Doug Dillon's Blog, page 47

Synchronicity and Music

Strings of odd coincidences create a fascinating paranormal pattern.

Back in 2009, my wife and I went to a concert at The Hard Rock Cafe here in the Orlando area. David Garrett, the great violinist was playing.

The guy is really terrific. He can shift from classical to rock and then into country in a matter of seconds.

In watching him though, my analytical mind started working overtime. Because the man moves that bow so incredibly fast, I wondered what temperatures his bow strings reached with all that friction. Then I started wondering if he replaced those bow strings before each concert to make sure they wouldn’t break.

Not satisfied with those mental meanderings, I continued to wonder if his bow strings broke very often during a concert and if that affected his performance greatly. Finally, I realized I wasn’t enjoying the show because of all that internal questioning.

As a result, I made a very concerted effort to focus just on the music. Didn’t happen. My obsession with the guy’s bowstring’s wouldn’t leave me and, in fact, they strengthened. That really irritated me because I can usually let my thoughts go when I tried but no this time. The compulsion was really getting to me.

In tremendous frustration, I immediately started working diligently to refocus my mind. The thing is, less than two minutes after launching into that effort, Garrett actually broke several bow strings. I couldn’t believe it but there they were just flailing away in the air as they guy continued to play. People all around me pointed and took pictures as Garrett courageously went on playing and ended that set with a flourish.

As soon as the music ended, he studied his broken bow-string, fondled them a bit, looked at the audience, grinned, shrugged, and then went on playing.

With all of my questions somewhat answered, I enjoyed the rest of the show and ignored the bow strings still flopping in the air.

My son, Greg Dillon, graciously allowed me to use the picture he took of a violin for this blog. It pays to have a professional photographer in the family. Thanks Greg. It fit perfectly.

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If you would like to read more great stories about paranormal phenomena, you might be interested in checking out my book, Carl Jung, Hauntings, and Paranormal Coincidences.  You can find it in most online bookstores. Listed below, however, are direct book links to some of the larger retail outlets in the English-speaking world:

Amazon.com, Amazon Canada, Amazon UK, Amazon India, Amazon Australia, Barnes and Noble, Books-A-Million.

Haunted Ghost Image – Ship Photo – Queen Mary

Photographic evidence of a ghostly being aboard ship by my friend Peaches Veach from California Paranormal Private Investigations (CPPI).

Of all the locations I’ve visited and/or investigated, The Queen Mary in Long Beach, California is one of the most interesting. Back in the day, it was a luxury liner that was then converted into a troop transport ship during WWII.  Thousands of people are believed to have perished on or around the ship over the years. World renowned psychic Peter James believed there are close to 600 spirits wandering the ship.

The Queen Mary was bought by the City of Long Beach and turned into a floating hotel in 1967. It serves not only as a hotel, but also has restaurants, exhibits, and convention facilities. There are also a number of tours available to visitors. On one of those tours is where I had a paranormal encounter. Multiple parts of the ship are haunted.

We had taken one tour earlier in the day and it took us into the changing rooms of the first class swimming pool.  Several spirits are said to haunt this area. We had told the guide before the tour started that we were paranormal investigators so that he would understand why we’d have some pieces of equipment with us. There were almost enough of us to have our own private tour.

This little excursion was done in the dark and towards the end of it, we turned off our flashlights. That’s when the tour guide started talking about a possible male spirit being in that area, who he might be and why he might be there. When we talked about it later, a few of us agreed we felt the energy change all around us right at that moment. It’s hard to describe if you’ve never felt energy shift in such a way, but it’s much like how it feels when people have an argument in a room and you’re just standing there observing and feeling the tension.

For whatever reason, the tour guide sounded uncomfortable talking about this spirit. When he finished speaking, all was quiet for a while. Finally, someone asked a question but there was no response. Turning our flashlights back on, we realized the guide had left. We never did see him again.

We all decided to leave the room and I was the last one out. As we started moving, I felt a pressure on my back that was similar to having someone pushing me. I told my friends, “Move! Go! Go! Go! We’re being pushed out!” Another friend who has an intuitive “gift” also felt that the male spirit was upset and wanted us out.

