Paranormal Experiences

[Escher]

Put them here!

First hand experiece with a Ghost? Alien? Bigfoot? Loch Ness?

We all want to hear!

<queue X-files music here>

[Chiffonade]

The only thing I can contribute here may have all been in my head but here goes.

My favorite cousin died of AIDS at age 29. He had a brief but deadly romance with intravenous drugs, kicked it (at one of those 28 days places) and was working on Wall Street when he died.

One of his most shining musical achievements was to teach himself the song Classical Gas by Mason Williams on the guitar. He knew it note for note.

Fast forward to about three years after his death.

My clock radio goes off to wake me for work. The NY radio show I listened to at the time used to have a tiny spot called "45 Box" where they played a song from a zillion years ago that was a single. It was dark. Other than the radio, it was quiet. What song comes on 45 Box? Classical Gas. While I normally just slam the clock and jump into action (shower, etc.), I stood there and listened to every last note and I swear it felt as though he was in the room. I felt oddly calmed by this.

[Escher]

One UFO encounter of mine....
not necessarily paranormal....just unexplained:

I was in middle school..... saw 4 dots in the sky.... white lights... in constant postion relative to one another (formation)... moved erratically from location to location quite quickly, then would stop for 20 seconds or so... my 2 friends and I watched them for about 3 minutes. They were so far away, we couldn't see anything, detail wise.... they looked just like stars, except it was daytime. But it was decidedly unusual, I haven't seen anything similar ever again.

Not exactly earth-shattering, but that's all I've got for ya!

[Melman]

My one experience is totally far-fetched, but it's a fun tale. Years ago, I was sitting in my office at work trading stories with a friend of mine. She was telling me about being in college and about a Ouija board they kept in a closet. She got to the part where she was telling me about the closet doors shaking and making racket...when they opened the door, the Ouija board fell on the floor.

THAT wasn't so strange in itself, but right at that exact moment, my phone rang. I answered it. Nobody was there. We just sort of looked at each other.

Fast forward another few months, I had changed offices and was sitting in my new office talking to someone and we somehow ended up on this same subject. I was relaying the story of the closet doors and then about my phone ringing...at the exact moment, a vase with a few flowers in it fell over on my desk. NOBODY was nearby. The desk was NOT attached to the wall...it was free-standing. We just looked at each other with a shocked looked on our faces. :eek:

Fortunately, I've been able to relay these stories numerous times without any strange phone calls....and I managed to type this without any flowers falling over on my desk. :D :D :D

[SueK]

I had a few things that occurred after my father passed away. He died in November of 2000. In Jan of 2001 my paternal grandmother died. The night of Feb 13th (going into the early hours of the 14th) I had a dream that our doorbell rang, and when I answered it, my dad was at the door. Long weird dream, but the gist of it was that he was brought back to life to tell me that he was okay, and was taking care of everyone that needed his help.

I woke up in a cold sweat and looked at the clock - it was 2:30 AM.

Next morning I went into work and around 9 AM, my mom called me to tell me that my aunt called her to say that my paternal grandfather had passed away during the previous night. I asked my mom what time and my aunt had told her that based on what the nurses had relayed to her, it was between 2 AM and 3 AM.

Because of the timing of everything, that really got to me, because it seemed like it had been a message to me from my dad, telling me that he was taking care of my grandfather and was still watching over us.

Oh- another one was two winters ago. I was at a really down point, DH was out of town, and things were bad for various reasons. It was very cold outside, but I went out on to our deck in the dusk and just sat down for some peace and quiet. All of a sudden, a cardinal flew right on to the deck near me and just stood there and looked at me. This was in the dead of winter, so birds weren't really out at that point, and my dad's favorite bird was the cardinal. I just felt a sense of peace out there with that bird flying down near me, for some reason.

