Paranormal stories

[ERD50]

.... I do understand the skepticism. But if people are telling the truth, there is more than we understand going on in these incidents. YMMV again.

For me, it's not about anyone "telling the truth" or not. Everyone talking about these events seems serious, I'm sure they are telling the "truth". I put "truth" in quotes, and I'm serious about it, not trying to be funny or condescending. If you experience something, and that something is now embedded in your brain, that becomes "your truth". What else do we have? Here's an example to illustrate (no pun intended):

There's a famous drawing, an optical illusion of a checkerboard with an object casting a shadow on part of the board. Square A and Square B are the same shade, though Square A appears much darker. Even when I know this, I can't 'see' it w/o using a piece of paper with a hole in it to view the squares w/o the surrounding shades (or use a color picker on the computer!). Without the explanation, my 'reality', my 'truth' is that A is darker than B. I'm not lying, I'm not crazy. It's what I believe.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checker_shadow_illusion

Now if you observed that outside of the context of being an optical illusion, and lets say you had a reason to study it for a while, and embed it in your memory. I'm certain that you would remember Square A being darker than Square B. It's your 'truth' even though it isn't so.

There is no way to disprove something 'mystical' about what people have described, you can't prove a negative. All I'm saying is, I see some pretty rational explanations for all of it.

It's impressive that Qs Laptop's wife heard and then (edit, maybe this was a weird example, but I typed 'ten' instead of 'then' and didn't catch it until I re-read my post - see the '10' in the next phrase - was my mind 'seeing ' ahead?) saw his premonition, but with a lifetime of 10 events (but only a very few witnessed?), I lean towards thinking that he's had many of these, and remembers only the ones that came to pass. That is human nature. I could be wrong, we can't settle this here, but that's my leaning. I've definitely had the experience of suddenly noticing a certain model car after buying one, or considering it. Those cars were there all the time, now I notice, only my perception changed. Same way with a new vocabulary word, never heard that word before that I can recall, then I hear it three times in two days. Certainly, this is just a perception thing.

.... Maybe there is some connection between people. Telepathy? I don't know. But, why not? ... But there seems to be a connection that we don't fully understand. Why not some connection between people that not everyone has or has noticed. Just spit balling here, so YMMV. ....

Perhaps there is. I can't rule it out. But so far, any scientific study of it has failed to uncover anything. Doesn't mean it doesn't exist, but...

-ERD50

 

[Rianne]

I believe in the scientific process too. But also leave wide open that there are plenty of things that may be happening that we just may never understand.

Figure, probably since the start of time there's always been the scientific, spiritual and paranormal. One trying to disprove the other is pretty much a losing battle.

Another dimension to your observation is the human brain is far more complicated than we understand. A good friend, who happens to be our neighbor, is a psychiatrist/neurologist and admitted this to DH/me. He's retired now, but was in the field for 30+ years and also taught as a Ph.D., MD at a medical school. Who knows what signals and information we're getting and from where...science, spirituality, the universe, aliens? And then there's the 4th dimension.

 

[easysurfer]

Another dimension to your observation is the human brain is far more complicated than we understand. A good friend, who happens to be our neighbor, is a psychiatrist/neurologist and admitted this to DH/me. He's retired now, but was in the field for 30+ years and also taught as a Ph.D., MD at a medical school. Who knows what signals and information we're getting and from where...science, spirituality, the universe, aliens? And then there's the 4th dimension.

Good points.

Speaking of dimensions, humans can only perceive 3. But maybe we are just the carp in a pond thinking only what we can perceive is real but actually there's a whole lotta else out there.

Michio Kaku the theoretical physicist explains things so beautifully.

https://closertotruth.com/video/kakmi-001/

 

[Rianne]

Good points.

Speaking of dimensions, humans can only perceive 3. But maybe we are just the carp in a pond thinking only what we can perceive is real but actually there's a whole lotta else out there.

Michio Kaku the theoretical physicist explains things so beautifully.

https://closertotruth.com/video/kakmi-001/

Great link! Thanks. This is a good discussion there as well.
https://closertotruth.com/video/sara-manning-peskin-on-the-deepest-mysteries-of-our-brains/

 

[easysurfer]

Great link! Thanks. This is a good discussion there as well.
https://closertotruth.com/video/sara-manning-peskin-on-the-deepest-mysteries-of-our-brains/

Thanks. Love the topic of our brains. Will have to give the video a watch.

 

[ERD50]

... Figure, probably since the start of time there's always been the scientific, spiritual and paranormal. One trying to disprove the other is pretty much a losing battle.

How do you mean that the scientific trying to disprove anything is "pretty much a losing battle."?

