Tuesday, November 30

The Football Journey Coincidence

young football soccer playerMy thanks to JC again for the following coincidence story. It's about asking for guidance from a 'higher level' and getting the request answered. It's also about trust or faith or belief.

On Saturday afternoon, November 21st, I planned to attend a football match in which two of my former students were playing (I'm a sports teacher at a Junior School). I told their families I would meet them before the game so that that we could watch the game together.

I left my home early as I wasn't too sure where the football ground actually was, it was about a 60 mile trip. As I joined the main A road, a car pulled out directly in front of me from a side turning. The driver didn't look in my direction or slow down. If I hadn't of reacted quickly, I would have collided with him.

The 'idiot' then settled down in front of me driving at a slow 30 mile-per-hour crawl in a 50 mph area. Cars began piling up behind me, but the road had double white lines so there was no way I could overtake him.

He eventually pulled off and I started driving faster to make up for lost time. I then remembered I was low on petrol, so I stopped at the next service station. I filled up and went into the shop to pay but the man in front couldn't get his credit card to work and it took, what seemed, ages before the transaction went through.

Eventually I got moving, but was frustrated at the time wasted.

Hurrying, I reached a roundabout roughly three-quarters of the way to my destination. I slowed down for a car coming from my right, as it had right of way. I immediately recognized the car as belonging to one the families I was planning to meet up with.

He didn't notice it was me and carried on along the road ahead. However, his son did see me and started to wave from the back window. This simplified my jouney as all I had to do was follow the car in front. My concern about finding the football ground vanished and we got there in good time.

In the end, therefore, everything worked out perfectly and the slow driver and the man with the credit card problem all helped to make it so.

One of the strange things is that before leaving home I asked the 'great unknown' to help me find the football ground without any difficulty. If I had put trust in this from the very start the delays on route wouldn't have frustrated and annoyed me. I should have realised that this was all part of the plan.

Further Reading:
How To Get A Car Parking Space Using The Power Of Coincidence
Clean Sweep With Five New Brooms Coincidence
The Law Of Attraction Powered By Visualisation

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Monday, November 29

Professor Proves Psychic Powers Exist

Psychic imagePsychic powers exist. Nope, that's not just my opinion or that of quite a few 67 Not Out readers. It's also the opinion of a Professor Daryl Bem who has carried out experiments to back this up. His findings have been published in the New Scientist magazine.

In one of his experiments the Professor's students were shown a list of words to memorise. Later they were asked to recall as many of these as they could and finally were given a random selection of the words to type out.

Obviously the students were better at remembering some words than others.

But here's the psychic bit. They tended to remember the words they would later be asked to type. This suggested a future event had affected their ability to remember.

In another experiment the students were shown images of two curtains and were told that behind one of them was an erotic photo. Guess what, the students chose the curtain hiding the naughty picture more than could be explained by chance.

In this experiment the position of the picture was randomly allotted by a computer after the student had made their choice of which curtain to choose. This suggested that the students were actually influencing future events.

All in all Professor Bem, of Cornell University in New York City, carried out nine separate experiments with more than 1000 volunteer students. All but one resulted in favour of psychic power.

The Professor reckons that the odds against the combined result being down to chance, or a statistical fluke, are 74 billion to one. He said that, 'the science world should open its mind to the possibility of the paranormal.'

As for the New Scientist publication, they commented that, 'the proof of the pudding will be in whether other scientists can repeat Professor Bem's success.'

What I have read about the experiments probably won't convince many scientists or non believers but it's good to see a Professor taking the subject seriously. It would be great if other scientists followed suit. If we all started believing in psychic powers it would change the world and, yes, this would be for both good and the bad. Opposites unfortunately often go hand-in-hand. It will no doubt happen when the time is right.

Two psychic healers meet in the street, "You're fine - how am I?"


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Saturday, November 27

67 Not Out Readers Coincidence Stories - 9

A couple of 67 Not Out readers' stories. If you have an interesting coincidence or synchronicity story you would like published on this blog please use the 'Contact' button at the top of the page - thanks in anticipation - Mike.

Careful what you dream it may come true
Tonight was my ballet school's annual concert. A couple of nights ago, I was lying in bed, not quite asleep but not awake either, when I had a half-dream of the theatre being on fire.

It was on my mind for the day, not because I believed it would come true, but because I decided it'd be fun to build on it and write a short story.

Today, we drove up to the theatre, and I was dropped off outside, surprised to discover that the entire dance school was standing outside. Why? The fire alarm was going off.

It was a false alarm, and there was no fire for the rest of the night, but it was still oddly coincidental, and almost scary.

-Kelly


My thanks to John D for sending the cartoon below:

coincidence cartoon


Coincidence In Surrealism
My dad took the family on Sabbatical from the University of Kansas to France in 1989, and we lived in a house in a suburb of Paris. The house belonged to a woman who was a curator at the Louvre, and she rented it out to (mostly) visiting scientists -my dad's a physicist.

There was a book on Surrealism in her library that I always wished I'd stolen but, back then, I was 14 and a good kid.

Years later, I was walking around Manhattan on my third day in college with a bunch of other new Cooper Union students. We'd come from all over the country.

This one flat-nosed guy from Pennsylvania and I started talking about our parents, and Sabbaticals, and the conversation went something like this:

"You lived in France, too, huh?" I said.

"Yeah, in a suburb of Paris."

"Really? Did you live in Orsay?"

"Yeah." At this point, I got a creepy feeling.

