Paranormal Experiences?

[easysurfer]

I have feelings of deja vu all the time. Sometimes if feels like just my mind comforting (and playing tricks on me). Like first day of high school. The on first day of college I'd think "sure feels like I've done this before."

Other times, I could swear I've done an event before. Almost makes me believe in reincarnation.

 

[jimbee]

Well, this thread corroborates my comments in the bring a horse to water thread.

 

[jollystomper]

I have had 2 experiences that stick to my mind as "strange":

1. When I was 14, I was home alone, in the lower level of the family house. I was reading, everything was off. The door at the top of the stairs was closed. I thought I heard several strong knocks on that door. I walked from another room towards the bottom of the stairs to investigate. I then heard footfalls on the steps, as if someone was walking down them hurriedly. I froze, the footfall sounds continued down the steps towards me, and went silent about am arms length from me. I remember saying "WHOA!", more startled than scared, and just putting my hands straight in front of me, feeling a slight warm breeze, and then nothing. The heat was not on, there were few windows on that lower level, which were all closed and there were walls and doors between any windows and where I was.

2. About 25 years ago we were heading out to some event in the evening. It was a dark and stormy night , lots of thunder, and the rain was pouring down. We were running late, and I was in a snappy mood towards DW and the kids. They were getting into the minivan when DW mentioned she had forgotten something. I told her to get the kids in the car, I would rush back into the house and get it. I'm upstairs locating the item when my cell phone rings. DW is calling from the car, she saying that "a big dog chased us into the van and won't go away, we're scared!". I find the item, come downstairs and outside. Sure enough, there is a big dog outside the side of the minivan. It looked to me like a Siberian Husky. When I come out the dog turns and runs towards me - but in a playful, wail wagging, non threatening way, jumps up and puts its front paws on me, seems to smile, then runs off down the driveway. I walk around the van and get into the drivers side, and the kids in the back row say "Look, the dog is behind us!" I check the rear-view mirror. The dog is sitting behind van, in the rain. I honk the horn, it does not move. I get out the van and approach it, and again it runs towards me in a friendly way, wagging its tail. I get back into the van, and it goes behind it again. This goes on for what seemed like a few minutes. Every time I get into the van it runs behind it, and there is no way for us to drive around it. Finally I approach it, it gives me a couple of friendly barks, and trots down the driveway out of sight into the night. The rain has let up a bit and the thunder has stopped. We drive down the driveway onto our street. leave. At an intersection a mile from our home there is an overturned tractor trailer. It seemed like it was trying to make a right turn onto our street and tipped over. we were the first car from our direction in the intersection and it was right in our path. Other people driving on the rood the truck was turning off off had stopped to check on things, the driver was out, walking around, and was okay. I back up and turn around, to take another route, I tell DW well, we are definitely going to be late. One of the kids says "yeah, that dog held us up". A few minutes later, DW turns me to and says "Would we have been at that intersection when that truck overturned, if it hadn't been for that dog?" I thought about it... and it was very possible. A week later, we attended a neighborhood party. A big topic of conversation was that stormy night as some folks had trees come down. I mentioned seeing a dog out in that area, a husky. No one else had seen it, nor did anyone we spoke to know of any home whom owned a husky in our neighborhood. DW and I regularly walk our neighborhood, several miles, we run into folks walking all kinds of dogs, but never anyone walking a husky. It could have been a coincidence... or not.

 

[ERD50]

... but when I heard the news I immediately recalled the conversation with the psychic and wondered if the psychic had a premonition of her death. I will never forget that.

Sure. But that scene could play out a million times across the world with all the people who claim to be psychic, and when nothing happens, no one remembers. And one in a million times, there will be a connection.

It's not paranormal, it's probability.

-ERD50

 

[cyber888]

Sure. But that scene could play out a million times across the world with all the people who claim to be psychic, and when nothing happens, no one remembers. And one in a million times, there will be a connection.

It's not paranormal, it's probability.

-ERD50

Many people who claim to be psychic are most of the time the fake ones who are there to make money of their self-proclaimed ability.
The ones who have real psychic power don't claim to be psychic readers, and their premonitions are not probabilities - they happen as they see it.

