The Faceless Woman

[imitator]

I’ve been thinking about something kind of silly that happened when I was a kid. I always do this time of year.
It seemed paranormal.

It’s one of many memories that never really goes away.


When I was a kid, I pretty much lived outside... didn’t we all, right?
My friends and I spent most of our time in my backyard, running around, getting dirty, playing sports, whatever we could think up. We had this old treehouse my dad built years earlier. Just rough boards and a tin roof that made noise when the wind picked up. It wasn’t much...  a typical treehouse.

From up there we could see into the neighbor’s yard. The old lady lived there. She kept to herself mostly. I don’t think I ever saw her with visitors. She was always out in her garden though, doing stuff to her plants, watering, clipping flowers. She wore this bonnet all the time, one of those big white ones that tied under the chin. Looked like something out of an old western movie. And her dresses were like pioneer clothes. Little House on the Prairie kind.

We didn’t know much about her. She mostly kept to herself, always out in her garden, moving slow, never really looking our way. The garden itself was kind of strange... full of plants that looked out of place, like they didn’t belong in the neighborhood. Sometimes it smelled like herbs... not marijuana but something hard to place. The air around her yard always felt heavy, like sound didn’t really carry there.

One afternoon I was watching from the treehouse when I realized I couldn’t see her face. At first I thought it was just the shadow from the bonnet or the sun hitting weird, but even when she turned... it wasn’t there. Just smooth skin. No eyes, no mouth, nothing.

I remember the feeling in my stomach... just dropping. I told my friends to look, and they laughed until they saw her too. Then it got quiet. We all just froze. She turned her head, real slow, like she somehow knew we were there. Even without eyes, I swear she was looking right at us. We didn’t say a word. Just climbed down fast and stayed away from the treehouse for weeks.

After that, we’d peek through the fence instead. Sometimes we saw her walking between the flowers real slow, or just standing still for minutes at a time. Even then, we still couldn’t see her face, and it always gave me this awkward, uneasy feeling I couldn’t explain... like I had to look away. Sometimes we could hear humming coming from her yard, soft and low, and it didn’t sound like it was coming from anywhere... 

Then one day, she was just gone. My mom said she must’ve moved away, but I don’t remember anyone coming, or packing, or driving off. Her house just sat there empty. The garden went wild. The vines grew thick, and the flowers withered and turned brown. It looked like no one had touched it in years. She might’ve passed away... dunno.

Every now and then, though, when we were out back, we’d still hear that humming. Soft, low... like it was coming from her yard. But the place was empty.

Even now, thinking back, I don’t know what to make of it. Maybe it was just our imagination, or the sun in our eyes. But part of me still thinks she wasn’t normal. We used to call her a witch, just kids trying to put a name to something we didn’t understand.

Sometimes I wonder if she wasn’t even human. Maybe something that looked human but didn’t quite get it right. A shapeshifter, maybe. Or something not from here at all.

Every once in a while, I dream about that backyard. Our treehouse. The sound of her humming. And I’ll see her again, standing there in the garden, bonnet and all, looking up at me with that same smooth, blank face. And I wake up with that same feeling I had back then... like I can’t look, like she never really left.


Truly haunts me to this day... when all the leaves are dying back, always brings it to mind.

Thought I’d share, seeing some of the members share their experiences too... though I’ll admit, I thought twice before hitting the submit button.

[midicon]

I enjoyed that!

Childhood imagination is a wonderful thing.

Even now, I often use little things from my own when I write.

[Halfswede]

The good part is that you had some confirmation. Your friends were able to make it a bit more solid of an idea. There's always some possibility that she had some kind of strange covering that just 'looked' like skin, but also she could very well have been something else.

About 20 years ago I was doing some hillside brush trailblazing with my boss/friend for a client. All of the sudden, the whole scene split and snapped back. It was like if you took a picture on the TV and drew a jagged line through it, and part of it shifted then shifted back, maybe 2-3 feet but within a fraction of a second.  There was nothing to 'see' in the split, just blur/smear'. I don't know how extensive it was, but the 'tear' appeared pretty much right in front of us and at least went several tens of feet to either side, but seemed like it went for quite a ways -- maybe a few hundred feet.

We both said something slowly like, "What was.. that?", but we both saw it and saw the same thing. A temporary tear in the veil, I guess.

