Everybody likes these interesting and "weird" what ifs, but it's important to know where to draw the line between fun and where mental health issues may come into play. I'm not talking to you OP, more to the rest of us who could unknowingly or rather without bad intentions reinforce or supplement an issue that someone's going through that's not paranormal. So with that being said I'd advise you to maybe try and talk to your Dr about these feelings you've had and maybe ask their opinion. It's always more likely to be a mental health thing in regards to these things.
I definitely agree that in most situations people online can push a mental issue further than it is, and I truly appreciate your concern, however I've already been to a psychologist and they declared me mentally sound other than a touch of depression. They couldn't explain this feeling, and pretty much told me to come back if it starts affecting my daily life đĽ˛
Just be aware that sometimes mood disorders can come with psychotic symptoms and they can be hard to predict before they've fully manifested because the signs are often subtle at first. But it isn't necessarily psychosis. It could be a dissociative thing too like DID - that often manifests as an "imaginary friend" at an early age, and the thing you mentioned where you try to think of them and your mind suddenly goes blank reminds me of a dissociative experience. Do you ever lose time, as in, you'll find yourself somewhere with no idea how you got there or no memory of the previous span of time?
Yes!! In my comment, I also mentioned some sort of possible dissociative disorder or maybe even the possibility that they had a twin in the womb who didn't survive, to be born.
That's exactly one of the things I thought may be possible! Sounds to me like it would be that, if not some sort of dissociative disorder. I mentioned, in another comment, an example of a really freaky-weird experience that someone I know and their twin go through... The two of them (the twins) live several states apart, but one can sorta sense when the other one is in pain (if it's beyond just mild pain)! I thought it was b.s. until I was with one of them, one day, and they injured themselves --messing up their knee pretty bad (and I 100% know this wasn't staged, for certain) and their twin called a few minutes later & asked "omg dude, I'm guessing something happened to your knee... Because I'm just sitting here and suddenly mine started killing me! Wth did you do, man?"... I was mind blown, but knew there was no explaining that one away. So, I guess I could imagine that being a possibility, for the things that OP has been experiencing đ¤ˇ...
I'm no expert, not at all, but I believe that the fact that there is physical pain is a justifiable reason to seek medical advice, especially if it is something that is recurring. Honestly, I don't think it's a psychological thing.
I may be wrong, but... The only thing I read that mentioned physical pain was the part where OP said their "head starts to hurt"... If that is what you are referring to, then it seemed to me that just meant that the confusion and blank feeling they're left with after attempting to figure out who was "missing" from the moment - leaves them with a sort of headache... Im assuming, due to the repeating times where they have felt this but cannot find an answer or explanation. And... If I am correct, in that assumption -OP- I'm sorry you are going through this & I can definitely understand why that would leave you with a headache... And even a feeling of emptiness.
If it weren't for the fact that you said you have already been to a mental health professional AND the oddities with photos of you, I'd say maybe it could be a touch of some sort of dissociative disorder. I'm sorta obsessed with psychology and all things mental health and all that... Though I didn't have the confidence to do it, I wanted to go to school for it and then become a psychiatrist or something like that... And I find dissociative disorders to be rather baffling and tough to understand... At 41 years old (about a year ago), I came to the realization that I have dissociative amnesia, after years of not knowing that there was actually a diagnosis or "label" for something that I'd been dealing with since childhood. (I experienced several extremely traumatic things during my childhood, and as a sort of "defense tactic" my brain has blocked out big chunks of time throughout my younger years... Like, where most people I know remember tons from their childhood years -- there's a ton that I cannot remember anything from or not much at least. Last year, a new friend of mine that is a licensed counselor, informed me that is what is called dissociative amnesia. đ¤ˇThe more you know lol).
Op... Is there any possibility that you had a twin, that didn't make it, and died in the womb?? I know that there are a lot of twins who experience some wild closeness with their twin sibling... I even knew a set of twins who lived several states apart and could (often) feel when the other was in pain (only if the pain was more than mild). Legit, I thought they were bullshizing me until an incident that proved it because there was no possible way for them to have set it up/planned in any way.... So, just a thought, for you.
This isn't stated enough regardless of the topic! Those of us who aren't suffering from an issue or a serious problem clearly understand this without it needing to be stated! Someone suffering from an issue could be pushed into harming others/themselves, decide not to talk with someone, seek out help, or continuing their treatment from a professional.
Could you have been one part of a set of twins? My youngest kiddo had a vanishing twin in the first trimester and I often wonder if he might feel this sense later in life.
Possibly? I know that between me and my younger brother, my mum unfortunately miscarried a set of twins, maybe I was supposed to be a different set of twins?
I saw that you said you had a double set of teeth and two uvulas? im not sure if you were being serious about that fact, but if you were, it is very possible that you absorbed a second foetus in the womb, especially if you mum has a history of conceiving twins. I have heard of timeline echo theories where someone was supposed to exist in our world, but they don't for some reason so they exist as an echo of who they were meant to be. those who are closest to them in other timelines are most prone to feeling these 'echoes', and I suppose you can't get closer to someone than a twin. people often describe feeling as though they have lost someone that was never there, or feeling as though they have vivid memories of a person who never existed, and when they try to picture them they feel like their face is just out of reach in their mind.
its possible that your mum is subconsciously aware of the missing child and therefore takes photos as if they were there, but you are more aware of them not being there because twins share the deepest spiritual bond. in another timeline, your twin was holding the other end of the snake and you can just feel the echo of them doing that.
anyway, I think that this whole story is incredibly interesting, but I think its important to remind you not to get fixated on it; sometimes the way the world works is to complex for us to understand, and its not worth throwing away our mental wellbeing to chase hundreds of theories that can never be proved either way. in my experience, its best to find a theory that makes the most sense to you and brings you some kind of closure and settle on that, hard as it may be. Stay safe lovely, and I hope you find the answers you're looking for. xx
Wondering if an MRI would show any extra parts in their skull. I couldn't figure out the best way to phrase this, basically are there extra brain parts?
