One of my favourite paranormal police stories...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Credible-Witnes...0244793050


In 1976 I was on night-shift in a police car with another PC called Ron (who was also a spiritualist).

It was a cold night, and during the the early hours of the morning, Ron suggested we stop at his house for a mug of hot chocolate.

We parked the car outside of Ron's house, a light was on in an upstairs room, and Ron mentioned that his wife might still be awake reading.

Ron opened the entrance door, and walked down the hall to the kitchen. I entered, and as I turned around to shut the entrance door, I was surprised to see an elderly man, with the appearance of a north American Indian, and moccasins on his feet, sitting in an armchair facing down the hallway. I said "good morning" to him. He looked at me, but said nothing.

I quickly walked down the hall to the kitchen, where Ron asked me whether I wanted a mug or a cup. I said "Mug, and who is the man sitting in the hall?"

Ron carried on making the hot chocolate, and casually explained that he was the spirit of a Navajo Indian who would often visit to see his wife's unusual paintings. I didn't know what to think, but by the time we left, the elderly man was gone.

Later that shift, I spoke to another colleague, and mentioned that we had stopped off at Ron's house for a break. Without me saying anything further, he asked me if I had seen the Native American, and I told him that I had. This officer explained that he had also seen him on one occasion when he had visited Ron's house.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Credible-Witnes...0244793050

This is the most perplexing story from Credible Witness I. It's my favourite story, but also the most puzzling story, and throws up many questions, if taken at face value:



About twelve years ago my marriage was in serious trouble. My wife and I had tried everything to make it work, and in desperation, as a couple, we even went for a tarot reading. My reading gave a bright outlook but my wife had one which the reader said was not so positive and she didn't want to know the outcome.

At this time I was working at Erdington police station just outside Birmingham (England). I had joined the police from the army and considered myself to be well grounded and pragmatic. The Tarot reading was not my idea and not the sort of thing I had any interest in, but I was prepared to try anything that my wife suggested in order to save the relationship.

I often patrolled the Lyndhurst estate, which is a council owned housing estate on the border between Erdington and Sutton Coldfield. It consists of numerous low rise maisonettes, seven tower blocks, community facilities and a recreation ground.

A few weeks later after the Tarot reading I was on my own, patrolling the estate. It was late in the afternoon when I saw a man walking towards me on the opposite side of the road. The man had shoulder length, dark hair and was wearing a leather jacket. I would guess his age at anywhere between 50-60 years old and his skin tone and dark hair gave him an appearance similar to a native American. I crossed over the road and we acknowledged each other. It was certainly not a case of wanting to carry out a stop check or anything like that. If anything he had more the look of a potential victim than an offender.

The man told me that he had a message for me and he had information that I was looking for. He made a reference to the Tarot reading, which I thought was incredible because I had never met this man before in my life. At no point did he give me his name but he invited me to come and speak with him at his home address. We made arrangements for me to go visit when I was on an afternoon shift.

A week of so later I went to the address he gave me, it was a large house on Chester Road near to the railway station, which was sub divided into bedsits. The guy had a room in the attic and I went in side sat in an armchair while he made me a cup of tea. He spoke to me about opening a door, which would give me information and if I chose to do that then there would be no going back. The man was a warm and sensitive person and although it seems strange to anyone hearing this story, at no point did I feel any alarm although I did notice there was a pentagram drawn on the floor which was partly concealed by a rug. I decided that I didn't want to take things regarding the information further. We shook hands and I left.

Several months later, I was by now in a new relationship. I had split up with my wife, but with the divorce proceedings in the background, it could have an impact on my mood. I was sitting in a hotel bar in Stratford-upon-Avon with my new partner, who I loved dearly, and eventually married. We were having a stupid argument, a really pointless fall out about something trivial, when the double fire doors bust open with a mighty bang. There was no reason for this in terms of the wind or anyone messing about and it certainly shook me up. It immediately stopped the stupid argument but it also started to play on my mind.

Maybe I was putting two and two together and making five but I decided to go back and speak with the guy who lived on Chester Road when I was next back on duty. I walked up to the house and stepped into the foyer but when I was inside I was stunned to find that the layout was different and the door to the room in the attic didn't exist. I was in the exact same house and it had not been renovated but the door was not there. I have spoken about these events to very few people because it raised so many questions, questions I have asked myself many times but to which I can still find no answer.