[jaded]

@ imitator

Really interesting experience. I'd wager her gardens held some very interesting plants that as a whole told their own story. Gardeners fuss over their "babies" and propagate them for some of the most personal reasons. 

From your description the exposure to someone who held such a "foreign to you" vibration strikes me as educational from a observational point of view. If her plants were thriving I'd assume what you percieved as "strange" was, but not harmful. 

The "no-face"thing is unusual to us, but not western US Native American Nations. If you google it, it comes back as someone who's passed away and coninues to wander. On the flip side it could have been just her personal vibration ramped up to a degree because she really REALLY didn't want any interaction with anyone or anyhing else she didn't care about. Camouflage taken to he extreme in a society who already ignores the elderly. 

Plantwave is a device that lets you listen to live plants changing their electrical signal into audible frequency. Science has already discovered plant's communicate so here's a thought. The hum from her yard you heard "may" just have been loud happy plants. 
It'd be unusual, but so are lots of things. 

[imitator]

midicon

Thanks! Yeah, childhood imagination is wild... I mean, it all seemed pretty real. I guess kids see things differently when we’re young.


Halfswede

Sounds like your world split for a second... crazy, like a glitch in the matrix. So yeah, it’s nice having that kind of confirmation. I can’t imagine being the only one seeing something like that and questioning my sanity.

There’s something I didn’t mention before... after my friends saw her, I told my two younger brothers about it. They ended up freaking out too. My mom got pissed at me... my brothers wouldn’t play in the backyard anymore. 

You could be right about her wearing something over her face... but if she was, it looked like skin.
​​​​​​​

jaded

That’s really interesting, I never thought of it that way. She was definitely busy in that garden... it was the only place we ever saw her.

I’ll have to look into that Native American connection and Plantwave, that’s pretty wild. If it was camouflage, she was a master at it. Thanks for that.

[IAMTAT]

I’ve been thinking about something kind of silly that happened when I was a kid. I always do this time of year.
It seemed paranormal.

It’s one of many memories that never really goes away.


When I was a kid, I pretty much lived outside... didn’t we all, right?
My friends and I spent most of our time in my backyard, running around, getting dirty, playing sports, whatever we could think up. We had this old treehouse my dad built years earlier. Just rough boards and a tin roof that made noise when the wind picked up. It wasn’t much...  a typical treehouse.

From up there we could see into the neighbor’s yard. The old lady lived there. She kept to herself mostly. I don’t think I ever saw her with visitors. She was always out in her garden though, doing stuff to her plants, watering, clipping flowers. She wore this bonnet all the time, one of those big white ones that tied under the chin. Looked like something out of an old western movie. And her dresses were like pioneer clothes. Little House on the Prairie kind.

We didn’t know much about her. She mostly kept to herself, always out in her garden, moving slow, never really looking our way. The garden itself was kind of strange... full of plants that looked out of place, like they didn’t belong in the neighborhood. Sometimes it smelled like herbs... not marijuana but something hard to place. The air around her yard always felt heavy, like sound didn’t really carry there.

One afternoon I was watching from the treehouse when I realized I couldn’t see her face. At first I thought it was just the shadow from the bonnet or the sun hitting weird, but even when she turned... it wasn’t there. Just smooth skin. No eyes, no mouth, nothing.

I remember the feeling in my stomach... just dropping. I told my friends to look, and they laughed until they saw her too. Then it got quiet. We all just froze. She turned her head, real slow, like she somehow knew we were there. Even without eyes, I swear she was looking right at us. We didn’t say a word. Just climbed down fast and stayed away from the treehouse for weeks.

After that, we’d peek through the fence instead. Sometimes we saw her walking between the flowers real slow, or just standing still for minutes at a time. Even then, we still couldn’t see her face, and it always gave me this awkward, uneasy feeling I couldn’t explain... like I had to look away. Sometimes we could hear humming coming from her yard, soft and low, and it didn’t sound like it was coming from anywhere... 

Then one day, she was just gone. My mom said she must’ve moved away, but I don’t remember anyone coming, or packing, or driving off. Her house just sat there empty. The garden went wild. The vines grew thick, and the flowers withered and turned brown. It looked like no one had touched it in years. She might’ve passed away... dunno.

Every now and then, though, when we were out back, we’d still hear that humming. Soft, low... like it was coming from her yard. But the place was empty.

Even now, thinking back, I don’t know what to make of it. Maybe it was just our imagination, or the sun in our eyes. But part of me still thinks she wasn’t normal. We used to call her a witch, just kids trying to put a name to something we didn’t understand.

