Interview-Alternate Perceptions Magazine, November 2015
An Interview with the Paranormal Palace’s Sandy Nichols:
Alien abductee, ghost hunter, and founder of the Alien Research Group
by: Brent Raynes
Sandy Nichols is the founder and president of the Alien Research Group (ARG) located in Thompsons Station, TN. This organization is dedicated to assisting alien abductee percipients with working through the mental and emotional confusion and difficulties often associated with such unusual experiences and to help them locate certified mental health counselors and hypnotherapists if needed.
Check out Sandy’s website at: www.alienresearchgroup.com.
Brent Raynes: Sandy, I finally tracked down when we first met. It's in a journal I was keeping at the time, that described how back around the second week in December 1997, you had called me and introduced yourself. You were living in Brentwood, Tennessee at the time and Aileen Garoutte, the founder and director of the former UFO Contact Center International, had put us in touch.
Later I interviewed you for this magazine, then in print. This was issue number 47, back in the summer of 1999. As with so many UFO experiencers I have met through the years, the paranormal was not only prominent with you since childhood, it also showed up in your alien experiences as well. I particularly remember, from that initial interview in 1999, how you described seeing a classic type grey alien floating in the air at the condo you were staying at in Destin, Florida, back in May 1998. You described how it floated right through a railing up on the second story and went through the wall into what would have been your bedroom.
It struck me at the time how ghost-like your grey was. I remember how early on I wrote to John Keel back around 1971 about this stuff and he suggested I study literature on apparitional phenomena and psychical research material too. There definitely seems to be a major connection here. The frame of reference may be perceived differently, but the characteristics seem quite similar. Like so many UFO abductees I have met and been in touch with, they also have a lot of classic ghost type stories as well.
Sandy Nichols: I remember our first meeting very well. You, and your lovely wife, Joan, came to my home, and maybe your daughter, Chandra, as well. The interview came off quite well, and I credit this interview for getting the ball rolling, so-to-speak. That resulted in me being contacted by many other people interested in my story. One of these people was a lady named Patricia, who lived in Readyville, TN. She had just begun having monthly Gatherings of like minded folks at her home. These Gatherings began with just a few people, but as word spread it was not unusual to have upwards of thirty to fifty people attending. During these Gatherings, we all shared our strange experiences with each other. It was the direct result of this sharing that helped me to formulate my own ideas, theories, and opinions about my personal experiences. As Keel wrote back in 1971, there do seem to be connections associated with the various aspects or subject matters lumped into the general paranormal definition. I will share some theories I have in regard to these connections.
Someone will contact me seeking help for what they believe are alien abductions. I will also be contacted by others who are claiming to be having ghost/spirit experiences. At first I did not connect the two together, but after a period of time I began noticing similarities between the different experiences. I wondered if the two different experiences could in fact be one in the same. Further research led me to believe, that though similar on the surface, underneath there were major differences. A good example of one of these major differences would be this. A person is walking through their home and unexpectedly sees a physically formed, human ghost/spirit. It walks in front of them and then disappears. A person awakens from a deep sleep, in a paralysis like state, and sees several very strange looking beings standing over them. They are then levitated off the bed, and then the next thing they know they are back in their bed with memories and maybe physical marks caused by some type of medical procedure. In the countless numbers of cases I have investigated, never once have I come across a case where a ghost/spirit physically abducted someone.
But there still seems to be a connection that goes beyond the few similarities between the two, and I feel that the main connection is based on one overlooked fact....a person’s energy.
Every person exudes energy, and this energy can be good, bad, or indifferent. Dependent upon the person, their energy can be high, medium, or low. I believe that ghost/spirits and aliens are attracted mainly to those individuals with the highest energy level, but there are exceptions. For ghost/spirit interaction with the living, the exception seems to be associated with various physical locations such as older homes, battlefields, and sacred/spiritual sites, and what dramatic emotional events had transpired in the past life of the ghost/spirit. On the other hand, some aliens seem to have an agenda based on studying humans. Depending on the alien species the agenda could be helpful or harmful toward humans. My research has shown that the main focus of the agenda is focus on those humans who have had a lifetime of abductions beginning in childhood. Most of these abductees are of high energy and often have an outgoing personality. These abductees are subjected to an assortment of physical, emotional, and spiritual experiments. About one quarter of those people who have contacted me seem to have had only a single abduction experience. I believe there is a reason for this. Aliens are probably cross-checking the differences in experiments to determine how humans of different energy levels react.
