I’d like to relate a personal experience that I had when I was an adolescent in the hope that others might be willing to come forward and share any similar experiences that they may have had.
I’ve titled this article “A Missing Time Experience?” – with a question mark, you’ll notice – because it does not necessarily fit the “typical” missing time scenario of which we hear. It did not happen late at night on a darkened rural road; there was no UFO sighting involved (that I recall). It occurred in the afternoon, on a sunny day, on a relatively busy street in a bustling suburban town in northeastern New Jersey. In fact, I’m not entirely sure that there even was a period of missing time. Yet, it was strange in the extreme and something that I contemplate regularly to this day, more than thirty years later.
The time of year was late winter or early spring – around March or April, I believe, of 1978. I was in junior high school, seventh grade, and thirteen years of age. It was a weekday at about 3:00 PM and school had just let out. I left the junior high school, which is located next to a hospital in my home town of Ridgewood, NJ. Ridgewood is located about 20 miles from New York City, in Bergen County, a very populated area of the state. I walked, as I did most days, home from the junior high (now a middle school). My parent’s home was located about 1.5 miles from the school along a very direct route. Most of the walk was on the street on which the school was located, followed by a left and a quick right toward the very end of the walk. So, I’d normally just walk out the front door of the school, take a left, and proceed straight for about 1.4 miles, the last 0.10 of a mile being that left and the right, at which point I was at our house.
That was the route that I would normally take, however, I had a run-in with a group of boys that bullied me on a regular basis, so rather than taking a left out the front door of the school and proceeding due south for that 1.4 miles, I’d go left and then take another left at the very first traffic after leaving the school. I’d then walk to the next street over and take a right onto that street, again walking due south. It wasn’t much of a departure from my normal route, as the street ran parallel to the one I’d usually take to get home. I’d been doing that for at least a couple of months in an effort to avoid walking past the homes of the boys who were bullying me. Therefore, I’m confident of the the fact that there was no way I would have become lost or confused of my whereabouts.
However, one day as I began walking home, I noticed that everything seemed strangely quiet, almost muted. The normal noise and bustle associated with the after-school rush of children walking home from school was oddly absent and the quiet was rather eerie. There were still cars and some pedestrians present as I walked down this busy suburban street, but there was an odd, unreal feeling to everything, along with this disturbing muted silence.
The street that I was walking down was called North Pleasant Avenue, and the intersection that I was approaching was at the corner of North Pleasant and Ridgewood Avenue. After crossing Ridgewood Ave, North Pleasant turned to South Pleasant Avenue and I would pass the elementary school that I’d attended the years prior to entering the junior high in September of ’77. At crossing that intersection and approaching the elementary school, I was approximately 0.8 mile from my home. I mention these facts only to continue to emphasize that this was a route and neighborhood in which I was used to traveling.
As I continued south, from N. Pleasant toward S. Pleasant and toward the intersection of Pleasant and Ridgewood Avenues, I saw the traffic light, the same familiar stores at the corner, and the small parking lot in front of the stores. However, these landmarks appeared to be getting further away as I walked closer to them, and still this odd silence persisted. As I continued to walk toward the intersection, these landmarks continued to appear to recede further into the distance as I approached them. I began feeling very disoriented and anxious – and then, nothing; a complete loss of memory. I simply do not remember anything past the point of approaching this intersection and seeing it recede further into the distance as I walked ever nearer to it.
“Get John. He needs you.”
My next memory was of “awakening” – for a lack of a better description – on another street in a different part of town, a fair distance from where I had started from at the junior high school. I remember feeling very shaken and confused and somewhat frightened. What had happened? And how did I end up in this different area, nowhere near where I’d begun walking, and nowhere near where I’d “blacked out”? This is where things get a bit stranger still: within a couple of minutes of “coming to” my mother pulled up in her car, parking along the curb of the street where I was walking. I opened the door and she looked at me with great concern and said “John, are you alright?” Now, normally my mother did not come looking for me if I was a bit late arriving home from school. Remember, this was the late ’70s and parents were decidedly more relaxed about the comings and goings of their children. My mother never picked me up from school unless the weather was very severe or we had some kind of appointment after school, and as long as I was home by dinner my parents didn’t worry or wonder about my whereabouts. If I didn’t come straight home it was assumed that I was at a friend’s house or had some kind of after school activity.
The fact that my mother knew exactly where to find me was surprising, and I asked her how she knew where I was. She replied that she was home, doing chores around the house when a voice in her head said “Get John, he needs you”. She of course asked me what had happened and I told her about the receding intersection, the strange silence, the memory loss, and of waking up to find myself walking in this other part of town. I had no idea what had happened and to this day I still do not, other than a vague memory or feeling of having been told or shown something significant. Who told or showed me what, and where it happened, I cannot recall, although I feel at some point that I will recall the entire incident. I simply feel that this event was significant for a reason that I can’t explain, but it’s meaning will eventually be made clear to me.
Being that this was over thirty years ago, I cannot accurately recall the time that I “awoke” or what time my mother found me. However, I don’t think it was a great amount of time, certainly not more than hour, and probably less than that. Thirty minutes, perhaps? So the time was maybe 3:30 or 3:45 in the afternoon, I’d estimate. It may have been later than that, but not by much, if I recall correctly. I’ve always felt that the strangeness of this incident is compounded by the fact that my mother was somehow involved and “contacted”. If I had simply blacked out or became disoriented and wandered off, I could accept that as being a possibility – although I had no history of seizures or blackouts. But the fact that my mother was told to “Get John, he needs you” makes me believe that there was some outside design and involvement in this, the nature of which I do not know.
This, I should mention, was not the only strange and unexplained incidents that I had as a child (or as an adult). Perhaps I’ll discuss some of the others in future blog posts. Meanwhile, I’d be very interested in hearing from other people who may have experienced similar phenomena.
Hi John, I’ve had 2 experiences of missing time and one very strange experience of waking up with my legs shaved. The first episode happened about 2 years ago when I noticed washing my legs that there were 2 perfectly symmetrical rectangles of hair shaved from my legs. The area shaved was approximately 2″ wide by 4″ long on each leg in the exact same spot. I have very hair legs and this really presented as quite odd. I questioned my wife and kids about it and they all denied having anything to do with it. Also, I am a very light sleeper. I certainly would have noticed if anyone shaved my legs. What was odd about this was that it took about 8 months for the hair to finally grow back. Once it did, it took about 2-3 weeks for it to fully come back. It was like someone has surgically removed the hair – there was no stubble. I presented this to my family Dr. and he had no idea of what to make of it.
The next strange thing happened about 2 weeks ago at 3:15 am when both of our great danes woke me as they were wide awake – like they were on high alert of something that was happening. I took them out to do their business . This took approx. 10 min. When I let the dogs in, the first I hear was my alarm clock going off. My first thought was ” How could this be, since I set my alarm at 4:55 am every morning?” The alarm clock read 5:06 am…I have to say that when 3:15 am becomes 5:06 am after only 10 minutes have gone by , I didn’t know what to think or where the time went…
The final incident happened last week when I saw a very bright flash of light that lit up the whole bedroom – enough to wake me up at 1:08 am. I got up, got a flash light and walked to the family room. I felt a distinct presence in the room but nothing I could prove. In my mind, the whole thing maybe took 2-3 minutes before I got back into bed – only to notice that the clock read 1:20 am. I can tell you there was no way that I was out of bed more that 2-3 minutes….I’ts good to know that I’m not alone.
