Doug's anomalous experiences

Like some others here, I too am fortunate in having had a fair number of well-defined anomalous experiences in my lifetime. I label them anomalous because I believe the underlying phenomena did not have a physical origin. Instead, I share the opinion of parapsychologists that the phenomena witnessed by me were spontaneous manifestations of unconscious mental processes. From my experiences, and those reported to me by trusted friends and family members, I've drawn what I believe to be the only logical conclusion possible regarding physical reality: that it simply is not what it appears to be.

Although I've often shared accounts of my experiences with family and close friends, I've been very reluctant to share them in online venues such as message boards. That's because the phenomena reported in many of my accounts are often intertwined with events or activities in my life that I would, on balance, prefer to keep private. I suppose I could eliminate many of the personal references whose public exposure makes me uncomfortable, but I fear doing so would rob too many of the accounts of subtle contextual clues pointing to my unconscious mind as the ultimate source of many, if not most of the experiences. I think this is what happens to most accounts shared online. They're stripped of personal elements that might have been very helpful in determining meaningful unconscious connections. They've become bland recountings of what might originally have been rich experiences full of meaning.

After years of indecision, I've finally come to the conclusion that the only way for me to resolve this issue is simply to report my experiences pretty much as they happened. In doing so, it is my hope that readers might find some value in them, hence justifying my having presented them for posterity. It is also my hope -- my great hope -- that others yet to speak up will also share their personal accounts so that all can learn from them.

01 - Shoelaces (1/2)

The first undeniably real  macro-PK incident in my life that I'm aware of happened one summer day in 1967. At the time, I would have been 15 going on 16 (my birthday is in September). My brother G was three years younger. We'd been to Seaside Park in Bridgeport, Connecticut with our father, where we played on the beach and grassy areas with our dogs and got burgers from one of the fast food restaurants located on the fringes of the park. (This was almost a daily routine for us during summers in the mid to late 1960s. Our father had MS and needed my brother and me to buy his groceries, wash his clothes and do any number of things for him that were too hard to do himself.)

It was still daylight when our father drove us back to the house in Milford, then returned to the simple hotel room he rented in downtown Bridgeport. My mother and stepfather owned a hairdressing shop about a mile away from the house, and weren't due home for another hour or two.

I remember G and me taking off our shoes in the living room. G wore sneakers, one of which, while standing, he'd gotten off his foot without untying the shoelaces. He sat beside me on the sofa to remove the other one. I was leaning over in the process of untying my shoes when suddenly G shouted, "Doug look!" Not willing to give him the satisfaction of getting my attention, I ignored him.*

It couldn't have been more than a few seconds before G said something like "Did you see that?!" I was sitting upright by then, and think I started to ask what he'd seen, when he shouted once more, saying, "There it goes again!" At the same time he thrust out his arm and pointed to the sneaker lying upright on the carpet, some three or four feet in front of us. I turned my head to look and witnessed what is easily the most remarkable thing I've ever laid eyes on...

The sneaker's toe was pointed directly at us. The dirty white cotton laces had somehow come to life and were moving about quite energetically. In fact, they were a genuine riot of motion. The shoelaces were fully extended and they waved about manically, pointing in random directions from between about 80 to, say, 45 degrees relative to the floor. If you were to plot their rapidly changing positions, you'd see cones extending from the knot they were connected to.

But that wasn't all. While the shoelaces danced merrily away, the bows also stood up and wiggled about in little cones of their own. Even more astonishing, the bows twisted as they wiggled! It was as if a pair of unseen hands had taken hold of their ends and rapidly and continuously wound and unwound them a few turns at a time.

While the laces and bows were dancing (or more likely, just after they'd stopped), I recall asking G what he'd seen, to make sure we were both witnessing the same thing. I don't remember his reply, but it was obvious from what he said that our interpretations were the same. I also don't remember how long this impossible spectacle lasted, but I had enough time to observe the details I've mentioned and imagine possible causes for the phenomenon. I'm guessing the event lasted a good 20 to 30 seconds before the laces and bows suddenly went limp.