"Did you live at 35 Rue des Xxxxxxx?" I asked.

He had the Surrealism book back in his dorm room. I should of stolen it from him.

- Anonymous


Other Reader Coincidence Stories
67 Not Out Readers Coincidence Stories - 5
67 Not Out Readers Coincidence Stories - 7
67 Not Out Readers Coincidence Stories - 8

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Friday, November 26

A Universe Full Of Strange Looking Aliens

Strange aliens
To a degree this follows on from my post on Monday, Knowledge Learned From Fish Like Aliens.

Many will laugh and mock the idea of fish like aliens which impart wisdom but, if there is life on other planets, then there is absolutely no reason why it should resemble us humans.

Aliens don't have to be little green men or any other caricature that we often see. Professor Zdenek Kopal, ex of the University of Manchester, believes that our own genetic pattern is such that the odds against it being duplicated in another world is the number 10 followed by 936 noughts! In other words pretty remote.

Genetic blueprints for inhabitants of other worlds may be quite unrecognisable from our own.

If we let our imaginations run wild, on other planets there could be an intelligence embodied in a microscopic droplet of liquid or even confined underground. They could, on the other hand, have enormous brains necessary to live in their particular environment.

Professor Sagan, who co-wrote Intelligent Life In The Universe, suggests that space people may well breathe gases we consider to be poisonous or be living happily in great cold or scolding heat or in strong acids.

UFO alien pictureSo life could well be very different from us. If they were to live in a world with higher atmospheric pressure than our own then they could possibly have some sort of armour plated bodies.

Similarly on very large planets, with a stronger force of gravity than earth, the inhabitants may be larger and more stockily built maybe even tortoise like.

Recently researchers at the University of California have shown that there could be tens of billions of planets similar to the earth in our galaxy alone and trillions of planets able to support life throughout the Universe.

Their latest study published in the Journal Science found earth like planets were relatively common. Dr. Andrew Howard said, "If we extrapolate down to earth-size planets between one half and two times the mass of earth, we predict that you'd find about 23 for every 100 stars.

As I see it there must be life somewhere other than earth and some would surely be way in advance of us. A thousand, or even ten thousand years of evolutionary difference is nothing on a cosmic scale; and the chance that we could come across another civilisation in the Universe at approximately the same level of development - and with a similar intellect and understanding - must be very small.

Other living beings could be hundreds of millions of years ahead of us. Any similarity between them and us would be farther apart than we are from insects.

Going back to those fish-like aliens: there is no reason, therefore, why there shouldn't be such creatures and likewise no reason why they couldn't be far in advance of us.

We are very inward looking if we think we are alone - absolutely anything could be out there both good and bad. Our own form of life could well have been transported to earth from another planet - but that's a whole different debate.

Further Reading:
Knowledge Learned From Fish Like Aliens
War Of The Worlds Remnants Found On The Moon
Paralysed By Aliens Of The Lavender Field

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Thursday, November 25

The Dog Who Waited And Waited For His Owner

A puppy dog waits for his owner
In Jiaozhou Road, Shanghai a dreadful fire broke out on November 15th which killed 53 people. A golden retriever puppy, called Jingjing, must have thought his master was inside so he lay on the ground beside the fire waiting and waiting for his return - he wouldn't move or eat and drink.

Occasionally the puppy would break his vigil to walk back and forwards in a distressed state near to the site of the fire.

When the dog lay still once more firefighters covered him with a blanket and left some food, but he refused to eat. Local residents claim that the dog had tears running down his face. One tried to take him home but the dog growled, determined to remain where he was.

Eventually a firefighter did manage to take the dog to the fire station as the puppy was completely exhausted.

Two days later the dog's owner turned up at the fire station. Jingjing ran towards the owner and the two were reunited. Jingjing hadn't eaten for several days.

Footnote: Though I used the words 'master' and 'owner' in the post this isn't the real relationship between man, woman or family and their dog. It is much more than this, as the story illustrates.

Other Animal Posts:
The Cat Who Just Wouldn't Go Away
The Psychic Power Of Dogs
Goats In Trees Coincidence
Meeting Three Young Birds In One Day

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Wednesday, November 24

Slow Down Your Heartbeats To Live Longer

A Tibetan Lama
Tibetan Lama
When I was young, about 10 or 11, I had this idea that we only have so many breaths in a lifetime. As to how or why I arrived at this I'm not sure, but I always tried to breath slowly and at times hold my breath.

I then thought that if my idea was right maybe it also was true about other things as well, for instance, perhaps there are only so many words we can speak and so on.

I got over this theory and forgot all about it until, that is, I started reading Lobsang Rampa's books when in my early twenties. This is a guy who reckons he was once a Tibetan Lama. His first book The Third EyeThird Eye was particularly convincing but many thought him to be a fraud later.

Anyway, in one of his books, The Rampa Story, he wrote the following, which was told to him by the Lama Mingyar Dondup: "A human lives for 2,700,000,000 heartbeats, and so does the lowliest insect."

This got me breathing slowly again! Especially as my calculator showed that at an average 70 beats per minute a lifespan would be 73.38 years. I wanted (and still want) to live much longer than this.

My resting pulse is now about 54 so, with the Lama's theory, this would let me see out 95 years. But, of course, at times my pulse rate does rise higher, even much higher.

The book went on to say that, "The life of a planet is (also) 2,700,000,000 heartbeats after which it dies, but from the death of a planet others are born."

