Most Convincing Paranormal Event

[Battlehymn Republic]

Has their ever been a well-known event that you've read about or even witnessed that you would definitely attribute to some outside, perhaps extraterrestrial force? I don't mean that you read about- say, a very convincing ghost sighting and you start believing in spirits. I just mean something that seems to be definitely not a hoax, and almost convincingly real, that causes you to go "Whoa, that's weird" and is probably caused by some pheonomenon that is so far undiscovered.

The weirdest, and most "genuine" event for me is the Virgin Mary sightings in Zeitoun. This site's description follows, bolded mine:

"In 1968, while Americans were watching the Chicago riots at the Democratic Convention or live broadcasts from the Vietnam war, millions of Egyptians tuned in to broadcasts of a miraculous apparition of the Virgin Mary at a church in the town of Zeitoun, a suburb of Cairo. The amazing thing is that they were first spotted April 2 by a Muslim laborer named Atwa. He noticed someone walking on the dome of the Coptic orthodox church and said he first thought it was someone who was going to jump. He yelled at them to wait, then alerted passersby and fellow crewmen. Well, they all found out it wasn't just some woman. The apparitions lasted for 3 years and were broadcast by Egyptian TV, photographed by many professional photographers and also personally witnessed by Egyptian President Abdul Nasser. Over 1,000,000 people saw the manifestations, with sometimes as many as 200,000 people there at the same time. They all watched Mary pacing the roof and raising her hands in blessing - her robes being seen to move as the wind would blow. Dove-like objects would also appear with or around her and would move without flapping their wings, sometimes forming geometric shapes. The apparitions were believed to be responsible for numerous unaccountable healings, one which happened to be the finger of Atwa, which was full of gangrene and scheduled to be removed the day after he sighted the vision. Local seismic activity was 10 times greater than normal ...could this have had something to do with it or was it the other way around? Local legend said that the church had been built in 1918 by a man named Khalil, who said the Blessed Virgin came to him in a dream and asked him to build it. If he did, she said she would return in 50 years to bless it.

The local police, believing the apparitions to be an elaborate hoax, were unable to find any source of trickery. The government put teams of soldiers on a 15 mile radius search of the church to try to find any electrical devices or projectors which could be creating the images. Nothing was found."





Does this make me believe that Mary is still about and walking the Earth? Not necessarily. But it's definitely strange.

[wolveraptor]

Why are all the photos in negative black and white? It's far too common for hoaxers to take blurry or wierd photos in order to hide the fakeness of their hoax. The loch ness monster would've been a lot less convincing in high-definition color photos.

[LadyTevar]

The Mothman sightings. Find the book "The Mothman Prophecies" by John Keel, and ignore the movie that was out not long ago. Truth is stranger than fiction.

[Shroom Man 777]

The apparition happened in '68, in Egypt. I doubt they'd have bleeding edge photographic technology then and there.

[SirNitram]

Site 4/Area 51. Especially when browsing the airfields and targets they plowed out there, from the skies.

[wolveraptor]

The apparition happened in '68, in Egypt. I doubt they'd have bleeding edge photographic technology then and there.

Okay, but why is it in negative? Why didn't they develop the photo?

[Zero]

I once was experiencing a lucid dream... was killing everyone in sight, because I wanted to wake up, and was pissed because my body wouldn't let me. I got hit by a white truck, and awoke in a small white room. I looked across the room at a man, and I knew that the man was myself. I got a feeling about him that made me think that he was all-powerful, and all-knowing. We spoke for what felt like about 20 minutes, but I forget most of the conversation. I remember the last thing he told me, though. He said to me that I would be recieving a phone call, and that he'd let me wake up now. I did, and immediately looked at my phone. Nobody had called yet, and I had no missed calls. Within 12 seconds, however, the phone rang, and I answered. It was my girlfriend. This would make a bit of sense if this time were part of a daily rythm that she called by.. but it was 1:57 AM. This is just an anecdote, and won't really hold up as evidence of anything, but at the very least, it was an interesting experience. My question for myself has always been about whether the being I met in the dream was my own subconscious mind, or perhaps my own soul. I've figured out that I can't actually find a reason that I would know she was calling. I won't probably ever understand how. Is this the same thing as a phenomenon that I don't believe is a hoax? I just don't get how I could have had a sense about the near future... wierd...

[Lord Zentei]

Why are all the photos in negative black and white? It's far too common for hoaxers to take blurry or wierd photos in order to hide the fakeness of their hoax. The loch ness monster would've been a lot less convincing in high-definition color photos.

Indeed, I would like to see video clips from these TV broadcasts. I'd also like to know how come people always seem to identify vaguely humanoid shapes as famous religious figures whose actual appearance they have no way of knowing.

Also the number of people witnessing or claiming to witness these "events" proves nothing other than the foolishness of crowds. Note the "milk drinking" incident in India a few years back.

[Battlehymn Republic]

True, but it does seems strange that the lights were on for as long as they were.

All the pictures and videos here.

[Battlehymn Republic]

Another thing: I'd like to limit this thread, for now, to famous or semi-famous events that there's a lot to read about.

[Lord Zentei]

Another thing: I'd like to limit this thread, for now, to famous or semi-famous events that there's a lot to read about.