[fudi2000]

I grew up in a haunted house Being a Christian I have my beliefs about ghosts and whatnot, but my bedroom was the worst. If anyone spent the night the next morning they would ask why I had the tv on so loud downstairs in the living room. I was always fast asleep next door in my parents room. The noise they hears was what I call, "the Cocktail party". While laying my bed at night when no one was home or had all gone to bed, I would hear the sounds of a cocktail party in the living room. Music was from the 20's and 30's. Then after that would be over, a voice would whisper my name in my ear.
Later in life I found out that the man who lived in the house when it was first built was a RumRunner during prohibition and was shot and killed my the Godfather of the "downriver Mafia" in our cellar. I never slept quite right at that house, and I guess it's pretty plain to see why.
Theresa

[Gail]

Here's a thread on the same subject with some spine-tinglers for you:

http://community.cookinglight.com/showthread.php?threadid=47122&highlight=ghosts

I didn't mention on that post that the night my nephew was killed, I had a terrible nightmare about trying to rescue him from a burning tower. I woke up very distraught and it took a very long time to go back to sleep. Hours later, we got The Phone Call.
---
About three weeks in a row preceding the death of my mother-in-law, we were awakened by phone calls at the same time of the night, day of the week as her death. No one was ever on the phone.
---
No ghosts in the next two: driving myself home from work one night, I suddenly found myself in the passenger seat of a former boyfriend's car. The impression was brief but intensely vivid. I couldn't understand where such a thing had come from since the two of us hadn't split on the best of terms and I really hadn't thought about him in years. Several weeks later, after returning from an extended medical leave from work, my dad came home bearing a letter for me from this same boyfriend. It had been mailed to my dad at his office a couple of weeks earlier. Though I was still feeling pretty hostile toward the guy, I finally opted to write back. A week or so passed. I was home sick with the flu, lying in bed in that floating, unpleasant frame of mind one enters when trying to sleep with a fairly high fever. Just as I was about to drift off, I recall my dad enetering my room. He apologized for disturbing me and downstairs the doorbell sounded. I remember thinking, "...it's just flowers from (old boyfriend)" before falling asleep. Imagine my shock when an hour or so later, after I'd awakened, my dad came into my room bearing a long, gold box of roses. (and in case anyone wondered-- no, said roses did not soften my feelings toward him in the slightest.)
---
The month before our marriage, I had a terrible feeling of dread with regard to my then-fiance's trip to Nevada. (He was a member of the National Pony Express Association and he was scheduled to carry the mail through Reno for their annual historic re-ride.) Needless to say, the morning after he left, I was awakened at 6:30 am by a phone call from Fallon Hospital. The first thing the woman on the line said after telling me she was calling from the hospital was, "He wants me to tell you he's fine." Except he wasn't exactly; seems he'd had a freak fall, had ruptured his spleen and had to undergo an emergency splenectomy.

[Chefzhat]

DH and I were clearing out the garage and storing things in the attic above the garage. I lifted up a bucket with some nails and sledgehammer to my dh up on the latter, he wasn't expecting such a heavy load and let it slip. A clear, white hand drifted above my head and caught the bucket long enough for dh to get a better grip. eerie. I know it was my guardian, Liza - she's stepped in on things before. But he thinks I'm nuts. :)

[Lisa W]

Apparently, there's a book written about my grandparent's house. It's a really old house (made from logs over 200 years ago). I've never read the book but my mother told me that many years ago this local man (maybe even a relative, I'm not sure) wrote a book on the strange happenings in this house. Apparently, someone died in that attic. I don't know how though -- I can't remember. Now, I've heard stories from uncles and such. One story was that my aunt and uncle were staying for the night and they were sleeping in the bedroom across from the attic door (the "attic" was just the unfinished part of the upstairs directly above the kitchen). My uncle commented that every time he slept in that room that during the night he would wake up to find the blankets lifted up at the end of the bed. I guess we had a peeping ghost! :D The only experience I have with that house is when I used to babysit my little cousins when I was young. The attic door would start to rattle really loudly on and off throughout the evening. It would be quiet for an hour or so and then it would start. Maybe it would go for a few minutes sometimes it didn't stop for an hour or so. Really freaked me out. I hated that attic as a kid.