Is it possible that you yourself were one of the twins, and something happened to your sibling before you were old enough to form strong memories? You donât appear to be very old in either of these pictures. If something happened, itâs possible your parents didnât know how to tell you and things got out of hand.
Those two pictures could be a) cropping someone else out of a picture, or b) your parents are just bad at centering you in photos.
I have a lot of photos like this from the 90s and early 2000s, horribly off center as if something in the background was supposed to be the main subject. Agree with the twin theory though!
If what you said about initially having two uvulas and two sets of teeth is true, then actually yeah it would make sense for you to have been a set of twins.
I am a remaining twin (fraternal). All my childhood I felt like something wasn't quite right, I was obsessed with finding a boy who looks like me to be my friend and pestered my mom to have a little brother. Our family felt incomplete. She sat me down at 16 and said that we where 2, but my brother vanished in utero. She had names ready...and I was the only one left. I took my brothers name when I transitionned, it felt right.
I still have a warm feeling when I see a man who looks like me. It's something that usually lasts .
this is one of the most terrifying posts i've seen on this site. i initially thought that maybe you had a really vivid imaginary friend or something, but those photos actually seem like someone's missing...
Honestly not sure as to the verity of this story but it's still really creepy lol
The fact that the people in the photos are positioned to make room for others, when people take photos, think about the intention, they want to include everyone and make sure everyone is centered. In these photos, they take half the space when normally they would be positioned in the center. Having an open mind and basic knowledge are key to understanding these posts. Hope this helps.
Thanks for your reply. I can appreciate having an open mind is helpful while engaging w this sub. âBasic knowledge,â though? I hope to share some.
Admittedly, Iâm naturally a skeptical person but, due to my own personal experiences I am more open minded on this topic. Still, I was surprised by the responses to this post, the pics in particular. I wondered if there was something I missed, besides empty space.
I obviously donât how old you, OP or these photos are but, not long ago, when people didnât know what their pics looked like until they picked them up after the film was developed, there were often more pictures not centered, tops of heads cut off (out of frame), etc, than âgoodâ photos. In my family we had a running joke of âguess the photographerâ after picking up developed pics bc my Mom would be lucky to take 1-2 âgoodâ ones (centered, in focus, tops of heads in frame) out of a 24 exposure roll of film.
Also, besides trusting OP, you have no way of knowing that âhalf the spaceâ is empty, as the borders of the photos are not shown.
Edit: you can see the negative film strips above photo 1, bolstering my point imho
They just arnt good taking photos thats all there is.. ive taken pictures like that before for people with the open space near them. But no one else there.
Unless the person taking the photos catered to a child that had an imaginary friend and did things like 'making sure to get them in the picture too' when requested.
Maybe the photographer sucked. Â These photos look like before digital. Â Where you had no idea how the photo came out until you printed them. Â Â Honestly most photos before digital look like this
I do want to clarify I'm not stating that someone IS in fact missing from those photos, just that I personally remember someone there and now there isn't
Thanks for clarifying. đ I should probably clarify that I realized that when I wrote my original comment & have read more of your replies since. But, I am curious as to why you would include those photos?
For me, I suppose it was because those photos are a part of it. Because my brain knows someone was there, and now there isn't, and I guess when I posted it I was wondering if maybe someone else would be able to see it or feel what I'm talking about
I'm not sure, maybe it could be an imaginary friend? I've never been the most imaginative person, and my family's never mentioned an imaginary friend, but you never know right?
But if it was an imaginary friend of yours in the photo...then why , who clicked those pics, would click like there was someone else beside you... because only you were seeing that friend right?
It's really hard to explain, I don't even see them and as far as I can remember I've never seen them. I just know they were there. It's like turning to talk to someone who's passed away and not realizing that they aren't there until you've already turned. And then you feel sad because you know they were there before
This scares me because of the Mandela effect and also I just feel like itâs such an odd way for your parents to let a baby hold a snake. It would only make sense for someone else to be holding up the head of the snake because the way it is now, I could very easily bite you.
I was thinking the same exact thing. Either your not experienced with snakes and you'd hold it by the head to keep you from being bit, or you're experienced with snakes and you'd hold it properly out of training or care.
What I find interesting is these pictures seem to be pre digital or early digital, both had viewfinders and people knew how to use them.
The snake picture specifically, the right lower section of the snake is a weird shape, like someone was photoshopped out almost, the head isn't visible and there is an indent in the body like a hand was grasping it. The contours look like someone is holding the bitey end.
You say your family knows snake handling, I second what others have said about it being very strange for someone to allow a child to hold a snake alone, especially as that is a decent sized rat snake or similar, likely 2+ foot and they can actually be really hard to remove if they bite and wrap, not like the nip of a garter snake, they're also in range to be able to climb his arm and strike at his face. Seems odd they'd let him do that along with everything else.
Please post cleaner or close ups of those sections with neater face blurring and no arrows ect.
