Mama? + Ted's Encounters | True Scary Ghost Stories of the Unexplained | Ep #16

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If you have a true strange story
you'd like to hear narrated on

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the show, submit it now on
madamstrangeways.com or e-mail

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it to
madamstrangeways@gmail.com.

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That's MAD.
AM E Hello stranger.

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It's me, Madam Strangeways, back
with two new true strange

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stories for you.
First, an impossible sound in

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the middle of the night,
followed by lucid dreams and a

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timely apparition.
And as always, solicited or not,

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usually not, I share my insights
and observations after each

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spooky tale.
Now it's time to dim the lights

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and get cozy while I read you
these true strange stories here

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on Madam Strange Ways.
Mama.

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Buy competitive Bad 5295 My
husband of 25 years and I were

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laying in bed one night in the
two-story house he owned a few

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years prior to our marriage.
It was after midnight and the

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streets were barren, not
uncommon for the area.

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A quiet neighborhood, no
dramatic neighbors.

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As I lay there, I heard a
disembodied child's voice, a

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soft voice like a little girl
would have say Mama.

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I laid there for only a minute
when my husband and I

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simultaneously rolled over and
faced each other.

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He said, Did you just hear that?
I asked him.

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What did you hear for
validation?

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I wasn't losing my mind and
curiosity.

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I guess I regretted asking him
to be honest, he said.

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I heard a little girl say Mamma,
we wouldn't have thought much

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about this, for I have a
beautiful daughter who's now 26

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from a previous but short
marriage, but it couldn't

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possibly have been her because
she was with her dad over an

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hour away.
We moved three years later.

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It is worth mentioning that in
the three years we were in that

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house we fought like Mad Men.
I can chalk it up to newlywed

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arguments or whatever, but it
got ugly.

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No physical violence thankfully,
but we had some dark days.

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I could never get warm in that
house, the air felt heavy and

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cold.
The house still stands and the

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owners have given it a complete
makeover.

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I wonder if they have
experienced anything unusual if

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you've made it this far.
Thanks.

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I'm definitely not an English
major in my sentence structure.

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Could use a makeover too.
First of all, the writing was

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great.
The sentence structure also

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great.
You do not need to be an English

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major or a best selling author
to to write and Share your

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story.
So for anyone listening that

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maybe wants to share their
story, wants to write their

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story and they're thinking I'm
not an English major, my

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sentence structure needs major
reworking.

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Share it with me anyway.
Share it with me anyway.

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Share it with us.
Don't hold it back just because

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you are not a best selling
author.

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In fact, I have read some best
selling authors that are not

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very good at writing.
So, you know, just give it to

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me.
Don't let it hold you back.

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Secondly, competitive edge.
I'm going to call you a comp

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comp.
What did I just read the I

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haven't Why?
We all know, I think we can all

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agree universally kid entities,
child ghosts are the worst.

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They're the scariest top tier.
I mean, whether you're talking

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about chew on the grudge with
that kid with the creepy open

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mouth, so scary.
And then I think ring UI, think

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Sadiko or Samara in ring.
I think she's technically, I

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think she's technically a kid.
Also scary exorcist for real

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this time.
Exorcist very scary.

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Even you know what?
Even the shining, even though,

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oh, why am I Danny right, Danny,
that's the kids name.

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Even though Danny has the
shining and he's not a bad guy,

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he's still he's still scary.
He's still scary and it's just

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because he's a kid.
Kids are scary.

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Kids are inherently scary.
I'm sorry out there.

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If you like kids, you still have
to, you still have to admit that

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kids are scary and that there's
something that is inherently

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scarier about kids than adults
in horror movies.

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And then y'all are just minding
your business, minding your

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business.
The kids away you'll have you'll

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have the house to yourselves.
And then you hear a tiny voice

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say Mama like, no, that sounds
terrible.

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I don't want it.
I don't want it.

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And you both, you both heard it.
Because if, if you've listened

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to any, any more of my episodes,
you may have heard me wax poetic

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about hypnagogic or hypnopompic
hallucinations, which can be

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auditory hallucinations.
Or you hear something that's not

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really there as you're falling
asleep or waking up.

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That's not what this is.
Because your husband heard the

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same thing.
And it was smart of you to ask,

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what did you hear?
It was smart of you to ask him

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what he heard instead of you
saying, did you just hear a

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little girl say Mama?
You know, you were able to say

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what did you hear?
And then he was able to say, I

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heard a little girl saying Mama.
And you had already heard that

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exact same thing.
So as opposed to as opposed to

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you putting that seed, you
planting that seed in his mind

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where he could go.
Oh, well, yeah, I guess that is

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what I heard.
No, you both heard it.

