Spirits or dreaming?

[millsy]

Has anyone else heard aboriginal chatter as they try to get to sleep out in the bush? And yet as far as you can determine there is no one else nearby?

I bedded down on the ground, rather than in the car, about 30km east of Yalata a few nights ago on my trip to WA. A few minutes after trying to get to sleep I first heard what sounded like two sticks being hit together. Just two clicks, not far from where I was lying. Then a short time later another couple of 'clicks' followed by about four of five more, in a sort of rythmic pattern. A bit strange I thought. Not natural.

Then, as I was trying to go to sleep I thought I heard a group of aboriginal people chatting. I could hear the women with their fast talk and high pitched voices, and also the men having their own conversation. All in their native language.

I sat up and looked through the trees expecting to see another car parked nearby. But nothing.

So am wondering whether I had heard the spirits of the local people chatting that night. Or was it all just a dream? Anyone else had a simillar experience?

 

[1TUFFGU]

Maybe there was a camp nearby. Noise travels a long way in the bush at night.

 

[Traveller]

Yeah my missus has, a few times, and some friends as well. I'm guessing it has a lot to do with
how 'aware' you are, but some places are just 'busier' than others too!

 

[millsy]

Yeah my missus has, a few times, and some friends as well. I'm guessing it has a lot to do with
how 'aware' you are, but some places are just 'busier' than others too!

Aha! I was hoping there was something in it! Has she also heard it as she was trying to go to sleep? And if so I wonder whether we heard the voices just because we were relaxing and had nothing else on our minds, or had we actually gone to sleep, and these spirits 'communicated' to us as a dream?

Might have to do a bit of Googling on this phenomena.

I am not a religious person, but my father believed in spirits, and claims to have had at least one incident, where he was fully awake, that could only be explained in a 'supernatural' way. This is the first time I have had an incident that made me wonder. Still not convinced, but makes you think that it could be true!

That's cool - we both hit 654 posts at the same time, on this same thread! Now that must be a sign from 'above' surely!

 

[teza h]

Hi Millsy, I definitely believe that there is something in this, wile I have never experience this my self,I have spent some time with aboriginal people and for them it is just a given that the spirits of there ancestars remain with the land and dwell in special places. I'v heard of people moving camp in the night really freaked out because of this. Food for thought!!!

 

[millsy]

Amazing! I must admit, the clicking of the sticks sounded as if it was just on the other side of the car. That startled me a bit. But I was not worried at all for some strange reason, more asking myself whether I really did hear it or was I imagining it. And when it happened again, I think I was still just questioning the reality of it.

A bit later when I was listening to the gossip in the distance, it sounded to be about 20 or 30 metres away, and again, when I could not see anything through the little patch of trees, for some reason it did not seem to bother me!

If my dad was still alive I am sure he would have something to say about it. As a prospector, and having to help my mother look after them in the hospitals, in the north west of WA, he built up a very close relationship with the aboriginals. Just like you, he had a lot of respect for their spiritual beliefs.

So from what you are saying, that particular roadside rest stop must be one of those special places!

 

[teza h]

I'v traveled across the Ayre hwy many times, but not recently, I used to live in WA, from memory Yalata is aboriginal land or settlement,still occupied by the original owners,so it could be that there prescence is still strong in the aria around there.

 

[Patriot]

It is a pretty interesting subject. I was housesitting my grandparents house after they passed away and one night I heard footsteps coming down the hall. It wasn't random creaking it was footsteps getting closer. I was 100% certain that it was someone in the house. The footsteps kept getting closer. The house was a little remote and I knew that someone had broken in and was about the enter the room that I was in. Thinking that a good offence is the best defense, I swung open the door just as they got to where the room was, ready to evict the intruder. There was nothing there. It scared the crap out of me! I have chills going down the spine just thinking about it. I'm not sure what it was, but my Nan was pretty mischievous and I think she would have thought it was pretty funny, but whatever it was, it took a good couple of scotchs to calm down after that. I didn't sleep well that night.

Has anyone else had similar experiences?

James

 

[Traveller]

My wife was awake sitting around the campfire with a girlfriend about midnight. The mate
and I both asleep(drunk as skunks) that night so was very peaceful and quiet. They could
both hear the chatter of aborigines.
Do a google search, there is plenty of info on all things metaphysical and spiritual. My wife
has read tonnes of info on these subjects, and have a few friends that could add some
stories to yours!

nb- the number 654 does have meaning!

Jok

 

[Split pin]

I believe.

 

[geoffsa]

Millsy, where you camped is quite close to the Yalata Aboriginal Community, and they often travel into Ceduna, and could possibly have been camped somewhere near you that night. I'm not saying that what you have claimed isn't possible, but they do frequent the area around there quite a bit.
Their community is only a few Km's from the highway.

Geoff.

 

[knot_gillty]

"THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE"

 

[millsy]

Millsy, where you camped is quite close to the Yalata Aboriginal Community, and they often travel into Ceduna, and could possibly have been camped somewhere near you that night. I'm not saying that what you have claimed isn't possible, but they do frequent the area around there quite a bit.
Their community is only a few Km's from the highway.