My research also shows that for lifelong abductees, abductions came first and then were followed later in life with ghost/spirit experiences. It is my theory that even if a person had not been subjected to abductions, their high energy level would eventually attract ghost/spirits. Of course this is based on whatever the person is willing to accept that they are having ghost/spirit experiences and not writing off these experiences to some standard, status-quo explanation.
My research also shows that for those people who are having abduction, ghost/spirit experiences, there is a tendency for them to also have a keen interest in other aspects of what is commonly associated with the Paranormal such as......UFOs, Bigfoot, Magic, Native American Spirituality and Legends, energy work such as Reiki, an interest in Ancient Cultures and their gods such as Egyptian, Mayan, Aztec, Incas, Druids, Celts, Viking, etc. And my research indicates that there seems to be some type of connection with all of these subject matters. Maybe this connection stem from the theories of Ancient Astronauts and their interactions with early humans. As we know much of our ancient history has been hidden from the masses for unknown and maybe nefarious reasons.
Brent Raynes: More rare, but reported by others, and perhaps related to the American Indian "Stick Figure" stories, are your encounters with what you've called Stick Man. You shared this situation with Brad Stieger, and it appeared a couple or so years ago in one of his books.
Sandy: When I wrote and contributed the Stick Man article for Brad Stieger's book, I had seen Stick Man on three different occasions. I have since seen Stick Man two more times.
The first time I saw Stick Man I was standing in my driveway looking up my street waiting for our good friends, Bret and Gina Oldham of Halo Paranormal, and two other friends to arrive. The time was twilight middle ground between the light of the day and the dark of the night....just enough light to still see things clearly. My home is located in a rural area on a short road at the end of a cul-de-sac in a two year old, newly developed neighborhood. There were just a few homes built at this time and surrounded by woods and farmland. As I waited, still looking up the road, Stick Man suddenly appeared standing on the grass some three feet off the road surface. For several seconds he just stood there. He then took one step with his right leg and it landed half-way across the road. He then took a second step with his left leg, and this step landed about three feet on the other side of the road. These two steps covered a distance of around 26 feet, and then he just suddenly wasn't there anymore. Bret and Gina arrived five minutes later, and the other people about 15 minutes later. After sharing with them what I had witnessed, we went into my home and shared other experiences, and conducted a Spirit Box session. Nothing strange happened during this period of time.
Around 11 pm Bret, Gina, and the two others decided it was time to leave. Gina got in on the passenger side of the car and shut the door. Their car was parked in the parking area of the driveway with the front of their car facing up the street. Bret and I continued to talk for a few more minutes, with Bret standing next to the car with the driver side door opened, and me being behind the car on the right side. The other two people had left a few minutes earlier. It was during mine and Bret's conversation that I noticed my oldest black lab, Savannah, standing on the right of the car and staring upward looking through the front windshield of the car. Suddenly, Savannah bolted around the car and stopped about two feet on the left, front side of the car. She began barking at something past the small bushes that lined the parking area and out into the side yard. We could see nothing out of place. I then moved around the car to the left side, a few feet shy of where Bret was standing. My other black lab, Carolina, came and stood beside me and began barking. By this time Savannah had taken an aggressive, defense posture....Hackles up all the way down her back, front end down, back end up, and growling and barking at the same time. Her growl and barking was one of being really pissed off at something. This continued for a minute or so, then she suddenly jumped backwards as if what she was barking at suddenly lunged at her. She then resumed her defensive posture, and it was obvious to see that she was not going to back up anymore. She was about a foot or so to the left of Bret. She then moved sideways and began moving Bret closer to the car. She then began moving Bret back toward the back of the car where I was standing. She was trying to protect Bret since he was the closest to whatever she was barking at. We still could not see anything, even though residual lights from the house were illuminating the side yard a bit.
When she had moved Bret closer to where I was standing she suddenly bolted through the bushes into the side yard with Carolina right behind her. When they were about half-way across the side yard they made a sharp right turn and headed toward the back yard and woods behind my home right off of the property line. All three of us wondered what had spooked my dogs so much and made Savannah so aggressive. I wondered if the Stick Man creature was still around. About five minutes later they came back to the car. Three minutes later they began barking again and through some thorny, rose bushes on the left side of the parking area into the front yard. A few minutes later they returned to the car. After a few more minutes of talking, Bret and Gina departed. Nothing else happened for the rest of the night.
