Causes of Mysterious Unexplained Scratches Appearing on Body [Includes Poll]

LANTERN TIMEGLASS JOURNAL

Stats show thousands of people around the world, but mainly here in the United States, conducting searches (such as via Google Search) for any explanation for the cause of scratches appearing on body usually without the victim being aware of it happening while it happened – such as mainly during sleep at night, then discovering the scratches in the morning. It started happening to me. I discovered it to be happening to others. So I wrote this report, and have done several updates since then. What or who is causing the mysterious unexplained scratches? There are several possibilities.

Newest Update 31 December 2016…

For the first time I’m beginning to suspect it could be an unknown unidentified insects similar to bedbugs and scabies mites. When attacking, when feeding, they leave tracks on skin that appear to be scratches. I have yet to see one and catch one, so they must be very small – I turned my socks inside out to look, found none I could see. What happened is I put on socks fresh from the laundry, and within minutes felt the severe stinging burning sensation associated with a cut. Took off the socks, found new scratches on my ankles – left and right but right was worse than left. Maybe I’ll have to start using “OFF!” bug repellent during the winter.

Update 9 August 2016….

Editing this posting, and republishing it this date. There is ongoing interest in this subject according to stats – one of my most-read postings since creating the Lantern Timeglass Journal.

Previous Update 9 December 2015…

There is another possible cause I’d not before considered, which I have cause to consider now, but the other kind of evidence might be unrelated and just a coincidence… The Government? Someone working for the government? Someone who wants me to know how easy it is to come into my home and while I’m sleeping mark my body with a scratch as a kind of warning? Possibly because of my political views as a centrist independent journalist? Doubtful, but not impossible.

What caused me to consider this? A different subject could relate…

I lived in Norman Oklahoma 3 May 2008 to 2 May 2015. Reno Nevada to end of August 2015. Then returned to Wichita Kansas (born there 5 March 1956) to reconnect with doctors I saw before moving to Norman, and was treated there during September 2015. While there, I qualified for and received a free “Kansas Lifeline” cell phone. After getting it, I was walking down a sidewalk with another man who also got one of those phones, and we were talking about future plans – I’d be returning to Norman Oklahoma in October 2015, which is what I did. As we were walking down the sidewalk, my new cell phone rang. Not a call. It turned out to bee two voicemail messages. Both were 30-second recordings of that man and I walking down the sidewalk – I could hear thee footsteps and sound of wind in the background, as we talked. The ID of caller and number was blocked. Someone, who did not want to be identified, wanted me to know that phone can be and is being monitored and tracked. What comes to mind is the NSA monitoring and tracking the cell phones of Americans, in search of potential criminals and terrorists.

Even so, I suspect it was local law enforcement providing the free cell phones in order to track low-income and no-income people, as well as those on Medicare and/or welfare on food stamps. Police stats indicate the lower class, rather than the middle class or upper class, are more likely to engage in crime. Therefore, all such people are suspects. Police nationwide are responsible for pushing on landlords the Crime Free Lease Addendum, and the 3x minimum income requirement – like $500 apartment rent requires a minimum net income of $1500 per month. Loss of affordable housing is now the Number One cause of homelessness here in the United States – accounting for 51% of homeless people including families with children. A day shelter for homeless people in Wichita Kansas now requires all homeless people entering be fingerprinted and photographed. Thumbprint ID to enter, get meals, use showers, use laundry, get clothing, and see the nurse. The Kansas Lifeline cell phones were handed out for free to the homeless people there. Police began arresting people wanted for past crimes, became homeless or were hiding among the homeless.

The mysterious scratches didn’t happen while I was in Wichita. Also none during October 2015 after returning to Norman Oklahoma. The scratches continued soon after getting a new apartment in November 2015 – where I am living.

Update 30 August 2015…

For the first time since leaving Norman Oklahoma, arriving in Reno Nevada night of 4 May 2015, I’ve had new scratches appear on my body. It happened 9 August 2015. Previously, it happened fairly often each week. Then 3 months and 1 week here before it started happening again. Apparently making up for lost time, several scratches appeared at the same time! Never before have I had more then two scratches, and those were next to each other. This time all over my back from the base of my neck to the top of my butt crack, which had been covered by clothing when the scratches happened. Couldn’t have happened from any kind of injury or accident I didn’t notice as it happened. With recently trimmed fingernails and toenails I could not have scratched myself. I discovered the scratches while taking a cool wake-up shower to revive me in the morning. The scratches were not there when I took a hot shower to get clean the previous evening. It is as if whatever was scratching me during nights in Norman took just over 3 months to find me in Reno. Almost as if I was being hunted or otherwise somehow tracked. The severity of the attack this time is surprising, disturbing, and has caused greater concern – even some fear.

