Just...................whatever [5]

It was a Buckie related warning.

I don't think I've experienced starlight so bright you could jump across rocks by it! But then, whenever I'm camping away from light pollution it's always with people. Most of us don't use flashlights, but mark our camps with Tiki torches and such, so we never really walk by starlight.

In north America at least cup shaped depressions in stones are taken to be grinding stones. Put grain or roots in there and have at it with a rounded stone.

Thanks Eldo, but I am curious as to what you mean by 'naturalistic'.
Do you mean you think there were genuine sounds and we exaggerated them in our minds, or that we made them up, or that a herd of deer just happened to be passing by at the time and we startled them? Just curious- I havent in the years since found an answer that entirely satisfies me.

Petty had a real life Outlander experience?

You should have written a best selling book series about it.

Pettytyrant101 wrote:Thanks Eldo, but I am curious as to what you mean by 'naturalistic'.

Not necessarily the best choice of words; I was just trying to say that my impulse is always to look for a non-supernatural explanation when I encounter weird stuff. But what you describe is certainly on a special level of weird.

Maybe some locals find it amusing to freak out passing stone circle tourists?

As for Petty's story,
I've learned to respect an inner voice that sometimes tells me of approaching danger. Many people I've known who work long hours in high risk situations will tell stories of their hair bristling or other such signs when there's nothing obvious to trigger it, and narrowly avoiding under-water rocks, avalanches etc. by turning away at the last second.

This seems to be a remnant of an older way of understanding the world, the way dogs, cows and horses do, before we humans became so dependent on logical deduction.  Whatever it is, it lives in the part of our brains that's still trying to bring us home safely when our minds and bodies are exhausted.  And another characteristic of this "sixth sense" or "Spidy Sense" is that is seems to be able to spread through  the "herd" without as word or sign, just as a flock of birds will turn in unison without a signal.  I don't understand it, but I don't really need to. As I said, I've come to trust it and that's enough.

So back to Petty's story, I'd say that the two of you came to the Stone expecting Nature to have a Voice, and your senses were attuned for it, listening from that older part of your brain that doesn't care one way or the other about logical cause and effect.  When something "spoke" you both heard it and interpreted it the same way.  But your third friend wasn't in that part of his mind, if he even knows it's there, so any voice would have just been a noise, easily dismissed if it couldn't be explained and filed.

I'd compare it to reading emotions into animals. You'll see people who try to walk up and pet a bull that doesn't want to be petted, or run from a bull that's just curious. Once you open yourself up to listening to a bull it's easy to tell the difference, but it's something you can't easily explain to someone who isn't open to it.  

Nature is like that.

the two times in my life that I have been truly wee-my-pants-what-the-fuck-just-happened scared, is the two times that I have 'attuned' or let myself be attuned with Nature, forest and stone. and I don't mean a nice walk in the woods talking to butterflies Nature.

Then thats two tales you must tell Figg

when you think of al the critters that are trying to eat other critters, it's not a butterflies kind of world. In fact they may have the worst of it.

Good story,  Petty. I'm a big fan of the short/miniature story format. I googled ancient stones in Scotland and the pictures I found reminded me of the short story 'N' by Stephen King.

http://www.scotland-inverness.co.uk/stones.htm

Pettytyrant101 wrote:Then thats two tales you must tell Figg

wish I could Petty but some things shouldnt be told.

Are there? I haven't come across any and certainly not in forumshire.

yeah worrying about being judged in Forumshire. that ship sailed yonks ago.

So, are we getting our story then?

no

Stick to your guns, Mrs Figg (not that you need me to tell you that! ). If a story doesn't feel like it would be happy on an internet forum, it's privacy should be respected. Just like Petty's rock.

But in more general terms, I think your fictional account of Haddon Hall spoke to some of the same sensitivity we're talking about, or am I wrong?

Damn right, my rocks should definitely be respected

David H wrote:Stick to your guns, Mrs Figg (not that you need me to tell you that! ). If a story doesn't feel like it would be happy on an internet forum, it's privacy should be respected. Just like Petty's rock.

But in more general terms, I think your fictional account of Haddon Hall spoke to some of the same sensitivity we're talking about, or am I wrong?

I had forgotten about Haddon Hall. But I think you are right about the spooky nature of certain places or atmospheres.

Pettytyrant101 wrote:Damn right, my rocks should definitely be respected  

I suppose ramblers get a good view of your rocks?

Only if I'm higher up the hill than them, I like to give my rocks a good airing, keeps the moss off them

Just keep your rocks out of my field, or they're liable to get broken and thrown over the nearest fence

talking of rocks. I think Stonehenge was a gigantic vagina.

You mean when people hop the fence at 3 am with a bottle of whiskey to get "fucked up" they may be closer than they think?