So how long is a planet's heartbeat? To quote again, "A planet - they vary, of course - but one planet may have one heart beat in 27,000 years, and after that there will be convulsions upon that world as it shakes itself ready for the next heartbeat."

So I guess my early age theory about having so many breaths may be viable, at least if I mention it in a Tibetan monastery! It can, of course, be shot down in flames.

Life span has always fascinated me. I wrote a small Squidoo lens about this: Longevity And Why Some People Live Long Lives. Thomas Parr supposedly lived 152 years, Henry Jenkins 169, Louisa Truxo 175 years and so on.

One I do know to be true was my grandmother, Lucy English, who lived to 104 despite breaking her hip after falling from a chair, she was standing on, while putting up new curtains. She received a congratulations telegram from Queen Elizabeth II (because of her age not for her curtains!).

So with only 2,700,000,000 heartbeats it pays to go slow - the tortoise does outlive the hare.

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Tuesday, November 23

WW1 Grandfather's Bugle Found On Market Stall Coincdence

World War I bugleSoldier Daniel Clay wrote home to his mother just prior to the battle of the Somme in 1916 during World War I. In his letter he said, "... if it should be that my time has come ... just look after my darling little daughter."

Daniel's wife had died in childbirth and tragically just one day after his letter he was killed, his body never recovered amongst 60,000 other British casualties in July of 1916.

Daniel Clay's daughter was called Harriet and she had a son Maurice Green. Harriet died in 1995.

We now move forward to this week. Maurice Green was looking round a market and came across a stall selling old bric-a-brac. He casually picked up an old bugle and noticed the numbers 132 but couldn't read the other part as it was so black and dirty.

Maurice said, "I spotted this battered old bugle, it was as black as soot but I noticed it's Army service number had the same first three digits as my granddad's. I couldn't see the other two digits because the bugle was so filthy. But something in me started shaking straight away.

As you will do doubt have guessed the bugle he had found was in fact his grandfather's and was lost in the trenches way back in WW1.

The full service number was 13292, the same number as he had on his treasured grandfather's medals.

Mr. Green paid the market stall holder £5 for this priceless, to him, piece of family history. He said, "I asked the stallholder where he bought the bugle from and he said it came from a house clearance but he couldn't remember when or where he got the bugle.

The important thing is that it has ended up back in the right hands in the end, in my granddad's family where it belongs."


Battle of the Somme July 1 1916
He just wishes that his mother Harriet was still alive to have seen the bugle as she was so proud of her father and treasured the letter that was sent to her grandmother. The full letter read:

"I am writing this letter just behind the firing line and there is a terrible bombardment going on now. It will hell upon earth before we have finished.

Dear Mother if it should be that my time has come, of which I trust not, just look after my darling little daughter. I am asking you this because we never know this may be my last letter. But don't get down hearted mother as I shall not be long before I let you hear from me.

I am pleased to tell you mother that I am going over with a good heart and quite confident that I shall get through it quite safe.

I shall have to close now mother, with my very best love from your ever loving and devoted son Dan.

P.S. Give my very best love to my darling daughter and tell her daddy is fighting for her sake and give her these for me xxxxxxxxxxxxxx."


Photo: Battle of the Somme on the first day July 1 1916, the day after the letter was written.

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Monday, November 22

Knowledge Learned From The Fish-like Aliens

Dogon from Mali
Dogon in masks
Sirius A and Sirius BIn my post War Of The Worlds Remnants Are On The Moon I mentioned how the Dogon people of West Africa were familiar with the star Sirius B long before the rest of civilisation were aware that it existed.

It is strange how some races of people, often today thought of as primitive, had and have knowledge that seems far above their capabilities.

Lets look at the Dogon people first and their strange stories of visitors to earth and how their appearance was 'fishlike'.

The Dogon people live in Mali, with their nearest town being Timbuktu, and have religious beliefs handed down through the generations. These they say were given to them by visitors from another star system.

They star they refer to is Sirius B (small dot bottom left of photo), which was only 'discovered' by the rest of the world in 1844. The Dogon call this star Po Tolo, which means small seed (po) and star (tolo).

They call this the smallest thing there is and that it is the heaviest star and is white in colour. Sirius B cannot be seen by the naked eye - so these facts could not have been observed by the Dogon.

We now know that Sirius B is a small white dwarf star and is extremely dense and heavy. So their knowledge was pretty accurate: the smallness, the heaviness and it's colour. And also that it orbited Syrius A every 50 years.

They also say there is yet another star in the Sirius system, which they call Emme Ya but this has not been confirmed - as yet - by western astronomers.

The Dogon belief is that the Sirius B was the first star made by God and from it all souls are produced.

Their knowledge came, they say, from the Nommos who visited earth from the Sirius star system.

The Nommos also informed them of facts such as: that Saturn has rings and Jupiter has four moons.

These visitors to earth were amphibious beings and were also called the Masters of the Water. The craft in which they arrived landed 'after spinning and whirling'.

From the craft came something with four legs, more fishlike than human, that was able to drag the vessel to water, where it floated.

The Nommos became the Dogon's spiritual guardians. We then get a familiar story:

"The Nommo divided his body among men to feed them ... they gave all their life principles to human beings.

The Nommos was crucified and resurrected and in the future will visit earth again, this time in human form. Later he will assume his amphibious form and will rule the world from the waters."


There have been other amphibious visitors, this time according to Babylonian accounts of the Oannes who came to earth to assist the human race. They arrived in an egg shaped vehicle.