We talked about the spectacle for a little while when the shoelaces and bows suddenly came to life a third time. Once again they sprang up, fully extended, then wiggled and waved about furiously, the bows winding and unwinding throughout the entire performance. I recall looking from the sneaker to the ceiling to see if I could find a spider that might have inconspicuously attached silk lines to the laces and bows and was now energetically tugging on them. I knew no spider could do what I was witnessing, but I still felt compelled to try to come up with some mundane explanation for the ridiculous phenomenon. More precisely, I wanted to exclude as many mundane explanations as possible in order to be sure what I was witnessing had a paranormal origin.

Curiously, I also had a mental image of a bumblebee lying on its back behind the knot and rotating it back and forth with it's legs. Needless to say, that wouldn't explain the rapid and continuous winding and unwinding of the bows, nor the fact that they and the laces were standing up and moving in all directions. Nor could static electricity explain the complicated motions, as if it were even possible for static electricity to affect cotton shoelaces attached to a cloth sneaker with a thick rubber sole.

As hard as it is to believe, I actually got bored watching the laces and bows dance away. At the time I accepted that I was almost certainly witnessing a paranormal phenomenon, and yet, like a skeptic, I wanted to see still more evidence to confirm my belief. It would have been great if the shoe had started to hop away on its own, or if something equally outrageous had occurred. Instead, it just sat there on the floor while the laces and bows danced away for G and me. I think the third performance lasted about as long as the second one.

As before, the animating force suddenly departed and the laces and bows came to rest. They looked no different now than what you'd see on any shoe that had been taken off without untying the laces first. Shortly after the third dance ended, I knelt on the carpet and reached my hand out to nudge the sneaker a little. I was a bit scared when I did this, thinking that -- against all reason -- there might be a bug inside the sneaker that was in some way responsible for what we'd witnessed. I didn't want to be too close if it suddenly jumped out and started running toward me. However, nothing happened when I nudged the sneaker. I nudged it harder and still nothing happened. Finally, I knocked it over on its side, recoiling quickly in case something jumped out. Again, nothing....

I probably don't need to add that the laces and bows didn't come back to life after I knocked the sneaker around. I've often wondered if they would have danced again had I left the sneaker alone. I think my decision to touch it was in part a reaction to having witnessed something so incredibly bizarre. Instead of sitting back and enjoying the show, I felt compelled to make sure the phenomenon had no mundane causes, even though my "investigation" might lead to its demise.

G waited a half-hour or so to allow my father to get back to his room before phoning to tell him what had happened. After the conversation was over, he said our father suggested we talk to "it". Apparently, my father believed a spirit was likely responsible for the mad antics we'd witnessed, and thought we might be able to contact it by talking to the shoe. I must have already read something about poltergeist phenomena, and how they're thought to be caused by living agents, because I disagreed with my father's advice and let the matter rest.

My mother and stepfather probably came home from the shop between 6:30 and 7:00 PM. They weren't inside the house for long before we told them what happened. They smiled at our tale, not knowing what to think about it. I think they came to believe it before long, however, because G and I often brought it up in conversations about paranormal occurrences.

* This explanation for my stubborn refusal to acknowledge my brother's directive always troubled me. That's because I wouldn't normally ignore him. It wasn't until a few years ago, as we were closing in on the 50th anniversary of the incident, that I asked G to share with a mutual friend what he recalled. Details were lacking, but he responded with something much like the following:

Doug and I were in the living room watching TV when I saw my shoelaces jump up and start moving around. I tried to get Doug's attention, but he ignored me because of an argument we'd had.

I think the part about an argument is probably correct. That's because upon hearing his version, I was reminded that as we grew older, we did indeed have some bad arguments while  riding in the car with our father. They were mostly about petty things, but our anger for each other was real, nonetheless, and I would usually be the one to ignore my brother afterward, not wishing to have anything to do with him. As for his statement about the shoelaces coming to life while we were watching television, I know for sure we weren't watching television at the time, but the TV probably was on. My brother has always been one of those people who turns on the TV set as soon as he enters the house. It can be annoying for people like me who desire a large measure of peace and quiet after being out and about for a while.

01 - Shoelaces (2/2)

It wasn't until about a decade ago that I finally had an insight that could point to the incident's origin. One day I suddenly recalled a time in my youth when I used to berate my brother for not untying his shoe laces before taking his shoes off. He was in the habit of taking them off like this all the time, and I know my mother always scolded him for it. As his older brother, I relished reprimanding him too at times, for this and any number of other dumb things he did

I can, however, remember a time when I finally quit reprimanding him for the way he took off his shoes, but I can't remember when that happened. It was certainly before this incident took place, though. It might have been as much as one or two years before the incident. Even though I quit berating him for the habit, it's something I couldn't help noticing for a long time. I had to bite my tongue to keep from starting another useless argument with him over something trivial.  