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So it's not a hallucination
unless it's a shared

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hallucination, which is a thing.
It's called folli.

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Adieu and do not come from me.
I did my best.

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I am not French but it is French
for madness of two and it's a

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thing.
You can have shared

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hallucinations.
However, I don't think that's

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what was happening here.
Which then begs the question,

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what did you guys hear?
What did you hear?

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You know, in my head, I'm going,
OK, OK, OK.

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Was there like a toy, like a
baby doll toy?

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Do do kids toys do this anymore
where you'd, you know, like they

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talk and they go, Mama, you
know, you like move it and the

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eyes open and close and Mama,
isn't that that's the thing.

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So like, did I guess this was a
while ago.

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This was probably 20 years ago
at least, right?

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If if she's 26 now, did she have
a baby doll like that that made

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that noise and that's what y'all
heard from the other room?

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Maybe that's what I'm hoping.
Fingers crossed that that's

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what's happening.
But that also doesn't explain

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kind of the other phenomena that
you experienced in the house.

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I know you do hear, you do hear
a lot in the in the paranormal

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community where if there's a bad
vibe in a house and there's just

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something wrong with it, you
know, obviously associated with

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ghosts, you've got temperature
drops where you were saying you

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can't get warm and then y'all
were fighting a lot.

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You do hear a lot about negative
energy and that impacts people's

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relationships.
I mean, the biggest case that

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comes to my mind right away is
The Amityville Horror House,

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which is a whole nother.
That's a whole nother

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conversation that I want to have
with y'all.

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I want to talk about, I want to
talk about The Amityville Horror

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House.
I want to talk about Ed and

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Lorraine Warren and the
questionable stuff that came out

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of that.
But you know, it's now it's

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permanently set in the culture.
It's it's permanently set in

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American culture and the horror
culture that The Amityville

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Horror House actually did have
ghosts or demons or both.

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And that is why Ronald Defeo
Junior killed his whole family

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and not because he was a
psychopath.

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He was innocent.
It was, it was demons and

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ghosts.
Anyway, that's please let me

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know, you know what I want to
hear from you.

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If you want to hear more about
the Amityville situation, I

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would love to do a deep dive on
it.

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But all to say, people associate
bad energies and, you know,

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colder houses and spiritual
activity, especially bad

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negative spiritual activity with
changes in personalities, which

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it sounds like what y'all were
both experiencing, that this was

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uncharacteristic of the rest of
your relationship together.

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But while you were in the Mama
house, you were fighting like

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hellcats and hell hounds.
So really glad that you moved

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out.
Glad things got better for you.

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I'm also glad that you've never
heard, that you've never heard a

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little girl's disembodied voice
in your ear ever again.

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And I hope that it never happens
ever again to you or to anyone

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listening.
That's my gift to you.

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And I know it's been a long time
since this story happened, but I

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would be so interested to hear
the history of the house or

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people that have lived there
previous to you.

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Did they also have trouble
getting warm?

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Did they also hear voices?
Were they also maybe arguing and

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in bad moods and bad tempers
because of some vibe in the

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house?
Was there a little girl that

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actually lived there?
Was she looking for her mom?

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Did she die there?
Did they all die there?

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So many unanswered questions
that I think are just going to

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have to stay unanswered
unfortunately.

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But wow, what a spooky story.
The first encounters by Ted I've

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had a fairly normal childhood,
growing up in Vietnam,

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emigrating to the US when I was
around 13.

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Everything was typical until my
senior year in high school.

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I had just gotten back from
wrestling practice and I was

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exhausted, so I dozed off to
sleep.

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I usually have the radio alarm
clock on next to me, so I fell

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asleep listening to music on the
radio.

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I woke up suddenly, not knowing
where I was.

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In my dazed state of mind, with
my eyes still closed, I heard

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the song This Love by Maroon 5
coming from the radio.

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I remembered that I left the
radio on when I went to sleep

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and realized that I was in my
bed.

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I opened my eyes and I could no
longer hear the song.

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I was staring at the ceiling and
I was unable to move.

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If you've listened to many
paranormal stories, you know

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that this was sleep paralysis.
However, in 2007, this

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phenomenon was not very well
known.

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Back to my motionless self.
I was scared because I thought I

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was paralysed.
I yelled out Ma ma for my mom

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but I could only hear the sound
in my head because my mouth

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wouldn't open.
Exhausted, I closed my eyes for

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a moment and I heard this love
has taken its toll on me.

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She said goodbye too many times
before.

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I opened my eyes to look at the
ceiling again and I couldn't

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hear the song any more.
I tried to move my body but

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couldn't.
After what seemed like 1/2 hour

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of struggling, I felt my legs
and arms moving.

