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What Was Your Entry To The World Of Weird?

E

Endlessly Amazed

Endlessly, you know, amazed
Joined
Aug 6, 2020
Messages
1,381
Location
Arizona, USA
Mods please move to better spot if possible

Hi Fortean Fellow Travelers (FFT) - I wish to pose a question to you which I have been thinking about for a long time. Actually, it’s a few related questions. There are discussions on all these points scattered throughout the FMB, but it is so widespread and secondary to the main topics, that I can’t get a good feel for them. Please contribute – even if its just a single line. Remember, we are anonymous here (well most of us) :) Thanks.
  • What are the top Fortean types of phenomena for you? For example, parapsychology, UFOs, bigfoot, time slips, etc.
  • What was your worldview when your interest began? For example, devoutly religious, atheist, pragmatic, agnostic, not sure, skeptic (meaning inherently disbelieving and thinking people who do believe are deluded), etc.
  • What was the event or starting point for your interest in inexplicable weirdness? For example, book or magazine, popular electronic media (TV, movie, podcast, youtube, etc.), discussion with family or friends, personal experience, etc.
  • How has your interpretation and acceptance (or not!) changed over time?
  • Is your current state of interpretation and acceptance stable? This means that you have not changed your mind for several years and expect that you will not change your mind with more or different evidence.
Here are mine:
  • What are the top Fortean types of phenomena for you? Answer: parapsychology, reincarnation, bigfoot.
  • What was your worldview when your interest began? Answer: pragmatic, agnostic, not sure.
  • What was the event or starting point for your interest in inexplicable weirdness? Answer: personal experiences.
  • How has your interpretation and acceptance (or not!) changed over time? Answer: definite evolution over time. I went from pragmatic, agnostic, not sure, to extreme skeptic, to not sure, to sure that some aspects of parapsychology do have an external reality not dependent on persons.
  • Is your current state of interpretation and acceptance stable? Answer: I have not changed my mind for several years about the big stuff (existence, types of things) and expect that I will not change my mind with more or different evidence.
 
You said "a question" which particular one were you on about? There appears to be at least 5 there!
 
chrissho said:
You said "a question" which particular one were you on about? There appears to be at least 5 there!
Click to expand...
Well, I did write "I wish to pose a question to you which I have been thinking about for a long time. Actually, it’s a few related questions." Please, write as little or as much as you wish.
 
  • What are the top Fortean types of phenomena for you? High strangeness, ghosts, poltergeists
  • What was your worldview when your interest began? I was a child, so probably gullible, curious
  • What was the event or starting point for your interest in inexplicable weirdness? Gradual progress, word-of-mouth local ghost stories, UFO/mysteries books given to me from about the age 6-7 (mid 70s) onwards, cemented by living in a haunted house and sporadic weirdness ever since
  • How has your interpretation and acceptance (or not!) changed over time? Yes, from standard interpretations (UFOs=ET, ghosts=spirits of the dead, Loch Ness Monster/Bigfoot=physical animal etc) to more amorphous explanations and recognition of substantial overlap between phenomena, very much influenced by Jacques Vallée and his ilk, and creeping recognition that the paranormal is constructed as a riddle to taunt us
  • Is your current state of interpretation and acceptance stable? I don't expect any great changes at this point, I think the paranormal is a great and impenetrable mystery
 
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Although I suspect that many of us have answered these questions in many, many disparate threads, I think it's nice to see it all in one place. Good thread!

  • What are the top Fortean types of phenomena for you? High Strangeness. The Basement Shrimp Monster is still a favorite.
  • What was your worldview when your interest began? I was young and raised in an agnostic household. So, life-after-death was a thing, even if "God" wasn't necessarily there.
  • What was the event or starting point for your interest in inexplicable weirdness? It was probably my grandma's watching Unsolved Mysteries back then (hosted by the venerable Robert Stack). Plus, once my interest was piqued, my family loved to visit used bookstores and I was always given a budget and I always spent it on various Fortean subjects. Frank Edwards' "Strange World" really cemented my love for the unusual.
  • How has your interpretation and acceptance (or not!) changed over time? I've been open to many things, but I think there's scientific stuff that has yet to be invented yet that would explain all these things. That is to say, they're not "unexplainable", it's just that science hasn't caught up yet.
  • Is your current state of interpretation and acceptance stable? This means that you have not changed your mind for several years and expect that you will not change your mind with more or different evidence. The short answer is no. BUT, I remain open to seeing old, loved stories get debunked (The Sailing Stones of Racetrack Playa, anyone?).
 