It's hard for most people to discern a real psychic and a fake one. Maybe there's 1 real psychic out of 10,000 fakes. I know a couple and they don't make a living out of it or tell anyone but very close friends. And yes, it is very paranormal.

 

[ratface]

I have had two.

One night I dreamed my FIL was riding a bicycle and fell over and hit his head. He asked me to call an ambulance and I disregarded it. Next morning DW went to visit her dad and found him dead on the kitchen floor, had a heart attack while sitting at the kitchen table and fell over and hit his head on the corner of the microwave. I remember thinking I should have gone with her, I knew he was dead but dismissed it as silliness. I still fell guilty to this day for not calling an ambulance. Never have dreamed of him before or after.

One night while working as a policeman I was ambushed from an overhead railroad pass. I was driving a police vehicle alone. I actually saw the bullets enter through the windshield and actually saw the holes as they passed through the glass. I then saw the individual bullets explode into the passenger headrest. I saw the speckles of glass and fabric floating within the car suspended in the air. This was all happening simultaneously as I was reacting to the entire event in super slowwwwwwwwwwwwwwww motion, communicating via radio and driving a vehicle. My Brain slowed to a crawl allowing me to process each tidbit of fire flash and breaking glass so incredibly slow and in such minute detail as to easily make informed decisions and extricate myself from the situation. I have never been so clear of mind and had so much time to make intelligent choices. It was a whole different time continuum but it happened in the blink of an eye. Just imagine yourself moving in super slow motion but the rest of the world keeps going normally. Perhaps some innate survival response?

 

[Maidensong]

Okay, my personal ghost story...
I shared a bedroom with my sister as a child. We had bunk beds and we also had "something" that I can only describe as a black blob that would appear in the corner of the room. It was so dark as to be opaque and if it began moving toward me, I'd cover my eyes. When I dared open them again, I'd find it back in its corner. This was not an every night occurrence, but often enough to be disturbing. I never told a soul.

Skip several decades and my sister and I are both adults and sitting around our mom's kitchen table. The topic strayed to paranormal sightings and I finally shared what I'd seen. Before I could get the whole story out, my sister interrupted with "And when you closed your eyes, it went back to the corner like it was sorry to have scared you, right?"

My sister had seen the black blob too. Then our mother said, "Girls, we didn't want to tell you, but our neighbor told us that before we owned that house, someone hung himself in the closet of that bedroom."

Well, gee! Thanks, Mom!

 

[prudent_one]

Not exactly paranormal but one odd experience that has stuck with me. Was at a trade show years ago, about 1,000 people. On the exhibitor floor the organizer had brought in a couple of people just for entertainment (close-up magician, and someone who would analyze your handwriting). My colleague and I had a half-hour to kill so I said I wanted to try the handwriting person while she went over to watch the magician.

I had a 20 minute wait for the handwriting person in a short line. She would tell the person what to write, she'd look at it, then talk for a couple minutes to the person (talking 1-1 to the person, not to the crowd) about what she gleaned. My turn came, I wrote what she told me to, looked at it and she got weirdly animated. Not like what I saw with her interactions with the people ahead of me. Told me I had special talents, it was important that I not waste them. Stressed that I should use these skills to help others. Then she went into her purse and pulled out a small silver acorn about the size of a dime. Pressed it into my hand and said whenever I looked at it, let it remind me of our conversation. Thanked me effusively for stopping, said it was the highlight of her day. It was wildly different from the handful of interactions I saw while waiting in line.

I never got worked up that people cannot prove the paranormal. Everything we see/hear gets processed through our own worldview. When we traveled to Africa years ago I could not prove to the people living in the bush that we could use machines to talk to people far away (phones). They had no concept. I don't rule out the paranormal just because no one can prove it. I just admit I cannot know.

 

[braumeister]

When we traveled to Africa years ago I could not prove to the people living in the bush that we could use machines to talk to people far away (phones). They had no concept.

