6th Sense?

[TexMex]

I'm not a great believer in the supernatural, ghosts, Clair Voyance, or any of that sort of thing. But the one thing that baffles me, is our uncanny ability to pick up when we are being watched.

For some time now I have been pondering, how on earth does this work. For every experience since, my "peripheral vision" theory seemed a possible explanation. I was starting to believe that our peripheral vision was unconciously feeding information, without any concious recognition of what it was seeing. The other day, my theory was finally blown out of the water.

I had come to a standstill, due to traffic lights at some roadworks. All of a sudden, I got the strong sensation that we were being watched. I told the wife (she was in the passenger seat) and pointed towards where I thought the sensation was coming from (behind us to the left but from an elevated position). I couldn't even see what I was pointing at (as the roof of the car was in the way). When she turned to look, there was a boy, looking straight at us from an upstairs window, through binoculars.

Due to the angle of the house to the road, I hadn't even been able to see this window on our approach. It wasn't until I bent over and looked back through the passenger window, that I finally saw the lad for myself.

I'm sure most people must have these types of experiences. Any theories?

 

[Big_Spark]

Tex, I am with you on this. I have no beliefs in the supernatural etc etc, but I know that we do seem to possess a sixth sense when we are being watched..

My post on my shark encounter clearly shows this and this is not the first time. I have experienced it several times in the Jungles of South America and even in the Forests of Canada and the Western US, only to find that I was indeed being watched by a Monkey, Jungle Cat or simliar animal, and once in the US by a small Black Bear..I was in a Car so perfectly safe

I remember very clearly getting this sense of being watched when in the Army on "excercise".

It is one of those odd things that you cannot put your finger on, there seems to be no rational explanation, yet we are all aware of it..

Perhaps there are aspects of our senses that we have forgotten about as we have developed societies and moved away from nature. Perhaps our subconscious mind is still tuned into these senses more accurate information, perhaps hearing, smell and even vision..how many time have we all looked for and failed to see something right in front of us!!

 

[AdamW]

I get this sometimes too... Often from cats. I'll arrive home, be getting out of the car and get the sensation, then look around and see a pair of green eyes looking out from under a bush.

Of course, it could be that we are being watched all the time.

I don't think animal instinct is supernatural, but I wouldn't dismiss the supernatural so quickly. As a physicist I've always been naturally sceptical but in the last 2 or 3 years I've had a couple of experiences that just ain't right. And it's surprising to hear just how many of the people you know have had experiences too.

 

[jasy]

i think the technical term is paranoia

 

[chainsaw_masochist]

i think the technical term is paranoia

Hear, hear!

Now is this confirming my long-held suspicion that people who claim to possess a sixth sense are usually deficient in the other five?

 

[AdamW]

Ah, but I wouldn't call it a sense. A sense is something you can electively engage, for instance "Ooh, I'll go and smell that flower" or "Hmmm, I'll taste this soup". Whereas being aware that you are being watched is an entirely passive thing. You don't think "Right, I'll just engage my sixth sense and check if anyone is watching... OMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!"

I watched a demonstration of a CCTV camera that had a white-noise sound generator hooked up to a speaker on it. Every now and then it would play a very short burst, maybe 1/10 of a second long. People would instinctively glance up at the camera, and would not even remember themselves doing it. Apparently we subconsciously listen for broadband sound such as someone treading on leaves when trying to creep up on us.

 

[Thermo]

i knew you were going to say that

 

[WoodYouLike]

Ah, but I wouldn't call it a sense. A sense is something you can electively engage, for instance "Ooh, I'll go and smell that flower" or "Hmmm, I'll taste this soup". Whereas being aware that you are being watched is an entirely passive thing. You don't think "Right, I'll just engage my sixth sense and check if anyone is watching... OMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!"

Am of another opinion on this. It's not only: I go and smell that flower; it's also: I smell something, is it that flower?
Same with 'sixth' sense. You have it(?) but are unaware of it until something triggers it.
Falls in the same category as empathy (i.e. feeling/knowing/being aware of someone elses feelings, mood etc).

 

[AdamW]

Good point Wood. But my point is that whereas the traditional 5-senses can be invoked through voluntary application of a stimulus, this "sixth sense" can not.

If there isn't a sixth sense, like empathy, then how do you explain Deanna Troi on Star Trek? Eh? You can't. Therefore there MUST be a sixth sense. Star Trek says so.

 

[TexMex]

Until recently my theory was that, this is a throwback to the days when we were part of the food chain for carnivores. As we meander our way through life, we instinctively glance at any potential space that could harbour a threat. If you pass by an alley, overhang, or any other potential ambush opportunity, you just instinctively glance at it. These glances may be so cursory, that you don't even conciously realise your doing it. In the event of anything resembling a pair of eyes, or the body of a living being, the penny suddenly drops and you get the feeling that you are being watched. Since you weren't concious of the glance, it feels like you've just "sensed it" through mysterious means.

As I say, I have been pondering this phenomena for some time now, and quite often, this theory cannot fully explain it. Another example:

Some time back, I spent a weekend at my daughters place, cat sitting. I was rather deaf at the time (had my ears syringed last week, so no longer a problem), and even so, I will generally sleep through an earthquake. Suddenly I awoke with a start, and looked straight at the top of her wardrobe. Low and behold, this ungrateful feline (it has the mentality of a feral) was just about to pounce on me. I cought the cat in mid air, and locked it in the bathroom for the night. I'm pretty certain that it wasn't noise that awoke me, just this sudden overwhelming feeling of an imminent threat.

I still believe that our normal senses are processing stuff without us being concious, and this may explain it. Maybe, even during sleep, some part of our brain is processing the input from our ears and building up a pretty accurate picture of what is happening around us. Only when this picture presents a potential threat, does this activity finally trip over into the concious mind.

Just a theory. Then again, maybe I'm just paranoid

 

[pna]

On a related note, has anyone else ever though "I must ring XYZ", only for the phone to ring, and its XYZ? This has happened to me about 5-6 times - it even happened when I'd not spoken to the person in question for months.

 

[nstreet]

On a related note, has anyone else ever though "I must ring XYZ", only for the phone to ring, and its XYZ? This has happened to me about 5-6 times - it even happened when I'd not spoken to the person in question for months.

Stop thinking abouth that new double glazing then and it probably wont happen

 

[pna]