I've been at researching for decades and one thing I can rely on is people sharing their strange encounters, trying to make sense of them. The interesting thing about humanity is, there is no pat way to react to something novel.Here's some examples -
Reggie (not his real name) was an avid hunter. He specifically liked to hunt elk in the Northwest Region of the US. He was a Reservation police officer. Although he was of Native heritage, he never had time for the stories and beliefs of his people. He joined the military, came home and decided to offer his skills in policing. One particularly chilly morning, he was in a tree line at the edge of a clearing, waiting for a chance to bring his mother home an elk.
He saw a movement across the clearing at the edge of treeline. He lifted his rifle, looked through the sight. He expected to see a buck, but instead he saw a huge figure standing on two legs, covered in dark hair. He had a bead on it, could shoot it, but the figure stopped, turned as if sensing him and stared right at Reggie.
Through the scope, the face was obviously human. his hand trembled. He lowered the rifle and sobbed. This didn't stop him from hunting, just not hunting in that location.
Reggie confessed to his uncle what he had seen and his uncle seemed unfazed. "We give them wide berth in the woods," his unclle said.
Because of the extraodinary encounter, Reggie took to researching Bigfoot, going to conferences, and trying to learn who they were and how they lived. His obsession took up his spare time and he often went unarmed into the forest to silently sit and wait to encounter one again.
When asked what he thought of his encounter, Reggie said, "They have my respect. How do they do it? How old and wise are they?"
Note: Bigfoot are not paranormal, but to anyone who has never believed in them or expected to run into one, they remain in the "paranormal" category.
Pam (not her real name) was a Catholic-raised mother of four, proud helper of the community, and legal assistant, married for 20 years. She was not fanciful or even creative, just kind and responsible.Her children didn't trick or treat, but attended a church parking lot costume party. Pam did not hold beliefs in anything fanciful and, even seeing trailers for horror movies or hearing people talk about unknown subjects, she shied away as if it were something dark.
Pam's sister, following a divorce, had bought an old historic home in the heart of Main Street. As the sister was renovating the home, she had to rush away to attend to her ex who was in critical condition. Pam agreed to stay in the house and watch the cats.
The first night there, Pam decided to help hang the wallpaper in the bathroom since she was better at it than her sister.
Tired from the work, she set up a nest on the sofa in the living room, as her sister's room still had a maze of boxes everywhere.
Pam barely got comfortable when she fell into a deep sleep. In the middle of the silent dark night, she heard a thump that woke her up. Looking around in the unfamiliar darkness, she saw nothing amiss. Just in case, she turned on the light, went to the front door to check the lock and then the back door. All was right.
Just as she was about to nod off, the clunk of a cabinet closing caused Pam to rush to the kitchen, certain her sister must have turned her car around and come home from the long ride.
With a flick of the light, Pam saw that all the upper cabinet doors were wide open, but one was closed. As she tried to reason how that was possible, the cabinet beside the closed one, closed. Mouth wide open, Pam took a step back. Another cabinet door closed.
At this point, Pam turned the light on in every room. She called out, "In the name of Christ, my savior, I demand you leave this place."
There was no sleep for Pam that night. Her mind raced with fearful thoughts of possession, evil, demons, and the like. The Church had done a fine job of scaring her back each week and building a foundation of beliefs in how the world works.
The second night, she hated to be a coward, but the house seemed more and more evil, so Pam slept in her SUV.
When her sister came home, Pam asked where her Bible was. Her sister said, "in one of the boxes probably." Pam did not tell her what happene, but she advised that they attend church on Sunday.
Although Pam found excuses not to visit her sister's house, she instead invited her sister to her home, saying with the kids and husband, it was easier. She nagged her sister to go to church. Eventually, the longer her sister lived in the old house, Pam studied her sister's moods and words and was certain she was "tainted" by the bad things.
Skip (not his real name) love hiking and camping. Because he lived near a dense and vast woodland mountain range, he often did a hike each weekend. This particular weekend, he decided to take his sleeping bag and sleep in a clearing near the top of the mountain.
After a pleasant meal atop his Coleman stove, Skip laid out his pad on the ground and a sleeping bag atop it. He opted not to have a fire, as it was the dry season. He sat in a meditative pose atop a large slab of granite, and marveled at the stars. Without city lights, they seemed like he could reach out and touch them.