Hmmm....I should ask my mother about that book again. Maybe I can track it down.

[HDgirl]

DH= and I were staying at my Mom's BF's house (it's close to a competition that DH= competes in). We had the house to ourselves and it was the second time we stayed there alone. We arrived on Friday, early the next morning DH= left to be at the club. I would be joining him around noonish.

So I got up and made some toast and walked around his house looking at his art. It's like a gallery in there. As I walked out of the kitchen I noticed a block of knives on the floor under the desk in the kitchen. I thought it strange to keep knives there. When I returned to the bedroom and sat on the bed, the closet had mirrors on it, and I looked at myself and noticed the top of my foot was bleeding. There was a cut on my foot. I never touched ANYTHING while walking around.

That night DH= needed to work on his gun and went down in the basement to use BF's tools. He came up about ten minutes later, white. He told me someone asked why he was here. So he made me go down with him to finish. When I walked down there it was like a meat locker. Needless to say we hauled a$$ out of there the next AM.

The year before I always felt a presence which must be my Mom's BF's wife who had died. She made herself known to us that year.

We haven't been back since!

[ellery]

Oh, why did I have to peek into this thread??? Now I'm going to have nightmares tonight... :rolleyes:

But I'll play too, as reading this reminded me of my last house. I have no idea what it would have been haunted with, or by whom, as it was a relatively new house, but it definitely asserted its personality the first few weeks I lived there!

The first thing I noticed was that I would have a CD in the stereo, puttering around downstairs. When I would walk up the steps, the CD player would turn off. We played this game for a while - I checked all the connections, nothing wrong or messed up with the CD player or the plug. I eventually figured out that my CD player only did this when I had a CD in by a male artist (feminist ghost apparently!). It stopped its hijinks within a few weeks, thankfully.

The scariest thing that happened started after a few days, and only (thankfully!) lasted a few days. I'd be lying in bed upstairs, reading or whatever, and the TV downstairs would turn on. Nothing like lying all alone in bed, waiting for something to come and get you! :eek: The TV would stay on about 15 minutes, then turn off. It was as if my feminist ghost wanted to watch a little Letterman before retiring for the night. I checked, there was no timer set on my TV, no funny wiring, nothing to explain my TV's asserting itself at night. My dad suggested plugging in a lamp or something to the outlet where the TV was, then hanging out at night in front of it to see if it turned on. No thanks! Why I thought it was preferable to lie in bed with the covers pulled up to my nose, listening to the TV downstairs, waiting for the boogie man to come get me, I'm not sure, but somehow it sounded better than actually confronting the boogie man.

Thankfully it stopped within about a week and I'd repressed the memory up until now.

Let's see if I can now repress it again so that I can get some sleep tonight... ;)

Leah

P.S. Now I'm wondering who believes in ghosts? I've always had the theory that if I believed in them that would make them real, and that they could therefore come and get me. Which if you think about it, means I believe, but won't admit it...

[MrsReber]

Originally posted by ellery


P.S. Now I'm wondering who believes in ghosts? I've always had the theory that if I believed in them that would make them real, and that they could therefore come and get me. Which if you think about it, means I believe, but won't admit it...

That's me! I feel the same way, like if I thik about it, I'll make it somehow happen.

I do have to say right after my DS was born, I would often see him looking past me and "talking" to...I don't know what. It was always when we were in his room. He seems to have stopped a little bit now. I did relate one weird story about my DD. We were sitting in DS's room, reading books before bedtime. Suddenly, out of nowhere, she told said "doggie, mommy!" and pointed to a corner of the room. I said "a doggie, huh? What color is the doggie?" She said "black". Now, she's almost 3 and black is not a color she has ever picked to describe anything (she prefers yellow or purple). We lost our big black lab when she was 7 months old. I think children are particularly open to the unknown because they have no reason to think it's not normal. My friend's little boy (3) told her that he plays with his grandma at his aunt's house. Grandma has been dead for quite a while, but he insists that he she lives there.