Later in the day, we took another tour that’s really a “smoke and mirrors” event where they use all kinds of special effects. We had been told not to take flash photos since that would disorient everyone. As I snapped a photo without flash, I realized that I would have a blurry result due to camera shake. So I just dismissed what I had done and moved along with the group.

Original blurry photo of 3 people in the dark. Bright light at top is a bulb hanging from the ceiling. The white streak of light in the middle of the picture going across the woman is unidentified. Just above that streak, and below the woman’s head, is the small oval of a face that you can barely see.

A few days later, I was looking at my photos and came across a blurry picture. At first, I thought that I should just delete it. Then I noticed something strange. I showed my coworker, and she and I both gasped when we looked at it closer. To us, it looked like a head showing only one side of the face. This was the picture I had taken in the dark.

A closer, cropped view of the face.

We speculated as to what it might really be, but I knew exactly who could check it out for me. I have a friend by the name of Tony who is a retired mortician. He specializes in facial reconstruction. Tony has some forensic software that analyzes photos, including pixel count, color temp, etc. He can tell if a photo has been altered in any way. I’ve gotten to know Tony over the years, with all of the interesting photos I’ve sent him.

Tony’s enhancement of the previous photo to bring out the opposite side of the face. In this version of the picture, a shoulder below the face is clearly visible on the left.

Tony’s answer to this particular photo? “I don’t believe in ghosts, but you have something there. I just don’t know what it is.” He verified the photo had not been altered (I had taken it, so of course, I already knew that), and he took it a step further enhancing and removing certain color tones. He was able to digitally shift things around in order to show the other side of what we all believe is a face in the photo. To me, it looked like someone wearing an Elizabethan collar from the 16th Century, which would be extremely weird to find here in the States.

Tony’ second enhancement, no color, cropped and enlarged. Look carefully.

Tony’s official opinion in the end was that what we were seeing was a  woman he believed to be between 40 and 60 years of age with her hair in an updo. This, he thinks, meant that in a different era, she was probably financially well off. The last thing he added was that she was staring right at me!

Tony and I have both studied this picture over the years and continue trying to figure out exactly whose face it is. After comparing it to many other photos, we have yet to find the answer. We’ve gone back to the Queen Mary several times since that original experience to try and find an answer but with no luck. One of my more intuitive friends said that whoever the person is in that picture, she will not appear again.  She got my attention the first time and is glad that I know she’s there. Even so, my quest to discover the identity of our mystery woman continues.

Fascinating, Peaches. Thanks so much.

Click here for the CPPI website.

Click here for the Queen Mary Website.

Click here for a video on the Queen Mary.

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If you would like to read more great stories about paranormal phenomena, you might be interested in checking out my book, Carl Jung, Hauntings, and Paranormal Coincidences.  You can find it in most online bookstores. Listed below, however, are direct book links to some of the larger retail outlets in the English-speaking world:

Amazon.com, Amazon Canada, Amazon UK, Amazon India, Amazon Australia, Barnes and Noble, Books-A-Million.

Can the Dead Communicate?

Paranormal occurrences that affect physical things?

This story tells about two such events and they come directly from my own history. In fact, they were the sparks that put my wife Barbara and myself on a road to intense paranormal exploration. In fact, I wrote about those experiences in the book I co-authored with Barb titled, An Explosion of Being: An American Family’s Journey into the Psychic. So, instead of rewriting that material, I copied it directly from the book and reproduced it here.

You see, this all happened shortly after my dad died. I was in my early 30s and shattered by the loss of my father. As part of trying to help my mother settle Dad’s affairs, we were at her house when the first event occurred. Since Dad was a retired military officer, the Air Force had sent representatives to assist Mom in acquiring her benefits. We’ll pick up the story as those people arrive at the house.

“During one of those hectic days soon after Dad’s death, a shiny blue Air Force car pulled into the driveway of my parents’ home. Two very somber sergeants, well-practiced in the ways of grief and the details of military benefits, stepped out of the shimmering August heat into the coolness of the air conditioned house.

“Sid Brewer, a family friend and retired Air Force officer, was there to guide us through the detailed procedures. Sid and I sat facing the two sergeants over the dining room table, by then covered with documents. The exchange of necessary information droned on for a while, until my attention was diverted.

