Premonitions

[Stingray]

Hi,
I'm a first time poster on here and wanted to share something I experienced.

About 10 years ago I was driving on Queens Drive in Liverpool, which is a dual carriageway. I was stopped at a pelican crossing in the nearside lane, with only a van between me and the crossing (it blocked most of my view of the road ahead). It was mid-morning and there was no traffic waiting in the other lane. Standing at the crossing to my left was a middle-aged woman and as I looked at her, I had the oddest feeling; it was almost as if someone had just said to me that she was about to come to harm, or worse. There was an impression of something above her head, I couldn't say what. As she stepped out, she was hidden from my view and then I suddenly saw an articulated lorry approaching in my wing mirror - this guy was going so fast there was no way he would see the pedestrian. There was no way I could get out safety to warn her so I sounded the horn. She stopped and the truck flew across the crossing, braking. He came to a stop about 20 years further on and checked the woman was OK. I was a bit shaken and I think gave him a few choice comments about his driving as I pulled away.

Whether my sounding the horn stopped her going further, I don't know. But it was that feeling I had when I looked at her about to cross which I haven't forgotten. I was convinced she was about to come to harm, no idea where that feeling came from.

The other incident is not dissimilar. In 1998 we were staying in Oxford for a few days and when I woke up on the last day, I opened my eyes and stared at the ceiling - the first thought in my head was about my grandmother, with whom I was very close and who was then 90, and again it was if I'd just been told she wouldn't be around any longer. A little unnerving to start the day with that thought in my head. I tried to dismiss it as the tail end of a bad dream, however when I got home I found out she'd had a stroke at around the time I woke and she died later that day.

I don't know whether these would be classed as premonitions, would be interested to hear others' thoughts and experiences. What I do know is that in my job I've visited thousands of houses over the years (both occupied and empty) and never experienced anything remotely ghost-like - which is a relief in a way as there have been quite a few spooky cellars!

 

[Ermintruder]

There was an impression of something above her head, I couldn't say wha

In what way? A shadow? Please think further about this, and see what might be lurking in your memories. Very interesting experiences....well-done on having saved the woman. And sympathies on the loss of your grandmother. I completely accept that somehow, across the distance and any without direct contact, she said goodbye to you. I've no explanation, and perhaps one never will be found- but that doesn't take anything away from the reality of your experience.

 

[Stingray]

Yes, I cam to the same conclusion about my grandmother saying goodbye, I'm not aware of anyone else in the family having had that feeling at the time. She had had numerous 'fortean' (or ghostly) experiences throughout her life which she'd relate to us often.

It's very different to describe what I saw above the head of the woman at the crossing - it was fleeting impression of a shadow or a black bird. Something like that. Just felt like a bad omen.

 

[bloop]

Hi there, newbie here too Stingray, I have experienced very similar things with both my maternal grandparents as you did with your grandmother. Both times I have been aware of their deaths prior to being told and on both occasions, their deaths coincided with the moment I became aware of something happening. I have also been aware of a friends son falling and banging his head causing a nasty bump and bruise ( not a particularly clumsy child) again prior to being told by his mother, of my mother in laws death 10 months prior to her dying ( she wasn't unwell or diagnosed with anything and had just spent a fortnight sunning herself in spain at this point) , the room she died in, the month she died and a 10 day period (wild card that one really) within that month that I knew she would be with us until and then not with us after if you get my drift.

 

[gattino]

The problem with these "at the time they died/just before they died" stories is that its not necessarily as clear what is going as it seems to the person who experienced it. What I mean is it COULD be that some spiritual aspect of the dead relative "said goodbye"...but it could equally be that you picked up the information "telepathically" in a non deliberate way from the dying or from someone else who knew just before you...OR it could be that you were experiencing a form of precogniton, and not necessarily of their death but of your own experience of hearing about their death.

 

[Gizmos Mama]

Hi Folks,

I'm also fairly new to this forum, but welcome ! I've had a somewhat similar experience, but not quite sure if it fits the definition of premonition. I hope you don't mind if I post it here?

