Many people claim to share unique connections with certain others in their lives. We hear spouses talking about the way they can sense things about each other, as well as parents who do the same with their children. Some individuals even claim to be able to communicate psychically with their pets and other animals.

Such connections, if they exist, seem capable of bridging the gaps between pure thoughts, allowing individuals to share communication by means of strange powers that the modern sciences have yet to recognize. But considering the circumstances that seem to allow this variety of “psychic communication,” could it be that relationships existing between individuals may play a role in helping understand what actually causes certain psychic phenomenon?

One fascinating and unique area where telepathic situations tend to often prevail has to do with fraternal twins. A perfect–if not better than average–example of this was reported by the Sydney Morning Herald recently, in which a pair of twins who underwent concurrent MRI examinations managed to determine, as a result of headaches one of them had been having, that a rare tumor had developed. What makes this strange, of course, is that the twin suffering from headaches had not been the one diagnosed with the tumor:

The Gurney twins is even more remarkable because it was Brenton who started getting the persistent headaches. It was Brenton who persuaded hale and hearty Craig to join a study of twins (looking into mental health and resilience) because it included an MRI scan.

The MRI test picked up no abnormalities in Brenton’s brain. But Craig, who never suffers headaches, got the shock news: a massive and rare tumour in the base of his skull.

Similar unique connections tend to also appear between lovers (a particular phenomenon I’ve experienced countless times myself). In his book Otherworldly Affaires, author Brad Steiger notes an incredible incident that was discussed in the December, 1954 edition of Fate Magazine. As the story goes, a Mrs. Charlotte T. Mazue of Los Angeles, California, penned an unusual tale where she claimed to have successfully related the specific directions to her new place of residence to her husband… and entirely through means of telepathy!

The event in question took place in 1942, and Mrs. Mazue had moved to a new location while her husband Charles had been stationed near San Francisco. Suddenly one day, Charles came to Charlotte’s mind, giving her the distinct impression that he was trying to reach her telepathically. “Perhaps he had acquired a leave,” she thought, but then became concerned, because she realized that she had neglected to write to Charles, informing him of the location of their new home! Steiger recounts the rest of the story as follows:

“I quietly repeated to myself every hour before retiring, ‘Honey, we now live in Hollywood. Come to Kingsley Drive at Santa Monica Boulevard. Rear of gift shop. Red brick court. Upstairs at the back’,” Mrs. Mazue wrote.

It started to rain when she retired at 10:30 P.M. At half-past midnight, the door chimes brought her tumbling out of bed, calling: “Coming, dear!” She confidently opened the door to find a drenched, but smiling, Charles. “So this is home,” he said, as he hugged her close to him.

Charles told her that he, of course, had had no idea that she had moved. “Seems as if someone pushed and pulled me here. I hitchhiked in and told the driver to let me out at Kingsley Drive and Santa Monica Boulevard. Then I walked to the rear of the gift shop and upstairs to you. Funny thing is, I distinctly heard you say, ‘That’s right, darling’.”

Had Charles literally been able to “hear” the directions Charlotte had been giving him telepathically? If the events related here are indeed true and accurate, how else are we to interpret the circumstances? Furthermore, if it is possible for lovers to become so close that they can achieve feats such as these in the absence of any verbal communication, could virtually anyone learn to do the same, and with the same amazing detail and efficiency? Finally, if psychic feats such as telepathy could be accessible to almost anyone, then maybe particular close bonds that we build with others in life provide natural grounds that are conducive to this kind of ability. Strength in numbers, as the old axiom goes.

Among the quite colorful theories and quips proposed by American author Mark Twain, Huckleberry Finn’s creator also was known to have guessed about the origins of of humankind’s most admired and often-stereotyped recessive trait. “While the rest of the species is descended from apes,” Twain wrote, “redheads are descended from cats.”

Indeed, there are an entire host of traditions that involve superstitions associated with redheads (and cats too, for that matter). Red haired individuals comprise less than two percent of the population worldwide, making them the rarest natural hair color among humans. Though we still manage to see red hair quite often despite these percentages–perhaps due in part to the accessibility provided through cosmetic hair dyes–the trait is uncommon enough that odd misconceptions do still crop up from time to time in modern times. Consider, for instance, the popular story that made rounds in 2007, claiming that redheads would become extinct within the next century.

