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The Subtleties of Paranormal Experiences
Strange experiences happen when we least expect them to happen.
I’ve asked my mother to contribute an article detailing her apparition sighting. I remember hearing about it shortly after, encouraging her to draw a simple sketch of what she saw. Those who know me know that I encourage anyone with a remarkable encounter to record it as soon as possible. That way, you can be sure of the details later on since memories are fallible and tend to fade over time. But I thought this story would be good to share with you since not only did the experience leave a lasting impression on her, but it also highlights the subtlety of such experiences when they occur.
Enjoy.
–Justin
Photo by sumingliu youyou on Unsplash MY ENCOUNTER – Oct. 27, 2021
By Margie G.
Contributor to Normal Paranormal6:45 am—alarm goes off. My day begins with a cup of coffee and taking a moment to listen to the news, then on to getting ready to go to work. Yes, work, my job. I clean homes which I have been doing for close to 30 years now. At one point, I had between 15–20 homes a month when I first began. Yes, it was busy, and yet it gave me a reason to get up and move my aging bones. Now, I have only about five, which are faithful to me, and I appreciate each and every one of them.
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The Third Man Factor
The phenomenon known as “the third man factor” is truly remarkable. And its bizarre occurrence seems to parallel what my good friend Maxim W. Furek chronicled in his book Sheppton: The Myth, Miracle & Music. After I passed this along to him, he was inspired to dive deeper and write something that I think you will find just as fascinating. –Justin
Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash Davey Fellin and The Third Man Factor
By Maxim W. Furek
Contributor to Normal ParanormalIn 1963, the entire world was gripped by the human drama unfolding in a remote Pennsylvania coal mine.
After being rescued from the Sheppton mine, Davey Fellin testified that Pope John XXIII was with him and Hank Throne during their two-week ordeal. But what the miners saw has been at the center of ongoing controversy. The Pope’s specter has been alternately described as both a miracle, as attested to by Vatican scholars, as well as a collective hallucination.
But could there be other theories to explain the Pope’s ghostly visitation, and, if so, what might those look like?
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The Peter Khoury Alien Abduction Case
The Peter Khoury alien abduction case is one that was recently called to my attention by Michael Brown, host of The Bunker podcast. It follows some of those classic patterns in alien abductions that most outside of the field aren’t aware of. Things like instruments used on the back of the head to cause abductees to blackout. Or, hooded figures during some of the visits. Or, telepathic communication between entities and abductees. Or, bystanders in the immediate area that are “switched off.” Or, perhaps the more disturbing sexual nature of these encounters themselves. But there are other things in this case that aren’t so common, like DNA evidence which could help to add credibility to it. Either way, I think you will find this one both fascinating and creepy. –Justin
Peter Khoury Peter Khoury, strange beings, abduction, and the evidence they left behind.
By Michael Brown
Contributor to Normal ParanormalPeter Khoury was born in Iran in 1964 and began having strange experiences in the early 1970s in Lebanon. While playing with cousins and friends he had his first encounter; at least the first one he can remember.
The children were playing outside when they decided to ascend to a rooftop they often played on. The exterior door to the roof was a large heavy metal door that was spring-loaded and would close on each person passing through the door. Frequenting this area to play, the children habitually knew to be ready to push open the door to pass through it but on this occasion, Peter noticed something different.
He noticed several children ahead of him who passed through the door without it swinging back. The door instead, remained open which struck him as odd. As he passed through the door, however, matters became even stranger. Peter then noticed his friends and cousins were all frozen in place and not moving a muscle. His first thought was since he was the last to make it to the rooftop that he was the butt of a joke. He decided to return the favor and began tickling his friends to force them to snap out of their self-imposed stasis. No matter how vigorously he tickled and teased his friends they remained in place, not even moving their eyes.
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TWA Flight 800: The Internet Age’s First Conspiracy
By Maxim W. Furek
Contributor to Normal ParanormalOn July 17, 1996, Trans World Airlines flight 800 took off from New York’s Kennedy International Airport in the twilight dusk of sunset. The two-hundred and thirty people aboard were on their way to Paris, France.
Flight 800 flew at a lower altitude than usual because of another approaching jet. After receiving clearance to climb to cruise altitude, the Boeing 747 jetliner leveled off at 13,700 feet above sea level. Then, twelve minutes after takeoff, the plane exploded without warning. Thousands of pounds of kerosene were dumped from the plane’s center, and wing tanks vaporized and ignited. An orange fireball burned along the coastline as sections of the 747 plunged into the Atlantic Ocean, south of Long Island.
Twenty-one passengers were from Montoursville, Pennsylvania, heading for a once-in-a-lifetime trip to The City of Light. Sixteen were members of the Montoursville Area High School French Club, accompanied by five chaperones. There were no survivors.
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Centralia: Gateway to Hell
By Maxim W. Furek
Contributor to Normal ParanormalCentralia lies on the outer fringe of the Pennsylvania Coal Region. It is a virtual ghost town with broken sidewalks, obsolete street signs, and only a few remaining buildings. A feeling of foreboding greets those passing through the village, who overhear various accounts of strange shadow figures and apparitions lurking around the abandoned structures. The road leading to Centralia is easily mistaken for the Gateway to Hell because, for decades, a massive underground fire has raged beneath the deserted city streets, spewing toxic carbon monoxide and other gasses.
Of this, a modern-day Hades, writer Katie Machado observed, “On some days, a trip into Centralia might mean seeing smoke rising from the cracks in the highway’s asphalt, while other days, it might mean an eerie gray fog that claims the town after a rainy morning.”
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The Warrens and the Smurl House of Horror
By Maxim W. Furek
Contributor to Normal ParanormalOne of the most horrific cases of purported demonic possession occurred over a 13-year period in West Pittston, Pennsylvania. The horror took root inside a 92-year-old duplex dwelling located at 328-330 Chase Street that belonged to Jack and Janet Smurl and Jack’s parents.
From 1974 to 1987, the Smurls and their four daughters were terrorized by howls and blood-curdling screams, pig grunts, kitchen appliances catching fire, and awful odors. Amorphous black clouds materialized inside the lodging. Janet was dragged out of bed by malevolent forces and Jack was sexually assaulted by a succubus, a demon in female form.
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The Death Conspiracy Theories of Jim Morrison
By Maxim W. Furek
Contributor to Normal ParanormalHe was the charismatic lead singer of the Doors, a 1960s band blending rock, blues, and psychedelia in hit songs including “Light My Fire,” “Touch Me,” and “Riders on The Storm.” Their appeal coupled well-crafted studio songs with Jim Morrison’s overt sexuality, adolescent poetry, and Los Angeles swagger.
Wearing tight leather and calling himself the ‘Lizard King,’ Morrison’s stage act was typically a drunken, profanity-laced charade of self-destruction, but after he allegedly exposed himself during several concerts, the game was afoot. Morrison fled to Paris seeking refuge from the legalities surrounding a Miami ‘indecent exposure’ incident. He had avoided jail with a pending appeal, bail of $50,000, and a plane ticket to France.
He wandered the streets of the city, dog-eared folders of poetry in a plastic bag, under his arm, taking in the aura of the ghosts and poets who called this place home. He discovered the Rock and Roll Circus, a nightclub in the trendy Left Bank, and partied there ‘practically every night’ with the likes of Roman Polanski and Marianne Faithfull, the Beatles and Stones. Morrison, who envisioned himself an exiled American poet, arrived in The City of Lights in March 1971 with common-law wife Pamela Courson. Four months later he was dead.