I have a loss of time experience that I never really shared until just recently and told my husband and our adult children. It was around 1986 and I was about 16 years old. After getting my drivers license, I would volunteer to run any errands for my mom jet so I could drive. I can not remember exactly what month it was but I know it was not winter because I was not yet allowed to drive on snowy or slick roads for the lack of experience in driving in those conditions. I grew up in Beckley WV ( where this time loss incident had taken place) I was more than happy to go downtown to go pay a few bills for my mom. We lived only a few minutes from downtown so the drive was quick. I remember parking and getting each bill together with the right check and put them in order to coincide with which place I would go to first. I know I got up to the buildings where I was supposed to go but not one bill got paid. I vaguely remember walking and feeling very out of sorts. The next thing I remember completely and coherently was sitting in my mothers car and trying to figure out what had happened to me. I can’t even tell you how much time had lapsed. I returned home and I tried to explain to my mom what had happened to me but that was just it, I didn’t know. I had none of the bills with me or receipts that they had been paid. My mom was sort of mad at me and I wasn’t sure if she believed me or not. A day or two later my mother started to receive the checks and bills in the mail. They had been placed in an envelope with a note saying that they had been found on the sidewalk downtown. To this day I don’t know what happened to me. I’ve even thought about contacting someone to see if I could recollect any of it while being under hypnosis. Also, the strangest thing is happening while I am typing this!…my iphone is freezing up as if something doesn’t want me to share my story. I haven’t had any experiences since that I can recall. Would life to know what really happened that day!!!
was a couple of years ago i was lyin watching some t.v….. my fiancee was in bed with our young daughter and it was getting kind of late and a movie i was watching had just finished… i was a smoker at the the time and felt the urge to get 1 last smoke before i went to bed. I used the t.v remote to check the time just to see if it was worth the hassle of going outside to have a smoke as i didnt smoke in the house with our daughter in the house. To be honest i quite enjoyed standing out at the back door for a smoke because if it was a clear night, there was nothing more facinating than staring up at the night sky looking at the stars wondering what if?….. Anyway, without trying to sound like too much of a nut…. when i checked the time i can clearly remember it showed 11.53…. so i said to myself, right i’ll go for a smoke and call it a night at 12 midnight. I went for my smoke ( cigarette ) and came back in and walked back into the living room. Me being me i had to check if there was any other movies coming on that i’d maybe want to record and it was when i did this that i noticed the time now said 1.05. I was so freaked out i just sat for 5-10 minutes thinking… “really”… somethings not right… i only went out for a smoke and that doesn’t take an hour and 12 minutes. I told my fiancee about it the next day plus told others at my work and it was just kind of laughed off but to this day i still believe that somehow, over an hour of time had disappeared which i couldnt account for. i’ve found this page tonight because i thought i would start searching about to see if there was any other similar happenings like my own. I hope someone can relate to my experience
Not to poke a four year-old article with a stick, but I felt the need to post my experience.
I just lost three hours of time. I almost felt like I was in a trance during the time lost. I looked at the clock on my laptop, looked back up to the screen, did something that takes about ten minutes and 3+ hours had passed. It’s been almost fifty minutes since this happened, and I’ve been trying to collect myself sense. As soon as I saw the time, I had a pretty nasty anxiety attack, but once I calmed down, I did some digging. Surprisingly enough, I couldn’t find many links to time loss and anxiety-something I’ve been struggling a LOT with lately. I’m still slightly disoriented, but I’m glad to know that other people have had similar experiences.
Just had another experience today. Trying to figure out what is going on. I was talking to a friend on the phone, and he invited me to come over to his house, after i hung up, i was headed to the bathroom to take a quick shower before i went to see my bud. This was at 1pm. Next thing i know, i awoke standing up, still dressed but not wearing any shoes, standing in the middle of the ball field about a half-mile away from my home 3 hours later.
I have a piercing pain in my left eye but no headache. Can anyone tell me why these things keep happening or what is wrong with me? I don’t sleep walk although i do sleep talk.
I haven’t seen any Ufo’s or aliens or nothing of the sort. I’ve been trying to figure out what has been happening to me and this has been going on even while i was in the military and still continues after my retirement from the military.
The longest episode that this has been was 3 days. I got in trouble as my command at the time thought i was awol but i awoke in the woods, 4 miles from base and my car. I was driving to PT and then next thing i know i am in the woods. My car was found on the side of the road and i was found by a motorist as i flagged one down when i found a road.
Can anyone offer a solution to this? This has to stop.
Hi.. My husband and I was discussing missing time a few nights ago and I recalled a weird experience that happened to me in the 90’s when I lived in Plantation Florida which is near Ft Lauderdale.
I worked 30 miles from my apartment. I always left an hour early because of the traffic in Ft Lauderdale and the toll roads. It was a beautiful bright day and there was no traffic on the roads which was unusual for that area. When I got to work pretty quickly I thought, My co workers were all freaking out saying I was late and if I was ok. I told them they were too funny haha.. then I realized that it took me 3 hours to get 30 miles to work on the Sawgrass expressway. I worked there for 5 years and never once had been late or absent.
What is more interesting is that When I was on my way home that same day, a tornado followed the sawgrass from my work towards Plantation for 13miles 15 minutes after I got home. I don’t recall anything but leaving my house and then answering all the questions at work and the freak tornado that followed me home which I am sure is a coincidence since tornadoes in south florida are frequent occurences:)
I’ve lost count of how many times this has actually happened and I’ve learned my lesson to keep my mouth shut about it. My husband is an over the road truck driver and it’s just me and our two dobes. I pee the dogs, lock down the house, set the thermostat at 68degrees, shower, brush my teeth, dry my hair and go to bed. Everything uniform every night. Usually once every few months I’m woken up by my dogs raising all kinds of hell. I’m a light sleeper. The house creeks and I’m up. When the dogs hear another animal outside “especially the bears” they growl and I’m up. So you see not much happens in my house I don’t know about. The nights they wake me barking, I can’t remember my night routine that I usually do at all. It’s just gone. The next morning I have my usual bruising in one of two places. Either on my left arm or my right leg. I have had a couple of what seemed to feel like cists under the bruised areas but they go away in about 4 or 5 days. It infuriates me because my husband is never home when it happens. This has been happening since my teens. I’m 41 now. You would think at some point the fear would go away.
Well I don’t believe in paranormal or abduction. As a matter of fact I don’t believe in god, he’ll heaven ghosts, UFO, monsters or anything remotely related to that. I was driving to work as I have been doing for the last 3 years. It takes me 45 minutes. On bad days about an hour. I am driving on the motorway about 70 mph. Today I got to work as normal. Parked the car as usual but when I looked at the clock it was 9:35. I double checked on my watch and 2 phones and the office clock. I am missing 45 minutes. Nothing strange happened and I did not see anything unusual. I did not feel sick or anything like that. Remember I am on the motorway driving at 70 mph as I have been doing for the last 3 years. Had I stopped the police would have been there in a jiffy. So where are those 45 minutes gone?
Georges, I wish I had an answer for you. I’ve heard thousands of these kinds of stories from people in the four years since I wrote this article about my own encounter. It might not necessarily be paranormal. It could be something to do with the nature of time itself that we don’t yet understand. I don’t pretend to be an expert on quantum mechanics, but a lot of these new areas of scientific research point to the idea that time is non-linear and there may even be naturally occurring “ripples” in time. Maybe that’s what a lot of people are experiencing. It could be an entirely natural phenomenon that is undiscovered. I don’t know, but I’m very reluctant to pass it off as a some kind of mental aberration, and I don’t think that these incidents are all cases of mistaken perception. It seems to be a very pervasive phenomenon, whatever its cause.
Hey everyone – I’m really sorry for not following up with your comments and questions. I try to do that for each person who is kind enough to contribute to the site, but I’m just getting back on track after a lot of personal issues and business pressures.
I’m going to launch the new version of the Paranomalist very soon, which will include a forum section where we can continue our discussion about Missing Time, as well as other topics. I know I’ve been talking about this for a while, but it’s actually going to happen within the next couple of weeks.
Meanwhile, I’m first going to upload the bare-bones version of the upgraded site and I’ll be rededicating myself to contributing new articles regularly and following through with questions and comments in a timely manner. Thanks for your patience.
– John
I have had some paranormal stuff in the past but never lost time, until today. It was only a couple of minutes but it was very strange. I was making custard for a pie I was baking for my son. As I was stirring, I decided to play some music. So I put on a playlist from my phone that is 2.5 hours long. As soon as I Press play I immediately look at oven clock and see that it is 1:27. I think to myself that I won’t have it ready by the time the kids get off school. As soon as I finish that thought I look down at my custard that I have not stopped stirring this whole time and realize the first song on my play list just finished and the second one is starring. I think this is odd since I just had pressed play less than 10 seconds ago so I look at my phone and see that the playlist is at 2:37. So I look back at the oven clock and it’s 1:30. When I realized this I had a Strange feeling, the only way I can describe it is a throbing of my surroundings. The room did have an eerie feel afterwards as if someone was watching or was there with me and no one was, I was home alone. I quickly finished what I was doing and left the house until it was time to pick up my kids. I know it was only about 2.5 minutes but it should of been only about 10 seconds tops. Later in the night when everyone was asleep I went downstairs for water. All the lights are on downstairs and halfway through the stairs I see who I think is my brother walking from the kitchen to the family room. He stays with us while he goes to college and is usually up late studying. There was something I had been meaning to ask him so I start gathering my thoughts but when I enter the family room I see that he is sound asleep snoring. I again get that eerie feeling the whole time I’m downstairs. I know I saw a black figure walking from the kitchen to the family room and I assumed it was my brother but everyone else was upstairs sleeping. I don’t know if it I related but when I was twelve I saw his doppleganger, he was about 10 at the time. Another thing that is strange is that my cat usually follows me around all morning when Im home alone, she usually likes to snuggle against me to the point where it is annoying but I did not see her all day today until late at night. I’m just really freaked out about the time lapse. My husband I a magnet for the paranormal though but he does not like to talk about, he has told me of a few things that have been happening since he was a child but won’t open up too much. He is also really good at reading peoples personality and can predict random future events, not big ones just small occurrences. As hard as he tries to block it, some of his predictions are just too creepy. And yes he ha been seeing bright flying and objects and balls of lights since he was a child to as recently as a few months ago.