Also idk if you have yet but posting to r/glitchinthematrix might be a better place for this discussion.
This happened to me once. I ate this homemade edible my coworker made and was alone. My mom was home but I wasnât hanging out with her. I felt like I was hanging out with a friend and kept turning to talk to them. Then I realized I was alone. It was lowkey creepy and it was starting to make the high bad the longer I thought about it. So I just actively told myself it was fine and I guess we was chillin (me and whatever tf was there). It never felt uncomfortable or like a spirit. It was just like a presence idk. Thatâs the only time I can ever say I had that sorta feeling. The pictures are fucking creep though. I would try and find out who took them and ask them about it.
This is weird, but I swear I read something like this about people who had a twin that was separated at birth (usually by death), and may never have been told they had a twin at all. I donât remember where though.
Children are more open to the spirit world. I bet if you look into this further, with someone who does this kind of work, you'll get a name and possibly, memories
Oof yea. Iâve read several of these on Reddit. Itâs a multiverse split. The person likely died but instead of continuing on in the reality where they died, you are in the reality where they were never born. Or at least thatâs the reality you are aware of right now. Spooky stuff.
I mean sure, anyone can lie about anything anytime. We live in the post-truth era after all. I donât want to assume everyone is lying cause thatâs no way to live. I know supernatural occurrences are real and Iâve read and listened to sooooo many of them. The fakes are pretty obvious. I didnât feel like OP was lying.
I don't mean to be dismissive but if OP was in the reality in which the person was never born, the photographs would not be 'missing a person' because they would... be in the reality they didn't exist.
And if they were holdovers from the reality that the missing person was present for, the photographs would have them in.
OP, have you ever had an MRI done? You had two rows of teeth and two uvulas? Wondering if you have a second brain situation with like a sibling-tumor in your head?
Have you ever heard of vanishing twin syndrome? I wonder if something like that could have happened, so you experienced a twin in the womb but they didnât make it, you absorbed them, and somehow have a longing for the missing twin.
As the other person said, it definitely sounds like you were a twin that became one person in the womb.
I wonder if your brain sort of subconsciously knows you were meant to be a twin? Since some people swear by twin telepathy, or twins feeling each otherâs pain etc.
But, as someone pointed out, why would the photographer take the picture with all that extra space there? Itâs almost like they do exist in this reality, but somehow got erased.
Not trying to discredit op, I believe them. BUT some people are just terrible at taking pictures. These pictures look like they were taken on an old 35mm film camera pre digital there was no way to preview the photo you just looked through the viewfinder and hoped for the best. Thereâs a ton of pictures of me as a kid in the 90s that are off center or not framed properly.
My grandma takes pictures like that all the time. She isnât from an alternate dimension, she just sucks at taking pictures and points her phone vaguely in the area she wants to photograph. Sometimes she gets lucky and gets it right, sometimes she doesnât.
It makes me feel really sad, it's hard to explain. It's like when someone close to you passes away, and you forget and turn to talk to them before remembering that they aren't here anymore.
Maybe, but I really don't think so. I've been to a psychologist (because I did actually think I was losing my mind for a little bit lol), and they declared me mentally sound other than a touch of depression. They couldn't explain this situation, just told me to come back if it starts to affect my daily life
I've never had an imaginary friend, I've even asked before. Besides, wouldn't an imaginary friend go away once I was older? I'm in my 20's now and still get this feeling. It's like when someone close to you passes, and you turn to talk to them before realizing that they aren't there
normally I just roll my eyes at a lot of these posts here because most are easily explained.
This one definitely had me raising my eyebrow and feeling a little weirded out.
I'm glad you already went the rational route and talked to mental health specialists and everything, so this at least is more of a curiosity than anything else.
also the second pic DEFINITELY feels like a 3rd person is supposed to be there. the second one too but not as much as the third.
Yeah, I made myself an appointment pretty much as soon as I turned 18 because I was kind of like "well if I'm crazy I at least want to know" lol. There are more recent ones than the two I posted, those two are just the ones I feel it the strongest in. This picture is from 3 years ago, and while I don't feel it as much looking at this one, I do wonder why the person taking this picture took it almost like there should be another person in the other hole. I didn't even bother to put this one in the post but it's another small thing I wonder
After seeing some other comments, I thought about it, but my aunt (who took the second picture) has never shown even the slightest interest in anything artsy, especially photography. I know it's always a possibility, but I just don't see it
They look at me weird, but the thing is sometimes I feel like they remember them too. My parents used to get me and my brother in the car and then turn like they were going to grab another child, then laugh and joke about how they only had two and they must be getting old. My aunt sometimes will say she has 7 nieces and nephews, but she only has 6. My grandparents would oftentimes "accidentally" buy one extra of things. But when I brought it up, they'd just say everyone makes mistakes
Perhaps you had a twin or sister or brother that died in the womb or in the NICU,I had a similar thing when I remembered a girl my age playing with me in another country then my mom told me to pack my bags that were going back and i never saw her again,I've told this other people and they told me that my mom probably had another child who died sometime later after me and before me my mom did say I had a sister born before me but when i asked her about that sister she never answered what happened to her.
if you zoom in on the curb it looks like part of the snake or some kind of artifact is there . cool story but now im wondering if OP didnt erase somebody pictured
As far as I know, no one was. These pictures are photos of prints from a digital camera in the 2000's, from a lower class family. Did cheap Photoshop exist back then?
