Interesting, somewhat creepy night

[Mave]

Hmm.....something interesting happened last night at my single apartment.

I slept at 12 midnight and woke up at 3 a.m. to a strange smell. I thought it smelled like something was being toasted or burned. So, I got up to check my gas stove and oven. Nope, they were fine. So I peeked outside my door's peephole to see whether someone was outside smoking. Nope. Then, I sniffed outside my windows and I smelled nothing. Only my living room and kitchen had that annoying smell (not the bedroom). I was confused and got a bit worried. "Great, I hope I'm not accidentally burning something and going to get myself killed by inhaling bad air."

So I moved my bed (just a thin mattress, so no problem) into the bedroom and opened my bedroom window to let some fresh (but cold!) air in. I also switched off my heating, lest the heater element overheated or something.

I tried to sleep but it was difficult since I could still smell that stupid burning smell. I thought maybe I subconsciously kept thinking about it so I did my best to ignore it.

*********************************************

Next morning, I told my friends about this strange thing and they had freaked expressions on their faces. Apparently, a similar thing like this happened in The Exorcism of Emily Rose movie, which I haven't watched yet.

I guess I'm still trying to figure out what exactly happened. Maybe I should call my apartment manager and ask them to check on the heating system....or should I ever consider something supernatural, silly as it sounds?

I'm not joking. If I was, I wouldn't have posted this in the general forum. Hmmm...thoughts?

[Stephen]

Hmm. I suppose it really could be either..though I would tend to lean towards somthing funky in the air over somthing Supernatural. Probably having someone look the lines over would not be a bad idea.

[Kurama]

o.0..........WHOA!

[EireWolf]

I'd call the apartment manager. It could be you're not the only one in the building to notice it. Hollywood isn't known for theological accuracy, in any case.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

Guuuhhh i'm scared now >_> It happens sometimes in my house

[mechana2015]

call ya manager

[ChristianKitsune]

is this the first time you have used your heating unit for a while? Sometimes if you don't use your heater...it gathers dust and stuff... and when you first turn it on it smells really bad. but its the dust burning...

I would suggest if your Apt Manager can't figure it out keep your windows open (sleeping with your windows open slightly even during the winter can be good for you I hear..) or mabye invest in a air purifyer..*shrugs* I doubt it's anything supernatural...but I guess it could be possible..

[Azier the Swordsman]

There are ghosts (demons) that have been known to manifest themselves as the smell of smoke. (Or as a stench.) But, I would say that your condition sounds more likely to not be related to the supernatural, but you never know.

[Yojimbo]

It was probably dust in your heater...

[Sakura15]

It was probably dust in your heater...

Yeah, thats what im guessing.

[Mikomi]

It was probably dust in your heater...

Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. Or it could be one of your neighbors. Sometimes when the neighbor below me smokes or cooks something I can smell it. I think it comes through the air vents.

[Lady Macbeth]

Like the others, my first suspicion would be dust on the heating element and/or duct work. Many heaters collect dust without the homeowner even realizing it, especially if the homeowner is actually an apartment owner who doesn't even live on the property.

If that proves to not be true and the smell persists, or keeps coming back regularly, check with neighbors to see if they are cooking anything at odd hours. You can reassure them that you don't mind when they cook, you just want to be sure that there's nothing in your apartment causing it. If it's something apartment-wide, they may have even noticed it too, and thought it was you causing it.

ONE trait of supernatural activity usually does not equate to a supernatural event. Nine times out of ten it is something hugely mundane that just got overlooked.

[Rogie]

But that is pretty coincidental, especially since that movie just came out on DVD, which means even more people will equate what you're talking about with that.

But yeah, definitely check into the physical aspects for now. A fire would not be a good thing, either.

[Slater]

maybe there's something in your nose o.o

[Mave]

Heh, it's good to hear the general opinion. One can't help feeling creeped out especially if the person is living alone. I will check this out with the manager tomorrow morning.

Thanks!

EDIT: Cooking at 3 a.m.? Good griefy........