What was my worldview when interest began?
As a child, so did not really have a world view, but questioned everyday reality. When I was 8-12 (?) I really wanted magic to exist.

Have always enjoyed fables, fairytales which evolved into folklore, dark fantasy and horror - both in written and tv/movie venues. So since at least when I learned to read.

Current interpretation stable? Yes and no.:D
I still want to find something that challenges what we think of as reality, but I can't go too far down rabbit holes, cuz sometimes I can convince myself.
 
MercuryCrest said:
Although I suspect that many of us have answered these questions in many, many disparate threads, I think it's nice to see it all in one place. Good thread!

  • What are the top Fortean types of phenomena for you? High Strangeness. The Basement Shrimp Monster is still a favorite.
  • What was your worldview when your interest began? I was young and raised in an agnostic household. So, life-after-death was a thing, even if "God" wasn't necessarily there.
  • What was the event or starting point for your interest in inexplicable weirdness? It was probably my grandma's watching Unsolved Mysteries back then (hosted by the venerable Robert Stack). Plus, once my interest was piqued, my family loved to visit used bookstores and I was always given a budget and I always spent it on various Fortean subjects. Frank Edwards' "Strange World" really cemented my love for the unusual.
  • How has your interpretation and acceptance (or not!) changed over time? I've been open to many things, but I think there's scientific stuff that has yet to be invented yet that would explain all these things. That is to say, they're not "unexplainable", it's just that science hasn't caught up yet.
  • Is your current state of interpretation and acceptance stable? This means that you have not changed your mind for several years and expect that you will not change your mind with more or different evidence. The short answer is no. BUT, I remain open to seeing old, loved stories get debunked (The Sailing Stones of Racetrack Playa, anyone?).
Click to expand...
Basement Shrimp Monster: !!! This may take the 2022 Batshit Crazy Award.
I'll comment more in a few days when, hopefully, more FFTs will have added to the thread.
 
  • What are the top Fortean types of phenomena for you? High strangeness, Premonitions, Earth mysteries, though I find it all interesting.
  • What was your worldview when your interest began? Not sure, as it's been a lifelong interest, (since I could read, probably)
  • What was the event or starting point for your interest in inexplicable weirdness? I've had some personal experiences, but initially it was likely ghost stories as a kid, (read or told)
  • How has your interpretation and acceptance (or not!) changed over time? I sometimes find myself being fairly cynical and incapable of believing a lot of it isn't people's ignorance about how the world works in general. Then I morph into believing again, that there absolutely has to be something beyond what we "know" about the world/universe.
  • Is your current state of interpretation and acceptance stable? For now... Obviously, if an alien landed in my front yard and introduced themselves, it would change certain beliefs I currently hold.
 
It seems I was born asking the question what if ?

I watched all the kid’s Saturday TV shows like Space Patrol, Men into Space, and Buck Rogers.

But an UFO event one night when I was in the fourth grade was when my mom and I were returning from the grocery and a UFO was coming across a farm field and across our road.

Like or not, the world of craziness hit us square in the face.

It was a rural road but other cars stopped to look.

My mom and I had a promise that we would not tell a soul, not even my father.

I know UFOs are real but what do they want ?

Where do they come from ?
 
My father was into everything paranormal and other-worldly - ghosts, Bigfoot, flying saucers, reincarnation, the hole in the earth; you name it, he owned a book on it, which as a precocious reader I secretly devoured.