In the third century a Babylonian priest, Berossus, recorded a history of Mesopotamia. In this he recorded that the Oannes, "had the shape of a fish blended with that of a man ... a complicated form between fish and man."

He went on to say about the Oannes:

"The whole body of the animal was like that of a fish; and had under a fish's head, another head and also feet below, similar to those of a man, subjoined to the fish's tail.

The Being in the daytime used to converse with men, but took no food ... he gave them an insight into letters and sciences and every kind of art. He taught them to construct houses, to found temples, to compile laws and explained to them the principles of geometrical knowledge ...

When the sun set, it was custom for the being to plunge into the sea, and abide all night in the deep, for he was amphibious."


There is a further account of amphibian visitors, this time recorded by Saint Photius of Constantinople who tells of a story recounted by the historian Helladius:

"... a man named Oe who came out of the Red Sea having a fish-like body but the head, feet and arms of man, and who taught astronomy and letters. Some accounts say he came out of a great egg, whence his name, and that he was actually a man, but only seemed a fish because he was clothed in the skin of a sea creature."

So we see similarities between the Dogon, Ooanes and Oe visitors from other stars. They were all amphibious or fish like and arrived in eggs (space crafts). Their coverings could have been a form of space suits.

In each case they meant no harm to human life and imparted knowledge to help human mankind on their way - as did the likes of Jesus and other Masters.

How could the Dogon know about Sirius B? They couldn't see it, had no instruments - but they still had the knowledge.

Dogon photo: Devriese

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Sunday, November 21

The Birthday Connections

A quick post today as we have just heard that my wife's brother has died, so things are a little difficult.

I was watching UK BBC television and a show called Bargain Hunt. It's about two teams of two people who go out looking for antiques to try and sell at auction for a profit. Both teams are given £300 to 'spend' on the items of their choice.

Anyway, at the end of the show it was discovered that one member of each team had exactly the same birth date. This often happens, but then it also turned out that the remaining members of the opposing teams also had the same birthdates and, what's more, it was their birthday on the day the show was being filmed.

It would have been interesting to have found out if the two teams also had other connections as well, odds on they would have had.

P.S. In any group of 23 people the odds on having two people with the same birthday is 2 to 1 - a 50% chance. Full details on Wikipedia here.

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Saturday, November 20

The Unexpected Meeting Coincidence

My thanks today to Rick Shreiner for the following coincidence story about meeting an old friend amongst a 55,000 crowd.

Astrodome HoustonIn 1982 I was living in Seabrook, Texas which is about a 40 minute drive south-east of the Houston Astrodome in Houston, Texas.

During the baseball season, a group of my friends and I sometimes visited the Astrodome to watch the Houston Astros play home games.

On one occasion we were a larger group than usual. I wound up making the trip up to the Astrodome with some new 'recruits' who had never been along with our group. I was to guide them to where we usually parked our cars and, in the event we became separated from the others, to assist them find the section where our group always sat.

Somehow, we got separated from the convoy of cars travelling north to the stadium, and wound up arriving after the others had already entered the stadium.

As luck would have it, I also suffered some form of 'mental block' which caused the small group I was leading to buy tickets in a section that was below and adjacent to the section where our group usually sat.

We were not able to get up to the other section so we sat in the seats for which our tickets were allotted.

After the third inning, I figured that I should make contact with the larger group who were sitting in our 'usual seats', just to let them know that we had arrived, and that we were sitting in another section. Mainly to assure them that we had not been involved in an accident or such.

I went out to the outer walkway and up to the next level, then found the double doors leading to the section where all the others were sitting. I spoke with an elderly man who was inspecting tickets and explained my situation to him, and asked if I could just go in and speak with my friends, and then I would return to my friends in the lower section.

He refused.

I pointed out to him which of the people who were seated about 40-50 feet in front of where we were standing that I wished to speak with, and told him that I would just walk down to those seats, tell them that we were at the stadium, and then come right back.

Again, he refused.

I believe I let fly a few choice swear-words, but knowing that he was not going to let me in, I just left the spot.

Now it is worth noting that the Houston Astro Dome was at the time, the first and largest domed stadium in the world, seating over 55,000 people on several levels. It's nickname was 'The 8th Wonder of The World'.

Knowing that I still needed to reach my friends to let them know what had happened to our group, I went back to the outer walk [pedestrian hallway] that goes completely around the stadium [one walkway on every level] and walked about halfway around the entire stadium on this outer walk. Then I went to another set of double-doors and found an usher there who was checking tickets.

I explained to this second man my predicament, and he let me in to the seating section which was almost exactly opposite the stadium from where my friends were sitting, and even the group that I had come with [although they were one level down].

I walked up to the railing where I could see across the stadium (I'm guessing it must have been about 470-500 feet - 160-170 meters - over to the opposite railing) and could easily see the small heads of my friends, but they did not see me, of course.

The sections on both sides of where I was standing were very sparsely filled, and so I continued walking around the stadium, this time on the inside, alongside the railing nearest the field. This railing was about 60-70 feet (20-25 meters) above the lower section below that I was traversing.

I was able to follow the railing for about two sections, and then came to two more sections which were, for reasons unknown to me, almost completely filled with spectators.

I didn't wish to squeeze between all of the spectators in those two sections, many of whom had their feet up on the railing, or were standing, and leaning on the railing, so I took the stairs up and continued around those two sections, without leaving the area 'inside' the outer walkway, for fear of not getting back in. When I had passed these two sections I walked back down the steps and up to the railing again, and saw that I was indeed, much closer now to my friends, and there were only about 5-6 sections remaining to be traversed.