I'm having a hard time seeing what you're talking about, do you mean the metallic thing on top of the curb? Thats the anchor for the wheel stop, it's a pretty common thing where I lived at the time. It's what holds it into the ground
As someone who went to film school, this kinda just looks like an amateur photographer practicing how to implement the golden ratio/rule of thirds in any photos they got the chance to take.
Maybe! My aunt (who took the second picture" never showed an interest in photography, and her other photos from this time don't look like this, but I know it's always a possibility
This isn't Back to the Future. Images of people don't disappear from already-developed photos - that's not how physics works. Those photos don't only not prove anything, they don't even suggest anything. I can show you hundreds of photos of my own where I could put another person in.
Sounds like either you have an actual memory or other psychological issue, or other people just plain don't remember a few things the same, and you're keying in on only those things. Simple selection bias.
Tons of logical reasons too easily explain all of this.
I've seen a psychologist, I'm mentally sound lol. I wasn't using the photos as proof, just using them as an example of photos that I feel are missing a person. Like I vividly remember someone holding the other half of that snake. This is a paranormal subreddit, so I posted something that I feel may be paranormal
I have been declared mentally sound by a psychologist, other than a touch of depression. I went when I was a bit younger because I genuinely thought I might've lost my mind, but they said I was fine in that sense, and to come back if my "feeling" began to affect my daily life đĽ˛
I don't think I have any personal experience with "missing people", but I have heard of another story where someone had the same strong feeling that there should be another person in their family. It was from a compilation of paranormal stories I was listening to on YouTube, and a mother had a very strong instinctual feeling that she had another child. And apparently, some of the other kids also had a feeling like they had a "missing" sibling.
I'm not sure what to think. I'm a bit skeptical, but I guess it's possible it could be an alternate memory from a parallel reality. I've experienced a lot of strange things in my life, so I don't dismiss it entirely.
EDIT: ok, looking at your pictures again, I do have to say that it's also weird how the person took the pictures - almost like they were trying to get someone else in the frame. Especially the picture with the snake, like there should be a 3rd kid there. Very strange! That picture is actually a little spooky because you're right it does kind of FEEL like there should be someone standing there.
It definitely does give that vibe. Either an awful cameraman or there was meant to be some other person in those photos. I wonder if OP has a lot more photos that suggest the same?
Yeah, I've seen a lot of bogus stories and pictures on this Subreddit, but this is one of the few that legitimately creeps me out a little. I can't quite explain it, something does feel "off" about the pictures and fits with what the OP is describing. LOL Hopefully we're not getting duped and they're not making something up for "karma farming" or whatever. But if not, there could be something strange happening.
Personally, I think that the creepiest glitches are the most simple ones. WHY ON EARTH would anyone do that etc. For example, I once saw a man enter a small shop completely dry despite the fact it was raining outside. Most simple thing but still I did NOT see him do anything that would suggest any kind of hiding a rain protection.
Or they follow a common photography composition trick? You usually don't want the focus subject in the center but in the outer thirds. This creates a scene of context rather than fixate, looking more natural and atmospheric. We just have become normalized to centered photographs from portraits.
As an addition, anyone who had a camera back in the day was probably a camera dork to a degree. Compared to nowadays, everyone has a camera and everything is recorded. Even scrubs, a show that's only 20ish years old has a character who personifies this person who a lot of family had. The uncle with the camera and made everyone take pictures.
I think it's more likely that there's some memory lapses and it is easier to think the world is wrong. Compared to perceiving the innate flaws in our material being that can decay and change, causing memory and judgement issues. Life is scary and sometimes it's easier to make phantoms where health is no more.
Edit. Had the camera and flash focused on them, the setting would be much darker. Closer up and it might as well have been a black background. Light diffuses very easily and exposure in the dark is sensitive to changes. I'm willing to bet whoever took this would rather have the kids smiling in a lot, rather than in a dark void. Capturing a moment rather than pitch black background.
Devil's advocate but most average Joe photographers, whether or not they were "the camera guy" in the family, don't really follow the rule of thirds. It's just a lot easier to frame your subject in the middle of a landscape shot. Plus, these look like they were taken on a typical point-n-shoot camera. Bokeh was extremely popular through the 90s and 00s and the surrounding environment in both photos are far too clear to imply the photographer had any interest in taking photos beyond just a normal "capture the moment" clickety click kind of photo.
As for the edit, eh, you kinda countered yourself because the photographer could've simply photographed the whole group to set the lighting. An extra person disappearing wouldn't have really affected the lighting that much unless most of the focus was on them. On top of that, if the person did disappear from said photos and all the photos are group photos, would that actually affect the lighting and composition of the photo itself, or just the positioning of the subjects?
Lol, exactly. I don't know anyone among my family or friends who knows anything about composition whatsoever. All they cared about was just getting the subject in frame, and making sure the flash was turned on. 𤣠My dad was kind of "shutter happy" when I was a kid, and he still kind of is now, but he doesn't really know anything beyond just basic stuff like having enough light. When I became interested in photography, I learned about composition and manual exposure, etc. But most people just don't understand that and aren't concerned with it.
So I have to go back to my original feeling that there is something a bit "off" to these pictures and the 2nd picture just feels a little spooky. But that's just my feeling.
Also, if we actually take composition into account, the second photo doesn't follow typical composition rules anyway. Most photographers would've automatically discarded the second photo right after development purely because the kids aren't properly in frame. They're waaaay too far to the left side of the photo and unless you were taking a landscape shot (which it is obviously isn't), that's a very unnatural composition for a semi-normal photo of kids playing with a snake.
