by Jim Harold
One of the things that we had talked about during our original correspondence was our mutual enjoyment of a well-known writer named Jim Harrison who was from her home town in Michigan. Later that day, that she contacted me, as I was driving home, I was listening to a literary podcast in my car, and they read a poem of the day. Guess what. The poem that day was by this writer we both love—Jim Harrison! I found that a sort of amazing coincidence as well.
Now that I was back in contact with her again, the coincidences became too many to list. One after another—things like similarities in our family names, or experiences that had happened to us over time, or "I was listening to this particular song today," "I was listening to that exact same song today"; little things like that. After a couple of months, we found somehow that this connection between the two of us was becoming a bit distracting. She was married and felt that this was not the right time for this to happen—whatever this inexplicable connection was—so we just stopped talking and went on with our lives.
I sent her a package for her birthday with a box of chocolates or something like that in it. I didn't know it when I sent it, but inside the box there was another poem. That day when I was driving home I listened to the literary podcast again. The poem that day was the same one that was in the box that I had sent her! Amazing.
I went on vacation last year and on the flight home, another weird bit of synchronicity happened. I was reading a book, something along the lines of ''How to Write a Novel in a Month." I started talking to this woman next to me, and she asked if I would I ever want to write a novel. I said I thought it would be fascinating. She asked what I would write about. I mentioned that I thought it would be fascinating to explore synchronicity: unexplained coincidences between people, and connections.
She asked for an example, so I told her this story plus some of the other coincidences that have happened in my life. She thought they were interesting. For an hour-and-a-half flight, I talked to her nonstop. Again, it was this connection with somebody, kind of a like-mindedness, and the conversation just kind of flows easily, right?
At the end of the flight, we both got up to leave, and she said she thought the coincidences around my birthday were particularly interesting. I said yes, that even my daughter shares my birthday. She asked when my birthday was and I told her. She said she knew I was going to say that! She pulled out her driver's license and showed me, and there in black and white it was absolutely the same day as mine. Amazing!
-Steven, California
54. Staying for the Credits
It was the first or second week of April in 2004, and my wife and I decided to go see a movie. Hellboy had just come out so we went to the local movie theater here in the northwest part of New Jersey. It was just a typical day, and I'm not sure if it was a Saturday or a Sunday, but we drove to the movie theater, pulled up, purchased tickets for, I believe it was the 2:45 show—the afternoon matinee.
We just purchased tickets, went in and did the typical stuff—went to the concession counter and purchased popcorn and a soda—then proceeded into one of the movie theaters. This is one of those Cineplexes that have multiple screens—seven or 10, something like that.
We went over to the boy who was taking tickets and he ripped them in half and pointed us in the right direction. We proceeded to go over toward our theater and went inside. I like to get to the theater a little earlier, because I don't like to fumble around when it's dark and they're playing the previews. So we entered at 2:30, 2:35, something like that. When we got there, and pushed through the doors and went in, the lights were already down and there was something on the screen playing, and I was like, "Oh, darn it."
So, we had to fumble around to find a seat, kind of in the middle-center, and we thought previews were playing. After sitting down for a minute or so, my wife and I kind of looked at each other, and were like, "These aren't previews." It was actually the ending of the movie we had gone to see. We could see that Hellboy was on the screen, there was a lot of stuff going on, and after three or four minutes of that going on the movie ended.
We realized it was the actual movie playing, and we were kind of wondering what the heck was going on here. So, the lights came up, and the people were doing what they do when they get up, starting to stretch and head out the back of the theater.
We both got up too. I got up first and I stopped somebody on the way out and said, you know, "I'm just curious, what show is this?" The gentleman had said this was the 2:45 show. So, that was the show we were going to see. I didn't really think much of it; I went back over and said to my wife, "This gentleman says that this is the 2:45 show," which was the show that we were to go see. We got up and followed when everybody exited and went out the back door.
I went out to the lobby, and I saw the kid who took my ticket, which was literally minutes ago. I asked, "You remember me?" and he said yes. (I was a cancer patient at the time, so I didn't have hair, and I guess he kind of remembered me from that.) So he said, "Sure, I remember you," and I said, "We had tickets to go see the 2:45 show," and he said "Yeah, that just let out."
At that time, I wasn't shocked, but then I looked down at my watch. I should point out I'm kind of a time person. I collect watches and I'm a stickler for time. I looked down at my watch, and it was around 4:47. So when we entered the theater, it was 2:35, 2:30, something like that, and then it was 4:47.
So I looked at my wife, and she checked her watch, and we kind of realized that something wasn't right. How could it be 4:47, when we just walked into the movie theater?
We kind of just looked at each other, still not getting crazy with this, and we went back into the movie theater and spoke about it. Then we went back outside to the lobby, checked the clocks there, and then looked outside. It was early April and you could tell that it was later in the day than when we had gotten there. The sun had gone lower...and I think we just realized then that something weird had happened. How does something like this happen? We were just dumbfounded. I didn't know what to think or what to say.
