Episode 20 - You Didn't See That Coming: The Premonition Episode

Welcome back, everybody. We are hitting our 20th full episode! This week, we're talking about premonitions and intuition and all the different forms they take. The wives join in for a round-table discussion on this broad and interesting topic. Didn't see that one coming, did ya?

STOP! INSIDE JOKES AHEAD!

If you haven’t gotten to listen to the episode yet, spoiler alert! This post contains lots of stuff that will make waaay more sense if you listen to the episode before or while reading. So if you haven’t already, pump the brakes and listen to the episode or just click above to play so that you can be in on all the shenanigans to follow!

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Produced by Peter Woodward

Listener Story

We got a very cool story from Kim via The unexplained FaceBook page. While driving with his wife one day, his wife suddenly knew that her best friend passed away. Moreover, she said that the friend was actually present with her in their vehicle, reassuring her that everything would be okay. The two of them returned home and confirmed that this was true! So crazy!

Premonition. Intuition. Precognition. Clairvoyance. Destiny. Coincidence.

Call it whatever you would like, but we have all experienced it. Have you ever had a deep feeling that something is wrong or someone was in danger or hurt? Have you ever had a dream that turned out to be somewhat prophetic? A strong pull toward or away from someone or something? Have you ever just had a strong sense of something that you couldn’t shake?

That’s what we discussed in this episode along with some personal experiences to illustrate this weird phenomenon. We quickly found that, whatever the term or explanation, this foreknowledge or feeling seems to be a universal experience that we share as human beings. It seems you would be hard-pressed to find anyone without a related personal story or experience.

Terminology-ology-olgy!

Definitions!! We love those! A lot of these things are similar and intertwine. So here are some definitions of terms to help keep things straight.

A premonition is defined as previous notice or warning [synonym: forewarning], or anticipation of an event without conscious reason [presentiment].

According to the American Psychological Association, premonitory dreams are dreams that appear to give advance notice or warning of some future event. In parapsychology, it would be closer to a clairvoyant dream, which is a dream depicting events that appear to be confirmed by later happenings or knowledge.

This differs from intuition which is defined as a thing that one knows or considers likely from instinctive feeling rather than conscious reasoning.

Then precognition is the foreknowledge of an event, especially foreknowledge of a paranormal kind.

Okay…got it? Here we go.

EVERYBODY HAD A STORY...

Each of us found at least one incident to discuss that related to these topics. They were all different, but they all shared that common feeling of being both real and hard to explain.

Jeremy and Brittiny

Jeremy initiated this topic and this episode because of his fascination with the subject.

He came out of the gate with a story about a car ride with his grandmother in which she suddenly became aware of the death of a family member. It was immediately confirmed once the family had reached their destination that this relative had, in fact, passed away.

He then told us about his mother’s unshakeable feeling one random morning that someone in the family had died. They then found out a cousin had passed away.

Coincidentally (or maybe not…oooooo…spooky) he also happened upon a relevant story about a man buried in Kishi Japanese Cemetery. The man was killed in an accident in the US and when his mother in Japan was given the news, she’d already had a premonitory dream about her son.

Brittiny shared her near miss at the New Orleans Riverwalk as a child. She reported being insistent that she did not want to go despite her mother’s desire to visit the Riverwalk that day. They later heard a barge had crashed into the area where they might have gone.

We heard about her friend’s vision of a kind youth group leader that passed tragically. In the vision, the youth group leader expressed concern for Brittiny who, unbeknownst to anyone, was struggling with depression at that time.

She also told us about her nightmare of her son drowning. She woke up with the unshakeable feeling that a baby was dying, and she couldn’t do anything about it. She later learned that her cousin had given birth to and then lost her child that same night.

Lastly, Jeremy and Brittiny told us about a time when Jeremy had an overwhelming urge to go for a walk in the Houston heat and happened upon a missing child.

Jonathan

Jonathan shared a story about a caretaker witnessing a dying patient’s daily visions of her deceased husband. According to the patient, he would repeat at her bedside “No, not today” until the day his wife did eventually die.

He told a story about a little girl who had unexplainable knowledge of people, places, and things from a supposed past life. The child was able to give information that there was no way she could have known! Also, after seeing a photo of her deceased grandfather that she’d never met in life, Jonathan’s little girl verbalized to his wife that she met him in heaven, and he told her it was “okay to come down here.”