One of Arthur C. Clarke's three laws:

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

 

[mickeyd]

I wholeheartedly believe in UFOs, but ghosts, goblins, bigfoot, "weegie" boards etc., not at all.
There are dozens of retired USAF pilots here at my CCRC and I have asked many about their experiences with UFOs and many have experienced this viewing of UFOs. There are plenty of unidentified things in life.

 

[nap470]

I love this topic and have always been interested but mostly a skeptic. I do believe that more credible evidence regarding UFOs will continue to surface as pilots and astronauts realize that it is no longer career-ending to report unusual sightings. Governments are also beginning to release information.

As for paranormal, I did have my own personal experience that opened my eyes to at least the possibility.
About 10 years ago I was driving my MIL home after she spent Thanksgiving Day at our house. She lived about 40 minutes away. After dropping her off, I was returning home along a road that travels through the outskirts of an IL town. It was about 10PM and it was a bitter cold night. As I came over a small hill, my headlights shined on a small boy (8-10 years old) slowly crossing the road. I slowed down to a stop as he walked 15 ft. in front of my vehicle never paying any attention to me. It was about -5 degrees and he was wearing a short-sleeved baseball uniform. A woman in a car stopped from the other direction and also witnessed it. I heard her call out her window to the boy but no response. When the boy reached the other side of the road, he literally faded and vanished. He never acknowledged either of us being there. I slowly rolled my car forward with my window rolled down and looked at the woman. She had the same look on her face as I'm sure I had. She was crying. She then said "if you plan on reporting this, leave me out of it. I won't back up your story. I do not want people to think I am crazy. We saw what we saw and that is it." I just said "ok" and we drove off. Something I will never forget.

I have been open to the possibilities of paranormal since.

 

[skipro33]

I almost never sleep in, get up soon as the light starts dawn. My bedroom has a door that leads to our patio. One morning when I was about 60 years old, I am wakened around 10am when someone opens this door. It's my mom who passed away when I was 51. She has always been overweight my whole life, but now she's of normal size. She's young, maybe mid 30's and wearing a red with white polka dot dress. I sit up in bed and exclaim MOM, what are you doing here?! She says she doesn't have a lot of time, but wanted to stop in to say hi. She said she's on her way to help Bill. Bill is my uncle, my dad's brother. She gives me a hug and kiss and I can smell her and feel her. She leaves out the door and the next thing I know, I wake up. It's 10am. I can still smell her on my shirt and in the room. I feel completely happy and I'm filled with joy. After getting up, I get a text that my Uncle Bill has passed away this morning.
I don't know what took place, but meeting my mom was very real to me. I've never seen her at that age I can recall and I have no photos of her as the young woman I saw, but it was obvious to me that it was my mom.

 

[tmm99]

I almost never sleep in, get up soon as the light starts dawn. My bedroom has a door that leads to our patio. One morning when I was about 60 years old, I am wakened around 10am when someone opens this door. It's my mom who passed away when I was 51. She has always been overweight my whole life, but now she's of normal size. She's young, maybe mid 30's and wearing a red with white polka dot dress. I sit up in bed and exclaim MOM, what are you doing here?! She says she doesn't have a lot of time, but wanted to stop in to say hi. She said she's on her way to help Bill. Bill is my uncle, my dad's brother. She gives me a hug and kiss and I can smell her and feel her. She leaves out the door and the next thing I know, I wake up. It's 10am. I can still smell her on my shirt and in the room. I feel completely happy and I'm filled with joy. After getting up, I get a text that my Uncle Bill has passed away this morning.
I don't know what took place, but meeting my mom was very real to me. I've never seen her at that age I can recall and I have no photos of her as the young woman I saw, but it was obvious to me that it was my mom.

Thank you for sharing your story. It brought me to tears... It's a comforting story.

 

[habelsgtb]

When our daughter was about 8 she was sleeping in her room but awakened by walking in the hallway. She had to go to the bathroom but was scared to get out of bed. Once the footsteps stopped she went to the bathroom. We have a Hollywood on suite bathroom where one door leads to the hallway and the other to our bedroom. She witnessed a glowing orb figure over our bed and then came towards her. She ran back to her bed afraid under the covers. In the morning when it was light out she rushed into our bedroom to tell us. I had her draw what it to see what it looked like. We found out later that morning her great grandmother had passed at the time she saw the orb. We think it was her saying goodbye after checking on us.

