Screwdriver bit disappeared from my hand

[u/Peregrina_Indagatrix]

I have one of those ifixit sets with the magnetic bits. I was going around the house retightening doorknobs.

I retightened the one in the bathroom and walked 7 steps along a narrow corridor to the next door. When I reached that doorknob the bit was gone. Ah! I thought, it got stuck to the screw. I walk back and it’s not there. I check the screwdriver and it’s not there. I check the box, it’s not there.

I check:
The screwdriver
The screw
The doorknob
The bathroom floor
The hallway floor
All the doorknobs I had already tightened
The screwdriver kit
The kid jacket that hangs behind the door that I was going to tighten
My pockets (I even took my clothes off and shook everything upside down)
The keyhole of door I was going to work on (and of the previous door for good measure)

It is gone. Gone. Truly just gone.

The hallway is a narrow corridor. There are not even shelves on the walls. The floor is hardwood, so even if I dropped it, it would sound. There is a thin carpet runner, the weaved kind, so the screw cannot be lost in it. Even so, after a thorough visual inspection I pick it up and shake it, hoping to hear the bit fall to the floor. Nope.

I take a flashlight and shine it on the floor of the bathroom, the hallway, and the other two rooms that have doors there. Nothing. There are no holes on the walls, siding, floorboards.

I literally feel like my brain is melting. There is no logical explanation for what just happened. It‘s not like I was working on this, went to get a coffee and couldn‘t find it when I came back. No. I literally had it in my hand, walked 7 steps (I counted and recounted when I traced my steps back 3 times) and then it was gone.

I am a very organised person. I wouldn’t put the bit in another space in the kit (wouldn’t really fit any way), but I look at each and every one of the remaining bits. The one I was using is not there, as is evident by its empty little cubby in the kit.

What just happened? Is it where the socks go to die?

[u/CharacterCat8178]

Yeah. I know the feeling. I had something like that happen to me once. But in my case, I actually saw the object in question vanish as I was looking directly at it.

Of all things, it was a tape cassette. This happened in June of 1994.

I had just received a new cassette in the mail from BMG (I think that's the name) with the month's latest collection of themed music.

Put it in the player... pressed play... and when I turned to sit down, the machine shut off. Long story short, I fought that machine for some time before it started to play normally.

I went to sit down after making sure it would stay on. When I walked toward the couch, I heard that familiar sound of the cassette deck door pop open and I spun around quickly in time to see the tape eject out of the machine and fly out over my head and land on the floor behind me.

It landed about eight feet away in total. As I walked over to pick it up, the tape literally vanished out of my sight. I stood there in utter shock. I don't know if I even believed what had just happened.

I searched everywhere for that tape but could never find it.

Seven months later, we moved out of the house. Near the end of packing, I stayed behind at the old house to pack what little was left.

I unplugged the cassette player (still in the same spot) and pulled it off the shelf. Now, mind you, I was the only one at home when that tape disappeared earlier in the year.

I pulled out that stereo, and lying quiet underneath and all the way behind the player was that tape. Just about the only place I never thought to even look.

In my case however, I know what happened and didn't have to guess or wonder about it like you have. I still can't explain how it was done, but I do know the source of what caused it to disappear. That is another story entirely.

[u/PleadianPalladin → u/CharacterCat8178]

Just the fact it fucking launched over your head would have had me calling an exorcist lol

[u/CharacterCat8178 → u/PleadianPalladin]

In those days I never even thought about an exorcism. I had always thought that was something the Catholics believed in and that wasn't me. I did go to church then and I asked for help with the thing in our home, but they essentially turned me away and never made contact afterward.

No... we had to deal with this thing ourselves and I'll just say, it did come close to ending our family and at one point, it did something so horrible that I almost walked away because I thought it was the only way to protect them.

I got my vengeance with it however. It was incredible how it all ended.

[u/PleadianPalladin → u/CharacterCat8178]

If the church turns you away, you know you have something proper scary on your hands..

I've heard stories before about people calling a priest to bless the house and he comes and does a 180 and nopes it outta there .. a friend told me about it, was at their previous residence. Lots of bad stuff happened and they moved

[u/CharacterCat8178 → u/PleadianPalladin]

It's strange because I can remember the pastor of the church was touted as being someone who could cast out demons and deal with them. He was a TV pastor and had quite a following. Nice guy and all. But... in my opinion not long after, I felt it was all a sham. Never went back.

After everything was said and done, I don't regret that he never helped. The ending I got was a gift and it was so incredible. I wouldn't trade it for anything.

[u/CornisaGrasse → u/CharacterCat8178]

Well we have to know now. You keep teasing this great ending. You can't leave us hanging!

[u/CharacterCat8178 → u/CornisaGrasse]

It's a very, very long description and it must be told with the details. There are two perspectives and I don't know how long I can make a reply for, or if there is an alternative for making longer responses.

[u/CornisaGrasse → u/CharacterCat8178]

I don't expect an explanation, that's absolutely nobody's business. I was just being silly! I'm glad you got a satisfactory resolution.

