Strange Events in Your Life (YES THIS IS THE OFFICIAL THREAD)

[jaybrant]

This isn't a single occurrence but every now and then I will think about someone I haven't spoken to in a while and will get an e-mail/call/text from that person within hours.

 

This reminds me of one of mine.

 

I met my best friend, Marcus, when we were in high school. We pretty much clicked right away. His mom would say that we were connected and must have been brothers in another life because of how alike we were (minus one pretty big thing, he's a Cowboys fan lol). We were pretty much inseparable the first few years after high school. We were always into something (basketball, swimming, parties, just driving around, etc.). Then life happened and he moved in with his girlfriend about 20 miles away, which at the time seemed like it was across the country. Full time jobs kept us both pretty busy and we kind of lost touch.

 

There was a point where I hadn't spoken to him at all for five or six months. One night while getting ready to go out with my girlfriend and some of her friends, he popped into my head and I decided to give him a call. I called his cell phone and got an operator on the other end telling me that his number had been disconnected.

 

While listening to the operator, my call waiting started going off and it was a number that wasn't stored in my phone and that I didn't recognize. I switched over and answered the incoming call and you can probably guess who it was that was on the other end. I was stunned and remember excitedly telling him what had just happened and him just laughing and saying "guess mom was right".

 

I don't think we've gone a week without at least speaking on the phone, texting each other or chatting on the Xbox since then. We were each others best men in our weddings and our kids are now growing to be best friends.

 

Pretty cool how stuff like that works sometimes.

[Bubble Screen]

This reminds me of one of mine.

I met my best friend, Marcus, when we were in high school. We pretty much clicked right away. His mom would say that we were connected and must have been brothers in another life because of how alike we were (minus one pretty big thing, he's a Cowboys fan lol). We were pretty much inseparable the first few years after high school. We were always into something (basketball, swimming, parties, just driving around, etc.). Then life happened and he moved in with his girlfriend about 20 miles away, which at the time seemed like it was across the country. Full time jobs kept us both pretty busy and we kind of lost touch.

There was a point where I hadn't spoken to him at all for five or six months. One night while getting ready to go out with my girlfriend and some of her friends, he popped into my head and I decided to give him a call. I called his cell phone and got an operator on the other end telling me that his number had been disconnected.

While listening to the operator, my call waiting started going off and it was a number that wasn't stored in my phone and that I didn't recognize. I switched over and answered the incoming call and you can probably guess who it was that was on the other end. I was stunned and remember excitedly telling him what had just happened and him just laughing and saying "guess mom was right".

I don't think we've gone a week without at least speaking on the phone or chatting on the Xbox since then. We were each others best men in our weddings and our kids are now growing to be best friends.

Pretty cool how stuff like that works sometimes.

Yeah, but he's still a Cowboys fan.

[jaybrant]

Yeah, but he's still a Cowboys fan.

 

Haha. That he is. We can't all be perfect though. Also, it makes seasons like 2012 that much more satisfying for me

[Dan T.]

I have an odd one, I guess.  I was about three or four when this happened, would have to have been because we moved around that time and this was at my first house.  I have this vivid memory of looking out my window and seeing an electric blue (imagine like a cheap electric business sign) skeleton foot flickering on and off in the street.  Not any other part of the skeleton, just the foot and part of the lower leg.

 

When I describe this as in my memory, it wasn't a perfect anatomically correct foot with all the various bones and an arch, it was more like what a kid would draw by tracing their fingers.  But it was clearly (in my mind) a skeleton foot, electric blue, and flickering like a sign with bad wiring.  I can still picture it to this day, which is odd because I have very few retained memories from my earliest years.

 

I remember mentioning it to my parents (this was years, two moves, and a divorce later) when I was older and trying to determine if there was anything on the street that would have caused that kind of vision.  But this was a forested section of McLean, Va (Franklin Forest area for the locals) that was mostly made up of old ramblers and cape cod houses; there weren't any sidewalks where someone might have been carrying something.  It's a mystery, and probably something my overstimulated brain concocted, but I'd sure like to know for sure.

 

I wonder if what you saw was one of those hanging bug zappers in a neighbor's yard, maybe partially obscured by branches.  Weird electric glow, thin bluish bone-shaped light, flickering...  In a 3 or 4 year old's mind, there is no logical explanation for it other than "skeleton foot."