Science has disproved many, many things that were once held to be true. Galileo and heliocentrism, and thousands of other examples of science winning out over 'beliefs'.

-ERD50

 

[Koolau]

For me, it's not about anyone "telling the truth" or not. Everyone talking about these events seems serious, I'm sure they are telling the "truth". I put "truth" in quotes, and I'm serious about it, not trying to be funny or condescending. If you experience something, and that something is now embedded in your brain, that becomes "your truth". What else do we have? Here's an example to illustrate (no pun intended):

There's a famous drawing, an optical illusion of a checkerboard with an object casting a shadow on part of the board. Square A and Square B are the same shade, though Square A appears much darker. Even when I know this, I can't 'see' it w/o using a piece of paper with a hole in it to view the squares w/o the surrounding shades (or use a color picker on the computer!). Without the explanation, my 'reality', my 'truth' is that A is darker than B. I'm not lying, I'm not crazy. It's what I believe.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checker_shadow_illusion

Now if you observed that outside of the context of being an optical illusion, and lets say you had a reason to study it for a while, and embed it in your memory. I'm certain that you would remember Square A being darker than Square B. It's your 'truth' even though it isn't so.

There is no way to disprove something 'mystical' about what people have described, you can't prove a negative. All I'm saying is, I see some pretty rational explanations for all of it.

It's impressive that Qs Laptop's wife heard and then (edit, maybe this was a weird example, but I typed 'ten' instead of 'then' and didn't catch it until I re-read my post - see the '10' in the next phrase - was my mind 'seeing ' ahead?) saw his premonition, but with a lifetime of 10 events (but only a very few witnessed?), I lean towards thinking that he's had many of these, and remembers only the ones that came to pass. That is human nature. I could be wrong, we can't settle this here, but that's my leaning. I've definitely had the experience of suddenly noticing a certain model car after buying one, or considering it. Those cars were there all the time, now I notice, only my perception changed. Same way with a new vocabulary word, never heard that word before that I can recall, then I hear it three times in two days. Certainly, this is just a perception thing.



Perhaps there is. I can't rule it out. But so far, any scientific study of it has failed to uncover anything. Doesn't mean it doesn't exist, but...

-ERD50

I see no correlation between such optical illusion demonstrations and experiences such as I described. No big deal. I had no illusions that I would convince you or anyone else that such experiences are real.

Once again, if you haven't experienced it, you probably won't accept it. Not good or bad, just the way it is.

FWIW I've seen all the videos on (What are they calling UFOs now?) and I still don't believe extraterrestrials are visiting us. No idea what the videos are revealing, but my gut says no self-respecting extraterrestrial would travel here (breaking all known physics laws) just to shoot around our skies. YMMV

 

[ERD50]

I see no correlation between such optical illusion demonstrations and experiences such as I described. ...

The point was, our senses can deceive us. What we see to be "true" and "real" isn't always the case. Or as Scrooge said:

Because ... a little thing affects them. A slight disorder of the stomach makes them cheats. You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of an underdone potato.

... Once again, if you haven't experienced it, ...

What I'm saying (and have no way of knowing, this is just a friendly discussion), is maybe the people making these claims didn't actually experience it either. In your story, you mentioned how tired you were,

So, by 8AM I was tired. I was so tired I remember leaving the parking lot but nothing else until I pulled into my drive way 20+ minutes later.

I parked in the drive and got out of my car. I was so sleepy I could barely walk.

Being that tired could certainly affect your senses and memory and trigger strange dreams. Nothing wrong with that, it's just how it is. It seems real to you, but maybe it happened a little differently (or maybe not)?

...but my gut says no self-respecting extraterrestrial would travel here (breaking all known physics laws) just to shoot around our skies. YMMV

That reminds me that some comedian went on about how the 'crashed space ship' conspiracy theories never seem to take into account the discrepancy of a civilization so advanced this they could travel all this way, but don't know how to land w/o crashing! And as you say, why the heck would they want to come here anyway?

-ERD50

 

[Rianne]

If you scroll down to #6, you'll see how insignificant our little planet is in the universe. When you think about it, humans are finite beings that certainly won't be around for long. Enjoy Earth while it's still here!
https://www.space.com/james-webb-space-telescope-12-amazing-discoveries

 

[Koolau]

Being that tired could certainly affect your senses and memory and trigger strange dreams. Nothing wrong with that, it's just how it is. It seems real to you, but maybe it happened a little differently (or maybe not)?