Sometimes I wonder if she wasn’t even human. Maybe something that looked human but didn’t quite get it right. A shapeshifter, maybe. Or something not from here at all.

Every once in a while, I dream about that backyard. Our treehouse. The sound of her humming. And I’ll see her again, standing there in the garden, bonnet and all, looking up at me with that same smooth, blank face. And I wake up with that same feeling I had back then... like I can’t look, like she never really left.


Truly haunts me to this day... when all the leaves are dying back, always brings it to mind.

Thought I’d share, seeing some of the members share their experiences too... though I’ll admit, I thought twice before hitting the submit button.

This is a great story.
Thank you.

[Tinkerpeach]

I’ve been thinking about something kind of silly that happened when I was a kid. I always do this time of year.
It seemed paranormal.

It’s one of many memories that never really goes away.


When I was a kid, I pretty much lived outside... didn’t we all, right?
My friends and I spent most of our time in my backyard, running around, getting dirty, playing sports, whatever we could think up. We had this old treehouse my dad built years earlier. Just rough boards and a tin roof that made noise when the wind picked up. It wasn’t much...  a typical treehouse.

From up there we could see into the neighbor’s yard. The old lady lived there. She kept to herself mostly. I don’t think I ever saw her with visitors. She was always out in her garden though, doing stuff to her plants, watering, clipping flowers. She wore this bonnet all the time, one of those big white ones that tied under the chin. Looked like something out of an old western movie. And her dresses were like pioneer clothes. Little House on the Prairie kind.

We didn’t know much about her. She mostly kept to herself, always out in her garden, moving slow, never really looking our way. The garden itself was kind of strange... full of plants that looked out of place, like they didn’t belong in the neighborhood. Sometimes it smelled like herbs... not marijuana but something hard to place. The air around her yard always felt heavy, like sound didn’t really carry there.

One afternoon I was watching from the treehouse when I realized I couldn’t see her face. At first I thought it was just the shadow from the bonnet or the sun hitting weird, but even when she turned... it wasn’t there. Just smooth skin. No eyes, no mouth, nothing.

I remember the feeling in my stomach... just dropping. I told my friends to look, and they laughed until they saw her too. Then it got quiet. We all just froze. She turned her head, real slow, like she somehow knew we were there. Even without eyes, I swear she was looking right at us. We didn’t say a word. Just climbed down fast and stayed away from the treehouse for weeks.

After that, we’d peek through the fence instead. Sometimes we saw her walking between the flowers real slow, or just standing still for minutes at a time. Even then, we still couldn’t see her face, and it always gave me this awkward, uneasy feeling I couldn’t explain... like I had to look away. Sometimes we could hear humming coming from her yard, soft and low, and it didn’t sound like it was coming from anywhere... 

Then one day, she was just gone. My mom said she must’ve moved away, but I don’t remember anyone coming, or packing, or driving off. Her house just sat there empty. The garden went wild. The vines grew thick, and the flowers withered and turned brown. It looked like no one had touched it in years. She might’ve passed away... dunno.

Every now and then, though, when we were out back, we’d still hear that humming. Soft, low... like it was coming from her yard. But the place was empty.

Even now, thinking back, I don’t know what to make of it. Maybe it was just our imagination, or the sun in our eyes. But part of me still thinks she wasn’t normal. We used to call her a witch, just kids trying to put a name to something we didn’t understand.

Sometimes I wonder if she wasn’t even human. Maybe something that looked human but didn’t quite get it right. A shapeshifter, maybe. Or something not from here at all.

Every once in a while, I dream about that backyard. Our treehouse. The sound of her humming. And I’ll see her again, standing there in the garden, bonnet and all, looking up at me with that same smooth, blank face. And I wake up with that same feeling I had back then... like I can’t look, like she never really left.


Truly haunts me to this day... when all the leaves are dying back, always brings it to mind.

Thought I’d share, seeing some of the members share their experiences too... though I’ll admit, I thought twice before hitting the submit button.

I would be willing to wager that if you could go back in time that you would simply see a lady going about her garden chores. 

Time has a very strong impact on childhood memories and often impacts even the smallest events in dramatic ways. 

I had a client once who felt horrible guilt for tying a child in his class to a flagpole with his underwear. He was adamant about finding him and apologizing to him. 

I said I thought that would be a good idea. 