But what is the likelihood, if any exists, that at least some superstitions involving redheads may actually have some factual basis? More specifically, could there be any evidence to support various legends involving the strange paranormal connections red haired people seem to maintain?

“In Greek myth,” it is said, “redheads turned into vampires after they died.” Others have claimed throughout the ages (in the pejorative sense, though largely tongue-in-cheek) that redheads may likely be vampires from birth. It cannot be denied, however, that due to the rarity of red hair among various cultures, the trait has seen both good and ill reception. This certainly has been associated with vampires and various other creatures of the night as well, and not merely among the Greeks. The self-proclaimed vampire hunter Montague Summers wrote in his translation of the Malleus Maleficarum that:

Those whose hair is red, of a certain peculiar shade, are unmistakably vampires. It is significant that in ancient Egypt, as Manetho tells us, human sacrifices were offered at the grave of Osiris, and the victims were red-haired men who were burned, their ashes being scattered far and wide by winnowing-fans. It is held by some authorities that this was done to fertilize the fields and produce a bounteous harvest, red-hair symbolizing the golden wealth of the corn. But these men were called Typhonians, and were representatives not of Osiris but of his evil rival Typhon, whose hair was red.

Red hair has often been stereotyped for being associated with sexual desire, bad temperament, and immoral activity. Aristotle was said to have expressed his similar feeling that redheads were “emotionally un-housebroken.” With little doubt, these sorts of myths were the obvious byproduct of the redhead presence among the cultural minorities; recognition of this aspect alone, however, would do little to qualm the superstitions that have persistently haunted those with red hair and fair skin. Even today, there are still a number of beliefs associated with red haired individuals, among them that gingers may have a greater propensity for harnessing things such as psychic abilities.

I discussed this recently with my friend Marti Marfia, a natural redhead, who had expressed that she, along with most other redheads she had known throughout her life, had claimed to have at least some ability to use such things as intuition. Having encountered stories that were remarkably similar to her own experiences along these lines, Marti began to research the possibility that there might be other stories like hers, or perhaps whether studies might exist that had to do with reasons for such things. Interestingly, at least two studies appear to show a link between red hair and tolerance for pain; this likely results from the fact that redheads have a mutated MC1R gene, and thus an MC1R receptor that is the similar byproduct of rare genetic mutation. These factors my also contribute to the need for larger amounts of anesthesia for redheads undergoing surgery.

In terms of how red hair actually developed among early humans, it is believed that having pale skin may have been advantageous in far-northern climates, and that in the absence of regular sunlight, lighter colored hair–which is typically paired with lighter skin color as well–would have been more conducive to absorbing and maintaining heat. Based on this observation, a 1976 study suggested that the underlying process likely may have to do with higher levels of Vitamin D production, granting redheads a natural ability to ward off conditions such as rickets that stem largely from vitamin deficiencies.

Altogether, what cannot be denied here is that redheads certainly do, without question, operate a bit different from the rest of us, based on their special (and slightly curious) natural physiology.  Could it be that such factors might contribute to a sense of heightened awareness that some redheads claim to sense, or even that such factors might cause them to be likely candidates for experiencing psychic phenomena?

Ah, sweet wonderful nature, and its many mysteries… in the last couple of years, biologists and the curious-minded among us have been treated to a number of strange and incredible new realities amidst the animal kingdom. Take, for instance, how chimpanzees in certain remote parts of the world not only defy stereotypes by swimming and grieving over their recently deceased, but they also utilize tools in various capacities… all of which have caused humans to have to redefine the elements that constitute what we call “culture.”

Among the many mysteries of the animal kingdom that we’re made privy to on a frequent basis, we can no add another curiosity to the list in the realm of the cephalopod: specifically, we’re talking about squids that not only swim, but can travel like rockets through the air at five times the speed they can move through water!

 A recent Discovery News article detailed the findings of cephalopod experts Ronald O’Dor and Julia Stewart, who have cataloged the way that a particular variety of squid known as Sthenoteuthis pteropus can become airborne by forcibly projecting water from their bodies, which literally allows them to fly for remarkable distances through the air, much like little water-propelled rockets.