Based on this bit of background information, I think it's very likely that I noticed G forcing off his first sneaker and mindlessly leaving it in the middle of the living room floor.  I might also have suppressed a mild desire to scold him for it. In that case, It's possible that my unconscious mind brought the shoelaces and bows to life, as a way of telling G, "Untie us!" It may also be possible (though, I think unlikely) that G was unconsciously (or maybe even consciously) expecting me to jump on him for not untying his shoelaces, and that prompted them to start dancing. Maybe there was a combined effort on the part of both our unconscious minds. In any case, I believed then and still believe that spirits had nothing to do with what we witnessed.

I really like this account because I believe the phenomenon I've described is at present scientifically inexplicable. It was also witnessed by my brother as well as me, and that has to count for something.  

I dislike this account because it's so bizarre. It's almost an embarrassment to share it because I believe so many proponents have been conditioned to think that when it comes to objects moving, macro-PK involves simple, mostly straight-line motion. The startling variety of complex but totally fluid movements my brother and I witnessed in this incident is so far removed from what is usually reported in the literature that I fear some proponents will have a hard time accepting the account.

Thanks for posting that, Doug. That's quite an unusual experience but I believe you. Why would anyone (you wouldn't anyway) make something like that up.

Thanks for posting that, Doug. That's quite an unusual experience but I believe you. Why would anyone (you wouldn't anyway) make something like that up.

Yes, thanks Doug.
Im mostly struck by how the phenomena manifested it self in such a odd way. Dancing shoe laces aren't a commonly reported PSI effect in my experience.

Thanks for posting that, Doug. That's quite an unusual experience but I believe you. Why would anyone (you wouldn't anyway) make something like that up.

Thanks for the vote of confidence, tim. It really was a remarkable thing to witness.

Yes, thanks Doug.
Im mostly struck by how the phenomena manifested it self in such a odd way. Dancing shoe laces aren't a commonly reported PSI effect in my experience.

I know what you mean, Oleo! I must have read hundreds if not thousands of reports of anomalous experiences since going online in the mid 1990s, and I haven't come across anything remotely like what my brother and I witnessed. Truly, it was as though the shoelaces and bows had minds of their own.

I've long suspected that there are other accounts out there that are as bizarre as this one, but their experients either modified the reports to make them appear less bizarre, or simply withheld them from the public eye over fears of embarrassment and ridicule. Something along the lines of a file-drawer solution.

I have one more bizarre (sorta) account to share. The rest are all fairly tame in comparison.

[Ninshub]

Really glad you finally decided to post these, Doug! Keep 'em coming.

I'm a somewhat sceptical proponent but I believe you,partly because it is you and partly because I don't think anybody would have made up such a bizarre story.

Really glad you finally decided to post these, Doug! Keep 'em coming.

Many thanks, good friend, for your encouragement and support over the years in helping me to make the leap and publish these accounts. If it hadn't been for your patience in reading them and asking pertinent and probing questions, I don't think I ever would have had the motivation to clean them up to make them more readable. Thanks to you, the most important five accounts are ready for posting, and I'll write up the rest over time.

I'm a somewhat sceptical proponent but I believe you,partly because it is you and partly because I don't think anybody would have made up such a bizarre story.

Thanks Brian! I have no problem with skeptical, and am myself doubtful of many assertions of psychic abilities.

Many thanks, good friend, for your encouragement and support over the years in helping me to make the leap and publish these accounts. If it hadn't been for your patience in reading them and asking pertinent and probing questions, I don't think I ever would have had the motivation to clean them up to make them more readable. Thanks to you, the most important five accounts are ready for posting, and I'll write up the rest over time.


Thanks Brian! I have no problem with skeptical, and am myself doubtful of many assertions of psychic abilities.

Very interesting Doug. You know what you saw so I certainly wouldn’t accuse you of lying. 

Could you be mistaken? It’s possible of course and it’s possible that you either misremember it or missed some mundane cause at the time but as with a lot of reported phenomena I think it’s best for the reader to keep an open mind. Very curious experience indeed. Thanks for sharing.