Have you ever experienced anything supernatural?

[houstonmacbro]

I know this may sound odd, but have you ever experienced anything odd or supernatural .. beyond the normal explanation of how things are or should be?

When I was a kid I used to experience this weird spinning sensation when I would goto my grandmother's house. Her house was old (and later found out that one room contained remains in urns of various deceased relatives).

Anyhow, I would step into her house and immediately have this spinning sensation. It was like I was standing still and the house was moving around me really fast. It would eventually stop spinning and I'd get my balance back.

I am sure my grandmother or other relatives would wonder why I was standing there in the middle of the floor kinda just .. well, standing there looking odd.

Anyhow, there are more things I'll share later, but just wanted to get the topic going.

[gnu]

Anyhow, I would step into her house and immediately have this spinning sensation. It was like I was standing still and the house was moving around me really fast. It would eventually stop spinning and I'd get my balance back.

if your grandma was like mine then maybe your spinning sensation was a result of an overwhelming quantity of mothballs in every closet and drawer.

[houstonmacbro]

if your grandma was like mine then maybe your spinning sensation was a result of an overwhelming quantity of mothballs in every closet and drawer.

So maybe not supernatural as much as supersensory.

LOL

[crunchtastic]

I had a ghost in my last house in San Antonio. I only felt it when I was in the bedroom. Something/someone crossing the threshold from the living room into the back of the house, and then would sort of pace around. Could swear I could see vague movement reflected in the mirror when I was standing at the sink. Could feel the air moving. I think it was an old ghost because the sensation faded over a couple of years and then went away altogether.

It's weird because I had never really experienced anything like it. It wasn't creepy or scary. A little unnerving at first, but I surprised myself at how readily I accepted it. I'm not a 'spiritual' person but have always thought the idea of reincarnation and ghosts made sense somehow.

[woolie]

No, I've always been an atheist. But invoking the supernatural to explain observations is human nature.

[TheNiche]

No, I've always been an atheist. But invoking the supernatural to explain observations is human nature.

I concur with your remark about human nature (in general), however I thought you considered yourself a scientist. Whereas atheists reject the notion of spirituality out of hand, scientists accept that their conclusions may be called into question or refuted. This is why I suppose that I fall into the agnostic category. Or outright non-theistic (completely indifferent).

Anyway, I saw one once down in McAllen. I was living in a big frickin house back when big frickin houses were inexpensive down there, and I watched one night as a man dressed in rags and giving off a bright aura of light hobbled towards the sliding glass door, then I glanced back at my parents, then back at the door, and nothing was there.

In the same house, my mom had a story about turning off a light switch, trying to leave to go somewhere, and then noticing that the light switch had been turned back on. She kept turning it off, it kept turning back on. And I'm not talking about old wiring or a short-circuit or anything; I'm talking about the switch physically moving upward against the force of gravity to the 'on' position. It only happened in one incident, but too many times in a row for it just to be some coincidence of factors.

This house was surrounded by high walls and fences, but ever so often, my dad would get up early in the morning to answer the doorbell. There was never anyone there, but always a light gust of wind blowing towards him.

This kind of crap never repeated itself anywhere that I or my parents lived. My parents now live in a building in Galveston that survived the 1900 storm and even given the charged history of the place, they don't report anything out of the ordinary. They'd lived in a house on Ball Street before I was born, and no ghost stories there, either. It's a different story next door to them, which was one of the places that they stacked and stored corpses. Tenants there don't stick around long at all and my dad has felt odd things over there.

[Vertigo58]

Experienced at an Emerson Lake and Palmer,

King Crimson, Pink Floyd and Iron Butterly concerts

[editor]

I concur with your remark about human nature (in general), however I thought you considered yourself a scientist. Whereas atheists reject the notion of spirituality out of hand, scientists accept that their conclusions may be called into question or refuted. This is why I suppose that I fall into the agnostic category. Or outright non-theistic (completely indifferent).

FWIW, in Catholic school we were taught:

Atheist = doesn't know/care one way or the other.

Antitheist = rejects all spirituality (commonly referred to as "atheist" these days.

