Premonitions of Death

[Brown]

Skeptics often say that the reason premonitions of death pack such a wallop when they come to pass is that people forget the misses and remember only the hits.

I resolved that I ever had a premonition of death (e.g., in a dream, or a sudden notion that popped into my head that a person had died, even though I had no evidence to that effect), I would record it to see whether it is a hit or a miss.

This morning, I found myself thinking "Russell Johnson has died!" Russell Johnson is best known as the Professor on "Gilligan's Island." I had no reason whatsoever for this thought, and I subsequently dismissed it as unfounded.

I've never met Mr. Johnson, and have not heard his name in at least five years. According to the imdb, he is still alive and is 80 years old. His most recent work was as a guest on "Pyramid."

Anyway, if Mr. Johnson should meet his end within the next few days, it will be a "hit." Otherwise, I will remember this premonition as a "miss."

 

[Ipecac]

Boy, I sure hope you're wrong! I love the Professor!

(Obviously, as a skeptic, I won't be losing any sleep over this.)


I will boldly predict that the Pope won't last another two weeks.

 

[Beady]

Anyway, if Mr. Johnson should meet his end within the next few days, it will be a "hit." Otherwise, I will remember this premonition as a "miss."

The man is 80 years old! Why in hell should you get any points if you guess correctly that an 80-year-old man is about to crap out?

BTW, what's the prize? Are you practicing for the $million? You'd do better to predict, say, Sammy Sosa's death.

 

[Brown]

Re: Re: Premonitions of Death

The man is 80 years old! Why in hell should you get any points if you guess correctly that an 80-year-old man is about to crap out?

BTW, what's the prize? Are you practicing for the $million? You'd do better to predict, say, Sammy Sosa's death.

You have missed the point entirely.

The purpose here is not to predict deaths or to run a "dead pool." The purpose here is to report a feeling that I experienced today that had no basis in fact. I can't remember the last time I thought of Russell Johnson, but suddenly this morning the premonition of his death popped into my head.

I am merely reporting the premonition. I expect that it is of no value, and even if it turns out to be "predictive," it would be nothing more than a lucky guess.

By the way, I did not know until today that Johnson was 80. I thought he was younger than, say, Shatner and Nimoy (who are both 73); but it turns out Johnson's quite a bit older.

 

[mayday]

Brown, at least you now know how to perfectly apply the saying, "can't see the forest for the trees." These people already have their minds made up, and yes, I see exactly where the poster missed the point entirely. I think the poster missed the point on purpose.

I know exactly what you mean, though. The other day I bought a CD at Hastings. The music was from various artists I have never heard of (I recognized ONE group: Simon & Garfunkle) so I assumed most of the music (with the exception of S&G) was from new artists of all genres, as there was acoustics mixed with techo...it was a really hip CD.
Anyway, I started looking up to see what I could find out about the artists. For some reason the thought that one of them was dead kept coming to me, but I thought this was ridiculous so I dismissed it. I looked up one of the artists, Nick Drake. I saw a very handsome young man and read underneath that he died in 1974 at age 26!
Yes, there are things that are more than coincidence.

 

[Roadtoad]

You could always check it out here....

 

[Chocolate Chip]

Re: Re: Re: Premonitions of Death

mayday wrote
I know exactly what you mean, though...snip....Anyway, I started looking up to see what I could find out about the artists. For some reason the thought that one of them was dead kept coming to me, but I thought this was ridiculous so I dismissed it. I looked up one of the artists, Nick Drake. I saw a very handsome young man and read underneath that he died in 1974 at age 26!
Yes, there are things that are more than coincidence.

Umm... no, it seems you DON'T know exactly what he means. Did you read his post and understand it ?? You are attributing this "feeling" as something more than coincidence. He is saying that even if his "premonition" turns out correct, it would be no more than LUCK. He even goes as far to say that he would dismiss it as unfounded. Do you know the difference???

I am merely reporting the premonition. I expect that it is of no value, and even if it turns out to be "predictive," it would be nothing more than a lucky guess.

Where in Brown's statement does he even IMPLY that if this "premonition" came true, that it would be "more than coincidence". How do you reconcile these two opposite notions, pure luck and more than coincidence?

Brown, I would give it a week to see if anything happens. BTW did you have any type of "visions" as well. Any scenario play out in your mind's eye about the professor, or just a feeling?

 

[Beady]

I know exactly what you mean, though. The other day I bought a CD at Hastings. The music was from various artists I have never heard of...

Really? You know for a fact that you never ran across them while flipping channels, walking past billboards, turning pages in a magazine, overhearing parts of conversations... You never once encountered their names?