I was around 17 at the time, (1992) and living with a roommate in an older house converted to four apartments. (very weird vibe in one specific part of that place, but that is another story! ) My roommate had invited me out with a bunch of our friends, but for some reason I didn't go with them. Stayed in, sat around, and stayed up really late, watching crap TV.

Around 3:30 am, I decided to go outside for a smoke, which was weird in itself, as I smoked in the house. It was late November, raining hard, pretty windy and cold out. As I was standing on the front porch, looking down the street, I noticed that it looked like a really strong wind was blowing down a side street and blocking my view of the other half of the block with blowing rain and mist. It seemed sort of weird, but I had convinced myself that it was just the wind being funneled down the side street, really lashing the rain.

I was cold, done my smoke and about to go inside, when all of a sudden, I just felt I HAD to walk over there and see what was causing this mist to blow in such a confined area, and so thick. The feeling was so compelling, in fact, that I started walking down the street, in my bare feet, no jacket, in the freezing cold rain. At 3:30 in the morning.

As I approached the open area around a large townhouse, which was where the wind was cutting across the street, I realized with shock that the mist was actually thick smoke absolutely BILLOWING out this townhouse, which was on fire!!!

I raced up the front steps, and pounded on the door, yelling for anyone inside, but even outside, the smoke was too thick, as the front door was on the downwind side of the house! I sprinted back the half block in my bare feet, slammed into my house and dialed 911 and reported the fire. I ran back to try to see if anyone was inside, but got back as the ambulance and fire dept. arrived. Didn't really hang around, as I didn't need to get in the way, and was freezing!

It turned out that there were two people that were rescued from that house, unconscious due to the smoke, and the place was literally on the point of flashover when the FD got there! 3 more minutes, and they and the house would have burned.

Strange how so many little things I chose to do that night put me in the position to be outside on the porch at that time of night. Which, of course, could all be coincidence, after all. But I still can't explain that when I had decided that there was nothing weird going on, and was about to go back inside, that I was suddenly compelled to go over there, NOW!! Not a voice, not a warning, not even a thought that it might be something bad, just a need to take action, to go over there and see!

I am very glad I did!!

Cheers!

 

[Mythopoeika]

Well done!

 

[plastic wiganer]

not a nice subject to this one im afraid but i thought id retell it out of relevance,
a good friend of mine, someone i worked with for many years, told me he was fast asleep on the back seat of his mates car travelling back from somewhere or other, when all of a sudden he woke with a start, with a feeling that "something wasn't right" looking at his watch, mentally noting the time.
upon reaching home he was alarmed to find the police waiting for him to come home, then telling him that his dad had committed suicide (jumped in front of a train) at the exact time he had woken up in the car.

 

[Ghost In The Machine]

I've posted these 'premonitions' before at length so will just repeat briefly. Years ago I woke my husband up trying to switch on the bedroom light, and burbling on about a dream I'd had. I dreamt I was in the sea, watching a load of people drowning - panic, etc. Although it was almost a lucid dream in that I also knew, somehow myself and one other person in the water - weren't really 'there'. There were little details I saw, like xmas lights along the shore. I told my husband the whole thing including the fine details.

Woke up, went to uni, thought no more about it as my grandad had had a boat and I spent a lot of my childhood on it. Thought it was my subconscious. Evening news - the Penlee lifeboat disaster. Lights along the shore were shown on the news. I think I was woken up by my own screaming, around 2 AM ish.

I had another maritime one - this time I was beig held hostage below decks on a cruise liner. Watched the news next day - phew - nothing related. A week later - it happened. Turned out one of the hostages was a girl I'd been at school with, too (I recognised her brother being filmed on the news meeting her when she returned home safe and sound).

Never had another of those dreams. Mainly because I decided I wasn't going to!

Another one, and I was posting about this when it happened but not this specific event, I don't think. Last summer, one of my best friends died. It wasn't sudden or unexpected. She'd had a terminal prognosis since I first knew her. I fact she'd outlived that initial prognosis by several years, too. But she was clearly at the end of life, and in a hospice. I had visited her a couple of times just before, so knew how ill she was. On the Saturday she sent me a text asking me to get there and see her again. Although by this point, friends had been banned from visiting, it was family only. She died in the night on the Monday and I heard she died Tuesday morning.

