This thread is the first part of an initiative by several Skeptiko members to soon have a separate forum created with a focus on our own personal paranormal encounters, where we can discuss our experiences and incorporate those tales, threads from other forums, and outside research into setting up experiments to create new experiences.
The premise behind the initiative is simple: for many of us, third-party reports of paranormal encounters (e.g. NDEs, telepathy, mediumship, UFOs, etc.) are nice; secondhand accounts are great; but personal experience trumps them all. So, we can run in circles with others engaging in battles of pride, or we can bypass all that and jump into the rabbit hole. Additionally, listening to the happenings of others can bring us closer together as members, provide new perspectives on other threads and forums, and inspire new threads for discussion in the other forums.
Remember folks, people of all kinds are going to post on here; however outlandish the tales might appear to us, they happened to them. So treat the experiencee with the same respect (or better) which you'd like to be treated.
I'll start with an experience of my own:
A couple of weeks after a friend and coworker of mine had committed suicide, I was driving on the highway when this red truck pulled in front of me. Just above its fender on the left was a magnet for a car dealership, which had the same name as my friend. Now, my friend's name was not common, my research found it hadn't been in the top 300 US baby names since the late 1980s, and has only become less common as the years have gone on. In addition, I had never heard of this particular car dealership, and never saw mention of it before that day, or ever since. So for me, that was a synchronicity, though I don't know what the heck it was supposed to signify.
UPDATE
Credit to Trancestate and Saiko for coming up with the original idea.
2ND UPDATE
Notes for your convenience:
1) Readers are to base their responses on the assumption that what the experiencer states happened to them happened as they said.
2) Topics for posts on experiences can be paranormal, mystical, or any other sort of experience which best fits in a post-materialist worldview.
The premise behind the initiative is simple: for many of us, third-party reports of paranormal encounters (e.g. NDEs, telepathy, mediumship, UFOs, etc.) are nice; secondhand accounts are great; but personal experience trumps them all. So, we can run in circles with others engaging in battles of pride, or we can bypass all that and jump into the rabbit hole. Additionally, listening to the happenings of others can bring us closer together as members, provide new perspectives on other threads and forums, and inspire new threads for discussion in the other forums.
Remember folks, people of all kinds are going to post on here; however outlandish the tales might appear to us, they happened to them. So treat the experiencee with the same respect (or better) which you'd like to be treated.
I'll start with an experience of my own:
A couple of weeks after a friend and coworker of mine had committed suicide, I was driving on the highway when this red truck pulled in front of me. Just above its fender on the left was a magnet for a car dealership, which had the same name as my friend. Now, my friend's name was not common, my research found it hadn't been in the top 300 US baby names since the late 1980s, and has only become less common as the years have gone on. In addition, I had never heard of this particular car dealership, and never saw mention of it before that day, or ever since. So for me, that was a synchronicity, though I don't know what the heck it was supposed to signify.
UPDATE
Credit to Trancestate and Saiko for coming up with the original idea.
2ND UPDATE
Notes for your convenience:
1) Readers are to base their responses on the assumption that what the experiencer states happened to them happened as they said.
2) Topics for posts on experiences can be paranormal, mystical, or any other sort of experience which best fits in a post-materialist worldview.
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