The Paranormal, Unusual Happenings?

[Alex .]

An interesting subject for me, and one that is often tied with aviation, and warfare in general, is anything paranormal or unusual happenings (Moments of sheer luck or chance)

I'm sure this'll be either be a success or a complete fail, but I'd be interested if any of you guys had any stories to share or know of any such happenings. Even if you don't believe they are an enjoyable read none the less!

The reason I post this is after a shift at work, we had a psychic evening (I work in a pub/restaurant, we get special events every now and then) and I spoke with a medium I'd never met or spoke to, who spoke of things very close to me. One being the recent death of a military man with a respiratory/chest problem...my uncle who was a RAF veteran passed away earlier this year from heart disease...The whole experience, while most likely rubbish and played on through my reactions has left me completely speechless! A very odd experience, but reassuring.

Aviation wise, I have RAF Cosford a short distance away, and an aircraft in the museum, a Lincoln RF398 is supposedly haunted by the ghost of a navigator. Funnily enough, my uncle above would have vouched for the stories having worked there for a good 30 years! Interesting video and their unique take on keeping at Cosford can be seen here...


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IBiBaPrD5U

Looking forward to any stories you guys may have, or not....


Alex

 

[Readie]

I'm not sure quite what to make of the psychic and paranormal Alex. It seems very real to those who have experianced it but, the nearist I have come to any experiance like that is premonitions. By, that I mean a sixth sense telling me that this is either going to end badly or that'll be the last time I see that person alive.

 

[stona]

I've had some photo-etch levers from my Tempest cockpit mysteriously de-materialise from my work bench.......does that count?
Steve

 

[Airframes]

I've had a few strange experiences in the past (and no, I don't mean with Hippocroccofrog's, before you say anything Jan!), but Evan (A4K) is the one to talk to.
Hopefully, he'll be back on the forum once he's settled after his move from Hungary to Ireland. (sent him an e-mail a day ago, but haven't heard back yet).

 

[Readie]

I find 'being in it together' a paranormal experience... others, like our esteemed leaders claim to 'be in it' but, in actual fact are not 'in it' at all.... funny that eh.

 

[meatloaf109]

O.K., I will answer the "spirit" of this thread.
Yes, I have had several experiences over the years. This is just one.
I lived in a house that was haunted by, what I assume to be, the former owner of the house. I occupied the basement room that was next to what was his workshop.
Every night at around 3:00am I would hear power tools, saws, and some banging, like someone hammering on a bit of woodworking mostly. Not loud, but enough that several "visitors" (female) heard them also. I am always curious, so I went into the space immediately, upon which, the sound quit. I have the confirmation of two of the "visitors" who know that there were no tools being used, nor were any tools present in the former shop. Only one of my "visitors" ever came back. She was a self-proclaimed "Witch" and she said she could help the spirit to move on.
She failed. The "ghost" continued to be a 3:00am worker every night. I was intrigued by the whole experience, and tried to figure out a rational explanation to the whole thing.
I tried several different situations where I waited for different time intervals before investigating. You know, just to see if it was a pump or something. Nope, every time the sound would stop just as I got to the door. Now, here's where it gets really creepy. I had a dining room set that I was not using, and my friend (who I was renting from), said that I could use the former workshop to store it. We stacked the set in the usual furniture movers way; table in the corner and chairs in a nesting form on top. The next day I found the table and chairs in the center of the room with the chairs balanced one on top of the other. Now, I know that not only could my friend could not do this himself, but the basic balancing was impossible. As soon as I touched them, they fell to the floor. I wish that I had taken a picture, but at the time I was just too freaked out.
There are those that will distain what I experienced, but to them, I say; wait until you experience something yourself! Then come talk to me!

