Terminalcoffee discussion

Did you tell anybody?

It blows my mind there are so many shows on the History channel about UFOs and space aliens. The History Channel! Of all places...

I've never seen a ghost, but I've heard stories from people who have, and I believe them. These people are not the flaky weirdos I'd expect would tell tall tales.

No UFO's but I did see and hear my grandmother's ghost once. I was in bed and my baby son was crying and I just did not want to get up. She appeared right next to me and shouted "Michele Routhier you get up and take care of your baby right now. I raised you better than this!" in her no nonsense do what I say right now kind of voice.

I saw a UFO last night. One of the cable channels was showing "Close Encounters." :)

But that was an identified UFO.

I've never seen a UFO and I don't think I've ever seen a ghost, but I'm pretty sure I felt a ghost one time when my grandfather died.

I don't really believe in ghosts, but I think I did see one. I was the only one working in a locked library archive, and my computer was in full view of the door, so I would have known if someone had come in. I walked back into the stacks to look for something, and passed a woman in one of the aisles. It took me a minute to realize she shouldn't have been there, but when I searched there was nobody else in the room.

The woman in charge of the archives was a big believer in ghosts and astrology (she wouldn't open if mercury was retrograde) and she said she had often half-seen Julia Rogers (the library's namesake) in the stacks.

We had a ghost in our second story apartment in Boulder. For sure.

since i quit drinking and taking non prescription drugs i have not experienced any aliens, UFO's, ghost, apparitions, or otherwise unworldly beings. my dad swears he saw a UFO once but he fully admits to buying beer and zig-zags just prior to this siting.

UFO: Check.

Ghost: Negative. However, once while blasted I did observe Richard Nixon and Kurt Cobain discussing their wives.

So we're talkin'... overactive imagination? Check.

I was once poked in the side, hard, from a dead sleep. Dream? Ghost? Who cares. It freaked me out.

I was operating a freight train at about 2 am one winter when a very bright light (like the ones in Close Encounters) shone down on me from above. At first I thought it was a helicopter. But there was no sound like one of them. The light followed me for several miles then went away.

The guy in the cab with me was sound asleep. I should have awoken him, but didn't.

I still suspect it was an alien spacecraft.

Sally wrote: "So we're talkin'... overactive imagination? Check.

I was once poked in the side, hard, from a dead sleep. Dream? Ghost? Who cares. It freaked me out."

That was Leah warming up for when she would be inside of you. She was saying, "Get ready, mom!"

Oh good god, sigh. *rubs head*


She's been doing that all morning in real life. Every single time I do something for myself;I sat her down to get a drink of water. As soon as the water hit my lips: "mom!" I put her in her crib to watch the diorama: "mom!"

Larry wrote: "I was operating a freight train at about 2 am one winter..."


Huh? What? You are/were a train engineer? How did I miss this?

You hate it, Myles?

Larry wrote: "I was operating a freight train at about 2 am one winter when a very bright light (like the ones in Close Encounters) shone down on me from above. At first I thought it was a helicopter..."

Larry! This is pretty much my experience with a UFO, but instead of a freight train, I was a passenger in a convertible VW Beetle. Bright light, trees bent like it was windy BUT NO WIND and it just shone on us for a few minutes and then zipped off into the sky! The guy I was with and I used to talk about it all the time and then he went to OCS in Quantico and didn't remember it after he got back. Creepy.

Jonathan wrote: "Huh? What? You are/were a train engineer? How did I miss this?"

Cool, huh.

Kristina wrote: "Larry wrote: "I was operating a freight train at about 2 am one winter when a very bright light (like the ones in Close Encounters) shone down on me from above. At first I thought it was a helicop..."

Maybe it was like those UFOs in that cute christmas movie from 1989 or so.

Yes, I were, Jonathan.

Sally, I don't recall that one. Got a title?

Ken - don't think you can just say check to UFOs and then leave, I for one want details!

My husband did see a ghost when he was in his late 20s, it was a theatre workshop thingy in a huge old house on Long Island. He saw this old guy sitting on the porch and joined him, they chatted and sat in peaceable silence for an hour, and suddenly the man was gone. The next morning several others mentioned seeing this guy too. After that experience, Richard BELIEVED.

I swear I saw my cat a few days after she died.

The ghost was in its late 20s?

Larry wrote: "Sally, I don't recall that one. Got a title?"


What? Thread title or job title? How about network administrator?

No, silly Sally. The cute Christmas movie.

Larry wrote: "The ghost was in its late 20s?"

Eh. Forsoothe! You know what I mean!

Don't you?

Ha! But of course ....

Elf? That one is cute. A Christmas Story? Not cute, kind of ick.


The one my grandpa used to tell about his dad the train engineer? Loved that one. Know it?

You were the one who brought it up. I don't care one way or the other.

And no, I don't think I know it.

Oh it was called, avec asterisks:

*batteries not included*

Avec great sadness I don't remember that one.

Lori wrote: "Ken - don't think you can just say check to UFOs and then leave, I for one want details!

My husband did see a ghost when he was in his late 20s, it was a theatre workshop thingy in a huge old hous..."


Because I'm typing on an iPhone I'm sticking to shorter narratives. But my experience was similar to Richard's: a concrete observation with your own eyes, no matter how extraordinary makes an impression, and certainly mitigates one's skepticism.

In short, I and another person observed a somewhat commonly reported kind of object/craft as such reports go, but in rather close proximity. The closeness of it, the degree of detail in what I saw and the extraordinary scenario of movements is indisputable in my own mind. My friend and I were young, and realizing credibility is hard enough to come by as it is in the teen-age years never mentioned it to a soul.

Larry wrote: "Yes, I were, Jonathan."

Very cool, Larry.

I didn't think so at the time. Generally.

I guess the reality of the job is probably different, but when I was around 12 I thought it would be pretty excellent.

You get to stay in places like the Airway Motor Inn in Elizabeth.

Is that better or worse than sleeping in a boxcar?

Slightly better.

Larry wrote: "You get to stay in places like the Airway Motor Inn in Elizabeth."

God I would love to stay there. Do they have matchbooks? Old motels get me where it hurts.

Yup and yup. But does that really surprise anyone? (and no alcohol or drugs were taken prior to) :)

It seems to me some people are sensitive to those things and some are not. I have some friends who are very sensitive, and I know they are neither liars nor crazy, so I can't dismiss it. But I myself have never had any such experiences.

Larry wrote: "I was operating a freight train..."

That sounds like a cool job. We used to take coins and set them onto the rails to get flattened by the train.

So you're the one ....

Larry wrote: "So you're the one ...."

I was always worried the train would derail but they sort of made me do it!

Did you know (shifts into pedantic mode) that the area of contact (called the contact patch) between a railroad wheel and the rail is only about the size as a dime? A dime that hasn't been squished yet. A US dime.

Larry wrote: "Did you know (shifts into pedantic mode) that the area of contact (called the contact patch) between a railroad wheel and the rail is only about the size as a dime? A dime that hasn't been squishe..."

I didn't know that and it seems an awfully small area to me. So would putting coins on the rails to be squished be considered hazardous horseplay or does it have no effect on the train?

It's true. Typically about 100 mm2, or 1 cm x 1 cm.

And no affect.

Effect

Effect.

My daughter swears to have seen numerous ghosts, and that some een open the door for her at school. It is possible she is right, but I have my doubts.

Here is an article about the ghosts.

http://www.ghostsofamerica.com/5/Wisc...

I can't stand those affected pennies--such posers.

Absolutely. But the dimes are the worst. I think it's the Roosevelt in them.