According to the Discovery News article,

Tourists on a cruise ship off the coast of Brazil captured the first photographic evidence of the flying squid phenomenon back in 2010. But this study marks the first time anyone has analyzed the photos and compared the results to what biologists already know about swimming squid, which is D’Odor’s expertise.

Each of 17 remarkable tourist photos of Sthenoteuthis pteropus clearly show the trail of water behind each airborne squid.

To view the photos of squids in flight, click here.

This remarkable study brings to mind something else of interest, however. Nearly four years ago back in 2008, I blogged about what I called a “Sky Squid” filmed over Mexico City. The strange object was, rather obviously, a bunch of Mylar balloons tied together, tumbling about as the wind carried them through the air… but back in those days, I hadn’t learned yet that referring to obvious hoaxes as airborne cephalopods would incite the rage and fury of the hard-assed skeptics out there. Hence, I was later forced to point out that my allusions to a “sky squid” had been somewhat tongue-in-cheek, despite my secret desire that there might actually be monstrous Lovecraftian Chthuloids drifting around in our upper atmosphere.

Alas, though such Horrors of the Heights don’t actually exist, I’m nonetheless cheered by the realization that squids do, in fact, fly through the air like rockets, after all. Hey, who would have thunk it?

The appear as if by magic–strange hovering lights above the horizon–that are mostly white, but often varying in color. What are they? Are these will o’ the wisp, or are they strange, intelligently controlled craft from another realm? Perhaps they are neither… or perhaps they are both. While we have various cultural names for these so-called “earth lights,” we have yet to find remarkably consistent scientific terms within which we can really seek to understand the phenomenon.

While physics anomalies, swamp gases, ball lightning and naturally free-floating plasma manifestations are all theories that could account for many strange airborne illuminations seen around the globe, as is often the case with strange phenomenon, our ability to explain their occurrence in a consistent, provable manner seems to continuously fall short of the mark… but why?

Some of the more popular locales known for being home to strange and eerie earth light manifestations include Marfa Texas, famous for it’s legendary “ghost lights,” as well as Hessdalen, Norway, where strange glowing illuminations have been reported since at least the 1940s. Another locale near-and-dear to my heart is the Linville Gorge, a wilderness just outside of Morganton, North Carolina, where a bizarre series of illuminations known as the Brown Mountain Lights have been seen for decades, if not for centuries.

Indeed, the first modern sighting of the strange lights at Brown Mountain appeared in newspapers around 1913, but there are earlier accounts dating further back, along with Cherokee legends that delve into the curious appearances of what have variously been called ghosts, lamp lights, and even UFOs at times throughout the years. It is also well known that official inquiries have been made into the nature of the lights and their cause, including a trip funded by the US Geological Survey the same year as the newspaper attention the lights received; their conclusion was that automobile headlights were behind the seemingly mysterious appearances. Despite the prosaic explanation from 1913, a subsequent trip would occur less than a decade later, and with an entirely different conclusion: the lights, though a real and valid phenomenon, were obviously “combustible swamp gases.”

Fast forward to the present: this past weekend the annual Brown Mountain Lights festival (at which I have appeared as a speaker in the past) was held in Linville Falls, North Carolina, just a few miles from Wiseman’s View, one of the best-known vantages for viewing the lights. During the conference, an old battle of wits continued it’s tug-o-war game, with the separate parties of pullers represented by my old associate Joshua P. Warren, a paranormal investigator with interest in fringe science, and Dr. Dan Caton, a local college professor who has preached with a no-compromise, devout cynicism regarding the illegitimacy of the lights and their adherents. According to an article in the Burke County News Herald, Caton’s view remains that, “there is no proof that visiting Brown Mountain at a certain time of year will make the lights more visible,” and that “there simply has not been enough recorded, scientific data to determine either the origin of the lights or why they occur.”

Something I’ve always marveled about, with regard to such statements, is that while he’s right, the only research I’ve known Caton to actively engage in over the years has involved visiting the overlook at Wiseman’s View, like so many others, and watching for hours. I can say from experience that anyone who chooses this approach (we call it “hit and miss”) for use in understanding the mystery of the Brown Mountain Lights will feel quite justified in their cynicism at the end of the evening, as predicting when the next light show is going to occur can be done with about as much success as predicting what kind of poultry or other meat will comprise Lady Gaga’s next on-stage costume. In other words, much like the controversial pop singer, they’re quite unpredictable… but “they” also quite certainly there.

