Post AoT7nWna7SJMMS4xLU by arratoon@beige.party
(DIR) More posts by arratoon@beige.party
(DIR) Post #AmnCwDUuNnTOw5DGN6 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-03-07T10:48:54Z
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Have you ever had an uncanny or possibly paranormal experience?I have. It happened when I was in undergrad, I had a work-study in the Archivists Office in the rare books section of the library. The library is a classic modern building from the 50s, once ahead of its time, now well behind. The computer system was similar, my college being one of the first to adopt a digital library catalog in the late 60sSo, as you can see, this is, in part, a story of a haunted computer terminal. 1/
(DIR) Post #AmnCwFL3XOmSe6cQIC by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-03-07T10:56:09Z
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I had returned early from spring break to pack in some extra hours in the library so I could avoid working during exams week. The campus was lovely in spring, dogwood trees shed pink petals on the quad, tulips tossed & bobbed sudden short thunderstorms. I got lost in my work on the solid library terminal with it's chunky keyboard & blue-green matrix screen. My desk was under a little sky light in a hidden corner of the 5th floor. That's how I noticed the light changing. 2/
(DIR) Post #AmnCwHQRmKHV7P9kyO by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-03-07T11:01:48Z
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The library was a modernist building, as I mentioned, and many people called it "ugly" I think simply because it was modern. Secretly it was one of my favorite buildings on the campus. Because, although built with clean minimalist lines, it was made with care. The architect clearly cared about light. During the day, the building hardly used any electric lights at all. So I was alarmed when the sky suddenly darkened so drastically that the runners came on. 3/
(DIR) Post #AmnCwJI0qeistpE36W by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-03-07T11:05:32Z
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But, this was spring and I looked up expecting the thunder and another violent little thunder storm.Gazing up through the skylight told me little. The window was frosted, and I could only see a steel gray haze. The green blue glow of the old computer lit my keyboard and I endeavored to keep working. But before I could apply myself to my task the light shifted again. This time growing brighter... golden. The runners switched off. The air grew still. The library was empty. 4/
(DIR) Post #AmnCwLDTgUHesL7SJU by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-03-07T11:08:47Z
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The light from the skylight and from every window was a lustrous pink-gold, a sunset color although it was only early afternoon. The effect was beautiful, dust motes played near the stair well. The bell at the front desk around the corner rang.Strange. I didn't hear anyone enter.My main duty was cataloging, but if the head archivist was out I was tasked with lending out rare books in his place. I went around to see who it was. 5/
(DIR) Post #AmnCwN8EYxHGoegIPw by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-03-07T11:14:03Z
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The light was much more dramatic in the rare books library lobby where there were more skylights & windows, the whole space was bathed in that peach-toned light. And there, by the bell, stood a young man. Smartly dressed. Too smartly dressed. In fact, a large part of the "paranormal" nature of this experience will require you to trust my (even then) finally tuned sense of fashion. 6/
(DIR) Post #AmnCwOpAGpDE45m5yK by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-03-07T11:17:40Z
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He had on tweed pants and a sweater, leather shoes and a button down shirt. All of his clothes were out of time. His sweater, to take one item, was a campy letterman affair in school colors. Hand knit. It was the kind of plain sweater that no one would bother to hand knit. It was hand knit self-consciously because whoever bought it couldn't afford store-bought and aimed to approximate the mass produced look as best they could. In short, it was very old.But, it was also brand new. 7/
(DIR) Post #AmnCwQeFUNfXiogPEe by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-03-07T11:22:18Z
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The same was true of his plain white shirt. I could see less than perfect hand stitching on the collar. Who, today would sew a white button-down shirt by hand?Under his arm he held a notebook, and even it struck me as all wrong for the date of our existence. It was a composition book the likes of which I have never seen except in archives, the black and white dapple pattern was made by splattering ... not printing. I took all this in and decided he was from the drama department. 8/