I have had some paranormal stuff in the past but never lost time, until today. It was only a couple of minutes but it was very strange. I was making custard for a pie I was baking for my son. As I was stirring, I decided to play some music. So I put on a playlist from my phone that is 2.5 hours long. As soon as I Press play I immediately look at oven clock and see that it is 1:27. I think to myself that I won’t have it ready by the time the kids get off school. As soon as I finish that thought I look down at my custard that I have not stopped stirring this whole time and realize the first song on my play list just finished and the second one is starting I think this is odd since I just had pressed play less than 10 seconds ago so I look at my phone and see that the playlist is at 2 minutes and 37 seconds So I look back at the oven clock and it’s 1:30. When I realized this I had a Strange feeling, the only way I can describe it is a throbing of my surroundings. The room did have an eerie feel afterwards as if someone was watching or was there with me and no one was, I was home alone. I quickly finished what I was doing and left the house until it was time to pick up my kids. I know it was only about 2.5 minutes but it should of been only about 10 seconds tops. Later in the night when everyone was asleep I went downstairs for water. All the lights are on downstairs and halfway through the stairs I see who I think is my brother walking from the kitchen to the family room. He stays with us while he goes to college and is usually up late studying. There was something I had been meaning to ask him so I start gathering my thoughts but when I enter the family room I see that he is sound asleep snoring. I again get that eerie feeling the whole time I’m downstairs. I know I saw a black figure walking from the kitchen to the family room and I assumed it was my brother because he could have been the only one who was awake since everyone else was upstairs sleeping. I don’t know if it I related but when I was twelve I saw his doppleganger, he was about 10 at the time. Another thing that is strange is that my cat usually follows me around all morning when Im home alone, she usually likes to snuggle against me to the point where it is annoying but I did not see her all day today until late at night. I’m just really freaked out about the time lapse. My husband Is a magnet for the paranormal though but he does not like to talk about, he has told me of a few things that have been happening since he was a child but won’t open up too much. He is also really good at reading people and can predict random future events, not big ones just small occurrences. As hard as he tries to block it, some of his predictions are just too creepy. And yes he has been seeing bright flying objects and balls of lights since he was a child and as recently as a few months ago. He has had time lost and many other strange many dejavu moments where he can recall places or people he has never met or seen before. For the record we do not drink, use recreational drugs, have psychological conditions.
I experience ecactly what you have described,in above story, off and on. The strange silence, things viewed in a far less realistic sense, things that become more and more distant the more I move toward them but there is also a smell maybe? I’m not really sure though. It isn’t really a smell as it is a difference in my abilty to smell…I don’t know. It’s kind of like “all” of reality has been altered in a very awe causing way. I instantly notice how things suddenly appear so different. I am totally taken by all of my surroundings and lost so deeply in it. Then, just as quickly as it all came on, it is all gone. Every time it happens, I lose time. Sometimes only minutes but most often it’s hours. I always feel totally in control of my actions during these time lapses. I’m just going about things slowly as to take it all in (not in slow motion but rather smelling the roses so to speak). I never seem to have wandered to far, in my mind, during this time, but somehow managed to go from point “A” to point “B” and not being able to recall how I got there. Like you, it always feels as if I was not alone. Like I am suppose to recall something that I don’t…and I’m always trying to figure out what I don’t know. I’ve always just chalked it up to being tired or over stressed but I’ve also spent years wondering how I managed to complete the math test in front of me or drive fifty miles across town or cook dinner or what have you while strolling, as I see and feel it at the time, only a few yards in only a few minutes. So I have an even bigger question now…if I haven’t left where I was originally standing, at the onset of any of these events, how was I functioning elsewhere?
I was at work today and had my watch on which I used to check the time every morning while I wait for my drive outside. It was accurate to within a few minutes of the time on my mobile phone. At around 2PM I went in for a break and looked at my watch and it was 4 hours ahead. In order to change the time on this watch you would need to press 3 separate buttons, it took me almost 20 minutes to figure it out the first time I set the time for daylight savings (I lost the manual) so I’m thinking having it change on its own is next to impossible. Just before my break I had been having an interesting and in depth conversation with some co-workers about the military and military technologies and UFO sightings. I’ve seen 5 or 6 genuine not likely of this Earth UFOs (red and white orbs, triangular shaped fast moving shadows, sandy colored silent and hypersonic craft flying in formation) and so yes I believe in ETs, but I’d never considered the fact I could be abducted until now.
Hi Andrew — When do think the missing time occurred? While at work? Did you notice it being later in the day than you expected, and did you have any sense of time being disrupted? Just trying to get a clearer picture of your experience.
Very often people who report seeing UFOs or have experienced other paranormal phenomena have also undergone missing time, so that’s not surprising.
Me and then girlfriend were living together.We also worked at the same factory.We spent Sunday like every other Sunday then made our lunches for work and went to bed.The alarm went off normal time and we drove to work.My boss was crazy made at us asking where we had bee. I thought maybe we were late.I said I was sorry for being late I didn’t realize we drove so slow.He then asked where we had been for the last two days and why we did Not call in.I didn’t believe him it was Wensday and walk over to look at the newspaper on the table.ot was Wensday! How could the two of us sleep Sunday night !all day Monday, Monay night! All day Tuesday! and then all day Tuesday night????? With either of us waking up? It still blows me away.
Hi John,
I have had weird experiences similar to yours for most of my childhood and teenage years. A missing time experience happened to me again about fifteen years ago. I was monitoring news stations from a home office as a job and I set the 9 a.m. talk show broadcast to full blast to wake me up so that I could get ready and get my first batch of news in before 10, then flip the tapes over at 10 to record the second hour of the talk show. I did this SAME routine every single morning. I would get up at 9, turn down the radio (which was recording the broadcast), start the dishwasher (loaded the night before), use the bathroom, and then turn on my computer to start work at 9:30. I did the SAME routine every single morning!
When I got to my computer and turned it on, I was frustrated to see that the clock on the computer was wrong. It said 11:30 a.m. instead of 9:30 a.m. so I looked at my watch to get the exact right time to reset my computer but my watch said 9:30 too!! I was shocked and thought, that’s weird, they’re both wrong! So, I went into the kitchen and THAT clock said 11:30 (it had been something after 9 when I’d just been in there!) …so I freaked out. I thought, “Okay, if it really IS 11:30, then that would mean that the first side of the talk show finished and if I hadn’t turned it over, side 1 would be at the end. The machines automatically shut off at 11 at the end of the broadcast, so I decided this would be the deciding factor! So, I checked the radios. They were all off. Side 1 of the talk show tape was finished and it had never been turned over. It really WAS 11:30!!!
I have NO idea how this happened or what happened. I did not stop moving at all during my usual routine so I have no idea at what point ‘something’ happened! I had many other ‘strange’ experiences throughout my life but this was the only one that had been completely seamless. (In fact, I had so many strange experiences I actually wrote a book about all of them called Strange UFO’s and Aliens in my Life … although, I’m not convinced that beings I saw were ‘aliens’ from another planet) … I’m glad you shared your story (and every other person here who has shared) because it really is comforting to know that I”m not the only person that has experienced such strange, strange stuff! (Has it happened to you since the incident you posted??)
In the second paragraph, I MEANT to say, my watch said 11:30 a.m. too!! (not 9:30!) the watch was the same as the computer.
Thanks so much for sharing your story, E.A. — One more for the old files! I think I’ve collected several hundred at this point, so yes, you are definitely NOT alone, if that’s any comfort to you.
I’m not surprised at all to hear that you’ve had other strange & unexplained happenings in your life. From what I’ve gathered so far, these do not appear to be isolated incidents. It’s part of a pattern. What that pattern means and who or what is perpetrating it is what I don’t know. I think that in some instances, it could be purely psychological, although I think that brushing it aside by saying “it was all in your imagination” is too easy an answer. I think we’re being manipulated in some way. Stories of spiritual entities, elves, gnomes, little people, etc. who have taken human beings or have interacted with them in some way go back centuries and across all cultures and continents.
Why this is happening and is its nature of it good, evil, or neutral, is unknown. I do firmly believe that this phenomenon is far, far more widespread than many people would begin to guess — those who don’t believe that this is all a bunch of nonsense, that is. Having had an experience like this and having read hundreds of these report sent to me, I know that it is not some figment of peoples’ imaginations or simple fabrication. It’s real, and it’s unexplained. And those are not particularly comforting thoughts.
