General Chat

You know that happened to us. My uncle hadnt seen his father since he was 3 years old, which was about 1974.. He wanted to find him so asked me to look - Thats when all the strange stuff happened.. the lamp in my uncles front room was having its own disco - just switching on and off constanly for about 10 mins for 5 nights in a row while I was searching.. then the kettle in our flat switched itself on.. then I dreamt that I found what I was looking for on ancestry so I looked the next day and there is was - like I dreamt it, a death record on ancestry..
I was rather spooked to say the least lol

xx

i believe in ghosts,go to see someone as she may have info that can help as ur mother seems to helping you get some info that u will not find without help from her

Thank you Linda - I had noted that the thread seemed to have turned into a conversation between Andrew and me and had ceased to become a forum. It must have become a bit boring for the originator, Gillian Redman and others like Jacqui Etches who seem to have dropped out. I had been hoping for some interjection from Badger Bill. I don't mind debating points with others, replying to questions or trying to help anyone who is worried but really don't fancy being a pen-pal. Cheers Len

Me thinks Leonard and Andrew should meet up in person - there seems to be a spiritial connection plus you have lots in common - Budding Pals in the process. Happy Hunting Linda

Leonard - Super stuff..and most interesting! many thanks.....I guess most people reading out little post's would be thinking uh..what are those two "geezers" on about! - which makes me laugh....I will take note of the reading material... I have decided not to participate any further on message boards..as the "novelty" has worn off a little with the exception of your good self..which has been delightful and indeed enlightning! Very best wishes to you..... Andrew

Andrew This is by way of a p.s to my last note which went on a bit even though it was more of a precis. You may be interested in the following told to me by my father,shortly before his death He was a staid school headmaster, careful with words and not in the least interested in trying to impress. He spoke of the 1914-18 war when he was in the Flanders trenches from 1915 until after the armistice. He was allowed a short leave behind the lines after which he, and others, were transported back to near the front from where they made their own way to their unit. As he approached his platoon, in a dug-out, he met a pal from the unit (who had not been on leave) outside in the trenches having a smoke and had a chat with him. When he rejoined the rest of the men in their undergound quarters, he mentioned having seen "old so and so" outside. It went very quiet then someone told him that "old so and so" had been killed a couple of days before. He also told me that one night when he was asleep in his bunk, in a dug-out, he woke and felt he was being urged to get up and get out. He followed this impulse and soon after a dud shell came through the roof, through his bunk and into the earth below

Andrew You bring back pleasant old memories for me. Yes, long ago I read Gurdjieff, Ouspenski, the Upanishads, Ralph Waldo Trine and many others who I cannot now recall. These days, though, you will find my bookshelves populated by authors such as Theodore Zeldin (An Intimate History of Humanity), Richard Dawkins,Steve Jones, Anthony Storr and others. I think the van de Poste title which may interest you is The Bushmen of the Kalahari. I am not 100% sure of the title as I no longer possess a copy. "The Psychology of Perception" may also be of interest. My memory fails me as to the author. As you so rightly observe, ESP is just the tip of the iceberg. Hypnotism is another subject I raised with Carl Sagan although my questions remained unanwered. The trouble with scientists is that experiments have to be repeated at will, weighed and measured which is not possible with some subjects. I confined myself to mentioning ESP as most people ,but not all, have had some experience of it by becoming aware of the scrutiny of another person not in vision. There is also thought tranference, another common phenonema. There is just not enough space here to write an essayand what one can cover is very limited. In any case, who would want to write an essay and for whom? Another mind-opening experience I had was to do a 3 year course in philosophy at the LSE. Not at all what I thought it was going to be but more a lesson in awareness

Thank you Leonard - for your extremely interesting post's, it has been a pleasure reading them - The "van de poste" book looks interesting - "esp" - some believe it goes even deeper than that, which I guess, ties in with what we have been talking about here with the after life and paranormal, which can appear "strange" to the observer - but if you take it that we are capable of greater things both in the "perception" way and indeed the spiritual one too, it opens up peoples everyday world to endless possibilities for their minds and soul's and what "could be" and indeed "is" - Have you heard/read any of the works by Gurdjieff and/or J.G.Bennet? interesting reading, the most normal phrase I can use is "self awareness" - although this is such an enormous over simplification. Marion - Your story is most interesting too!! I could read these paranormal events for hours.....

