This thread was prompted by the title (not the content) of the thread, "Change the Station!" and a similar post made recently by another PNF'er on a different thread.
I think that many people have had an experience where some entertainment appliance like a radio, stereo, or television has seemingly activated - either turned on, off, or changed stations. This one is mine.
So that you can understand just how truly odd this was, I have to setup the physical scene for you. First of all, I lived alone in a very small condo (fewer than 700 square feet). The condo was essentially five rooms with the dining and living rooms combined into a single rectangle, then a door from that room into the only bedroom, and then another doorway leading from the bedroom into the only bathroom. There was line of sight between the doorways of those three rooms with only a distance of about eight feet between the doors.
More important than the doorways was the placement of my "entertainment center" (which was just a typical sofa-height console) in the living room and the three windows in that room. I was a very private person, so for the entire seven years I lived there, I kept the blinds closed on the only two real windows in this room. There was also a small window pane built into the top of the front door, and I kept that covered with paper. Essentially, there was no easy way to see into my condo from the outside.
As for the entertainment console, the room was so small that I had this console up against the wall with the arm of my sofa only about six inches aware from the front of the stereo components. Though the console structure was visible at one end, all of the stereo components - including a separate receiver, amplifier, turntable, etc. - were practically hidden.
All of the components were controlled by one infrared remote which required some mangling of my arms to control when seated because as I said all of the components were very well hidden behind and below the sofa arm. The stereo and the remote both had the kind of volume control which can only be stepped up incrementally - the kind that cannot be turned up aggressively with just a single adjustment.
I typically listened to CDs and rarely to the radio but on this random day I had all of my electronics off. So I was standing in the bathroom with my back to the bedroom; and all of a sudden the radio component of the stereo comes on at full volume...and, I do mean full volume. It was deafening. I ran out of the bathroom across the two steps it took to clear the bedroom and jumped into the living room/dining room not knowing what to expect. And, I found nothing but my stereo playing as loud as it possibly could. Slightly panicked and very annoyed I yelled, "Stop it!" and the stereo shut down completely.
It was essentially impossible (certainly beyond impractical) for anyone to have tried to play a joke on me and set this up in advance or be triggering it from nearby. I suspected that the cause might be a power surge or possibly the batteries in the remote going out and going wonky. But the fact that the stereo activity and noise stopped immediately upon my screeching, I doubt that any mundane electrical snafu caused this. I also know for certain that the volume did not step up incrementally because by the time the volume would have reached even 25% power it would have been really easy to hear it from where I was standing in the bathroom fewer than 12 feet away.
Unfortunately, unlike most other interesting occurrences in my life, I can't really make sense of this one mystically based on anything meaningful as I did not make note of the song that was playing nor did I make note of the exact date. So for me, this is just one of those "weird unexplained coincidences".
Anyone else have a similar happening to share?
I think that many people have had an experience where some entertainment appliance like a radio, stereo, or television has seemingly activated - either turned on, off, or changed stations. This one is mine.
So that you can understand just how truly odd this was, I have to setup the physical scene for you. First of all, I lived alone in a very small condo (fewer than 700 square feet). The condo was essentially five rooms with the dining and living rooms combined into a single rectangle, then a door from that room into the only bedroom, and then another doorway leading from the bedroom into the only bathroom. There was line of sight between the doorways of those three rooms with only a distance of about eight feet between the doors.
More important than the doorways was the placement of my "entertainment center" (which was just a typical sofa-height console) in the living room and the three windows in that room. I was a very private person, so for the entire seven years I lived there, I kept the blinds closed on the only two real windows in this room. There was also a small window pane built into the top of the front door, and I kept that covered with paper. Essentially, there was no easy way to see into my condo from the outside.
As for the entertainment console, the room was so small that I had this console up against the wall with the arm of my sofa only about six inches aware from the front of the stereo components. Though the console structure was visible at one end, all of the stereo components - including a separate receiver, amplifier, turntable, etc. - were practically hidden.
All of the components were controlled by one infrared remote which required some mangling of my arms to control when seated because as I said all of the components were very well hidden behind and below the sofa arm. The stereo and the remote both had the kind of volume control which can only be stepped up incrementally - the kind that cannot be turned up aggressively with just a single adjustment.
I typically listened to CDs and rarely to the radio but on this random day I had all of my electronics off. So I was standing in the bathroom with my back to the bedroom; and all of a sudden the radio component of the stereo comes on at full volume...and, I do mean full volume. It was deafening. I ran out of the bathroom across the two steps it took to clear the bedroom and jumped into the living room/dining room not knowing what to expect. And, I found nothing but my stereo playing as loud as it possibly could. Slightly panicked and very annoyed I yelled, "Stop it!" and the stereo shut down completely.
It was essentially impossible (certainly beyond impractical) for anyone to have tried to play a joke on me and set this up in advance or be triggering it from nearby. I suspected that the cause might be a power surge or possibly the batteries in the remote going out and going wonky. But the fact that the stereo activity and noise stopped immediately upon my screeching, I doubt that any mundane electrical snafu caused this. I also know for certain that the volume did not step up incrementally because by the time the volume would have reached even 25% power it would have been really easy to hear it from where I was standing in the bathroom fewer than 12 feet away.
Unfortunately, unlike most other interesting occurrences in my life, I can't really make sense of this one mystically based on anything meaningful as I did not make note of the song that was playing nor did I make note of the exact date. So for me, this is just one of those "weird unexplained coincidences".
Anyone else have a similar happening to share?