To answer your question, no, I haven’t had any consciously-recollected missing time incidents since the one I experienced (35? 36?) years ago. Just some very vivid, very strange dreams on numerous occasions. What they mean, I don’t know. Maybe nothing more than dreams.
Thanks again for getting in touch. If there’s anything else you’d like to share or discuss, please feel free.
I have had many of these experiences throughout my life. I don’t recall “awakening” someplace else, but I have been “lost” along the way. This usually happens while I am driving. I will experience a hypnotic like sense of just driving along. I will see other cars, trees, farms and houses that I would normally expect to see as I drive around where I live in New Jersey. I will hear the radio, but have no real sense of to what I am listening. Almost always, I will suddenly realize that the drive is taking me much longer than usual. I look around and I do not recognize where I am, although I did not make any turns. I become very anxious. I feel as if I had missed my turn, and upon occasion, have even turned around only to find that I have not gone far enough and had to turn back around again. Eventually things start to look familiar again and I arrive at my destination, albeit quite shaken up. Sometimes it takes me twice as long to get where I am going, other times I will experience the same strange sensations, but without any time disturbances. I also experience sleep paralysis at night and have often wondered if the two frightening sensations are related. ???? Thank you so much for this site!
Hi Diane — Thanks for contributing to the blog. I had sleep paralysis frequently when I was a child, which was followed by my missing time experience in my early adolescence. So yes, I think there definitely could be a connection. As I’ve often said, for a guy who writes about weird stuff, I’m pretty conservative in my thinking. As such, I’m always reluctant to immediately assume that all of these incidents are due to some kind of paranormal explanation. Certainly, some — maybe all — of this is due to a natural explanation. I can’t say for sure at this point, although quite a few of the reports that I receive seem to point to some sort of manipulation of the individual. Who or what is doing the manipulating, and why, is the question. But, some could be mental lapses, autohypnosis, etc.
Please feel free to keep in touch. I appreciate your sharing your story.
— John
Hello sir,
Not exactly sure what to say. I along with your other guests have lost time. I don’t believe that my time was like your others. I have checked maps, times and ETA’s. I have found no reasoning why I (or my friend driving) should have lost time.
I see that you are still active on here, and that is my main reasoning for contact. My (our) incident occurred in 1998 in Paris, TX.
My friend and I were on a trip to Kansas from Florida. We had not been on the road long enough to see delusions. We were on our way to Paris, tx. Ok, that is the last place that I remember going to before the incident. My friend was driving and I was in the passenger seat staring out the window. At 2200 I noticed what looked like airplane lights, flashing and blinking. At 65 mph, an airline or military plane would have surpassed us. But I noticed the lights were not blinking like they were supposed to. I watched for about 10 minutes before I said anything to my driver. I made a general comment that they looked like they were going backwards, not forwards. We kept driving for about 15 minutes before I said something else. I made mention of the odd lights again and we saw a place to pull off the side of the road and check things out. My driver slowed down and we got out of the car and watched the lights as they passed into the north. We got back into the car and proceeded on our way to KY. The light still to my east (driving north). We drove again and watched the lights head north and west around us. We thought that was the end.
I looked at the clock and the time was 2300. I looked again at the clock and looked at the road to make sure we were on track. The clock was fast and the sign that was approaching was mortifying. I looked at my driver and told her we had already been here. She sounded confused at what I said, but I again told her we had been here already. I looked back out my window of the passenger side of the car and saw the same place we had been an hour ago, and had pulled off to watch the lights. My third time telling her that we had already been here and this was what was coming up convinced here that she had not lost her mind. I suggested pulling over at a hotel, and we did. I think it was a holiday inn….not sure. We looked at each other after the incident and I had never been more afraid of anything in my life. I have never had the hair on my neck stand up or been more terrified in my life. I know goose bumps and chill bumps. This was completely different. I was in panic mode, so was my friend.
We decided to get back on the road and get the f*ck out of dodge. We lost an hour that night. We will never know what happened in that time frame. We have checked maps to make sure we were not doubling back or getting lost. I saw the “Welcome to Paris” sign twice in my life and it scared the crap out of me. How in the hell did We get back to it the second time???
I am so glad I found these stories. I had a strange experience that I know does not have any explanation in “normal type thinking”. I was at work and talking to a patient in a wheelchair. She was an older woman and standing on both sides of her were her two daughters. I was speaking to the woman-eye to eye contact- giving her information. The next thing I know she is on the floor-flat on her back. I never saw her fall from the chair-the chair was not in a position that would normally be if a patient falls…usually the chair will have movement-sound would be heard etc…..I was shocked and said, “what happened?”. Her two daughters were shocked as well and had not seen anything and the weirdest part was the woman was looking up at us from the floor saying, “Why am I on the floor”. She was not injured and did not have any memory of falling either. I am glad I have read other stories regarding lapses in time. I never have experienced anything like this before or since and I am a believer because of my experience that time is not what is “normally” thought and when I share this story with people…they get that funny look in their eyes…like “She is crazy”…but I know what I saw and thank goodness for all involved that the experience was the same. I would guess somehow time jumped ahead maybe seconds…
First of all, I would never tell anyone this story….so I applaud you for having the courage to make this site.
My experience is a bit different. I’m a very level headed, logical person, so believe me I’ve already been my own skeptic. I just keep coming to the same conclusion. This did happen.
Last night I could not sleep. This is VERY unusual for me. Tossing and turning, then looking at the clock..then going online to look up my favorite TV shows.
During this, I happened to notice it was 2:38am by the last time I finally lay back down. I considered staying awake as my room mate was going to get up at 3:30 for work anyway. I looked at the clock on the VCR as well as on my laptop before I lay down. Both said 2:38.
I lay there for what felt like about 20 minutes…at one point I thought I might as well just get up. I’d only have at most 30 min to wait for my room mate to awaken so I might as well get up and make coffee. So I decided to stop trying to sleep and just get up.
When I got up I was shocked that the clocks only read 1:30. Feeling strange and confused about it, I just lay back down and went to sleep.
When I awoke this morning, I just could not get it out of my head. I could not have made such a big mistake on the time.
Then I remembered, I had sent a friend of mine a silly email about one of our favorite shows before I lay down. So I check my email and there it was…time marked 2:29am!
I had read about people losing time…..So I googled had anyone ever “gained” time…..and I found this site.
Thank you for this site… right now I’m still confused about what happened and this at least gave me a place to put it.
A few years back my mom and I were at a Redners grocery store in PA picking up supplies because they had a sale and we were having a party. We both remember getting there, walking in the canned goods isle and then neither one of us can remember what happened. We were in the isle it was just the two of us and it was really quiet, I assumed it was just an off time. Next thing we remember is going to check out and when we get to the mini van we’d been in the store for 6 hours. It wasn’t busy we didn’t even have to wait in a line to check out. Its amazing that the perishable groceries didn’t perish as they sat in the cart. I don’t know what happened, she and I were talking and walking through the canned goods section, it wasn’t very bright in that section of store and like I said no one was there. I could have dismissed it if it had been just me but both of us losing time like that was unnerving and eerie. I felt dazed on the way home as if I hadn’t fully woken up from a dream. I ‘m not trying to sound corny here but it was certainly odd and to this day neither one of us can figure out what happened. Not to mention neither one of us enjoys grocery shopping and wanted it over quickly, It’s not as if we got so engrossed in the sale. I don’t know if I will ever find out exactly what happened but its nice to have a site where I can share this and not have people judge me. BTW I am highly intelligent with an IQ of 141 and am currently a college student, nothing in psychology has been able to explain two people somehow blacking out or having a time dissociative amnesia episode together in a public place like a grocery store. I have looked at alternative explanations and thus far not a single one fits what happened.
This has happened to me. I was actually driving home, not sure where from as it was at least 5 years ago but I remember it was dark out or near dark before and dark afterwards. Like usual I took the same route I normally take. I remember being about 5 minutes away from my home (about to get into the right turning lane). The next thing I remember is “awakening/coming to/snapping out of it” and I had missed my turn and I was miles away from home. I had no idea what had happen or where I had been. I was still in my car driving. I was a little shaken by this experience and haven’t shared it with anyone due to me not wanting to be labeled crazy or anything. Thank you for sharing!
Let me tell you my story
November 18th 2007 (sunday) I visited my grandmother, I left at 18:00 hours. She lived nearby approx. a
5 minute walk from my home.
The next I know after I left it is 19:20 and I find myself in the complete opposite direction.
I am confused, scratches and bruises on my hand. Mouth is dry, shoestrings are gone.