Marion Your account is unusual but not that uncommon. I was a counsellor for 10 years and had several clients who had had this sort of experience. I met one young man who was haunted by his brother who had been stabbed and killed in an affray. The man was terrified but I managed to convince him that his brother was not a threat, just someone lost who needed help. It that case the man's priest was enlisted and he sorted things. I once went to a public demonstration at the Spiritualists Association in Grosvenor Square, London. To my surprise, I was selected, out of about 100 people, for a message. It was from my grandfather. He wore a seaman's outfit, walked with a limp and when he passed over did not believe but had changed his mind. I was also supposed to have an oil-painting of him. All this was news to me so I disputed it and was rather terse with the medium for supposing I was gullible. Some months later I was with an elderly aunt and related this to her. First of all she gave me a rocket for dabbling. Then she added that I ought to be ashamed for knowing so little of my grandad. He always wore a seamans outfit. He walked with a limp through stopping a bolting horse with a carriage with people in it and got his leg badly broken - and of course I had an oil-painting of him - it was only small and was in a box of old photos she had given me (unopened at the time). She added that soon after his death, she and her sister,now dead, had. at the sister's insistence, gone to a seance in Brighton but apparently it came to nothing and the seance had to be canceled as "a powerful influence in seamans garb was present, disapproved and was blocking the seance"

Andrew I also wrote to the late Carl Sagan after reading his book on the evolution of the human brain. I did not make personal contact with the man but corresponded with Pearl Druyan his "First Personal Assistant" who, I discovered later, was his wife. I enquired, amongst other things, about ESP and how one could become aware of being stared at by a person not in view. Most people have had this experience (or have stared at someone absentmindedly only to have that person suddenly turn round and make direct eye contact). I never got an reply on the subject from the great scientist but Pearl Druyan wrote to me saying that she once had observed a man on the ground, through binoculars, from behind a screen, from a long way up in sky scraper hotel, only to have that man suddenly look in her direction and, to use her words to "make eyeball to eyeball contact". She concluded "what do you make of that, Mr Preece" forgeting that it was me needing the answers.

Andrew My "cobbled together philosophy" was a botched attempt at an analogy. I am a better speaker than writer. In face to face conversation 10% of communication is verbal the remaining 90% is by body language and facial expression. I was attempting to get across how difficult it is to get anyone to understand - or even get a glimmering of - something of which they have had no experience and probably for which they have poor or atrophied receptors. As I remarked before, only personal experience is valid; other people's accounts of the paranormal are merely anecdotal although, if troubled, it is helpful and can be enlightening to talk to someone knowledgable on the subject.. Laurens van de Poste, in his books on the bush people of Namibia suggested that everyone has extra sensory perception but that, in modern society , it is buried under a hard veneer of civilization. I would suggest that transcendental meditation is a way of uncovering it.

My father had difficulty 'passing over', my sister as a teenager saw him passing from one room to the other , not knowing that my mother was on the phone to the doctor to inform of his death and had no knowledge he had died at that point. Unexplainable things kept happening in the house like light bulbs dropping all the time, taps turning on by themselves pictures falling off the wall. We encouraged my mother to speak to the doctor because we thought it might help her come to terms with the loss and that she may have been keeping him there. The doctor said he had seen much of this in his time when a sudden death had occurred. We were put in contact with a curate who did a kind of ceremony in the house, which didn't help, my father was a lovely man but had no religious faith. Eventually after many years I saw a trance medium and was told that my father had had difficulty accepting he was dead. Because of the prayers we had put out for him he eventually received help from passed members of the family names I recognised like his father, his uncle and his best friend (who I didn't know at that stage had also passed on). I had not gone for this information but was given much in a very loving way to put my mind at rest. I know my father watches over us now from a much higher realm, my daughter has had two near death experiences and recovered miraculously, and although you may view this with scepticism there's a whole host of rellies out there watching out for your progress. They aren't allowed to interfere with your lives but can help give you some prompts if you ask. I have been reading this week of someone giving Reiki to her family tree and getting fantastic results from out of the blue contacts. It pays to be sceptical but always keep an open mind. Marion

