Auditory pareidolia – has anyone experienced this while backpacking?

[Sheryl O]

I read about the phenomenon of Auditory pareidolia the other day in an article by Ben Turner at LiveScience.com entitled “Why do people hear their names being called in the woods?”  I found it intriguing, and I can’t say I’ve ever heard my name being called while backpacking solo or hiking.  I have experienced what sounded like someone talking in the distance that turned out to be a stream, or what sounded like a woman screaming, and was just a fox. I can think of many occasions where I’ve experienced the visual form of pareidolia (man in the moon, cloud that looks like a trout, etc).

Have any of you experienced the auditory or visual form of this?

[MJ H]

The fox cries are alarming enough heard in my living room, but I’ve never heard one in the woods.  A stream can sound like voices to me also, but never enough that I can’t figure it out pretty quickly.

[Bill in Roswell]

Sometimes light wind in the trees, esp a mix of hardwood and pine, sounds like ppl talking – like background talk in a store or office. I would think water could do the same, though not really noticed. Do you hear it in a specific area but not others?

[Sheryl O]

@Bill – for me it’s primarily in wooded areas where there are streams that aren’t too full or too dry (babbling brooks). I’ve experienced it in the Sierras and in the Appalachian mountains, below treeline.

[Paul Wagner]

Babbling brooks indeed, They often give a wide spectrum of sounds, some of which can sound like human voices.

[jscott]

 

I Heard  the Owl  Call My Name

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Heard_the_Owl_Call_My_Name

[Diane “Piper” Soini]

Sometimes creeks sound like monks singing in a church.

[Megan W]

I occasionally ‘hear’ my name being called when I’m in the wilderness- real enough that I’ve automatically answered back before realising it was impossible and an auditory illusion. Weirdly it is usually my Dad’s voice (who is very much alive about 1000km away!). I can’t remember if this happens mostly near running water.

Sheryl O – what did the podcast say is the reason it happens? Edit: I’ve found the article so you don’t need to answer🙂

 

[Sheryl O]

@Piper – I love the thought of walking in the woods and hearing a stream sound like monks singing! ❤️

@Megan glad you found the article, for others, it appears to be that our brains like to “pattern match” what we see and hear against what our brain already recognizes. That’s probably an over simplification on my part, but still fascinating.

[Terran Terran]

Often when people talk, I hear a forest breeze and a babbling brook.

[Sheryl O]

@terran that sounds like a superpower to me 👍

[Megan W]

@terran – I’d like that!

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

Who says the voices are not real, though? Are you willing to open your mind further? One night taught me that maybe we should be more open to other realms. It depends on what land you are on.

A girl was running on the beach. And she had a tinkling laugh. I didn’t see her, I felt her and I heard her.

She wasn’t human. But she existed. And I wasn’t imagining it either. Don’t close your mind to other levels of existence. Or energy.

I never felt in fear. She wasn’t a skinwalker. She was something else.

[MJ H]

She wasn’t a skinwalker.

That’s exactly what a skinwalker would say.

[Brad W]

I don’t hear my name, but as I have posted here before, I do hear people talking when far away from anyone. It’s usually in a language I can’t make out our understand. Sometimes one person saying a few words, sometimes two different people saying a few words. Always while I am moving with no external sounds-no wind, water flowing, etc. Just my footsteps. Used to spook me out, now it less shocking.

[Author]

Posts