People have said to me, "Oh, that's missing time." Still, it doesn't seem that way, because we walked through that door into that movie theater and instantaneously it was two hours later, just like in the blink of an eye.
Because we were confused, we thought that maybe we'd gone into the wrong showing—there's seven or 10 screens there—so we walked around, and I asked the young guy, "Is this playing on other screens?" He said, "No, this is the only one it's playing on." I had told him what had happened, and he said, "You came in a couple of hours ago," and that's when I felt like someone had punched me in the gut, and I was like, "Oh, my God."
My wife is a straight-shooter; she's not into anything that's paranormal or bizarre so I'm glad she was there with me, because it validates the fact that something really bizarre happened. Then, we walked around the theater for a while, in such disbelief that something like that could happen, and then we actually went in and watched...I think it was the 5 o'clock show.
You know, I still had the soda in my hand. We still had the popcorn—I've had people ask me if the popcorn was gone, you know? And "Did you feel anything?" And I've said no. We felt normal; everything was normal, but it was weird. The sun was down farther, they day had gone on...how do you tell this story to people? Nobody believes you, or they think you're crazy.
I have no idea what happened. You know, I was going through a really hard time then. I had cancer, and it had spread all through my body. So we were going to the movies a lot, just for a distraction, you know, just for me to be around people, that sort of thing. But you know, in my mind, I was in such good spirits, I was in such a positive state. I have no idea. I don't know what happened. The only time we ever talk about it is when that movie comes on, and we'll be like, "That's the movie when the time thing happened," and people will ask, "What do you mean, 'the time thing'?" and we'll tell them, and they're like, "That's crazy," you know? People don't believe it...
-Marko, New Jersey
&
nbsp; 55. A Commotion From Above
This happened when I was living in New Orleans in a duplex. I guess it had been a private home and at some time they made it into four apartments. I eventually ended up living in three of the four apartments, because the rent was very reasonable and it was very comfortable. The weird goings-on there never really bothered me that much; I just thought it was very interesting.
About the most bizarre thing that ever happened there was one night when I was getting ready to go to bed. I was with my boyfriend at the time. We were just about to go to sleep, and all of a sudden we heard all kinds of racket from upstairs, and it was strange because it was a Sunday night and we knew the people upstairs, and there was a lot of noise. Yet, there wasn't any talking or screaming. It sounded like some kind of altercation, like things were being dragged across the floor and thrown. There was a baby crying during the whole experience.
I knew the guy upstairs had a girlfriend who had a child, but it was not a baby. The child was 3 or 4 years old. And nothing loud ever happened up there, really. So, I thought at the time it was very strange. It just kept going on. Then, finally, we heard what sounded like something hitting the floor with a huge bang, and something obviously being dragged across the floor. After that, then we heard something going down steps. Wooden steps. That was weird because the interior steps had been walled in years before, and there were exterior steps but they were metal.
The sound of something falling down metal steps and wooden steps is very different. About an hour into this commotion, we just looked at each other, and I said, "I'm just going to sleep now. Something obviously weird is going on." All this time, the baby is crying and crying. As soon as I said that, the baby—I still get chills thinking about it now—the sound of the baby just stopped from above our heads. All of a sudden it sounded like it was coming from across the street.
It was just so bizarre. I feel that apartment building, the duplex, had been around for a long time, and that there was something there. Now, I've lived in New Orleans and in Savannah, and those are two of the top haunted places supposedly in the United States, but I've also lived in other places where I've never—well, I've never felt that kind of activity here in Houston, so...
When I saw my upstairs neighbor later in the week, I asked him about the commotion. His name was Tommy, and I said, "Tommy, I don't know what was going on Sunday night. Y'all were really kind of going at it, and it was very awkward for us." He looked at me like I was just insane. He said, "What are you talking about, Susan? We were in Baton Rouge on Sunday night!"
-Susan, Texas
56. Things Happen Here
I've been married to my wife for about 16 years, and I can't believe some of stuff that's actually happened to her—to us. I'm a former United States Marine, and I've never encountered anyone with psychic ability before. I've never understood some of the stuff that I've seen, but some of what has happened in this apartment I'm in is just extraordinary.
My wife has seen arms coming out of the dishwasher. It sounds crazy...an arm coming out of a dishwasher doesn't make any sense at all. She told me that these arms were coming out, and she thought there was a kid inside. She looked inside and there wasn't anything there.
