"Go check the courtyard"
About ten years ago, I had a really unsettling experience that has stayed with me ever since.
It was somewhere between 4:00 and 5:00 a.m. when I suddenly woke up because I felt a cold breath on the back of my neck. Right after that, I heard what sounded like a woman whispering directly into my ear:
"Go check the "courtyard"
I was absolutely terrified. I was still half asleep, half awake, and there was no way I was going outside—especially not to this mysterious “courtyard.”
The strange thing is that my house didn’t actually have what you would normally call a courtyard. Beyond the gate was a paved driveway, and beyond that, the garden.
What has always bothered me the most is the wording. The voice was unmistakably female, and the word "Courtyard" felt oddly old-fashioned. In French, she used the word cour, which isn’t a term people commonly use anymore, and it’s definitely not a word I ever use myself. If someone had asked me to go outside, I would have expected to hear “garden” or “yard,” not “courtyard.”
That’s the part I can’t explain. It felt like someone speaking in a way that wasn’t my own.
Has anyone here experienced anything similar—hearing a voice while waking up that seemed completely external, or using words you’d never normally use?
I’m open to both paranormal and psychological explanations, and I’d be interested to hear your thoughts.
Thanks