Thursday, June 30

The Purple Car Coincidence

Purple car coincidenceA 67 Not Out reader's coincidence story today, which may also have a touch of telepathy involved. My thanks to Megan T. for sending this to me, via email - appreciated.

Your site inspired me to start writing down some strange coincidences that have happened to me in the past. This one is the oddest/creepiest/coolest:

Just some background, I grew up in Kingston, NY which is about 90 miles from NYC (just for perspective) and about 10 miles from Woodstock, NY.

One afternoon about 11 years ago, a friend and I drove to Woodstock so I could buy my mom a mothers day gift. When we were done, we had nothing to do so decided on a whim to go on a nice drive near the reservoir, which was about 20 miles down the road and in the opposite direction of Kingston.

When we got there, we drove around for a bit then decided on yet another whim to go exploring in the hills behind the reservoir. We drove and drove and at one point, I looked in the rear-view mirror and thought I saw a purple car way behind us. I thought, "That's weird ... the only person I know with a purple car is Ryan," then dismissed it and kept driving and chatting with my friend.

Several minutes later a purple car went flying past us in the opposite direction. This time I could clearly see that the driver was in fact my brother Ryan, and my other brother Seth in the passenger seat. He saw me too and turned around. We stopped on the side of the road to say hi and how weird it was that we'd run into each other in such a remote, obscure place.

When I asked what they were doing way the hell out here, they said they just left Woodstock, they were there buying mom a mothers day gift at XYZ shop (I forget the name, blame it on aging lol) and when they were done, decided randomly to go for a drive back here.

Turns out I bought moms gift at XYZ and my brothers were in the same shop minutes after I left.

- Megan T.

Recent Readers Coincidences:
67 Not Out Readers Coincidence Stories - 16
The Wedding Poem Coincidence
Torrential Rain Coincidence Memories

If you have an interesting coincidence, suitable for publishing on 67 Not Out, please use the contact button towards the top of the blog. Thanks - Mike.

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Wednesday, June 29

Mysterious Symbolism In Mijas Spain

Mijas Spain
While in the south of Spain my wife and I went into the mountains to the village of Mijas. It was a lovely place full of tradition, unfortunately one of these being bull fighting, which is something I abhor. It seems very cruel to my eyes.

Square bullring Mijas Spain
But, in saying that, I was a little hypocritical as we had the opportunity to see inside the old bull ring - but with no bulls or fights in sight. It is supposedly the only square bullring in Spain.

Mijas bull ring Spain
I'm always interested in traditions from a bygone age. What I did notice was the symbolism of the ring. As we wandered round on our own the symbols were everywhere, though I wasn't able to find out what they actually meant or referred to.

Mijas bullring, Spain
Mijas square bullring Spain
After looking around the bullring we walked through the village. There was a building that looked like a museum so we wandered inside. As we did so a woman came from upstairs and, without saying a word or looking at us, locked the door behind us leaving the key in the lock. It was as if we were invisible to her.

She wandered off and we were left on our own. Not being too sure what to do or where to go we wandered into one of the rooms and then another ... and so on. We ventured upstairs, bizarrely there was no one else about. It was then that we came to the room pictured below.

It was full of symbolism again and people dressed in very strange attire. We left the room, returned downstairs, unlocked the solid door with the big, heavy key. We've still no idea what the building was.

Strange costumes in Mijas Spain
Now the small church we did understand! The symbolism more obvious.

Mijas church, Spain
That's the thing about travel you never quite know what you'll find. It's what makes life interesting.

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Tuesday, June 28

The Ghostly Buzz Wasn't What It Seemed

Ghost clip artIt was a cold, crisp winter morning and, after a restless night of hearing strange noises, our neighbour got out of her bed. She lives alone and the noises had left her with a feeling of uneasiness. It felt as if some ghostly entity had been stalking her home.

As she went to the kitchen she almost jumped out of her skin, a buzzing sound seemed to emanate from the walls. Listening more carefully she pin pointed the sound as coming from the water pipes. She tried running the water but this made no difference.

