I was just curious if a lot of people have experienced a feeling of being watched or followed. At the house I use to live in for most of my life, whenever I was in a certain part of the house I always felt like someone was watching me. I felt like the only safe place at night was my bedroom and when I was a little girl, I would literally run from the living room/ kitchen area to my bedroom because I felt like someone was following right behind me. I would try and stay in my bedroom as much as possible at night and leave it only if it was an emergency. As I got older, I no longer would run to my bedroom but I still had the strongest feeling of someone following right behind me, even though no one was there.

I don't know if it was me overreaching or what but I felt like this for years with no reason for it. I lived in that house from when I was 7 years old until I was 18 years old. Eventually when I was 18 I started to see 'things'. The closest I know how to explain it would be what people call 'shadow people', but before that I had never seen anything to make me so scared or to make me believe I was being followed or watched.

Does anyone have any ideas as to why I felt this so strongly? If I was picking up on ghosts or 'shadow people' when I was young, why did I only start seeing them when I was 18?

Not me, but I've lived in Houston all of my life (so far), the theory (and point) being that you see/hear less apparitions/paranormal activity in the city due to too many people, electronics, etc. interfering and all. Aside from a few 'hot spots' around town, you're better off going out west in general where there's less people and all, to like Bear Creek (supposed to be pretty haunted in spots) and Katy.

I've only had a couple of bad feelings since I started investigating graveyards and all (that pit of your stomach bad feeling type), but that's been about it.

That feeling of being watched in certain areas of a house is often associated with a hyper sensitivity to electro magnetic fields. Some people are able to sense them and often describe the sensation as being watched. Of course, that is just one possible explanation.

With the shadow people, several people on this site have seen them, including myself on a few occasions. The feeling of being watched and chased often comes earlier in life, then the shadow people start showing up.

My general theory is that these are two steps in the developing sensitivity to these things. Have you ever had sleep paralysis, night terrors, or dreams that predicted small future events?

Its interesting you bring up electro magnetic fields. I've heard of the sensation people get around them before but I never though it possible it was inside my house. This is definitely something I want to look into. I know thats its not just me, that other people have felt the same way inside my house, so I bet it is something like that.

I have never experienced sleep paralysis or had a dream come true that I remember. As for night terrors, I'm really not sure. I have nightmares all the time but I don't know if this is the same thing? Is there a difference between night terrors and nightmares?

Hi juders. Interesting experiences. The feeling of being watched is, perhaps, the most common symptom of the presence of Spirits. However, I like MaskedFox's answer to your question the best: having to do with hypersensitivity to electromagnetic fields. I think that those who are fascinated with the occult are always quick to jump to occult explanations for what they perceive as paranormal experiences. However, often, there are perfectly rational explanations to many of these things. I think that human beings are imaginative, creative, beings to begin with. And, so, it's easy to get swept away by our imaginations. But, I think it is very important to always look for a natural explanation before resorting to a supernatural explanation.

It's interesting that you mentioned:



I, too, had this same experience when I was a little boy. Our family used to spend most of our evening time together in the basement family room. The bedrooms were upstairs. I remember when I was a child, when it was time for bed, I used to run up the stairs as fast as I could to my bedroom because I thought, "something," was chasing me up the stairs. I used to think the staircase, itself, was haunted. I used to either avoid using it, or run the stairs as fast as possible.

I also think it's interesting that you cited a, "location," for the alleged Spirit:



I think there is something about the human brain that assigns, "proximity," to what we perceive as Spirits. It is well known that, "Auditory Hallucination," (hearing voices inside one's head) is the most common symptom of schizophrenia. Schizophrenics distinguish between, "good voices," (ones that are trying to help them) and, "evil voices," (ones that are trying to do them in). Psychiatrists have noted that, when a schizophrenic patient, "hears," an evil voice, he will cock his head downward to the lower left. And, when he, "hears," a good voice, he will cock his head upward to the upper right. This is probably where the, "good conscious -vs- bad conscious," illustrations in cartoons come from: you know, the little devil floating near the left ear telling the person to do the evil thing, and the little angel floating near the right ear telling the person to do the good thing.

There are two Spirits that I perceive often. One is an Artificial Entity that I created myself (and have described elsewhere on this website), and I don't know what the other one is. But, interestingly, if I were to draw a circle around me in which my head is always facing twelve o'clock (no matter which way I'm facing), I always perceive the Artificial Entity about two feet away from me and behind me at about four o'clock (behind my right shoulder). And, it's funny. If I'm laying in my bed, obviously, with my head parallel to the ground, I still perceive it in the same place (only up in the air or down inside my bed). Is that weird or what. The other one always stands just outside the back sliding door of my house. When I go outside through the back door, I always perceive it just beside me on my right side. I must pass it every time I exit the house from the back door.

These are just personal observations that may, or may not be helpful. I just thought I'd post them for reference.

I, personally, haven't. I don't know what being watched "feels" like. But I have gotten frightened for no reason.



That happens to everyone. It's a normal thing, built into us through evolution. When we're alone, we tend to want to get to be with other people as soon as possible, especially when we're young. Being afraid of solitary-ness is natural.
We also tend to establish "nests", little areas which are ours, our home base against all the nasty things that could attack us or hurt us. Hence your thought that your room was the only safe place.



Can you describe these "shadow people"?



As I said above, it's natural to be frightened when you're alone, especially when you're younger. It can be very, very strong.



I don't know how ghosts and "shadow people" are supposed to work. I don't know if you're actually seeing shadow people or not. I'm not really in the best position to comment on this.



Pardon my ignorance, but what is an "Artificial Entity"? I'm still new to this site, and I'm not really familiar with all the terms that you use.



I don't think I've ever heard about this before. As far as I know, all the claims made which are related to EM hypersensitivity have been shown to be false. Has there been a new study? I hadn't heard of people reporting it as "feeling watched" - mainly as headaches, itchiness or burning sensations, heart palpitations, and the like.

Unfortunately, Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity (EMH or sometimes called EHS) is a hot word right now, which limits the amount of effective studies that can be performed. As you said, people have all sorts of symptoms and just decide it must be EMH. Many of the reported symptoms don't even make sense for EMH. Some studies have shown a direct correlation between exposure to EMF's and neuro-physological changes. The studies which find results often filter there participants to a specific symptom.

An example of a conclusive study: Article Abstract

Actually, I would think that being a "hot word" would increase the number of studies performed. Homeopathy is, likewise, a "hot word", and there are plenty of studies being conducted on it right now.



What symptoms does "real" EMH have, then?



Thank you very much. I hadn't heard this before. But where did you get the "it often manifests itself as a feeling of being watched" bit? If it's true, then yes, it could be the cause - or at least part of it - of the feelings.

I've looked at several different websites explaining the symptoms of Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity and I have not found one website that talks about feeling watched. I know that I have heard the term on the TV show Ghost Hunters, but who knows if that is something they made up or not. Most of the websites list symptoms such as these:
Source = http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs296/en/index.html

I have the same results. I can't find a site that lists "feeling watched" as a symptom.