 

[Airframes]

Well, this one is bang up to date, as it only happened a couple of weeks back.
I recently bought a refurbished, 'pre-owned' electric mobility scooter, one of those small, four-wheeled jobbies that fold up to go into a car boot, rather like an undernourished golf cart.
To comply with the law, and to prevent me going Rs over t*t on the uneven footpaths in my town, I fitted a couple of small cycle lamps, white to the front, red to the rear. They're the kind where the bracket is designed to go around the handle bars of a cycle, in this case 'Blunderbird One', my 'scooter', and tighten up with a nut and bolt. The lamps themselves can then be fitted or removed at will, employing a simple quick release clip.
Well, the lamps were fitted, and the 'ring' brackets were secure, and couldn't be removed unless a spanner (wrench) and screw driver were employed - they were tight.
The following morning, I came downstairs, and went into the kitchen, where the scooter is 'parked', out of the way, in line with the door to outside. There, lying on the floor, is the front lamp, still attached to it's bracket !
WTF, I thought!
On close inspection, the nut and bolt were nowhere to be seen - anywhere at all in the room!
B*ll*cks to this, thought I, and dug out a box containing various nuts, bolts and other bits, whereupon I selected a longer bolt of the correct gauge, and re-attached the bracket to the scooter, ensuring it was properly fastened, and could not fall off, or be removed, unless the correct tools were employed to do so.
That evening, I went out to the local 'late shop', about 500 yards from my house, when the light worked as intended, and the bracket stayed put, with no vibration or movement.
On my return, I checked that the bracket was still secure (it was) and, eventually, I went to bed.
Next morning, I again found the lamp, still attached to the bracket, lying on the floor, this time with the bolt, and nut, still attached !!
"**** this !", I thought, and once again re-attached the bracket, lamp, nut and bolt, and this time wrapped the whole lot with strong, black insulating the tape, the kind that sticks like s**t to a blanket, using enough to make an Egyptian embalmer proud.
Next morning, the lamp and bracket were still attached to the scooter, but the assembly had moved, as if someone, or something, had tried to wrench it off, without success.
Today, it's still attached, but every morning, it's moved!
Now, there might be, and probably is, a rational explanation to all this, and I hadn't even considered any other reasons. Until my mate Steve, who calls in every evening on his way home from work, asked me where I got the scooter.
I told him it was a pre-owned, re-furbished example, whereupon he commented that maybe the original owner had popped his/her cloggs, and was p*ssed off with me for sticking a lamp on what had been their property.
You never know ..............

 

[Capt. Vick]

Before my current job, I worked for a company that was run buy a Swiss family. So naturally they had a lot of stuff hanging around the office to remind them of the old country and one of these items was a Swiss Air calender that hung in the front office. Anyway, back in 1998 Swiss Air flight 111 (IIRC) went down in the North Atlantic off the coast of Nova Scotia with the loss of all souls. The calender picture for that month was Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia...where they were to shortly have all the memorial services. I have always wanted to get my hands on a copy of that calender. Weird.

 

[Alex .]

Glad to see some replies over here!

I'm not sure quite what to make of the psychic and paranormal Alex. It seems very real to those who have experianced it but, the nearist I have come to any experiance like that is premonitions. By, that I mean a sixth sense telling me that this is either going to end badly or that'll be the last time I see that person alive.

I'm still skeptical of it, the medium could have based everything he did through my body language/reactions, but how he described my uncle was really odd, and had me a little baffled. Considering I was saying it was a load of rubbish beforehand, it's made me think again. Unfortunately I can't claim to have seen or heard anything paranormal, but have always had a fascination with the sightings and the story behind them.

A road close to me is where one of Guy Fawkes' fellows fled from the army, they had their 'last stand' at Holbeache House, Wall Heath (Complete with musket hole in the doorway) The whole area is supposedly haunted by the group, and the sound of galloping hooves is supposed to be heard late at night along the disused railway tracks. It has one of those very unsettling feelings of being watched walking along late at night...

 

[daveT]

Aviation and Ghost related, Here you go...But be fore warned, this is a true scary story!

