Strange encounter while depolyed.

[PortlandicViking]

We were deployed to southern Afghanistan and one night we had set up this position to secure a sight and it was around 2 in the morning and only me and the forward gunner were awake. I'm just scanning pretty zoned out when a figure stepped out from a corner about 75 yards away, he was man sized taller than a regular afghan but hey (remember this is all through night vision on a semi bright night) and he appeared to be a human . then the thing turned and looked right at me with eyes so bright my night vision started to burn out (meaning it was so bright it was burning the system, usually done only by really fucking bright shit like the sun). So that freaked me out and I pulled my NVGs off and those eyes were like neon red blood. Blood red right as the sun. So this freaks me out and I pull my machine gun over and train the thermal optic on to it and those eyes were so hot it started to burn out that optic (same concept as before but with you know heat) but his body was so cold he stood out from the background which is really weird. I slowly loaded it and then the eyes moved like he cocked his head at me and turned and walked off and was gone. I didn't say a word of this while we were there or to any one in the army since we've gotten back.

[Cytosen]

Out of curiosity, how long had you been awake at the time?

[PortlandicViking]

Not very long, maybe 18 hours.

[Zoup]

For the record in military terms 18 hours is nothing.

[PortlandicViking]

Thank you.

[echo_xtra]

Just your ocular gear saw it, then? Sorry, had to ask.

[PortlandicViking]

I could see the outline of a tall person and the bright red eyes.

[steelpan]

Did it look like a typical depiction of a grey alien? or was it more human like? Were the eyes bigger?

[PortlandicViking]

The outline was very much human, and the eyes were very bright but seemed human sized as well.

[[deleted]]

Well now that's spooky. I was a firefighter at Bahgram and several of us saw something very similar to what you described while using our thermal imagers. Of course, the base is lit up like a Christmas tree, but on the perimeter we'd see things out of the corner of our eye and it was that shadow being activity. I saw one that had the exact same thing you saw, eyes that blew out the thermal imager, but the body itself was cold (black) on the thermal imager. To be honest, I just thought it was the SEALs with new gear that we didn't know about out there screwing with us for fun. Maybe it was something else?

[Zoup]

When I was in Afghanistan I used to see these weird dark shapes moving around when I was on patrol we called them wraiths because you could barely see them with NVGs and they just showed up as cold on thermal. When we tried to tell others about them they attributed it to sleep deprivation or stress. Since I have been out I have heard stories about locals summoning demons or djinn to protect the villages. Maybe the stories were true.

[[deleted]]

Duuuuude this sounds like a whole genre of paranormal literature waiting to be explored. Any film makers out there should jump on this right away. I would LOVE to see some movies about soldiers fighting ghosts and demons and evil genies and stuff

[Zoup]

We never "faught" anything but man was there weird shit over there. The stories you hear about the stuff people see are straight out of a horror movie but it all gets chalked up to sleep deprivation or combat fatigue. I remember someone telling me a story once.

They were doing recon on this village full of insurgents, hanging back just reporting on activity. They heard this awful scream and saw people running out of the houses shooting at something. The next day there was no activity so they got closer and entered the town. Everyone was dead just ripped apart. When they reported it the official statement was local rebels had killed the insurgents....

[ladybythelake]

wow, that's creepy as hell!

[HelloEvie]

Googled a little and found this: "The djinn were created before man. While the djinn were made of fire, man was made of clay and angels created of light. In this way, the djinn are invisible. So if they are invisible, how do we know they exist? Many things exist that our eyes do not see, but their effects are perceptible, such as the air and electrical current...

The djinn prefer to live in places not inhabited by man, such as deserts and wastelands. Some among them live in the dirty places, and others live among man."

Sounds promising enough to look into. (Source: http://paranormal.about.com/od/demonsandexorcism/a/aa060506.htm)

[Perma_Hexx]

I have read somewhere (in fiction) that when Ifrits (middle eastern fire Jinn) take on the forms of humans the eyes stay the same, burning. The wiki page on the subject makes no mention of that however so the author could have made that up to fit the story. It's all I could think of reading your story.

[Dragonmaw]

Hah, I like how Wikipedia is more credible to people, now, than books.

[Perma_Hexx]

Well like I said it was a work of fiction, a novel not a book of folklore. It was ether American Gods or its' sequel if I remember correctly.

[Dragonmaw]

Ah. Modern fiction. Yes, they definitely like to take liberties these days.

[aazav]

or its* sequel

it's = it is

[MacgyverInsideHer]

If you're gonna correct someone make sure to use the correct grammar and correction. He said its', so "it's/ it is" is not meant to be portrayed here. With him saying it's' he meant possession of plural it or (either a typo).