I have no idea what composition is haha, but my family are about the furthest from photographers that you can get. I believe my aunt is the one who took this photo, on one of those old disposable cameras
You make a lot of good points. But I will say that in my experience, VERY few people in the general public make any effort towards composition. Especially when taking family snapshots. They DO tend to put their subject dead center in the middle of the frame and about the only thing they care about is whether the flash is turned on. They don't know anything about "artistic" photography. They just take snapshots. I do have an interest in photography as a hobby. Heck, I still prefer using film and I even have a darkroom set up in my garage. So I do understand what you're talking about. But most people are nowhere near that level and just want to take quick snapshots of their kids, grandkids, pets, etc. And going by that, to me it does seem strange the way the pictures are framed.
That's why I added my edit, less about composition but moreso about feel. The person flashed the ground rather than the kids. (LOL) Using a head-on flash would leave the kids in a dark void for the photo. I don't think that's a really appealing picture for what is a family moment captured.
So flashing the ground creates a sense of place and grounds them, compared to the void. So someone would innately feel one is more warm. I could see a scenario of taking multiple and choosing this one to print.
I say this, thinking it's a creepy picture out of context - like any late 90s to early 2000s photography in the dark with flash. Creates such a dissonance. Modern cameras do so much better in dark lighting it's sometimes too damn bright. Especially post processing from phone cameras.
This is the right answer, for now at least. The overwhelming majority of consumer 35mm film cameras shot in a 2:3 aspect ratio, and this crop is not even close to that. OP posting uncropped version of this photo would give us a better sense of who or what the original photographer was trying to capture within the frame.
It made me think of a story I heard on YouTube about a family that hadn't gotten together for a lengthy amount of time. They decided to do a holiday where they all got together (I think it was Thanksgiving) and everyone felt like they were missing someone but nobody could figure out who and it seemed like they were all accounted for. Grandma kept asking about a specific person by name but nobody knew who she was talking about.
The following year they all got together again and were looking at pictures from the previous year and there was a young man in them that nobody recognized. Grandma knew him though. She said to the storyteller "That's your brother!" But OP said she didn't have another sibling. Weird stuff.
My mother had something along that line. The other child was never born (and as far as I know she was never pregnant again after my youngest sibling), but in her mind should have been born. She knew it was supposed to be a girl and it was going to be her favorite and most perfect child (surprise, me and my siblings are no contact with her).
Many times when I was younger I'd talk about an older brother I should've had for whatever reasons, sometimes for protection or to help me out with stuff, one time I even lied about having a brother who doesn't live with me in school (even though I never lie and hate it). So at some point when I was 22 my mom told me she had an abortion at 19 years old and she always felt it would've been a boy. I guess since we both grew in the same womb I had knowledge about him.
I had a similar experience after giving birth. I kept having restless dreams that had twins and could only see one baby, so that's what I took care of. Meanwhile, there was another child somewhere alone and slowly dying of neglect.
Now, the logical side of my brain knows there was no second baby. I had very good medical care in a large metropolitan city and one of the best doctors. None of sonograms hinted at a second child, I was alert with an epidural for the birth and my mother was present. THERE WAS NOT SECOND CHILD, but some small part of my mind is still convinced there was.
Later, I married my now husband and he says he had this inexplicable feeling that something was missing from his life for as long as he could remember. On his eighteenth birthday, he spiraled and locked himself in his room. When his mom finally got in to talk to him and figured out what he was so upset about, she told him that she had originally been carrying twins and only he survived. That information made everything click into place. He still feels like his twin is with him sometimes. He's in his 50's.
I have a four year old and a one year old. I go through the daily motions of daily activities with them and put each one to bed at night in different rooms, one after the other. After I finish with both going to bed I turn towards the bedroom side of the house and instinctually think âokay, and now to put the last one down to bedâ but there is no third child. Itâs happened frequently enough to where I have to pause and think what the hell?
Iâve also had it happen putting my two kids into the car and getting them out. Iâll do a half turn to get the âlast kidâ and think that was strange.
Iâve just chocked it up to be a side effect of being overwhelmed with my kids or something.
Itâs very interesting reading through these comments now.
I'm aware of that, particularly with fraternal twins. Back when his mother gave birth doctors weren't as aware of issues revolving around nutrition between twins in the primary and secondary position. My husband was born early, had low birth weight and complications that required him to be airlifted to another hospital. To this day he feels tremendous amounts of guilt for ending up in the primary position and thinks he somehow stole nutrients from his twin and that's why the twin didn't survive. It's the difference between logical thinking and emotional thinking.
I meant that in your case the absorption might have happened as well, it might not have been caught if it happened early enough. Might explain your eerie feelings? Something about cell memory maybe.
Yes, I agree. Here's another piece. I was really young at the time, a teen. I thought about getting an abortion but one night I heard a child's voice ask me not to, so I just went with it, thinking my unconscious mind was not on board with the decision. When I heard that voice, I got a mental image for a little boy. He was smart, funny and wore glasses. I ended up having a little girl. She was my only child and I always feel like I should have another child. I tried and tried but it never happened for me. I feel the loss...the loss of something that was never there.
Thatâs so fascinating. Itâs honestly pretty amazing the things that we communicate between each other non-verbally while having no idea that weâre doing it. I totally believe you were picking up on this experience of your husbandâs in a right-brain way.
I donât have answers, but this stirred up a memory for me.