And to my esteemed colleague Mr. Warren, I would say that, while he has engaged in active research throughout the Linville Gorge, implementing with hope and good cheer the use of scientific instruments in an attempt to solve the mystery (in fact, here’s his report on their potential cause), perhaps there is more that could be done. Granted, to my knowledge Warren is the only person in recent years to work actively at pursuing the mystery and the potential science that lay behind it; for this he deserves accolades. But let us remind ourselves that, despite the merit of his or anyone else’s theories, they must remain just that: just theories.

Much like the greater UFO phenomenon, the Brown Mountain Lights (also a variety of unidentified flying object, by definition alone) have been dismissed seemingly by the greater scientific establishment. Here we find a genuine anomaly in nature, and we have yet to reconcile with the strange circumstances that allow for their appearance… mostly because nobody with the serious funding and wherewithal to get out there and study them has taken interest. Again, to Warren’s credit, he’s done all he can given his budgetary constraints, but those kinds of operations are indeed limited.

In order to proceed with hope coming to a truly comprehensive understanding of earth light phenomenon (and thus potentially recognize new avenues toward understanding certain strange aerial phenomenon and UFOs), it has become a dire necessity that we shift our focus from seeking the answers ourselves, to an extent, and devote more of our time toward bringing recognition to the phenomenon, so that modernized, cutting-edge technology can be utilized in the study of strange earth lights; and not just at Brown Mountain, but at all the various locales around the globe where these objects tend to appear. Brown Mountain is merely one locale where the lights appear with remarkable consistency… perhaps knowing the general location for where such illuminations will occur is a step in the right direction; and with any luck, the illumination their study may provide could further lighten the path toward our greater scientific understanding of nature and the cosmos.

Human beings, like all members of the animal kingdom, are capable of awareness of their environment due to the presence of sensory organs, a nervous system, and of course, a brain. In the absence of these key attributes, it seems unlikely that a living organism would be aware of its environment on any level (or any at all) that would be comparable to humans and the animal kingdom.

This fundamental observation never kept polygraph expert Cleve Backster from delving into the secretive realm of plant consciousness, however. Beginning in 1966, the CIA Interrogation Specialist had been conducting experiments with plants hooked to polygraph equipment, when he first noticed that in some instances the plants would “react” to various stimuli in ways that suggested some level of awareness pertaining to their environment. Incredibly, Backster claimed to observe how some plants would cause polygraph readings similar to a person in distress when burned or harmed otherwise. On some occasions, the same effect could be registered as a result of Backster merely thinking about harming the plant in question.

And of course, as a result of his “studies,” Backster was labeled a crackpot by the skeptic community for ever suggesting an organism with no central nervous system could have any level of awareness of this sort. However, recent studies regarding what could be likened to “communication” between plants has now shown that plants might have been keeping a few secrets from us after all… and that perhaps a few of Cleve Backster’s more unorthodox claims could have some justification, after all.

For the first time, scientists at Exeter University have now captured on film the process by which plants alert each other to possible dangers. When a plant is under attack, it releases a gas that warns neighboring plants to protect themselves. It was already known that plants will secret a quick-acting toxin to help ward off herbivores seeking to consume them. Now, scientists at Exeter University who made the new discovery have likened their observations to “listening in on a conversation.” Upon release of the “warning” gas by a plant that is under attack, other plants nearby begin to react in a way that shows they are preparing for an “attack,” after coming into contact with the gases released by the initial plant. Following this remarkable study, scientists are now wondering if there could literally be, “a chatter between plants all around us.”