-ERD50

I completely agree about the strange dreams, but not the appearance at my door of someone I had not seen in 10 years following such a vivid dream. That the person came to my door is quite clear to me and was not part of a dream. The guy even borrowed a shovel from me to dig for worms. I had to go retrieve the shovel later which irritated me a bit. I have very clear memories of those experiences. The "dream" or "trance" or "day dream" is certainly open to interpretation, but I do remember it well after almost 50 years. YMMV

Probably not worth arguing about because my "story's" veracity depends not only on whether I'm telling the truth but on whether anyone hearing it believes it since I have no proof. It would be laughed out of court, so it is merely an artifact in the ether of my memories.



All these experiences folks have revealed here have those elements in common. They can not be proven and the experiences are too fantastic to take at face value. It comes down to one's faith in the teller's truthfulness. That's a high bar since the "stories" are fantastic.



If someone told you that they went to the store and bought a bottle of water, you would likely have no more proof of that than you would one of these "paranormal" stories. BUT you would tend to believe them because it COULD happen in your opinion. Once you have decided that paranormal events don't happen, your mind closes off the possibility of "objective truth." Kind of a waste of time from then on to debate the veracity of a story. YMMV

 

[ERD50]

... Probably not worth arguing about because my "story's" veracity depends not only on whether I'm telling the truth but on whether anyone hearing it believes it since I have no proof.

.... All these experiences folks have revealed here have those elements in common. They can not be proven and the experiences are too fantastic to take at face value. It comes down to one's faith in the teller's truthfulness. That's a high bar since the "stories" are fantastic.

... If someone told you that they went to the store and bought a bottle of water, you would likely have no more proof of that than you would one of these "paranormal" stories. BUT you would tend to believe them because it COULD happen in your opinion. Once you have decided that paranormal events don't happen, your mind closes off the possibility of "objective truth." Kind of a waste of time from then on to debate the veracity of a story. YMMV

I guess I'm still not getting my point across. It's not about 'believing' someone's story or not, and I have not decided that 'paranormal events' (or whatever we call them) don't happen (but I am skeptical by nature, and do question many, many things). I have no way to prove/disprove anything.

What I continue to say is - I can see pretty reasonable explanations for many things that people want to attribute to the "paranormal". Whether my explanations are correct or not is unknown, but I do put a great deal of faith on Occam's Razor.

... I completely agree about the strange dreams, but not the appearance at my door of someone I had not seen in 10 years following such a vivid dream. That the person came to my door is quite clear to me and was not part of a dream. The guy even borrowed a shovel from me to dig for worms. I had to go retrieve the shovel later which irritated me a bit. I have very clear memories of those experiences. The "dream" or "trance" or "day dream" is certainly open to interpretation, but I do remember it well after almost 50 years. YMMV

And all I'm saying is, being as tired as you were, maybe the dream occurred *after* the guy came to your door (explains how the dream clothes matched his visit). Maybe you went back to sleep, had the dream, and later recalled the dream as happening *before* he came to your door. That does not seem far-fetched to me, under the circumstances of being that tired especially.

Again, no proof/disproof on my end, I'm not questioning that you believe it happened in the order you described, I'm only suggesting that your tired state may have confused the timing in your mind, and your memory since then re-enforced that order.

I personally know how a 'memory' gets re-enforced until it is believed. Many years ago, I was getting disturbing phone calls from a crazy, potentially dangerous, family member, and I had asked him to stop all communication with me. I recorded some of the messages he left. Over the years I would swear he used a specific disturbing phrase in a specific message I recorded. I could hear it in my mind. I would swear to you that he used that exact phrase. I could hear every detail of it, and his tone of voice. Well, 10 years or so after that, the issue came up again, and I dug up that recording (backed up with my computer files). Hmmm, I couldn't find the phrase I was thinking of. There was similar context, but not the exact phrase that I "remembered" in vivid detail. It didn't exist! I had 'remembered' it, and it got re-enforced in my mind over time. And the recording I had was clearly the one I thought had that phrase on it.

Had I not had that recording to disprove my memory, I would still swear to this day that he said that exact phrase on that message, and I'd be wrong. Our minds/memories are complicated. Maybe the stress surrounding those harassing calls played a part in my faulty memory, but I was wide awake, sober, etc. when I first heard it.

It was kind of unsettling to realize my memory was off like that. Now someone else might attribute that to a 'paranormal event' that edited the tape? I'm going with my friend Occam, and say I misremembered.

-ERD50

 

[easysurfer]

... Once you have decided that paranormal events don't happen, your mind closes off the possibility of "objective truth." Kind of a waste of time from then on to debate the veracity of a story. YMMV

Agreed.

For those that adopt the principle that paranormal events don't happen, then with regards to death, either they are agnostic, atheists or hypocrites (if they believe there is such a thing as a divine being or afterlife since there is just faith, not objective proof).

