Have you ever had a real experience you consider to be supernatural?

[R_J_K75]

Yes, I have. I live in an area of South Buffalo NY that is well documented to have once been Indian burial grounds. Red Jacket was originally buried in the Seneca Indian Park which is a 2-minute walk from my house. I don't know why or when, but they relocated his remains to Forest Lawn Cemetary. There's a paranormal investigator in WNY named Mason Winfield, who has done lots of research, haunted pub-crawls who said the area I live in has a large concentration of paranormal activity. Over the last 35 years of living in my house I've experienced quite a bit of odd and unexplainable phenomenon. Heres one example off the top of my head. One night me and 5 or 6 friends were standing around and talking in my kitchen. My girlfriend at the time was standing by the stove, her hair was long enough that if she accidently backed into knob and lit the burner it probably could've ended badly. Fortunately, with the safety features built into the ignition process this isn't easy to do and takes a few seconds before the flame comes on. From where I was standing, I could see that she wasn't leaning on or touching the knobs. I told her to be careful not to back into the stove. No sooner than I finished the sentence the burner lit by itself. We were all kind of weirded out by this, I would say that one or two people seeing this could be written off but 6 people all agreeing that they saw the same thing is hard to explain away.

 

[Fifth Element]

So how do you explain existence in a rational scientific manner?

Since you asked, the answer is "I don't." If I don't know the answer to something, my response is "I don't know." I don't feel the need to add anything beyond that. I am comfortable with the fact that there are things I will personally never understand, but I don't supose that to mean that they are not understandable.

 

[Warpiglet-7]

I don’t know. I go back and forth a bit and generally don’t think reports of paranormal activity are fact based. I won’t litigate religion or other culturally sanctioned beliefs in this forum. Suffice it to say I am in a field that has other explanations for unusual experiences. Nevertheless…

I was having a philosophical discussion with a person of faith and a skeptic. 3 people in the room, inclusive of me.

We were discussing—of all things—the film “The Exorcist.” I opined that “evil” and “demons,” “the devil” are real in what they represent—-selfish choices, hate and unjustified harm toward others. I also said I did not think these concepts could manifest in the world aside from choices that humans make. If they exist in any way, they do not interfere with the physical world.

As I said this, the fireplace which had contained a fire hours earlier “erupted?” In flame. Perhaps another word would be better here. But flames nearly two feet high burned for a count of three and then were gone.

I yelled “holy sh*t!” And looked at the others in the room. The skeptic now was standing with wide eyes. The person of faith said “that’s not funny.”

They are family so you can rest assured we have thought about that over the years.

It is certainly possible that a gust came down the chimney and there were some embers Unnoticed by us. Whatever the case, the timing and the size of the flames is unforgettable. I am listening to Kid A by Radiohead as I write and have goosebumps. Even as I say “coincidence” and it was just a gust…

 

[BookTenTiger]

As a skeptic, what's fun to me about "supernatural" experiences is knowing there's an explanation, but not necessarily what the explanation is. For folks living before the understanding of genetics, a person born with albinism was a supernatural occurrence because they did not understand the reason behind it.

When someone tells a story of a ghost or psychic abilities or a prophetic dream, I figure there's a perfectly rational explanation... But the lack of one is fun too! It's like seeing a good magic trick. I know the magician isn't actually making the rabbit disappear, but knowing the truth is hidden from you is half the fun.

 

[Dave Goff]

I have two "ghost stories" I experienced that I can't explain, but I sit on both sides of this discussion- I believe people really do have experiences that can be called paranormal or supernatural, but I also believe that these things will someday be quantifiable, repeatable, and able to be studied.

I read tarot cards at events sometimes, and I always tell people I believe there's more psychology involved than parapsychology. I think that our subconcious can process data in ways our conscious mind cannot, and we can use symbols to faciliate the communication between the two.

Have I experienced anything supernatural? Yes, I would say so.
Do I believe the events I experienced can be explained by science? Not currently, or at least not that I'm aware of, but likely at some point, definitely.

 

[Andvari]

I haven't had any experiences I would categorize as supernatural, but I have experienced events of uncanny coincidence or things I could not explain. Here are a few.

As a child, I was playing in the woods near our home with the girl next door. We are on our way back, when suddenly I see a large shape in front of the path. I see it only for a split second, and my heart starts racing. I'm still not sure what it was, or if I was just imagining it. But I believe it was a big bird. When I tried recalling it, I saw an ostrich. Those do not exist where I live, so if it was a bird, it could have been a crane.

I once saw the Jim Carrey movie "The Number 23." After watching it to the end, as the credits rolled, I looked over at the digital clock. It said 23:23.

There was a period several years ago where I had the uncanny habit of looking at the clock just as it was 12:34. It happened several times a week during a longer period.

 

[Jack Daniel]

I've had experiences that felt uncanny at the time, but nothing I could ever consider supernatural. Every single time I've ever experienced that deeply uncanny sensation, it's always been in conjunction with a dangerous situation where I've feared for my life — full-on heart-pounding fight-or-flight fear. So I have no reason to believe that it's anything other than a neurochemical response.

Humanity has had the scientific method as we know it today for a good four hundred years now. In all that time, our investigations into the nature of the world have never discovered anything that we could rightly call supernatural. A supernatural explanation has never replaced a natural explanation for any observable phenomenon; only the opposite has ever happened. That is, I think, data enough to draw a conclusive inference.

 

[Cadence]

I've had experiences that felt uncanny at the time, but nothing I could ever consider supernatural. Every single time I've ever experienced that deeply uncanny sensation, it's always been in conjunction with a dangerous situation where I've feared for my life — full-on heart-pounding fight-or-flight fear. So I have no reason to believe that it's anything other than a neurochemical response.

Humanity has had the scientific method as we know it today for a good four hundred years now. In all that time, our investigations into the nature of the world have never discovered anything that we could rightly call supernatural. A supernatural explanation has never replaced a natural explanation for any observable phenomenon; only the opposite has ever happened. That is, I think, data enough to draw a conclusive inference.

That's what the Technocracy wants you to think... ;-)

 

[BookTenTiger]

I've had experiences that felt uncanny at the time, but nothing I could ever consider supernatural. Every single time I've ever experienced that deeply uncanny sensation, it's always been in conjunction with a dangerous situation where I've feared for my life — full-on heart-pounding fight-or-flight fear. So I have no reason to believe that it's anything other than a neurochemical response.

Humanity has had the scientific method as we know it today for a good four hundred years now. In all that time, our investigations into the nature of the world have never discovered anything that we could rightly call supernatural. A supernatural explanation has never replaced a natural explanation for any observable phenomenon; only the opposite has ever happened. That is, I think, data enough to draw a conclusive inference.

But who's brave enough to actually investigate the supernatural??? It's spoooooooooky!

 

[Fifth Element]

When someone tells a story of a ghost or psychic abilities or a prophetic dream, I figure there's a perfectly rational explanation... But the lack of one is fun too! It's like seeing a good magic trick. I know the magician isn't actually making the rabbit disappear, but knowing the truth is hidden from you is half the fun.

In mythology, crows are often seen as an omen of death, as if they know death is coming. The reality is likely that whenever two opposing groups of humans making lots of noise gathered in a field, crows would also gather, not because they were able to predict death but because they're intelligent and know that there will soon be carrion to eat.