While this may not lend justification to the idea of plant awareness or consciousness, it certainly does illuminate some unique possibilities regarding Cleve Backster’s original research from the late 1960s. Among Backster’s claims, in addition to observing alleged reactions of plants using polygraph equipment, had been a few instances where a reaction could be garnered when another plant in the room had been “attacked.” That is, while one plant may have had, for instance, a flame held to it’s leaves, a different plant nearby that was hooked to a polygraph machine would register some form of response, which seemed to coincide with this “attack” occurring elsewhere. Knowing what we do now, especially with regard to how plants can secrete enzymes not only to protect themselves, but also to release gases that “communicate” dangers occurring nearby, does it illustrate that maybe certain aspects of Backster’s observations were correct after all, but perhaps interpreted inaccurately at times?

For more on Cleve Backster and his research, here is a classic video narrated by Leonard Nemoy that appeared on In Search Of… as well as this ever-enjoyable entry from over at the Skeptic’s Dictionary, which is almost laughable in its overt condescension.

In the field of psychic research, there has been long consideration given to the idea of a “sixth sense,” which might constitute an ability to perceive information about people and objects that seems to transcend our general understanding of space-time. On the other hand, those claiming to have actual intuitive abilities sometimes contest this notion of a so-called “sixth sense” altogether.

Robert Cracknell, a man heralded as “Britain’s leading psychic detective” for his numerous exploits in solving murders and disappearances with his intuition alone, has often described such a gift as the result of using the five senses in ways that others don’t; in other words, honing one’s natural abilities in a way that allows the known senses to become sharpened, and thus more sensitive to subtleties that the average person might overlook (hence the often-used term “extra-sensory perception”).

There are, however, other senses that obviously do exist beyond the five major senses of sight, smell, hearing, touch, and taste. Abilities such as sensing heat and cold, as well as pressure variations, are among the “lesser” senses that are known and recognized… and looking back to the ancestors of modern life here on planet earth, recent studies have suggested that ancient aquatic life forms may have harnessed even more unique senses than these.

PhysOrg.com reported recently on the study in question, which initially appeared in the Oct. 11 issue of Nature Communications. Spanning 25 years of research, close to “30,000 species of land animals (including humans) and a roughly equal number of ray-finned fishes” all share a common ancestor who, in ancient times, utilized “a well-developed electroreceptive system.” PhysOrg writer Krishna Ramanujan described this creature as follows:

This ancestor was probably a predatory marine fish with good eyesight, jaws and teeth and a lateral line system for detecting water movements, visible as a stripe along the flank of most fishes. It lived around 500 million years ago. The vast majority of the approximately 65,000 living vertebrate species are its descendants.

Though fascinating, it might not be too hard to fathom that creatures existing today–perhaps even humans–might still possess remnants of such abilities. Energy researcher and controversial engineer-of-the-impossible Tom Bearden has in the past referred to apparent psychic abilities as the result of what might be called “scalar interferometry.” This would essentially call into question whether as-yet unrecognized forms of energy, paired along with certain people’s ability to discern these in a sensory way, could form the basis of intuitive abilities… perhaps stemming from bioelectric signals produced by people’s bodies.

One might also take into consideration those who claim to be disoriented or disturbed otherwise by the presence of wireless broadband internet and EM fields produced by cellular phones and their service towers. This is no recent development; as far back as 2009, Fox News had reported that residents of the English town of Glastonbury had reported a number of physical issues they attributed to the presence of WiFi internet being hosted in the area:

Ever since the town’s free [WiFi] network went online in May, people have been complaining of… “headaches, dizziness, nausea, severe tiredness, brain fog, disorientation and loss of appetite, loss of balance, inability to concentrate, loss of creativity” — all ailments an examining physician would find it difficult to prove or disprove.

While “imagined” psychosomatic effects could be one factor here, if there is indeed evidence that could support such people’s argument that electromagnetic fields might influence our bodies in peculiar ways, this indeed might be a hold-over, of sorts, to ancient times, when our fishy ancestors might have used similar abilities to their advantage. Thus, while you might not have gills like those ancestors did (wait, you don’t?!?!), you still might possess remnants of unusual abilities ancient aquatic creatures had close to 500 million years ago. Indeed, some things never change…and even when they do, it looks like they take a damn long time.

It started with a curious noise outside… I actually thought there may have been an explosion. I stepped outside, with Eik, a trusty Rottweiler I’ve been watching for the past few days courtesy of some friends who are out of town, following directly behind me. Scanning the sky, as well as the rest of the neighborhood for anything strange, we couldn’t seem to find the source of this strange “explosion.” But this would hardly be the end to our strange day… in fact, it was only the beginning! 