P-2V Neptune Crash site photo 1954

The Passing

by Dave Trojan
When an inquiring researcher went in search of an old aircraft crash
site he uncovered something unexpected and very unusual. This story cannot
be fully explained and it contains too many things that coincide with the
known facts to just be dismissed. This is a story where fiction meets fact.
If you're a hardened skeptic, bear with me. No ghost is going to show itself
to someone with a closed mind.
According to common definitions, a ghost is the spirit of a dead
person. A spirit can manifest itself in various ways and in numerous places.
Certain people or situations bring out a need for an apparition to appear.
The International Ghost Hunting Society says, "Ghosts are not fragmented
souls cursed to roam the land. They're here by choice. Ghosts don't wear
sheets, and only rarely do they look like see-through people." According to
the ghost hunters, they usually look like strands of vapor called ectoplasm
when they're in motion. When they're not moving, they resemble balls of
light. A ghost is applied to an apparition, usually of a dead person, that
varies in apparent solidity from a mere fog like mass to a perfect replica of
the person. Ghosts tend to haunt their favorite places where they feel most
comfortable.
You do not need to go as far as a cemetery to see a ghost. All one has
to do is keep an open mind and visit likely haunted places. One such place
exists nearby at the now closed Barbers Point Naval Air Station.
This ghost story begins during the Korean War and still continues
today. Patrol Squadron (VP) Seven was the only Atlantic Fleet patrol
squadron to deploy to the Korean War zone arriving less than one month
before the armistice on 27 July 1953 from Naval Air Station (NAS)
Quonset Point, R.I. VP-7 was equipped with P2V-5 Neptune patrol aircraft
and was based at NAS Iwakuni, Japan, from which the squadron patrolled
the Sea of Japan and the Yellow Sea. Navy patrol aircraft flew throughout
the Korean area of operations, and participated in mine-laying, weather
reconnaissance and search and rescue operations keeping merchant shipping
and fishing fleets under surveillance and deterring hostile submarine
activity.
While passing through on its way home after the Korean War, the
eight-man crew of a P2V-5 Neptune Patrol aircraft belonging to Patrol
Squadron Seven (VP-7) made a missed approach trying to land at NAS
Barbers Point Hawaii on Jan. 21, 1954. A missed approach is when an aircraft
is caused to abort a landing after it has already started its landing approach,
the aircraft is then suppose to follow a set path to leave the airspace
surrounding the airfield. Unfortunately, the VP-7 crew was unfamiliar with
the area and turned left towards the mountains.
The aircraft crashed into the Waianae Mountain range at
approximately 9:30 p.m. on a cool and cloudy January night. All aboard the
aircraft were killed. These men could be considered some of the last
casualties of the Korean War because they never made it home after the
war had ended. The eight crewmen aboard were: Lt. J.G. Walter J. Hanzo
Jr., pilot; Ens. Gerald Martin Hazlett, Ens. Wilbur D. Cooper, ADC John
Robert Staples, AD2 Joseph Daniel Beczek, AM2 Paul Martin Kohler, AT2
Joseph Michael Maksymon and AT3 Richard Knuton Brown.
The remains of the aircraft still rest in the Waianae Mountains.
Evidence of the traumatic crash and fire can still be seen today on the
fuselage and various parts that were left behind at the crash site. The
proper authorities removed the remains of the crew at the crash site, but
one soul may never have rested. The crash site was consecrated with the
blood of the dead crewmembers making it a sacred site. The original crash
site was located and investigated by amateur archeologists in August 2003.
The site was photographed and the findings were reported in a local
newspaper Hawaii Navy News. The wreck may be just a mere curiosity to
some, but for others, they find themselves in the presence of history,
transfixed wondering what happened and why. At the same time the
investigation was going on at the site, strange things started happening at
Barbers Point, and were brought to the attention of the researchers.
The ghost of one of the crewmembers may be still standing watch on
the base waiting for his aircraft and fellow crewmembers to arrive. If the
aircraft had successfully landed at NAS Barbers Point it would have taxied
and parked in an area of the flight line that is now occupied by the Hawaii
Air Museum. The ghost is believed to be of AD2 Joseph Daniel Beczek. Is
it possible that he is waiting to repair his aircraft so that he can go home?
Several witnesses have seen a ghostly figure of a man in old style dungarees
standing in and around the Hawaii Air Museum area. The figure has been
seen walking, standing and roaming around on the flight line near the
museums parked aircraft waiting anxiously for something. Passerby's have
questioned why there is still a Sailor standing watch on the now closed base.
Strange lights have also been seen in the same area. A Security Officer has
reported that after turning off a radio at the museum, upon returning later,
the radio was on again, tuned to the local oldies radio station. No one had
been in the area.
The Museum occasionally has school children tour the aircraft in their
collection for educational purposes. During some of these tours strange
things have happened. School children on the field trips to the museum have
reported "someone" in the restroom, but upon investigation no one was there.
The kids could not explain what, only that they felt someone was in there.
The restroom is located right next door to the museum's machine shop
where most of the sightings have occurred.
Most occurrences have been reported by volunteer mechanics that
work at the museum in the evenings. They have reported feelings of being
watched and other strange occurrences, which usually transpire during cool
quiet nights after 9:00pm, the same time as the accident. Strands of
moving vapor and moving shadows have been reported. When one of the
volunteers started working at the museum a couple of years ago he first
thought that it was nothing. However, the feelings grew and until he
realized something was going on. The feelings are hard to explain. Some
sense of fear or anxiety is always present when the ghost is about to
manifest itself. On occasion, the volunteers felt like they were not welcome
and should not stay and work that evening. That was all the encouragement
they needed, they departed immediately. Some encounters are more
frightening than others, but the volunteer mechanics always go back to the
workshop.
The ghost may be attracted to the energy in the machine shop. The
machine shop is built upon the site of the area where they parked transit
aircraft that were passing through. One recently reported several
"encounters" with the ghost. A machinist who volunteers there has reported
that he saw a perfect replica of a person that he believes to be a ghost.
The ghost walked right into the machine shop and over to a metal lathe and
stood there. The ghost looked upon the metal lathe like he knew how to use
it. The volunteer confronted the manifestation and asked, "Who are you!"
The ghost replied that he was Joseph Beczek. Then he asked, "Why are you
here and what do you want?" The ghost replied, "You already know why I'm
here and what I want." When asked later what he thought the ghost meant
by this answer the volunteer said that he believes that the ghost does not
want to be forgotten. When questioned why the ghost has shown himself, he
believes that the ghost became familiar and comfortable with the mechanic
who was just like himself, an aircraft machinist.
Upon investigation of this story some very interesting and shocking fact emerged...