His mother was a keen Spiritualist and told me exciting stories about the Afterlife.
My own mother was totally agin anything like that although she is highly psychic.
All very confusing.
 
I had been told by my mother of ghosts she had seen but never believed her,
I only took a interest after taking up metal detecting and working on the idea
that people may spread stories of strange happenings to frighten people away
from something interesting I then took a interest. It wasent till many years later when
our first house had a ghost cat that actually believed there was something in it.
 
  • What are the top Fortean types of phenomena for you?
I very much dip my toe in the 'folklore' end of Forteana and enjoy looking into any strange old local tales and traditions. UFOs do interest me as a recent, still evolving addition to human belief
  • What was your worldview when your interest began?
Not much different to now. Probably a little less cynical, but essentially sceptical
  • What was the event or starting point for your interest in inexplicable weirdness?
I'm not sure but I think family stories probably helped convince me that yes, odd stuff really does happen to people
  • How has your interpretation and acceptance (or not!) changed over time?
I suppose I remain a sceptic but firmly believe there is a great deal about human consciousness we do not understand. I tend now to see most of these phenomena as something related to the way we perceive the world, rather than independent of us - but am willing to be proved wrong
  • Is your current state of interpretation and acceptance stable?
I remain open minded, I hope.
 
I was 15 months old when someone spoke to me to say that my Father was coming home from the war that day and where to find a picture of him.
My Father's family were very much into paranormal beliefs but my Mother was afraid whenever I came out with anything unusual., so I learned to be quiet if anything happened as I didn't want to be punished.
After I married and had children I didn't encounter much while they were little but gradually experiences began again.
When I did further studies at college the lecturer had us visualise as she counted to 10 and it came back very strongly and has ebbed and flowed ever since.
I wonder if it's genetic as my cousin said one of the ancestors in Scotland was burnt at the stake for telling the future.
 
I would say Arthur C. Clarke's programmes in the 1970s, my Mothers 'Unexplained' magazines - (I was always reading/thinking about local 'ghost' stories/sightings back then as well) - then when I was 11 or so, I read Robert Westall's 'Devil on the Road' a children's book, which lead me to an interest in 'timeslips'. Years later I read @Carl Grove's work and through that, ended up on here with you reprobates lot.
 
Great idea for a thread. :)

What are the top Fortean types of phenomena for you? UFO's/UAP's, timeslips, and areas such as NDE's/reincarnation.

What was your worldview when your interest began? I was a child, so quite open minded. I was very curious about it all and I still am now.

What was the event or starting point for your interest in inexplicable weirdness? Reading some of my parents old paranormal books that were published in the 70s and 80s. I remember feeling particularly shocked/intrigued when I read about spontaneous human combustion. It amazes me that people can go through their entire lives without hearing of these things, or actively avoid them!

How has your interpretation and acceptance (or not!) changed over time? I was never one to believe in everything I came across. I was always somewhat sceptical and am even more so now, as I've grown older and have more education and life experience behind me. I think joining this forum has made me a bit more of a sceptic to be honest. Nevertheless, I still find it all very interesting and I try remain open minded and respect other's experiences. I love reading other poster's experiences in IHTM even if they're completely anecdotal.

Is your current state of interpretation and acceptance stable? Overall I imagine I'll keep the same mindset as I have now, however my position on certain phenomena may change.
 
Endlessly Amazed said:
Well, I did write "I wish to pose a question to you which I have been thinking about for a long time. Actually, it’s a few related questions." Please, write as little or as much as you wish.
Click to expand...
Fascinated as a teenager by unusual things, unexplained things and odd photos and books found in library on spooks and other weird stuff.
 