From over a distant ridge, he saw a light. Assuming it was a plane, he watched it make a path to the west. He pondered where it may be headed, perhaps California. Then, as he traced it, the "plane" stopped in the air, hovering in place for seconds and seconds.
Skip frowned, thinking perhaps it was turning and made the appearance of being still. Then, without warning, it came racing toward him at a speed it had not done before. As it came closer, Skip realized it was not that hight up, perhaps a couple thousand feet or less. The light seemed brighter, insistent, as it came his way.
Without a sound, the vehicle slowed down and glided over him, as if aware he was watching. The hairs on his arms raised. It was a circular, metallic vehicle, not like any plane he'd seen. It had no wings. It made no noise. As it became directly overhead, he saw the belly of the vehicle and it was, indeed, nothing he knew could exist.
As if showing off, it suddenly shot up straight into the sky, disappearing in a fraction of a second.
Skip jumped to his feet, studying the sky, wondering where it went. It was then that he realized what he witnessed was a UFO. There was nothing else it could be.
Had he been semi-asleep and dreamed it? Did anyone else see it? Why hadn't he pulled out his cell phone and recorded it?
Skip had a restless sleep and when he got home, he did some research to see if the UFO had been reported and it hadn't. It was only him. One private viewing.
From that day forward, Skip found himself perusing UFO documentaries, awaiting descriptions of what he had seen. He spent his camping nights staring up. He stumbled onto techniques for "calling in" UFOs, and finally gave in to the zealotry and joined a UFO watching group and attended MUFON meetings.
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Over the years, I have heard hundreds of accounts and each one had a unique reaction. Human cognition and interpretations are solely unique.
Here's an example -
Four people have a flat tire on the way to work.
One person dances in place nervously, anxious that his boss will be mad.
One person cowers in the car, feeling unsafe in that part of town.
One person gets mad and curses, kicking the tire because this kind of bullshit happens all the time to him.
One person rushes to change the tire and continue the journey, not taking the incident personally or fearfully, simply realizing that today would be a chance to keep up skills with a jack and a tire.
When people encounter things they either do or don't believe in, there is a reality shift. Over time, most will "forget" it or talk themselves out of what they saw. Our world doesn't generally appreciate confessions of strange encounters. There is shame, fear, and even guilt having witnessed something.
I recall my encounter with a Bigfoot in the Sierras in my 20s. It was an arduous hike to 11,000 feet to, of all things, Baboon Lake. All I knew of Bigfoot was an ancient film of Patty walking across Bluff Creek. I was a kid back east then and I assumed all Bigfoot, if they existed, were in Washington State. I didn't even know Bluff Creek was in California. The only other thing I knew was that they were classifed as apes.
We took a break at around 8000 or 9000 feet and the engineers I was hiking with were nerds, but not at all fanciful. They sat down and rehydrated while I walked to a rock overlook to see the melting snows made waterfalls. A clearing across from me on a hillside that was part of the ridge we were hiking, had a dark object to the right of the clearing. I stood with my sketchbook under my arm watching as this thing unfolded to stand up. It was black and solid, but as he walked across a very steep grade land without looking down at its footholds, the sun hit it and the hair was auburn. As an artists of human form, I was shocked by the length of the arms, the length of the body, the extremely muscular thighs and butt, and what looked like a head jutted forward ot perhaps a thick head of long hair making it seem like it had no neck.
My first reaction was to shyly step back into the shadows as I felt like I wasn't supposed to witness this thing. Then, I realized what I had seen was a Bigfoot, but it was out of place from what I thought. Then, the big realization - it was not an ape!
I tend to go toward things that others might run from. I need to observe the actual threat and study characteristics to be a good witness. I walk away feeling honored that I experienced something so very rare.
Others, however, can feel threatened by the beliefs they held and the obvious proof they may have been wrong.
The way we assume the world works is critical to our sense of confidence.
Much of our beliefs is based on cognitive distortions and they cause a lot of unhealthy emotions -
People should do things the way I do them.
Others should consider me when making decisions.
Everything is black and white.
I should be perfect.
Those assumptions about the world can cause anger, resentment, guilt, and more. If you're interested in rational emotive concepts, check out the book "The New Guide to Rational Living" by Albert Ellis and Robert Harper.
My best advice for anyone who unexpectedly has an unexplained encounter is to evaluate the actual threat. A cabinet door closing is not a threat. Witnessing something from afar is not a threat. Once you calm down your fight or flight, take notes while it's fresh in your mind, as time can distort memories.
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