END OF PART 1

Haunted hanger at NAS Barbers Pt
Picture of the latte in the machine shop
Picture of the man believed to be the ghost

 

[daveT]

Part 2, The story continues...

Upon investigation of this story some very interesting and shocking
facts emerged. AD2 Joseph Beczek was in fact the engine mechanic aboard
the ill-fated aircraft. He would have been trained on and would have known
how to use the old metal lathe that is located at the museum. In fact, the
metal lathe at the museum is very old and dates to the late forties and early
fifties, the same time period as the accident and is used for metal working
aircraft parts. Ghosts usually haunt places not where they died, but where
they felt comfortable when they were living. The machine shop at the
Hawaii Air Museum is a perfect place for the ghost of a machinist to hang
around. The ghost chose the Hawaii Air Museum by choice because that is
where he feels most comfortable. The ghost must be reluctant to leave this
earthly paradise or he may not know that he has passed.
Upon review of the original accident report other facts correspond to
the stories told by witnesses of the ghost. The aircraft departed late from
Japan on its long journey home due to an engine change. AD2 Joseph Beczek
would have been the main person doing the work and ensuring all was correct.
The ghost may feel some responsibility for the delay and subsequent crash.
The guilt may have prevented the soul of the ghost from resting in peace.
Disturbing the crash site during the archeological investigation may have
awakened the ghost and made him more full of life in his haunts.
The machinist who works at the museum did not know the whole story
of the aircraft crash and who Joseph Beczek was. Only after he related his
encounter with the ghost to the researcher did he learn the whole story of
the crash. How could he have known so many facts that matched the original
accident report, which only recently came to light? Overall, the volunteers
that work at the museum have learned to live with the ghost. They believe
that the ghost means them no harm and just wants to be remembered and
not pass into history. The legacy of the men and some of their aircraft live
on at the Hawaii Air Museum at Barbers Point. Illuminating the stories of
the brave men and their flying experiences is to honor them. They continue
to live through their stories. Ghosts like their stories to be told because it
means they are not forgotten. If you visit the museum on a cool quiet night
you may find yourself in the presence of the supernatural. A plaque
dedicated to the lost crew is located behind the base chapel next to a tree
planted in their memory.
Recent Pictures from the crash site
Picture of the memorial