As I stood at the railing, about 10 seconds after walking up to it and gazing out over the field and the magnificence of the Astro Dome, a man I had not seen, sitting directly at my right, in the first seat, in the first row, of the first open section leading to my friends, still a few hundred feet away, leaned forward and tapped me on my shoulder.

He spoke my name and seemed quite surprised to see me!

As it turns out, it was a friend that I had gone to college with, over 2000 miles away, and had not seen in about 6 years!

I did not know that he was in Houston, but he knew that I lived somewhere in the suburbs of the city, but had no way of contacting me.

He lived in Houston by himself, while his family remained in St. Louis, Missouri and he 'commuted' back and forth during the week.

He had only been doing this for about 6 weeks.

On this particular night, I believe it was a Tuesday, he decided to go to the baseball game by himself, since he was bored and thought it would liven up the boring work-week, and he figured it would be a real 'hoot' if he should bump into me at the stadium!!

Now what are the odds of this happening? It could have been any one of my friends that had accompanied this new group to the stadium and then I wouldn't have led us astray. The old man at the first door could have just let me in to inform our friends that we had arrived, and that would have been the end of it. Or, I could have chosen to walk the other way around the stadium and would never have 'bumped into' my friend.

Sometimes, looking back on this incident, I just have to wonder how great the odds were against me having walked back to the railing, within 2 feet of where a good friend I had not seen in a long time was sitting, and him thinking he might find me in a stadium that seats 55,000 spectators!!

Amazing how things work out sometimes.

-Rick

I think Rick has said it all!

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Friday, November 19

St.Paul's Cathedral Protected By A Hidden Power In WW2

St.Paul's Cathedral from Distaff Lane, London in WW2

A while back I came across some photos from World War II amongst an old uncle's possessions. The ones that impressed me were of St.Paul's Cathedral in London standing amongst the bomb damage that destroyed so much of the surrounding area.

It always amazed me how St.Paul's remained virtually undamaged despite the bombardment of London in the blitz. Many put this down to the hand of God protecting the cathedral.

St. Paul's from Paternoster Row, London in WW2
St Paul's Cathedral World War 2
History.com writes about this:

"St. Paul's Cathedral became an inspiration to the British people during World War II. In the Battle of Britain, the Luftwaffe attempted to bomb Britain into submission by pounding London and other major cities, but St. Paul's miraculously escaped major bomb damage, even as historic buildings nearby were reduced to rubble. Images of St. Paul's framed by smoke and fire became a symbol of Britain's indomitable spirit."

One of the conspiracy theories as to how St.Paul's remained standing was that the Germans did not bomb it on purpose. Why? Because on a moonlit night the dome acted like a beacon to guide their planes during the blackout. This doesn't, however, ring true to me.

What is interesting though is the fact that St.Paul's is on a ley line which links the likes of St.Clements, The Temple Church, then St Paul's Cathedral at Ludgate Hill, St. Helen's at Bishopsgate and St Dunstan's at Stepney.

St Paul's Cathedral Ley Line, London
Further digging shows that the Cathedral is built on an ancient site. The present building was started in 1675 and finished in 1710 but there had been three known previous buildings. The first cathedral was built in 604AD. Prior to this it was the site of a Roman Temple to Diana.

There is speculation though that much earlier than this - where St.Paul's is built on Ludgate Hill - there was once a stone circle.

So was St.Paul's Cathedral protected in World War 2 by an important energy point? Fanciful perhaps but how else could it have remained upstanding when all around was being flattened?

Other photos from the surrounding area also show world war 2 bomb damage:


High Holborn, London World War 2 bomb damage
There are more World War 2 photos and memorabilia on my Squidoo lens World War 2 Photos.

A Coincidence? The top of the cross on St.Paul's Cathedral is 365 feet high - the number of days in a year. It's probably not to a coincidence though, and was most likely designed this way by Sir Christopher Wren.


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Thursday, November 18

Boy Falls 80 Feet And Is Caught By Passing Doctor

Boy fell from 7th floor 80 feetI was reminded of this story, which happened at the beginning of this month (November 2010). I think it illustrates how some people, in this case a small child, are meant to live on, despite what happens to them.

The scene is Paris, France and two small children in an apartment are inexplicably left on their own by their parents.

Somehow one of the children, only 18 months old, climbs out of a window and onto the balcony, seven floors up. The next thing he is falling 80 feet. His number is surely up - but astonishingly no.

The toddler bounced on a cafe's awning and into the safe hands of a passing doctor!

The doctor, Philippe Bensignor, was with his son and wife. He explained what happened: "I was there at the right time. My son happened to look up and he saw that a little boy was on the balcony and had somehow got through the railing and was playing on the very edge of a vertical drop into the street. I just had the time to get across the street and place myself. I said to myself 'whatever happens, I mustn’t miss him'. The boy bounced on the awning and I caught him. He didn’t have a scratch. He cried for a few moments and then calmed down and fell asleep."

Another amazing thing to this coincidence is that the awning should not have been in place to break the boy's fall. The cafe was closed but the awning remained in position only because the mechanism had jammed.

The boy was taken to hospital to be checked over but only had minor scratches. His parents, however, were charged with neglect - they cannot be named for legal reasons.

This was one lucky little boy who surely was meant to live - the doctor, the awning and fate was on his side.