Geoff.

That is a possibility I suppose. Although I would certainly like to believe the spirits theory also, since not many people are lucky enough to have experienced it. I will try a Google Earth satellite search to see if I can find the spot where I slept, and see if there are any other camp sites within reasonable hearing distance. I am pretty sure I was the only one at that particular spot, although I did not get up and go for a walk to check it out properly.

I think it was a pretty small rest area, unlike a couple of others I stayed at which had a miriad of little tracks and camp areas stretching through the trees for a great distance back from the road. There was a fence running parallel to the highway right next to where I parked, only about 30m back from the road. And I was on the south side of the highway, while Yalata is on the northern side. Not that that is very significant I suppose.

But some fascinating replies coming back. It makes you wonder.

As Bushnut says, its not the destination, but the journey, and what happens along the way!

 

[bmurray2250]

You were getting into the environment and starting to feel the country side similar to the tribe people in the region

 

[kiwijaz]

I think a few of you should maybe stop smoking the local flora!!

 

[millsy]

You were getting into the environment and starting to feel the country side similar to the tribe people in the region

I usually just sleep on the 'bed' in the car, but I found it a bit uncomfortable the night before, back near Port Augusta, and decided I would do better to just drop the mattress on the ground. The view of the night sky out in the bush certainly makes 'sleeping under the stars' a highlight of any trip. And I slept very well indeed, despite the background chatter! ( Photos 1 and 2 )

I thought the country side around Yalata had its own special beauty. Well vegetated with mallee scrub and a good thick under story. ( Photos 3 and 4 ) Certainly a much nicer look than the 50 or 60 km stretch through the Nullarbor Plain. ( Photo 5 )

Continued on next post . . .

 

[millsy]

And also a great forested area from Balladonia through to Norseman and beyond. ( Photos 4 and 5 )

Earlier in the day I had checked out the little town of Poochera. There was a museum in the town park. I did not look through the tractor restoration shed this time, but the little hut and its history was very interesting. ( Photos 1, 2 and 3 )

I had a great chat with the lady who runs the Poochera pub. She was very friendly and informative about the local area. She said I should turn off the highway to check out Streaky Bay. So I headed down that way, and then had a beaut swim a bit further up the Flinders Highway at Smokey Bay.

So I certainly was getting a good feel for the Eyre Peninsula that day, rather than just speeding down the main road.

And on the way home, north of Albany, a friendly roadhouse owner invited me to accompany him on his Sunday delivery trip. He also has the regional farm supply depot there, and also a hardware store in the coastal village about 80km off the main highway. What a great guy! He looked after me for the next four hours, telling me his amazing life story. He helped his family clear the scrub to establish a sheep run in the area. After buying the roadhouse, he and his wife set up the local fire brigade and also an ambulance service for the district. And between delivering poly pipe, a gas bottle, batteries, etc. he took me to the various scenic spots in the area. Too bad I had left the camera back at the road-house. And at one stage we delivered bags of fertilizer to the actual farm where he had grown up!

There a certainly some very friendly people out there in the country who go out of there way to look after complete strangers!

 

[oznog05]

Hi all,
Once a year in March, me and a couple of mate head up to Strathmerton (Just before Tocumwal) for the local fishing comp on the Murray River. Just a little way up the river there is a settlement for the local Aboriginal community. At night when it sill you can hear them chatty away in their language. It’s strange how the noise seem to travel at night. First time I heard it, it sound like they were right next to me so I got out of the tent to say hello but there wasn’t anyone there....he he

 

[millsy]

Hi all,
Once a year in March, me and a couple of mate head up to Strathmerton (Just before Tocumwal) for the local fishing comp on the Murray River. Just a little way up the river there is a settlement for the local Aboriginal community. At night when it sill you can hear them chatty away in their language. It’s strange how the noise seem to travel at night. First time I heard it, it sound like they were right next to me so I got out of the tent to say hello but there wasn’t anyone there....he he

I think that phenomena is due to a temperature inversion in the still night air. I have experienced it only once myself, in the morning, in very still conditions. Normally air temperature drops the higher you go above the ground. I think that is called adiabatic cooling. But if it has been a warm day there is a lot of warm air higher up, and as the ground temperature cools down at night, this in turn cools the air at lower altitudes. But above the cool layer there is an inversion, where now, if you measure the temperature as you go up, instead of dropping, the temperature rises. You would usually would only get this in very still conditions, and that is what you often have when the sun goes down.

Sound travels faster in warm air. And the phenomena of refraction says that sound waves travelling from a region of slow speed ( the cool layer near the ground ) to a region of higher speed ( the warm air layer above ) will curve in a large arch shape back towards the ground. So people talking at point A can be heard at point B that might be more than a kilometre away. The sound waves have travelled upwards from A, and then gradually arched over the top and back to the ground at point B.

So yes, there could have been a group of aboriginals maybe up to a kilometre away. I wish I had a little weather balloon I could have sent up to measure the air temps!

 

[knot_gillty]

I think it's the spirits! You need to mix more coke in there Millsy......