's not out of nowhere. The ability to see is an aspect to what shamanistic societies call sickness, which is the push to be initiated. In societies that don't have shamanistic understanding, this is often called mental illness. Those people are force fed drugs that kill people and cause further spiritual issues.
>>41471813>He’s seeing and hearing things.That's not normal?
>>41472076I think OP means he sees and hears things that the rest of us can't see or hear.
>>41472085I know what OP meant. My comment stands
>>41472046Self-initiation is fine.
>>41472090Yeah, seeing and hearing things that others cannot is NOT normal.
>>41472096Does it really matter though? Nothing special about it.
gay thread that's going to go down a gay aisle
>>41472120There is extraordinary in the ordinary, so yeah.