Arthur C Clarke's World Of Strange Powers, PG Tips Unexplained Mysteries cards, and this bastard:

1647969469482.png
 
Endlessly Amazed said:
Mods please move to better spot if possible

Hi Fortean Fellow Travelers (FFT) - I wish to pose a question to you which I have been thinking about for a long time. Actually, it’s a few related questions. There are discussions on all these points scattered throughout the FMB, but it is so widespread and secondary to the main topics, that I can’t get a good feel for them. Please contribute – even if its just a single line. Remember, we are anonymous here (well most of us) :) Thanks.
  • What are the top Fortean types of phenomena for you? For example, parapsychology, UFOs, bigfoot, time slips, etc.
  • What was your worldview when your interest began? For example, devoutly religious, atheist, pragmatic, agnostic, not sure, skeptic (meaning inherently disbelieving and thinking people who do believe are deluded), etc.
  • What was the event or starting point for your interest in inexplicable weirdness? For example, book or magazine, popular electronic media (TV, movie, podcast, youtube, etc.), discussion with family or friends, personal experience, etc.
  • How has your interpretation and acceptance (or not!) changed over time?
  • Is your current state of interpretation and acceptance stable? This means that you have not changed your mind for several years and expect that you will not change your mind with more or different evidence.
Here are mine:
  • What are the top Fortean types of phenomena for you? Answer: parapsychology, reincarnation, bigfoot.
  • What was your worldview when your interest began? Answer: pragmatic, agnostic, not sure.
  • What was the event or starting point for your interest in inexplicable weirdness? Answer: personal experiences.
  • How has your interpretation and acceptance (or not!) changed over time? Answer: definite evolution over time. I went from pragmatic, agnostic, not sure, to extreme skeptic, to not sure, to sure that some aspects of parapsychology do have an external reality not dependent on persons.
  • Is your current state of interpretation and acceptance stable? Answer: I have not changed my mind for several years about the big stuff (existence, types of things) and expect that I will not change my mind with more or different evidence.
Click to expand...
Good topic for a thread! ok lets have a crack at it

1. ghosts poltergeist magic the occult even though I'm sceptical about the same!
2. I was brought up in a "sensible" religious family main stream Methodist Sunday school every week etc
3. Not sure I could pin it down to one event I think its more about personality I've always had an enquiring mind and an early love of horror movies and dark stories probably fuelled it
4/5 Not sure my mind has been changed over time or events I guess we all develop over time as we age etc I would say that I'm still open minded but as life experience, education increase I guess I've become less cedulas it would take a lot more to convince me of the reality of the things that fired my imagination as a kid
 
Endlessly Amazed said:
  • What are the top Fortean types of phenomena for you? For example, parapsychology, UFOs, bigfoot, time slips, etc.
  • What was your worldview when your interest began? For example, devoutly religious, atheist, pragmatic, agnostic, not sure, skeptic (meaning inherently disbelieving and thinking people who do believe are deluded), etc.
  • What was the event or starting point for your interest in inexplicable weirdness? For example, book or magazine, popular electronic media (TV, movie, podcast, youtube, etc.), discussion with family or friends, personal experience, etc.
  • How has your interpretation and acceptance (or not!) changed over time?
  • Is your current state of interpretation and acceptance stable? This means that you have not changed your mind for several years and expect that you will not change your mind with more or different evidence.
Click to expand...
Ghosts.
I had an overactive imagination, enough belief sloshing about to sustain a whole kingdom of gods, and a wide taste in reading material (for a small child).
Books. The Unexplained. 70s TV.
I used to believe many things. Now I err on the side of Fox Mulder and only want to believe. As a scientist, I like to see evidence these days.
I like to think that I will remain open-minded rather than utterly gullible or set in my ways. However, show me some tangible proof and acceptance will follow.
 
Watching Hammer Horror films with my dad when I was too young to watch them. Also the magazine part work The Unexplained influenced me greatly. Along with the TV series Arthur C Clarkes Mysterious World.

As a kid I was fascinated but gullible.

A subtle influence that I wouldn't have noticed at the time was my love of punk music. In retrospect I think that subconsciously it encouraged me not to necessarily accept everything that scientists, the establishment and rationalists told me was the truth.
 
I got my hands on this comic in 1979. Originally UFO - Flying Saucers series comic, containing "real/true" UFO stories.
1648037370773.png

And I got this one the same year.
1648039741342.png
 
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