Something really strange just happened

[InSwamTiddler]

I’ve NC for this as I’m not sure what to make of it and I’m really confused.
Back story - I was raised Catholic, but I’m atheist now. I work in a science based field and for as long as I can remember I have believed in the factual, empirically provable reality of things. I don’t believe in God or the afterlife, or ghosts / paranormal stuff.

Nearly 9 years ago my dad died. He died very suddenly and unexpectedly at a young age in my childhood family home.

Due to some circumstantial things, I’m currently living back in my family home.
My mum has mentioned a few times over the years that she’s felt my dad’s presence here and I’ve always been openly kind to her about it, but thinking “nope. Your imagination is going crazy because you’re grieving”. She’s mentioned she’s felt pressure on the bed as if someone has sat down on it next to her for example.

Anyway, this morning DP has left for work and I was still in bed. I was listening to him brushing his teeth, then popping the kettle on so I was definitely awake, but a little drowsy.

I felt him get back into bed with me and thought “what’s he doing?”... it’s not unusual for him to pop back into the bedroom and give me a hug or kiss before leaving the house.

I felt the heaviness of him pressed against my back and his arms wrapped around me. There was a heat between my shoulder blades I have never felt before but I wasn’t scared but I knew it wasn’t DP then. I heard the front door open so DP was leaving the house. Then my whole back went tingly a bit like pins and needles but not in an unpleasant way.

When it was happened I felt calm and warm but I’m freaking out now and can’t stop crying. Sounds silly but I feel like it may have been my dad.

I was 100% awake, not dreaming. I leant over and flicked the lamp on straight after.

Does anyone believe in this stuff? I never have but now I’m questioning everything.

My dad passed away 8 years ago and I have almost lost count of the amount that of weird things that have happened over the years...

It would be easy to dismiss it as mind playing tricks or grief or whatever but some of it was witnessed by my husband who never met my dad.

If I could predict the future, I’d win the lottery four weeks in a row and fund my own research.

I saw my grandmother on the morning she died. I also saw my old family dog many times in the months after her died. I feel there's more to the universe than we understand.

I'm generally a bit skepticalabout mediums and psychics though.

No one can give you proof one way or another. It’s really down to what you believe.

For what it’s worth, I’ve felt that exact same thing once before. I was single and living alone, and someone got into my bed and spooned me. Part of me was a bit worried because I thought it was a burglar, but generally I was pretty fuzzy and weirdly ok with it. I could feel them pressed against my back all warm. Eventually I was able to turn round and no one was there. Over the years (that was about 20 years ago) I’ve been persuaded it was sleep paralysis rather than a very inappropriate ghost. I was definitely awake, I know it wasn’t a dream. But I’ve been assured the sleep hormone can make you feel like that if you are woken abruptly.

Since then I’ve lost people very close to me, and I’d love for some proof that they’re still close. I get weird signs sometimes, that could easily be explained away, but there’s some comfort in the ‘what if?’

You are talking about parapsychology Twit, which is pseudoscience, not physics and mostly not recognised as science by scientists.

There used to be a $1,000,000 prize for anyone who could demonstrate paranomal or supernatural abilities. Turns out upon entering a laboratry all paranomal/supernatural abilities stop working and no one won the prize. Werid that.

Dione

Find yourself a physics book. Any would do...GCSE level is all you need.

Read up on how information is transmitted & how incredibly important current models are in terms of understanding how the physical universe works.

Then try and imagine how revolutionary it would be were it to be revealed - with repeatable, verifiable evidence - that a new, unimagined way of transmitting information had been discovered. Not only that but the information flows backwards in time bringing future events that haven’t even happened yet to human conciousness.

It would be even more game changing than General Relativity.

And you think physicists wouldn’t be interested?

They generally aren’t because they know that such bullshit is impossible & find claims like this tedious in the extreme - but science lives and dies on evidence. Provide some and they’ll listen.

I feel a bit embarrassed for you. All your smug little questions have done is reveal that a) you don’t know how science works and b) don’t understand the stunning scientific implications that being able to accurately predict the future would have.

I’m done. Go read a book about reality.

There still is Walking - it’s the James Randi prize.

The Randi Prize ended some time ago.

You talk about repeatable, verifiable evidence, but the poster who claimed to have premonitions didn't seem to be in control. Therefore an experiment would not have been "repeatable". There would be too many variables for it to be even considered testable by any reputable scientist.

You're being a bit of a dick now Twit

Take a step back. We believe you're the best scientist on the thread. Relax.

koestlerunit.wordpress.com

“Welcome to the Koestler Parapsychology Unit website.
Established in 1985, we are based in the Psychology Department at the University of Edinburgh, teaching and researching parapsychology. Our work examines:
– the possible existence of psychic ability
– anomalous experiences and belief in the paranormal
– deception and self-deception
– historical and conceptual issues in parapsychology.