 

[Readie]

'It has one of those very unsettling feelings of being watched...'

Alex, I understand that. There is a disused branch railway line that ran from PLymouth to Yealmpton. The spooky bit is between Puslinch Bridge and Warren Point. To say its unsettling is an understatement....
I lived in Yealmpton and used to walk the dogs around that area and others felt the same as me... cannot quite put my finger on 'why', and I cannot find any stories that would make this stretch of track 'haunted'.
Very odd.
I haven't been back there for 20 plus years and one day I took my lad and our two Labradors there. The dogs were nervous and my lad didn't like it... so, its not just me.

Plymouth to Yealmpton Branch - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Ramblers : Local Groups

 

[GrauGeist]

Two experiences come to mind for me here, one is my car (no, not my Scion, though I was almost a ghost in that one) which is a 1962 Chevy Nova400.
Back in 1986, a friend was taking it to the salvage yard because he was giving up on it. Never could get it to work properly and neither could the several owners before him, it being passed from one to another since it's tragic wreck in the 1970's that cost it's owner's life. After I got it, I started the process of getting it back on the road and it ran well for me. It still bore testimony to the terrible accident in areas concealed by fenders and such, but little by little, repaires were being made.
Several years after getting it, I was driving it on my way to work one morning and had come to an intersection. When the light turned green, I stepped on the gas to go and the Nova started to accelerate but before clearing the crosswalk, it suddenly stalled. And by stalling, I mean completely dead as if the ignition were cut off and it just stopped stock-still. Just as that happened, a cement mixer thundered through the intersection against the red, right where I would have been had the car not stopped.
As soon as the mixer was clear, the car lurched forward, engine on again as if nothing had happened.

The other experience was at the ancient Roman city of Herculaneum, in Italy. Unlike Pompeii, Herculaneum lost quite a few of it's citizens during Vesuvius' eruption, dying in a horrible way. During my visit there, I experiences different sensations ranging from a feeling of being watched, to the sensation of something or someone close by. In several cases, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye when photographing in in the homes and shops. When I'd turn to look, nobody was there and the majority of those instances of seeing movement or a fleeting glimpse of someone/something were in areas that were off limits to visitors (barred or roped off). In a few places, there was even a sense of dread or sorrow. Hard to describe, really.

I know some ghost stories are BS or sensationalism, but there are some very real things going on out there that simply cannot be explained. I've had people tell me there's no proof that they exist and I'll tell them that no has proved that they don't

 

[mikewint]

I guess once again I be the wet blanket in the group. Spent years in places where hundreds of men died or had died horribly. Never once had any reason to think/feel/believe "spirits" were present. Never saw/heard/felt/smelled/tasted anything even vaguely "para"normal. As to "proving" the none existance of ghost/spirits well you can prove an elephant isn't in your closet, but that's because it's that particular place. Can you PROVE that striped elephants don't exist? In order to do so you'd have to be able to check every place in the world, and every possible elephant. Even then, it wouldn't be proof, because you may have missed it.
Proving that elephants DO exist simply requires finding ONE so one CAN prove that things exist; but you can't PROVE that they don't.
Now a reasonably educated person certainly has reasons to doubt the existance of a purple elephant -- since that's just not a color critters like that come in; but it's not proof.
Proving existance is possible so you can prove you have a pen, but can you prove the pen doesn't think or feel? But then there's no reason to think it does, and much reason to think it doesn't; thus, the reasonable person would reject the belief even without evidence.
Any study of the human brain and its workings reveals our tenous grasp of ALL of the things going on around us and how narrowly we focus. And when full sensory data is lack the brain fill in the missing data without a bit of hesitation

 

[Alex .]