Anyway, I started looking up to see what I could find out about the artists. For some reason the thought that one of them was dead kept coming to me, but I thought this was ridiculous so I dismissed it. I looked up one of the artists, Nick Drake. I saw a very handsome young man and read underneath that he died in 1974 at age 26!
Yes, there are things that are more than coincidence.

How many artists were on this CD? What was the time span represented by the recordings?

Let's say there were 10 artists (there were almost certainly more), and we know that at least one of the songs was recorded at least 30 years ago. Each of the artists was probably at least 20 years old at the time the recordings, making them 50, today. What are the odds that a select group of at least 10 people will reach age 50 without at least one of them dying?

And that's assuming no excessive drug abuse.

Among a group of musicians.

 

[SherryA]

Brown's Premonition Notes

A smart thing you're doing, Brown. All my life people have insisted that I'm psychic. I started taking note of all the times I thought anything "unusual" and guess what? It's just like keeping a food diary of what you eat when you're dieting. It raises your awareness. Whenever anyone brings up the subject that they themselves are psychic, I suggest they do this, that they write down, or at the very least try to notice every thought they have that, if it materialized, they'd be tempted to think resembled a premonition. Most people begin to doubt their psychic certainties, even if some remain convinced.---Sherry A.

 

[Vikram]

Anyway, I started looking up to see what I could find out about the artists. For some reason the thought that one of them was dead kept coming to me, but I thought this was ridiculous so I dismissed it. I looked up one of the artists, Nick Drake. I saw a very handsome young man and read underneath that he died in 1974 at age 26!
Yes, there are things that are more than coincidence.

Wouldn't that be somewhat of an overinterpretation? I was at a shopping mall recently and just before I walked through the door, the idea of the security alarm beeping crossed my mind. Imagine my surprise when the alarm actually went off as I walked through. A cursory check through my bags revealed that the guy at the counter had neglected to remove the security tag from one of the shirts I'd bought.

But to think that something of that sort constitutes "more than coincidence" is a little too much. I've often had dreams and premonitions about disasters, death and triumphs. In a very large majority of the cases, they have amounted to nothing.

SherryA has an excellent suggestion. Carry a little writing pad with you and document everything that pops into your mind. We have something to talk about only if most of those documented things come true. Otherwise, it's just another case of coincidence combined with selective memory.

 

[jambo372]

I don't know if this would be considered premonition of death.

My mother was shaving my granda, she said "I better hurry up, this might be his last shave."

He died on the afternoon of the following day.

 

[Brown]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Premonitions of Death

Brown, I would give it a week to see if anything happens. BTW did you have any type of "visions" as well. Any scenario play out in your mind's eye about the professor, or just a feeling?

No visions; can't really remember having any of those in any event.

In my case, my brain had a flash of emotions that went something like this:

"Russell Johnson is dead!"
"Awwwww, I liked him!" (accompanied by a profound feeling of sadness and loss)
"Wait a minute..."
"...I don't really know that he's dead, do I?"
"Hmmm."
"I wonder why I thought he was dead. Have I listened to the radio this morning or watched TV? No."
"Was his death--or ANYTHING about him--mentioned in the news yesterday? No."
"Do I have ANY reason for thinking he's dead? No."

The feelings of sadness and loss were very real. When I saw Johnny Carson's death announced on TV, I felt the same way. But in Carson's case, the emotions were prompted by the receipt of news of a factual event. In Johnson's case, the emotions were prompted by a premonition completely unsupported by evidence.

Still, as I started to access the Web that morning, I couldn't help but think, "How am I going to react if I check the obituaries, and find that Johnson really DID die??"

 

[Vikram]

I don't know if this would be considered premonition of death.

My mother was shaving my granda, she said "I better hurry up, this might be his last shave."

He died on the afternoon of the following day.

Sorry to hear about your grandfather.

I don't know if I would call that premonition, though. If your mother had to shave him, that would probably mean that he wasn't in the greatest of health in the first place. People who're caring for very old and dependent people rarely go a few days without fearing that that day might be the last they spend together.

 

[Ed]

I don't know if this would be considered premonition of death.

My mother was shaving my granda, she said "I better hurry up, this might be his last shave."

He died on the afternoon of the following day.

Sounds like one of those "witty" sayings that don't improve with repitition. Did she say it everytime she shaved the old guy or did it sort of come to her this one time? If it was this one time was she jolly and gay or troubled.

