I put slowly work up the courage...

...because if it as very powerfully obvious what it looked like, as in this case, a "ghostly figure", I would probably "mentally steel myself" for what I might see if I were to follow it. Basically I would want to quickly imagine many possibilities and center my mind on what I'd want (or expect) to see. Of course this would happen in a matter of a second or three...not very long at all. I am assuming that "immediately investigate" means to have zero hesitation, which I doubt I would have the courage to do here, since I have to consider that I may not be a neutral observer only...kinda like looking both ways before crossing the street, ya know?

ALSO, this only applies in this case that I was alone....if I was with a friend or someone I trusted I would investigate immediately. I would go so far as to say I could just be on my cell phone with someone and investigate immediately. Something about experiencing something like that with others would greatly diminish the fear/hesitation response. Safety in numbers?

Ok....this is edit #3!!! This is a great poll by the way...something I wanted to add is how do I instinctively feel about the figure? Underneath any anxiety brought about by a sudden event like that...do I feel that it has intent, and of what kind? If it was what I call a vampiric entity of some kind, did I feel like my energy was being drained by it's presence...was it a dark black inhuman figure that smelled of rotten meat...in those cases I may teeter on actually not investigating, and if I do it would be forcefully investigate, basically using the fear emotion and turning it into anger (which of course is very easy to do) to confront what may be a malevolent being and getting it out of my home. In most cases though I would not be angry but ...oh what the word I'm looking for...maybe "business mode" ? Well I'm rambling, it's 6 am, maybe the spirits in my apt. are getting restless!! I'm joking, my life is quite mundane, thank you. hehe