Finally, Jonathan told us about receiving an armoire for his twin daughters. When he went to pick up this free furniture, he found out that the owner had made numerous unsuccessful attempts to sell it and give it away. They determined that Jonathan actually worked with the woman’s recently deceased husband, and she expressed that she felt like it was meant to go to Jonathan’s daughters.

Peter and Brandi

Peter talked a bit about generalized feelings of connection to people that ended up being good friends.

Brandi talked about sometimes feeling connections to patients coming in at work that end up being significant.

There was also Brandi’s grandmother’s premonitory dream. She dreamed soldiers with swords on horseback were riding toward her sister’s home, and found out the next day that her nephew had been murdered by stabbing.

Another story was Brandi’s mom praying for a sign that her recently deceased mom was okay. She then witnessed a whirl of wind with leaves snaking around a tree, up to where she was sitting, and felt her breathe was taken away.

Lastly, Peter and Brandi talked about being in the wrong place at the right time to assist an elderly couple that he been injured and locked out of their home in the cold.

So…there we go. Lots of similar, but not similar, intertwining, overlapping instances that just seem like more than coincidence.

But what are the theories as to why these things happen?

WHY AND HOW?

In terms of the spooky...

A prevailing theory about premonition/precognition/intuition exists that basically states that people can somehow communicate through telepathic channels from person to person. This purportedly stems from our interconnectivity to each other as human beings.

This theory is supported when we hear about things like a mother’s intuition about their children being in danger, the mental and physical connection that twins seem to have, near misses or near death experiences, and deja vu.

We discussed seeing and hearing a person that is known to be deceased and how that could be a possibility. Going with this theory of the interconnectedness of people, this could be what is referred to as a crisis apparition. It is thought to occur when a person in crisis sends a telepathic image of themselves to someone, usually someone to whom they are very close. This can take place during a trauma or moment of death.

So this begs the question: is a crisis apparition what we think of or perceive as a ghost?

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We also noted that there seems to be a pattern of being in certain physical and mental states when these premonitions come to us. It seems to have a high correlation with mental relaxation or being in a very calm mindset. We discussed how this may be a reason why children are so much more open and susceptible to receiving and accepting the paranormal because their brains are not usually occupied by stressful and anxious thoughts.

In terms of the skeptic...

On the other side of the coin, logical explanations include some of the following.

These episodes are coincidences: “a remarkable concurrence of events or circumstances without apparent causal connection.” They appear connected, but are, in fact, merely chance or accident.

Another possible explanation is apophenia. Apophenia is “the tendency to perceive a connection or meaningful pattern between unrelated or random things.” This tendency of humans to create patterns where none exist gives rise to conspiracy theories.

It is closely related to pareidolia, which is finding meaningful images in randomness. Examples include images in clouds, Rorschach (inkblot) testing, or the man in the moon.

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We also discussed...

A strange and unusual occurrence in this realm is something called the deathbed phenomenon. Deathbed phenomenon occurs when someone dying can see and hear loved ones that have passed on before they die. A recent study done on hospice patients that were still cognitively intact revealed strong visions and even interactions with persons that were deceased as far out as several days prior to their eventual death. Could this be what we think of as seeing through the veil?

In terms of feeling a connection with someone, Jonathan talked about a person’s aura. An aura is a supposed emanation surrounding the body of a living creature and regarded as an essential part of the individual. Theories exist that a person’s aura can be read and interpreted by others. It supposedly gives information on everything from morality to health status.

We also briefly mentioned astral projection, both emergency and regular flavor. Astral projection is an intentional out of body experience. Oh, and according to Brittiny, it’s a ninth level necromancy spell that takes a casting time of one hour. Just in case you were wondering.

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Alrighty, then! Episode 20! Hope you all enjoyed it! We always have such a great time together, and we hope you are all along with us for the ride.

Let’s not forget our takeaways from today:

1) Carbs are happy protein. We need to make shirts of this immediately. And wear them. And eat lots of carbs. Yes. Good plan.

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2) Brittiny may or may not pull on our toes when after she dies. Fingers crossed for not. Please don’t touch my feet. It’s not in MY death plan, Britt.