(DIR) Post #AmnCwSbqCIvnnvZVlA by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-03-07T11:29:08Z
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His outfit, though very plain, had that effect of a costume. Not everyone could check out rare books. We had our own system, hence the computer in the basement and the beautiful, clunky terminals. I asked for his ID. That's when things got even more strange. His ID was *laminated* and contained a *real photograph*! His name inscribed by typewriter. His student ID? In pen! I started to have my doubts about my theory that he was from drama. Maybe this was an elaborate book heist! 9/
(DIR) Post #AmnCwUbCndbxyXI22y by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-03-07T11:32:47Z
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I tuned over the ID frowning with doubt. "This isn't-""I'm a grad student." He explained quickly. "Have been for a long time. I know that photo is old..."The photo didn't look old to me at all. Though, perhaps it was that strange light, concealing and repainting things, for as much as I'd noticed his clothing, I took more notice now of the man himself. He had an uncanny ageless quality. I could not have said if he were 25 or 45... or perhaps even older. 10/
(DIR) Post #AmnCwWY5YCJ41RqZSy by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-03-07T11:36:32Z
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I peered at the photograph on the ID comparing it to the man. They were clearly the same. The clothing in the photo looked just as anachronistic. Even the background of the photo felt like something from a forgotten decade, a pull-down painted backdrop of the college rotunda. His photo beamed at me, and so did the man himself.Some of the faculty had such ancient IDs. So, I decided to search him up in the system. I tried his last name, which was short an unusual. No luck. I tried his ID--11/
(DIR) Post #AmnCwYKKwIUjXNQcJE by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-03-07T11:41:30Z
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When I entered his student ID the terminal flashed. The screen inverting for a moment. I gave it wack, as I'd seen the head archivist do, and this seemed to clear it up... but the record I was now viewing was curious and incomplete. His name had been entered in the wrong field, which is why the search failed. His first name was just an initial. I attempted to correct this but the system wouldn't accept my changes. 12/
(DIR) Post #AmnCwaMtLlj7rsdgZM by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-03-07T11:44:16Z
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I scanned the book. And handed it over to him. He smiled, thanked me, and it seemed very sincere. Whatever else he was, whoever or wherever (whenever) he'd come from he seemed like a nice person, at least. I watched him leave, and then leaned over to the window hoping to see him go out through the main exit on ground level below. But he never came out. Instead the golden light began to rapidly fade. The library returned to normal... the charm that hovered over the place was gone. 13/
(DIR) Post #AmnCwcJm6KQDunCDzM by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-03-07T11:48:33Z
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Maybe he was just a quirky grad student with a thing for vintage clothing construction, a very old ID, uncanny ageless looks, and great timing with lighting. (and he could have left the library via the tunnels. )I tried to look at his record in the system again, and NOBODY could edit it. Not even the head archivist. It kept changing itself back. Edits wouldn't stick. To this day, I can't shake the feeling that something more was going on.I never saw him again. 14/14
(DIR) Post #AmnDksJqsnxM1NCHia by TeflonTrout@mastodon.social
2024-03-07T16:21:29Z
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@futurebird Way, WAY cooler than my own experience.I was preserving stewed tomatoes for their future lives as spaghetti sauce, chili, and lasagna.Halfway through boiling, for NO APPARENT REASON, all 6 jar lids failed at almost the exact same moment.It was uncanny. <ducks>
(DIR) Post #AmnDksrWratXhoxBD6 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-03-07T16:25:17Z
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@TeflonTrout 😐😑Are you proud of what you have done?
(DIR) Post #AmnE0S52Cs5HH9h5jk by kattrali@mastodon.gamedev.place
2024-03-07T11:54:39Z
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@futurebird Wow, I love this. I hope I can haunt a library someday, though ideally not to finish a thesis.
(DIR) Post #AmnE0T9KEP6uaki240 by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-03-07T11:55:27Z
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@kattrali Maybe he was a cursed "eternal grad student" !