 

[Beady]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Premonitions of Death

In my case, my brain had a flash of emotions that went something like this:

"Russell Johnson is dead!"
"Awwwww, I liked him!" (accompanied by a profound feeling of sadness and loss)
"Wait a minute..."
"...I don't really know that he's dead, do I?"
"Hmmm."
"I wonder why I thought he was dead. Have I listened to the radio this morning or watched TV? No."
"Was his death--or ANYTHING about him--mentioned in the news yesterday? No."
"Do I have ANY reason for thinking he's dead? No."

First of all, let's remember that the guy is still alive. Second, even if he does die in "the next few days," whatever that means, he's 80 years old and there's no reason anyone shouldn't die around that age. Third, if your account, above, is accurate, you've already been proven "dead" wrong (sorry, couldn't resist), because your actual "premonition" was that he is already dead. Got that? The actual premonition has already been proven wrong. What we're dealing with now is a fear that something might happen, not a premonition that it will.

If you're in a crap game, is it a premonition or a fear that the next roll will be snake-eyes? If it does come up snake-eyes, which was more accurate, your premonition or your knowledge of the odds?

Why would you think he's dead? Try inserting this sentence somewhere into your internal dialogue: "Well," if he's not dead, he must be getting up there."

As for why you thought of Russell Johnson at all, I don't know. I do know that our brain isn't as much under our control as we like to think, and hundreds of thoughts and memories come to us, unbidden, all the time. Have you never suddenly, for no reason at all, recalled something from your very early childhood, or some completely inconsequential incident that you have no reason to remember?

So, if this was just a random, unbidden thought, why did you run with it? Well, it sounds like you enjoyed "Gilligan's Island," and liked The Professor. It's a pleasant memory for you, and maybe you wanted to spend some time with it. But your ambient knowledge of Time was in the back of your thoughts throughout, and spoiled it.

So, there's a logical explanation for all of it. Whether you choose to accept or even consider it is your problem, not mine.

 

[Beady]

Sounds like one of those "witty" sayings that don't improve with repitition. Did she say it everytime she shaved the old guy or did it sort of come to her this one time? If it was this one time was she jolly and gay or troubled.

Or was her manner matter-of-fact? Even a death watch can be pretty prosaic, if what I call the "slide" is gradual enough. It happened with my father, we all knew months in advance that it was coming, and every time he went to the hospital we all had the "This is it" feeling." Even Dad talked about it, and eventually our "premonition" came true.

There's no premonition, here, just a recognition of what's happening.

 

[voidx]

Posted by Brown
"Do I have ANY reason for thinking he's dead? No."

This is far too absolute of a statement. We like to think we're privy to anything and everything that might be swirling around in our brains. And we're simply not. Obviously some combination of thoughts brought forth the rather random thought of Russel Johnson is dead. You really don't have any idea how it came about so you really cannot say you had no reason for thinking it. You thought it, therefore there was some reason. However, whether that reason seems in anyway logical to you is a different story. I think its pretty clear our brain comes up with illogical thought patterns on a pretty regular basis.

Going on the concept that your consciousness is a product of your brain and its processes it really doesn't seem so strange that the process' in your brain might be able to show a path to reason, even if illogical, that its not apparent to you (the consciousness produced by that brain). It would merely be coincidence unless it was highly reliable and precise. And even then, who knows what unconscious cues your brain might be picking up, that the consciousness never really registers.

 

[Locnar]

There's an alternate question:

If Mr. Johnson fails to die in the "next few days", despite being 80 years old, will you then renounce your belief that you have supernatural premonitions? It only seems fair, since you are saying that if he does then you in fact have supernatural powers.

I for one am not going to hold my breath waiting for you to recant.

 

[Brown]

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Premonitions of Death

So, there's a logical explanation for all of it. Whether you choose to accept or even consider it is your problem, not mine.

Get help. You have serious deficits in the areas of reading comprehension, simple logic, as well as basic good manners.

Originally posted by Locnar
If Mr. Johnson fails to die in the "next few days", despite being 80 years old, will you then renounce your belief that you have supernatural premonitions? It only seems fair, since you are saying that if he does then you in fact have supernatural powers.

I for one am not going to hold my breath waiting for you to recant.

I will never renounce my belief in my supernatural premonitions, NEVER!

Since I have never asserted any belief in supernatural premonitions, I have nothing to renounce.

You've been reading too much Beady. He completely missed the point, too.

 

[Moose]

Just thought I'd mention, Brown, that someone at least, has read and understood what you're getting at.

And it's not a bad idea. Not bad at all. Maybe I'll start logging any death "premonitions" I have, as well. (Not that I believe they're predictive. Only a product of my over-fertile imagination.)