Special Update Sunday 17 May 2015…

I moved from Norman Oklahoma to Reno Nevada – arrived night of Monday 4 May 2015. I’m now living in a low monthly rate kitchenette motel. So far, no new mysterious scratches appearing anywhere on my body. I previously lived in an apartments complex in Norman for exactly 7 years. Then it was sold and scheduled to be bulldozed. Getting the scratches there, unknown cause, was fairly frequent. Have I escaped from the source? That wasn’t the reason for the move, but maybe the source can’t find me now. Maybe the source is limited to that location where I lived in Norman. If the source is not mobile – able to hunt me down elsewhere, then that could be a clue for what the source might be – and its limitations.

Jim Lantern ‏@TimeglassZone at Twitter – hashtags…

For #UnexplainedScratches or #MysteriousScratches

Special Update 24 April 2015…

For the second time, while on my reclining chair and watching TV, I received a scratch on my back – I felt it as it happened – I felt the sting of the cut. I went into the bathroom, took off my shirt, and looked at my back in a mirror. I could see a new scratch on my back – a long one, horizontal, upper left area. It is the most difficult to reach spot by either hand. Also, it is so long that neither hand can reach all of it. I’d cut my fingernails earlier, so I could not have done it myself. Then during the night, I was awakened by something bizarre I’d never experienced before. Pictures and other things falling off of the walls, previously held up by nails or screws – having come out – all at the same time. After that, I discovered a new scratch on my right ankle. I could not have done it to myself during sleep because I’d earlier cut my toenails.

If all goes well, I’ll be moving May 2nd from Norman Oklahoma to Reno Nevada. Maybe that will put a stop to it. I’m age 59 now. The apartments complex where I’ve lived for 7 years is as old as I am. It has been sold and is to be razed – bulldozed – in August 2015. About 200 tenants are being displaced . . . and who knows how many ghosts! Loss of affordable housing in Norman has caused me to look elsewhere. As a former motel manager – my previous profession, I contacted an acquaintance in Reno who is manager of a motel with monthly-rent kitchenettes, and I can budget one of those

Special Update 31 March 2015…

When I was about to shave this morning, I discovered a tiny scratch on my neck, barely bleeding, which I at first thought to be an insect bite. I applied hydrogen peroxide to it. Later, when I went online, and checked stats reports, I discovered a few people conducting searches for articles about people getting scratches on neck while sleeping. I’ve never before seen a specific search for scratches on neck. I don’t believe in coincidences like this. Me getting one on my neck during the night or very early morning hours, and others elsewhere experiencing same thing. What is going on?! Like, OMG! WTF? During the past 7 days, 110 people have experienced mysterious scratches on their bodies, searched for other reports via Internet, and found this article. Only since midnight Central Time US, four different people searched specifically for subject of unexplained scratches on neck during sleep – one in Indiana, one in Kentucky, one in Illinois, and one in the Philippines, and now this includes me for a total of five.

Map of victims during past 7 days March 25-31, 2015 – click on image to see full size:

Special Update 30 March 2015…

With ongoing surges of increased interest in this subject, this posting is now frequently the most-read past posting here at Lantern Timeglass Journal. Therefore, while I’m still able to do so, I’m creating a new poll this morning for readers of this article to participate in. This poll will remain open for the rest of this year.

~ Jim Lantern

New Poll – 30 March 2015: What do you believe caused or is causing the mysterious unexplained scratches you’ve discovered appearing on your body? [Because there might be more than one cause, more than one answer is allowed in this poll.]

Special Update 20 February 2015…

Two new scratches, side by side, parallel, an inch apart, about 3 inches long, vertical, upper left back near left armpit. Happened a few minutes ago, after dinner, while watching TV, sitting in my “zero gravity” chair. I was conscious, not asleep. I felt the sting when it happened, jumped out of the chair. I could not see any possible physical cause. Nothing on chair or clothing could have caused it. Position of scratches make it impossible for me to have done it myself with fingernails or anything else.