I've racked my brains over this story... it has something of the feel of a time-slip (returning to the scene to find everything has changed), but much of the stories mystery goes away, if we consider that when the policeman returns to the home of the stranger the second time, the policeman has mis-remembered the strangers address, and simply entered the wrong house. Along Chester Road near the train station, there are many Architecturally identical sets of large houses, many seem converted into bedsits.

Yet, there is enough oddity about the policeman's recalled interactions with the stranger, that one still remains puzzled. For example : That the policeman decides to cross the street to interact with the stranger; that the stranger knows the policemen, has a message for him; knows of the policeman's Tarot reading; And that the policeman just agrees to meet a stranger in his own home... these are all odd interactions that remind me of time-slip type experiences, where the recalled experience plays out as if it is somebody else's experience.

Yet, what puts me off the typical time-slip type experience, is the policeman seems to recall going back to normality for a week or so, before he finally visits the strangers home. I have not come across a time-slip that is split into two experiences, with a period of normality in between them?

The interaction with the stranger when the policeman visits the strangers home is also quite odd. The policeman tells us little if anything of what they spoke about, except the strangers offer and warning "He spoke to me about opening a door, which would give me information and if I chose to do that then there would be no going back". I find the warning which comes with the offer, really really interesting and also perturbing at the same time. The policeman seems to think the same thing, as he questions at this same point, why he is not feeling any alarm?

Later, the policeman seems to make an association between the fire exit doors bursting open spontaneously, and the door the stranger offered to open (with a warning), causing him to feel he needs to return to see the stranger again...



This is the most perplexing story for me, for years I've been so tempted to write to Andy Gilbert (The Author) to see if I could get in contact with the policeman for more information... it nags at me, like it seems to nag at the policeman, because without more clarification, it hints at things like known possibilities/skills, but also rules... metaphorical 'doors' that can offered, but which can only be shown, if the participant accepts the consequences... and also why have we not heard of such stories before? I certainly haven't heard of such a story before. Could there be others who have been offered the same bargain, and accepted it, but then found the 'no going back' in some way excludes them telling their story... is it just that this policeman rejected the bargain, which allowed him to tells us about the offer?

Finally, if we then accept the final part of the policemans story, that he did return to the exact same house and that it was not the same inside the house... I'm left with not knowing whereabouts in time this time-slip like experience may have come from... the past, or the future... or does the stranger have the ability to move within time... I'm literally left wondering if the policeman was targeted for recruitment in some narrative, which the overwhelming majority of us are completely blind to... it's almost like The Matrix!

Any thoughts...?

To me it seems less like a time slip and more like a softening of reality? Recalls some Weird events as a kid, probably why I am on this forum today lol.

The Native looking fellow plus the pentagram made me think of New Age shops, which often have a grab bag of beliefs.

Could it be the police man "papered over" the actual entity and the house with stuff his mind would associate with spirituality and esoterica?

To me it seems less like a time slip and more like a softening of reality? Recalls some Weird events as a kid, probably why I am on this forum today lol.

The Native looking fellow plus the pentagram made me think of New Age shops, which often have a grab bag of beliefs.

Could it be the police man "papered over" the actual entity and the house with stuff his mind would associate with spirituality and esoterica?

So you think he has had some contact with an entity? But has understood that contact in the best way he can...? perhaps rather like dreams are constructed out of imagery that often has a clever oblique meaning related to something else going on in our lives?

So you think he has had some contact with an entity? But has understood that contact in the best way he can...? perhaps rather like dreams are constructed out of imagery that often has a clever oblique meaning related to something else going on in our lives?

It would be my guess, but honestly not sure. I just thought it was interesting that he saw a seemingly Native American man AND a pentagram.

I do wonder if the latter was an expression of his own apprehension. Reading the story, even knowing that pagans have their own beliefs about the symbol I felt it was eerie. It reminded me of dreams where everything seems normal but there is a deep sense of dread.

But also if the tarot reading was about his marriage, what was the invitation about? It also seems as if he ended up happily remarried, so perhaps the doors bursting open stopped a fight that would've ended the relationship before it could deepen? A parting gift from whoever & whatever the Native looking man was?

