Who's there? Did I just call my name?

What do you do when you hear your name being called, but no one is there?  Is it normal to see your spouse in your house, while he is still at work?

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Good evening, listeners. It's so good to be here with y'all tonight. Y'all, I've already tried to record this once. I had some interference. It sounded weird. I don't know what's going on. But uh sorry this podcast is late. Uh I had a very important birthday party to go to, and I will say family will always come first. So without further ado, shh, it's gonna be okay. Good evening, my adoers. Thank you for tuning in tonight. I believe it's gonna be one of the creepier stories I have told. It's something that many of us have experienced without knowing the term, or sometimes we think it's our imagination. Have you ever been at home alone and you hear a family member walking around, or or maybe you hear their keys in the front door announcing their arrival home. Possibly you might hear them say hi or hey, can you let me in? Or maybe they just call your name. Hello, Sally. Something like that. Only to find out you are still home alone. No one is there. Who or what made that noise or called out to you? I'm talking about mimics. A mimic is someone or something that imitates or resembles another person, animal, or thing. Among the many supernatural ideas that circulate in folklore and modern paranormal culture, few are as deeply unsettling as the idea of a paranormal mimic. Mimics usually replicate the voices or appearances of spouses, children, parents, or friends because these relationships carry the strongest bond. They appear largely in settings where people are isolated, such as abandoned buildings, remote forests, caves, or urban areas at night. They exploit loneliness and vulnerability. A mimic isn't frightening simply because it may be supernatural. It's frightening because it imitates something that should be safe. Mimics encounter mimic encounters feel personal. If you're like me, you're wondering how and why do they choose their targets? They seem to go after people they can emotionally manipulate, exploit trust with. And there are some cultural and psychological patterns across folklore. Mimics are linked to omens, death, or misfortune, which adds to their perceived danger and makes them more compelling to those already open to supernatural ideas. The most chilling aspect is they will call their victims by name and mimic the exact tone and inflection of the people you trust the most. Some people describe mimics as ghosts that have learned to copy household members. Others believe mimics are darker entities that intentionally imitate people in order to confuse or frighten the living. The psychological impact of mimic encounters taps into what researchers call the uncanny valley response. That is when something appears almost human, but not quite right. There are conflicting views about responding to mimics. The first is if you respond, you're inviting them into your home or life. So you hear someone call you your name, you know that you're home alone, and you still answer. What? Huh? Who's there? Supposedly it's supposed to invite them into your home or life. The second uh view is if you respond with confidence, it might compel it to leave. So if it says your name, like it's like Leanne. Would you please just go? I'm not even interested. Just go on. Can you not see what I have on my plate right now? I do not need you. Apparently that might compel it to leave. I don't know. I really don't know the right thing to do. Although the phrase paranormal mimic is modern, the fear behind it is ancient. Stories of doubles, false appearances, spirit copies, and mysterious presences that imitate living people are found in folklore from many cultures. In German, they're doppelgangers, in Irish the and British, they're fetches, and in Norwegian they're vardugers. So the mimic lore isn't new. Here are some signs you might have a mimic. If you hear a loved one call your name, but no one is there. If you briefly glance at someone you know only to find out they're not home, you know, was did I just see my husband in the kitchen? But it's only three, he's not home till six, you know, uh hearing footsteps, uh, or someone at the door keys, door shutting, as if someone arrived before they did, or feeling an off version of a familiar presence in the house. So I have actually um researched a couple of doppelganger stories and mimic stories. So um somehow they kind of go hand in hand. I'm not sure. But when you research it, a lot of doppelganger stuff kind of pops up too. So uh one night there was a young mom. She was sleeping, and she heard her young son calling her. Mommy, I'm scared. Please come to my room. The mom tried to comfort her son by letting him know it's okay, there's nothing to be afraid of. Just go back to bed, baby. He again asked her to come to his room because he was scared. Please, mommy, I'm so scared. So the mom, not wanting to get up, and you know how it is, moms, we we're tired, so we just tell him come on, baby, just come get in mommy's bed. It's gonna be okay. You cuddle with mommy. He didn't seem to like that. And so he began throwing a fit, and his voice started sounding a bit off. And uh she again told him to come get in her bed. And he yelled, No, you come to my room now. The mom's like, What in the world? So she goes to get up to find out what is so important that you know he's so scared that she has to go to his room. Well, she placed her hand down on her bed and she felt something.