I went back to work, answering emails and trying to crank out a few more articles (like this one) before a mid-day radio interview promoting the newest book in the Exposed, Uncovered and Declassified series that I’ve contributed to, titled Ghosts and Hauntings: Am I being Haunted? There had been phone calls coming in all day too, in addition to everything else going on, and at the moment in question my father had called to check in about a rendezvous time for an engagement we were attending together later that day. That’s when the sudden, blood-curdling howling began…

“Hold on dad, these dogs are going nuts!” I remember saying, as I rushed back to the bedroom where Eik and his sister, Sammie, were laying on the bed. They weren’t attempting to move otherwise, save for the lonesome howling they were both engaged in. I listened carefully to try and see if there was anything in the distance–perhaps a siren–that the dogs might be able to hear, but there was only silence. What had gotten these guys so stirred up all of a sudden?

I could hear dad laughing over the receiver as I tried to calm the two Rottweilers down, but they weren’t hearing of it. They just lay there another several seconds, howling away like a full moon had sprung up at the window–and then, as suddenly as they had begun, their lonesome cries just stopped.

That’s weird, I thought, and I went about my business, agreeing on a time to meet, and heading back over to my computer desk to try and take care of the rest of the day’s business before my interview.

It was around this time when things got shaky… I didn’t notice it myself, but only minutes later my father called back, very excited as he related to me the startling news: a 5.8 earthquake had struck near Charlottsville, WV, that both he and my brother had felt simultaneously over at my parent’s home. This quake was felt all up and down the east coast, in fact, and I would soon begin receiving calls about the incident from folks in South Carolina and other states nearby that had felt the tremor in their areas. Incidentally, the dogs had started howling only moments before the earthquake struck… had they sensed that the something big was about to occur?

Somewhat perplexed, I mentioned this on my Facebook page, and received several responses about the strange and unique ability pets seem to have when it comes to sensing oncoming earth changes. One user noted the following:

I did notice some strange insect behavior while eating my lunch outside. I saw a grasshopper walking backward disoriented around the time of the quake. More bees then usual were flying around in a hectic manner. Regardless if there was a connection, the animal world is amazing.

Another had this to say about her own canine companions:

Dogs are particularly sensitive, yes! My shepherd / labs do the same thing. They have plenty of opportunities here in California…our animal companions are amazing!

Of course, these sorts of things have been written about in books by authors like my friend Joshua Warren, whose book Pet Ghosts dealt with similar subject matter. Another friend, researcher Brad Steiger, dealt with the idea in his book Psychic Pets. Indeed, animals seem all-too capable of sensing atmospheric and terrestrial phenomena along these lines… had I happened to witness yet another instance of this strange ability, immediately preceding the large Earthquake that struck the United States?

If you have similar stories (especially pertaining to the earthquake that transpired on Tuesday just after 2:00 PM ET), you’re welcome, as always, to share them here in the comments section below.

Many people claim to possess psychic abilities that allow them to perceive things about others, which appear to stem from their intuitive powers. During a recent discussion I had with a talented (and lovely) psychic friend, she told me that in order for someone with psychic abilities to be able to receive “impressions” from another individual, it requires the person being whose mind is being read to sort of “open up.” In other words, a sort of mental connection must occur, where the individual is literally willing to be accessible via the intuitive abilities of another.

This may sound like supernatural mumbo-jumbo, but there could in fact be some scientific basis for why intuition seems to work best when somebody is open to having their senses probed. Here’s where it gets interesting though: of all places, evidence of this may in fact stem from recent studies with dogs, which seemed to exhibit the ability to “read people’s minds.”

A University of Florida study led by researcher Monique Udell found that both wolves and domestic dogs are able to “beg” for food from humans, indicating their ability to behave based on the sorts of reactions humans display (in this case, awarding them with food). “They are therefore likely born with the ability, since wolves would not have had much practice, which the typical pet dog gains by begging for treats during dinner and at other times,” the report reads. However, with more practice, dogs and wolves are able to get better at what the researchers call “canine telepathy.”