Not knowing what to do she phoned a friend for advice. Was it some sort of spirit or ghost, or something more earthly like a plumbing problem? Her no-nonsense friend told her to call a plumber and not the local vicar.

It's never easy getting a plumber to make an emergency call but luckily her second attempt from numbers found in Yellow Pages proved successful. He would call that morning but, of course, there would be a hefty call-out charge. Nevertheless she agreed.

The buzzing noise continued as she waited with some trepidation as to what the plumber would discover.

plumber clip artShe breathed a sigh of relief as a van pulled up outside her house and a strong looking man, with his toolkit, made his way to her door. He listened to the noise and said, "What on earth could that be?"

Our neighbour told him that's what she hoped he would tell her.

"Where's your bathroom?"

"Upstairs above the kitchen," she answered.

"Okay, I'll start there."

The buzz continued - but then suddenly stopped ... all was quiet.

"Thank goodness," our neighbour said to herself.

The plumber came downstairs with a solemn look on his face. "I've found the cause," he said.

"What was it?" she asked.

He handed her an electric toothbrush which had somehow fallen behind the bathroom sink and had switched itself on. It was vibrating against the water pipes.

"That'll be £80 call-out please."

She felt so embarrassed - but, I guess, it could have been worse.

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Monday, June 27

Twins Clairvoyance And A Dream

twins clip artThis is a personal story that for some reason came to my mind this morning. I'm not sure what triggered the memory. It covers coincidence, clairvoyance, a dream and maybe reincarnation or history repeating itself.

After my wife, Karin, and I went out together for the first time she went with a friend to see a clairvoyant.

At the time both of us had recently come out of other relationships so I don't think either of us thought that we would still be together thirty years later.

The clairvoyant, however, told my wife that she would move away with a new man in her life and that she would have twins.

She didn't tell me this at the time - it might have frightened me away!

Later we did move away together. I was offered a promotion with a company I was working for but it meant I had to move to another part of the country. And to cut a long story short I accepted the offer and we eventually got married.

Eighteen months later Karin was pregnant but sadly had a miscarriage. This was before scans were routine and it was only after we lost the babies that we discovered they were twins.

Needless to say we were both quite upset. The thought of twins stuck in my mind and my own mother told me, at the time, that my grandmother also had twins who died. She went on to have more children as did we.

Years later, after we had our son, Karin had a very vivid and 'real' dream. And it was this dream I remembered this morning.

In the dream Karin said she and I were in the garden with all of our family. It was like a reunion or a party. Amongst those present were two boy twins about five years old. My wife couldn't think who they were in her dream but they were playing happily with our son and other family children.

I mentioned the dream to Karin over breakfast this morning and she said about how, perhaps, they were the twins we had lost.

She then told me her father was one of twins. This was something I hadn't heard before, despite 30+ years of conversations! Probably because I had never met her father as he had died when she was only four years old.

Her father's twin brother died at birth and it was touch and go if he lived. He was seemingly so small that he could fit into the palm of the doctor's hand, but somehow he survived.

And that's the story really. It's strange though, how my grandmother lost twins, Karin and I lost twins and her own father was the survivor of twins. I'm not sure, as yet, what this all means but there must be some sort of link with the dream and also the clairvoyant 'seeing' twins.

I guess we aren't meant to understand everything.

"If a man could pass through Paradise in a dream, and have a flower presented to him as a pledge that his soul had really been there, and if he found that flower in his hand when he awake — Aye, what then?
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge"


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Sunday, June 26

Is Enjoying Life A Delusion

Zhuangzi
"How do I know that enjoying life is not a delusion?

How do I know that in hating death we are not like people who got lost in early childhood and do not know the way home?

Lady Li was the child of a border guard in Ai. When first captured by the state of Jin, she wept so much her clothes were soaked. But after she entered the palace, shared the king's bed, and dined on the finest meats, she regretted her tears.