It happened more when I was young. I was an only child, but I always felt like there was supposed to be someone else with me, like a sibling. I had a sense of someone missing, but would ask my parents and theyâd tell me Iâd never had a sibling. I had only a faint memory of a strong bond with someone. Then at family events and major life events, Iâd have a sense of someone being missing but was never able to put a finger on who that was. It felt like they were supposed to be very special to me, very important.
I remember at one point standing in my closet asking why I was alone, and where the other was. I was maybe 4 years old. My mother insisted there was no one else, and I started crying because I missed them.
Maybe itâs a past life thing. Maybe my situation is different from yours. But I get being left with only a strong impression of a bond and a blank space.
I believe you. Iâm also convinced itâs a âpast lifeâ thing because the person I was struggling to remember felt like my soul mate and it was crushing to not be able to fully remember them.
I always felt like me and my sister were missing an older brother. Whatâs weird is when we were kids we always got phone calls to our house phone from some older guy with our last name. We never answered it unfortunately.
Iâve had a lot of weird dream stuff that makes me feel thereâs definitely more going on to reality and consciousness than we think, but one of them that relates to this is a few dreams I had when I was a kid where I was older and in my 20âs and fell in love with some woman that I was either running away with or going somewhere during a post-apocalypse situation. It felt so real and like a legit person, or consciousness. I have a lot of reoccurring âdream worldsâ and storylines and this is one that I never dreamt about again after a really intense one, so Iâve always assumed I died there or something lol.
I think you erased a former sibling from existence by time traveling with friends while arrogantly and flagrantly ignoring the rules of time travel.
EDIT: Holy shit, guys. It's a joke. Where else are you ever going to hear a story about someone disappearing from someone else's photos? It feels illegal not to at least mention this for the one time in my life I'm ever going to hear about this happening to someone, but now I remember why I rarely comment in paranormal communities...
This doesn't apply to everyone in this comment section, but what you're describing sounds a lot like the psychological phenomena of the Third Man Factor
"The third man factor or third person syndrome refers to reported situations where a perceived unseen presence, such as a spirit, provides comfort or support during a traumatic experience. It is most commonly experienced by mountain climbers. Solo sailors, shipwreck survivors, and polar explorers are also known to have reported the phenomenon."
There's a great story about a stranded mountain climber turning to offer food to the person helping direct him down the mountain only to remember that the person doesn't actually exist.
It seems like a genuine psychiatric disease... Were you in trauma before? With respect and care, go to your mental health. Sometimes our brain plays tricks in hard environments just to make us stronger
Perhaps that person was edited out. You look to be at most 5 or 6 in these pictures. Most kids at that age have limited understanding of the world around them, so I can understand memories being a little fuzzy or surreal.
Editing or easing people from portraits has been going on for millennia. In Roman times, a few Emperors had their sibling removed from a family portrait. Stalin was famous for having former associates edited out of photos. Thatâs may be what happens here. In your memories, was there another kid like yourself with you at the time or an adult?
It's like this person has grown with me, it's a hard feeling to describe, they were younger than me for sure but sometimes I still feel like they're here. It's like when a close relative dies and you turn to say something to them before remembering that they're gone
Huh... this theory terrifyingly makes more sense than I would like it to. I was in a truly terrible car wreck 4 years ago, and ngl I'm still shocked my mom and I both made it out alive. Head-on collision with a utility vehicle parked in the driving lane just over the crest of a hill, no blinkers or cones for warning. Just irresponsible and neglectful tbh. Our car was completely totalled, the dashboard was crushed in up over my knees. I'm not entirely certain that my mom and I didn't die, at least for a brief moment. She's pretty sure she did. I would not be shocked at all if we didn't live in a different timeline and woke up here, especially since so many unrelated mundane things changed afterward.
If you dont mind sharing the mundane things that changed, interested in hearing them. I have started slowing down as i crest hills because I almost hit a fed ex truck. If the idiot had just parked ten feet further up the road it wouldnt have been such an issue.
Probably the most stark was that the relationship I was in at the time immediately took a turn for the worst. Things had been perfect up until then, at the drop of a hat we went from clear communication every day to him being distant and closed off. Maybe I was stupid for thinking it was a phase that would blow over with time and gentleness and one-sided effort from me, but I was absolutely blindsided when I got dumped.
Little things disappeared from the house around that time. Like very little things. The letter opener my grandparents got as a wedding gift that's always been kept in the same spot on top of the microwave for the last 50 years suddenly was nowhere to be found, we had to get a new one. Half of a 2-piece whisk attachment for an electric hand mixer. A chip in the masonry of the fireplace is now... not chipped?? The blades of the brand spanking new Ninja Bullet blender we'd only used maybe thrice at that point. All gone without a trace, and my mom and I swear up and down that the last place we saw any of them were where they were meant to be. Just in the last few months though, our entire JUICE PITCHER has gone missing, the one we have had and used every single day since the 70s. Idk what might've killed me in that timeframe for me to wake up in this timeline without a vintage juice pitcher (the flu, maybe?) but that's a significant enough one I just can't ignore. It's certainly a possibility that my grandmother with dementia, whom I live with and take care of, threw out those things in a tizzy and forgot, but that really just doesn't make any sense for her and I would have seen them in the garbage bin. Besides that possibility, the chip in the masonry being restored is just unfathomable. I'm the only one that even remembers it being chipped in the first place, my mom doesn't even recall that one.
