Auto-suggestion

 

Auto-suggestion is when you believe in something that perhaps is not there but your brain or mind tells you that it is so. For example you could be at home alone and you think you saw something moving from the corner of your eye. Like someone was there and went away. What was it? A ghost perhaps? And you're convinced that you saw it. You were not alone at home as you thought. Spooky !!!

Or you could be outdoors and you look up to the sky and you think you saw something fly past. What was it? A comet? A UFO? Aliens from outer space? A flying Angel? Or your imagination?

I'm sure you've all had such incidents in your life and may wish to talk about them. What were they? Real or self-auto-suggestions? You think you saw something and your brain explains it by suggesting something else that sounds feasible, even though it may be improbable. 

The thing is, such a thing has happened to me recently. It was evening, dark, cold, moonless, and a little misty. All it needed was a howling wolf or coyote and it would have been the beginning of a horror movie. 

There were no such creatures, just a bat or two flying by to provide atmosphere, and me and my dog in the back garden. He was taking an unusually long time to do his business. Running up and down here and there checking on his domain. Sometimes he got to the end of the garden and I could not see him; then he re-appeared from behind some bushes.

I stood there freezing to the bone and looking around at no thing in particular. Then I saw it. It was no illusion. It was there in reality. At the end of the garden we have a huge oak tree. And I mean huge. And there, at the top of the tree was a bicycle. Yes, a bicycle. A real metal frame bicycle with two wheels there stuck in the branches of the tree.

How did it get there? Did someone come cycling down the lane so fast that he hit a stone and flew up in the air into the tree? Possible? Probable? Feasible? If so, where is that somebody? Should he, or she, for it could be a woman, not also be hanging there in the branches shouting for help? How come there's a bicycle up there but not an accompanying human body as one would expect?

I walked to the tree and searched everywhere for a human body dead or alive. There were none. And not a sign of disturbance like plants or flowers squashed into the ground by the weight of a falling body.

I looked up. The bicycle was still there. Could it have been a low-flying E.T. who got entangled in the branches? You know, like in the film. I never understood why he was flying on a bike. I fell asleep half-way through that movie. Unlike the movie "Babe". You know, the film of a pig which can herd sheep. I stayed awake throughout that movie, and when it ended I yearned for a bacon sandwich.

Anyway, I got the dog in and shut and double-locked the back door and looked once more through the window. The bicycle was still there up on the tree.

I was alone at home that night. The family had gone to London ... again.

I did not know what to do. I could hardly phone the police and say there's a bike parked on my tree. I did not sleep a wink. I stayed there on the sofa and kept the TV on for company. Weird programs at that time of night. 

Flicking from one channel to another did not help. So many X rated films, nudity, and channels dedicated to selling you things like vacuum cleaners, air-fryers and other things that I cannot do without at this time of night. And why is it they have so many scary films about ghosts, and haunted houses, and bad things happening at this time of night? 

One thing I noticed; in horror films, if it's about a haunted house and there are strange noises at night, women are always young and beautiful and vulnerable all alone. And they always get out of bed and go investigating any strange noises in their most revealing underwear. Even if it is freezing outside and the wind is howling through the open windows. Sometimes they even open the front door and go out searching where the strange noise is coming from. Or if there is a basement or secret door in the house they always go in all alone in the dark with only a lit candle for light. Never a million lumens torchlight. 

Well, I certainly will not be going out with a candle in search for a bicycle rider right now. I'm too scared even though I'm not wearing frilly see-through underwear.    

I guess I must have dozed off eventually in front of the TV. At first light the dog woke me up. I ran to the back garden. The bicycle had gone.

Now many of you will say this is another tall-tale. I can assure you that the tree is indeed tall; at least thirty feet. And up there in the air there was a bicycle that's now not there. 

What do you think?