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I was sleeping on the edge of
the bed and the thought of

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turning over to fall onto the
floor waking me up was in my

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mind.
I turned my body over off the

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bed.
I felt the sensation of falling,

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felt the shock of the thud as my
back seemed to hit the floor,

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then silence.
I opened my eyes and I was

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staring at the same part of the
ceiling.

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I did not move.
My body betrayed me and gave me

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the stimuli of falling without
actually doing so.

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I tried again and the same thing
happened.

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I was stuck in a waking
nightmare.

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After a few times, I finally
woke up.

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I sat right up, my forehead and
shirt damped with sweat.

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My heart was racing, and that
was the first time I truly felt

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afraid.
Things started to go wrong after

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that afternoon.
One night I had my first vivid

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or lucid dream.
I was at home, but nobody else

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was there.
The layout in the apartment that

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I lived in at the time was the
same, but the furniture was

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different, older, dustier.
I walked to the hallway across

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from my bedroom.
There was a fallen mirror with a

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diagonal crack on it.
I walked in front of it and saw

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the reflection of a Caucasian
little boy with bowl cut blonde

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hair and blue eyes.
I said to myself, this isn't

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real, I must be dreaming.
Then I woke up.

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That was the first time I had a
vivid dream and it scared me

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tremendously.
The next time I had a similar

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vivid dream, I was floating
around the apartment.

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The furniture was also different
from reality and from the

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previous lucid dream.
I floated through the layout and

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through the sliding door in the
kitchen into the backyard.

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I immediately came face to face
with a darker skinned Hispanic

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or Native American man.
He didn't look scary or

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intimidating, but he said what
are you doing in my house?

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In a confused but loud voice.
I woke up sweating, heart

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beating fast.
What did it mean, I wonder?

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00:16:22,200 --> 00:16:25,440
Was this his house?
Did he used to live here?

227
00:16:26,720 --> 00:16:29,600
I didn't try to answer those
questions and just went back to

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00:16:29,600 --> 00:16:31,880
sleep and brushed it out of my
mind.

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00:16:32,360 --> 00:16:35,280
A few weeks went by without
another incident.

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00:16:35,760 --> 00:16:42,480
I was taking a shower as usual.
Suddenly I felt someone watching

231
00:16:42,480 --> 00:16:45,720
me.
I cleared off the shampoo from

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00:16:45,720 --> 00:16:51,400
my face and looked out.
Someone was in the bathroom

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00:16:51,800 --> 00:16:55,360
looking at me.
I couldn't see clearly through

234
00:16:55,360 --> 00:17:00,360
the frosted bathtub door.
It was a male figure in a light

235
00:17:00,400 --> 00:17:05,040
blue buttoned down shirt and tan
slacks pulled up high past his

236
00:17:05,040 --> 00:17:10,440
belly and a green hard hat, like
one of those hats people wear in

237
00:17:10,440 --> 00:17:15,400
the jungle.
I slid the frosted door open and

238
00:17:15,400 --> 00:17:21,839
there was no one there.
I didn't even finish showering,

239
00:17:21,960 --> 00:17:24,200
just dried off and got out of
there.

240
00:17:25,240 --> 00:17:27,119
I chalked it up to my
imagination.

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00:17:28,200 --> 00:17:34,000
That night my dad told me that
my grandpa, his dad, passed away

242
00:17:34,040 --> 00:17:38,760
in Vietnam.
We turned on Yahoo messenger,

243
00:17:39,040 --> 00:17:44,800
yes, I am that old and saw part
of the funeral procession on

244
00:17:44,800 --> 00:17:47,880
webcam.
A few weeks later we received a

245
00:17:47,880 --> 00:17:51,320
DVD from Vietnam.
It was common to videotape the

246
00:17:51,320 --> 00:17:54,200
funeral and send it to loved
ones, especially if they could

247
00:17:54,200 --> 00:17:58,160
not be there in person.
There was a slide show of my

248
00:17:58,160 --> 00:18:02,200
grandpa from when he was young
to his last photo taken.

249
00:18:03,040 --> 00:18:09,600
I paused the DVD when I saw it.
My grandpa in his youth

250
00:18:09,600 --> 00:18:14,520
volunteer uniform, wearing a
light blue button down shirt,

251
00:18:14,920 --> 00:18:19,920
tan slacks and a green wide
brimmed hard hat.

252
00:18:21,840 --> 00:18:25,160
I counted the time of his
passing and it was a few minutes

253
00:18:25,200 --> 00:18:29,200
before he appeared in the
bathroom.