When I was 22, I lost my beloved 17 year old dog. For a couple of nights after she died, I could hear her crying at the foot of my bed. Not unusual? Perhaps, but I wasn't the only one who heard it.

I have had dreams that have come true and whenever I dream about my dad, which is not all that often, he will call to tell me some news (usually bad, unfortunately).

I had a BF a while back who would experiment with a ouija board with some of his friends. They got some information one night that led them right to a particular grave in a cemetary. Very freaky.

[Lisa W]

MrsReber -- You just reminded me of another incident -- this one involving my DS.

DS was about 3 yrs. old and we were housesitting for my aunt and uncle while they were on their honeymoon. They had just bought the house a few months before they were married so hadn't lived there that long. Anyway, in their livingroom is a stone fireplace mantle (fireplace no longer in use). Now, we didn't use that room much really while we were there -- we were mostly downstairs in the family room. On our second or third evening there we were eating supper in the dining room (which looks into the livingroom) when my DS smiled and waved. DH and I looked at each other but didn't say much. A couple more days went by and then one day DS had a treat of some sort and just walked into the livingroom to the corner of the fireplace and held out his treat. I asked him what he was doing and he said he was sharing. I asked with who and he said, "with the dost(ghost) mommy." Yup. Ok. He then didn't want to talk about it much (i.e. boy or girl, man or woman) but when I asked him if it's a nice ghost he said yes. For the remainder of the stay he went over to the fireplace or walked by the livingroom maybe two or three more times and waved.

I had completely forgot about that until MrsReber mentioned about her DD. Thanks a lot!! ;)

[HDgirl]

I have a kid story too.

My niece was around 4 when my Dad died. She was in daycare. When my sister went to pick her up after work she wasn't in the building. They searched all over for her without finding her. Finally, my sister went out back to the playground and found her out there. My sister couldn't imagine how she got outside since the door is heavy and my niece is a munchkin. She asked Tatum who opened the door to let her out, she answered, Poppa opened it.

[tamawrite]

When I lived in St. Louis, I used to go running every morning before dawn. One morning, just a block from my apartment, I saw a strange floating light at about the level of the streetlights, the size of a VW Beetle. All the streetlights in the area were that orange color; this light was greenish. Also, it was hazy, as if I were looking at it through fog...but the morning was clear. I started my run and glanced away from the light. When I looked up again, it had moved across the street. Then it slid upward and away from me. Weeeeird. Dunno what that was all about.

[Kayaksoup]

These kind of stories give me tingles. A firm believer in paranormal, much to the dismay of my DBF:rolleyes:
I have no ghost stories that happened specifically to me, but I have had odd experiences.

When I was 4, I was visiting with my dad. I guess i could tell he was upset, because I just looked at him and said "when I am 11, i will come live with you." I didn't see him for 7 years. (evil custody issues). I moved in with him a month after my 11th birthday.

Just last week, the phone rang at my work. I turned to the person next to me and said "one litre chicken stock". She was understandably confused. Half a minute later, I was called to the phone, it was my DBF wanting me to bring home a litre of chicken stock.

I don't know what these experiences would be called, but they happen frequently and give me the creeps.

[colleency]

DH and I used to be caretakers of a Victorian architecture museum. We lived in one of the houses on property. I think it was built in the 1870's. It had been moved to its current location within the past 20 years.

The first night we spent in that house was on a 4th of July before we moved in. The house hadn't been lived in for 6-8 years. We were making sure the neighborhood fireworks didn't burn the houses down. It was really fun to open up the house, turn on the lights, explore all the closets, and play the organ. There was an excited feeling in the house, much like the air of excitement generated by a 4 or 5 year old child.

When we finally settled down for the night, the house didn't. As I tried to sleep it felt like I was being poked softly but repeatedly by an excited child. As I had to work in the morning and all danger from fireworks seemed to be over, we decided to go home to sleep. Then the "feeling" in the house changed to the petulant anger of a small child not getting his way. And my keys were missing. I went back up to the room where we had been trying to sleep. When I pushed open the door, there was a chair blocking it from the other side. It was a light chair, which I pushed aside easily and retrieved my keys from the room. Creepy.