Mud on my clothes and face. I felt like I had been wrestling a Grizzly bear.
Very much like Adena I am very skeptical, lately I have the idea (growing stronger and stronger) to find out
what has happend….
Just looking for a reliable way to find out what has happend.
Rick
the Netherlands
This happened quite a few years ago now, still remember every detail of that day and how strange it seemed. I live at the start of the Yorkshire dales, so we had plenty of open space to walk.
A friend and myself had started walking to get fit, we did the same route everyday, it started with going up a hill, past a woods and around fields. There was also an old manor house which had a field to walk across, past a little church and round a pond back onto the main road.
Dropped our children off at school and be on our walk by 9am.
Explaining what happened that day, i have to explain the day before.
Wednesday January 10th 2001
Dropped children off at school, went for our walk. It was raining heavy and we were getting soaked, i only had trainers on and they were killing me. We decided to keep stopping in the woods to have a smoke, continuing on we decided once reaching the little church, to go into it and get dry, we spent about 20 mins looking inside. We decided to walk back past the pond back into town. This took us an hr and a half, so back home by 10.30 am.
Thursday 11th January 2001
New walking boots had arrived, sun was shining and off we set. Popped into local shop for drinks to take on the walk, digital clock said 9.05am. With my new boots on Set off walking up the hill, we continued walking our usual route, when we decided to cut a field out, carried on walking the same route after missing the field. Walked down a little dirt track to the Manor house, which was and still is being used as a Buddhist center. Next thing we are in the middle of the field next to the church, a man and his dog just appeared and looked at us like we looked at him, confused of where he came from. We continued walking past the pond and back into town. On reaching the shop again, we decided to pick a few items up, looking up at the digital clock it said 12.15 pm, my friend mentioned that the clock was wrong, the owner replied no it was right.
Walking from the shop to our homes, we could see the church clock, it said 12.15pm, it just would not register that it had taken 3hrs and 10 mins to do our walk. The whole of the rest of the day felt weird, people thinking we were crazy or just got the time wrong we set off to walk. It was day time and we could not even tell anyone what happened, time just disappeared.
We still talk about this sometimes, i have even thought about being regressed. Not really sure if i want to know what happened.
My experience was in 2012 in the spring. While driving home after a visit with my husband, who was working in another city I lost time. I took the same route every time, it was the shortest way to get home. The last thing I remember is pulling over for a phone call from my husband, we talked for a few minutes and l went on my way. Next thing I know it felt like the car hit a large bump and I woke up on a different highway out of my way. I was exhausted and had to pull over and sleep for about a half an hour. I have tried to figure this out and can’t for the life of me. I can’t stand not knowing what happened to all that time. I don’t remember turning off from one highway to the next.
Wow! Still going strong I see. I’m glad to see that this discussion hasn’t lost momentum.
It’s important to remember what we have been programed to forget. Some really wild information is starting to emerge and i for one have been waiting for it for over 30 years.
We need to know what happened to Mars besides the obvious.
A few months ago I was working in the prairies. I was driving from our morning meeting to the job location. The meeting took longer than normal and i forgot to get some equipment. I felt a little rushed but overall felt ok. I was driving down a very straight highway. I was not speeding and it was a company truck gps’d. I knew this road very well as I drove 25 minutes to work every morning. I looked at the time when I pulled onto the highway. Had serius radio on playing the same song. Somehow I never saw the area where my turn was supposed to be 5 minutes down the road. Three minute drive and I was in the town beside me. I was driving into the sun in the morning and having a little hard time seeing. Turns out it was a solstice that day. Did I drive through an invisable time fold or tunnel?
I had an experience when I was around 14-16.It was around 4 pm. Long story short, I was watching an interesting tv show. I really, really wanted to see the ending. That never happened, One second I was watching it, then bam, I was in my bed fully clothed with shoes still on, staring at the ceiling. 30 mins had passed. My dad didn’t even see me walk to my room, which I would have had to walk past him to get there. I was wide awake when it happened, and wide awake after it happened.
I may have an answer to the original story here. It could be caused by hypnosis. I’ve had this happen while driving home from work. I would just leave work, and then all of a sudden be home, not remembering the drive home. It’s because you do the same thing enough times, and your brain goes into autopilot and you’re basically hypnotized during the whole event. You might research this theory. Hope it helps.
Ok I have a weird one!! My boyfriend and I lost time 2 summers ago. We went out to dinner and we were not drinking at dinner. We pulled into my parents driveway at probably 8pm. I remember walking up the driving and getting ready to type the garage code in. The next thing I know it’s about 6 hours later, I popped up real quick which is not normal for me. We were in bed, my tv was on full volume blasting really loud, and I noticed I was wet… My boyfriend had peed the bed which he had never done before. In the morning I asked him if he remembered getting home and he said the last thing he remembered was walking up the driveway. It was just so weird! Everyone I told thought I was nuts! My mom thinks we got roofied at dinner but we are completely different weights it wouldn’t have kicked in at the same time. Another weird thing was my parents unusually go to bed about 10 ish and it was about 8 when we pulled up and when I asked my mom if she saw us come home she said we heard us come in really late.
Hi there John & co,
I remember as a kid (about 3-4 years old) I used to play this ‘game’.
When I was put to bed I would watch the closed curtains and wait till there was no light visible through them anymore, then I would bury my face in my pillow and count to 3, then if I watched the curtains again it would be daytime. It was normal to me and worked every time I tried. I remember at some point upon growing older, I suddenly couldn’t do it anymore… I remember the curtains staying dark and being upset about it.
It’s only a decade later I remembered about it again and realized it was quite strange.
Later, when I was maybe 10 years old, it was evening and I was laying in my bed, excitedly thinking about the birthday presents I was about to receive the next day. I couldn’t wait and wasn’t up to sleeping at all, being very focussed and alert. I remember placing my elbow on my bedside table, so I could rest my head on my hand while watching the disney posters on the wall in front of me.
That’s when it suddenly turned morning. Like in a movie, a scene following another scene, literally nothing in between… I experienced this transition fully consciously, not any blacking out, dosing of or memory gap, nothing… My body stayed in the exact same position, with my eyes still fixed on exactly the same spot as before. Even though I was very happy about it happening, this time I didn’t consciously make it happen like when I was younger, that never worked any more.
The last time I experienced this was when I was 12. I was in bed watching my brother play a video game, he was about to go to bed too after that. All of a sudden, in the middle of his virtual soccer game, I saw the screen turn off (so I thought). I saw the last frame on the screen fade away/turn into black, just like those afterimages you get when glancing at the sun or a strong light. I turned to my brother to ask what was going on, to see he was already in bed snoring.
I realize these stories might make it look like I just fell asleep and woke up, but I swear that’s not what happened, otherwise I wouldn’t be on this page talking about it.
cheers
I forgot to mention, that to my surprise a close friend of mine used to play exactly the same ‘game’ as a kid. He mentioned this before I did 🙂
take care
Hello, I had posted here before, and upon further investigating I believe that i was a witness to the Cash Lundren UFO case that was reported in 1980 in North Houston around New Caney, Though my dates were off due to the a the amount of time that had passed, I believe that I had actually witnessed the aftermath of that incident. I actually witnessed the helicopters moving the object that was draped in a cloak and tethered to three double bladed choppers, again I am a bit of a sceptic, but after seeing this along with reading about the Cash case I am sure that there is something going on that we are not supposed to know about.
when I was younger ,around 14 (I am now 29), I was standing in the kitchen and the clock said 2:25 on the stove, I couldn’t remember what I had gone into the kitchen for and turned around to walk back out but the clock caught my eye and an hour had passed. As I said that was when I was younger. The past couple of months I’ve been missing entire days and it frightens me. I have had ct scans done and there is nothing physically wrong with me or mentally (seen a psychiatrist) the latest episode was yesterday. I went to the pharmacy to do some shopping and I was talking to the girl at the counter and asked why the office was closed and where were the other girls, she gave me a funny look and said that they only work on Fridays, i said isn’t this Friday and she said no it is Saturday. I don’t have a history of blacking or blocking things out so I don’t understand why I keep losing full days.
hello, my name is Brendan, im currently 19 years old and my incident has left me in disbelief and fear. I would just like an explanation cause the only thng I came up with is fourth kind kinda shit. well ill start off with my age at the time, I was 17 and with my family at the time. I was waiting for dinner so I decided to go to my room to relax for a bit. I then decided to get comfortable so I took of my watch and glasses and accessories and placed them in there usual spots beside my bed. I then layed back on my mattress and closed my eyes for literally 2 seconds and heard my mother calling for me to announce dinner is ready. I then opened my eyes and could hear bernards voice calling me (my mothers boyfriend, awesome guy by the way) and see his hand shaking me asking if im ok, I didn’t know why until I realized was laying on the floor in the hallway in front of the bathroom in a coffin like position. immediately I was startled by the fact that I moved like 5 ft from my bed and all my accessories I took off were on, including my glasses which layed beside me as well. I didn’t make a big deal out of it until I then also realized it was 5 in the morning…….I layed down for 2 seconds……just 2 seconds……..and that was at 11:30 at night. I woke up on the floor with all my stuff back on 5 hrs later. I went to the hospital for 10 hrs for multiple tests and they couldn’t explain or come to a conclusion of how I was moved or even the massive amounts of lost time. im planning to go to a hypnotist for answers, im just scared shittless to what I might find out can someone please just give me some words of advise im really weirded out cause ive been having things happen to me all my life that’s either unexplainable or irrational ranging from ghost to demonic attacks to now this. like what the fuck, and most of you probably wont believe me but for the ones with opn minds and atleast have hopefully hd some similar experiences can come forward or message me please. this is not a joke.