254
00:18:30,520 --> 00:18:34,120
I didn't tell my parents any of
this because they believed that

255
00:18:34,120 --> 00:18:38,520
we were Catholic and that God
protected this house and there

256
00:18:38,520 --> 00:18:42,320
couldn't possibly be anything
paranormal happening in God's

257
00:18:42,320 --> 00:18:45,600
house.
If there were, it would

258
00:18:45,600 --> 00:18:48,600
invalidate their religious
beliefs and they wouldn't have

259
00:18:48,600 --> 00:18:52,400
that.
I did not process what happened

260
00:18:52,400 --> 00:18:57,520
to me and what I saw until much
later when I confronted my own

261
00:18:57,520 --> 00:18:59,680
sensitivities with the
supernatural.

262
00:19:00,760 --> 00:19:06,040
Meanwhile, I pushed it back down
into the depths of my memories

263
00:19:06,480 --> 00:19:19,480
and carried on.
Ted, thank you so much for

264
00:19:19,480 --> 00:19:23,920
submitting this story.
Now, Ted has also submitted a

265
00:19:23,920 --> 00:19:27,280
handful of other stories to me,
which was amazing.

266
00:19:27,560 --> 00:19:31,680
So Ted, you're the GOAT.
I appreciate you so, so, so

267
00:19:31,680 --> 00:19:34,360
much.
There's a lot to unpack here, so

268
00:19:34,360 --> 00:19:35,560
I'm going to need you to buckle
up.

269
00:19:35,880 --> 00:19:37,600
We're we start with some lucid
dreaming.

270
00:19:37,720 --> 00:19:40,640
We start with some sleep
paralysis.

271
00:19:40,960 --> 00:19:44,640
We start with some false
awakenings, all sleep related,

272
00:19:44,640 --> 00:19:48,600
but all creepy as well.
And, you know, may or may not be

273
00:19:48,600 --> 00:19:53,600
the precursor to what happens
after that with seeing your

274
00:19:53,600 --> 00:19:57,320
grandfather, an apparition of
him before you even know he's

275
00:19:57,320 --> 00:19:59,880
dead.
So there's there's so much to

276
00:19:59,880 --> 00:20:01,440
unpack.
We're we're just going to jump

277
00:20:01,440 --> 00:20:03,760
in.
So we've got sleep paralysis,

278
00:20:04,120 --> 00:20:08,360
which you mentioned, you know,
yeah, I, I would say in 2007 it

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00:20:08,360 --> 00:20:11,160
wasn't.
Super common to be talked about.

280
00:20:11,240 --> 00:20:14,720
Growing up, I had been told
stories about how my uncle had

281
00:20:14,720 --> 00:20:17,480
it happen to him.
My grandmother would tell the

282
00:20:17,480 --> 00:20:20,400
story, my mom would tell the
story, and they of course

283
00:20:20,440 --> 00:20:23,680
phrased it as it was a demon.
He woke up and there was a demon

284
00:20:23,680 --> 00:20:27,480
sitting on his chest and that
terrified me.

285
00:20:27,600 --> 00:20:30,400
So when I learned that sleep
paralysis was a thing, that gave

286
00:20:30,400 --> 00:20:34,120
me a lot of comfort.
But when it's happening to you

287
00:20:34,120 --> 00:20:36,560
and you don't know the sleep
paralysis exists, it's

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00:20:36,560 --> 00:20:39,200
terrifying.
I did recently learn.

289
00:20:39,440 --> 00:20:42,400
Please try everyone.
Try this PSA if you are

290
00:20:42,400 --> 00:20:46,360
experiencing sleep paralysis and
you can access your memory

291
00:20:46,360 --> 00:20:49,520
enough to think straight.
Apparently something you can do

292
00:20:49,520 --> 00:20:53,600
to help get out of a sleep
paralysis episode is by focusing

293
00:20:53,600 --> 00:20:57,160
on one part of your body, like a
finger or a toe.

294
00:20:57,720 --> 00:21:00,400
If you're Uma Thurman, for
instance, maybe a toe.

295
00:21:01,440 --> 00:21:04,520
Well, specifically if you're a
Quentin Tarantino directed Uma

296
00:21:04,520 --> 00:21:06,600
Thurman, you're definitely going
to choose the toe.

297
00:21:07,160 --> 00:21:09,640
So you choose one part of your
body, like a finger or toe, and

298
00:21:09,640 --> 00:21:12,360
you focus all of your effort on
wiggling it.

299
00:21:12,520 --> 00:21:15,280
Apparently that is supposed to
help pull you out of the

300
00:21:15,280 --> 00:21:18,760
episode.
So if you you try it and it

301
00:21:18,760 --> 00:21:22,200
works, I want to hear about it.
If you try it and it doesn't

302
00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:23,840
work, I don't need to hear about
it.