“‘Whoever is blowing that damned car horn had better cut it out,’ I thought angrily. The noise continued, until I finally got up and opened the front door. Now the sound blasted through the heat, further stirring my anger. No strange cars were visible, just the Air Force vehicle and Dad’s empty car parked under the oak tree a short distance away. The blowing horn was coming from Dad’s car! Sid and I opened the hood and pulled out the wires, resulting in exquisite silence. “Must have been the heat that set it off,” Sid commented. I agreed, but somehow the event jarred my already unsettled psyche.

“The next morning presented a raft of estate-settling tasks. My plans included using Dad’s Ford to make my rounds of the Social Security and V.A. offices, but I hated to drive without a horn. Just on the chance that the problem had rectified itself, I reattached the wires. No exploding repetition of yesterday’s noise, so with a couple of test honks, off I went to downtown Orlando and my list of appointments.

“The Social Security office was overflowing with people. When my turn finally came, the representative was helpful and efficient. Briefcase in hand, I was soon out the door, walking toward the parking lot. Dad’s car was angle-parked only a short distance from me, and in a few steps, I was directly in front of it. My mind was a jumble of sadness and financial details, when suddenly the car horn went off with another continuing blast that shook every fiber in my body.

“I was stunned. For an instant, I froze in mid-stride, and automatically looked for a driver sitting in the front seat. No, no one was there—just me and this crazy car blowing its brains out. Once the wires were disconnected I continued my errands but with an uneasiness that could not readily be put aside.”

After these two events, Barb, Mom and I wondered if just maybe Dad was trying to communicate with us. In the end, I rejected that possibility until I told my aunt and uncle about the car horn events during a phone conversation. Only then did they tell us they had actually seen dad in their living room on the day of his death.  They didn’t want to tell us because they didn’t think we would have believed them. They lived 1,2oo away.

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If you would like to read more great stories about paranormal phenomena, you might be interested in checking out my book, Carl Jung, Hauntings, and Paranormal Coincidences.  You can find it in most online bookstores. Listed below, however, are direct book links to some of the larger retail outlets in the English-speaking world:

Amazon.com, Amazon Canada, Amazon UK, Amazon India, Amazon Australia, Barnes and Noble, Books-A-Million.

Do Coincidences Mean Anything?

Have you ever been somewhere just at the right time when something happened? Later on, did you wondered how it was possible for you to be in that exact spot, at that precise instant? Just chance, some say while other point to fate, destiny or God’s will. Take your choice, right?

Well, for me, the longer I live, the more interconnected I feel to All That Is. In my view, those unseen linkages sometimes suddenly become apparent in such startling ways that I simply can’t chalk it up to “coincidence”.

One such occurrence happened when I was visiting my mom at her home in the Melbourne, FL area. This was shortly before her death in 2007.

We were sitting out by the pool in her back yard having a snack and chatting. After having taken this picture, I put my camera down and for whatever reason, my gaze came to rest on the dock across the canal behind mom. You can probably just barely make it out behind the palm tree on the left.

As I looked, a woman came out of the house beyond the dock and walked out onto it.  Just as she got to the end of  the thing near a piling, that portion of the dock collapsed into the water. When the woman also fell into the water, I jumped to my feet, startling my mom. In that instant, I didn’t know if that woman needed help, if I should dive into the canal to assist her, or what.

Seconds later, as mom turned to look where I was staring, the woman crawled out of the water onto that badly tilted portion of the dock not underwater. Dripping wet, she scrambled to her feet and ran into her house. In the blink of an eye it was all over.

“Oh my God,” Mom said as she watched the woman climb out of the water and rush out of sight. As soon as I sat back down, with my heart racing, I told Mom how seconds before I “happened” to be looking in the exact direction of that event–right after having taken a picture of the scene where it would occur. We marveled at such a “coincidence” and I still do today.

My view is that when we experience such things, it’s simply an indicator that shows us the deeper, wiser portions of our selves. It’s a little flag that says, “Hey you! Don’t forget that under all that flesh, you are spiritual being linked to everything in existence.” Beyond that, we humans go wrong in two ways: (1) Ignoring such events and claiming they have no deeper meaning  or (2) Trying to assign an immediate and definitive meaning to what happened.