(DIR) Post #AmnE0U1D04DDHrv43E by WGAvanDijk@mastodon.social
2024-10-08T10:01:17Z
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@futurebird @kattrali Ha. When I went to study in Delft, I met dozens of people who were sort of such eternal students. The Netherlands allowed for some decades after WW2 that students could go on forever, as long as they did some examinations on some of the fields they studied. I knew one student who was studying in Delft for over 25 years, amazing.My country changed this. Now you can study for 4 years max and get a fine if you need another year. Bizarre.Also, wonderful story!
(DIR) Post #AmnEEMP270GZingEaG by DrHyde@fosstodon.org
2024-10-08T10:03:51Z
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@futurebird as a seasoned IT professional of lo these many decades experience - yup, ghosts are real.
(DIR) Post #AmnELvvWQtvTvNUIq0 by nazokiyoubinbou@urusai.social
2024-10-08T10:05:14Z
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@futurebird Was his name Doctor?You can tell us. You met the Doctor didn't you?The sky effect was the TARDIS landing too close to the library's electrical systems.
(DIR) Post #AmnEY51wPbTpdLHYsy by JoshJers@peoplemaking.games
2024-10-08T10:07:25Z
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@futurebird when I was a kid (starting at maybe 5 or 6), I used to swear every night I'd see a glowing figure watching me from the corner of my room, just inside the door. For years. Never saw much detail, but I never wanted to look for too long. I slept with my ear covered by the blanket because in my lil child head if my ears were covered and eyes closed, ghosts couldn't get in. But a part of me always assumed it was just a trick of the light - it was opposite the windows, after all.But one night a cousin was staying over - she slept in my bed and I on a cot on the floor. Until she woke up SCREAMING about a glowing man staring at her from the same corner I'd always seen it in. I'd never told her (or anyone) about it because I was embarrassed by how scared it made me.Someone else seeing it didn't help.Not long after, I ended up moving and never saw it again.I'm not a believer in the supernatural now, but I still can't come up with a satisfying explanation for that whole experience.
(DIR) Post #AmnEyLTts1AqBUssUK by nazokiyoubinbou@urusai.social
2024-10-08T10:12:10Z
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@futurebird Closest thing I can think of would be sleep paralysis. I don't know if you have ever experienced it, but it's... Something else. You're about 50% awake and you think you're 100% awake but you're actually not. Your body is 99.9% paralyzed (with *great* effort you can move half an inch) as with normal sleep and your brain in firing off in sleep mode despite the fact you're conscious and your eyes are open.I can't emphasize how scary this usually gets until you have experienced enough to 100% understand it. Because you're still basically asleep, your brain is making stuff up based on minimal inputs with a feedback loop. You can imagine all sorts of things. People imagine demons, aliens, etc etc. And you 100% believe it because you're in a dream state.
(DIR) Post #AmnI936soXPcFruhqC by mansr@society.oftrolls.com
2024-10-08T10:47:42Z
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@futurebird The man you saw was The Doctor, and that ID was psychic paper. The terminal glitch was caused by his sonic screwdriver.
(DIR) Post #AnxJucvJPdxFyAND0a by Archergal@wandering.shop
2024-03-07T17:02:30Z
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@futurebird Did the book come back?
(DIR) Post #AnxJueYLM0lp1VdtU8 by lydiaschoch@mastodon.social
2024-10-08T16:21:45Z
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@Archergal @futurebird I’m wondering this, too.
(DIR) Post #AnxJufbvQBEIIuKGhs by futurebird@sauropods.win
2024-11-12T04:46:42Z
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@lydiaschoch @Archergal I contacted the head archivist who now lives in Germany I think. He took long enough to get back to me but did remember the event. The book DID NOT come back. And it was something of a minor hassle. Though they were able to replace it without it costing as much as he at first feared. The lending term for such things is very long and one would need to check with the university to really know. If I'm every there I will look into it.
(DIR) Post #AoT7nWna7SJMMS4xLU by arratoon@beige.party
2024-11-27T13:01:44Z
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@futurebird What a great story. And ‘the ghost’ was able to physically hold the book too.