'It has one of those very unsettling feelings of being watched...'

Alex, I understand that. There is a disused branch railway line that ran from PLymouth to Yealmpton. The spooky bit is between Puslinch Bridge and Warren Point. To say its unsettling is an understatement....
I lived in Yealmpton and used to walk the dogs around that area and others felt the same as me... cannot quite put my finger on 'why', and I cannot find any stories that would make this stretch of track 'haunted'.
Very odd.
I haven't been back there for 20 plus years and one day I took my lad and our two Labradors there. The dogs were nervous and my lad didn't like it... so, its not just me.

Plymouth to Yealmpton Branch - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Ramblers : Local Groups

The other experience was at the ancient Roman city of Herculaneum, in Italy. Unlike Pompeii, Herculaneum lost quite a few of it's citizens during Vesuvius' eruption, dying in a horrible way. During my visit there, I experiences different sensations ranging from a feeling of being watched, to the sensation of something or someone close by. In several cases, I caught movement out of the corner of my eye when photographing in in the homes and shops. When I'd turn to look, nobody was there and the majority of those instances of seeing movement or a fleeting glimpse of someone/something were in areas that were off limits to visitors (barred or roped off). In a few places, there was even a sense of dread or sorrow. Hard to describe, really.

That feeling of being watched - I work in a restaurant, so after closing time we go around and get everything set up for the next day, and often get the feeling that there's someone there/watching me. I guess it's because we associate places like that like; restaurants, pubs, schools and towns as being areas of activity and when it's abandoned you almost expect for someone to be around...

Interesting stories guys, another one aviation similar to yours Grau, Flight 401

Perhaps the most extraordinary and credible research into the ghost phenomenon ever documented is the so-called "Ghosts of Flight 401." On December of 1972, an Eastern Airlines Tri-Star jetliner, Flight 401, crashed into a Florida swamp. The pilot, Bob Loft (on the left), and flight engineer Don Repo (on the right), were two of the 101 people who perished in the air crash. Not long after the crash, the ghosts of Loft and Repo were seen on more than twenty occasions by crew members on other Eastern Tri-Stars, especially those planes which had been fitted with parts salvaged from the Flight 401 wreckage. The apparitions of Loft and Repo were invariably described as being extremely lifelike. They were not only reported by people who had known Loft and Repo, but their ghosts were also subsequently identified from photographs by people who had not known Loft and Repo.

The strange tales of the ghostly airmen of Flight of 401 circulated in the airline community. An account of the paranormal happenings even appeared in a 1974 US Flight Safety Foundation's newsletter. John G. Fuller, the best-selling author of The Ghost of Flight 401, carried out an exhaustive investigation into the hauntings with the aid of several cautious airline personnel. A mass of compelling testimony was produced as a result. The website Flight 401 – The Black Box Story provides an account of the crash as told using material from the Black Box. It highlights how poor cockpit resource management caused a tiny light bulb to distract the pilots and bring down a Tristar jetliner.

The cause of the crash was found to be a couple of minor design faults in the controls, and Lockheed rapidly corrected them. However, it was after some of the undamaged parts of the aircraft were subsequently recycled onto other planes that the mysterious incidents began to be reported.

Although Eastern Airlines refuses to discuss the matter, researchers have interviewed numerous individuals claiming to have encountered the ill-fated pair on L-1011s. As the reports would have it, Loft and Repo have devoted their after-lives to watching over the passengers and crew of these Lockheed passenger planes.

Many of the testimonies are extremely persuasive. Many come from people in highly responsible positions: pilots, flight officers, even a vice president of Eastern Airlines, who allegedly spoke with a captain he assumed was in charge of the flight, before recognizing him as the late Loft.

Other sightings are convincing because they have multiple witnesses. A flight's captain and two flight attendants claim to have seen and spoken to Loft before take-off and watched him vanish - an experience that left them so shaken they cancelled the flight.