Only now, after all those years, can I see a possible meaning beyond the wake-up both mom and I received reminding us of our true nature.  Back then, I never, ever thought I would be blogging,  writing an online newsletter, and putting things on Facebook and Twitter. How things change, huh? Well, now this blog post will go on the Internet and in postings to those other social media outlets. Just maybe that dock collapse was meant  to be a wake-up call to others as well. Connectivity is an interesting thing, isn’t it?

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If you are truly interested in paranormal phenomena, you might be interested in read my book, Carl Jung, Hauntings, and Paranormal Coincidences.  You can find it in most online bookstores. Listed below, however, are direct book links to some of the larger retail outlets in the English-speaking world:

Amazon.com, Amazon Canada, Amazon UK, Amazon India, Amazon Australia, Barnes and Noble, Books-A-Millon.

Do Ghosts, Spirits, Visit Us in the Night?

Dreams and their connection to other realms. That’s what this posting is about and it comes to you from a trusted guest blogger.This person, who will remain anonymous, is very analytical and never accepts things on face value. Here’s his story:

**********

In my dream, I was approached by a woman in some non-distinct place, other than that the light was very dim, almost like a candlelight supper.

I knew she looked familiar, but couldn’t make out her face until she came to a stop right in front of me.

That was when I realized she looked familiar because she was my grandmother, who had succumb to cancer back in the mid 90’s while I was in the navy and out to sea for 6 months, so I never had the chance to see her in her final days, or go to her funeral.

Gram was just simply gone when I got back for some leave time.

Anyway, the gram I was face to face with now was a beautiful young woman and just beaming with love. We embraced in a hug, she then held me out at arm’s length, and told me psychically “just LOOK at how well you’re doing!” With that, she gave me the biggest kiss on the cheek you can imagine, and it was over.

For me it was a no brainer that this was a direct encounter, especially being that during this particular period of time I had been having numerous lucid dreams and out of body experiences. What was the purpose? Dunno. Maybe sometimes these events happens just for the sake of them happening, the images and feelings to be stored in the bank of our subconscious of things that we now “know” are real, and don’t have to believe or take anyone else’s word for any more. Maybe they’re the well timed and needed encouragement we all need from time to time on this tough road of Samsara we trod together. Or, maybe she just wanted to say hello…LOL. Maybe all three, or more.

What I DO know is there are infinite realms of existence beyond our nearly blind 5 physical senses, that we are a part of them, they are a part of us, and by birthright we are free to explore them if we so choose. All of us.

**********

Thanks so much for sharing that. What a great experience. Dreams seem to be a very special meeting place for us to connect with those who have gone before us.

###

If you are truly interested in paranormal phenomena, you might be interested in read my book, Carl Jung, Hauntings, and Paranormal Coincidences.  You can find it in most online bookstores. Listed below, however, are direct book links to some of the larger retail outlets in the English-speaking world:

Amazon.com, Amazon Canada, Amazon UK, Amazon India, Amazon Australia, Barnes and Noble, Books-A-Million.

Do Ghosts Visit Us in the Night?

Dreams and their connection to other realms. That’s what this posting is about and it comes to you from a trusted guest blogger.This person, who will remain anonymous, is very analytical and never accepts things on face value. Here’s his story:

**********

In my dream, I was approached by a woman in some non-distinct place, other than that the light was very dim, almost like a candlelight supper.

I knew she looked familiar, but couldn’t make out her face until she came to a stop right in front of me.

That was when I realized she looked familiar because she was my grandmother, who had succumb to cancer back in the mid 90’s while I was in the navy and out to sea for 6 months, so I never had the chance to see her in her final days, or go to her funeral.

Gram was just simply gone when I got back for some leave time.

Anyway, the gram I was face to face with now was a beautiful young woman and just beaming with love. We embraced in a hug, she then held me out at arm’s length, and told me psychically “just LOOK at how well you’re doing!” With that, she gave me the biggest kiss on the cheek you can imagine, and it was over.