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Wednesday, November 17

Special And Magical Numbers

Number 62I have written previously about numbers. One post was about the number 23 and another about what I consider to be my lucky numbers - sixes and sevens (or even sevens and sixes!). Much has been written on the Internet about 11:11, 33 and so on - all which supposedly have important significance.

The argument against such 'special' numbers is often that any number can be special - we just tend to notice it more, and ignore the other numbers that float in and out of our lives. So I thought I'd put this to the test!

First I had to choose a new important number that would show up in my life. So I picked one completely at random by writing out 0 to 9 on slips of paper. The first I chose - without looking - was 6 and then I picked a 2.

My new special or important number, therefore, was 62. I wanted to see if this would show up in my life.

Next morning I woke up, looked at the clock and it was 6:20 - this immediately made me remember my test.

Later that day I was looking for something about Sigmund Freud when I read that 'he was obsessed with the number 62, (and) was long convinced that he would die at this age.' Though he got this wrong and lived to 83.

But if 62 was important for Freud then I felt I was in good company!

Reading further I discovered that Freud believed in the magic of numbers and thought that important things happen to men in cycles of 23 and 28 days.

I thought I was on a run now with my 62s but that was it - nothing else appeared. So I went looking for it, but didn't find anything too exciting. Only run of the mill stuff like:

There are 62 counties in New York state.

62 is the international direct dialling code for Indonesia.

62 was Velvet Brown's winning raffle ticket number in the 1944 film National Velvet

62 is the atomic number of samarium.

In 62AD Emperor Nero married for the second time to Poppaea Sabina.

There were other bits and pieces but nothing of any real importance. Then, without waiting any further, I reached a conclusion about numbers:

(1) It's true that there are special numbers in our lives - but we don't choose these, they are 'given' to us.

(2) It is possible to pick out our own important number, but this will have no real magical significance - even if it comes up quite a lot in our everyday life. It's a 'false' misleading special or important number.

If we decide to choose something (not just numbers) it will appear in our lives - but it was always there - we just didn't notice it. An example of this would be if we have been talking about, say, a specific make of car then over the next few days - providing we are out and about - we'll 'see' them all over the place.

Our brain / mind receives so much data that it has to filter most of this out. What we see, or are aware of, is what is relevant to us. Start thinking or talking about something with enthusiasm and the brain / mind says, "Hey, this is important so I'll bring similar stuff to his or her attention. Or something like that.

As I see it, as far as numbers or symbols go, the special ones are from a higher level - any others are most likely a false dawn.

Anything real has a special 'feel' about it and we just know inside that it's right. So, for me, it's goodbye to 62.

This doesn't mean that we can't bring important items, happenings, people into our lives but that's a whole different subject.

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Tuesday, November 16

War Of The Worlds Remnants Are On The Moon

Moon craters on far side of moon taken by Apollo 11
Moon craters on the far side of the moon taken by Apollo 11.
The main crater seen is 50 miles (80km) wide

When the moon was full it got me thinking as to why it has so many craters - which can be seen quite easily.

Mars craterThe usual opinion is that they were created either by violent volcanic action or by a bombardment of meteors many millions of years ago. The same could apply to the surface of Mars (photo right - a Mars Express satellite image).

We could ask: if the moon was hit by those meteors why wasn't earth?

Earth, as I understand it, is protected by the atmosphere and most would have been burned up before hitting the earth's surface. This is fine, but some of the moon craters are so vast that any meteors of a similar size, which could have caused them, would almost certainly have been capable of also reaching the surface of the earth.

This got me thinking about a theory I heard or read about many years ago. I'm not sure but it may have been conjured up by Tom Lethbridge.

The theory is that there was a real 'War of the Worlds' and that many of the craters are caused by atomic or similar explosions. The then inhabitants of Mars and Venus perhaps fought over the mineral rights of the moon. One set of warriors may even have had a base or bases on the moon to defend.

At first this may seem pure fantasy until, that is, I read that Easter Islanders have a belief that many planets are inhabited - including the moon.

We now know that the moon is not peopled by aliens but perhaps the Islanders' beliefs have been built on very old knowledge. The Easter 'ancients' were aware, for example, that the sun was the centre of the solar system - long before Copernicus. They claimed that, 'All the planets worship the sun.'

They also believe that an invisible race of people live on earth, which is food for thought - a parallel existence perhaps? Or a source of some of the UFO sightings?

Many 'primitive' races had a knowledge of alien races. The West African Dogon people have knowledge of Sirius and say this was told to them by visitors to the earth from another star system.

Sirius A and Sirius B
Sirius A in the constellation Canis Major
with Sirius B the small dot lower left

The Dogon people described Sirius B before it's existence was known by western astronomers and that it revolves around Sirius A every 50 years. These facts weren't known generally until 1844.

Sometimes there are truths hidden away in old beliefs, traditions and stories. Who knows, perhaps the craters of the Moon and Mars are the remnants of a War of the Worlds.

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Monday, November 15

A Feeling Which Led To A Meeting With Bono

BonoToday's coincidence is from Becky and is about a meeting with Bono ... but there is more than just this to the story ...

In October 1997, as I was driving to meet my girlfriends for dinner, I had a thought flash through my mind, "I'm going to meet Bono".

I actually was going to see Bono and the band in Toronto but the feeling the thought produced was more of a knowing. Excited by this thought and feeling I blurted out to my friends that I was going to see U2 and I was pretty sure I was going to meet Bono. With that statement came the giggles and, "OK, sure you are."