 

Might that be the answer to your mystery?

 

--

 

Very entertaining thread, BTW.

[daveakl]

One weekend while in school at Charleston a buddy and I decided to drive to Campbell to ser a friend of mine. Downside was that we had been drinking heavily all day.

About an hour into our drive I remember looking in my rear view mirror and seeing three people in the back seat of my car and I swear one on the left (behind me) was the devil. He smiled while nodding at me and them BAM everything went black. When I came to all I saw was sparks flying everywhere around me (I thought we were on fire) and the loudest screeching noise you had ever heard.

Turns out I had rearended a 18 wheeler with my jeep and gotten attached to the back of it. It pulled us about a half mile before it realized we were even back there. The police told my parents that I must have been doing about 85 and hit him while he was doing 50ish. They were also told my mom there was no way that either of us should be alive.

[wysknz1]

When I was around 12 years old I was almost possessed by a demon. It was a bizarre experience that I don't like to discuss the particulars. It's still very vivid in my memory. Later I found out that my older brother was reading books on the occult and trying to conjure up "things". He later told me some of the stuff that went on while he was doing this. Really scary stuff.

 

 

 

At my last job I fired a guy who went home and hung himself. That was tough to take.

[balki1867]

One weekend while in school at Charleston a buddy and I decided to drive to Campbell to ser a friend of mine. Downside was that we had been drinking heavily all day.

About an hour into our drive I remember looking in my rear view mirror and seeing three people in the back seat of my car and I swear one on the left (behind me) was the devil. He smiled while nodding at me and them BAM everything went black. When I came to all I saw was sparks flying everywhere around me (I thought we were on fire) and the loudest screeching noise you had ever heard.

Turns out I had rearended a 18 wheeler with my jeep and gotten attached to the back of it. It pulled us about a half mile before it realized we were even back there. The police told my parents that I must have been doing about 85 and hit him while he was doing 50ish. They were also told my mom there was no way that either of us should be alive.

 

Wow man, that sounds like you were dozing off.

 

When I was in college, I drove up to Chicago (2-3 hours depending on where you're going) for a concert.  Anyways, the show ended at 12:30 or so and I stupidly decided to drive back to campus instead of crashing at my friend's parents' place.  I got about 20 miles outside of campus and I started hallucinating all kinds of things on the highway -- like people trying to cross in the distance, etc.  I hadn't been drinking at all, this was purely me being too tired to drive.

 

I got home safely that night, but in hindsight, I really wish someone had beat a little sense into me the next day for making an incredibly poor decision.

[SteveFromYellowstone]

 

 

At my last job I fired a guy who went home and hung himself. That was tough to take.

 

That had to be tough to take. Was this a big time job or something? Thats crazy to think about I'm sorry that happened

[wysknz1]

That had to be tough to take. Was this a big time job or something? Thats crazy to think about I'm sorry that happen

It really wasn't a big job, which might have made it worse. He did need it but he wasn't showing up and coming in drunk etc. There were probably other circumstances leading up to it, but I still felt somewhat responsible. Like I could have done more, but we did try.

[grego]

this didnt happen to me, it happened to my dad, but still a crazy story. especially if you knew my dad. 

 

my dad is very smart, especially in the scientific sense. i'm much more 'spiritual' and sensitive, while hes agnostic and brainy. thats what makes this story so odd.

 

my dad told me that when he was a young boy, about 13 years old, growing up in a working class, medium sized town in cheltenham,  england, he was outside in the front yard watching from a distance as there was a commotion going on at the bus stop up the road. there was an ambulance, police, etc. 

 

so, he stood there for a few minutes as he watched his neighbor walk from the bus stop right past him. he turned around and watched her open the door and walk into her house like any other day, saying nothing. he goes inside his house after a few minutes, not knowing whats going on. 

 

about an hour later, he tells me hes in his room as my grandmother knocks on his door. she says she has something to tell him. about an hour ago, she says, the neighbor was hit and killed by a bus at the bus stop. the same neighbor he saw walk past him into her house. 

 

he told me this and, of course, i looked at him like he was nuts. he looked and me and shrugged, like, 'i saw what i saw'.