How do I know that the dead do not regret their previous longing for life?

One who dreams of drinking wine may in the morning weep; one who dreams weeping may in the morning go out to hunt. During our dreams we do not know we are dreaming. We may even dream of interpreting a dream. Only on waking do we know it was a dream.

Only after the great awakening will we realize that this is the great dream. And yet fools think they are awake, presuming to know that they are rulers or herdsmen. How dense!

You and Confucius are both dreaming, and I who say you are a dream am also a dream.

Such is my tale. It will probably be called preposterous, but after ten thousand generations there may be a great sage who will be able to explain it, a trivial interval equivalent to the passage from morning to night."


- Zhuangzi 4th Century BC

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Saturday, June 25

Plants And The Pleasure Of The Birds And Bees

flowers and the birds and the beesOften when people write about coincidences and other such things they talk about how everything is linked together: people, the past, the present, the future and everything else that exists. If this is the case we must have the ability to influence everything - dependent on the strength of our mind. Take plants as an example.

People often mock when others say that they talk to their plants to make them grow better. But if everything is linked it's not such a silly notion at all. In fact it's been proven.

Take, for instance, the experiment of Dr Robert Miller, a professor from Georgia. He wondered if the mind could affect the growth of rye grass. I don't know why he picked on rye grass, but guess he had to choose something.

He set about finding out how quickly the rye grass grew from seed. Once the grass had sprouted he used a special instrument with a feather like arm to measure growth. This was connected to a moving drum where a chart recorded the increase.

He discovered that the rye grass grew at 0.00625 of an inch per hour - if left to it's own devices.

Having established this average growth he contacted two psychic healers Ambrose and Olga Worrall who lived hundreds of miles away. There job was to hold his rye grass in their minds starting at exactly 9pm.

The next day he checked the figures. The chart showed a steady continued average growth until 9pm, and then the growth started to increase. By 8am the next morning it was now growing at 0.525 of an inch per hour - an increase of 740%.

Using electronics Pierre Paul Sauvin discovered that plants respond to pleasure. He'd previously done tests that showed that if a plant was going to be injured - even if this was only a thought held in his mind - the plant would respond when attached to a galvanometer monitoring electrical activity.

One weekend Sauvin went for an overnight stay at his country cottage with his girlfriend. One thing turned to another and during the night the couple made love.

When he returned to his workshop, where his plants were housed, he found that the equipment attached to his plants, to record electrical activity, showed a dramatic increase at the same time as he had been having sex. At the moment of orgasm the marker pen - which recorded the data - flipped straight off the trace paper!

There are lots and lots of experiments with plants and their responses. Like everything else in the world they respond to love. So if we think nice thoughts and, like the old hippies, make love not war the world could perhaps become a nicer place.

Everything we do is important and creates a reaction somewhere.

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Friday, June 24

Thursday, June 23

The Ghost Who Chased A Thief

ghostA 67 Not Out Reader's Ghost Story experience today. My thanks to Tara W. for e-mailing this to me.

I know you sometimes ask for coincidence stories but after reading your post on Anne Diamond's Ghostly Experience I wondered if this experience of ghostly happenings would be of interest.

A few years back, before I lived with my partner, I was living at home with my parents for the summer after University. They were going away on holiday and left me with the responsibility of looking after the house.

I didn't mind being alone but I asked a girlfriend to stay over with me as company. My mum and dad are real worriers, when they go away and leave the house, but I assured them I would make sure everything was okay.

And everything was okay for about ten days. Then it happened.

We were both asleep in our beds when I heard a sound from one of the spare bedrooms. Suddenly this turned into almost a shout and there was a crashing noise. I'm not very brave but I got up to see what was happening. As I did so I saw a man climbing out of the window saying something like, "Leave me alone, leave me alone."

He wasn't saying this to me and I stood almost paralysed with fear as the man continued out of the window. He jumped to the ground and I could then see him running like a mad man up the road.