This instance, though more observable in a lab setting, indicates only one of the ways that dogs and other animals seem to be able to read their owners in ways that come close to exceeding the ranges of normal perception. Consider how, under many circumstances, dogs seem to be able to “predict” when their master will arrive home, and will appear waiting at the window or pawing at the door before the individual in question has even arrived. This is where another interesting parallel emerges, courtesy of our aforementioned study: the researchers state that, “These results suggest that dogs’ ability to follow human actions stems from a willingness to accept humans as social companions.” In other words, the dogs and wolves that are more willing to accept companionship of humans are also better able to “read” those people’s actions. Might this be likened to opening a mental “channel” or “pathway” of sorts, resulting in the ability to sense things about that person on a deeper level?

And what about humans? For illustrative purposes, let’s consider something like Facebook, where users may set their profiles to where others can’t view their homepage unless they’ve sent or accepted a friend request from that individual. Even on a solely interpersonal level, we use the expression “breaking the ice” when we talk about getting to know a person before a comfortable conversation can ensue. When my friend Anya (the psychic) and I were introduced, it took her a few minutes before she described that “the flood gates opened” and she was able to effectively perceive things about me (I’ll admit, I was more apprehensive at the outset of the reading Anya performed, and about midway through, once we’d begun cutting up and laughing, her success rate with discerning things about my personal life did seem to improve). She described this as me “opening up to her,” and that after I had done so, she was able to detect impressions more easily.

So could one of the interactive components of the intuitive process actually be friendship and camaraderie? Perhaps so… and if the University of Florida study mentioned earlier is any indication of how this occurs, we might be well advised when we’re attempting to read people’s minds to try (dare I say) doing it like the doggies do. Maybe man’s best friend is onto something after all… and if nothing else, I know the next time Fido starts begging for a biscuit, I won’t look at him quite the same!

What memories from your youth are you able to recall? Can you remember vividly some of the things that happened to you when you were a very young child? For many people, things that happened to them in their earliest years, particularly prior to age five, are represented by vague memories at best. However, there are occasionally people who claim to remember things from much earlier times in their lives.

I’ll be the first to admit to having such early memories myself. In fact, I can very easily recall explaining to my mother with certainty that my new younger sibling, which at the time was due in only a few weeks, would indeed turn out to be a baby boy (tests hadn’t indicated yet at that point whether I was to expect a brother or a sister). Being correct may not have exactly been a psychic feat, given that there was a 50% chance of success either way; nonetheless, my brother Caleb ended up being born on my third birthday, prompting several folks to ask about any odd “sibling synchronicity” we may have experienced over the years… as well as my parents and their uncanny sense of timing!

What is interesting here is that I wasn’t quite three years old myself when I sat in the living room of the family home, having this discussion with my mother, whose belly was bulging noticeably. This is certainly one of my earliest memories, although there are a few others from around age two that, while still present in my mind, aren’t quite as vivid as what we may somewhat humorously refer to as my first attempt at psychic prediction (hey, I was right, after all).

But recent studies have sought to understand not only how some early memories are recalled, but also how they change as we grow older. BBC News recently reported on this, citing experts from the Memorial University of Newfoundland, who asked 100 children between the ages of 4 to 13 “to recall three of their earliest memories and when they thought they had happened.”

The youngest children in the group were found to be able to recall memories from as early as 18 months, which were even verified by parents. After two years, however, the same children were again asked about their recollections, and found “that the younger children in the survey recalled different memories from those they had given before. Nor did they recall their earlier memories when presented with prompts.”

How might these sorts of circumstances potentially color the perceptions of strange phenomenon described over the years, or would they?

Many reports of alien abduction begin in the youth of claimed contactees, with people describing seeing lights outside their homes and late-night, bedroom encounters. Dr. Stephen Greer, founder of the Disclosure Project and author of the book Hidden Truth, Forbidden Knowledge described his own earliest experience with a UFO, which he viewed along with friends at the age of nine years old:

Little were we prepared for what suddenly appeared in the southwest sky: a silver, oval-shaped gleaming craft–obviously not an airplane or helicopter. It was seamless, totally silent–and unlike anything we’d ever seen. After hovering for a short time, it instantly vanished.

