After reading the accounts in this thread I think it’s worth mentioning that it was only after 1975 that the idea of dark matter was widely accepted, after red-shift observations on spiral galaxy arms were published. In other words, pre-1975-physics (and all that depends on it, e.g. chemistry and biology) was essentially unaware of a massive amount of physical substance that actually makes up the universe, substance that no one has seen. One can suppose, then, that in a similar way, empirical science is simply unequipped to grasp a realm where sentient agents interact with us on the fringe of our perception.
When I was about thirteen, a basketball-sized white luminescent sphere simply appeared on the living room floor between me and my little sister, who was sitting on the floor about six feet away. After about a two count, seemingly to make sure I’d seen it, the sphere moved to my left about six feet and passed under a wooden bureau with a four inch clearance, and then disappeared through metal floor ventilation grating under the bureau. No physical traces.
Then, about sixteen, I was cleaning my dad’s 1911 .45 pistol. He’d taught us kids gun safety and though we weren’t nuts about weapons, Midwest farming folk usually have a few. I popped out the loaded magazine, pulled the slide back to make sure the pistol was unloaded, broke it down, cleaned it, reassembled it and fiddled with it for a couple more minutes. I popped the magazine out again. At that moment I perceived clear articulate words, internally: “Put it to your head and pull the trigger” (as a joke). I was disturbed about that thought because I was not a prankster, nor was I suffering from depression, nor was I on legal or illegal drugs. Perplexed, I pulled the slide back and . . . out popped a round. I was stunned. I’d chambered a round by mistake. If I’d played along with this malicious “trickster” suggestion mom’s kitchen would have been a freaking 45-to-the-head bloody mess. I had no idea what this meant at the time but it was disquieting.
About eight years later, in around 1978, I had about seven of the so-called sleep paralysis experiences. I was 24 and in the USMC where I was a fire-control radar tech for F-4 Phantoms. In those days I’d not heard of “sleep paralysis” or of “abduction” or of anything like what I experienced. About two years prior to these experiences I’d started questioning my materialistic worldview and I had begun exploring a theistic worldview, and for about a year I’d been reading the Bible to see what it said, since I had no idea. The seven SP experiences were all similar. I’d wake from sound sleep at around 03:00 (give or take) paralyzed, sensing intense strangulation around my neck, and sensing a malevolent presence, though nothing was visible. I was highly agitated because of the strangulation, and I had no idea at all of what was going on. The only thing that came to my mind was to call to Jesus Christ for aid. So I struggled against the paralysis, trying to move my tongue. The moment I could form “Je” (as in Jesus) I’d instantly be released and I’d gulp in air, as if I’d been held underwater too long. Following that first episode I figured this must be some kind of of “spiritual” attack, as in biblical conceptualization.
Around that same time I had an unforgettable and very unpleasant vivid dream involving an ominous, extremely ugly old lady. Total downer of a dream experience. I was unaware of “Old Hag” reports for another twenty years, but, surprisingly enough, my first thought about the experience when it happened was that this repulsive figure was literally some kind of Old Hag. Again around that same time another vivid dream in which I was alone with a stunning brunette who resembled Elizabeth Taylor in her prime (woohoo!). The instant my lips touched her skin in a kiss, my entire vision field turned completely into reptilian scales, like those of a black snake, and I also sensed a repulsive, nauseating, overpowering reptilian presence that was really beyond description. I awoke instantly, totally grossed out. (Talk about bait and switch!) I sensed a subtle communication just at the verbal threshold, to the effect: “Ha, ha, ha! Got you, you stupid bastage!” My construal has been that this experience was satanic reptilian, not extra-terrestrial alien reptilian. Also, since then, as a theist I’ve had some wonderfully positive experiences on the other side of the sensation spectrum, which coincide with biblical reports.
May all who are tormented find relief.
