Anyone here ever have any "paranormal" experiences?

[highplainsdem]

33. I'd much rather read about other people's experiences than post about my own.

Some people on this board have really interesting stories to tell, and I enjoy their sharing them.

The skeptics don't worry me because I wonder if they might be right. I know they're not, at least not in general, though they can always be right about some specific incidents.

What I don't like is any ridicule, by skeptics, of people who've had such experiences. Ridicule meant to silence them, to make them feel stupid.

You're thick-skinned about their comments. So am I. Others aren't, and it would be unfortunate if any of the people sharing their experiences here might later be afraid to bring them up in a more appropriate setting -- especially when dealing with someone who's recently lost a loved one -- for fear of being ridiculed again.

I've been a skeptic myself. I went from being raised Catholic in an extended family that included clergy to being agnostic/atheist for years.

But when you have experiences of your own that happen when you're wide awake, not under the influence of any substance that might cloud your thinking, you can either tell yourself you must be delusional, or accept that science still hasn't figured out everything about our universe (though the most arrogant scientists in every generation tend to think they have).

I've known a lot of people who've had similar experiences, though few of them will talk of them very openly.

There is a lot of info online about NDEs (near death experiences) and ADCs (after death communications, direct ones rather than via a medium). Info on deathbed visions. Research done at the University of Virginia on children's memories of past lives.

As I said, nurses often have interesting stories to tell. So do people working in hospice or grief support.

If the skeptics are truly open-minded, they'll ask people they know who are in those professions. And they'll listen to them. Though if those skeptics have made their skepticism clear in the past, with whomever they're questioning, the person being questioned might not waste time relating any stories to them.