So not a premonition as such - I knew she was going as someone else had texted me back using her phone to say she was now in a coma.

That morning, just before I heard she had died, I did what I did every morning in the summer and went out first thing to hang out my washing in the sunshine. As I walked down the garden I had this feeling of - almost joy - just like she was 'flying' overhead and happy and free. I knew she was dead. To clarify - I didn't 'see' anything or hear owt - just this feeling I had. That she was finally out in the sunshine again. In fact, I remember thinking it was just my wishful thinking that she was whooshing overhead! I went indoors soon after and heard that she'd died. I think it was more myself letting go, emotionally.

 

[Mungoman]

I don't know if it is 'just us' GITM, after my Dad died, I would feel his presence sometimes around me - his hand often on my shoulder, similar to how we used to walk together - othertimes I would think of him for no reason, and be aware of a knowledge that wor Da was off on the otherside of the Universe getting answers to questions that had always puzzled him. It wasn't an answer that had been formulated in my brain, it was more like information that the Universe was supplying to me.

I would like to think that your friend did whoosh overhead on that morning, just to let you know that it had all turned out for the better - my explanation does seem possibly juvenile, but my philosophy does allow me to think that this life on this planet is but a preparation for what's next - whatever that is.

 

[Ghost In The Machine]

Cheers, Mungo. I think it was more in my head than in reality, but I did have this brief, intense feeling. We had had weeks of knowing it was the end game, and so hardly a 'premonition' but on one level, I knew she had finally gone before I went back in the house. (And in fact she'd died in the night, and was already gone).

 

[Iris]

Ghost in the Machine" As I walked down the garden I had this feeling of - almost joy - just like she was 'flying' overhead and happy and free. I knew she was dead." This is just like when my husband's neice died.
I was standing on the edge of a cliff and felt swept up and heard her voice say " This is what it feels to be in spirit" So joyous, and I knew that she had died.

 

[escargot]

(This is a bit vague as it's very personal and not something I generally go into detail about.)

Some years ago I was out with Techy and my dogs admiring a beautiful sunset. The sky was gorgeous, and as we watched one cloud took on an animal shape. It was vivid and seemed to move in the way that the animal would.

I stared in wonder, and then remembered that I had a camera handy and snapped it. The cloud/animal soon dispersed and I felt that I'd only just caught the 'tail end' of its appearance - as if it were indeed just passing through on its way elsewhere up in the sky.

The type of animal and its movement brought to mind an ancient British legend that I'd read years ago, featuring a protagonist with the same name as someone close to me. In the story they became that same animal and escaped their enemy forever.

I spoke the name aloud as I watched the animal-shaped cloud and thought, it's as if it's really happening!

Sadly, it was. A few days later I discovered that this person had died around the time I saw that sunset.

I didn't look at the photo for a long time - far too busy - but when I did I was struck by how perfect the shape of the animal was. Anyone would recognise it. I hadn't imagined it.

 

[Zeke Newbold]

(This is a bit vague as it's very personal and not something I generally go into detail about.)

Some years ago I was out with Techy and my dogs admiring a beautiful sunset. The sky was gorgeous, and as we watched one cloud took on an animal shape. It was vivid and seemed to move in the way that the animal would.

I stared in wonder, and then remembered that I had a camera handy and snapped it. The cloud/animal soon dispersed and I felt that I'd only just caught the 'tail end' of its appearance - as if it were indeed just passing through on its way elsewhere up in the sky.

The type of animal and its movement brought to mind an ancient British legend that I'd read years ago, featuring a protagonist with the same name as someone close to me. In the story they became that same animal and escaped their enemy forever.

I spoke the name aloud as I watched the animal-shaped cloud and thought, it's as if it's really happening!

Sadly, it was. A few days later I discovered that this person had died around the time I saw that sunset.

I didn't look at the photo for a long time - far too busy - but when I did I was struck by how perfect the shape of the animal was. Anyone would recognise it. I hadn't imagined it.

