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Predicting Illness In A Stranger?

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rickyk

Gone But Not Forgotten
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Sep 8, 2016
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Hello! I've been a long time reader of Fortean Times, stumbling upon it back in my Uni days and have been hooked ever since.

I've occasionally experienced strange phenomenon, and can be classed as a skeptic when it comes to supernatural explanation.

I've signed up to the site to relay an experience I had late last week, which I still pops back into my head.

I'm a commuter, and often get the same train each evening from East London to my home town in Essex. Getting the same train means I usually see the same group of commuters.

Thursday last week, I had managed to get out of work slightly early and catch the train before my usual. I got on the train, moved along the aisile to a free space to stand which happened to be opposite a young couple I normally see on my 'normal' train, and went back to looking at my smartphone.

The young couple were talking, not in any sort of distressed way or with bad language, just normal chatting. Something made me look up from my smartphone and I immediately looked at the young lady in the couple and as I did a very strong voice in my head instantly, with no hesitation at all, said 'She is going to be very ill'.

It was then I noticed a red splotch on her chest, but I also then noticed that her partner was bright red from sunbathing. Seeing this, I assumed the redness on the young lady was a result of being in the sun, so went back to my smartphone, thinking nothing of the voice in my head, dismissing it as something silly.

I eventually got a seat, again, staring at my smartphone, and we pulled into a station a few stops from where I, and the other couple would normally get off. I looked up to see the young couple getting off the train and walking along the platform, hand in hand.

It was that moment that the young lady collapsed. Not a slow, gradual collapse like a faint, but it was as if all the strings on a puppet had been cut. She went straight downwards, and it was like the light in her eyes went out for a moment. Luckily there were bystanders, and they put her in the recovery position; unfortunately as I was on the train, I don't know what the outcome was and I havent seen the couple since.

I relayed it to my partner when I got home, and it had a massive effect on me - I was shaking and felt weak. Even now, I feel a slight chill writing down the event.

My partner thinks it may be something to do with my health condition - I am a type 1 diabetic and I know the signs of things like Hypo and hyperglycaemia but I'm not so sure its related.

I keep thinking back to if there was anything I could have done, but what could I have done? If at the moment I had said to a couple that they young lady was going to be ill, I'd be thought of as a loon - especially if nothing did happen, but I keep feeling as though there was something I could or should have done.
 
Even if you had said so what could they hav done with the information? Nothing. So there's nothing to beat yourself up over.

3 hypotheses suggest themselves. 1) Some subsconscious part of your mind was able to pick up cues and clues from her appearance that your conscious mind would have no idea about and presented its conclusions to you. 2) a mind external to your own informed you of the coming event ...ie it was something "spiritual" in nature..though to what purpose? An awakening of mediumistic talents perhaps? 3) You precognized the coming event..that is you had an awareness of your own future experience of witnessing her collapse. This is something I report frequently in the form of dreams and daydreams so have no difficulty at all in accepting is a real thing..though its never manifested in a "voice" in my head making a prediction.

So I suppose the question to be asked is what exactly you mean by a voice in your head? Your own voice addressing yourself as a thought that suddenly occurred to you? Or do you mean an actual external seeming voice of someone else breaking into your thoughts? Did it have a "sound" or quality different from your normal internal monologue?
 
Another prosaic explanation that occurs to me, re-reading your account, is that you were engrossed in your phone when something made you look up at the couple who had been talking. So is it possible that she actually mentioned feeling ill while your conscious mind was otherwise distracted by your phone but her words entered your ears and were absorbed several seconds later by which time you had no recollection where you got the idea of associating the girl with being ill from? You look up, they're talking about somethng else, and you're thinking "why have I got the idea she's going to be ill? Where did that thought come from?"
 
The voice in my head was definitely mine, but the phrasing was unfamiliar and it had a forcefulness and an absolute certainty to it. "she is going to be very ill" was the phrase, when I very rarely think in such 'formal' phrasing. I like the idea about over hearing them chatting, but from what I can remember it was mostly chatting about other people they knew or plans for the weekend. I had no sense that the lady knew she was ill or was going to be unwell.
 
Maybe you could have asked 'Are you OK? You look a bit pale!' but as you say, you might have come across as weird rather than helpful.
Perhaps the young lady is also a diabetes sufferer and you did spot a hypo/hyper looming. Just dropping like a stone isn't common in diabetes though.