Well, he tracked the man down and flew to another state to apologize but it turns out that my client was actually the victim who was tied to the flagpole. His mind, over the years, had turned a very traumatic moment into something that it could cope with. 

If I were treating, you the first thing I would talk to you about is what was going on in your life during this time and try to determine if there was a trigger for this. 

I obviously will not speculate on your situation but I have seen many examples of children who were abused applying blankness, not only to faces, but the world in general, where they retreat within themselves in a way. 

Of course, maybe you did see a spook also but as a professional ghost hunter, yes I get paid for it, I have never run across one of these. 


**Mod. edit -- Fixed quote box**

[imitator]

I would be willing to wager that if you could go back in time that you would simply see a lady going about her garden chores. 

Time has a very strong impact on childhood memories and often impacts even the smallest events in dramatic ways. 

I had a client once who felt horrible guilt for tying a child in his class to a flagpole with his underwear. He was adamant about finding him and apologizing to him. 

I said I thought that would be a good idea. 

Well, he tracked the man down and flew to another state to apologize but it turns out that my client was actually the victim who was tied to the flagpole. His mind, over the years, had turned a very traumatic moment into something that it could cope with. 

If I were treating, you the first thing I would talk to you about is what was going on in your life during this time and try to determine if there was a trigger for this. 

I obviously will not speculate on your situation but I have seen many examples of children who were abused applying blankness, not only to faces, but the world in general, where they retreat within themselves in a way. 

Of course, maybe you did see a spook also but as a professional ghost hunter, yes I get paid for it, I have never run across one of these. 


**Mod. edit -- Fixed quote box**

 
You could be right, that is also interesting take... yeah, I can see how memories can twist and shift over time. It is wild how the mind fills in blanks, especially when you’re a kid.
 
If anything traumatic was going on back then, I don’t remember it. We moved around a lot, but at that particular place we stayed almost two years. The only thing that ever really shocked me was the babysitter across the street... she was a college student, and one time we saw her run out of the shower totally naked to answer the phone. We were running to grab the phone too, but then we just froze... a bunch of little kids standing there, couldn’t believe our luck, haha. She was perfectly sculpted by God and didn’t seem to care one bit about our young eyes. That was the first time we ever saw curved beauty like that.
 
So yeah, nothing dark that I can think of. Maybe the mind does strange things, or maybe we just saw something we weren’t supposed to...  Well, we did see something... 
 
Also, I’m typing this on my phone right now because my internet’s been down for about a week, so if there’s any typos or weird text... I blame the 3I/ATLAS.

: )

[KKLoco]

I would be willing to wager that if you could go back in time that you would simply see a lady going about her garden chores. 

Time has a very strong impact on childhood memories and often impacts even the smallest events in dramatic ways. 

I had a client once who felt horrible guilt for tying a child in his class to a flagpole with his underwear. He was adamant about finding him and apologizing to him. 

I said I thought that would be a good idea. 

Well, he tracked the man down and flew to another state to apologize but it turns out that my client was actually the victim who was tied to the flagpole. His mind, over the years, had turned a very traumatic moment into something that it could cope with. 

If I were treating, you the first thing I would talk to you about is what was going on in your life during this time and try to determine if there was a trigger for this. 

I obviously will not speculate on your situation but I have seen many examples of children who were abused applying blankness, not only to faces, but the world in general, where they retreat within themselves in a way. 

Of course, maybe you did see a spook also but as a professional ghost hunter, yes I get paid for it, I have never run across one of these. 


**Mod. edit -- Fixed quote box**

This explains SRA victims very well. They say the purpose is to fracture the persons personality. Each personality has its own uses, and are easily manipulated. I feel so fortunate that I was not molested as a child. Studies say 1/3 of every girl, and 1/4 of boys are. It seems very difficult for people to ever fully recover from it.

[UltraBudgie]

This explains SRA victims very well. They say the purpose is to fracture the persons personality. Each personality has its own uses, and are easily manipulated. I feel so fortunate that I was not molested as a child. Studies say 1/3 of every girl, and 1/4 of boys are. It seems very difficult for people to ever fully recover from it.

Yeah. When I get to know people who find deep significance in art like this:



...or who talk about "broken bones healing stronger", it 1) inspires me about the resilience and indomitable beauty of the human spirit, and 2) can make me very very sad.

https://soyespiritual.com/kintsugi-signi...spiritual/