Special Update 5 February 2015…

Usually, I discover the new scratches when taking a brief wake-up shower in the morning. Yesterday, for the second time ever, I received a new scratch during the day. I discovered the new scratch after taking a brief nap, reclined on my “Zero Gravity” chair, shortly after lunch. Briefly, I felt like I was somewhere else and disoriented. Then I was awakened by the pain of the fresh scratch. It certainly wasn’t there when I took the morning shower. A deep scratch on my right side about 8 inches below my right armpit. A tiny amount of blood. I had on a pocket t-shirt and jeans. I couldn’t have scratched myself because I’d trimmed my fingernails and toenails the previous day. No sharp objects near me during my nap. No accidents earlier that day or anytime recently. I’d have noticed being injured to that extent when it happened. Fact is, it was a fresh wound. It had to have happened during my brief nap. The pain of it is what awakened me. I’d only been asleep for about 20 minutes. Warm in my apartment, the door and window hadn’t been opened – both still locked – chain still in place on door. I have no explanation for what caused this new scratch. The only odd thing about the event was the unusual sensation of brief disorientation, as if I was briefly gone from the chair, briefly somewhere else I could not see but somehow sensed it. Teleported away and then put back? Someone where I was teleported to wanted me to know, so I was scratched? That’s the only theory I have. I’m more inclined to suspect something of a scientific cause – such as abduction by teleportation (something like Star Trek’s transporter), than any spiritual causes – such as being attacked by demons.

[Note: Stats show a significant increase this year (especially since January 29) in the number of people interested in this subject, doing Google and other searches, then finding this article. So you are not alone – it’s happening to many people – an increasing number of people – all over the world – but mainly in United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and other mainly English-speaking countries.]

LANTERN TIMEGLASS JOURNAL – Personal True Story – posted 14 June 2014 – by Jim Lantern, Norman Oklahoma USA

[Special Note: To eliminate possibility you are scratching yourself during sleep with fingernails or toenails, wear gloves and socks when you sleep, or keep your nails trimmed short enough not to cause scratches. By the way, wearing socks can reduce those painful cramps in lower back of legs at night.]

The bizarre phenomena of people discovering scratches on their bodies, usually in a morning after a night’s sleep, which they did not know how they got, is not new. I didn’t know others were having the same kind of unusual experience until I did a search on the Internet a few years ago. It had already been happening to me for a long time. I don’t remember when the first time was. However, I have crystal clear memory of when it most recently happened, and that is why I’m writing this here now. Also, this time, it happened while I was awake, not during night when I was sleeping.

I was born in 1956, age 58 now in 2014. I grew up in a Christian family in Kansas, but we were not regular church-goers after 1965.

Now, as a Spiritual Universalist, I believe there is a spiritual universe apart from the physical universe. I believe the physical body is like a car, and the driver is the spiritual soul. I believe reincarnation is possible, but not the norm. I believe we spiritually came from the spiritual universe, and return to the spiritual universe upon physical death. I’ve not been a believer in ghosts, but I’ve not totally ruled them out. I’ve not believed in demons – more likely to believe in ghosts – being different – but have not totally ruled them out. Alien abductions? I’m more likely to believe in alien abductions by aliens visiting Earth from another planet or dimension than ghosts or demons.

I have had a history of sleepwalking. So did my mother. It’s probably caused by something genetic. The ability to carry out complicated detailed tasks while asleep or in a condition similar to sleep. Most of my sleepwalking happened during childhood. There was one time I was very worried about turning in a class assignment, homework done one evening, due the next morning. When I got up that morning, the paper I wrote, and the textbook, were gone. When I arrived at school, I found them in my school locker. Somehow, during sleep, I’d walked the two miles to school, found a way in, then returned home, without having been caught by anyone. Sleepwalking could be a good explanation for mysterious bruises and scratches appearing on the body.

Normally, most of my life, I’d wear short-sleeve button shirts, blue jeans, briefs, socks and shoes. Most of my body covered. So, getting a scratch where my body is normally covered is likely to mean I got the scratch when that part of my body wasn’t covered, like along the belt line, or low on the back of a leg usually covered by a sock. At night I usually sleep in denim elastic-band shorts, and sometimes wear a t-shirt.

There have been some nights, when the sleep of several hours felt as if they passed in a few minutes, and as if I’d done hard labor all night instead of having slept well. Usually without any dreams.