 

if you knew my dad, you would know how bizarre a story this is, being a completely skeptical, no nonsense, scientific man. 

 

i cant say ive ever had an experience quite like that, but he definitely did. 

[grego]

I got about 20 miles outside of campus and I started hallucinating all kinds of things on the highway -- like people trying to cross in the distance, etc.  I hadn't been drinking at all, this was purely me being too tired to drive.

 

 

 

 

thats crazy. when i used to work nights, i would come home around 3 or 4 am sometimes, extremely tired. there were a few times i was literally nodding off just a few miles from my house. what woke me up were these hallucinations like youre describing- i kept thinking i was seeing people walking or running out into the road in front of me. i would be jolted awake, thinking i was about to run someone over.  

 

its just bizarre that you had that happen to you.  i'd never heard anyone say that before. 

[RemoveSnyder]

I once attended a conference in Baltimore at one of the swankier hotels downtown.

Some friends and i were in the lobby / hall having some drinks when this guy came up to us.. REALLY freaked out crazy looking guy. A street guy, the dude was filthy, raggedy.  when i say 'came up' he more or less loped up.. he looks at us and starts saying "I am going to KILL somebody, KILL them, KILL.."  a seriously flipped out on some hard drugs psycho, right in front of me.

 

My friend who was an idiot stuck his hand out and told the guy to calm down, the guy slapped his hand off and ran into the bathroom that was right behind me.

Immediately i stepped around the corner to the desk and told them they had a lunatic in the bathroom. Not twenty feet away.. my buddy stayed there.

 

So me and a couple big hotel security guys come back about 30 seconds later, they go in... no one is in there.

No one had come out, no one else had gone in. No sign of the guy.

I have no idea what happened.

 

Haha. This sounds like some John Titor or 12 Monkeys type stuff. 

 

And I feel like this can only happen in the urban jungle. Hunter Thompson wrote some phrase like that once about how you can find obscurity and isolation by blending into the masses of a populated urban city, counterintuitive to the premise of running away to far-flung, remote, rural vistas. 

 

Hinding in the plain sight.

 

And I laugh because I feel like anyone who has lived in a city, not just the inner beltway suburb, but actually stuck in the maze of city blocks and columned buildings lining the streets, you've at least come across some person totally and completely on the opposite wavelength you're on. 

 

I never had anything like that happen to me in Balmer, I guess mostly because I was either at Camden Yards or at some nightclub close to the inner harbor, all relatively safe zones. 

 

But I def had some odd Dickensian introductions to the inhabitants of seattle and a rather pushy argumentative politico in Miami and a handful of shuck and jive hucksters in DC. 

 

I don't think I've got anything on the scale of your story, you know, where you're left totally confounded by an event or scene, aside from the times I took too much acid and either solved the mystery of the universe, deconstructed the pillars of reality, only to forget it the wee hours of the morning while pleading to fall asleep after being awake for 30 hours, or simply looking outside through a window into a traffic street, while peaking, and having all the lights merge into some sort-of sonic timewarp blasting me at lightspeed down to the subatomic level, all while time stood still. 

 

That and few percarious moments I spent rock climbing, naked, on the Baja peninsula coast, during a kayaking trip, after having a kilo of weed wash upon shore one night ... a few missteps on a few loose rocks and I could have permanently stayed south of the border, but for whatever reasons, made it through by way of natural dexterity. 

 

I like your tale though, uncanny way of making a possibly really dangerous situation come off totally hilarious. 

 

I bet you got more?

[rictus58]

Way back when...must have been 1999 or so, A buddy and I took a trip to orlando and drove down. We were at a bar on a Saturday night, and decided we'd just head back home (to DC) then. We were going to leave The next afternoon but decided against it. A few hours into the trip home, i was driving his Honda CRX in the middle of nowhere South Carolina. The car suddenly lost power, I pull up on an exit ramp, and as I start slowing, smoke is coming out of the engine. We stop, pop the hood, and the engine is on fire. We didn't have a fire extinguisher, so we poured Soda on it to put the fire out. In the meantime, we pull all our belongings out of the car (including his wheelchair).