I stood there in my pyjamas and felt as if someone was watching me but I didn't feel frightened any more. The tension seemed to flow out of me and my heartbeat slowed.

At that moment my friend came to see what was happening, she'd just woken up. "Who was that old man she said."

"What old man?" I answered.

"The one who came into this room."

I was beginning to get a bit spooked again now as she explained that what looked like an old grey haired man had walked into the room where I was standing.

"There was no old man," I insisted.

I called the police and they came round, took statements, and checked the window where the man I had seen, a young man about 18, had escaped.

My friend didn't mention the old man she had seen and thought it must have been a trick of the light or something.

Nothing appeared to be missing so the police went away. As no damage was done either I decided not to phone mum and dad as it would spoil their holiday.

Next morning bright and early my mum was on the phone to me. She'd had a dream and was worried about me and the house. I told her about the attempted robbery and she said, "That explains it."

"Explains what?" I asked.

"My dream," she answered. She told me how she had dreamt of her father, my granddad, who had died nine months ago. She said he was standing in front of the house with a big walking stick, like he was on guard duty, and was keeping people away from the house. The dream ended when he chased this young man up the road waving his stick.

I know it sounds far fetched but mum and I, and dad to some degree, think that granddad was looking after our house and it was him, or rather his ghost, which chased the young man who had escaped through the window. It was granddad my friend had seen.

Normally, when mum and dad went on holiday, it would be him who moved in to look after the house. He always did this ever since my grandma had died about ten years ago.

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Wednesday, June 22

The Ghost Of St Bernadette And Her Incorrupt Body

Ghost of Saint Bernadette Soubirous
While going through photos for last Sunday's post, Producing Energy Between Your Hands, I came across this picture above, purported to be Saint Bernadette - after she had died. There are five images shown as her spirit gradually fades into a wall.

It's not known who the photographer was but is generally referred to as The Ghost of Bernadette Soubirous and was taken in 1890, eleven years following her death.

Bernadette Soubirous is the French farm girl from rural Lourdes who was canonised as a saint on December 13th 1933. Lourdes has since become a center of healing for believers, mostly of the Catholic faith. Her full story can be found on Wikipedia, where it is says:

"In the 150 years since Bernadette dug up the spring (at Lourdes), 67 cures have been verified by the Lourdes Medical Bureau as 'inexplicable', but only after what the Church claims are 'extremely rigorous scientific and medical examinations' that failed to find any other explanation."

I think most people have probably heard of the Lourdes story but I didn't realise that Bernadette's body had been exhumed three times with bizarre results:

On the first occasion, in September 1909, witnesses claimed that, though a crucifix in her hand had oxidised, her body was declared 'incorrupt.' In other words there was no sign of decomposition.

On the second exhumation in April 1919 the doctor, who examined the body stated: "The body is practically mummified, covered with patches of mildew and quite a notable layer of salts, which appear to be calcium salts. The skin has disappeared in some places, but it is still present on most parts of the body."

Following a third exhumation in 1925 Doctor Comte published a report in the Bulletin de I'Association medicale de Notre-Dame de Lourdes:

"What struck me during this examination, of course, was the state of perfect preservation of the skeleton, the fibrous tissues of the muscles (still supple and firm), of the ligaments, and of the skin, and above all the totally unexpected state of the liver after 46 years. One would have thought that this organ, which is basically soft and inclined to crumble, would have decomposed very rapidly or would have hardened to a chalky consistency. Yet, when it was cut it was soft and almost normal in consistency. I pointed this out to those present, remarking that this did not seem to be a natural phenomenon."

As to whether Lourdes has supernatural powers of healing is a matter of opinion. What can be said is that belief can do many wondrous things - including returning people to health. Belief is at the center of most miracles.

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Tuesday, June 21

Phantom Limbs That Can Pass Through The Body

Could phantom limbs possibly be the continuation of the etheric, astral or spiritual bodies?

By a phantom limb I mean the feeling that many people have after they lose an arm or a leg. Most can still sense their limb's presence. Some can even continue to feel pain from something that is no longer visible.