Hey Brendan,
I’m out right now and replying from my phone, but I’ll reply back at length in a little while. Meantime, hang in there and please believe me when I tell you that you’re not alone.
Talk with you soon,
John
Hi Brendan – Sorry for the delay in responding. If you don’t mind I’m also going to direct this reply to Colleen Petersen’s comment as well.
I’m not sure if I have any new insights into why these things happen to people, so I don’t know how much I can help either of you understand what’s happening to you. However, here’s what I have found and come to believe about these time anomaly phenomena (a phrase I prefer because sometimes they involve experiences other than just “missing” time):
I think the final point is the most important one: People who relate these missing time reports almost always have had other types of strange/unexplained experiences. The conclusion that I draw from this is that either these individuals are more sensitive to unknown forces that are beyond the perception of most other people, OR these people are being purposely targeted. Targeted for what reason, and by whom or what is the question. Perhaps they’re being targeted because they are more perceptive and receptive to these (extra-dimensional?) forces. But this is really just speculation on my part, and the rationalist in me will always first turn to the most mundane explanation before considering that extra-dimensional bogey men or Martians are the cause of the problem.
I think we live in a universe (or probably more accurately, a “multiverse”) of which we have a very limited understanding, and I believe that there are other intelligences that have interacted with the human race since our beginnings. Strange and unexplained things happen to normal, sane, regular folk like you and I much more than most people realize. It’s really only in the last five years that I’ve been involved in this field that I’ve come to understand this, and I have a great empathy for those individuals because I’m one of them and I know how difficult it is to reconcile one’s world view when confronted by something that doesn’t fit that view. It can be very disconcerting and upsetting, and I feel for you both, Brendan and Colleen. Just try to take some comfort in knowing that you’re not the only one. If either of you would like to email me privately to discuss any of this, it’s john@theparanomalist.com.
Hi John,
I’m a 48 years old female, mum & wife, work part time in a bank, nothing out of the ordinary about my life, however recently I have experienced 3 separate missing time periods for which I have no explanation and i’m feeling quite confused and even embarrassed about. I have not discussed this with anyone, I just decided to look up on the internet about episodes of missing time and came across your story. I figure if I tell my family I will be labelled a looney but if I share it here I won’t be judged hopefully anyway. So heres my episodes.
1st – Went to bed at around 11.30pm, woke up sitting bolt upright on my couch in the lounge room starring out the window, dazed & confused, very tired and sore limbs, look at the time clock – it’s 6 am ?, the thing that bothers me the most is that my bracelet was now on my other wrist, this bracelet is tight on me and I cannot clip the clasp closed without help, there is no way I could have changed it to my other arm.
2nd – Home alone for the weekend as the boys all went camping, I’m watching a movie, its around 8.30pm, can remember seeing around 30mins of the dvd then no memory of anything until I’m standing in the crown land bushland adjacent to our property approx 3 house blocks away, confused but weirdly I wasn’t distressed and just remember thinking I’d better walk home, I head straight back, walk inside, the kitchen clock say’s It’s 2.30am, I don’t believe it so I check my mobile, it’s 2.30am, and the dvd was on pause, I have no recoil whatsoever, approx 5.5 hours of missing time. Again bizarre, my wedding ring is sitting on the table in the lounge, not on my finger !!
3rd – Just recent, dropped my son off at school, drove back home, got in the house around 9.10am, remember doing some housework jobs, dishes, put washing on, swept floor and then again ‘nothing, no memory’, woke up sitting in my car in the carport with the keys in my hand and it’s now 11.45pm, approx 2 hours of missing time.
I am very bewildered by these events and all reason tells me there is a logical explanation but how can these be explained ?
Driving to work, everything normal, it was early morning before dawn – in the blink of an eye it was already sun up. ” That happened quickly”, I thought to myself. On arriving at work I noticed people already in the car park, people coming out of the supermarket. I was greeted by a hostile boss asking why I was so late. I looked at my watch it indicated I was on time, he pointed to the clock on the wall, I was an hour late. I checked the clock in the car it showed the same time as my watch, then I rang my wife asked her what time it was, it was the same time as elsewhere. I had lost an hour with no recollection. Strange ! Though not the first time for me.
Hi John…glad to see that this thread is still continuing. I found this site when someone mentioned it on another board I read.
First let me say that I’ve had paranormal experiences for as long as I can remember – the earliest being at the age of two. (It’s odd that I can remember incidents from that far back, but have long periods of time throughout my life that I CAN’T remember.) Now, I started getting interested in parallel universes and quantum mechanics last year, and have done experiments wherein I can gain time on purpose – mostly when I am running late, lol. I have been able to shave 15-20 minutes off of drives that I take all the time, without increasing my speed. But I wanted to recount something that happened years ago, that I’ve been trying to understand.
It was late summer 2001. My then-boyfriend was working an overnight shift, so it was just me and our 5-month-old infant home alone. The baby was sleeping through the night at that point, and just before turning in for the night, I checked on him in his crib one last time. I then crawled into bed, turned out the light, and glanced at the clock, noting that it was 12:05 midnight.
I laid on my back and closed my eyes. Just then I saw a bright flash behind my eyelids. As it was summer, I assumed it was just heat lightning, a normal occurrence. Suddenly, I became aware that my entire body was tingling, and every hair on my body was standing up. My eyes snapped open, and I remember thinking, “Oh my God, I’m going to get hit by lightning!” At that point, I rolled out of bed and onto the floor. I began to crawl through the house, down the hallway. As I passed my son’s room, I remember saying, “St. Therese, please help me, I’m home alone, please protect the baby.” Now this is odd, because although I’m Catholic, I’ve never prayed to St. Therese. One of my grandmothers did, however, and named one of my aunts after her.
Anyway, I crawl down the hallway, and by the time I got to the living room, it hit. I was struck by a lightning bolt. I felt it enter my body; my entire body was electrified and I could feel the current running through me. I was in intense pain, and I could feel my skin burning.
And suddenly, it was over. I was back in my bed, and it was light out. I turned to look at the clock…and it was 5am. What seemed to have taken place in a matter of mere minutes took 5 hours.
I didn’t have anything like that happen again until last summer, My family and I were watching a movie at home (Cloud Atlas, how apropos) and I was lying on the couch. My contacts were dry, so I closed my eyes for “just a second” but I ended up falling into what felt like a very deep sleep. I had many dreams. Then suddenly, a flash of extraordinarily bright blue light and a violent explosion woke me up. I jumped off the couch screaming “Oh my God!” as my family just stared at me. I just told them I’d fallen asleep and had a scary dream, and to pause the movie while I collected myself.
The weird part of this is, I wanted to rewind the movie to where I last remembered, as this is the kind of movie where if you miss one detail, you’re completely lost. Remember when I said I felt like I’d been in a very deep sleep and had many dreams? Well it turned out that I was really only asleep for a grand total of TWO MINUTES.
Hello, i need to talk to someone about this, i’m going crazy thinking about it. I’ve been searching the internet trying to get information but i still don’t have any answers as to what happened to me. I was in my room it was maybe 1 am and i started listening to a low frequency noise kind of like a growl but it was getting louder, it was very weird and i started to cry randomly (i wasn’t feeling any sadness or anything) i went to my window and there was no wind, only the noise it was getting very loud i went to bad thinking it would probably go away and then nothing, kind of like a snap i simply “woke up” but i wasn’t asleep and the noise was gone but there is nothing in between as to when i got back to bed and when i “woke up”. It’s confusing me i don’t know what happened my brain has no memories after laying down, can you tell me what happened to me?
Pedro – Did you experience any period of missing time? If so, how long?