SPEAKER_00 7:14

It was her son, he was already in her bed. So what was she talking to?

SPEAKER_01 7:24

Then there's the strange case of Emily Sage or Sage. Um, at a French boarding school in 1845, y'all, 40 students and teachers claim to have witnessed their teacher, Mademoiselle Sage, appearing in two places at once. Not just one time, but over and over. The story takes place at the Pensionat of Nuwelke, an institution under the superintendence of Moravian directors. A few weeks after Mademoiselle Sage arrived, she was in class teaching thirteen students. As she was writing on the chalkboard, all thirteen students noticed a second Mademoiselle Sage standing next to the original, mimicking the exact movements, except the second Mad Mademoiselle Sage didn't have any chalk. So uh soon after that incident, there was a pupil. She was being helped by Miss Sage to um help hook her dress up and back. When the student turned around to look in the mirror, she saw two Miss Sadeys hooking her dress. Over the next months, similar stories were repeated. The double sometimes imitated the original and sometimes not. The most remarkable story was one day forty-two pupils were in a spacious classroom engaged in embroidery on the second floor. The young ladies looked out the window and noticed Mademoiselle in the flower garden picking some of her favorite flowers, smiling and enjoying the day. The teacher sitting in class with the students needed to leave. She got up out of the chair and left the class. However, the chair wasn't left vacant for long. Soon, the second Miss Sajay appeared in the chair. The girls looked back out the window only to see the original Miss Sajay still picking flowers. But all of the energy she had was gone. She seemed very exhausted and slow with her movements. The second Miss Sajay sat silent and still in the chair. Two of the braver girls went to investigate and touched the apparition of Miss Sajay. The girl's hands went straight through her. Then she just disappeared. The class looked back outside, and Mademoiselle seemed to have gotten her energy back and was again enjoying the day. Then this is actually a personal story that actually happened. I didn't witness it, but I was part of it. And you'll soon soon understand what I'm talking about. We lived in a little one-bedroom house, and we had a friend staying with us. Her name was Eva, and she had her young child with her. And again, we only had one bedroom, so the kids kind of slept in the living room, and Eva was sleeping out there on the couch, and Larry and I had the bedroom, and we were watching TV, and Eva was like, Leanne, come here. And so I went in there because she sounded frantic, like something important. She needed to tell me something important or something had happened. And I was like, What's wrong? Is everything okay? And she goes, Were you just standing here looking at me and staring at me? I was like, No, I was in bed. She goes, I swear to you, Leanne, you were just standing here staring at me. And I was like, Oh my gosh, that is crazy. I was like, I wasn't. We never did figure out what happened. So I don't know. Maybe that house had the creepies, and it was, I don't know. So well, now you know I can't end the podcast without giving y'all some movies. So I want to be fair about this. I've not seen any of these, so I have no idea how good they are. But if you've watched them, please drop a comment and let us know how good they are. Or if you know of some more movies about paranormal mimics that I didn't mention, put those in the uh comment section as well. So the first one is Possession from 1981. Uh, the other is Us from 2019, and then we have Enemy from 2013. I got my information from Into the Abyss on YouTube, Mysterylores.com, The Creepy Collective, The Dictionary, Beyondhaunted.com, Believing the Bazaar, Ivy's Creepy Corner on YouTube, www.lukelore.com, Mallory'sAdventures.com, and of course, Wikipedia. So folks, what are you gonna do the next time you go camping or hiking or you're just home alone? And you hear someone call your name.

SPEAKER_00 12:35

It doesn't have to be loud, they don't have to yell it, they just say it. And they're just like and Sally. I mean, what are you gonna do? What what can you do? I guess you'll just have to hope for the best. But don't worry. It's gonna be okay.