I placed a coffee cup in front of John and asked him to grab it (with his phantom limb). Just as he said he was reaching out I yanked the cup away.

"Ow," he yelled, "Don't do that."

"What's the matter?"

"Don't do that," he repeated, "I just had my fingers around the cup handle when you pulled it. That really hurts!"

Hold on a minute I wrench a real cup from phantom fingers and the person yells, ouch! The fingers were illusory, but the pain was real - indeed so intense that I dare not repeat the experiment.

From: Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind by Ramachandran V.S
Doctors have answers. They say that the trauma of losing a limb affects the sensory cortex of the brain which gives us our body image. Or they might say that the phantom limb is the result of disturbances in the spinal nerve-roots.

The feeling of a phantom limb sometimes fades with time, but not always. The neurologist George Riddock tells of a man who had his right leg amputated below the knee at the early age of fourteen. Twenty years later the sensation of the limb remained.

The man claimed that he could still 'bend and stretch' his missing foot and toes. He could even differentiate between various objects - while walking with his artificial leg - when he trod them. He could recognise such things as matchsticks, buttons and other small objects.

His missing foot would sometimes itch and he would attempt to scratch it and he was even known to step off with his 'right foot' when getting out of a chair - believing it to be still in place.

He had other sensations in his feet as well. If it was about to rain his 'toes' would feel like they were immersed in water and in windy weather his toes felt as if they were separating from each other. His friends relied on him for accurate weather forecasts!

Another patient who had his right arm amputated would rotate the stump at his shoulder so that he could feel his phantom hand pass through his chest.

A soldier who lost an arm while holding a grenade, which exploded, felt his phantom hand was still grasping the grenade long after the amputation.

Okay the doctors have an answer for phantom limbs but they never seem to consider the possibility of the continuation of something such as the etheric, spiritual or astral body - or whatever else you may wish to call it.

But, of course, scientists always know best ... yea, right!

P.S. If you can have a phantom limb, then why not a 'ghost' when the physical body has completely gone? And if a phantom arm can pass through a man's chest, ghosts would surely be able to move through walls, wouldn't they?

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Monday, June 20

Anne Diamond's Ghostly Experience

Anne DiamondHere's a ghost story from the UK television and radio presenter Anne Diamond. It's all a bit bizarre because, despite the tale that follows, Anne still says, "I don't believe in ghosts. Never have." See what you make of this:

Back in 1999 Anne Diamond got divorced so she was forced into looking for somewhere to live for herself, four children and a nanny. Registered in the normal way with an estate agent she received a call from him with information on a large Victorian property that had just come on the market. It hadn't as yet been circularised, so Anne would be the first to view.

Arrangements were made for her to visit the house near Warwick Castle. It sounded perfect as it was large and included a 'granny annexe'.

The house was approached through double gates and she made her way to the front door. It was opened by an elderly white-haired lady who was happy to show her around her imposing home.

It turned out that the lady had brought up her children in the house who, now as adults, were pressing for her to move to somewhere smaller, perhaps a retirement flat.

Anne loved the house and straight away contacted the estate agent with an offer at the full asking price. She had found her ideal home.

A week later, however, the estate agent was in touch again to tell her that the owner had changed her mind and had decided not to sell.

It was back to square one and for six months Anne searched for suitable properties. Until, that is, the estate agent phoned her to say that the house near Warwick Castle was back on the market. What's more it was empty and ready for a quick sale.

The agent agreed to give Anne the keys to the property so that she, along with her mother, could have another look at the house.

She drove up to the double gates, which she had to unlock, and she and her mother walked towards the front door. As Anne fumbled with the door key it was opened and the elderly white-haired lady was there to welcome then in.

She told Anne, "You know the layout, I'll leave you to show yourself around." And with this she shuffled off towards the kitchen.

Anne and her mother started their tour upstairs with the bedrooms. As everything was now unfurnished it felt eerie and strange. It was beginning to get dark so they tried to switch on the light but soon realised that the electricity must have been cut off.