303
00:21:23,840 --> 00:21:26,080
You can just you don't need to
say anything.

304
00:21:26,080 --> 00:21:29,120
You just chalk it up to
experience Ted.

305
00:21:29,120 --> 00:21:33,000
You also experienced some false
awakenings where you, you think

306
00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:35,280
you have woken up, but actually
you're still in the dream.

307
00:21:35,760 --> 00:21:39,720
And those are actually
associated with lucid dreaming,

308
00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:42,400
which makes sense because you
were having a lot of lucid

309
00:21:42,400 --> 00:21:45,440
dreams.
Now lucid dreaming is where you

310
00:21:45,440 --> 00:21:48,920
are aware that you are dreaming,
but there's different layers.

311
00:21:48,920 --> 00:21:51,040
There's different like levels of
lucid dreaming.

312
00:21:51,400 --> 00:21:55,080
So the fact that you realized at
one point in the dream I am

313
00:21:55,080 --> 00:21:59,440
dreaming, you know, shifted that
from one level to a deeper level

314
00:21:59,440 --> 00:22:02,800
of lucid dreaming.
But lucid dreaming also involves

315
00:22:02,800 --> 00:22:07,280
very realistic settings that you
remember with perfect clarity

316
00:22:07,280 --> 00:22:10,560
when you wake up.
Lucid dreaming apparently is a

317
00:22:10,560 --> 00:22:15,240
learnable skill.
I'm so you can do that by what

318
00:22:15,240 --> 00:22:17,880
what they call increasing your
dream recall.

319
00:22:18,080 --> 00:22:21,080
So what you want to do is like
write your dreams down in a

320
00:22:21,080 --> 00:22:24,040
dream journal as soon as you
wake up and make a habit of

321
00:22:24,040 --> 00:22:25,040
that.
It takes time.

322
00:22:25,440 --> 00:22:28,000
You need to also be checking in
with yourself throughout the day

323
00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:33,320
with reality checks either what
like in the show evil, which is

324
00:22:33,320 --> 00:22:35,720
really good by the way.
Highly recommend if you haven't

325
00:22:35,720 --> 00:22:39,000
seen a Michael Emerson, just
chef's kiss.

326
00:22:39,120 --> 00:22:42,760
He's fantastic in that show.
But one of the characters is

327
00:22:42,760 --> 00:22:44,920
doing that a lot too.
Lucid dream.

328
00:22:45,080 --> 00:22:48,840
I mean, I think she uses like a
tie around her wrist and she

329
00:22:48,840 --> 00:22:52,360
looks down at it and decides,
oh, OK, I'm if this is here, I'm

330
00:22:52,360 --> 00:22:55,400
awake.
I'm not dreaming anyway and I I

331
00:22:55,400 --> 00:22:59,480
do want to also make a call out
that if anyone that's listening

332
00:22:59,680 --> 00:23:05,480
has issues with dissociation or
dissociation disorders where

333
00:23:05,480 --> 00:23:07,400
you're dissociating from
reality.

334
00:23:08,000 --> 00:23:11,760
Definitely avoid dabbling in
lucid dreams because even if you

335
00:23:11,760 --> 00:23:16,760
don't have a history of
dissociation, dissociating, or

336
00:23:16,760 --> 00:23:20,840
derealization, it can make it
really difficult to determine

337
00:23:20,840 --> 00:23:24,240
reality from the dream world, so
be careful there.

338
00:23:24,800 --> 00:23:28,920
Also, talking about lucid
dreaming, did you know in

339
00:23:28,920 --> 00:23:33,960
Tibetan Buddhism there is such a
thing as dream yoga?

340
00:23:34,320 --> 00:23:38,640
So you become lucid and then you
train yourself in the lucid

341
00:23:38,640 --> 00:23:42,560
dream not to have any fear.
Basically, there's a lot more to

342
00:23:42,560 --> 00:23:43,520
it.
I don't know.

343
00:23:44,280 --> 00:23:49,160
I will say of all the yogas, I
think I would probably be best

344
00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:52,040
at either sleep yoga or goat
yoga.

345
00:23:52,240 --> 00:23:54,160
I think I'd be good at either of
those.

346
00:23:55,320 --> 00:23:59,520
So who were you seeing in your
dream, in your lucid dreams?

347
00:23:59,960 --> 00:24:03,200
You know, you saw the reflection
of yourself when you were like,

348
00:24:03,760 --> 00:24:06,120
like a white kid with blonde
hair.

349
00:24:06,240 --> 00:24:08,120
Was that a kid that lived there
before?

350
00:24:08,280 --> 00:24:11,840
And then the guy in the backyard
who acted like, what are you

351
00:24:11,840 --> 00:24:14,320
doing in my backyard?
Wow.