One female passenger made a concerned enquiry to a flight attendant regarding the quiet, unresponsive man in Eastern Airlines uniform sitting in the seat next to her, who subsequently disappeared in full view of both of them and several other passengers, leaving the woman hysterical. When later shown a sheet of photos depicting Eastern flight engineers, she identified Repo as the officer she had seen.

Another incident occurred when one of the L-1011 passenger planes that had been fitted with salvaged parts was due for take-off. The flight engineer was mid-way through carrying out the routine pre-flight inspection when Repo appeared to him and said, "You don't need to worry about the pre-flight, I've already done it."

Repo and Loft are apparently not content merely to be present on these airplanes. Often their style is far more hands on, particularly in Repo's case. Aside from his appearance to a pre-flight engineer who he appeared to have been assisting, there is testimony from a flight attendant who observed a man in a flight engineer's uniform, whom she later recognized as Repo, fixing a galley oven. The insistence of the plane's own flight engineer that he had not fixed the oven, and that there had not been another engineer on board, would seem to lend weight to her claim. Repo was also seen in the compartment below the cockpit by a flight engineer who had accessed it in order to investigate a knocking he heard coming from there.

On another occasion, Faye Merryweather, a flight attendant, saw Repo's face looking out at her from an oven in the galley of Tri-Star 318. Understandably alarmed, she fetched two colleagues, one of whom was the flight engineer who had been a friend of Repo's and recognized him instantly. All three heard Repo warn them to, "Watch out for fire on this airplane." The plane later encountered serious engine trouble and the last leg of its flight was cancelled. It is interesting to note that the galley of Tri-Star 328 had been salvaged from the wreckage of flight 401.

The sightings were all reported to the Flight Safety Foundation (an independent authority) which commented: "The reports were given by experienced and trustworthy pilots and crew. We consider them significant. The appearance of the dead flight engineer (Repo) ... was confirmed by the flight engineer." Later, records of the Federal Aviation Agency recorded the fire which broke out on that same aircraft.

One of the vice-presidents of Eastern Airlines boarded a Miami-bound TriStar at JFK airport and spoke to a uniformed captain sitting in First Class. Suddenly, he recognized the captain was Loft, at which point the apparition vanished.

Another incident occurred when Repo appeared to a captain and told him, "There will never be another crash. We will not let it happen."

A female passenger found herself sitting next to an Eastern Airlines flight officer who looked pale and ill, but would not speak; she called a stewardess but before the eyes of several people, the man disappeared. The woman was later shown photographs of Eastern Airlines engineers and she identified the man as Repo.

Unfortunately, further research into the well-witnessed paranormal incidents was severely hampered by the airline company which steadfastly refused to co-operate with the ghost investigators.

It should be noted that ghost sightings have been reported many times throughout recorded history. During the 1990's, research into "after-death communications" (ADCs) by near-death researchers, Bill and Judy Guggenheim, helped to make the phenomenon of ghost sightings more mainstream.
"The boundaries between life and death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where one ends and where the other begins?" - Edgar Allen Poe

From Ghosts of Flight 401 | Apparitions | Afterlife | After-Death Communications | John G. Fuller

 

[mikewint]