 

[mystang52]

I wholeheartedly believe in UFOs, but ghosts, goblins, bigfoot, "weegie" boards etc., not at all.
There are dozens of retired USAF pilots here at my CCRC and I have asked many about their experiences with UFOs and many have experienced this viewing of UFOs. There are plenty of unidentified things in life.

I attended a lecture by Neil Tyson, and during the Q&A one person asked about UFO's. The questioner mentioned that there are many intelligent, sane, people who seriously believe they witnessed such things. Tyson's response was excellent. He was respectful, but also pointed out that it takes more than belief; it takes proof.
In the literal sense, there are "UFO's" in that maybe they are unidentified. But that is not proof.
I respect all of the people who have commented on this thread, and their sincerity, but I'm skeptical of all paranormal and UFO claims.

 

[braumeister]

Yes, it's important to realize that "unidentified" just means we don't know what it is. That's not the same as "unexplainable".

When I was in the air defense radar business 50+ years ago there were a lot of unidentified aerial objects. Sometimes we would send an aircraft up there to see what it was, and that was usually, but not always, successful.

There are also "artifacts" that can cause a lot of confusion. I remember one Christmas Eve when the computerized radar screens showed a massive formation of unknown aircraft coming down from the North Pole across Canada heading straight for the heart of the United States. Possibly the entire fleet of Soviet bombers. Chaos for a few moments. Then it resolved into individual letter forms that spelled out "MERRY XMAS". It was a rogue programmer who put that into the system for a bit of fun.

See post #109 above.

 

[timo2]

Regarding Paranormal, as an adult, my primary ones are at the Hotel Colorado in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. That is a haunted hotel. There was lots of sensory awareness of other whatevers hanging around. The hotel used to ignore the haunted history, but one stay we gave a worker cash to give us a haunted tour. Since then I've noticed the hotel has its own official tours. But what wasn't on the tour was the paranormal feelings in the hallway outside our room.

 

[ugeauxgirl]

There is a haunted hotel in hot springs Arkansas. My mom stayed there and experienced some wierd stuff. She's a skeptic and I believe her.

I would even PAY to experience any kind of paranormal stuff. I've always wanted to see ghosts, UFO's, encounters with angels, strange occurrences like lights flickering or electronics acting wacky or my cats growling for no reason, as some people have experienced, but nothing for me, nada. Maybe things like that do not happen to me because they know I would freak out and sh*t in my pants, so they're leaving me alone.

But one can still hope...

I'm not joking. I'm serious. I want to see something tangible enough that it would freak me out.

Well, there's one thing actually - I don't even know if this qualifies as anything, but I went to a United Way fundraiser event, maybe it was 1995 or 1994, and I watched this African American looking guy, a reverend (or someone like that), speak. And I could see a golden halo around his head to around his shoulders. Mind you, I'm not religious. I'm not even sure what he talked about, but I remember that he was a great speaker, you know, the emotive kind. Maybe I was experiencing a silent migraine, but the thing was only around his head and nobody else's.

 

[ugeauxgirl]

There were a few stories like this in the thread. This happened to my husband the night his grandad died. He dreamed his grandad was in the room with us and sensed that his grandad wanted him to be happy. He told me about it because it's unusual for him to have (or remember) dreams. Later that morning he received the call that his grandad had died.

My sister has had several premonitions that were a little hard to explain. She woke up in the middle of the night to find our grandmother sitting on the edge of her bed smiling at her (grandma lived in another town). The next morning my dad called her to say grandma had died in her sleep. On another occasion she and her friend were on a road trip and exited the highway to get gas. Upon arrival she got a bad feeling and said "go down the street to a different station." When they subsequently passed by the original gas station to get back on the highway, the station was surrounded by law enforcement vehicles responding to a robbery in progress.
She has had a number of these kinds of premonitions. Unfortunately her gift does not extend to stock picking or lottery number guessing.