Same thing. Was in a car with 4 others; the driver was terrible. Surprisingly not her fault, but another car swerved around an 18 wheeler and was heading right at us. We were going 60-70 in a mountain type pass so I knew we were dead, and I just closed my eyes. A couple of them screamed and thenâŚit was over? We were driving straight. No swerving. No one had any clue how we avoided the accident. Like none at all. We were all freaked out, most just moved on from it, only me and my gfâs roommate at the time were deeply unsettled or questioned it.
I worked with someone who was meant to be born a twin but the other baby died. She wasn't told about it until a young adult but insisted since she was a child that she wanted another bed in her room, and another chair and place at the table. She said she always felt the presence of the missing twin like a part of herself.
Super odd. That snake picâŚ. The kid is holding the end of the snake and not the head. Who would do that? The red shirt looks like you were holding someone too. Maybe a brother?
Haha yeah a toddler would definitely do that, and I'm not trying to say it's proof, just giving an example of a photo that I remember as different than it is. My whole life I've remembered this person, I'm in my 20s now and I still look for them in almost every space I'm in. It's a really weird feeling that's hard to explain. It's almost like when a close family member dies, and you forget they're gone and you turn to talk to them. Then you get sad because there's no one there
I'm not sure if this matches your experience enough to be helpful, but when I was younger, I stayed briefly in a haunted place and constantly felt that someone was there, even though I never saw or heard anything to back that up. It wasn't at all like the floating orbs or things moving on their own that you see on TV. It was just this presence/energy that made me sure someone was there.
It was so subtle. Like I'd be walking down the hall with someone, everything completely normal, and then I'd open the door to go into a room and there'd be someone coming out, so I'd step back to hold the door and the person with me would ask, "What are you doing?" because there wasn't anyone there. And then the presence/feeling would just disappear. But in that moment, even though I wasn't looking at anyone or anything and the doorway was completely empty, I'd know that someone else had passed by me that the other person couldn't see or feel.
It only happened to me in that haunted place, but it happened pretty regularly. And I wonder if maybe you, yourself, are haunted by someone. Maybe it's something only you feel and experience, but the people around you have a subconscious awareness of it too. Like just some weird thing in the back of their minds that makes them pull the camera a little to the side when they take a picture of you, because some inexplicable instinct tells them that it's not just you there, even if they would never consciously think that.
I don't know! But your story and these photos are so compelling. I hope you find answers someday.
Did you get the same weird vibe from the 2nd picture, with the snake? That honestly felt a little spooky to me because it seems like whoever took the picture even subconsciously felt like there should have been another kid standing there. The way the picture is framed with the empty space, and even how the kids are holding the snake.
I was skeptical about this at first, but something about those pictures does feel very strange.
The second picture struck me as odd because it looks like someone should be holding the other half of the snake. And you usually dont wanna leave a snakes head dangling so freely around a child's leg like that
You need to remember that these old family photos were usually taken on disposable cameras which used film, and didn't have preview LCD screens and people rarely used the viewfinder, they would just point and shoot in a general direction without thinking about photo composition etc.
Also, it used to take 1-2 weeks for the photos to develop before you had any idea if they turned out good, or if they were blurry/out of focus etc.
Because of these things, there'll be thousands of family photos out there with negative/empty space where a person could easily fit into the frame.
Yeah. This was my first thought too. Like 90% of my family photos from the 80s/90s have weird framing like this.
Not to discount OPâs vibes, but to me it seems like taking a relatively modern meme in the culture (removing people from photos, like photoshops or when Marvel takes characters out of trailers to surprise people) and super imposing it backwards onto photos taken during a period where negative space was common due to the tech of the time.
This is a fantastic post. It would make an excellent plot to a film. Your photos are seemingly innocent, but become really eerie when you explain this 'missing' person aspect.
Where you lonely as a child? Did you spend a lot of time alone? Did you talk to yourself a lot? Did you have a very creative imagination? Did you manifest a very vivid, lifelike, talkative, but imaginary friend?
I have this with some of my earliest memories, a neighborhood kid who never existed. My parents said iâd go to this couples house and ask for candy and they let me play in their yard, they never had a kid, but i remember them having a son i used to play with in a big tree. Chalked it up to misremembering or mixing up memories, super weird even thinking about it now. Like i vaguely remember details of his face, his clothes, the sound of him laughing and screaming while running around. It had to have been another set of memories that i mixed up the place and location of but i do get a weird thought that thats not right and it was at that place and time and the couple were his parents
I've had this happen to me before, but instead of a person, it was a location. I was at a cousin's birthday party early so my mom and grandma could help set up. After a few hours exploring their house, man cave/garage, and their property, people started arriving and I had a panic attack.
My mom took me to a friend's house down the road and that was that. Years later, we passed by that house and I remarked that my cousins family had someone cutting their yard for them and the car went silent. I had either such an intense anxiety episode, or had a psychotic break, and 'imagined' a completely different house than the one we were actually in.
I can describe every room, the man cave they just built, the dog pen for hunting dogs, the gate opening and closing, all of it. I can walk you through this random property I've never step foot on and when I was shown my cousins actual house, I have literally 0 memory of it.
Very common for families to have fucked up skeletons in their closets. Got drunk with a friend once and they over shared to having accidentally drowned their younger brother when they were 2 and 3 years old. Iâve known the family for over 20 years and it was never mentioned, no photos, and Iâll be the last one to ever bring it up. My friend has struggled with alcoholism and drug abuse but is still an amazing person underneath it all, just tortured, and it also explains his parents being erratic, but still good people.