In 1922, Scientific American offered two US $2,500 offers: (1) for the first authentic spirit photograph made under test conditions and (2) for the first psychic to produce a "visible psychic manifestation." Harry Houdini was a member of the investigating committee. For several year many very well known Mediums were tested but none produced verifiable phenomena.
Before Houdini died, he and his wife agreed that if Houdini found it possible to communicate after death, he would communicate the message "Rosabelle believe". Bess held yearly séances on Halloween for ten years after Houdini's death. In 1936, after a last unsuccessful séance on the roof of the Knickerbocker Hotel, she put out the candle that she had kept burning beside a photograph of Houdini since his death. In 1943, Bess said that "ten years is long enough to wait for any man."
Richard Wiseman, of The Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, draws attention to possible alternative explanations for perceived paranormal activity in his article, The Haunted Brain. While he recognizes that approximately 15% of people believe they have experienced an encounter with a ghost, he reports that only 1% report seeing a full-fledged ghost while the rest report strange sensory stimuli, such as seeing fleeting shadows or wisps of smoke, or the sensation of hearing footsteps or feeling a presence. Wiseman makes the claim that, rather than experiencing paranormal activity, it is activity within our own brains that creates these strange sensations.
A psychological study involving 174 members of the Society for Psychical Research completed a delusional ideation questionnaire and a deductive reasoning task. As predicted, the study showed that "individuals who reported a strong belief in the paranormal made more errors and displayed more delusional ideation than skeptical individuals". There was also a reasoning bias which was limited to people who reported a belief in, rather than experience of, paranormal phenomena. The results suggested that reasoning abnormalities may have a causal role in the formation of paranormal belief.
Former stage magician James Randi is a well-known investigator of paranormal claims. As an investigator with a background in illusion, Randi feels that the simplest explanation for those claiming paranormal abilities is often trickery. The James Randi Educational Foundation offers a prize of a million dollars to a person who can prove that they have supernatural or paranormal abilities under appropriate test conditions agreed to by both parties. Despite many declarations of supernatural ability, this prize remains unclaimed. Several other skeptic groups also offer cash prizes for proof of the paranormal, including the largest group of paranormal investigators, the Independent Investigations Group, which has chapters in Hollywood, Atlanta, Denver, Washington D.C., Alberta, B.C. and San Francisco. The IIG offers a $50,000 prize and a $5,000 finders fee if a claimant can prove a paranormal claim under 2 scientifically controlled tests. Founded in 2000 no claimant has passed the first (and lower odds) of the test.

 

[GrauGeist]

People once believed that the world was flat, too...

In otherwords, there's things out there in the world that we don't understand and as such, tend to disregard as "impossible" or "no such thing".

While there is a huge percentage of occurances are easily explained or even downright BS, there is that small percentage that goes beyond our ability to comprehend...

 

[gumbyk]

People once believed that the world was flat, too...

In otherwords, there's things out there in the world that we don't understand and as such, tend to disregard as "impossible" or "no such thing".

While there is a huge percentage of occurances are easily explained or even downright BS, there is that small percentage that goes beyond our ability to comprehend...

Like?

 

[meatloaf109]

I guess once again I be the wet blanket in the group. Spent years in places where hundreds of men died or had died horribly. Never once had any reason to think/feel/believe "spirits" were present. Never saw/heard/felt/smelled/tasted anything even vaguely "para"normal. As to "proving" the none existance of ghost/spirits well you can prove an elephant isn't in your closet, but that's because it's that particular place. Can you PROVE that striped elephants don't exist? In order to do so you'd have to be able to check every place in the world, and every possible elephant. Even then, it wouldn't be proof, because you may have missed it.
Proving that elephants DO exist simply requires finding ONE so one CAN prove that things exist; but you can't PROVE that they don't.
Now a reasonably educated person certainly has reasons to doubt the existance of a purple elephant -- since that's just not a color critters like that come in; but it's not proof.
Proving existance is possible so you can prove you have a pen, but can you prove the pen doesn't think or feel? But then there's no reason to think it does, and much reason to think it doesn't; thus, the reasonable person would reject the belief even without evidence.
Any study of the human brain and its workings reveals our tenous grasp of ALL of the things going on around us and how narrowly we focus. And when full sensory data is lack the brain fill in the missing data without a bit of hesitation

As an atheist, I can dig the "Your personal experience/ feelings" as not reasonable proof. Absolutely. That is why I had several other people experience the phenomenon.
I remain a disbeliever in most things, and I am a firm Nonbeliever in any religion,...But the fact remains that some one, or something, works in that shop every night.
If you would like to come to North Carolina, and we could possibly convince the current occupants of this house to let us spent the night, well, you would become, maybe not a believer, but you may have another thought.
I have watched the "For Rent" listings here locally, and this place has been up every couple of months.

 

[FLYBOYJ]

http://www.ww2aircraft.net/forum/ww2-general/ghost-polaris-academy-6840.html#post221295