Maybe The Niche was taught by the same nuns as I was.

[TJones]

I regularly see things, forms, out of the corner of my eye. I think it may be my father. I am pretty sure my little ones see him also. As sometimes I catch them just staring blankly and nodding as if someone was asking them something.

My wife had a real good one Tuesday night.......She and our 2 yr. old were sitting on the couch, she noticed our 2 year old staring intently into the breakfastroom towards the ceiling, for a solid minute or two, my wife turned to see what she was staring at, and all the sudden the fan in the breakfastroom was faintly turning but it had NO juice going to it, in fact it is broke, and we have NO drafts in the house, but it was spinning. It freaked her out a little, but ghosts don't really scare her or me.

[memebag]

Whereas atheists reject the notion of spirituality out of hand, scientists accept that their conclusions may be called into question or refuted.

I'm an atheist, and I didn't reject spirituality "out of hand". I was raised as a Christian, explored a lot of religions and belief systems and eventually came to prefer a naturalistic world view. That position may change, but the probability is too low to concern myself with it.

Oh, and I've never had a supernatural experience.

[west20th]

I've never seen a ghost but a lot of people I know (and know not to be crazy) have. I've just come to the conclusion some can see the "other side" and some can't. Having never seen anything supernatural at this stage in the game I doubt I ever will. Don't have the ability to sense those types of things I suppose.

[ricco67]

I have, but it involves a bottle of booze and a blonde I met at a party......

[bachanon]

if by supernatural you mean, unconditional love? yes. if you mean paying it forward, yes. if you mean an inexplicable desire to love the unlovable, yes. any time i've felt i touched or felt the divine, it had to do with being unselfish or experiencing unconditional love. mystical fantasies of a breeze or a "presence" are simply mental concoctions to deal with the unusual.

here is a "supernatural" experience for ya:

i was in a several month long depression. didn't know i was depressed. i had all these ideals of how god would bless me if i would just serve him more. suicide became a regular theme of my thought life. christians ticked me off. i didn't want to be near anyone. a good friend recommended a book called "inside/out". the book defined the shallow, ugly nature of prosperity christians who waited and pleaded for god to give them success. in chapter eight or nine, the author discussed the cry baby, arrogant christian who couldn't stand on their own two feet because they were waiting for a supernatural event to take them to freedom. as the author walked me through the old testament book of Job, i had a true paradigm shift. i was being a big baby!! i was waiting for life to give me a break and blaming the world for being all wrong. i swear, the world shifted on its axis. i cried for about an hour. the room spun......really...i couldn't think straight. many things i had been taught to believe were an illusion. i had to make may own way.

that, my friends, is a supernatural experience to me. i, immediately, asked god to forgive me for being an ass-wipe and proceeded to see how to reconcile myself with reality. eventually, i apologized to many old friends i had offended by being high-minded and ignorant and relegated myself to more humble pursuits.

have i experienced supernatural phenomena, yes. is it mystical? can't say. all i know is that intellectual objectivity and solid info can change your world view. for me, that is supernatural.

[Vertigo58]

In all seriousness, I imagine you meant something ghostly or very unexplainable. We had a topic about weird things we witnessed in the past.

I may have mentioned once I was driving my car down the street I grew up on and by pure coincidence saw my older brother driving in opposite direction. We stopped and started talking through the windows. Mine or his window was only about 3 inches cracked. All of a sudden his window exploded as if someone hit it with a hammer. Neither of us heard a gun shot or anything? The glass just flopped over in the tiny chunks went over both of us. We just turned white and drove off. Never made any sense at all.

[bachanon]

i had a similar experience. i was visiting with friends in the ORU cafeteria in 1983. we were in deep discussion about the nature of things. there was a pudding cup in the center of the table. we were some of the only people left in the caf. the pudding cup shattered in all directions. there was no evidence of anything hitting it. it was as if it exploded. i've never been able to figure out how it happened.

[houstonmacbro]

In all seriousness, I imagine you meant something ghostly or very unexplainable. We had a topic about weird things we witnessed in the past.