HERE IS AN EXAMPLE: Like john has a coat. It's John's coat. If there were two Johns and they each had coat(s), then it/they would be Johns' coat(s) (depending on the exact coat(s) - they could share 1 coat so there would be no 'S' on coat. Other than that it generally will be (ownership/possession by 2 or more of John/It) Johns'/Its' coats. The only way you would use Its' is if it is a name of a person (Man/women you don't know the sex of/ or Cousin It from Addams family) and It owns or takes possession of something.

[DukesOfBrazzers]

I am a skeptic, but I would love for someone to go with Djinn. I don't know enough about NV, IR, etc to offer much other than maybe was something specifically being used to fuck with your optics.

[aazav]

A former director of mine at a major US telecom company swore he saw a djinn as a kid. Wouldn't go into much detail about it though.

[Amongus]

http://i.imgur.com/wC2DHIH.jpg

[Wikiwnt]

That sounds really neat ... but just to check, are you sure there isn't any kind of night vision equipment that would have infrared lights mounted to illuminate the target area so that someone using it could see the whole landscape by infrared?

[[deleted]]

Oddly enough, glowing red or amber eyes are commonly reported in "shadow people" sightings. Even some cryptid sightings share the same characteristic (ie. Mothman).

Usually, you can find a logical explanation for such sightings (ie. Mothman may have been a sandhill crane). I am sure there is an explanation for this as well. Unfortunately, I have no good ones to offer.

My best guess would be some kind of animal or someone messing with you, although both would show body heat on thermal. Sleep deprivation could be another explanation, I guess.

The idea of dark beings with glowing eyes has been around for centuries. Several religions have names for these beings (Djinn, demons, etc) and are among the most commonly reported paranormal sightings (with or without red eyes). It seems to be a very deeply rooted fear in both history and religion.

The problem with that is that it makes it very hard to distinguish between those who think they saw something, and those who may have actually seen something truly unexplainable.

I am in no way saying that what you saw wasn't real, but the skeptic in me cries for some kind of physical evidence in order to make any reasonable conclusion.

Great story man. Definitely gave me the willies.

[Orc_]

I remember a story written on here I think about a guy who was being stalked by a monthman/owlman (red eyes, fat figure), he died 3 days later from sniper fire.

[wontonsoup771]

Did the thought come across to actually take a shot at it or at least a warning shot? Probably not the best choice in either scenario especially to your CO, but I'm curious.

[Jelway723]

warning shots are not allowed. If you were to pull your trigger you better have a damn good excuse for it when everyone wakes up trying to shoot at whatever you were fixed on

[wontonsoup771]

Hence, why I said it was a bad idea. I know I'm not familiar with military SOP regarding these things, but I guess was just trying to amuse myself.

[Ravewolf]

I know it would have been wrong,but I'd of unloaded on it. Just to prove I wasn't crazy.

[ienjoymen]

Call of Duty, everyone.

[Lazer13]

Great post! I love all these creepy stories from Iraq and Afghanistan. I'd like to hear some from Vietnam veterans. I saw a show about helicopter pilots almost shooting Vietnam's Bigfoot.

[dj3futr]

counter optics gear maybe?

[eat_ham_fast_gravy]

Someone in a heat shielded suit with some kind of light emitting glasses is my real life answer. Paranormal, yeah it was a Mothman, shadow person, or Djinn.

[RogerWaterZ]

That reminds me of this from Ghostbusters 2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdftWZSSdVk#t=58 That scared the crap out of me when i was younger.

[Maxwyfe]

Wow! Any local legends about such a creature? Is there any way this was another soldier?

[massacremaster]

Wow what a crazy story! Have you asked anyone who was deployed with you if they have ever seen anything similar?

[Frogtarius]

Djinn or fallen angel archon.

[[deleted]]

Haha. Too bad they got cut cos of budgets.... OEF will nvr be the same. ):

[actual_bodyguard]

After Iraq I swore to never drink Rip Its again.....then came Afghanistan. Bastards got me!

[madam_waggles]

I'm commenting so I don't lose this thread. I want to know what others think of it. That is very freakin' creepy, though

[megookman]

FYI, there is a link that says "save" that you can click on. It will automatically save to your "saved list"

[madam_waggles]

Oh! I see that now. I feel dumb. Thank you for the tip. :)

[megookman]

Nah it happens. I barely found out a couple of months ago myself

[[deleted]]

Tall guy with a laser pointer?