352
00:24:14,320 --> 00:24:17,120
Did he live there before?
I I think that's a great

353
00:24:17,120 --> 00:24:20,560
question and I wish we could
ever know the answer.

354
00:24:21,680 --> 00:24:26,520
So your grandpa, that is so
eerie.

355
00:24:27,120 --> 00:24:32,960
It's eerie that you felt someone
watching you before you saw the

356
00:24:32,960 --> 00:24:36,120
figure of your grandfather.
It's not the other way around.

357
00:24:36,200 --> 00:24:37,720
It's not like you think you saw
something.

358
00:24:37,720 --> 00:24:40,640
I mean, you even had to like
rinse shampoo out of your eyes.

359
00:24:40,640 --> 00:24:42,800
So you're clearly not able to
look around.

360
00:24:43,600 --> 00:24:46,360
So you feel someone looking at
you, which is not a good feeling

361
00:24:46,360 --> 00:24:48,880
to have in the shower.
That is the worst, most

362
00:24:48,880 --> 00:24:51,800
vulnerable place that you can
feel like someone's watching

363
00:24:51,800 --> 00:24:54,920
you, which also, Grandpa, get
out of the bathroom.

364
00:24:55,560 --> 00:24:58,040
I'm taking a shower.
I don't need you here in the

365
00:24:58,040 --> 00:25:00,240
bathroom with me.
Like you couldn't wait like

366
00:25:00,240 --> 00:25:01,360
this.
Couldn't wait another few

367
00:25:01,360 --> 00:25:04,200
minutes for me to at least not
be naked.

368
00:25:05,240 --> 00:25:09,160
Not great timing.
And then to see it through the

369
00:25:09,160 --> 00:25:12,840
shower glass, That figure of him
wearing that distinctive

370
00:25:12,960 --> 00:25:16,760
uniform.
It's possible that you had seen

371
00:25:16,760 --> 00:25:19,960
that photo of him in that
uniform before.

372
00:25:20,760 --> 00:25:25,640
It's possible that maybe he had
some health complications or

373
00:25:25,640 --> 00:25:28,400
issues that you heard your
parents discussing.

374
00:25:28,680 --> 00:25:30,720
They may have even brought it up
to you at some point.

375
00:25:30,720 --> 00:25:32,800
You just didn't remember, didn't
think about it.

376
00:25:33,280 --> 00:25:36,480
And so maybe you had your
grandpa on the mind.

377
00:25:36,880 --> 00:25:41,520
But even if that's the case,
even if it's just a coincidence,

378
00:25:41,520 --> 00:25:45,920
even if you had been primed to
think about the death of your

379
00:25:45,920 --> 00:25:50,880
grandfather, even if all of that
happened, the fact that you saw

380
00:25:50,880 --> 00:25:57,120
him around the time of his
death, I don't, I don't have a

381
00:25:57,120 --> 00:25:59,520
way to explain that.
I don't know how you do explain

382
00:25:59,520 --> 00:26:03,320
that There's coincidences and
then there's and then there's.

383
00:26:03,320 --> 00:26:08,200
That does seem, it does seem
more substantial and compelling

384
00:26:08,480 --> 00:26:11,720
than just chalking it up to a
coincidence.

385
00:26:12,240 --> 00:26:16,720
Now, when someone is at the end
of their life, it is incredibly

386
00:26:16,720 --> 00:26:21,120
common that for up to two weeks
before their death, they can

387
00:26:21,120 --> 00:26:24,160
have visions of their loved ones
visiting them who have passed on

388
00:26:24,160 --> 00:26:27,080
before them.
It's called transitioning, where

389
00:26:27,360 --> 00:26:29,720
basically where the dead meet
the dying.

390
00:26:29,880 --> 00:26:33,480
It's supposed to give the person
who's at the end of their life

391
00:26:33,480 --> 00:26:37,680
some comfort and to maybe not be
so scared of what of what's

392
00:26:37,680 --> 00:26:40,040
happening and what's going to
happen to them.