Interesting. I believe there was once an art of divination - rather like tea leaf reading I suppose - which was based on `reading` the meaning of the shapes of clouds.

Perhaps you had telepathically picked up the fact of your friends death and your subconscious directed you to this fact by engaging with a bit of paredolia. Perhaps that's the basis of tea leaf reading, et al, too?

 

[gattino]

Perhaps that's the basis of tea leaf reading, et al, too?

Interestingly, thematically linked to that, I was surprised to find that Wikipedia gives a concrete explanation of the process of scrying from the practitioner's point of view:

"The visions that scryers say they see may come from variations in the medium. If the medium is water (hydromancy), then the visions may come from the color, ebb and flow, or ripples produced by pebbles dropped in a pool. If the medium is a crystal ball, the visions may come from the tiny inclusions, web-like faults, or the cloudy glow within the ball under low light (e.g. candlelight).

One method of scrying using a crystal ball involves a self-induced trance. Initially, the medium serves as a focus for the attention, removing unwanted thoughts from the mind in the same way as a mantra. Once this stage is achieved, the scryer begins a free association with the perceived images suggested. The technique of deliberately looking for and declaring these initial images aloud, however trivial or irrelevant they may seem to the conscious mind, is done with the intent of deepening the trance state, in this trance the scryer hears his own disassociated voice affirming what is seen within the concentrated state in a kind of feedback loop. This process culminates in the achievement of a final and desired end stage in which rich visual images and dramatic stories seem to be projected within the medium itself, or directly within the mind's eye of the scryer, something like an inner movie. This process reputedly allows the scryer to "see" relevant events or images within the chosen medium."

 

[Ulalume]

Interesting. I believe there was once an art of divination - rather like tea leaf reading I suppose - which was based on `reading` the meaning of the shapes of clouds.

Perhaps you had telepathically picked up the fact of your friends death and your subconscious directed you to this fact by engaging with a bit of paredolia. Perhaps that's the basis of tea leaf reading, et al, too?

Yes, that's how I've always done it, with that in mind. What the shape appears to resemble will change from person to person, and even from time to time for the same person. Your unconcious mind has plucked that particular image out of chaos for some reason, and the gift is in interpreting what it means.

ETA - you can use anything for this type of divination. Just about anything at all. i've had accurate revelations from the pattern of soap scum on the shower door. if I need a reading fast and there's nothing else around, I'll grab a handful of gravel and toss it, then read the pattern. If you have the knack, it doesn't matter what you use.

 

[gattino]

What the shape appears to resemble will change from person to person, and even from time to time for the same person. Your unconcious mind has plucked that particular image out of chaos for some reason, and the gift is in interpreting what it means.

Before I set up my little tent on the pier, what is it you do to determine what the things you're seeing relate to? What I mean is, how do you decide if the forms your mind sees in the patterns are about the future or the present, person x or person y or even yourself?

 

[Ulalume]

Before I set up my little tent on the pier, what is it you do to determine what the things you're seeing relate to? What I mean is, how do you decide if the forms your mind sees in the patterns are about the future or the present, person x or person y or even yourself?

Ah, well, that's the tricky bit! That's the thing you feel in your gut, or wherever it is in your body that reacts to the knowledge. You get to know how each thing feels, and probably each reader feels them differently.

Also, while seeing the pictures is easy, it takes experience to learn if your instinct is accurate. If your predictions in this manner often fail, you may not have the knack.

I tend to just do these type of readings for myself and my loved ones. They aren't anywhere near as thorough (for me anyway) as tarot.

 

[JamesWhitehead]

"Ödön von Horváth was hit by a falling branch from a tree and killed during a thunderstorm on the Champs-Elysées in Paris, opposite the Théâtre Marigny, in June 1938. Ironically, only a few days earlier, von Horváth had said to a friend, "I am not so afraid of the Nazis . . . There are worse things one can be afraid of, namely things one is afraid of without knowing why. For instance, I am afraid of streets. Roads can be hostile to one, can destroy one. Streets scare me." And a few years earlier, von Horváth had written poetry about lightning: "Yes, thunder, that it can do. And bolt and storm. Terror and destruction."