They made their way downstairs and called out to see if the old lady had a torch so they could look quickly at the downstairs rooms. There was no one there. How strange that she had abandoned them in the dark.

Anne's mum sat down in the living room and said, "We can't really see anything now but I can tell you it's a wonderful house."

It was then that Anne realised that her mother was sitting on something - but everywhere else was empty. This spooked them both. What her mother had been sitting on was was a large object, like a wardrobe on it's side. But her mum decided, "It's the shape of a coffin."

The two women quickly left the premises, got into their car and drove away without bothering to re-lock the gates.

The next day Anne returned the house keys to the estate agent and apologised for not locking the gates.

Anne explained, "The agent was adamant: no one could possibly have been there to let us in. There were no neighbours with keys. I had the only set."

He then went on to say that the elderly lady - she had seen on her first visit - had died suddenly and the house had been completely cleared by her children. There was definitely no box in the living room.

The agent insisted, "The place is totally empty I assure you."

He took Anne to revisit the house and in the sunshine it felt welcoming. Anne noticed that the living room was empty, there was no coffin shaped seat.

Anne told the agent that she wouldn't be making an offer for the house.

As she was getting into her own car the local postman walked by and asked her if she was going to buy the house. He went on to tell her that the house had been, "... with the same family for years and years. But it was very sad how the old lady died. She was in the house for two weeks before anyone found her. In the end they had to break in - and there she was, just lying dead on the living room floor."

The question is: Who did Anne and her mother see when they visited the house together? The ghost of the elderly owner? Maybe still clinging to the home she obviously loved, which was full of memories.

But that doesn't explain the mysterious coffin like box in the living room. Was this a symbol of death?

Surely Anne and her mother didn't simply imagine any of this. Anne said, "Perhaps she returned ghost-like, to show me around one last time."

Despite it all, as I said at the beginning of this post, Anne still doesn't believe in ghosts - most bizarre!

Other Ghostly Posts:
The Unusual Contact With Her Dead Mother
12 Ghostly Ghost Story Experiences
White Feathers And A Special beach

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Sunday, June 19

Producing Energy Between Your Hands

Eva Carriere medium
As it's Sunday I was looking for some suitable photos to follow on from last Sunday's Ghostly Photos. In searching though some pics in the Public Domain I came across the one above of the medium Eva Carrière.

As I'd been thinking about something light hearted this seemed to fit the bill as Ms.Carrière is manifesting some sort of light between her hands. This wasn't sufficient for her, however, as there is also supposedly something materialising upon her head - though I have no idea what.

hand energyYears back - though never producing any light - I remember producing what could, perhaps, have been energy between my hands in a similar fashion. It was quite easy to do.

Simply rub the palms of the hands together and then open them apart, about an inch. You should be able to feel a kind of warmth tickling your palms.

It's then a matter of seeing how far you can stretch the 'energy' by gradually moving your hands further apart and back towards each other again. Sort of like you would with something sticky.

If you can stretch, what ever it is, quite a distance, and still feel it on each hand, circle the hands (in small circles at first) and feel the energy rotate on the palms. Then just play about with it and see what use it could be.

As to what you feel is up to the individual to decide: energy, the astral body or, well, lots of things.

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Saturday, June 18

The Coincidence Of The Triplets Babies

Triplets and their coincidence
Todays post is about the closeness and coincidences of triplets.

Natalie, Lindsey and Deborah were in rooms 21, 22 and 23 in a Sydney hospital. The three 26 year olds are identical triplets and the room numbers coincidentally corresponded with the order in which they were born. They were in hospital - to give birth to their own children.

On April 17th this year two of them had their babies within hours of each other and the other was just two weeks behind. All three had boys.

None of this was planned, it just happened. One of the triplets, Natalie, explained about the coincidence, "All the nurses thought it was ridiculous, but it was meant to be for us to share this experience together. It's not like we all sat down and worked it out on a calendar."