 

[tmm99]

Regarding Paranormal, as an adult, my primary ones are at the Hotel Colorado in Glenwood Springs, Colorado. That is a haunted hotel. There was lots of sensory awareness of other whatevers hanging around. The hotel used to ignore the haunted history, but one stay we gave a worker cash to give us a haunted tour. Since then I've noticed the hotel has its own official tours. But what wasn't on the tour was the paranormal feelings in the hallway outside our room.

Dang. I was at that hotel too a couple of times, but I didn't experience anything. Maybe I'm just dense. I didn't even know it was supposed to be haunted. All I remember is antique furniture throughout the hotel and the Thai curry soup in their restaurant was excellent.

 

[Qs Laptop]

One night while working as a policeman I was ambushed from an overhead railroad pass. I was driving a police vehicle alone. I actually saw the bullets enter through the windshield and actually saw the holes as they passed through the glass. I then saw the individual bullets explode into the passenger headrest. I saw the speckles of glass and fabric floating within the car suspended in the air. This was all happening simultaneously as I was reacting to the entire event in super slowwwwwwwwwwwwwwww motion, communicating via radio and driving a vehicle. My Brain slowed to a crawl allowing me to process each tidbit of fire flash and breaking glass so incredibly slow and in such minute detail as to easily make informed decisions and extricate myself from the situation. I have never been so clear of mind and had so much time to make intelligent choices. It was a whole different time continuum but it happened in the blink of an eye. Just imagine yourself moving in super slow motion but the rest of the world keeps going normally. Perhaps some innate survival response?

I had this exact same super slow motion effect happen to me when I was in a car accident years ago. It was about 7:30 am and I was traveling west on a street going about 20 mph when a car traveling north on a cross street struck my car. I couldn't see the approaching car because of a large pine tree on the corner blocking my view. It would have been a classic T-bone collision but at the last split second I saw the incoming vehicle and started to turn to the right to avoid it. This other car hit me on the rear quarter panel of the driver's side of my car and creased my car all the way up through the driver door.

From the time the car was about two feet from hitting me until the two cars disengaged from each other I experienced everything happening in super slow motion. I remember clearly thinking, "this guy's going to hit me, turn to the right" and as his car walked up the side of my car everything that played out seemed to take about 10 seconds or so, but in real time it might have been 2 seconds. I calmly saw I was going to be hit and there was this incredible feeling of control and sense that I was doing the correct maneuver to avoid getting hurt. It seemed like there was no sound, that is, I can't remember hearing anything, but immediately after the collision time snapped back into the normal frame of reference and sound returned. My car was totaled (it was several years old) but I was perfectly fine.

Not sure if this is a paranormal experience or not. I always chalked it up to a burst of adrenaline that allowed my brain to shift into overdrive and think clearly and super quickly. I suspect a side effect of the amped up brain processing speed is the feeling of time dilation.

As to UFO's, I don't think they are aliens piloting ships. They're just unidentified flying objects, from earth, or possibly faulty radar readings. I think psychics are fake. Premonitions of relatives dying are reported so, so many times, including from credible people in my family and friends of mine that I believe there is something going on here. I don't doubt people's stories about guardian angels nor do I automatically believe them, I do weigh them carefully.

 

[easysurfer]

...

Not sure if this is a paranormal experience or not. I always chalked it up to a burst of adrenaline that allowed my brain to shift into overdrive and think clearly and super quickly. I suspect a side effect of the amped up brain processing speed is the feeling of time dilation.

....

I'm going with the burst of adrenaline.

I had a similar incident driving in a blizzard where vehicles were sliding all over the place. This van ahead of me lost control and looked like I was going to die crashing into it. I pressed the brake, the ABS brakes pumping, me saying a prayer thinking 'this is it". Felt like a long time and ended out the my car stopped about 5 feet before making impact. Everything felt like slow motion and taking a long time.

I believe star athletes can seemingly slow the action around them down so the perform in the clutch.

I did have another incident this time losing control of my car on the freeway tires screeching and all. Saw my life literally start to flash before myself like a movie projector before I regained control. I always wonder i that was something paranormal or once again the adrenaline kicking in.