For me it was a no brainer that this was a direct encounter, especially being that during this particular period of time I had been having numerous lucid dreams and out of body experiences. What was the purpose? Dunno. Maybe sometimes these events happens just for the sake of them happening, the images and feelings to be stored in the bank of our subconscious of things that we now “know” are real, and don’t have to believe or take anyone else’s word for any more. Maybe they’re the well timed and needed encouragement we all need from time to time on this tough road of Samsara we trod together. Or, maybe she just wanted to say hello…LOL. Maybe all three, or more.

What I DO know is there are infinite realms of existence beyond our nearly blind 5 physical senses, that we are a part of them, they are a part of us, and by birthright we are free to explore them if we so choose. All of us.

**********

Thanks so much for sharing that. What a great experience. Dreams seem to be a very special meeting place for us to connect with those who have gone before us.

###

If you are truly interested in paranormal phenomena, you might be interested in read my book, Carl Jung, Hauntings, and Paranormal Coincidences.  You can find it in most online bookstores. Listed below, however, are direct book links to some of the larger retail outlets in the English-speaking world:

Amazon.com, Amazon Canada, Amazon UK, Amazon India, Amazon Australia, Barnes and Noble, Books-A-Millon.

Can You Change the Future?

Are all coincidences just random events? Are they sometimes happenings with connections that go well beyond those isolated occurrences? My stance as forcefully stated in my young adult novel, Sliding Beneath the Surface, is that the events of our lives are tightly linked to each other in ways we will never understand.

Every once in a while though, those linkages are so strong that they stand out like a road map. Here is an example.

I live in Florida with my wife Barbara and we have more than our share of spiders. The picture of one you see here came from my daughter Nicole Dillon’s photo gallery. Beautiful specimen, if you like such creatures.

Of course, these spiders sometimes decide to join us inside our home and they can be fairly large. They are definitely unwanted guests. Even so, our response is to try and capture them, if possible, and give them another chance, outside.

Over the years we’ve gotten pretty adept at placing a drinking glass over each intruder, slipping a piece of cardboard under the glass, and then carrying glass, cardboard and spider out of the house.

One day we had a particularly large, hairy specimen crawl from behind a picture on the family room wall. Barb declined to capture it and in no uncertain terms delegated the job to me. Dutiful husband that I am, the task was quickly accomplished. Once outside the front door of our house, I decided to release our unwanted guest on top of a large plant Barb keeps there.

I felt pretty good as I dumped the little critter on all that greenery, saving his life and all. Wishing him a long and happy existence, I turned to go back into the house when the plant started shaking. No spider could cause all that commotion.

The shaking stopped and when I bent down to inspect the plant more closely, I saw a very large lizard looking up at me with the spider in his mouth. In just a few gulps, the lizard downed the spider. So much for my intervention in trying to save the life of our hairy house guest, right?

Coincidence? Fate? Destiny? It truly seemed that no matter what I did, my poor little old spider was not long for this world. The exact timing and the location of the critter’s release almost seemed choreographed to end the spider’s life and provide a meal for the lizard.

Beyond clearly pointing out to me the connectivity of all things, that sliver of life also dramatically showed me how little our human plans matter when other patterns of existence lurk just around the corner.

What do you think?

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If you are truly interested in paranormal phenomena, you might be interested in read my book, Carl Jung, Hauntings, and Paranormal Coincidences.  You can find it in most online bookstores. Listed below, however, are direct book links to some of the larger retail outlets in the English-speaking world:

Amazon.com, Amazon Canada, Amazon UK, Amazon India, Amazon Australia, Barnes and Noble, Books-A-Millon.

Are Ghosts Real?

A scary paranormal event made my aunt and uncle wonder.

I’m willing to bet that if most people talked with members of their families, they would come up with stories of all sorts of paranormal activity. I’m not just talking about immediate families, I’m talking about grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.

In my case, my mom’s relatives were the ones who told such tales. For me, I found those stories so interesting because they came from people who never usually expressed an interest or even belief in such things.

