Very, very strange

[CadillacMatt 31]

Interestingly enough, in preschool, I would always come home and talk about an angel that talked to me.

Well, they do say that children have a heightened sense of such things; whether this has to do with the structure of the brain at that age or simply the lack of biased adult opinion towards such things I do not know

I think it's more like things like this can't be proved by science or anything really because our senses aren't really scientific, these phenomena tend to not be easily recreated in a scientific manner for tests and really the only proof is eyewitness testimony and memory (and we know that can be significantly flawed sometimes, especially during a traumatic or seemingly traumatic event). For example, that guy who said the box flew off the fridge. He might not have really seen it happen or if he did, maybe it just fell off like a box normally would. Since he assumed it was paranormal, his mind kind of connected the dots from what he knew[ that happened to what he thought happened to make it all work together.

If you notice, usually freaky things tend to happen when there is a similar external influence (stories, movies, ideas, mentally psyching yourself out).

I agree with you to a certain point that the tendency of the human mind to 'overthink' and exaggerate during times of stressful events can definitely play a role in the memory of such events, we all remember seeing a scary movie as a kid and afterwards having that eerie feeling of somebody watching you. Hell, I still get it sometimes lol! Such is the power and complexity of the human mind though, to think. You think, therefore you are! It's what makes us such a kickass species

However, getting back to the original point, it's harder to explain away such things as premonition-dreams as coincidences when they consistently turn out right, or happen to large groups of people. I mean, closed-minded skeptics will always try and argue the point but there's no helping those people. And the scientific community has tried to explain the idea of sleep paralysis away as simply a physical reaction... here is a WIkiPedia article if you're interested... sure, they can tell you *how* it happens, that such and such part of the brain is firing neurons to blah blah blah but they can't tell you *why* it happens. Of course, after all anything we do, see, smell, taste, experience in this world is a matter of physical science. We can map out the entire brain and see how every pathway connects, how every emotion is created and transferred through our minds, but science can't explain why we experience such events and any attempts they make to dismiss such complexities away as simply a matter of evolution and natural selection I find to be ridiculous.

Speaking of the power of the human mind... have you guys seen that episode of Mythbusters where they tested the so-called "psychic ability of plants"? I laughed at first but got to watching it... they hooked this plant up to a polygraph and had Tory sit there and think about hurting the plant in various ways... something like 35% of the time the plant reacted to it. Really interesting, albeit strange experiment. lol

Edited March 26, 2010 by CadillacMatt

[PhishHead 6]

So I dont necessarily get the haunting kind of stuff but I get the de ja vu/ weird coincidences. My fiance and I have been together for 5 years now. Been dating since I was 16 and she was 14. Anyway every year we go apple picking at this local orchard and we have come to find that we can play this fun game while we are there. I turn around and she looks at the tree and picks an apple. She says ok and I turn around and look at the tree. She looks away and I search for a minute and pick an apple. She turns around and I point to the one that I think she picked. I get it right everytime. I dont know if it's just a weird coincidence but I think there is something there. Also I will go to start texting her something and she sends me what I wanted to know before I ask her. There was one time I asked her earlier that day what time a certain movie was playing. Halfway through the day I went to message her to see if she look. I got half way through the text and she sent the movie times. Or another time I have had a song stuck in my head all day I get home and she is singing it. I asked her why she was humming it or singing it and she said she didnt know it just popped in her head. The weirdest on to date though is when we were laying in bed one Saturday morning and just watching tv relaxing, all of a sudden I go here take them. She said oh thanks....then goes wait.....why did you just say that. I told her its because she said she didnt have any blankets. She then told me that she didnt say it out loud she was thinking it. I dont know what you guys think of these but there is definately something going on with it.

[Kent535 25]

Will Be Reading This Later

[dvalue 17]

Like I said, I do come from a religious background, so that and my parents retelling of the story may have reminded me of the figure. I do see what you are saying about the heightened sense though, as kids are much more gullible, in a sense.

[CadillacMatt 31]

Like I said, I do come from a religious background, so that and my parents retelling of the story may have reminded me of the figure. I do see what you are saying about the heightened sense though, as kids are much more gullible, in a sense.

Well I mean I genuinely believe that children are much more receptive to psychic/paranormal phenomena outside of simply being taught by society that such things are figments of our imagination, why I cannot say but there seems to be much evidence supporting it.

Kinda diverging from the point again, but there was a story featured on one of the major news programs a few months back of a man who had supposedly built a "real life ghost catching machine"... some sort of chamber that harnessed and captured electromagnetic energy and prevented it from escaping. Apparently many major news crews were there and said he had demonstrated the machine to great success, there were some pictures floating around the internet of this supposed "apparition" in the machine but for the life of me I can't find anything through Google.

[dvalue 17]

I don't think it's too far OT to post that.

That's a good point about the children, cause they have not been told that such things do not exist. Sorta like the monsters under the bed.

With so many different opinions and theories it's hard to define why certain psychic/paranormal experiences happen to certain people. This is part of what makes it interesting to me. The fear of the unknown and the potential of the mind.

[CadillacMatt 31]

The fear of the unknown and the potential of the mind.

You said the magic words right there. There are so many mysteries about the universe that we've yet to figure out, the human mind included, but if people would learn to accept what is "different" or "outside the norm" we can continually make steps toward figuring it out. It's the closed-minded idiots that halt the forward progress of civilization but hopefully natural selection will weed them out