The following day or so after my initial thought / feeling I received another. This time I was with my husband and again I blurted out, "We're going to meet Bono!"

He raised his eyebrow and said, "Yea, right."

Then I realised that I had blurted out this fantastic thought / feeling to my friends and husband but how in the world was this going to happen? What if I was wrong?

I began thinking logically about how one might meet Bono - along with maybe thirty thousand other people. I then remembered I had read a book U2: At the End of the World. This contained great information on how the band like to travel and where they stay when on tour (thank you Bill Flanagan author).

Fast forward to the day of the concert: I don't mention or bring up meeting Bono. I'm enjoying the day, being happy to be away from the kids and enjoying the fans in the Hard Rock Cafe waiting for the start of the show.

The show starts ... the show ends ... and now time is running out on my thought / feeling about meeting Bono.

I suggest to my concert going mates that we should head down to a five star hotel in town so we can meet the band. Two of the party of five agreed. We were on holiday and there was no need to go to bed while in a big city.

My husband, myself and his sister hailed a cab and headed out to town.

When we arrived at the hotel it appeared to be a ghost town. We walked in and there was barely a soul in the lobby, which seemed odd. We approached the bar to get a drink only to find the doors locked. There were people inside but the doors were locked. Again odd.

Feeling like rejects we headed for the door when, out of the blue, the bell boy approached us and said, "Hey, there's a little bar half a block from here. You'll be able to get a cocktail there.

While standing there quibbling about whether or not we should move onto the next establishment I was not feeling so confident in my meeting Bono. I was convinced that Bono and the band were behind those locked doors!

Not being able to convince anyone we should stay waiting for Bono, we leave. We take the advice of the bell boy and move on down the block.

We walk into this quaint bar, my husband goes to the bar to get our drinks and in my right ear I hear a voice, "He's here."

I'm mystified because it was not my sister-in-law who made the announcement. She was standing to my left. Cue the twilight-zone music!

Freaked out a little as I'm looking at my sister-in-law and looking for the voice, the door opens and in comes Bono! Cue time standing still music.

In that moment it was as if time stood still. That thought and feeling had turned into a reality.

It was that moment, thirteen years ago, that sparked my curiosity in all that may exist and does exist. It was that thought, that feeling, those synchronistic events that have changed my life. All the pieces came together at the right time.

I cherish my autographed napkin to this day!

- Becky


Footnote: Becky also sent me a follow up to the above story. She was watching a U2 video of Bono singing She's A Mystery Girl last week on YouTube. When it finished a list of other videos came up. She clicked on the top video and it was the one below.

The video tells of how Bono wrote She's A Mystery Girl but also, more importantly, how Roy Orbison 'materialised' at his door. Becky says she was 'gob smacked' by the video. She materialised Bono and Bono materialised Roy Orbison!


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Sunday, November 14

The Reincarnation Of Phil Collins

Drawing of the Alamo Mission in San Antonio

Phil CollinsPhil Collins has come out, with his belief that he has had previous lives. He revealed this in an interview with Rolling Stone magazine.

It seems that Phil was told by a psychic that he had fought at the battle of the Alamo in a previous life and, what's more, he fully believes this to be true. Phil said, "I don't want to sound like a weirdo. I'm not Shirley MacLaine but I'm prepared to believe."

He has also put his money where his beliefs are and has amassed one of the biggest collections of artefacts from the battle of the Alamo in 1836, in what is now Texas. In the Rolling Stone article Phil is pictured wearing a fur hat, Davy Crockett style, and holding an antique rifle.

He tells of making regular visits to the San Antonio battle site and taking a series of photos. When examining these he noticed glowing, semi-transparent light orbs. He explained what he considered these to be: "It's paranormal energy. You've seen the pictures. You can't deny them, so therefore it's possible that I was there in another life."

Phil's Alamo collection includes antique guns and also a receipt signed by the Alamo commander William Travis for 32 cattle to feed the defenders. He has previously said that his life now revolves around The Alamo.

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Saturday, November 13

Following In The Footsteps Of St.Michael

St.Michaels Mount, Cornwall - The Start Of The St.Michael Line
St Michaels Mount
I believe that sometimes the 'universe' pushes information onto our path that might just be useful or important. It's then up to us whether we follow this or use the information. As an example:

Since I wrote the post about ley lines Ancient Secret Transmitters Of Energy I keep 'bumping' into more and more information on the subject. This also seems to include St.Michael (I'm a Michael) and have links to Stonehenge, where I visited recently, see Photos Of The Stonehenge Mystery

I haven't gone looking for the information, it just appears.

Brought to my attention was, for example, the St.Michael line or ley. This starts near to where I live at St. Michael's Mount (Cornwall, South West England) and crosses England in a straight line to the east coast at Hopton. The line bisects many churches called St.Michael.

The line travels through numerous ancient sites including Glastonbury and Avebury (largest stone circle in the world) and also many hilltop shrines including Barrow Mump, Cliften Hampden and Brent Tor, all of which have ruined St. Michael's churches on their summits.

The St. Michael line also forms the hypotenuse of a right angle triangle connecting Glastonbury and Avebury with Stonehenge.

Moving on, I was talking to someone about the May Day celebration held in Cornwall at Helston (see video below) - and I found out that the patron saint of Helston is St.Michael.

The name Helston is a version of the Hele stone, the stone of the Sun God - which is the same as the Heel Stone at Stonehenge. The Heel Stone lines up with the sun at Midsummer.

