Preternatural is defined by the Merriam-Webster Dictionary of the English Language as:
1: existing outside of nature
2: exceeding what is natural or regular : extraordinary
3: inexplicable by ordinary means
Now we should all be on the same – or very similar – page about the ‘what’ of the word preternatural.. If I were to define preternatural, I would also include precognitive dreams, similar to, but not exactly that ewhich we call ‘Deja vu’. Precognitive dreams are dreams that appear to predict future events, but there is currently no scientific evidence that they can genuinely foresee the future. Many people report having experienced such dreams, often identifying them only after the related event occurs.
My position on that, is of course it would be “after the event occurs”, as it cannot be validated until then!
I have existed on planet Earth for eight decades, during which time I have experienced many preternatural events, beginning in my mid-teens. I recall two such events of the precognitive dream category, one of whch may have saved my life. My dream state is usually lucid, meaning I can see parts of/all my person within the dream. I normally have complete control of the dream.
I have been riding motorcycles since my 13th year.
OUIJA BOARD
I have had two experiences with the OUIJA Board, The first at ther age of 11, with my Grandmother. I had tried to phone my friend, Bobby that morning, but there was no answer. My G’ma got her OUIJA Board out, and we sat down to ‘play’. BE ADVISED – THE OUIJA BOARD IS MUCH MORE THAN A TOY!!
We each placed our hands on the planchette, and asked , “Where is Bobby?” The planchette began moving… M…O…V…I…E, M…O…V…I…E. Later that day I called Bobby’s phone again… he answered, and I asked where he had benn today, and he said he had gone to the movies with his mother. In my 11 year old mind, that made the OUIJA a fun toy!
My next OUIJA experience was after about a year in the US Navy. I was then 18, and had multiple shipmates as friends. One day a friend produced a OUIJA board, which was a big surprise to me. I didn’t question him about where, when or how he came by the board, and we sat down to use the OUIJA. Hands on the planchette, it began moving around the board. It went “VI HOT‘, repeating that three times. We paused, looking at each other, and it meant nothing to either of us. That was when one of our eight observors spoke up saying, “I know what it means. My sister, Violet and I, were raised on a farm. By the barn there was a 55 gallon drum of fuel on a stand, for our farming equiment. The drum had a very minor pinhole leak at the very top. The family always called sis Vi, and she was a 7 year old adventurer. One day she found some matches, and nobody kne she was playing with them near the drum of fuel. Somehow, she ignited the drum, and died immeidately. The best guess was that she was trying to ‘dry out’ the leak from the heat.”
We immediately stopped ‘playing’, and I never saw that board again!
PRECOGNITION
The first Pre-Cog dream was about 6 months bedore the event, and it showed me riding a motorcycle West on 40th Street South in St. Petersburg, FL. (we were Living on 40th SS, at the time, so that – in and of itself – was not unusual). About ¼ mile from my home the was a 3-4 foot elevation in the street due to railroad tracks crossing at that point. As I was approaching the giant speed bump, I attempted to reduce my speed by closing the throttle, which I failed to achieve. I then pulled my clutch, and kicked my transmissioon down one gear, which took effect just as I reached the base of the street hump. My bike and I became airborne. and after peaking at about 8 feet, I made a safe no-brakes landing, knowing that landing with brakes applied would be quite dangerous. And that happened exactly as my precog dream had said it would be.
The second p-c experience was much simpler. I was attending St. Petersburg Jr. High, and two friends approacched me during lunch break, as I was on the tarmac shooting some hoops.As they got closer, they asked me if I wanted to skip school the next day to celebrate the annual Gasparilla Day in Tampa, FL..
José Gaspar, also known by his nickname Gasparilla, is a mythical Spanish pirate who supposedly terrorized the Gulf of Mexico from his base in southwest Florida during Florida’s second Spanish period. Though details about his early life, motivations, and piratical exploits differ in various tellings, they agree that the ‘Last of the Buccaneers” was a remarkably active figure who amassed a huge fortune by capturing many vessels and ransoming many hostages during his long career, and that he died by leaping from his ship rather than face capture by the United States Navy, leaving behind his still-hidden treasure.
And sure enough, as I was forewarned by the p-c dream, it happened just as it was predicted. And, yes, I did attend the 1958 celebration of José Gaspar and his pirate crew!
I have also percieved two OBE’s (Out of Body Experience). However, both of these occured during sleep, and may have been nothing more than lucid dreams, Which is why I present it as “perceived. To me, it was real, but I will not go into further detail. These were in my early-mid 30’s, while stationed at Keesler Air Force Base, Bilioxi, Missippi.
Then there was the Phantom House…
I enlisted in the US Navy when I turned 17 years of age, and went to Basic Training at Great Lakes Naval Training Center in Ilinois. Upon completion of that training, I returned home on leave. I contacted my best firiend, Pete, upon my return and we decided to get together and celebrate my achievement..
In the mid-1950’s there was a place in St .Petersburg, FL called “Garth Hollow” by we teens. It was a mile or so North of the original Sunshine Skyway Bridge. Garth Hollow itself was a strange place, sitting directly along the Tampa Bay channel.
There was a one lane narrow dirt road, lined with scrub palmettos and assorted wild bushes and trees. The main attraction for us was an old Colonial-style, south-facing two story home… veranda and Colonial supports on the porch. In front of the home was a small kidney shaped pool, about 2’X3’, and the water in it was so black it was like looking into a black mirror, and a small rotted wooden jetty. Also on the west side of the property was an old carriage house, and a dirt berm containing and small concrete closet-like structure with no door and one window with three rebar’s in it.
The “story” that went with Garth Hollow is that it was last owned by an old couple who had a Great Dane dog. All three were supposedly buried on the property, and at some point in time their graves were robbed (I assume it was just the people’s graves). It was also told that they people were NAZI sympathizers during WWII, and the jetty was support for German U-boats.
I never went into the house, but some kids did. I did however enter the carriage house to see what it looked like. Upon turning to leave, I noticed a perfectly painted swastika above and inside the entrance. This reinforced the NAZI story in my teenage mind.
One day one of the kids decided to hop up the stairs to the second floor. About half-way up he went thru a stair and broke his leg. One of the older boys dad, owned a Sinclair service station in St.Pete (49th St & 15th Ave South), and it was equipped with an Army surplus A-Frame wrecker. He borrowed it, and about 50’ of heavy duty chain one day, drove it to Garth Hollow, and destroyed the old house. Flattened like a pancake.
2 years later, I returned to St. Pete on leave, having just completed Navy Boot Camp at USNTC Great Lakes, IL. I contacted my best friends, Pete M., and we decided to celebrate my graduation. Pete had a car, so we stopped by a Lil General and I picked up two 40oz Country Club Malt, one for each of us. It was dark outside, and even darker in Garth Hollow that night, We chose Garth Hollow for two reasons, it was secluded and neither of us were of legal age to drink.
We pulled into the hollow and parked in front of where the house once stood. I asked Pete if he had a ‘church key’, and he said, “In the glove box.” I found it and was about to open our beer when…… I looked up and saw the ‘Phantom House’ standing. It appeared to be transparent and in 3D, like what we know as a hologram today, but this was two years before the hologram was even started to be developed. I just froze in my seat, and said to Pete, “Do you see what I see?” He looked back through the windshield, said not a word, started the car again, and we were OUTTA THERE!
And THAT was my experience with the Phantom House of Garth Hollow!
YOUR THOUGHTS?
UNAPOLOGETICALLY AMERICAN 
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