A Strange Experience

A Substack tale haunting but true. 

Comments

[Vito B. Caiati]

Bill,

Thanks for sharing this story; you managed to convey the eeriness of that radio coming on in the middle of night, with you sleeping in the rooms of this dead, angry old man. It is the sort of experience that you never quite forget. I would have been terrified.

Your telling of it inspires me to share two with you.

One involves my late parents, Angelo and Clara, both of whom were highly practical, non-practicing Catholics. One winter night, not long after the death of my uncle Pasquale, who died of a heart attack at an early age, they were in bed and were awakened by loud knocking, coming from the inside of a closet, located to the left of the foot of their bed. Hearing this knocking, they got out of bed and walked to the closet. My father, who was physically fearless, opened the door and standing there was Pasquale. They only told me what they had witnessed much later, which is when I, amazed, asked them “What did you do when they saw this figure,” and my mother said, “We closed the door and went back to bed. It is better not to get involved in these things.” How they managed to sleep after this I do not know, but knowing their tough pragmatic selves as I do, I am not entirely surprised.

Recently, my sister Anna, who has foreseen future events several times but fears anything that she refers to as “spooky,” was standing in her bedroom in the middle of the day, when she felt a sharp physical tap on her left shoulder, the sort of tap of someone who wishes you to turn. Simultaneously, she had the sense of a presence behind her and to the left. Terrified, she refused to turn and rushed out of the room and downstairs. The incident left her uneasy, so I obtained some holy water, which she sprinkle throughout the house.

I could share others, including one involving an astonishing "coincidence," but I will leave it at that.

Vito

[BV]

>>and standing there was Pasquale.<< When I got to that bit, a tingle shot up my spine to the top of my head.

What fascinates me is the different ways people react to experiences such as the one you related. Your parents, being practical people, simply dismissed the experience and went back to bed. I would be astonished, though, if they fell right back to sleep.

My attitude is entirely different and is expressed here: https://williamfvallicella.substack.com/p/intimations-of-elsewhere-dismissed?utm_source=publication-search

Some years ago you reported to me your sister's precognition of the events of 9/11. My impression is that her precognitive experiences were more unsettling than the tap on the shoulder.

Desoite my methodological naturalism and critical caution, I would say it is simply foolish to dismiss the Unseen Order as unreal or as something to joke about as in a Seinsfeld episode the name of which escapes me. The sensible approach, and the truly practical one, is to live as if the Unseen Order is real and live in such a way that one aligns oneself with the Good and not the Evil

[Vito B. Caiati]

Bill,

Yes, Anna's precognition on the evening of September 10, 2001 hit her very hard, mentally and physically. She never got over the experience of the many dead surrounding her that evening as she sat watching TV, and since then she has scrupulously avoided anything that might encourage this ability to foresee future events, although it has broken through several more times, but thankfully touching on events far less terrifying.

Vito

[BV]

Vito,

I can recall only one experience of precognition of my own, and it was during a period of intense meditation/contemplation. These practices are known to release or actuate psychic powers. So, if I may ask a question about your sister, did she in the past, or does she now, engage in any spiritual practices beyond the usual church-going and discursive prayer?

As for the vision of Pasquale, did your parents both 'hear' the knock and 'see' the man? If yes, then I think that would be evidence that they weren't dreaming. Or can two different persons simultaneously dream of the same object?

It's too bad your parents didn't question Pasquale to see if he had any advice for them.

No doubt you are familiar with this scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qh_fUMgFomk

The good part starts at 2:00. "There is more of gravy than of grave about you." Humbug, I tell you, HUMBUG!

Have you read Teresa's Interior Castle? She offers a criteriology of mystical experiences.

[Vito B. Caiati]

Bill,

My sister has never engaged in spiritual practices of any kind and, like my parents, she does is a non-practicing Catholic. I am the only one in the family with a pronounced religious disposition. Her episodes of precognition are entirely unexpected and after 2/10/01, entirely unwelcomed.

My mother told me that they both heard the knocking and both saw Pasquale, although I am not sure if each saw him from the same distance. I know that my father was in front of the open closet. My mother may well have remained in bed, but from that position the closet entrance, which is only a few feet from the foot of the bed, would have been clearly visible.

Apparently, my parents did not speak to Pasquale; rather, it appears that my father immediately closed the door, probably, even given his courageous nature, out of fright, but of his emotion at that moment, I am not sure.

I read St. Teresa's Interior Castle many years ago, just before I and my late wife made a trip to Alba de Tormes in Spain to view her relics that are preserved in that small town (arm and heart), the remainder scattered about Europe. Your mention of it inspires me to read the book again. I also read her biography, and if I recall correctly, she worked very hard and long developing her spiritual perfection.

Thanks for mentioning Braude's book, of which I know only through David H. Lund's critique (Person's Souls, and Death) of the former's views on super-Psi. I have long wanted to read Michael Sudduth's critique of the empirical arguments for survival, but the price of his book (74.84!) is crazy. This stuff really interests me and I do not dismiss it out of hand, although I share your "methodological naturalism and critical caution."
Vito

[john doran]

Tanqueray's The Spiritual Life is well worth a read (more easily understood (to me, anyway) than Theresa's Castle) - I went through it when I was in the monastery (technically, a Friary) after highschool.

Magisterial.

I've had experiences similar to those that Vito and Bill describe here. over the years, I have come to believe that anything "paranormal" that wants to, or with which you can, interact, is demonic.

The most, and most recurrent, "paranormal" experiences I have, are of some kind of localized, focused evil, malice, or ill-will: when dreaming, for the most part, but occasionally when i'm actually at certain locations.

[BV]

Vito,

One more question about your sister if I may. Did she ever play around with Ouija boards, witchcraft, or anything like that?

John,

Thanks for the reference to Tanqueray. I will order it.

>>I have come to believe that anything "paranormal" that wants to, or with which you can, interact, is demonic.<<

I am not quite sure what you are saying, but I hope you are not suggesting that infused contemplation, which is discussed and approved of in all the standard manuals of ascetical and mystical theology that I have read, is demonic.

[Vito B. Caiati]

Bill,

No, she never did. That sort of thing never had any appeal for her.

Vito

[john doran]

I'm not sure what's approved by the ascetic panjandrums; i don't know what it means to be engaged in "infused contemplation".

My meditative practices are different than yours (I think); the idea, from my tradition, is that any contemplative kenosis that leaves the vacated spiritual space empty - without content - offers an open door to the Other.

But that is as may be: i was speaking principally about dreams. I very often have lucid dreams, and I frequently run into beings, in those dreams, that are trying to harm me.

The interesting thing is that the central "harm" is always moral: i am being tempted, exempli gratia to infidelity to my wedding vows, or to physical aggression; to the extent that I refuse the bait, I am sometimes subsequently subjected (!!) to dreams of violence at the hands of shadowy Others.

[BV]

John,

I am surprised that you have never heard of infused contemplation. It is the pinnacle of mystical practices in the RC tradition. If you still have your copy of Tanqueray, please see if he discusses infused contemplation. If he does not, then it is scarcely "magisterial" and I won't buy it.

I bring up infused contemplation -- in which the soul interacts with God on the divine initiative -- to counter your claim that >>anything "paranormal" that wants to, or with which you can, interact, is demonic.<<

[Richard Norris]

A question: Why do most monotheists reject any possibility of their own small demiurgy?

[BV]

Richard,

The sense of your question is rather less than pellucid.