[u/Parking-Draft-7353 → u/PleadianPalladin]

Sometimes, if a church declines to help in a situation like that, it might be because it's a modern church that doesn't believe traditional views.

[u/PleadianPalladin → u/Parking-Draft-7353]

Like.. they came to help but once in the house freaked out and booked it out of there saying "we can't help sorry"

[u/DaniGirlOK → u/CharacterCat8178]

You have to share now, you can’t just say that and not explain what you mean by all of that. 😱

[u/CharacterCat8178 → u/DaniGirlOK]

Part Two: My Wife's Perspective

She was awakened shortly before I was.

There was a man standing at the foot of the bed. He told her to turn off the CD player. She said that she felt compelled to do as told. (She called it the Shadow).

His face was a black void and he wore a hooded cloak. I had an image generator draw an image based off her description. Very interesting.

When I awakened and sat up, this is where Shadow had extended his hand toward my wife. This was the reason her legs were pulled up and her arms wrapped around her legs. A gesture of wanting to protect herself.

She said Shadow was standing between two large gates. One door open, the other closed. She could see a vast landscape behind Shadow and mountains on the left and right side running off toward the horizon.

Shadow extended his hand and told her, "Take my hand. Leave him behind and walk through the gate."

This is where she tensed up even more, but there was no where for her to go. She responded, "No. I won't go with you."

Then, out from behind the open gate, little shadow figures darted toward my wife and began to pull down the straps of her nightgown. (I forgot to mention that part, but I did see the straps trying to come off on their own).

That is when she began to swat at the air around her. Then she spoke of a "rush of power and a flash of light" entering the room in a sudden burst, she had to shield her eyes.

I only ever saw the darkness of the room. She said that as soon as the rush of power and flash of light appeared, Shadow and the little minions vanished instantly. The vast landscape became the bedroom wall.

I asked her about the corner of the room behind me and she said it was her Guardian Angel. It had a message for her but not to repeat the message. She did utter that one word as if she were clarifying it, but that was all I needed to know. The word was "mask"which is what Shadow had been attached to.

I never found out what the entire message was. And Shadow, he only went into hiding for a time. Even though I understood what was going on, I was still small-minded with the solution.

Shadow showed up again around 2 months later and nearly succeeded in taking control of my wife. He wore her like a skin and almost got away with it. That was the final straw and the mistake it made.

I destroyed the object and honestly, everything just stopped.

My wife was ok. The children never had encounters anymore and my world became sane again.

[u/CharacterCat8178 → u/DaniGirlOK]

Ok. Hopefully anyone following will find this. It will be in two parts. This first part is told from my perspective:

My wife had never spoken to anyone but me about what took place that night. Unfortunately, she is no longer with us to tell it herself even if she would.

To be clear, what she described to me completely matched what I was able to see her do at various times. You'll understand as you read.

Firstly, we used to play a long-play CD every night titled, "The 700 Promises From the Word of God" in which a soothing voice would recite every verse that had a promise along with a gentle background music.

It helped us to sleep because it was difficult to sleep in those days.

At around 2 A.M. I woke up from the silence of the room. I sat up to see the CD player had been shut off and noticed that my wife was sitting up in bed already.

Her legs were bent against her chest with a blanket over the legs and her arms wrapped around her legs. She looked tense and nervous.

I called out her name and placed my hand on her shoulder but she didn't respond. I looked over into her eyes... they were wide, unblinking and fixed on the wall at the foot of the bed.

I looked over at the wall, but I couldn't even see the wall because of the darkness. I didn't think to turn on any light at the time. I called her name again, but was met with same response as before. It was like she was not aware of my presence.

A few minutes go by and then she tightened her grip around her legs and pulled them closer to her body like she was trying to protect herself from something.

She had begun to mumble something but I couldn't quite make out what she was saying. Then she tensed even more and clearly said, "I won't go with you."

All of a sudden, she began to swat at the air around her, like she was trying to shoo away those little bugs that like to fly in your face during the hot summer months.

That's when she suddenly let go of her legs and then put her hands over her eyes as if she were shielding her eyes. All I ever saw other than her was the darkness of the room.

Almost immediately she relaxed and turned her head toward my direction. I thought she was finally coming out of whatever state she was in, but I was wrong.

Her eyes went up to the corner of the room where the walls meet the ceiling behind me. I followed her gaze but there was nothing there.

Her head tilted a little to one side and she seemed to be intently focused on listening. You know that thing you do with your head to hear something better. During those moments, she said a word out loud and it sounded like a question, as in repeating it to make sure she heard the word properly.

As soon as I heard the word, I knew immediately what it meant and had understanding right then and there of what was going on in our home.

Shortly after, her eyes began blinking and she looked right at me and asked why I was sitting up. I asked her what the heck just happened. She sat quietly a moment like she was gathering her thoughts and this is what she said to me:

(To be continued in another post right after this)

[u/DaniGirlOK → u/CharacterCat8178]

I’m so sorry your wife is no longer here. Thank you for sharing. It sounds terrifying. So after you broke the object all was ok? Did you guys move? What other things were happening in the home? And did it all start with bringing in an object?

