Strange Animal Strange Voices

On a windy day recently, I was outside in the street when I saw a strange dark ‘animal’, or at least that’s what I thought. It was maybe 20cm long and 5cm across, and darted quickly across my path. Being unexpected I was startled. It then, bizarrely, collapsed, completely losing its shape. I could then see it was a black plastic bag which had become inflated by, and animated by, the strong wind.

Although it was obviously a bag in plain daylight, when this observation took place, it might have not been recognised for what it was at night. I have seen wind-blown plastic bags looking distinctly odd before. A large, suitably shaped one might even resemble a human figure and be taken for a ghost in poor lighting conditions. The ‘animation’ that the wind provides helps with the illusion.

My acquaintance (MA). who gets micro sleep with REM experiences (MWR – see here), was reading recently and frequently heard voices, even though there was no one nearby. Each voice sounded like a different person and they were heard sometimes just seconds apart. They were examples of voice MWRs. As I’ve reported before, these voices frequently happen when MA is reading. Interestingly, they are the first MWRs of any type MA has experienced for weeks. The phenomenon occurs rarely, perhaps only when the conditions, whatever they might be, are just right.