Here’s a picture I took of Mom in St. Augustine with Matanzas Bay in the

background. I took her there before her death in 2007 to show her some of the locations I would be using in Book I of The St. Augustine Trilogy, Sliding Beneath the Surface. She was always fascinated by the paranormal

Her family all came from the New York City, Connecticut region. One summer when I was a teenager, we had a big family gathering and I got a chance to speak with one of her cousins and her husband. Both were involved with real estate and told a story about visiting a particular house they were trying to sell for some clients. It was nighttime and the owners were away.

The place was dark and they approached using flashlights. But just as they got to the front door, noises exploded from inside the house. Frightened and thinking vandals must be inside, they rushed back towards their car. They told me it sounded like a group of people was destroying everything they could find. As quickly as it started though, all those noises stopped.

After waiting a few minutes, they crept back up to house. No more sounds, and in fact, looking through the windows with their flashlights, they couldn’t see any damage. Thinking that rather odd, they decided to go in and look around. Pretty brave if you ask me, but they did it. Once inside, they found no damage whatsoever and nothing out of place. That frightened them even more than the sounds themselves and they had no explanation for what happened. Now we would probably identify such an experience as poltergeists.

So, the next time you have any kind of family gathering or reunion, ask people about their strange experiences. You might be very surprised with who comes up with some very weird but interesting tales.

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If you are turly interested in paranormal phenomena, you might be interested in read my book, Carl Jung, Hauntings, and Paranormal Coincidences.  You can find it in most online bookstores. Listed below, however, are direct book links to some of the larger retail outlets in the English speaking world:

Amazon.com, Amazon Canada, Amazon UK, Amazon India, Amazon Australia, Barnes and Noble, Kobo (Canada)

Best Florida Wedding Site

A quiet, comfortable, historic, spiritual and beautiful place set in 115 acres of Florida woodlands. Lots of nature trails and wildlife.

Chinsegut Hill Retreat Center, Brooksville, Florida. The name Chinsegut (pronounce chin-SEE-gut) is an Inuit word meaning, “The spirit of things lost and regained.”  (See link to their website at the end of this post)

I found this place with a friend many years ago when we were looking for a site to hold a meditation retreat. What a delightful location, wonderful also for weddings, meetings, family reunions, and team building training. Highly recommended.

Established right after the Second Seminole War in 1842, the property boasts a plantation manor house set on top of the second highest hill in the state. And in flat Florida, that is saying something. You actually look down on the sunsets. The Florida legislature thought so highly of Chinsegut Hill that they allocated over $2 million to renovate it because of its historic significance.

The overnight capacity is 56 people housed in 7 cabins with four bedrooms each. Of course they have a dining hall and a classroom that doubles for a lot of other activities as well.

As a matter of interest, during one particular retreat I attended there, I had an incredible series of spiritual coincidences that bordered on the paranormal. A lot of that I attribute to the long history of the place. If you’re interested, click here to read a blog post I did of that incident.

This site is an open secret in Florida and just too good to keep hidden. Check it out. You won’t be sorry. Click here for more information.

Best Florida Wedding Facility

A quiet, comfortable, historic, spiritual and beautiful place set in 115 acres of Florida woodlands. Lots of nature trails and wildlife.

Chinsegut Hill Retreat Center, Brooksville, Florida. The name Chinsegut (pronounce chin-SEE-gut) is an Inuit word meaning, “The spirit of things lost and regained.”  (See link to their website at the end of this post)

I found this place with a friend many years ago when we were looking for a site to hold a meditation retreat. What a delightful location, wonderful also for weddings, meetings, family reunions, and team building training. Highly recommended.

Established right after the Second Seminole War in 1842, the property boasts a plantation manor house set on top of the second highest hill in the state. And in flat Florida, that is saying something. You actually look down on the sunsets. The Florida legislature thought so highly of Chinsegut Hill that they allocated over $2 million to renovate it because of its historic significance.

The overnight capacity is 56 people housed in 7 cabins with four bedrooms each. Of course they have a dining hall and a classroom that doubles for a lot of other activities as well.

As a matter of interest, during one particular retreat I attended there, I had an incredible series of spiritual coincidences that bordered on the paranormal. A lot of that I attribute to the long history of the place. If you’re interested, click here to read a blog post I did of that incident.

This site is an open secret in Florida and just too good to keep hidden. Check it out. You won’t be sorry. Click here for more information.