I may have mentioned once I was driving my car down the street I grew up on and by pure coincidence saw my older brother driving in opposite direction. We stopped and started talking through the windows. Mine or his window was only about 3 inches cracked. All of a sudden his window exploded as if someone hit it with a hammer. Neither of us heard a gun shot or anything? The glass just flopped over in the tiny chunks went over both of us. We just turned white and drove off. Never made any sense at all.

Unexplainable mainly.

[Montrose1100]

Sometimes I'll see stuff out of the corner of my eye, and hear my name. But its probibly from lack of sleep.

[tomv]

if by supernatural you mean, unconditional love? yes. if you mean paying it forward, yes. if you mean an inexplicable desire to love the unlovable, yes. any time i've felt i touched or felt the divine, it had to do with being unselfish or experiencing unconditional love. mystical fantasies of a breeze or a "presence" are simply mental concoctions to deal with the unusual.

here is a "supernatural" experience for ya:

i was in a several month long depression. didn't know i was depressed. i had all these ideals of how god would bless me if i would just serve him more. suicide became a regular theme of my thought life. christians ticked me off. i didn't want to be near anyone. a good friend recommended a book called "inside/out". the book defined the shallow, ugly nature of prosperity christians who waited and pleaded for god to give them success. in chapter eight or nine, the author discussed the cry baby, arrogant christian who couldn't stand on their own two feet because they were waiting for a supernatural event to take them to freedom. as the author walked me through the old testament book of Job, i had a true paradigm shift. i was being a big baby!! i was waiting for life to give me a break and blaming the world for being all wrong. i swear, the world shifted on its axis. i cried for about an hour. the room spun......really...i couldn't think straight. many things i had been taught to believe were an illusion. i had to make may own way.

that, my friends, is a supernatural experience to me. i, immediately, asked god to forgive me for being an ass-wipe and proceeded to see how to reconcile myself with reality. eventually, i apologized to many old friends i had offended by being high-minded and ignorant and relegated myself to more humble pursuits.

have i experienced supernatural phenomena, yes. is it mystical? can't say. all i know is that intellectual objectivity and solid info can change your world view. for me, that is supernatural.

What a beautiful, well thought out reply.

Funny, isn't it, that when we lift up our thoughts (raise our consciousness) , then "God" (higher consciousness) "shows up"

Basically, that's spirituality. Practice unconditional love for yourself, for others, and for life itself (gratitude). Then things start to happen. Your world begins to shift. That's the miracle.

Most of us tend to go right past this basic truth, continue to be seduced by the world around us, and wonder where God is.

Thank you for sharing. I admire you for being so candid.

[houstonmacbro]

What a beautiful, well thought out reply.

Funny, isn't it, that when we lift up our thoughts (raise our consciousness) , then "God" (higher consciousness) "shows up"

Basically, that's spirituality. Practice unconditional love for yourself, for others, and for life itself (gratitude). Then things start to happen. Your world begins to shift. That's the miracle.

Most of us tend to go right past this basic truth, continue to be seduced by the world around us, and wonder where God is.

Thank you for sharing. I admire you for being so candid.

I couldn't have said it (your reply) any better.

[Subdude]

i had a similar experience. i was visiting with friends in the ORU cafeteria in 1983. we were in deep discussion about the nature of things. there was a pudding cup in the center of the table. we were some of the only people left in the caf. the pudding cup shattered in all directions. there was no evidence of anything hitting it. it was as if it exploded. i've never been able to figure out how it happened.

Granted I lack imagination in these things, but somehow pudding cups are about the last things I would have have expected to have supernatural qualities.

[houstonmacbro]

Granted I lack imagination in these things, but somehow pudding cups are about the last things I would have have expected to have supernatural qualities.

Pudding cups are VERY intuitive and may even be receptors to the other side!

That is Supernatural 101 stuff. Nothing new there.

[rps324]

A group of us were talking the other night about our twilight zone moment. I was with buyers in the house they were getting, it was just after dark. We were in the back part of the house, a big house & it is a ways to the front door, some of you may have gone to the estate sale there (post #12 in this thread), anyway, all of the sudden a door slams. Not a "gee did you hear that?" but more of "wow, that was loud."