John
Something strange happened to me last night at 10 pm I made a cup of tea and sat down to watch a movie on HBO 2 hours later I woke up in my bed missing a tooth and wearing strange cloths that are not mine , the last thing I can remember is making the tea, later this morning as I was getting ready to get into the shower I noticed a puncture wound on the inside of my left thigh. oh and the strange cloths have a strange smell kind of a sulfur and motor oil smell. if anyone can explain this I’m all ears
Mike – I wish I had an explanation for you, other than the fact that I think we’re being manipulated for some reason by unknown forces. Has anything like this ever happened to you before?
No this was the first time
Mike — Just wondering if you’ve had any other type of unexplained occurrences happen to you. Doesn’t have to be related to missing time. There’s often an underlying connection, though I’m not sure what that connection means at this point.
I hesitate writing because I have for the most part been a skeptic however, here goes. About 3 weeks ago on Saturday morning I woke up checking my Bose clock and my husbands I phone which serves as his alarm. Both time pieces reflected 8:30 and I thought well did sleep in a little bit and then made my way to the kitchen to make coffee.
As I was preparing our coffee I heard my husband stirring and knowing he would be joining me so I prepared his cup as well. I let our two dogs out of their crates, opened the door for them to go out side. (Now I’ve been up for abt 10 minutes or so) My husband walked out and said good morning, did u just get up? I responded yep about 10 minutes ago. He laughed and said you slept in too…I responded well 8:30 really isn’t that bad… He turned looked at me like I was crazy and said…Kathy, it’s 11:30……. What are you talking about. Well, I didn’t quite know how to respond, I went back to the bedroom and he was right. But I looked at two clocks when I got up it WAS 8:30, where in the world did 3 hours go?.. Totally confused… I’ve been looking for answers and this is how I come across your site. Glad to know it’s not just me but sure would like to know what happened… Anyway,thank you for putting this site up for those of us who have no other means of reaching out. God bless
Hi Kathy,
Sorry for the delay in approving your comment. Must have gotten past me and I just noticed it. The website has been particularly busy of late. Can I get a bit of clarification on your story, please? The three hours of unaccounted-for time happen occur after you got out of bed at 8:30? And your husband was asleep this entire time? Just trying to make sure I understand you correctly.
Is sleeping in until 11:30 on a Saturday out of the ordinary for your husband, or does he occasionally do this? In a lot of these type of reports the person who experiences the missing time does so alone, and others who are nearby inexplicably “sleep” (or are somehow switched off) during the episode. This suggests that whoever/whatever is targeting the individual for this…whatever it is, does not want to be interfered with. This is well established in these reports and I’ve heard it time and again: The person who has the experience goes through it while the other person(s) adjacent to them inexplicably sleep through it all.
I don’t know what the nature of these experiences are. I’m sure some have rational, real-world explanations, but many seem to suggest outside interference and manipulation. What happened to you might have a very normal and unexciting cause, though the details of your incident suggest that it might be something more than that. Have other things like this happened to you before? Missing time or other unexplained occurrences?
I’m also glad to see this thread still going… One summer night in 1975 my best friend and I started to walk down the street to her house to walk her halfway home. Halfway down the street is a pool with not too many houses close. At night this area is very dark. Suddenly, above us, a huge bright light began to descend. We noticed no sound, in fact, all night noises had ceased. At first curious, we soon became alarmed and ran off the road and crawled under an old truck that had been parked by the road for as long as we could both remember. From under the truck we could see that the area was now as bright as daylight.
The next thing I know I am at home sitting on the couch and my parents are looking at me strangely because it took me over 2 hours to walk my friend halfway home. I asked my friend later what happened but she wouldn’t speak of the incident at all – in fact became angry if I mentioned it. I have also been in odd times and places in which alien sightings occurred, people disappeared for hours or days, etc. I don’t feel as if I’ve ever had “contact” but for some reason always been around when someone else is being followed or contacted. (bentwaters AFB). I have recently chalked this up to somehow someone or something knowing I would never have children. Any thoughts?
Thanks, Vicki
Vicki — I’d have to say that reports like yours in which there’s some kind of sighting (whatever that light might have been) are in the minority, at least among the several thousand reports that I’ve received. This is more typical of the “abduction” scenario as it was often reported by Budd Hopkins. This is not to say that it’s a correct assumption that this is what happened to you, but these sightings are often accompanied by periods of missing time. I’m unsurprised that you’ve had other sightings and odd experiences. These are rarely isolated incidents.
Once again, I don’t have any clear answers but I’ve begun to see some definite patterns among these stories over time. People who have these experiences almost always have had others. I don’t know if that means you’re being “targeted” or if you’re simply more sensitive to these phenomena. Maybe most — or all — of us go through this but only some are aware enough to realize that something is amiss. The larger questions of who, what, and why are still unknown, however.
I was in 2nd grade living in Erial, NJ in a two story home. It was the end of summer right before school started. I remember thinking about it being so light out and it was nine at night when my parents would usually put us to bed. I was curious as to why they made us go to bed when it was still light out. This peticulur night I slept in the bottom bunk of the bed. The room us 5 girls shared was a downstairs living/dining room made into one huge room for us that led off of a kitchen we didn’t use. I must of fell asleep before it got dark because I don’t remember it getting dark. I have no idea at what time this incident occurred but I’m sure it was shortly after everyone in the house fell asleep. I was awakened, startled by something, I tried to focus my eyes, and sat up in my bed. That’s when I seen 3 seemed like they were floating figures coming towards me, I tried to scream but couldn’t, I tried to move but couldn’t. My hearing was enhanced and no one else was awake or seemed to be affected by the beings. They came close to me and I don’t know what happened after that. It’s like I lost hours of time. The next thing I remember is sitting in my bed in the same position I was frozen in, it was early morning and the sun was up. No one in the house was awake yet. I tried telling my sister about it, she shrugged it off like it was a dream, but it wasn’t a dream, dreams u forget details and this still after 20 odd years is still as fresh and frightening as the day it happened. I researched it and found these articles on sleep paralysis but I didn’t have an out of body experience and what it describes was not even close to the experience I had. I literally lost hours of time, lost the ability to move or speak, and don’t know what happened in the hours that were lost. I am still searching for answers and appreciate ur articles.
My story is not exactly missing time, per se, but missing distance. A year ago, I got hired at a company in southern PA, about 30 miles outside of Philadelphia. It was about 125 miles from my house, so I made arrangements to stay with relatives near my new job and my wife and son made arrangements to stay with her parents in upstate New York until we found a place near my job.
Once or twice a month, I would make the trip from Southern PA, through New Jersey to Orange county New York to visit my family. I worked third shift so the drive was usually pretty good until I got near New York City with the traffic.
Well, one morning, I got off work early, about 3:30am and with a 2-1/2 to 3 hour drive, I figured to be there between 6 and 7 am. After driving about 25 minutes, I began to get dizzy and my vision blurred ( I have 20/20 vision, so this was cause for concern).
I pulled over and waited for it to pass. After a few minutes, I started driving again and, much to my surprise, I was only about 5 miles away from my destination. I thought that maybe I had fallen asleep while driving until I looked at the clock and saw that it was barely 4:00am. I had driven over 130miles in a matter of a little less than 1/2 hour!
I did the calculations and I would have to have been driving at exactly 502 mph to make the drive in that time.
I’ve tried to do research and, as a scientist, I have tried looking at every logical explanation and can find none.
I have made that drive a few more times since then and have not experienced that phenomenon since.
Hi Jeff — Thanks for submitting this. It’s always interesting to me to hear of these types of experiences because they’re somewhat less common than the typical “missing time” reports that I often receive. Still, I have received a good number of reports that are very similar to yours (i.e., driving, lapse in memory, arrived at destination a considerable distance away in an impossibly short amount of time), so your story is by no means unique. Not sure if that gives you an comfort or not 😉 If you look through the comments section of this post you’ll find a some reports much like yours. Here are a couple:
https://www.theparanomalist.com/184/missing-time-experience/#comment-6876
https://www.theparanomalist.com/184/missing-time-experience/#comment-1209
I have had a time loss experance with my wife. We have not talked with anyone for we dont want to be labeled as kooks. I have read your blogs i want to know if there is a regression therapist in south jersey that could help me and my wife, I am a retired policeman so i am concerned about finding someone how is not a scammer, Also i have observed on three occasions what i truley think were ufos, all three times i had other people see the same objects, Thankyou
I know of a hypnotherapist in my hometown of Ridgewood, NJ, but that’s not exactly in your area. I can post your question (without any mention of your name or circumstances) on my Facebook page and let you know if anyone responds.