 

[Teacher Terry]

I don’t believe in god but having some weird paranormal experiences makes me wonder if people that have passed can communicate in some way although my logical mind says we die and that’s it.

 

[Car-Guy]

If you scroll down to #6, you'll see how insignificant our little planet is in the universe. When you think about it, humans are finite beings that certainly won't be around for long. Enjoy Earth while it's still here!
https://www.space.com/james-webb-space-telescope-12-amazing-discoveries

+1 Makes me want to increase my spend rate now.

 

[Dean56]

Here's one of my favorite ghost stories. The story is told by Tom Arnold the actor. He claims the house he grew up in was haunted.

His story is in the 1st segment of this video.

 

[Koolau]

I guess I'm still not getting my point across. It's not about 'believing' someone's story or not, and I have not decided that 'paranormal events' (or whatever we call them) don't happen (but I am skeptical by nature, and do question many, many things). I have no way to prove/disprove anything.

What I continue to say is - I can see pretty reasonable explanations for many things that people want to attribute to the "paranormal". Whether my explanations are correct or not is unknown, but I do put a great deal of faith on Occam's Razor.



And all I'm saying is, being as tired as you were, maybe the dream occurred *after* the guy came to your door (explains how the dream clothes matched his visit). Maybe you went back to sleep, had the dream, and later recalled the dream as happening *before* he came to your door. That does not seem far-fetched to me, under the circumstances of being that tired especially.

Again, no proof/disproof on my end, I'm not questioning that you believe it happened in the order you described, I'm only suggesting that your tired state may have confused the timing in your mind, and your memory since then re-enforced that order.

I personally know how a 'memory' gets re-enforced until it is believed. Many years ago, I was getting disturbing phone calls from a crazy, potentially dangerous, family member, and I had asked him to stop all communication with me. I recorded some of the messages he left. Over the years I would swear he used a specific disturbing phrase in a specific message I recorded. I could hear it in my mind. I would swear to you that he used that exact phrase. I could hear every detail of it, and his tone of voice. Well, 10 years or so after that, the issue came up again, and I dug up that recording (backed up with my computer files). Hmmm, I couldn't find the phrase I was thinking of. There was similar context, but not the exact phrase that I "remembered" in vivid detail. It didn't exist! I had 'remembered' it, and it got re-enforced in my mind over time. And the recording I had was clearly the one I thought had that phrase on it.

Had I not had that recording to disprove my memory, I would still swear to this day that he said that exact phrase on that message, and I'd be wrong. Our minds/memories are complicated. Maybe the stress surrounding those harassing calls played a part in my faulty memory, but I was wide awake, sober, etc. when I first heard it.

It was kind of unsettling to realize my memory was off like that. Now someone else might attribute that to a 'paranormal event' that edited the tape? I'm going with my friend Occam, and say I misremembered.

-ERD50

I can assure you that the dream was before. As I mentioned, the sudden "almost running into someone" woke me up from my "trance." That's not something I would forget.



I understand your skepticism. I really do.

 

[cyber888]

Have any of you had a personal paranormal event you would care to share?

Oh wow, I have sooo many. I'll talk about some.

I had powers of healing and clairvoyancy developed when I was younger, and I had to turn them off since I wanted to achieve higher education and financial success, and not live in two planes of existence. I healed a man who could not walk temporarily. I saw ghosts twice - one was a silhouette figure and the other had half a body.

When I had those paranormal gifts, me and my friends tried to heal a possessed woman, who was possessed by a demon/malignant entity. She was stronger than 5 people and threw us off easily. We were able to get the entity out temporarily. But after a few months, we heard she was dead. The evil entity got her.

I saw 9-11 happened before it happened. Saw a plane crash in Washington DC in my dreams. I woke up sweating. Then it happened. Yes, premonition.

But now, after doing some bit of traveling, I'll get back to daily yogic meditation and maybe all those paranormal powers will come back.
I was good at dream meditation - had the power to remember all my dreams for 3 - 4 months every single day, when I woke up and focused of remembering, to the point that I could be in control during dream state.

 

[Koolau]

Oh wow, I have sooo many. I'll talk about some.

I had powers of healing and clairvoyancy developed when I was younger, and I had to turn them off since I wanted to achieve higher education and financial success, and not live in two planes of existence. I healed a man who could not walk temporarily. I saw ghosts twice - one was a silhouette figure and the other had half a body.

When I had those paranormal gifts, me and my friends tried to heal a possessed woman, who was possessed by a demon/malignant entity. She was stronger than 5 people and threw us off easily. We were able to get the entity out temporarily. But after a few months, we heard she was dead. The evil entity got her.