We ended up as the caretakers for about a year. The feeling of the house settled down very shortly after we moved in. We never had any bad experiences. Very often if I was quietly laying down in the afternoon alone in the house, it sounded as though someone was walking in stocking feet up and down the hallway. DH was in charge of opening up the downstairs for tours. Quite frequently, after he was finished opening all the heavy sliding doors and turning on all the lights, he would turn around and they were all closed, lights off. The reverse happened when he closed everything at night.

[JenZen]

OK, I've got the goosebumps. :)

I was in New Mexico in November for a hunt. On the way back in, our group say a greenish flare on the horizon. I thought it was an emergency flare, and I was so close to making someone drive out to the highway. The next morning, the news was reporting it as "spacial garbage" or something like that. I guess several people had reported it. The funny thing is that I KNOW it went from the ground to the sky. Plus, we were only about an hour from Roswell.

As for ghost stories, my mom is the queen. She has some creepy ones, which I'll not address, because this is supposed to be first-hand accounts. :)

[luckylori]

My husband and I had the opportunity to go on a "ghost-hunt" with a paranormal group to the old battleship, The USS North Carolina. This ship was at every sea battle in WWII, yet only lost 9 men, most when a torpedo hit the ship. We met with Danny, who is the caretaker who sleeps on the ship, and has for the past 26 years. He has written a book about his ghostly encounters. He believes (has seen) two different ones. We walked through the ship during the day when it was open to tourists, and they paid attention to temperatures, and used those electromagnetic meters (or whatever they are)...These guys say that 95% of what they discover can be explained...it's the other 5% that keeps them intrigued.
So we went back that night after the ship had closed to tourists, and Danny took us to an area that's off-limits where the torpedo had hit and where he had experienced some of the more active encounters. They set up a camera and left it running, and we went elsewhere. To make a long story short, the only things that were weird were that five of us heard footsteps in sick bay, then a wooden door shut. There are no wooden doors that aren't sealed shut on the ship.
Also...two of the cameras that were set up in other areas...one in the engine room and one in the preacher's area both stopped in the middle of a tape around the same time. The batteries were perfectly fine.
The group is called Seven Paranormal and their website is www.hauntednc.com if anyone's interested in their findings. It was a fascinating adventure.

[Lucinda]

When Bob and I were in Charlottesville last month, we stayed in a 1760s farmhouse that has been converted into a B and B. Sunday morning, Bob went downstairs for coffee while I completed my toilette. I was putting on my make up in the bathroom when I heard someone walk across the floor (it squeaked), sit down in a chair and let out a heavy sigh. I called out, no response. So I stepped out of the bathroom and (you guessed it) no one was in the room!! Apparently, the place is haunted.

My aunt's house was also haunted by its original owner. For years I would hear someone wander around at night when I stayed with her. I never mentioned to anyone, but right before she sold it, my aunt said, very casually, that my cousin (who has strong psychic abilities) had told the ghost to "go into the light".

I think my house is "haunted"-- it has a warm, happy, secure feeling, you can tell alot of people have had happy times there over the years. Many of my visitors remark on it within a few minutes of coming inside.

[Gail]

Originally posted by Lucinda
When Bob and I were in Charlottesville last month, we stayed in a 1760s farmhouse that has been converted into a B and B. Sunday morning, Bob went downstairs for coffee while I completed my toilette. I was putting on my make up in the bathroom when I heard someone walk across the floor (it squeaked), sit down in a chair and let out a heavy sigh. I called out, no response. So I stepped out of the bathroom and (you guessed it) no one was in the room!! Apparently, the place is haunted...



This is The Silver Thatch Inn you're talking about? Curious, since we stayed there a couple of years ago (and didn't notice anything unusual.) Was this upstairs in the main building? (We were upstairs in a newer addition.)

Did you speak to someone about this at the inn?