During the summer months, the hot months, I usually take a shower during the evening or just before going to bed. Then I take a brief shower in the morning to help revive me. That’s when I usually discover a new scratch. When the shower water hits it, causing pain. Most of them are only about three inches long. Usually not a continues line, but a series of dashes and dots, almost as if someone had scratched a Morse code on my skin, as a message – but I never tried to decode any scratches. Not deep enough to need stitches, but deep enough to cause some bleeding. Sometimes they bleed as result of the morning shower, then have to be covered with a band-aid for the day. No blood found on bed sheets. I had to have lost some blood somewhere, but no evidence the scratch happened at home.

What happened yesterday is different than any other past occasion of getting and discovering mysterious scratches. That it happened on a Friday the 13th is probably just a coincidence. Makes it harder for anyone to believe, but it really happened, 13 June 2014. I was sitting right here a my desk at home, early evening, using my Acer Chromebook to access the Internet. Wearing a short-sleeve button shirt, denim shorts, no shoes and no socks. Comfortable. Suddenly a sharp sting at the bottom of my neck, backside. The kind of sting like when getting a cut. I reached back with my left hand into my shirt and found the injury . . . a new cut . . . bleeding. I took off the shirt and went into the bathroom. I used a small mirror to see in the big mirror over the sink so I could see the back of the bottom of my neck. The scratch was slightly to the left at the bottom back of my neck. I used hydrogen peroxide on a cotton ball to treat it. No band-aid was needed. It still hurts – even now as I write this, so I’m not wearing a shirt that could rub against it and irritate it. First time it ever happened while conscious, fully awake during a day, instead of during sleep at night. No doubt, someone or something scratched the back of my neck, through the back of the collar of my shirt without moving and without damaging my shirt. Did it intend to harm me? Was it an attack? Or did the scratch have a different purpose – such as a means of communication, or proof of something (abduction) – or a warning?

People who engage in sleepwalking usually have no memory of having done so.

The first time I was scoped to get a bleeding stomach ulcer repaired, it was done as an outpatient. A drug is used for a kind of sedation that prevents conscious memory from being recorded – no memory from second to second – so no discomfort or pain. It is like going to sleep for a nap and then awakening about an hour later.

Hypnosis can be used to block memory of some kinds of events. Hypnosis can be used to program people to engage in complicated tasks. Then they have no memory of it when coming out of being hypnotized.

I don’t drink alcoholic beverages. I quit drinking them at age 30 in 1986 when I began to get bleeding stomach ulcers. I never used illegal drugs. I’ve not been on any prescription drugs recently, and hadn’t taken any non-prescription over-the-counter drugs those days. No mental or emotional disorder that would cause hallucinations.

Search the Internet for “mysterious scratches on body” and “unexplained scratches on body” to find hundreds of reports by other people who have experienced the same bizarre phenomena. No doubt, all true. Shocking to see others use same words to describe same or similar events.

Although this is different than “stigmata” – look it up at Wikipedia or any online dictionary – some victims have attributed the scratches to attacks by demons or ghosts. I don’t know if that is what has been happening to me. I’ve had cause for a different explanation, which is similar to some explanations I’ve read for other victims reporting it on the Internet. Alien abduction.

There was one night, when I had an unusual vivid dream. In the dream, I awakened on an exam table, surrounded by unusual creatures. They looked like a cross between or combination of humanoids and hammerhead sharks with blue-gray skin, more blue than gray, more tone than tint. They spoke to each other in a language I could not understand. Then all but one of them left the exam room. I somehow sensed the one who remained is like a nurse, and had a feminine sounding voice. She leaned down and whispered to me in English. “I adjusted the drug. I know you are conscious, but just barely. This is not a dream. The others don’t know I’m doing this. I’m going to put a scratch on the back of your right leg near your ankle, so you will know and remember that you were here. I know you wonder who we are, what we are, what we are doing to you and why. There isn’t time for me to explain at length. In body, you are human. In spirit, you were one of us, now reincarnated into Earth human life. We are here to find others like you who carry our souls. We have met before, and we will meet again.” Then the darkness returned, the unusual dream having ended. Morning came, with a new scratch found on the back of my right ankle, discovered while taking a wake-up shower. Message received. But was the dream of a real event, or just a dream? The scratch certainly is real. Otherwise, how I got it is a mystery.

Maybe the Mothman knows…

Might be a werewolf…

Might be vampires! Can Van Helsing save us?

Government spooks spying on you? Perhaps we who are receiving the unusual  mysterious scratches have already crossed over into The Twilight Zone – where and when “the bullet hits the bone” – by Golden Earring…

Lucky it’s only scratches. Could be worse.

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