From The Wikipedia page on Austro-Hungarian writer Horváth!

 

[heisenbear]

Here's one I had back in 2007. That summer, I had a night job driving an 18-wheeler on a regular run from my home town to a pallet distribution hub near Lichfield. I would drive the main bulk of the freight and a part-timer would often follow on with any extra overspill in another truck. One night, I'd left an hour later than the part-timer and I'd arrived at the depot at the usual time. Halfway through being unloaded, I saw a puff of smoke coming from the night-heater exhaust of the artic in the bay next to me. Not unusual, but just then, I had a crystal-clear picture of a big truck in flames. The cab was melting and the whole rig was just an inferno.

When I got back to my base early next morning, I found out that the part-time driver hadn't had the opportunity to catch me up- en-route to the Lichfield depot, his truck had a fault in which the back axle had overheated(thanks to a loose oil-plug) and the heat ignited the grease all around the chassis and the 5th-wheel coupling on the trailer. When I saw the driver the next day, he told me that the cab had melted and the heat had fused the wreckage to the asphalt.

 

[UnknownUnknown]

Ah, well, that's the tricky bit! That's the thing you feel in your gut, or wherever it is in your body that reacts to the knowledge. You get to know how each thing feels, and probably each reader feels them differently.

Also, while seeing the pictures is easy, it takes experience to learn if your instinct is accurate. If your predictions in this manner often fail, you may not have the knack.

I tend to just do these type of readings for myself and my loved ones. They aren't anywhere near as thorough (for me anyway) as tarot.

'free association' is a good term to use. Scrying can make sense in the same way that dream images make sense, it's about finding a way to tap into the knowledge that your own unconscious mind already has. It's close to meditation I think. You have to try not to edit or pre-judge your responses.

For me it's a way of finding out what my 'gut' already knows. But I can be fooled by 'interference' from what I want to think! It works if you can find ways to take yourself by surprise.

 

[sdoig]

I have had some (limited ) success with lucid dreaming over the past three years. Like most dreamers the most important thing is to keep a journal of every dream I can recall.

Over the past year I have had two come true the next day! Both related to my work in the shop and both very dull!- however the beauty having kept an accurate journal means I can prove (to myself anyway) that I hadn't dreamt those scenarios before and therefore it wasn't a case of having the same dream over and over until it had to come true eventually!

 

[Scribbles]

I decided to go outside for a smoke, which was weird in itself, as I smoked in the house.

How hard was your subconscious working to get you to go and see the SMOKE! Lol! I reckon the smell of smoke registered somewhere in your tired mind and your intuition was desperately trying to get you to go and check it out.

 

[living-in-ithilien]

Hi,
I'm a first time poster on here and wanted to share something I experienced.

About 10 years ago I was driving on Queens Drive in Liverpool, which is a dual carriageway. I was stopped at a pelican crossing in the nearside lane, with only a van between me and the crossing (it blocked most of my view of the road ahead). It was mid-morning and there was no traffic waiting in the other lane. Standing at the crossing to my left was a middle-aged woman and as I looked at her, I had the oddest feeling; it was almost as if someone had just said to me that she was about to come to harm, or worse. There was an impression of something above her head, I couldn't say what. As she stepped out, she was hidden from my view and then I suddenly saw an articulated lorry approaching in my wing mirror - this guy was going so fast there was no way he would see the pedestrian. There was no way I could get out safety to warn her so I sounded the horn. She stopped and the truck flew across the crossing, braking. He came to a stop about 20 years further on and checked the woman was OK. I was a bit shaken and I think gave him a few choice comments about his driving as I pulled away.

Whether my sounding the horn stopped her going further, I don't know. But it was that feeling I had when I looked at her about to cross which I haven't forgotten. I was convinced she was about to come to harm, no idea where that feeling came from.

The other incident is not dissimilar. In 1998 we were staying in Oxford for a few days and when I woke up on the last day, I opened my eyes and stared at the ceiling - the first thought in my head was about my grandmother, with whom I was very close and who was then 90, and again it was if I'd just been told she wouldn't be around any longer. A little unnerving to start the day with that thought in my head. I tried to dismiss it as the tail end of a bad dream, however when I got home I found out she'd had a stroke at around the time I woke and she died later that day.