[Aesha]

Yikes, I'm starting to get freaked out. I believe in ghosts, angels/guides, and am a believer in all things the paranormal. I and am terrified that one day I'll see (or hear or feel) one. If I were ever to travel to somewhere like Savannah or New Orleans or somewhere with a strong reputation for hauntings, one of the first questions I'd ask a hotel is if they are haunted, because there's no way I could stay there. I sometimes wonder how I'll make it through the whole summer at home; we've moved into my grandparent's old house. They lived there 30-40 years, grandma died a year and a half ago and grandpa 8 months ago.
Anyway, spooky occurances. Well, my mom had one when she was little, I'm not sure what age. She was born in Wisconsin. My great grandparents had a small house, and when the grandkids were there, they all shared a room (great grandparents had 7 kids, and not enough rooms for them, let alone all the grandkids). My great grandma was ill, and the kids were all asleep in bed. In the early morning hours, my mom woke up and the other kids woke up and asked what was wrong; she said that grandma had died. She had a dream that her grandma had come to her. Then the next morning, their parents told them that grandma had died- just about the same time that Mom woke up.
More recently, my grandma died in Sept. of 2003, shortly after my grandpa had been re-diagnosed with cancer. My mom was caring for him, and as it got closer to the end she'd stay at his house more often. One afternoon she told me that it'd been odd, that she'd hear her name being called very softly- and at that point, I told her to shut up, because if I wanted to hear a ghost story I'd find one somewhere else (like I said, I am a terrified scaredy-cat). Now you can see why I'm freaking out about the summer, and hopefully I can forget this in the month before my classes are finished.

As for an experience I had, of course it's with the Ouija board. We had a Brazilian student when I was 12, and so did my sister's best friend. Somehow we started playing with the board. We started talking to a spirit called Zumelia. She had lived in South America, but was from Pennsylvania and and died in a wagon accident in the 1800's. I was getting a little freaked out (of course) and kept pulling my fingers off the little thing... she said that it hurt her when I did that, and she'd hurt me if I kept doing it. Then she said (this was a looooong session, we did this for hours and on several occasions) that she was going to enter our bodies to see what things were like (Me, Monica and Fabiana, my sister Sasha and her friend Melanie). She would enter us for different amounts of days, and I asked if she'd speak through us (I'm such a geek, and so weird- I was stressing out that she'd blurt out to someone something I didn't want them to know), and she said she wouldn't but she she might talk in our sleep. Well, a day or two went by. Melanie was spending the night, and she and Sash were sleeping on the hide a bed. Monica went to bed early. She and I shared a room, and as I was changing into my pajamas to go to bed, she started muttering in her sleep but I heard the word "Zumelia" very clearly. Needless to say, I hightailed it out of the bedroom and shared the hide a bed with Sash and Mel.
After that, I never once played the Ouija board. I was afraid to touch it, I was afraid to get rid of it. I am 24, and my mom just got rid of it when she was moving our stuff from our old house to the new one. I'm glad she did, because I still wouldn't have touched it.
I was so scared of all that stuff when I was younger... well, some of it I still am... Ouija, sandbags, light as a feather stiff as a board....
Did anyone ever see Fear on MTV? That was hands down the best show MTV ever has done, but it's not on anymore. My friend Wendy and I looooved it, even though it scared the bejesus out of us. Haunted History on The History Channel was good, too.

[ellery]

Just a thought to share on Ouija boards.

I took a Paranormal Psychology course in college and we learned about many of the things talked about here, learned how to fake a psychic reading, etc. One of the reports we did was a group report on Ouija boards. This was senior year, so I don't remember much about what we reported on :rolleyes: but I do remember one thing I learned about Ouija boards - that if you cover your eyes while your hands are on the little pointer thingy (blindfolding yourself or something similar), that it doesn't work. The theory seems to be that the person holding the pointer is unconsciously shifting the pointer.

Like I said before, I'm not sure whether I do believe or not, but I'm not trying this out myself!

;)

Leah

[Aesha]

Originally posted by ellery
Just a thought to share on Ouija boards.