393
00:26:40,080 --> 00:26:44,280
Which would make perfect sense
if you were the one who was at

394
00:26:44,280 --> 00:26:51,000
the end of your life and you saw
his specter and he had already

395
00:26:51,000 --> 00:26:52,560
passed away.
But that's not what happened

396
00:26:52,560 --> 00:26:55,560
here.
You're still alive, and you

397
00:26:55,560 --> 00:27:00,600
didn't even know he was dead.
So when we're talking about

398
00:27:00,760 --> 00:27:05,600
people knowing, like knowing,
like feeling that their loved

399
00:27:05,600 --> 00:27:08,640
ones have passed before they
actually find out that they've

400
00:27:08,640 --> 00:27:12,040
passed, that is getting into the
realm of what's called

401
00:27:12,040 --> 00:27:16,840
parapsychology.
So parapsychology is in a

402
00:27:16,840 --> 00:27:22,600
nutshell, the study of psychic
phenomena by actual scientists

403
00:27:22,600 --> 00:27:26,400
and scholars.
It was started in the 1930s by

404
00:27:26,400 --> 00:27:29,560
Joseph Banks Rhine.
I'm saying his name and

405
00:27:29,560 --> 00:27:34,120
realizing I have not checked to
see if he is a Nazi or an anti

406
00:27:34,120 --> 00:27:38,840
Semite, which both things happen
a lot when you're looking into

407
00:27:39,320 --> 00:27:43,520
the occult, especially around
that time period, especially

408
00:27:43,520 --> 00:27:45,760
when you're talking about
blending science in the occult.

409
00:27:45,760 --> 00:27:47,760
So you know what?
Let me just take a moment really

410
00:27:47,760 --> 00:27:49,120
quick.
I'm just going to pause and

411
00:27:49,120 --> 00:27:53,000
we're just going to Google it.
Good news everyone.

412
00:27:53,000 --> 00:27:57,320
He's not a Nazi, or at least not
so far as I could find.

413
00:27:57,800 --> 00:28:00,720
So when we're talking about
parapsychology, that does

414
00:28:00,720 --> 00:28:04,000
include things like what we
heard in this story.

415
00:28:04,200 --> 00:28:07,680
Generally, this sort of
phenomena is specifically

416
00:28:07,680 --> 00:28:10,680
anecdotal based because how do
you measure it?

417
00:28:10,680 --> 00:28:12,560
How do you, how do you quantify
it?

418
00:28:12,560 --> 00:28:16,520
How do you, how do you apply the
scientific theory to it?

419
00:28:16,520 --> 00:28:19,960
It's it's difficult.
However, there are some

420
00:28:19,960 --> 00:28:24,320
extremely compelling stories
just like the one that you

421
00:28:24,320 --> 00:28:26,600
shared with us, Ted.
So listen.

422
00:28:26,600 --> 00:28:32,400
Take this case of Doctor Bernard
Beitman in his article on

423
00:28:32,400 --> 00:28:37,600
Psychology Today, he says late
in the evening of February 26th,

424
00:28:37,600 --> 00:28:42,200
1973, when I was 31 years old, I
found myself bent over the

425
00:28:42,200 --> 00:28:46,280
kitchen sink in an old Victorian
house in San Francisco, choking

426
00:28:46,400 --> 00:28:48,960
on something that was caught in
my throat.

427
00:28:49,320 --> 00:28:53,120
But there was nothing to cough
up as I hadn't eaten anything.

428
00:28:53,360 --> 00:28:56,880
I choked for a very long time
before I could swallow and

429
00:28:56,880 --> 00:29:00,960
breathe normally again.
The next day, my birthday, my

430
00:29:00,960 --> 00:29:05,200
brother called me to tell me
that our father, 3000 miles and

431
00:29:05,200 --> 00:29:10,320
three time zones away, had
passed away in Wilmington, DE

432
00:29:10,520 --> 00:29:14,320
just as I was choking in
California.

433
00:29:14,720 --> 00:29:18,880
My father had bled into his
throat and choked on his own

434
00:29:18,880 --> 00:29:21,520
blood.
The timing led me to think it

435
00:29:21,520 --> 00:29:24,040
couldn't possibly have been
random.

436
00:29:24,520 --> 00:29:27,840
Now, Doctor Biteman studies
coincidences.

437
00:29:27,840 --> 00:29:30,760
He studies this.
I think he even coined a term

438
00:29:30,760 --> 00:29:37,280
called simulpathy that to
explain when loved ones or, you

439
00:29:37,280 --> 00:29:42,520
know, closely bonded pairs, so
husbands and wives or parents

440
00:29:42,520 --> 00:29:46,240
and children or sisters and
brothers, especially twins, when

441
00:29:46,240 --> 00:29:50,480
they sense something, when they
have an empathetic, an

442
00:29:50,480 --> 00:29:56,040
empathetic reaction either to a
death or to an injury, anything

443
00:29:56,040 --> 00:29:57,200
like that.
That's what he's coined that

444
00:29:57,200 --> 00:29:59,480
term.
So he studies coincidences.