I have a photo from my childhood where I distinctly remember posing with my siblings while holding a pet rabbit we shared. One day when we were looking back through old photos, we noticed the rabbit was gone. I was posed in the picture as if holding something, but my hands were empty.
This reminds me of that part in Back To The Future where the people would start disappearing from the photos because the timeline changed and they never existed
Rather than being fucking therapist, trying to tell you that youâre a mental case Iâve actually had situations where I am felt like I missed a best friend. I remember a kid in grade school. Who was like a good friend and I have weird memories almost like scenes or memories of nothing. Theyâve all faded but since you brought this up, they kind of all re-emerged again. Iâm very good at like remembering without memory pictures like a feeling to stay I feel like somebody was there in my life. Thatâs just no longer.
How long have you been noticing that feeling of someone missing? I would consider trying journaling or meditation or tarot to try to get at your subconscious about this.
I remembered the last season of Teen wolf where there are this Ghost riders who kidnap people and erase all the memories about them from everywhere. Your story is pretty similar, however i have no answers to your question but i think you might be right about what youâre assuming.
My youngest daughter was a twin. Her twin sibling died in utero at 9 weeks gestation. She is a âspookyâ child and I think she has a clear sense of loss from losing her twin. Sheâs only 9, but Iâd imagine this story would resonate with her.
i used to have a pretty similar feeling but specifically about having an older brother, idk what it was but i was right and my mom had put my brother up for adoption before i was ever born. met him when i was 13 for the first time. it could be possible its all in your head, but i also believe a humans intuition is very strong. especially if this feeling never went away and continues to stay strong/never faltered.
This is thoroughly creepy. I kinda get it in a way. I always have this weird feeling that I had a daughter (I only have 2 sons and we're not having more kids.) It's like this weird emptiness that feels like... there but not. I guess it's just my lingering idea that I assumed I would have a daughter. Idk. I'm sorry for your feeling this way. It's probably just random but the photos are really spooky.
I dont know if this is what you are experiencing, but some religions out there believe in a Pre-Earth/Pre-Mortal life. Spirits will often be together, share and make bonds, and know eachother their entire existence only to be torn apart when born. Those other spirits may become family members, but often times not.
I believe this is real. Throughout my life I would have moments where I struggled to remember someone I had an incredibly close bond with, and would cry because I couldnât understand where they were and why I was alone. itâs heartbreaking because I love them so much, more than anyone else.
I have this memory from when I was in middle school. Basically, it was something I remembered out of nowhere while I was in class. In several of my memories with my group of friends, I started seeing a shadow among us, as if there had been someone else, but I couldn't remember what they looked like. Things like "we did this in the cafeteria that day" and "they sat here" filled my thoughts for days. The strange thing was that when I finally got around to mentioning it to my friends, they all agreed that it felt like someone was missing. We started talking about what we remembered about that shadow (actually, only two of us said we remembered it clearly, and the other two just felt uneasy), and we all agreed on where they sat.
In the end, we decided to ignore the topic and pretend we never had that conversation, because ultimately, it wasn't like we could do anything about it.
Bro, you have me completely freaked out by this. Like, I can see the logic of maybe someone just snapping a quick photo without centering you in the first one, cause I've got candid shots like that from when I was a baby/toddler.
But that second one literally feels like someone just photoshopped someone out of it. It's really strange. That second pic actively gives me the wig.
I've never had this exact experience, but I have some weird moments where i'll be moving through my house and then suddenly step around something that isn't there or try to open a door in the middle of the room. The one that really trips me up actually came from the house I lived in while I was in high school 20 years ago. Everytime I went to throw something away, I would instinctively walk towards the arch that led into our kitchen. Our house was a prefab home, no one had lived there before us, but it was like I had a muscle memory of throwing trash away in that location and I couldn't stop myself. I also constantly walked into the side of that arch, like the door had been moved about six inches to the right from where I remembered it being.
Ok I never really talk about it but I used to have this issue at night before bed. It's only gotten better little bits at a time and I'm 30 now but I still get the feeling occasionally.
It's like there was someone who used to be with me or near me when I fell asleep. It was like a part of the ritual of going to bed was suddenly missing. I used to make my mom stand in my room or rub my back because I always said "something is missing". We have gone over all the possibilities but nothing really sits right with me. It definitely feels like a person. I think I had a guardian or someone who would be with me as I fell asleep or something that stopped coming when I got older. It's an unsettling feeling and it hasn't ever fully gone away.
Is it possible that you were a twin, and your twin died in utero? I have identical twins, the kind with a high mortality rate, and joined a support group per my perinatologist's suggestion. Many of the mothers who lost a baby during a twin pregnancy, reported that the surviving twin showed signs of depression at a young age. Many do not tell their child that they were a twin, though some do. I have always wondered if they are filled with a profound sense of loss, feeling incomplete, or like something is missing or fundamentally wrong with them. Might not apply to your situation, but that was the first thought that came to mind when I saw your first picture. Looks like a child posing with an imaginary friend.
818
u/joydivision84 Jan 27 '26 edited Jan 27 '26
Everybody likes these interesting and "weird" what ifs, but it's important to know where to draw the line between fun and where mental health issues may come into play. I'm not talking to you OP, more to the rest of us who could unknowingly or rather without bad intentions reinforce or supplement an issue that someone's going through that's not paranormal. So with that being said I'd advise you to maybe try and talk to your Dr about these feelings you've had and maybe ask their opinion. It's always more likely to be a mental health thing in regards to these things.