Also, you can try to contact famed UFO abduction researcher Dr. David Jacobs. He recently retired from teaching at Temple University but may still live in the Philly area. His website’s contact page is:
https://www.ufoabduction.com/contact.htm. Dr. Jacobs was kind enough to reply to me when I had a question regarding my own experience, although I never followed through with any hypnotic regression therapy.
Good luck. Please let me know if you’re able to find someone to help you.
Hi, I also have had some missing time experiences however I often classify them dozing off and didn’t take much attention into that.
From most of the stories that I have read there is one factor that confuses me:
Why the clock (telephone or watch in the pocket) still keep working and doesn’t stop during the missing time incident?(Telephone can set time by the current network time but doesn’t justify older incidents)
If this is correct the only possibility is the more disturbing entity intervention
The reason I started believing of paranormal is this because of my sleep paralysis experience which was the most terrifying thing I have felt…
I don’t believe the scientific explanation of it because all those years of human evoliution should have prevented issues like which can cause freak out over nothing
I have had some people report that their watch has stopped during the period of missing time, but other clocks and timepieces have moved forward normally. It’s just very strange stuff and I don’t yet have any explanation for the phenomenon and its various elements.
I had sleep paralysis and vivid “nightmares” (though I think they were more than just dreams) prior to my missing time experience. Yes, I agree — it’s very terrifying and it has much to do with my own belief in the paranormal.
My friend and I left a hospital at 9 pm,immediately after visiting hours, in December of 04.The walk to my car was very short and so was the drive to the road I intended to take to the interstate to make a 3 hour trip home. I missed a turn because the road was very dark and unlit but I saw it as soon as I passed it and proceeded to pull over to the side of the road to make a U turn.(Very remote road so a U turn made no difference).
I saw a dead kitten lying on it’s side and in the next instant I saw what I can only describe as a very large ball of white/tan colored fur. It was as tall as my grill and there was no way to avoid impact. I wasn’t going fast so I wasn’t afraid of injury but I knew I was going to hit whatever that was. My car went up and over it! We landed so hard on the other side of the fur ball that my friend and I were both bent at the waists from impact. We were looking at each other and she said,” You ramped it,Sister”!. We then proceeded to laugh so hard that my ribs and face was sore the next day. Then this horrible…and I cannot describe how horrible…stench filled my car. It was absolutely not the smell of decayed flesh or decayed animal. It was a mixture of everything that stinks that one can imagine. The gagging stench made my friend very ill for a month afterward. I got sick but no for so long.
My friend started gagging and begging me to hurry up and get moving. I started the car and simply made the U turn and never gave one thought to what I hit. I was very concerned,however, about tearing the oil pan off my car since we hit so hard in the front. I drove a very short distance and pulled into the first gas station. My car smelled so badly the whole parking lot was reeking. A man helped me check the oil (yes,he could smell my car) and said the oil level was fine. I looked that the tail pipe,to see if it was hanging, and it did have long white hair hanging off of it but I looked no further. I was not alarmed about anything until I looked at the clock while my friend was in the gas station buying an air freshener of all things.
I discovered when looking at the clock that we had been an hour and a half doing what should have been perhaps fifteen minutes or so including making the U turn. We had a three hour drive to go home and hadn’t really gone anyplace to speak of! It took us an extra hour and a half to get home.
It has been a mystery why my car ramped an object it should have merely hit and then came down so hard in the front. I don’t remember the rear landing. But the sensation of going up and over was a certainty.It has been a mystery why were were both laughing so hysterically when it really wasn’t funny. It wasn’t really anything remarkable at all, from an emotional standpoint, at that very instant. I think not looking to see what you just ramped is strange. Not being able to account for over an hour is the most mysterious of all.
Hi Angela — Wow, that’s a new spin on the missing time reports that I normally receive! I supposed I’d have to assume that this was some sort of animal that you hit (or ramped over) with your car, considering the fur and the stench. Any recollection at all of the details of its appearance? Taking into account the horrific odor and the subsequent period of missing time — as well as your odd fit of hysterical laughter and the fact that you strangely did not look back at the thing — leads me to believe that this was not an “animal” in the normal sense, but probably something that was of a paranormal or extradimensional nature. Has anything at all similar or unexplained happened to you or your friend before this? — John
It was an “animal” most certainly. The best,and only way, I can describe the appearance is like a gigantic snowball rolled up. There were no visible limbs,or head, whatsoever, but the hair was visible. This visual is all I got in the split second before my car went up and over. I said,”Oh,s…”, but I fully expected to hit it full on like should have happened considering the size. I am unable to explain, in any amount of words, how totally unconcerned I was about the whole event at the moment. I was only worried about tearing the oil pan off because I had a long drive home!( It took seven hundred dollars to fix the damage to the rear end and my husband did all the work.) It is so illogical for the event to have seemed logical right when it happened.
Nothing similar has ever happened and for that I am grateful.
Angela
That is truly bizarre, Angela. And it goes to show that these time anomaly phenomena don’t easily confirm to any set of rules. This is the first time I’ve heard of any sort of animal sighting in relation to a missing time experience.
I always make a point to ask the person relating these incidents if they’ve had other similar (or even dissimilar) experiences. It might not necessarily be a missing time occurrence but could be some other unexplained event or bit of strangeness that’s difficult to account for. I’m glad you haven’t had any other similar happenings. I know for a fact that they are often very frightening and disturbing.
When I was in grade school (4th Grade) I had an experience where I lost at least an hour of time and even thinking about it now makes me uncomfortable. Every Friday my dad had the day off work and I would get to ride my bike to school which was literally a block away. From my driveway I could see kids playing on the playground outside the school and left early so that I could have time to play with my friends before school started. I started on my bike ride and by the time I got to the corner to cross the street I thought it was odd that the crosswalk lady wasn’t there to help me cross. I managed to get across just fine and by the time I walked my bike the few yards to the fence of the playground no one was outside. Confused, I put my bike away on the bike rack and headed inside. When I got to my class room I had been extremely late to class and we had started on the second subject already. When I arrived him that day from school I told my dad about it and he swore up and down that I left before school had started and he could see kids outside playing too. Even thinking about this experience chills me
Hi Katie — It never fails to amaze me how many people have had these experiences. They are far more common than you’d think, and certainly than I ever would have thought before writing about this and receiving all of these stories from people (in addition to the blog comments I get quite a few emails each month regarding these missing time reports). I wish I knew why they happened but I have no definite answers. I have no doubt that some are due to “rational” explanations such as simply losing track of time. “spacing out” (as we used to say in the ’70s), misjudgement or misperception of the time elapsed, etc. Some, I’m sure, are outright fabrications, though I generally don’t get that impression from most of the people who contact me about these experiences. They mostly sound sincere, credible folks like yourself who are simply trying to make sense of something that troubles them and for which they have no explanation.
Though I’m sure some of these have rational explanations, many of them are so strange that it’s nearly impossible to come up with any kind of rational conclusion. Do you remember anything like this happening to you before, or any other unexplained or strange occurrences at all, prior to or after this?
Hi John,
I’m SO glad to have found this website – your story reminded me of a few incidents I had as a child while walking home from school in the early to mid 70’s. I never really thought about them until I read your story, but to this day I have a fear of ‘getting lost’ in places where I am completely familiar with. But I have another story that haunts me. I actually never really thought about this following incident until watching t.v. one night (channel surfing) and came across a black-and-white movie of a woman running scared through a corn field. I never watched the movie, but the memory it brought was so odd because I had never thought of it since it happened until that night (I was around 38 years old), in spite of the oddness of what happened. Here are the details;
This is a typical in the sense we were on driving around about 9pm on a winter night in Wisconsin, on country roads with corn fields on either side. The four of us were ages 16-21 and I was in the back seat on the driver’s side. While driving, the moon was bright and the driver looked out the window and got excited because he saw a man in the middle of the corn field. The rest of us didn’t see anyone, but the drive was so convinced he did a sharp turn and drove the car out to the middle of this corn field – no road or anything! He drove through snow about 6 inches deep to get there. I remember looking out the window trying to see what he was talking about, but never saw a man. I only remember the moon was bright, which I thought was weird because with so much light and no obstacles (save for a barn farther away) I should have seen the man, too. Then we all woke up – at 8am! It was a beautiful, sunny day. I was now in the front, passenger seat. We all woke up at the same time and wondered what happened. Somebody remembered seeing the man so we looked outside of the car to see if there were footprints by the car. I think we were looking for our own footprints, too, because none of us remembered anything except that the driver was a man the night before. We didn’t know why we were in different seats or what had happened. We drove home after that and did not talk too much afterward. I mean, none of us communicated with each other very much after that, ever since, even though before that we were all very good friends. I guess this incident was just too weird. And I never thought about that night again (I never even questioned why I lost contact with my friends), until I saw a clip of that old movie that brought back that memory.