Leonard - Super you have corresponded with the late MB. He was a very interesting - extremely intelligent man - must have been a delight to correspond with the man directly., no other "medium" has written in such a genuine, honest and emotional way. Maybe you should say more about your experiences - however, shame on you for palming me off with some old cobbled together philosophy :o) - looks like an excuse to me.... (of which I can only guess as to why) - how would anyone learn or be informed if information was not passed on, to use your analogy even to the deaf and blind although, I am not really thinking of physical disabilities more intellectually - My point being..(at last) maybe you should write your experiences and knowledge, if you have not done so already...I am sure, even if they were published on the internet anonymously..people would find them fascinating and enlightening, just let me know the web address OK!!! :o) Judy - Pleased you will order the book - you will not be diappointed!!! - Thanks for your weblinks, I will check them out! -

Andrew I have read the late Michael Bentine's book. I believe one was called The Door Marked Summer. I sent a copy to Dr Jonathon Miller but it was not acknowledged. I corresponded with Michael . I asked why he was so upset at someone's impending death when he knew it wasn't the end. He replied that he was upset because of the suffering the bereaved ones would go through. A very nice man. I do not usually discuss paranormal matters. So many people have no experience of it and most are terrified of the unknown. How do you tell a person who has been blind from birth about a rainbow or sunset or a meadow full of flowers? How do you explain music to a tone-deaf person? I read recently that a group of profoundly deaf parents were outraged by the suggestion that their genetically deaf children should be provided with cochlear inplants that would enable them to hear

Ghosts....a fascinating subject! I have a paranormal research group....South Jersey Paranormal Research, and our finds can be viewed at www(.)sjpr(.)org. We've captured spirit energy on both video and still pics as well as voices, audibly. Another excellent website, another group I had joined to learn from before starting a group of mine own is South Jersey Ghost Research, www(.)sjgr(.)org....(web addresses to sights are different by a letter.) Andrew, thanks for the head's up on WWII reading....I'll be placing my order for the book. There were two very good books I finished recently on the subject, War Diaries and Ghost Soldiers.....both excellent books! War Diaries were letters written by soldiers covering several different wars, Ghost Stories was a true story of one of the units fighting during WWII. Judy

Hi Leonard. I missed WW2, but I know what you mean. If I reply in full on here, they'll think I've gone maudlin. Give me your number, and let me know when you are gone, and I'll give it a try, provided that you promise to phone me if I go first. Badger Bill

....and Leonard, please ask my grandma where the postcard that she promised to send me is?? She was going down below because she said it would be more fun than up above. She went 10 years ago - even allowing for slow post it ought to have got here by now - unless it got burnt on the way up!! Seriously tho - I definitely think there are forces at work that we don't understand - have experienced instances of esp and deja vue, and altho have no proof of contact with the spirit world have heard enough stories that make me wonder....

Leonard - If you have not read any of Michael Bentine's books on the subject, I would highly recommend them - He was in the RAF during WWII as an Intelligence Office - His paranormal experiences both as a young man and during the war are a superb read. I thought they would be out of print but www amazon(.)co(.) uk do have them. WWII fasinates me in many aspects, I have to believe that during this time and post - many things of a paranormal nature occurred without a doubt ......I wish you luck with your Ghost search ..I would like to think - that you could be successful, many have tried. As for the mobile phone...Harry Houdini thought he could escape death by "returning" at a set time at a seance - he never escaped! Big, big subject the paranormal one which I personally have a great interest in...some things are amusng though and need to be treated as such - and I can see by your last message you have a sence of fun too - excellent Good on ya Leonard - Best Regards Andrew

When I pass on, which can't be long now; well past my sell- by date, I'm taking my mobile with me. Anyone like me to call?

Hi Badger Bill Like you, I have been in the armed forces - in WW2. Seen much death and suffering and, regretably, caused some. I too have had some odd experieces in life which can only be described as being of a spiritual nature. As you, I am of a pragmatic disposition. I studied theology and paleontology is my early days and as a result no longer subscribe to any sectarian religion. My IQ is not what it was, which used to be 156, but I am not yet daft or senile - but I feel quite uplifted when something supernatural occurs. Would love to meet a ghost to exchange thoughts. Even quantum mechanics is exciting.