I took a Paranormal Psychology course in college and we learned about many of the things talked about here, learned how to fake a psychic reading, etc.
;)

Leah

That is so cool... I wish they offered this course here. I may be the world's biggest fraidy cat, but I still love ghost stories and UFO stories and stuff. Maybe if I took a class like this I'd be less chicken (or I wouldn't sleep the entire semester, LOL).

[ellery]

Oh, it was a totally cool class - I'm glad I took it, even though it's left me forever skeptical of psychics, palm readers, the like.

As far as sleeping... well, I've always been a "last minute" kind of gal, so I would hang out with my roommates until they went to bed, at which point it would always seem like a good idea to begin my homework. I tell you what, reading about poltergeists at midnight is NOT conducive to a good night's sleep... :rolleyes:

Leah

oops... I believe I've just hijacked this thread. Dangit! Sorry... :o

[hlao23]

Originally posted by Kayaksoup
These kind of stories give me tingles. A firm believer in paranormal, much to the dismay of my DBF:rolleyes:
I have no ghost stories that happened specifically to me, but I have had odd experiences.

When I was 4, I was visiting with my dad. I guess i could tell he was upset, because I just looked at him and said "when I am 11, i will come live with you." I didn't see him for 7 years. (evil custody issues). I moved in with him a month after my 11th birthday.

Just last week, the phone rang at my work. I turned to the person next to me and said "one litre chicken stock". She was understandably confused. Half a minute later, I was called to the phone, it was my DBF wanting me to bring home a litre of chicken stock.

I don't know what these experiences would be called, but they happen frequently and give me the creeps.

Ever read any Rupert Sheldrake? My husband loves him. I've not read anything of him but what I've heard of his ideas seem fascinating. From Amazon: "Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Biochemist Sheldrake maintains that if a pigeon in London learns a new habit, then pigeons everywhere else will automatically show an increasing tendency to learn the same habit. He holds that invisible energy patterns or "morphogenetic fields" surround and shape all atoms, all crystals, all pigeons and all humans. In his astonishing theory, any natural systemwhether insulin molecules, dandelions or societiesinherits a collective memory from all previous members of that group. Experimental evidence for Sheldrake's hypothesis is inconclusive but tantalizing. If true, it would force a radical revision of our understanding of genetics, evolution, memory, learning. Many books on the "new physics" and the paranormal have discussed Sheldrake's ideas, but his own explanation of morphic resonance is the most lucid and exciting account to date. He uses the theory here to suggest how creation myths and rituals connect past and present.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal
In his A New Science of Life ( LJ 5/15/82), Sheldrake put forward the hypothesis of "formative causation" to explain evolutionary development. In this book, he focuses on "morphic resonance," one aspect of the hypothesis, and describes how morphic fields influence organisms to develop in a given way. He contends that morphic fields shape the expression of genetic characteristics and the evolution of behavior and social structures, and discusses how field theories from physics, ideas about the... read more"

[Lucinda]

Originally posted by Gail


This is The Silver Thatch Inn you're talking about? Curious, since we stayed there a couple of years ago (and didn't notice anything unusual.) Was this upstairs in the main building? (We were upstairs in a newer addition.)

Did you speak to someone about this at the inn?

It was the Silver Thatch Inn. Our waiter confirmed the house was haunted, but he didn't have any details. We stayed upstairs in the main building (darn, the name of the room eludes me)

[Gail]

Interesting. We talked about this at the dinner table. Before I told my family your story, my son reminded me that the place had given him the creeps. (I remember him telling me this when we were touring the main building, which I wrote off to the age of the place.) I thought it was a lovely inn.

I've been doing a web search on the property and I found this on About.com. This is a quote from one of the innkeepers:


We've been innkeepers only 3 years, so I'm sure I'm still waiting for "the" strangest thing. However, as I said, we have ghosts. While they seem to appear only in one room -- the Jefferson Room, which is in the 1812 section -- according to a map drawn by a woman who played there as a girl, there is a family cemetery located right below one of our dining rooms.