Had this myself, with no supernatural overtones.

Some years ago when buying fruit at the market I noticed that a man standing nearby was a friend of my brother's.

As I collected my goods he asked the seller for his apples or whatever and I heard his voice go hoarse, very briefly - just a fraction of a second, then it was normal again.

Having happened to have just read a book about lung cancer (to do with work) I recognised the hoarseness as a sign of a fast-growing type of tumour which attacks the vocal chords and intermittently paralyses them. A patient with this condition often ignores the hoarseness until it's too late, as it comes and goes and is painless.

I told myself Don't be daft! and went off home, and forgot about it until a few months later when my brother mentioned that his friend had been taken ill with lung cancer and died in short order.

Could I have helped him? Saved him, even? I dunno. Would he have listened to me if I'd told him he had lung cancer? Probably not.
 
The fact they were on an earlier train than usual may be relevent. Perhaps the girl felt ill at work, so they left early.

Just the break in routine might have suggested to you a problem of some sort.

Or maybe they hadn't been to work but were in London to see a specialist about some symptoms she was having. And perhaps the couple were discussing this, and you latched on to it subconsciously, as Gattino suggested.
 
I've gone up to people a few times and asked them if they are ok or you need to see a doctor.

I'd rather be told to f*ck off and mind my own business than not try and avert something. The last time was a guy on a train that had a hideous mole on the back of his neck - a very odd colour. I told him he needed to get that checked out.

He said thank you.
 
This seems a good enough thread title under which to insert an extraordinary anecdote on TV earlier this evening.

In a repeat of "The Are You Being Served Story" documentary about the famous sitcom, co-writer Jeremy Lloyd perfectly matter of factly reported an event at the end of a particular season which delayed its return.

To paraphrase what he said to camera:

"I went to David (Croft, the other writer) and told him, look, I'm been to see a psychic who is very good and he told me my partner is going to have a heart attack. As you're my (writing) partner it clearly refers to you, I want you to get a check up..

David was dismissive and said he was with BUPA and gets checked every 6 months and he's fine. But I said to him, look, I'm not going to start writing with you till you've been to check it out. So David reluctantly went the next day and it was while he lying on the doctor's table that he had the heart attack. It was being there that saved him. So he was laid up for several months."
 
Could the afflicted lady be having some sort of diabetic seizure? Diabetes causes the strong presence of ketones in the exhaled breath and sweat. Dogs can be trained to detect a sudden swelling of the concentration of this, to point this out in patients, to give "advance warning" of an episode of severe hypoglycaemic stress and other related sudden-onset difficulties.

Maybe you could smell it, subconsciously. Maybe you have a skill in this way - some people do - and you are just waiting to discover your gift.
 
severs1966 said:
Could the afflicted lady be having some sort of diabetic seizure? Diabetes causes the strong presence of ketones in the exhaled breath and sweat. Dogs can be trained to detect a sudden swelling of the concentration of this, to point this out in patients, to give "advance warning" of an episode of severe hypoglycaemic stress and other related sudden-onset difficulties.

Maybe you could smell it, subconsciously. Maybe you have a skill in this way - some people do - and you are just waiting to discover your gift.
Click to expand...
Yes, it is possible to smell ketosis.
 
A starvation diet can cause ketosis if you're not careful.
Not sure about Atkins diet.
 
Thank you for sharing, Richyk. I had the same thoughts as a lot of people on here that you picked up on stuff subconsciously, then your subconscious brought it to the attention of your conscious thinking. It's a known phenomena, Malcolm Gladwell wrote a fascinating book about it called "Blink". It's an amazing human ability. I'm not surprised you were shaken up because we're not used to our subconscious making itself known quite so forcefully.

And I wouldn't have said anything to the lady either, I mean, what would you have said? "A voice in my head just told me you are going to be very ill, thought you should know, have a nice day!" And the poor lady was going to collapse whether or not you said something.

Anyway, I'm sure we'd all be interested to read the other instances of strange phenomena you mentioned, when you've got time to write something else up.
 
Scribbles said:
And I wouldn't have said anything to the lady either, I mean, what would you have said? "A voice in my head just told me you are going to be very ill, thought you should know, have a nice day!"
Click to expand...


You're right. And this would have been enough to send her down even if all else had been well!
 
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