So here we are. Far from home. about 3am. No cell phones. Nothing at the exit we are stopped at. I tried in vain to get someone to stop to see if they could offer assistance. An hour of this with no luck, and I decide I'm going to hitchhike for help. He was in his chair, so he stayed with the car. I then proceed to walk up I-95 in the dark. at 4am. I must have walked a few miles before someone finally picked me up. Some yokle in a gigantic pickup. I get in, and ask him to drop me off at the nearest gas station so I could use a phone. My friends parents were 6 hours behind us..likely still in Orlando. They had a cell phone so our best bet was to get ahold of them. the guy who picks me up proceeds to drive past 2 exits lit up like Las Vegas with Gas stations. I start freaking out. I just ask he drop me off at the next exit. Which thankfully he does (it's one of those i-95 rest stops). I manage to get ahold of my friends parents. And let them know everything.

So I sit at this gas station for another hour or so. The suns coming up. And it's getting way too hot. I got this one vagrant bothering me for cash. Of which I have none. I'm probably 10+ miles or so from my friend and his car at this point.  so I just say **** it. I'm walking back to the car. I get about a mile, and I see a pick-up pulling off the side of the road. My friend is sitting in the passenger seat. Turns out, an hour after I left him, a truck full of drunk fire-fighters found him. and got him help. In the meantime, they put out an APB for ME. A cop drove by the rest stop a few times but never saw me apparently. In the end, we managed to find a mechanic to work on a sunday to fix the car, and we got back home...

 

Cut to 11 years later. I'm driving back home from Orlando with my wife and kids. It's about 7pm Saturday night. Starting to get dark. I'm in the left lane, going about 80mph. The truck in front of me quickly moves to the right lane. I see why. A large ass dog is in the left lane. Not a deer. A dog. I bet my life on it. I nail it. drive over it. then my car starts overheating. I end up pulling on the side of the road to check for Damage. Cracked radiator and other miscellanous damage. This time, I thankfully had a cell phone. so no hitchiking required.  The cop who shows up to help me finds me a guy who will fix my radiator...in the parking lot of a gas station. Why is this all so strange, I was stopped at the EXACT same exit I pulled off on 11 years earlier.

[Enforcer_FFX]

This actually happened to my father, but is a great story to share for this thread…My dad and his brother, growing up in Detroit in the late 50s, once found a stray dog after school one day in the 50s.  They had no idea of his background or anything, and they named him Mutt.  He had no tags, they couldn’t find an owner (if he ever had one), so they fed him, cleaned him up and kept him.  Mutt was LOYAL and always by their side.  He went on their paper routes with them, protective of the family, everything. 

 

During September one day, Mutt was suddenly missing.  He was in the backyard, and even if the gate was accidently left open – he NEVER ran away.  So, they knew somebody stole him.  Months went by, and they had given up hope.  Then on CHRISTMAS day, they heard a barking and scratching at their door.  No joke, it was Mutt, scuffed up, scarred, skinny and dirty – but he somehow found his way home and showed up on Christmas of all days!!  Needless to say – not a dry eye in the house that day!

[balki1867]

Sort of random:

 

There was a thread on ES about the FedEx fan experience a while back (aren't there always?) and someone posted a complaint about skip in the recorded version of HTTR.  I replied to that talking about where it came from: http://es.redskins.com/topic/371998-fan-experience-needs-improvement-bad-sound-messed-up-hail-to-the-redskins-recording-and-other-complaints/?p=9581053

 

Anyways, I was just going through my old ES posts for no apparent reason and while reading that post, the version of HTTR with the skip started playing in iTunes.  Out of 100+ hours of music, that song started playing right then.

[TD_washingtonredskins]

Haha. This sounds like some John Titor or 12 Monkeys type stuff. 

 

 

Wow, John Titor...that's a blast from the past and was quite entertaining!

[skinswillwin06]

I know John titor, what's 12 monkeys?

[OMacAttack]

I know John titor, what's 12 monkeys?