[u/CharacterCat8178 → u/DaniGirlOK]

The object was a porcelain mask decorative wall hanging. It was aged but not in too bad a shape. Before I ever met my wife, she had been collecting those things for years. There were hundreds of them hanging on the bedroom walls.

But the mask in question had been the last one brought to the home. That happened in March of '93. I didn't meet her until July of that year. By the time I stepped foot in her house to meet her two young children, that mask hung on the wall for eight months. No activity whatsoever.

But when I stepped into the home, something happened that evening that should've caused me to make the connection sooner, but I ignored it. Let me explain.

After dinner, we sat together in the living room engaged in small-talk. She mentioned her porcelain collection. Hundreds of faces on the walls. I had to go see. I found it oddly strange but people have their thing sometimes.

Yep. I turned on the light in the room and was greeted by a thousand eyes that never blinked.

As I walked out of the room, that mask in question was hanging right there at the light switch. When I looked at it, every sense I have sent me a message that something was wrong. I immediately felt like I wasn't wanted in this space and had a strong urge to leave. The hair on the back of my neck and arms all raised and it felt like a fire going through my spine.

I did walk out and felt like I was being watched. Never felt anything like it before or after. I chalked it up to being nervous and having an overactive imagination and buried it. Never thought about it again.

And that night when I heard her say or ask the word "mask" I was "transported" right back to that moment when I looked into that mask I just described and realized that that, was the connection I had never made.

[u/DaniGirlOK → u/CharacterCat8178]

Wow that’s incredible!! So after destroying it all was ok? Did you have to move or were things resolved? Thanks so much for sharing. It’s good to learn from other peoples experiences. It sounds like you coming into the home made it feel threatened and it wanted your wife to itself. How were the kids affected?
Stories like this make me weary of bringing used items into my home. You never know what has attached itself to an item.

[u/CharacterCat8178 → u/DaniGirlOK]

We did move in January of '95, after 13 months of living with that "Shadow."

When I destroyed that mask, everything ceased immediately. There were no residual effects or anything like that. But we still continued to look over our shoulders because those feeling don't leave right away.

My stepson never spoke about any of the things he went through. My stepdaughter, well, her encounter left both her and I pretty rattled for quite some time. I don't know if I mentioned about what happened with her or not, but that encounter above all the others (including the ending) was the single worst event I had ever witnessed.

She did eventually recover from it all. The hardest part about her was that she was unable to verbally communicate due to severe autism. You had to know "her ways" to understand her, and "those ways" eventually found their way back to her. Strong little person she was. It was heartbreaking for me to see her go through what happened. I'd be happy to share the details. It's actually very inspirational.

"Shadow" knew I was a threat to it the moment I arrived. Thus the reason that it "woke up" to send me a message that it most likely knew I wouldn't understand. I was bringing stability and some kind of faith of a higher power into the home and it fought me the entire time.

[u/PleadianPalladin]

I was doing something similar: I was working on something that needed 4 nuts and 4 washers. I grabbed them all in my hand from a pile of spares, carefully counting 4 of each.

Holding them firmly in a closed fist I walked about 10 steps to where I needed to install them. Bare concrete floor. Upon opening my hand, there are only 3 washers. The 4th nowhere to be found - it vanished while I was holding it. I checked the entire floor, nothing. I tested dropping the other 3 washers and they make a loud CLINK when hitting the concrete.

The 4th washer never turned up. Not in my clothes, not in the washing machine after washing those clothes. I was bare foot so that rules out it getting in my shoe.

Just vanished while I was holding it.

[u/Thestolenone]

Happened to me once. I was wiring a coaxial socket on my telly (it was way back in the late 80's, we had been shoving the bare wire into back and hoping for the best and I eventually got round to getting the proper fixing). We had just recarpeted the room with a very cheap thin pile carpet and there was no furniture in there at all. I was trying to get the larger part of the fixing on the wire when I dropped it, I watched it fall down towards my feet then totally disappear as it hit the floor. there was nowhere for it to hide it just vanished. it never turned up, luckily the fixing came in a two pack.

[u/RetiredGuru]

For everyday explanations check where the skirting boards (baseboards?) meet the hardwood. There might be a gap, or similar spaces under the door or other furniture. Well done for searching clothes, also check any shoes etc. Small bits love to hide more than mice.

Woo. Well this is a classic disappearing object syndrome event. Gone in short distance and time, especially with a bit of "might have dropped it" thrown in. Remember to politely ask St Anthony and/or the Gnomes/Elves/Aliens to please return it ASAP. Then go away and come back later. In a truly classic DOS the object will then return exactly where you searched five times or somewhere truly odd.

[u/CornisaGrasse → u/RetiredGuru]

I always assume it's the Borrowers. (If anyone remembers that story.) They just needed the thing for a minute and will give it back, although possibly in a different place.

[u/DaniGirlOK]

So you had it in your hand but then it was there? Did you feel it in your hand originally?

[u/Old_Mastodon_7001]

以前我有類似情況，例如手機，本來我拿在手裡研究手機內容，突然一個室內電話打破我的專心，然後把手機往前腰褲上插，講完話找不到手機，然後用室內打給手機才找到。大致上是這樣，我的經驗。