We have had a guest who was dining in what we call the Hollymead Room tell us she felt a very strong presence, but that the feeling was very friendly and happy (this is good, as I'm usually at the inn by 6:30 a.m. and it's really dark in the winter!).

Another guest from Florida, a rational-appearing guy, was with us for 4 days and stayed in the Jefferson Room with his wife. One morning he said he was awake about 3 a.m. and saw a vague vision of a person (he couldn't identify male/female) move from one end of the room to the other. He was totally unafraid as he watched this apparition and went back to sleep shortly after.

[ErinM]

Ok, weirdest experience I've ever had:

One nigh in July of 1999, I was up late puttering around my apartment. I don't remember the exact time, but I think it was either close to midnight or early AM. All of a sudden, I had the strangest feeling that something was VERY WRONG. I could not for the life of me figure out what was making me feel this way. I though long and hard about calling everyone in my family to make sure they were OK, but managed to talk myself out of it because it was so late at night and NOBODY wants a phone call like that. Finally, I was able to shake it off and go to sleep.

The next morning, I found out that JFK Jr and his wife perished in their plane crash. Turns out that I had my feeling at around the exact same time that was happening!

[Chris N]

Oooh, neat thread!

The only really strange things that ever happened to me were very far apart in time, but both related to relatives who had passed on.

On the first Christmas after a dear uncle died, I was up in my aunt's bedroom getting our coats to leave. I turned and saw their wedding picture on the wall, so I said softly, "Merry Christmas, Uncle Jim" - and the picture fell off the wall right then.

My maternal grandmother, who lived 2 blocks away from us while we grew up (and whom I named my DD after) died when I was in the 8th grade. She continues to be an inspiration in my life, so when I was about to get married, I often thought of her and what she would think of my DH-to-be. One night, I had the clearest dream I think I've ever had. I and DH were sitting in my gramma's kitchen having coffee with her (she always had water boiling for pasta, and a fresh pot of coffee, "just in case"). We were talking, and it was obvious that she was checking DH out for me - then, in walks my paternal grandmother, who had also died when I was in grade school. She starts asking him all kinds of questions too, and then they both catch my eye and wink at me.

I figured DH was good to go - and we're celebrating our 15th anniversary in a few weeks! Those grammas knew something, I'm sure ;)

[MrsReber]

I thought of a couple of other things after reading these posts.

My best friend hung out with this group in HS. There were 2 girls that said they had some sort of powers. I never really believed this. I went to a Halloween party with my friend and these 2 girls and met some of their other friends. One was a really nice guy who said he could read minds. I scoffed at this. An hour or so later, I'm sitting there and notice he's across the room with his back to me talking to some people. So I think to myself "so, if you can read minds, can you read my mind now?" Well, wouldn't you know, he turns around, looks right at me and says "yeah, I'm still with you." Yikes! That was weird.

A few years after this, I am at this same friend's house. Her father had recently passed away and we were sitting at the kitchen table talking about him. He loved their house on the water and it was my second home. My bf and her bf were with us. We're talking about what a great guy he was when suddenly my friend's dog gets up from under the table and goes crazy. She's barking like a maniac and starts jumping up the wall,trying to get to this picture of her father! I don't doubt that he was there.

My brother and SIL had weird things happen in their house. My neice used to come out of her room at night and say she couldn't sleep because the boys were playing in her room and keeping her awake. She also would see "the boys" in the afternoon. They wouldn't let her play with them. SIL said she felt like small children were watching her when she was lying in bed reading and she could actually hear them going up and down the stairs.

My mom believes that we all come back as different people. She felt a very strong attachment to my neice when she was born. When my neice was about 3, she said to my mom "you used to be my sister, but now you're my grandma." When my son was born, he looked so familiar to me. I still feel like I have known him for years. You just gotta wonder. I like to believe in the possibilities. We'll probably never have tangible proof.

[Kayaksoup]

Originally posted by hlao23


Ever read any Rupert Sheldrake? My husband loves him. I've not read anything of him but what I've heard of his ideas seem fascinating.
Sounds like interesting theories. I may have to see if teh library haas something of his...