I was sure I had left the front door open and I thought some loon had wondered in uninvited. The front door, however, was locked and no one could have gotten in. The house was an absolute fortress, burglar bars, barbed wire around the backyard, we are talking fortress here, no one could get in or out. At over 5000 sq ft on one level, there was a lot of territory for us to cover but we all went around the house trying to see what it was, but there was nothing. It kind of freaked us out but we just blew it off.

At closing the seller, (the Daughter handling the estate), mentioned to these same buyers, "Oh the nurses and housekeepers my Mom had in there are all convinced my Father is haunting the house. They think they have seen him in the halls and he opens and closes doors sometimes."

I have had some odd closings, but not quite like that one!

[TheNiche]

At closing the seller, (the Daughter handling the estate), mentioned to these same buyers, "Oh the nurses and housekeepers my Mom had in there are all convinced my Father is haunting the house. They think they have seen him in the halls and he opens and closes doors sometimes."

I have had some odd closings, but not quite like that one!

In a house that large, it isn't inconceivable that even small changes in temperature and air pressure could sometimes cause doors to swing open or close shut. This is especially likely if the A/C was turning on or off; some A/C systems are prone to do that more than others, too.

I can't speak to their having seen him in the halls, though.

[HtownWxBoy]

Ok hear me out.... long story short I cannot take Ambien b/c I have major hallucinations when I do. The first time I took Ambien I was not told you had to go right to bed... I took it like 30 minutes before bed or something like that... well I never made it to bed... it hit me and I had major hallucinations. I woke up in my underwear w/ my boyfriend on the couch... apparently I called him telling him about what I was seeing and he thought I went crazy so he rushed over and I answered the door naked.... but that's another story for another day. I tried it a second time some time later as I crawled into bed and I ended up getting myself up and hallucinating all over again... so basically I can't take Ambien anymore.

Now to the point. I vividly remember most of the hallucinations, particularly from the second time, and the second time it happened I actually figured out I was hallucinating as it was happening and just went w/ it and had fun walking around my apartment making stuff move and stuff. Well when sitting in my bed I noticed 3 people sort of hanging in this tall tree I had in the corner of my bedroom. They were talking to each other and I couldn't hear them but they were dressed in like 1800s clothes. They seemed different from what I usually "saw"... they seemed more real... so I took off my sock and threw it at them and when it hit the tree they all turned their heads towards me and gave me this evil look that to this day haunts me. I don't remember anything after that... just woke up to see my sock in the tree.

I realize this was most likely just the Ambien making me see things but it seemed so real... the people I saw that is. All of the other hallucinations I had seemed real when they were happening but once I woke up the next day I realized they were just that, hallucinations. The way those three looked at me still gives me the chills... makes me wonder if maybe I was seeing something that wasn't a hallucination. I don't know, I know it's stupid, but to this day it just really freaks me out thinking about how they looked at me... I remember it as clear as day like it was yesterday. And no I do not take Ambien anymore!

NOTE ..... I do not nor would not condone someone taking Ambien to "hallucinate"... it only happens to some people (like 10%... just like the "gay" percentage... what's w/ me always being in the 10%!!?? ha ha ha) and you could really get hurt. I have seen stories of people getting in their car and going for a drive... thank God I didn't do anything stupid like that.... could have killed someone.

[houstonmacbro]

Ok hear me out.... long story short I cannot take Ambien b/c I have major hallucinations when I do. The first time I took Ambien I was not told you had to go right to bed... I took it like 30 minutes before bed or something like that... well I never made it to bed... it hit me and I had major hallucinations. I woke up in my underwear w/ my boyfriend on the couch... apparently I called him telling him about what I was seeing and he thought I went crazy so he rushed over and I answered the door naked.... but that's another story for another day. I tried it a second time some time later as I crawled into bed and I ended up getting myself up and hallucinating all over again... so basically I can't take Ambien anymore.