And, of course, when they each individually went shopping for baby clothes they bought matching outfits for the babies, without talking about it to each other.

The triplets parents weren't surprised by this. Their father Rob said, "At Christmas time they buy us Christmas cards, exactly the same, and they would never have even discussed which one they were going to buy, it would just be the same one.

The three new mums are always in touch as they live just 15 minutes distance from each other and speak on the phone to each other several times a day.

Natalie, Lindsey and Deborah were born on the Isle of Man, UK but moved near to Sydney in Australia with their parents when they were four years old.

There is definitely some sort of special psychic link between them - after all, they even all got pregnant at the same time!

Photo by Anne Geddes for a television series she is working on called 'My Pregnancy' for Australian television.

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Friday, June 17

The Murder Coincidences As History Repeats Itself

Barbara Forrest murder coincidenceThis is a remarkable coincidence story that I haven't mentioned before. It features the murder of two 20 year old girls - but the killings were 157 years apart. Is this a case of history repeating itself or maybe even reincarnation?

It was May 27 1974, a May Public Holiday, and the semi-naked body of twenty year old Barbara Forrest was found in Birmingham, England on parkland.

In the evening Barbara had been out with her boyfriend to several pubs in the Birmingham city centre. Afterwards she made her own way home by the number 67 bus while her boyfriend caught a bus to take him home in another direction.

Barbara's body was found, just 500 yards from her home, in a shallow ditch beneath bracken. A murder investigation swung into action led by Detective Superintendent Mick Lenehan.

The problem was that no one remembered seeing her on the 67 bus. It turned out that her boyfriend left her at the bus stop, but didn't see her actually get on the bus.

The work by more than 100 detectives appeared to have eventually paid off when they arrested Michael Thornton and charged him with murder.

Seven days into Thornton's trial he was acquitted. The judge ruled that the evidence against him was only circumstantial.

Mary Ashfor murder coincidenceNow we turn the clock back even further to 1817, still in Birmingham, again on the same May Public Holiday. There was another murder, that of twenty year old Mary Ashford.

Mary had been out to a pub, the Tyburn House Inn. As the evening finished she made her own way home. Her body was later found lying submerged in dirty water. She had been sexually assaulted.

A farmer was arrested for her murder. His name - Thornton. He was sent for trial and was deemed to be not guilty.

Mary Ashford was buried in Sutton Coldfield churchyard. The inscription read: "As a warning to female virtue and a humble monument to female chastity this stone marks the grave of Mary Ashford who on the twentieth year of her age having incautiously repaired to a scene of amusement without proper protection was brutally murdered on 27th May 1817."

If we look at the two murders there are many coincidences:

(1) Both Barbara Forrest and Mary Ashford had the same birth-date, though 157 years apart.

(2) They were 20 years old.

(3) They had both been sexually assaulted and then strangled.

(4) Their bodies were found in the same area - about 300 yards apart.

(5) Both bodies were found on the same day: May 27th - a Public Holiday.

(6) For both murders a man called Thornton was arrested and sent for trial.

(7) Both men were acquitted of the murders.

(8) The week prior to her murder Barbara Forrest is quoted as telling a work colleague, "This is going to be my unlucky month. I just know it. Don’t ask me why."

(9) The week before Mary Ashford was murdered she told her friend's mother that she had, "Bad feelings about the week to come".

Are these simply coincidences, as many will claim, or is there something much more to them. Did history repeat itself, maybe for a reason? Was Barbara a reincarnation of Mary? Did they both sense their deaths? There are so many questions, none of which we can answer with certainty.

Further Coincidences:
The Wedding Poem Coincidence
On The Road Again Coincidences
Coincidence Photo Of Prime Minister 40 Years Before Elected

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Thursday, June 16

Circles Of Goodness Can Change The World

67 Not Out statistics
On Blogger, where this 67 Not Out is hosted, they now produce a set of basic statistics. I don't normally look at these, as I use other trackers, but today I did so.

