An introduction to phantom limbs

[frameacloud]

Page number 6 of Theri There, originally posted on October 3, 2005.

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Image description: One page of a comic.
Narration: "A 'phantom limb' is the sensation that a limb is physically present when it's not.
"Neurological explanation: the relevant portion of the brain is still there, so it feels as if the limb is still there, too.
"Spiritual explanation: the spirit also stays intact, even if the body doesn't. This has to do with chakras and the astral plane."
The illustration shows a person with no left arm, but a phantom left arm.
"Phantom limbs are also experienced by therianthropes and otherkin. The difference is that these don't follow a human-shaped template. We may feel wings, tail, or any such thing."
The illustration shows a therianthrope with a human physical body, and a gryphon-shaped phantom outline. "We know there's no physical counterpart to these limbs. They're not visible to plain sight, and they pass right through everything, like a ghost."
The same therianthrope goes on a walk, their wing passing through the wall of a nearby building. "However, there are odd exceptions where a phantom limb responds to a physical object as if both were equally tangible." The therianthrope's wing hits a lamppost, making them stumble, saying, "Ow!?"
"There are also instances where people respond to the limbs as if they could see them."
The therianthrope stretches out a wing, and other passerby walk around it.
"Rarest of all, sometimes physical objects respond to the limb's presence."
A dragon therianthrope steps into an elevator, their phantom tail trailing behind them. The door closes on their tail. Someone else says, "Hey, what's jamming the elevator door open?"
End description.

Note from 2005: This is a short introduction to phantom limbs of therianthropes. There is much more to say about them, whether the best known kind (felt by people who have had amputations) as shown in panel 1, or the kind experienced by therianthropes. Panel 4 was suggested by a phoenix who wishes to remain anonymous. Panel 6 was suggested by a friend who had it happen as shown, and I’ve heard very few anecdotes about a paranormal phenomenon of that kind.

Note from 2015: Several folks have asked me about the phrase “phantom limbs,” which I used in my old Theri There comics. In 2005, that was the only name therians gave to that experience of theirs. Now, readers were concerned that it might be wrong to use that name for that experience. It’s a sensitive issue, but it’s also important to address, so I wrote a long blog entry about it: https://frameacloud.tumblr.com/post/731842421775859712/regarding-phantom-limbs

Note from 2023: I updated the link to that blog entry with some new commentary that I wrote today. For another thing, back when I drew this page, I thought of phantom limbs as a paranormal phenomenon. That fit with how my worldview used to embrace the paranormal. My personal worldview has changed and become generally more skeptical as I've continued to ask questions and learn. I still acknowledge that part of the range of these experiences are ones that are strange and difficult to explain.

[Edit October 21, 2023: Added local images, links, and transcript.]

Comments

[a-leprechaun.livejournal.com]

Yikes. Has anyone here actually had that "physical object reacting to a phantom limb" thing happen to them?

[kistaro]

Well, I know that last example is straight out of a personal account at draconic.com- a tail jamming an elevator door. I've had people detour around my limbs fairly frequently, had unpleasant moments of a tail in a rear bicycle wheel (yes, OW), and a computer my left wing passed through spontaneously rebooted in the CEC a while back.

What's not mentioned here is when people don't detour around phantom limbs. It sucks to have one's tail stepped upon.

[forestdweller.livejournal.com]

I've had the experience of wind catching my wings and lifting me up (and almost knocking me over as I was too surprised to react), as well as one instance of an elevator door that paused and reopened when my back was to it and my wings not pulled tightly against me.

[frameacloud]

Yes. kistaro donated the idea for that panel, from his personal experience.

[kistaro]

*thwacks you with xir preferred gender pronoun*

I still think the best thing about that elevator is the "Capacity 16" plaque on it. It feels crowded with, like, four. It's the size of a small closet... it could barely fit my tail in the first place.

[frameacloud]

"*thwacks you with xir preferred gender pronoun*
"

Ouch! Sorry, apparently I even make that pronoun mistake sometimes. Goodness knows I've confused other people with my pronouns enough. Consider it random.

"I still think the best thing about that elevator is the "Capacity 16" plaque on it. It feels crowded with, like, four. It's the size of a small closet... it could barely fit my tail in the first place."

No wonder, then. They must have meant: capacity 16... midgets... on a bet. It's just that they ran out of room on the plaque.

[kistaro]

No wonder, then. They must have meant: capacity 16... midgets... on a bet. It's just that they ran out of room on the plaque.

Actually, it's got plenty of dead space on it; they probably could have fit the text in. By weight, I can believe the capacity; it's rated at 3,000 lbs., which is needed as it's the only elevator in the School of Engineering. (I find that ironic somehow.)

I've been planning for the last two years to get sixteen very friendly people together, shove them all in the elevator, take a picture, then stick it just above or below the "Capacity 16" sign. Maybe I can get Dean Byrnes in on this one- he's retiring as Dean at the end of the year, and having gotten to know him over the past two years, I can safely conclude that this would match his sense of humor. Maybe 16 administrators?

[frameacloud]

Sounds like a fun plan. More interesting than squeezing into a telephone booth. Wittier, anyway.

3,000 lbs... must actually be capacity 16 high-density midgets, then.

[kinkyturtle.livejournal.com]

I'm curious; what's the object form of "xe"? And how do you pronounce these?

[frameacloud]

That's answered in the next thread down. :)

[kinkyturtle.livejournal.com]

But that page doesn't have "xir" on it. I'm confused!

[silvernyte.livejournal.com]

I knocked a popcan (nearly full, and it was RED pop) off a coffee table once with my tail... it was a goof 16 inches from the edge, too... and it fell onto my friend's parents' white carpet. I was SO embrarassed... but at least I didn't get in trouble, since as far as they knew it just randomly happened.

[thassalante.livejournal.com]

Hehe, that would be me. Just the other day I was walking by a pile of stuff that had been laying there stably for weeks and weeks, but just when I walk by it all topples down as if I'd smacked it with my wing.