We invite you to explore the site and discover more about our work.”

Professor Caroline Watt, Koestler Chair of Parapsychology; author of Parapsychology: A Beginner’s Guide

I've been feeling a warm tingly pins and needles sensation on my back for about a year, so it's interesting to hear you say this. My father died last year, as did my father in law. Who knows if it's related. But I also started exploring Christianity more last year, and it has definitely happened a lot more since then.

Try stimulating the 'autonomous sensory meridian response', it gives me amazing tingles on the back of my head.

My estranged father came to visit me a year after he died. I was in bed wide awake and he was in the room, just looking at me. I turned to face the wall, closed my eyes and waited for him to leave. I have never forgotten it even though it was over 20 years ago.
Many other experiences too when my dear mum died

Can anyone explain the doorbell ringing or the knocking on the bedroom door then? The only place and time this happened (almost daily) was in my late grandmother's house for 2 months. The minute I moved out, nothing. Before I moved in, nothing. Hasn't happened before or since, but happened every blooming morning when I was there.

This felt so real, that I would get out of bed to answer the front door. Nobody there! Or I'd shout out 'I'm sleeping' to whoever was knocking at the bedroom door (it would continue, I'd get up, nobody there).
I know it was my grandmother absolutely playing with me for still being in bed 'in the middle of the day' as she would have called it.
Has never happened me since, and I live in a flat with a doorbell and have a bedroom door you could knock on. Why? Why would it only have happened in her house?
It makes absolutely no sense. The only explanation is that it was my grandmother.

I'm a true and severe cynic but the night my granny died my deceased other gran visited me as what I can only describe as a vision and it was the most bizarre experience ever. Later that night I got a call to let me know my granny was in hospital and unlikely to pull through.
It hasn't happened before or since but it very definitely happened.
Take the comfort you need from it.

This does remind me of sleep paralysis or a hypnogogic hallucination. Many of times I've been dosing slightly but awake and convinced my partner is in bed cuddling me, only to wake up more and he's not there and I've dreamt it. As it happened in a sleepy state I would dismiss it as a normal hypnogogic hallucination. Most people imagine or hear things in that in-between sleep stage. I've also had sleep paralysis and that can feel like a heavy feeling but you have no movement, your essentially locked in till your body wakes up with your mind.

The only place and time this happened (almost daily) was in my late grandmother's house for 2 months

Perfectly explainable. Whilst in your grandmothers house, a smell, a noise, a memory, a routine, a discussion or any little thing triggered a dream which translated your trigger into a knocking. The dream was vivid enough that you believed it was real. Enough so that you woke up and acted upon it.

It is a lot more common than you would think. Most people just dont read more into it.

Then try and imagine how revolutionary it would be were it to be revealed - with repeatable, verifiable evidence - that a new, unimagined way of transmitting information had been discovered

But it hasn't. A random claiming to have premonitions is not the discovery of a new, unimagined way of transmitting information. No one would take this seriously.There is no repeatable, verifiable evidence in such a case. I cant imagine prophetic dreams interesting a physicist: they investigate measurable phenomena to help describe the universe; they do not investigate woo.

InSwam you know what you felt. If others interpret it differently that's up to them but you believe what you initially did, especially if it gives you comfort.
I personally have never seen a ghost or felt anything that can't be explained but I'm still open minded and feel there are too many people who have for me to dismiss other people's experiences.

The Randi Prize ended some time ago.

It did. And before the James Randi prize, PT Barnum offered something similar.

Neither prize was ever collected.

My grandmother, who was not a fanciful woman prone to tall tales, had a similar experience.

It was not long after both my Grandad and her niece had died and she was watching Princess Diana’s funeral. She said she was sobbing uncontrollable and thought she might have a stroke or heart attack, so acute was her grief. Then all of a sudden she felt someone lying behind her and putting their arms around her. She claims she felt instantly soothed and comforted, and had a warm tingling sensation on her back. She was definitely awake and could never really explain it because she didn’t believe in the paranormal but insisted that it happened. Strange.

She said she was sobbing uncontrollable

Whats strange is that so many people sobbed uncontrollably for someone they had never met and in reality didnt know.

The mind can imagine wonders that... are just in the mind.

walkingdead yes of course people can sob uncontrollably at a stranger's death or misfortune...it's called empathy.
It may remind them of heartache they have suffered closer to home or they could be feeling very emotional at the time or other...
Strange to pick up on that.