[Fireproof]

Who would do such a thing? Oh yeah, I would. >.> For me, said burnt food smell would probably be from noodles from a bag/box, or maybe eggs.

[Mr. SmartyPants]

Tell us what happens mave!

[Kaligraphic]

I think... your friends freaked over nothing. In all of the supernatural situations I've been in, I've never noticed a smell of burning, yet I've smelled burning in a fair number of occasions that haven't been that supernatural at all.

[termyt]

Dust would be rather unlikely in this case. Dust generally only collects in significant amounts while the heater is not being used. I would assume Mave's heater has been in frequent use for the last month or two, since she lives in the frosty north.

I think your apartment is haunted, Mave. Or one of your neighbors got a new space heater for Christmas and fired it up for the first time that night. Either one.

[TurkishMonky]

or perhaps a team of ninjas were trying to take the whole apartment building hostage and were spraying som kind of mind altering drug into the apartment building a few days before they were going to capture it, so they could send all the occupants on a mission to the far realm of pluto!

(i didn't say it was likely, just slightly plauseable)

or dust in a heater somewhere, dust on a stove , maybe even someone was cooking fried dirt to give to their earthworm pets...

[Lady Macbeth]

Dust would be rather unlikely in this case. Dust generally only collects in significant amounts while the heater is not being used. I would assume Mave's heater has been in frequent use for the last month or two, since she lives in the frosty north.

I think your apartment is haunted, Mave. Or one of your neighbors got a new space heater for Christmas and fired it up for the first time that night. Either one.

Depends on where in Michigan]not[/b] haunted, is because from the sound of her post this is the first and only incident that would even suggest a haunting. Smells don't always have to belong to a coporeal ghost (in fact, they can belong to a wide variety of spirits) but they are accompanied by other phenomena - usually temperature change, sounds, and sometimes visible apparitions. Most spirits are also often accompanied by a sense of nervous excitement that sets off mental red flags in both humans and animals - that's why many people are "afraid of ghosts" and why many animals (especially dogs) behave aggressively or fearfully around them.

[DaughterOfZion]

no offense to anyone but dont you think were getting a little too superstious? what about the air vents? have they been replaced recently?

[Scribs]

What about frayed cords? I might check those.

[ChristianKitsune]

ROFL! hauntings..ok guys, stop making fun of Mave-chan! Or you will face the Wrath of the CR...by tickling you...or something...

[~Natsumi Lam~]

both the demonic and the angelic can have different smells.

2Co 2:16 -
To the one we are the aroma of death leading to death, and to the other the aroma of life leading to life. And who is sufficient for these things?

Eph 5:2 -
And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.

Php 4:18 -
Indeed I have all and abound. I am full, having received from Epaphroditus the things sent from you, a sweet-smelling aroma, an acceptable sacrifice, well pleasing to God.


Im not saying it is demonic... after you have checked all the physical choices of that smell. I would consider praying over your house and putting on the Armor. Many people have smelled sulfer, burning, bad oder, death smell when demonic are around. So consider both cases.

~NL~

[Radical Dreamer]

Nah, I seriously doubt that it's anything supernatural, Mave. Check with your landlord and put some air-freshener in the rooms in question. XD

Also, with all due respect, I don't think that the verses Natsumi quoted mean literal smells...Granted, I don't have much knowledge of the demonic, though I am of the strong belief that one cannot be possessed by demons when one has a relationship with Jesus Christ, the man who cast out demons on a regular basis.

Anyways, all things considered, I don't think you've got anything really serious to worry about, Mave.

[DaughterOfZion]

exactly what i thought radical dreamer. because ther are ALOT of metaphors in the bible.

[Mave]

Well, I had the apartment people look into it today and they couldn't find anything wrong. There was a burn mark on the wall in the heating unit room but they said that it's been there like forever so I have nothing to worry about. They told me to call them whenever it happens again, even if it happens in the middle of the night. I guess I will.