A rather weird movie

[TheGreatBuzz]

Memorial day weekend, 1987.  I'm 5 years old living in Waldorf.  I'm sleeping in my bed in the middle of the night and a ****ING JEEP drives into my bedroom and hits me while I'm sleeping.  It pushed by bed across the room, through my closet, and into the hallway on the other side.  The ceiling started caving in so the firemen had to go to my brothers room who slept above me (he slept through all this) to wake him up.  A piece of the orange plastic from the blinker lense went through my skull.  My neck was fractured in two places.  I got a helicopter ride to Childrens hospital in DC and was there for a bit.  The doctor said because I was so young that the bones were soft and able to heal otherwise I would have been paralyzed.  I obviously was in therepy for a few years, both physical and mental.  To this day I still have a blood soaked stuffed animal that was on my bed that I keep in the closet now.  It reminds me to not drink and drive.  The guy who hit me tried to drive off but his Jeep was stuck in my house.  He tried to run away but a few of my neighbors caught him and kept him until the cops arrived. 

 

He spent less than 24 hours in jail.

 

I tried searching online to find news articles but have never found anything.  I would imagine some newspaper would have written about it.  Anyone remember the popular Waldorf paper in 1987?

[Mr. Sinister]

Memorial day weekend, 1987.  I'm 5 years old living in Waldorf.  I'm sleeping in my bed in the middle of the night and a ****ING JEEP drives into my bedroom and hits me while I'm sleeping.  It pushed by bed across the room, through my closet, and into the hallway on the other side.  The ceiling started caving in so the firemen had to go to my brothers room who slept above me (he slept through all this) to wake him up.  A piece of the orange plastic from the blinker lense went through my skull.  My neck was fractured in two places.  I got a helicopter ride to Childrens hospital in DC and was there for a bit.  The doctor said because I was so young that the bones were soft and able to heal otherwise I would have been paralyzed.  I obviously was in therepy for a few years, both physical and mental.  To this day I still have a blood soaked stuffed animal that was on my bed that I keep in the closet now.  It reminds me to not drink and drive.  The guy who hit me tried to drive off but his Jeep was stuck in my house.  He tried to run away but a few of my neighbors caught him and kept him until the cops arrived. 

 

He spent less than 24 hours in jail.

 

I tried searching online to find news articles but have never found anything.  I would imagine some newspaper would have written about it.  Anyone remember the popular Waldorf paper in 1987?

 

I lived in Waldorf for 17 years. I swear I heard something like this before. But I lived there in the 90's/'00s. I may have overheard someone talking about it once.

[TheGreatBuzz]

I lived in Waldorf for 17 years. I swear I heard something like this before. But I lived there in the 90's/'00s. I may have overheard someone talking about it once.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if some people there remember it.  I lived at the corner of Thompkins lane.  It was within walking distance of Arthur Middleton (sp?) elementary.  Dunno what the neighborhood was called.  We moved away from there shortly after.

[Mr. Sinister]

I wouldn't be surprised if some people there remember it.  I lived at the corner of Thompkins lane.  It was within walking distance of Arthur Middleton (sp?) elementary.  Dunno what the neighborhood was called.  We moved away from there shortly after.

 

Doesn't ring a bell. Wish I could remember what street/town they were talking about. It definitely involved a kid that got medivaced though.

[pjfootballer]

I wouldn't be surprised if some people there remember it.  I lived at the corner of Thompkins lane.  It was within walking distance of Arthur Middleton (sp?) elementary.  Dunno what the neighborhood was called.  We moved away from there shortly after.

 

Carrington neighborhood.  I grew up on Adams Road and went to Middleton until 4th grade when we moved to Wakefield and then I went to Eva Turner for one year.

[USS Redskins]

In 1986 I had a dream that the space shuttle blew up. The following morning, I asked my Dad if the shuttle had blown up and he said no. Less than 2 weeks later the Challenger blew up.

 

In 2003 my dad and I were discussing the shuttle (he wrote for an magazine that covered the air and space industry) and he recalled the dream I had told him about from 1986 and how coincidental it was. 3 days later the Columbia disintegrated on its way home to Earth.

[Skinz4Life12]

When I was around 12 years old I was almost possessed by a demon. It was a bizarre experience that I don't like to discuss the particulars. It's still very vivid in my memory. Later I found out that my older brother was reading books on the occult and trying to conjure up "things". He later told me some of the stuff that went on while he was doing this. Really scary stuff.

 

 

 

At my last job I fired a guy who went home and hung himself. That was tough to take.

 

Dude you have to give more details about the possession thing...can't leave us hanging like that