I saw 9-11 happened before it happened. Saw a plane crash in Washington DC in my dreams. I woke up sweating. Then it happened. Yes, premonition.

But now, after doing some bit of traveling, I'll get back to daily yogic meditation and maybe all those paranormal powers will come back.
I was good at dream meditation - had the power to remember all my dreams for 3 - 4 months every single day, when I woke up and focused of remembering, to the point that I could be in control during dream state.

Honestly, though I believe in the paranormal - I would not actively participate in it if I had a choice. Those things I mentioned were not something I would seek out. I don't want any part of it in reality.

 

[ERD50]

Oh wow, I have sooo many. I'll talk about some.

I had powers of healing and clairvoyancy developed when I was younger, and I had to turn them off since I wanted to achieve higher education and financial success, and not live in two planes of existence. I healed a man who could not walk temporarily. I saw ghosts twice - one was a silhouette figure and the other had half a body.

When I had those paranormal gifts, me and my friends tried to heal a possessed woman, ... We were able to get the entity out temporarily. ....

I'm curious about a few things:

Why did you feel you had to "turn off" powers of healing to " achieve higher education and financial success"? Why not do both?

With the capability to heal people, why would you want to "turn off" these powers?

...We were able to get the entity out temporarily. But after a few months, we heard she was dead. The evil entity got her. ...

Why do you attribute her death to an 'evil entity'? Could there be another explanation for her death, was an autopsy performed?

...I saw 9-11 happened before it happened. Saw a plane crash in Washington DC in my dreams. I woke up sweating. Then it happened. Yes, premonition. ....

Do you feel this premonition could have been acted on in any positive way? Have you had other premonitions that allowed you to interfere for good?

-ERD50

 

[Badger]

Back in the late 60s my college invited a clairvoyant/clairaudient to speak. Interesting presentation. I was sitting in the first row and had a specific question for him that he said he would address later. I had not spoken a word and had only raised my hand. He later came back and gave me the specific answer.
Another student that I knew asked the speaker how many siblings he had. He had a large family. The speaker replied with the exact number of brothers and sisters. My friend said that was wrong but later asked his mother and was told she had a miscarriage of a female child. Then the answer was correct. Kind of freaky.

Cheers!

 

[Teacher Terry]

My mom had various paranormal experiences throughout her life and she wished she didn’t. She saw a few ghosts. She always could feel when people close to her were going to die. When I left the local area for my career I made her promise that if she ever felt my dad was dying she had to tell me so I could get home.

Two weeks after I started my job with the state she had the feeling. She called me Sunday night and Monday morning I went to work and told them I needed emergency leave for a week. My boss arranged it and I was home by Tuesday morning and my dad died Friday morning.

When my mom was 89 I went home to visit because she had cancer. She told me she knew that she would be dead soon because both her parents were visiting a lot. She wasn’t on any pain medication and we were still going places and doing things. She died a month later.

 

[ERD50]

Back in the late 60s my college invited a clairvoyant/clairaudient to speak. Interesting presentation. I was sitting in the first row and had a specific question for him that he said he would address later. I had not spoken a word and had only raised my hand. He later came back and gave me the specific answer.
Another student that I knew asked the speaker how many siblings he had. He had a large family. The speaker replied with the exact number of brothers and sisters. My friend said that was wrong but later asked his mother and was told she had a miscarriage of a female child. Then the answer was correct. Kind of freaky.

Cheers!

Reminds me of a joke:

A headline you never see: "Clairvoyant wins the Lottery!"

-ERD50

 

[COcheesehead]

Friends had a party and invited a psychic there. He told me all kinds of things. None of which ever happened.

Here’s one that is interesting. I was in Chicago early in my career to meet with my boss’s, boss’s, boss about a transfer to Denver. We were walking around downtown Evanston the night before and saw I shop where you could get your tarot cards read. So we both had a reading down. The card reader told me she saw the Pacific Northwest in my future. I said, no we are moving to Denver soon. She said, OK.
The next day I had my meeting. I sat down thinking we were going to discuss Denver. He said, well, we’ve had a change in thought and we are thinking about sending you to Seattle instead. Duh!

 

[REWahoo]

Reminds me of a joke:

A headline you never see: "Clairvoyant wins the Lottery!"

Or the classic help wanted ad: "Clairvoyant wanted. You know where to apply."

 

[Car-Guy]

So I was at the casinos this weekend and I was thinking of this thread, so I "called on the spirits" to have the cards/dice/ball do what I wanted them to do... Turned out about normal. Won some, lost more.