Greer goes on to discuss another experience later in life, akin to sleep paralysis, where he was visited by two lights, which he likened to being manifestations of God energy or some other spiritual presence. Following this encounter, Greer did describe being paralyzed while laying in bed for a short period, before healing “spontaneously” from an infection stemming from a sports injury. Could this later experience have been colored or influenced by the earlier memories of seeing a UFO at age nine? Perhaps more importantly, could the memories of the UFO have been colored by the later experience in hindsight?

It is questionable whether all abductees who claim to have had childhood encounters could have been experiencing an alteration of memories as time went on (and for more on childhood alien abductions, see my earlier article on this, as well as this one on more general childhood Forteana). However, the mind is well known to engage in various trickery of the senses, often leading to the perception that strangeness is afoot when, in reality, this may not be the case at all. Could it be that some people’s early memories are indeed “colored” in this way, questioning the notion that youthful encounters with the oddest elements of nature did indeed transpire? Or could some of these strange experiences be accurate, but the experiencers stopping to consider what may have actually transpired only years afterward in retrospect?

An examination of files that the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) has declassified under the terms of the Freedom of Information Act reveals that, in the Cold War environment of the 1970’s, the DIA spent considerable time researching the nature of, and potential uses of, of extra-sensory perception and psychic phenomena in a wartime setting. Not only that; the DIA was predominantly very troubled by one particularly nightmarish and nagging scenario: that the Soviets would succeed in using ESP as a tool of espionage, and that the secrets of the Pentagon, the CIA and just about everyone else would be blown wide open for psychic-penetration by the KGB and the Kremlin.

Acting on this deep concern, the DIA (along with elements of both the CIA and the U.S. Army) began to seriously address the issue of whether or not the powers of the mind would one day prove to be superior to – or at the very least, the equal of – more conventional and down to earth tools of espionage and warfare. And it was as a direct result of its intensive study of Soviet research into psychic powers for espionage purposes, that the DIA learned of some of the notable and extraordinary advances made by both Russian and Czechoslovakian scientists, whose attention was focused on the links between mental phenomena and the animal-kingdom.

Interestingly, one aspect of this research – detailed in-depth within the pages of a September 1975 document, Soviet and Czechoslovakian Parapsychology Research - reveals the DIA’s findings on this very issue in the former Soviet-Bloc countries.

As evidence of this, the file specifically addresses an intriguing, and grisly, Soviet Naval experiment that reportedly occurred in the mid 1950’s and that, at least a decade and a half later, was still considered to be highly classified in nature by Soviet authorities. Despite the overwhelming secrecy surrounding the event, the DIA was able to glean enough data suggesting that Soviet scientists were involved in research to determine what happens at the moment of death, the nature of death, and the possibility that animals experience some form of after-life.

The report carefully notes: “Dr. Pavel Naumov, conducted animal biocommunication studies between a submerged Soviet Navy submarine and a shore research station: these tests involved a mother rabbit and her newborn litter and occurred around 1956.”

The document continues: “According to Naumov, Soviet scientists placed the baby rabbits aboard the submarine. They kept the mother rabbit in a laboratory on shore where they implanted electrodes (EEG?) in her brain. When the submarine was submerged, assistants killed the rabbits one by one. At each precise moment of death, the mother rabbit’s brain produced detectable and recordable reactions.”

Demonstrating the sheer level of secrecy surrounding this particular affair, the DIA recorded that: “As late as 1970 the precise protocol and results of this test described by Naumov were believed to be classified. Many can be found in Soviet literature with dogs, bears, birds, insects and fish in conjunction with basic psychotronic research. The Pavlov Institute in Moscow may have been involved in animal telepathy until 1970.”

Did the Soviet Navy’s experiments of 1956 stumble upon the incredible secrets of life after death in the animal kingdom? That the mother rabbit’s brain produced, detected, and recorded significant reactions at the precise moment that her offspring were killed is both eye opening and not a little disturbing. One is also prompted to ask: were the results of this experiment indicative of evidence for the existence of some form of soul in the animal-kingdom?

We know nothing more as the Soviets immediately and effectively classified their findings in this area. Why they did so is, perhaps, as much a mystery as are the many and varied controversial issues pertaining to life beyond the confines of the physical body itself.