One time we were just going through a set of photographs that we had (we have hundreds that we've taken from different times in this apartment), and we came across something stunning. We have a corner space that's totally unusual. The kids won't go near it. They say they feel a presence there, and I never understood that until we saw the photograph we ran across that day. It shows a...it appears to be a naked woman from the knees up. You can't see anything beyond the shoulders, but it looks totally clear. There's nothing that could be in that corner, because there's a chair and a little table, so there's nothing else that could physically be there. The photo shows everything else, but it also shows something there. It's totally clear. You can even see the veins in this thing's legs. We don't understand what it is. I think I'm the one who took it, because I remember taking photographs at that time, but I don't remember there being anything in the picture at that time. So when I looked at it, with the series of photographs that we got coming back, I just couldn't understand it. So, I asked everyone that was present, "What the hell is this?" Nobody understood it. And actually, the person that we did take a photograph of at that time just kind of freaked out because this thing's in the upper right-hand corner. One of the people who was in the photograph won't come into this apartment at all.
Back to my wife. On three different occasions, I've actually heard voices calling her name, and there's nobody there. Absolutely no one. I know that sounds crazy, but there's nobody there. I've heard it clear as day, and do not understand it. I've looked everywhere. This is a small apartment.
There are other things going on here I cannot explain. There was a hand floating around that the kids saw, and that scared them to death. They won't come into this apartment anymore. I've actually considered moving, but I love the place we're living; it's right on the public transportation line. We can go back and forth; I don't even have to use my car anymore. It's picturesque, there's trees and everything...I don't want to move. I've been here so long that the price is perfect, and I don't have to worry about it. But, there are these strange things that keep happening.
I'll tell you what, it doesn't bother me because I've been here so long that I'm kind of used to this stuff. I see stuff out of the corner of my eye, like smoke, and neither of us smoke! Yet, we see puffs of smoke around the apartment. I don't understand that at all. I go look to make sure there's nothing on fire! My wife likes candles. She likes lighting candles. She says prayers. She's Catholic; she does the candle thing. But every time I've looked and found smoke, I don't see anything burning. So there's another thing that I don't understand that at all.
When we moved here, for some reason, a whirlwind of things started to happen. My wife saw creatures on a building next to us. Apparently the person next door, downstairs, before the manager moved in, actually witnessed the same event. She claims she was sitting outside and she heard dogs barking really crazily, and she saw something out of the corner of her eye, in the pitch-black: Three little people—she described them as people—jumped up onto a building next door, onto the roof. She could see their silhouettes by the light on the street next to us. And apparently she sat there, and she made a movement to get up, to kind of get a better look at them, and they all looked at her at the same time, and it kind of freaked her out because they all looked at the same time, kind of like in unison, and they were all the same size, and according to her they jumped from house to house to house, very quickly. There's something like 15 feet between each of these houses. I'm looking at it right now. Fifteen feet between house to house, and they did it in three or four seconds.
The neighborhood dogs were just going crazy, and kept going crazy for four or five hours. My wife told me when I came home that I was not going to believe what happened. She explained it to me, and I thought, God, what the hell could that be? I looked out there, and saw the big space between the houses. I don't think anything other than a marathon runner could actually run and jump to make a 15-foot span from house to house, all the way down the block. That doesn't make any sense.
I actually considered putting salt around the place, because I looked on the Internet, and in a couple of places, the advice was to take salt and make a circle around everything, but I never did that. It doesn't bother me here, it's just that things happen.
-Daniel, United States
57. The Spirits Woke Me Up
The whole thing was pretty odd. I woke up at 6 o'clock in the morning after I'd just gone to bed at probably 3 o'clock in the morning, so I only had about three hours of sleep. I couldn't seem to get back to sleep. I was wide awake and I wanted to go back to sleep. It took about four hours for me to finally doze off a little bit, and then something woke me up. It was really loud, and I wasn't sure what it was, but it scared me enough to wake me up.
> I got up for a little bit and looked around. Nobody was home, so I didn't know what made the noise. I went back to bed. Again, I was trying to go to sleep and just as I was about to doze off, I heard it yet again, and then I realized that the noise sounded like I was in a dining hall. I was listening to people having conversations around me. I couldn't understand them at the time, but it was a kind of slow murmuring that you hear if you're in a restaurant, and it kind of got quieter and quieter, and then it finally faded away.
After it faded off, I thought, Okay, that was a little odd, but I'm going to try to go back to sleep. I'd experienced stuff like that before. I didn't think it was too odd, and I figured it was just going to go away. When I tried to go back to sleep I heard it again, only this time it got louder and there were more details to it. I heard a man telling a woman a joke, and I heard her laughing, and this time it kept getting louder instead of quieter.
So I sat up, and I was looking around, trying to figure out if there was something there, maybe, but I didn't see anything. So, I lay back down again and thought, This time I'm really going to sleep, so I closed my eyes and I was just about ready to get to sleep, and I heard it again, and it kept getting louder and louder. I heard the woman laughing and I heard the man telling the joke, but this time it was kind of on repeat, because I heard him telling the same joke (although I don't remember what it was now; the details have kind of slipped my mind since then). I heard him telling the joke, and I heard her laughing, and every time I'd hear her laughing, I'd see her in like a red dress or something, in my head. I couldn't see her face, but I could hear her.