 

[timo2]

Dang. I was at that hotel too a couple of times, but I didn't experience anything. Maybe I'm just dense. I didn't even know it was supposed to be haunted. All I remember is antique furniture throughout the hotel and the Thai curry soup in their restaurant was excellent.

Some of the times I stayed there i felt nothing. The last couple of times it was clearly haunted. But others in the party felt nothing. My wife did notice the presences the last time, and it totally creeped her out. And after that I noticed some residual energy activity from lots of people, not haunting, over in the Hotel Denver in Glenwood Springs when I stayed there. I think I become more receptive with age as I slowed down and noticed things more.

One thing this official hotel summary doesn't mention is Ted Bundy hid out in the basement after escaping from a jail in Colorado. He avoided police and moved on.

https://www.hotelcolorado.com/blog/ghost-stories-of-the-hotel-colorado

 

[Qs Laptop]

I have a lot, A LOT of episodes of deja vu. For example, I might be at the dinner table and listening to a conversation when all of a sudden the thought will pop into my head, and next my son is going to say "I have a quiz on Friday in calculus" and then my wife is going to reach for a napkin and knock over the salt shaker. And then within seconds those two exact things happen in sequence. I would guess things like this happen at least once a month. I've never had false episodes, or if I have, they are extremely rare and I don't remember them.

I don't consider deja vu to be paranormal events. It is freaky, though. Does anyone think they are paranormal?

I also have a lot of happenings that I call synchronicity. For example, when is the last time you thought of Laurel and Hardy? Or the 80's pop band Flock of Seagulls? Or someone falling down a well? Or <pick something relatively obscure>?

Well, I might have an experience like this, all in one day. My wife will be talking about how her dad used to be a big Laurel and Hardy fan, then I'll be flicking through the channels on TV and come across a show about Laurel and Hardy. Then later that night I'll be reading a book and some character will label a couple of cops, as being Laurel and Hardy because one is fat and one is thin.

Repeat the same pattern for the band Flock of Seagulls--I might see a flock of seagulls, I might hear a song by Flock of Seagulls, and I might see something on TV where a character uses the phrase "flock of seagulls."

This happens to me about twice a month. Is it paranormal? I don't think so, but it's extremely weird. My family thinks I'm strange.

 

[Steeler75]

Okay, I have three instances to offer; the first two I was alone and the second with DW.

1. Had just finished working on a friend’s car and walked back to my 69 Ford Maverick by myself to put my tool box in the trunk before going home. My car was parked on the street. As I opened the trunk (which did not have a light) I thought to myself I sure could use a light to see where to put this tool box. Suddenly, the fog lights on the truck parked behind me turned on... at first, it was nice to see and I placed the box in. Then it hit me. I turned around to see the lights on the truck, went to check the doors and they were locked!

2. Came home from work and went into my walk-in closet (no door on it) then walked over to the bathroom to relieve myself after the long commute home. As I sat there, a Mylar ballon which was in my closet followed me into the bathroom, dipping below two door seals and making two 90 degree turns to get there. I thought to myself, if you are a friendly spirit please go back. It stopped, and went back into the closet!!! I was dumbfounded.

3. Sitting in my backyard with DW gazing into the night sky looking for satellites flying by, when I noticed a large triangle shaped object with three glowing cells below it (I guess engines?) moving very slowing low across the sky. It was running silently - no sound. Hard to see as it seemed to absorb the orange street lights. The thing was very large, but moved out of sight with no engine noise at all. You almost had to unfocus your eyes to see it as it seemed to reflect it’s surroundings. For those of you who have seen the movie the predator, it was like the predator when in invisible mode. DW was there and saw it too. UFO.

Last item which may be considered is I had a vision one night of my child being born, and a voice telling me that we will have a daughter. My wife wasn’t pregnant and we weren’t trying to conceive. DW expecting a few months later and we chose not to know the sex. The delivery room experience was exactly the vision I saw earlier. I told the delivery doctor I knew the sex even though it was not disclosed. She confirmed my vision when my daughter came out.

All true stories over several decades of my life.