In other words, you would prefer not to have attempted refutations and explanations?

[Battlehymn Republic]

No, I'd certainly welcome any debunkings, there's a scarcity for the Zeitoun sightings and I'd like to read some theories.

I meant that I'd like to limit events that are not personal, but famous and so there is more to read about.

[Captain Cyran]

Another thing: I'd like to limit this thread, for now, to famous or semi-famous events that there's a lot to read about.

In other words, you would prefer not to have attempted refutations and explanations?

How the hell do you get "Don't debunk this" from "Lets keep to the more famous events so that there is more to examine."? If anything he was saying the exact opposite.

[Lord Zentei]

Another thing: I'd like to limit this thread, for now, to famous or semi-famous events that there's a lot to read about.

In other words, you would prefer not to have attempted refutations and explanations?

How the hell do you get "Don't debunk this" from "Lets keep to the more famous events so that there is more to examine."? If anything he was saying the exact opposite.

It seemed to come in the wake of critical appraisal of the Mary sightings in that Coptic church. Now I see it was a response to Zero132132's post.

[Bob the Gunslinger]

I'm always a fan of the Mothman incident. And the Dover demon, flatwoods monster, chupacabras, the Kentucky Goblin Scare, springheel Jack, the Mad Gasser, the Great Airship Scare, Area 51, the Rendleshem(sp?) Forest Incident, the Frog Men, fish falls, and all that other wacky jazz.

Personally, I think things like the Loch Ness monster and Mkole-Mbembe are the most convincing sightings, because they can always be misidentifications of some strange new (non-dinosaurian) species or something.

[Lord Zentei]

I seem to recall sonar imaging of Loch Ness not finding a trace of any large animals there.

[VT-16]

Ok, I watched one of these poor quality videotapings or pictures of Maria, and I can´t say I´m convinced that this is a real phenomenon. The cynic in me is yelling "publicity-stunt!" and wondering where the wires are.

[kheegster]

True, but it does seems strange that the lights were on for as long as they were.

All the pictures and videos here.

The videos in the site that I saw were documentaries which did not include video footage of the apparition.

[Bob the Gunslinger]

I seem to recall sonar imaging of Loch Ness not finding a trace of any large animals there.

I thought that they found a lot of large schools of fish.
Combine this with the underlake caves and the river that leads to the ocean and you have plenty of wriggle room for whatever theory you want.

I like the large eel or lost whale theories myself, even if they don't have any evidence. I'd simply LOVE for them to find another living fossile creature, like the coelocanth, but what are the odds of one living in Loch Ness and not being discovered?
I still fantasize about them discovering that Ogopogo is a type of Zeuglodont (ancient whale). Then we could clone him and have our own army of leviathons...

[Dooey Jo]

The thing that never fails to amuse me about all of these "virgin Mary" sightings is, how the Hell do they know it's the virgin Mary they see? It's not like they had photography 2000 years ago and there're pictures of her lying around or anything...

[LadyTevar]

I'm always a fan of the Mothman incident. And the Dover demon, flatwoods monster, chupacabras, the Kentucky Goblin Scare, springheel Jack, the Mad Gasser, the Great Airship Scare, Area 51, the Rendleshem(sp?) Forest Incident, the Frog Men, fish falls, and all that other wacky jazz.

Personally, I think things like the Loch Ness monster and Mkole-Mbembe are the most convincing sightings, because they can always be misidentifications of some strange new (non-dinosaurian) species or something.

There's a new book out that gives more detail to the Flatwoods Monster, including possible debunks.

What's the Rendleshem Forest Incident?

[Nephtys]

The thing that never fails to amuse me about all of these "virgin Mary" sightings is, how the Hell do they know it's the virgin Mary they see? It's not like they had photography 2000 years ago and there're pictures of her lying around or anything...

Don't forget that earlier 'Holy Highway Stain'. Basically, any lump in those rough proportions is a sighting of the Virgin Mary. It's the same reason Jesus is suddenly that white guy with the facial hair and mullet.

Area-51 is probably the least crackpotted of those 'sighting' places, because UFOs can be explained by other things. The frontal profile of a stealth fighter I saw from a photo looks just like the flying ashtray profile that's classicly portrayed on GrainyCam(tm).

I always thought that really famouse black and white Loch Ness photo was a funny shaped log. And it was proven that another was a Golden Retriever swimming in the water while very out of focus.

As for religious experiences on my part? Well, I had a dream once where I saw Kosh... *hides*

[VT-16]

What's the Rendleshem Forest Incident?

Apparently, a UFO-encounter:

http://chasingmidnight.co.uk/Mambo/inde ... df=1&id=43

[Zero]

I have a British friend who tells me that Britain has a rule about coverups, where they admit everything after 20 years. I wonder if that applies to odd UFO sightings... if they did have a coverup, will they talk about it? Is this even a true policy? How interesting will cold war stuff seem, eh? Lol... maybe that particular incident will have some light shed on it soon enough.

[Zero]

EDIT: Since the event happened in 1980, I guess if there were a 20 year limit, that point would already have been passed. Either there is no coverup, or they just wouldn't release any info.