I also came across the fact that some knowledgeable types believe St.Michael was actually Lugh the sun god.

So everything I've come across by 'coincidence' has been linked together. So, for me, this may well be important and I'll hopefully take some positive steps to see what else I can discover on these subjects.

With our recent break the places we visited was left to 'chance'. My wife and I wanted to go somewhere and things fell into place. First our friends invited us to stay with them for a weekend in Wimborne, Dorset. So we built a journey going to and from where they lived.

We didn't want to spend much money so I looked at the UK Travelodge website where they sometimes offer rooms at reasonable rates. I found the cheapest offers were at Illminster, Amesbury (about 4 miles from Stonehenge) and Torquay. So on the way to Wimborne we stopped for five nights at Illminster and Amesbury and after seeing our friends returned home via Torquay for a few nights.

It all fitted together perfectly and we saw all the sort of places we enjoy visiting. It's as if everything slotted together like a jigsaw. Now the jigsaw is being expanded to include more information on ley lines, stone circles, St.Michael and Stonehenge.

It will be interesting to see where the journey eventually takes us.

Further Reading on our Break:
Exclusive Photos Of Stonehenge
The World's Oldest Working Clock And Salisbury Cathedral
The Ancient Secret Transmitters Of Energy
Woodhenge The Stonehenge Made Of Wood

Helson May Day Furry Dance

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Friday, November 12

Ghostly Rye: The Most Haunted Town In England

The row of cottages where we stayed in Rye
Rye 15th century cottages
One of the most atmospheric and ghostly places I have visited is the town of Rye on England's south coast. Some claim it is the most haunted place in the UK and on a visit it's possible to see why this is.

Inside Rye cottage showing entrance to stairsLast year my wife and I were staying in a 15th century cottage in Rye, right in the center on the square surrounding the church. The cottage was creaky and timbered and the road surrounding the church was cobbled and virtually traffic free, other than for quick access. The photo above of the cottages was taken from top of the church tower.

On the day we moved in for our stay I parked the car tight against the cottage window to quickly unload our luggage. It was exactly as we hoped and as we walked in I noticed a trap door in the wooden living room ceiling. "Wonder what that's for?" I asked no one in particular.

I didn't get any answer so I went to the car to carry in a few more bits and pieces. Outside was an old women seemingly removing a stone from her shoe. I smiled at her and apologised for the car obstructing her path.

Cottage bedroom in RyeShe looked at me and simply said, "I used to live in that cottage twenty years ago. It's got a trap door in the living room to take the coffins in and out of the bedroom, when somebody dies. The stairs are too narrow and steep otherwise. It's also used for furniture." And with that she went on her way and disappeared from view.

For some reason it sent a shiver down my spine. The question I had asked was answered, not by my wife, but by a strange old fashioned lady.

The cottage was only small but very much original. Only one room downstairs, other than an extended (modern) kitchen. There were two floors above, each with one bedroom accessed by narrow, creaky, difficult to climb stairs. It was like we had moved back in time several centuries. Perfect!

As we settled in we liked to walk around the town late at night along the cobbled streets and past the old buildings full of history, while no one else was about. Sometimes it felt like having slipped through a time zone and into a bygone age.

We had a strange experience at the small castle. My wife was looking at something or other and I slipped into the garden grounds. I saw a woman dressed in medieval clothes tending the plants. I took a photo below.

The Rye castle ghost
My wife caught up with me and I told her to look at the woman in strange clothes. A group of visitors from the USA overheard what I had said and also followed my wife into the garden - but no medieval woman to be seem.

Rye PilloryThe Americans joked with me about seeing things, as did my wife. I showed them the photo on my digital camera so they took another look but still no woman to be seen.

I'm not saying it was a ghost but it was mighty strange. Perhaps it was someone dressed up, I don't really know. There are, however, dozens of hauntings in Rye and many famous writers have lived in the town including HG Wells, GK Chesterton, Henry James, EF Benson and Joseph Conrad.

Henry James, who lived in Lamb House in 1898, claimed the ghost or spirit of an old lady used to help him with his writing.

The Mermaid Inn and the Union Inn have their own ghosts. The Mermaid Inn goes back to the 15th century though the foundations are thought of as being much older, maybe from the 1100s, and it claims to be the most haunted pub in Britain.

In Mermaid Street female ghosts are often seen as is a small girl dressed in blue. In Watchbell Street you might just spot a small boy wrapped in a white sheet. In Turkey Cock Lane there is the ghost of a monk who wasn't quite as chaste as perhaps he should have been. He was bricked up alive after being caught trying to run off with a local girl.

And so the stories go on. The Rye Heritage Centre runs Ghost Tours and walks.

For me Rye is very much a ghostly, but magical, place. I'll finish with a few photos.

Chruch Square, Rye
Photo above is Church Square, Rye with it's own black cat on the cobble stones. The wall on the right of the pic belongs to the church, as seen below.

Rye Church
Once the steps of the church tower have been climbed there are views in every direction. Below shows some of the town's roof tops.

View from Rye Church Tower
More old buildings below dating back to the 15th century, this is the rear of the Mermaid Inn but no ghosts in sight.

Mermaid Inn, Rye
Rye was once an important port, which is now hard to believe as the sea is several miles south over marshland. The river silted up centuries ago leaving lots of flat land for sheep to graze.

My wife was in one of the small shops and they told her that the rear of where we were staying was once known as Fish Gut Row. This was where the local women would gut and clean the fish their men folk had caught.

View from Ypres Tower Rye
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