I can't say that it was an awful smell....in the sense of death or decay (0_o);;. Maybe like toasted bread that it is close to being scorched or an overheated pan on the stove. I found the smell more annoying than terrifying.

My worries have lessened substantially but I must admit I sleep with the lights partially on. Still, this occurrence has helped make me more determined to opt for more prayers and reading the Bible. ^^

[Lochaber Axe]

I highly doubt that it is supernatural as well. From what I've gathered from demonic hauntings, that there are two ways they occur. These hauntings could also be called "Demonic Playback".

1: A murder or other such horrendous crime that was Demonically influenced- I believe that this is more celebratory on the Enemies part.

2: Occultic rituals and summoning- no need to explain why Demons would flock to this location.

Now, I'm not an expert on hauntings and the like. The above is just what my opinion of it, but I do think that the occurances just don't pop out of nowhere. There has to be a connection for Demons to project themselves for our senses to percieve them. Without that connection, all a demon can do is to speak to our minds.

[GhostontheNet]

Hmm.....something interesting happened last night at my single apartment.

I slept at 12 midnight and woke up at 3 a.m. to a strange smell. I thought it smelled like something was being toasted or burned. So, I got up to check my gas stove and oven. Nope, they were fine. So I peeked outside my door's peephole to see whether someone was outside smoking. Nope. Then, I sniffed outside my windows and I smelled nothing. Only my living room and kitchen had that annoying smell (not the bedroom). I was confused and got a bit worried. "Great, I hope I'm not accidentally burning something and going to get myself killed by inhaling bad air."

So I moved my bed (just a thin mattress, so no problem) into the bedroom and opened my bedroom window to let some fresh (but cold!) air in. I also switched off my heating, lest the heater element overheated or something.

I tried to sleep but it was difficult since I could still smell that stupid burning smell. I thought maybe I subconsciously kept thinking about it so I did my best to ignore it.

*********************************************

Next morning, I told my friends about this strange thing and they had freaked expressions on their faces. Apparently, a similar thing like this happened in The Exorcism of Emily Rose movie, which I haven't watched yet.

I guess I'm still trying to figure out what exactly happened. Maybe I should call my apartment manager and ask them to check on the heating system....or should I ever consider something supernatural, silly as it sounds?

I'm not joking. If I was, I wouldn't have posted this in the general forum. Hmmm...thoughts?

With all due respect, much of the horror stuff I have knowledge of has an element in its design where it will cause some seemingly mundane experience to actually be a prelude of some great calamity - for the purpose of doing exactly this sort of thing. It's like those ghost stories where the storyteller will involve the audience in order to end up scaring them more. Unless your architect was drunk, it is likely that the kitchen and living room are connected, perhaps with open air, making diffusion of something or other more of a possibility, perhaps natural gas or something like that which or the like which is given a smell like rotting eggs to alert one to it's presence. I had ran a google search on "chemical smell like burning toast" and came across this -

I've heard of people who experience "phantom smells." What are they?

That's an unusual condition in which people "smell something nobody else is smelling," says Leopold. "It's like a ringing in the ear, and they're miserable," because the odor never goes away. "They'll wake up and smell burned rubber, or a mixture of burned toast and rotten eggs, and they'll have that taste all day. Breakfast tastes that way, and lunch tastes that way, and dinner tastes that way."

In general, Reed says the most common reasons for olfactory loss are upper respiratory infections and a sharp blow to the head, as in an automobile accident. On their way from brain to nose, the olfactory nerves thread through minute holes in a bony plate, "and during the impact, the plate shears off the nerves."

Unlike hearing or vision, however, the sense of smell can regenerate. It's as if the brain reaches out, sending new nerve fibers down through the plate. The fibers then regrow their proper receptors. When Leopold severs the nerves to cure patients with phantom smell (on one side only), about half the time the fibers grow back--healthy. The patients are cured.

Unfortunately, the openings in the plate can get blocked by scar tissue, especially when the injury is accidental. Leopold is working on a surgical procedure that may someday take out the scar tissue. http://www.jhu.edu/~jhumag/996web/smell.html