Now to the point. I vividly remember most of the hallucinations, particularly from the second time, and the second time it happened I actually figured out I was hallucinating as it was happening and just went w/ it and had fun walking around my apartment making stuff move and stuff. Well when sitting in my bed I noticed 3 people sort of hanging in this tall tree I had in the corner of my bedroom. They were talking to each other and I couldn't hear them but they were dressed in like 1800s clothes. They seemed different from what I usually "saw"... they seemed more real... so I took off my sock and threw it at them and when it hit the tree they all turned their heads towards me and gave me this evil look that to this day haunts me. I don't remember anything after that... just woke up to see my sock in the tree.

I realize this was most likely just the Ambien making me see things but it seemed so real... the people I saw that is. All of the other hallucinations I had seemed real when they were happening but once I woke up the next day I realized they were just that, hallucinations. The way those three looked at me still gives me the chills... makes me wonder if maybe I was seeing something that wasn't a hallucination. I don't know, I know it's stupid, but to this day it just really freaks me out thinking about how they looked at me... I remember it as clear as day like it was yesterday. And no I do not take Ambien anymore!

NOTE ..... I do not nor would not condone someone taking Ambien to "hallucinate"... it only happens to some people (like 10%... just like the "gay" percentage... what's w/ me always being in the 10%!!?? ha ha ha) and you could really get hurt. I have seen stories of people getting in their car and going for a drive... thank God I didn't do anything stupid like that.... could have killed someone.

Wow .. that sounds like fun. I heard about this substance (I think it is from S. America or somewhere) that is supposed to open up portals. I forget the name, but I don't think it's banned or anything.

People that take it swear they seem very interesting things (like animals, people, and even alien type creatures).

I'm too much of a 'fraidy-cat to even try something like that.

[HtownWxBoy]

Wow .. that sounds like fun. I heard about this substance (I think it is from S. America or somewhere) that is supposed to open up portals. I forget the name, but I don't think it's banned or anything.

People that take it swear they seem very interesting things (like animals, people, and even alien type creatures).

I'm too much of a 'fraidy-cat to even try something like that.

I mostly saw things move around when I took the Ambien... like my bedsheets were moving around taking the shape of faces and stuff... stuff like that. That's why the "people" I saw really freaks me out... I generally saw things I had move around and become animated... those people just appeared out of nowhere.

Again, I didn't take it to hallucinate... and I never would... I would be too afraid of hurting myself or someone else.

[Subdude]

I'm not sure if it's supernatural, but I've seen old HAIF topics resurrected from the dead.

[memebag]

A friend of mine tried to sell a bunch of random stuff from his house while on Ambien. He was checking his eBay account the next day and saw things like staplers and pencils listed with somewhat rude descriptions.

I'm going to guess the substance houstonmacbro is talking about is salvia divinorum.

[sarahiki]

Wow .. that sounds like fun. I heard about this substance (I think it is from S. America or somewhere) that is supposed to open up portals. I forget the name, but I don't think it's banned or anything.

People that take it swear they seem very interesting things (like animals, people, and even alien type creatures).

I'm too much of a 'fraidy-cat to even try something like that.

Interesting thread... and topical, for me. While I've been on this side of the pond this month I've been researching spirituality, shamanism, hallucinations, and the supernatural. Nope, no direct research, not even with Ambien.

Anyway, my take on it is that humans, through history, have had to deal with the brain's insistence on conjuring up supernatural phenomena. Taking certain drugs, chanting, meditating, all bring on a particular hallucinatory experience, thanks to the structure and functioning of our brain. In some cultures this is sidelined as weird or illegal (like ours), in others it is cultivated as a way to communicate with the cosmos. And by the way, if anyone on this list is a neurologist or some other specialist in hallucination (again, not a specialist in that sense ), please PM me because I'd love to discuss that further with someone whose expertise comes from a different direction.

At the same time, though, I've heard too many "ghost stories" not to believe; I think that's different, though. You don't have to believe in "God" to believe that there is the possibility of ghosts, etc. But I've never seen one. I think it would freak the ** out of me.

[houstonmacbro]

A friend of mine tried to sell a bunch of random stuff from his house while on Ambien. He was checking his eBay account the next day and saw things like staplers and pencils listed with somewhat rude descriptions.

I'm going to guess the substance houstonmacbro is talking about is salvia divinorum.

Yes, I think that is it.