I don't know whether these would be classed as premonitions, would be interested to hear others' thoughts and experiences. What I do know is that in my job I've visited thousands of houses over the years (both occupied and empty) and never experienced anything remotely ghost-like - which is a relief in a way as there have been quite a few spooky cellars!

 

[living-in-ithilien]

Of course you had premonitions. Why would you even doubt it ?

 

[IbisNibs]

I've had some minor odd experiences involving my grandmother and other people's pets, likely telepathic as Gattino suggests, but here's one I don't know how you'd classify: In my early twenties I took a workshop in using a visualization technique. One afternoon I was practicing this technique and "saw" (like a hypnagogic vision) the highway that a friend and I would be taking back from a family member's house a few days in the future. We were going to go by motorcycle. In the vision, I did NOT see us on the motorcycle, so I spontaneously "rewound" the vision like a reel of film, and played it back. The second time, I saw my friend and myself on the motorcycle on the highway. It seemed very mundane.

When we were coming back on the motorcycle, there was an accident ahead of us, and all the traffic had to stop quickly. Some dufus behind us didn't notice or was going too fast, slammed on his brakes at the last second and lost control of his car. I looked back over my shoulder just as his car came spinning within 10 feet of us. There was no helmet law then, so if we'd been hit, my friend and I might have gotten our heads squashed.

 

[SleepyPanda]

I have a not so nice one too:

My family home is in a village, which has a disused railway line that is now used for walking. I was coming back from a walk one afternoon, and met a nice old man from the village, who was just setting off along the railway with his dog. We had a bit of a chat, and then turned to set off again. I was then overcome with a horrible feeling of dread. It was so strong I almost turned around to go after him, thinking that he was an old man and was he safe walking by himself. But then I told myself not to be silly, he was always out walking his dog and there was nothing wrong with him apart from being very short sighted.

Something horrible did happen to him that day. His dog got into a field of cows and got surrounded by them. He went into rescue her, and got trampled. He died later in hospital.

I've never had a premonition like that before or since, but I wish I'd trusted my 'instincts' or whatever that was that day.

 

[Coal]

I have a not so nice one too:

My family home is in a village, which has a disused railway line that is now used for walking. I was coming back from a walk one afternoon, and met a nice old man from the village, who was just setting off along the railway with his dog. We had a bit of a chat, and then turned to set off again. I was then overcome with a horrible feeling of dread. It was so strong I almost turned around to go after him, thinking that he was an old man and was he safe walking by himself. But then I told myself not to be silly, he was always out walking his dog and there was nothing wrong with him apart from being very short sighted.

Something horrible did happen to him that day. His dog got into a field of cows and got surrounded by them. He went into rescue her, and got trampled. He died later in hospital.

I've never had a premonition like that before or since, but I wish I'd trusted my 'instincts' or whatever that was that day.

This is the kind of premonition I categorise as a 'future event calculation'. Your unconscious mind had all the variables in there somewhere and seeing the man with his dog heading in the 'direction of cows', made a prediction of a possible outcome that was sufficiently likely to sound an internal alarm, as it were.

 

[SleepyPanda]

This is the kind of premonition I categorise as a 'future event calculation'. Your unconscious mind had all the variables in there somewhere and seeing the man with his dog heading in the 'direction of cows', made a prediction of a possible outcome that was sufficiently likely to sound an internal alarm, as it were.

Ah, interesting. That does make sense.

 

[Naughty_Felid]

Ah, interesting. That does make sense.

I've learn't the hard way that those weird feelings are probably worth acting on. We live in a world where it's now ok to walk away from stuff as we are so scared by being murdered or fucked up by someone if we intervene.

Press headlines of "hero dad got stabbed to death when he tried to break up a fight' - just alienate people and force them not to intervene.

When I grew up on a council estate in the 70's if something was going down all the men would turn up to sort it out.

This is long gone.

It's crap, we still have a duty to our society to help others, even if its an iffy "psychic" felling.