445
00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:03,840
But now that we're talking about
coincidences, that also leads us

446
00:30:03,840 --> 00:30:08,200
into synchronicities.
Synchronicities related to

447
00:30:08,200 --> 00:30:13,360
coincidences, except it has a
sort of, it has a vibe like

448
00:30:13,360 --> 00:30:18,280
it's, it's a, it's the, it's
fate, it's the universe telling

449
00:30:18,280 --> 00:30:22,080
you something.
I do want to say that looking

450
00:30:22,080 --> 00:30:25,440
for synchronicities, it's a
slippery slope because our

451
00:30:25,440 --> 00:30:29,160
brains are pattern seeking
machines.

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00:30:29,160 --> 00:30:32,520
It is all our brains want to do.
And so then when we give our

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00:30:32,520 --> 00:30:37,080
brain the task, hey, go find me
a bunch of coincidences that I

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00:30:37,080 --> 00:30:40,000
would not have normally noticed,
but now I need you to be

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00:30:40,000 --> 00:30:44,400
constantly on constantly hyper
vigilant on the search for

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00:30:44,400 --> 00:30:47,280
coincidences.
Of course they're going to

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00:30:47,320 --> 00:30:50,680
misinterpret something in order
to make it fit the pattern that

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00:30:50,680 --> 00:30:53,360
it's trying to finish.
It's going to find

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00:30:53,360 --> 00:30:55,520
synchronicities.
If you ask your brain to find

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00:30:55,520 --> 00:30:58,720
them, it's going to find them.
It's going to be very good at

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00:30:58,720 --> 00:31:01,480
finding them.
And then before you know it,

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00:31:01,480 --> 00:31:05,000
you're going to go full Charlie
Kelly mode like Pepe Sylvia,

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00:31:05,000 --> 00:31:06,640
Pepe Sylvia.
And you're going to have a

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00:31:06,640 --> 00:31:08,520
board.
There's going to be red string

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00:31:08,560 --> 00:31:11,720
everywhere.
And let me just tell you, it's

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00:31:11,720 --> 00:31:14,040
not fun.
It's not fun.

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00:31:14,640 --> 00:31:18,920
I've been there, I've done that.
I cannot recommend it, but what

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00:31:18,920 --> 00:31:23,040
I can recommend is to be
skeptical about coincidences.

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00:31:23,360 --> 00:31:28,080
And it's important to remember
that correlation is not

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00:31:28,360 --> 00:31:30,960
causation.
However.

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00:31:32,080 --> 00:31:39,920
However, Ted, was it really just
a coincidence that you happened

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00:31:39,920 --> 00:31:47,920
to see the figure of your
grandfather at at almost exactly

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00:31:47,920 --> 00:31:52,080
the time of his death?
Was that just a coincidence?

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00:31:54,120 --> 00:32:06,320
We may never know.
Thank you so much for joining me

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00:32:06,320 --> 00:32:12,360
for such a lovely spooky time.
Remember, you can feel afraid

476
00:32:12,480 --> 00:32:16,960
and not be in danger.
If you've enjoyed yourself,

477
00:32:16,960 --> 00:32:21,080
please follow the podcast so you
can get alerts when new episodes

478
00:32:21,080 --> 00:32:23,840
come out.
And if you've really enjoyed

479
00:32:23,840 --> 00:32:27,400
yourself, it would mean a lot to
me if you would tell a friend

480
00:32:27,400 --> 00:32:31,720
about the podcast and follow me
on Instagram at Madam

481
00:32:31,720 --> 00:32:36,440
Strangeways or leave me a rating
or review on Spotify or Apple

482
00:32:36,440 --> 00:32:39,800
Podcasts.
Or I mean, just send me an

483
00:32:39,800 --> 00:32:43,280
e-mail at
madamstrangeways@gmail.com to

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00:32:43,280 --> 00:32:46,000
just say hello.
I'd appreciate it.

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00:32:46,920 --> 00:32:50,640
Madam Strangeways is produced
and narrated by me.

486
00:32:50,640 --> 00:32:58,200
Madam Strangeways theme music is
by marina.ryan@marinamakes.co.

487
00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:05,040
You can submit your own strange
story at madamstrangeways.com or

488
00:33:05,040 --> 00:33:07,960
send in your thoughts or
theories on the stories in this

489
00:33:07,960 --> 00:33:11,560
episode to
madamstrangeways@gmail.com.

490
00:33:12,120 --> 00:33:15,720
Thank you for listening.
Until next time.

491
00:33:41,270 --> 00:33:44,270
I choked for a very long time
before I could swallow and

492
00:33:44,270 --> 00:33:46,150
breathe normally again.
I said.

493
00:33:46,150 --> 00:33:49,910
Did I say breathe?
Breathe before I could.

494
00:33:51,080 --> 00:33:54,680
I choked for a very long time
before I could swallow and

495
00:33:54,680 --> 00:33:56,840
breathe normally again.