Like you say it is incredibly interesting. It seems to be, all at once, a friendly spirit offering marriage counseling and an invitation to deep and potentially dangerous cosmic truths.

It would be my guess, but honestly not sure. I just thought it was interesting that he saw a seemingly Native American man AND a pentagram.

I do wonder if the latter was an expression of his own apprehension. Reading the story, even knowing that pagans have their own beliefs about the symbol I felt it was eerie. It reminded me of dreams where everything seems normal but there is a deep sense of dread.

But also if the tarot reading was about his marriage, what was the invitation about? It also seems as if he ended up happily remarried, so perhaps the doors bursting open stopped a fight that would've ended the relationship before it could deepen? A parting gift from whoever & whatever the Native looking man was?

Like you say it is incredibly interesting. It seems to be, all at once, a friendly spirit offering marriage counseling and an invitation to deep and potentially dangerous cosmic truths.

So do you think he did, or didn't, actually go to the house the first time in a wakeful state...?

I've never heard of people having such an apparently long break from reality whilst wakeful... other than time-slips of course.


Just throwing this out as a wild card...

The story has a very similar theme to The Matrix... man meets stranger outside, stranger says he can give him information... later man meets stranger in a room with equipment... man sits in an armchair... is offered the choice of information again, but warned if he chooses to learn more, all he is being offered is the truth... [although in this story the man chooses the blue pill]... in The Matrix man chooses the red pill, and discovers he can't go back.

The Matrix came out in 1999. This books was published in 2017.

The prologue mentions the author was still working as a police officer in Walsall (north west of Birmingham) in 2007, and started deliberately collecting these stories in earnest after then... so over a 10 year period between 2007 and 2017.

Walsall is only 9 miles from Erdington, where this case occurs... so it's a local case to the author, and may have been an early story he collected.

This story opens with "About 12 years ago..." so it could just about have occurred around the time The Matrix was released in 1999.

So do you think he did, or didn't, actually go to the house the first time in a wakeful state...?

Taking the police man at his word I think he did go to the house both times while awake. While children sometimes have to parse out seemingly real memories from dreams around 3-4 y.o. I have not heard this happening to sane adults.

It's somewhat close to Mandela Effect stories I've heard elsewhere though to my recollection none of those involved an entity like the Native Looking Man offering an actual choice.

It also recalls Survival cases - which AFAIK are very rare - where a dead person appears not as an apparition but just as if they were alive. They do "turn the corner" at some point and disappear yet while interacting with the living witness it could seem as it they were never gone.

Of course a skeptic would say that the police man at best dreamed the first encounter, got confused, and then later went to a house that seemed close enough to the dream house. But I feel this is impugning the officer in a way we wouldn't do - without just cause - if the same man was testifying about an arrest he made.

Taking the police man at his word I think he did go to the house both times while awake. While children sometimes have to parse out seemingly real memories from dreams around 3-4 y.o. I have not heard this happening to sane adults.

It's somewhat close to Mandela Effect stories I've heard elsewhere though to my recollection none of those involved an entity like the Native Looking Man offering an actual choice.

It also recalls Survival cases - which AFAIK are very rare - where a dead person appears not as an apparition but just as if they were alive. They do "turn the corner" at some point and disappear yet while interacting with the living witness it could seem as it they were never gone.

Of course a skeptic would say that the police man at best dreamed the first encounter, got confused, and then later went to a house that seemed close enough to the dream house. But I feel this is impugning the officer in a way we wouldn't do - without just cause - if the same man was testifying about an arrest he made.

Yes, I feel we have to accept he really went to the house, but the time-slip thing still keeps hitting me... I agree with some similarity to the full-fleshed crisis-type apparition... where the experient accepts what is happening without questioning too much during the experience... only later questioning things after the experience has ended, in this case the policeman seems to [later?] question why he was not feeling any alarm.

The Matrix thing, is just my wondering as to what happens when an idea like the Matrix, get's so widely disseminated to the group, that it might get used as a narrative by the group, i.e. Jung's belief of a collective unconscious although his is an idea that is vague to me... it agrees with my view that experience is a shared construction.