I saw that the most viewed post on this blog, Married Couple In The Same Photo As Children, has had 1,143,744 views - that's in 11 months (exactly 11 months by coincidence). Seeing it like this got me thinking.

I mentioned this to someone and they said, "Just think if you'd have had one dollar, pound or euro from each view." It's interesting how a lot of peoples' first thoughts are money.

I thought a bit differently and imagined that if each of these 1.1 million people had all done something worthwhile after reading the post, what a difference it would have made.

If each person had maybe helped someone they wouldn't normally have helped. Perhaps made a friend of the cantankerous old man nearby they usually ignored, or took a tray of homemade cakes to a Nursing Home and so on and so on.

But, of course, those million plus people didn't do this - but this did remind me of another post I published The Simple Secret Of The Way To World Peace. In this I mentioned a quote of the 14th Dalai Lama. This is what he said:

"The question of real, lasting world peace concerns human beings, so basic human feelings are also at its roots. Through inner peace, genuine world peace can be achieved.

In this the importance of individual responsibility is quite clear; an atmosphere of peace must first be created within ourselves, then gradually expanded to include our families, our communities, and ultimately the whole planet."


In other words we can all start to change the world - and not just for peace.

We could take any 'good' quality and start a small 'Center of Goodness'. Let's go the John Lennon route and say 'love'.

With us as individuals at the center of our circle we start to love ourselves, appreciate our good points but importantly love our imperfections as well, whether these be physical, mental or spiritual.

Interlocking circlesIn time we then increase the radius of our circle to include loving our family and close friends - loving them completely without any reservations. Then increasing or expanding the circle to cover our neighbourhood, then our town, county or state, country, continent, earth and infinity.

Our individual circles would gradually overlap each other and our circle of influence, as the business world likes to call it, would spread and spread ... and love, peace, goodness would circle the world.

But it all starts with us as individuals doing our bit ... maybe starting right now.

As John Lennon sang:

"You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one."

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Wednesday, June 15

The Magic Of Austria

Austria
I mentioned Austria when I wrote about coincidences from my recent holiday in Crete. Two completely different countries, in many ways, and someone asked me what was so good therefore about Austria. So I thought I'd publish a few photos I took when I last holidayed in Austria to explain.

Austrian Alps mountain track
My wife and I love walking along mountain tracks like the one above as the views are magnificent plus it's so quiet and peaceful in the Alps.

Austria Alps
You never know what you might see - even a few cows with their bells clanging as they too enjoy the scenary.

Cows in the Alps in Austria
And sometimes even a restaurant. They use the cable cars to get their supplies.

Austrian Alps
The Alps are also a great place to take off from!

Austria Alps
When returning from the mountain heights, midway, we found this lake and spent ages just sitting and looking at it - almost a meditation. There was no one else in sight - perfect.

Lakes in Austria
The cable cars are amazing as they can whisk you off to another world, even in Spring.

Cable car in Austria
Snow topped mountains, for instance, for a different style of walking.

Snow in Austria
I've written before how my wife, that's Karin in the two photos following, is always finding money. She found a coin just after this photo was taken. Goodness knows how she saw it beneath the snow. X-ray eyes or something.

Austria snow mountains
The thing about Austria is that it often rains. We always say if we go for two weeks it will rain on three days. But, so what. We have our rain gear and maybe stay in the valleys on such days enjoying the rivers ...

Rivers in Austria
... and waterfalls.

Waterfall in Austria
When the sunshine returns the lower meadows and fields are full of wild flowers ...

Wild flowers in Austrian meadows
... and you might just come across a church down a lonesome track.

Church in Austria
The last time in Austria we stayed at the village of Neustift - photo below. We were in a small Hotel near to the church in the center of the picture.

Neustift Austria
And that's why we like Austria, as Alice E. Leslie wrote:

"What and where is beauty? Perhaps in the eye of the beholder ... I have found it in many places and things. Sometimes I seek it - sometimes it just appears and I behold it with reverence.

Photos: © M.Perry

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