I saw Stick Man two more times within a year after the first experience. The second time I saw him I was driving home on a country road after volunteering all day at the church my wife attends. It was about 7:30 pm. I was driving a few miles under the posted speed limit following an elderly lady in front of me. After driving several miles further the lady turned on her right blinker. She was coming up onto two driveways on the right and a cross street. I slowed down so as not to tail-gate her which created about a hundred foot gap between us. She turned into the second driveway right before the cross street. As soon as she was completely in her driveway I clicked on my high-beams. My headlights illuminated a long span in front of me and on both sides of my car. It was at this time I saw Stick Man for the second time.
He was standing in a side yard of a home opposite where the lady had turned into her driveway. This side yard was more like a small, open, low cut, farm field. I slowed down even more and he began moving toward the road. His stride was so long that even though he was walking, it almost looked as if he was running. He crossed the road not more than fifty feet in front of me. The high beams of my car lit him up like a searchlight. Once across the road he moved in front of a three rail fence that ran down the length of the first driveway that butted up against the property line of the elderly lady's property. The fence was a dark, black color as well as the color of Stick Man, but Stick Man's body did not blend in with the black color of the fence. Even when he got past the furthest point of where my headlight where shining I could still see him very clearly.
The third time I witnessed Stick Man I was sitting in my hot tub around 3 am. As is my habit whenever I am outside I am constantly looking around in all directions. On this particular night I happened to look to my right and saw him. He appeared to be floating, slowly moving through the air. He was in the open when I first noticed him. He floated toward the back of my pool house which is detached and behind the main house. He passed the back corner of the pool house, the top of his head a few inches above the gutter, and then disappeared. The height from the ground to the gutter I measured at a little over twelve feet in height.
After my third sighting I wrote the experience up and sent it out by e-mail to our good friends with whom we investigate. I had also written up and shared the last two experiences as well. On this third sighting report I gave the creature the nick- name, "Stick Man." Our good friend, Cathy Brockway, replied back that she had not received the two previous reports. I resent these to Cathy. Cathy replied back that she had received them, but was thrown off by me giving a nick-name to the creature. She then shared that she had seen something very similar just a minute or so after leaving my home that very first time. It turns out that her sighting of Stick Man occurred several months before my first sighting, and the following is what I included in my article for Brad's book.
"Within a few seconds after Cathy had left my driveway she reached the end of the cul-de-sac that I lived on and turned right onto Saddle Springs Blvd. She had barely turned right when her thoughts changed from the Ghost Box session to that of planned events with her family the next day. Another hundred yards or so down the road, these thoughts faded as the headlights from her van illuminated what she believed to be at first a severely malnourished, over-sized deer. This deer was standing just off the road next to a driveway. As she drew even closer she began to wonder if she was seeing a deer at all but something entirely different.
"When I first saw him, he was down on all fours. His head was shaped something like a Chihuahua, but without any type of a protruding muzzle or snout. It was more flat looking. As I got a closer look I could see no skin or hair covering the creature's body. Its arms, legs and trunk looked more skeleton-like than anything else. The bone structure was no more round than the cardboard core on Christmas, wrapping paper. And the whole body had this really strange yellow, red and orange glow that was like a cross between translucent, neon, opaque. The glow was really hard to describe. I could not tell if the creature was self illuminating or its body was just reflecting my car headlights."
She was also concerned that whatever this was would suddenly bolt across the road, so she quickly applied her brakes and slowed her vehicle down to a crawl. This was a very wise decision, for suddenly this creature reared itself up on two legs and ran not more than a foot in front of her vehicle across the road. But using the word "ran' is rather understated based on Cathy's experience. "He moved so quickly that it was almost like a blur" she explained. "And there was something else. Even though he was a blur, I could still see his form, but I could not see the upper half of his head. It had not disappeared, but was just hidden from my line of sight because it was above where the roof and front window converge. And during the rest of my drive home I was having this back and forth battle going through my thoughts. My logic was trying to convince me that it was only a deer, but at the same time my logic was also telling me I had witnessed something amazing and very strange, something unknown. ""
Cathy's sighting description was almost exactly what I witnessed except for a few exceptions. Cathy saw the creature head-on. All three of my sightings were profile sightings from its left and right side. This allowed us to come up with a very clear, three dimensional description of the creature.
From a side profile view, the creatures head was very similar in shape to the Crystal Skull used in the third "Indiana Jones" movie. The thinness of the creature as Cathy described was confirmed by my side, profile view. The creature apparently has the ability to change color at will. The creature's entire body was this strange, neon, translucent, glowing color, where during my first sighting, only the torso was this way. During my second and third sighting, the creature was a dark, black color. During my fourth and fifth sighting of the creature, his color was more of a mixture of dark grey and dark black. The way the creature moved, the distance it covered in its stride, and its height (at least eight feet tall) (Cathy was driving a Van), was confirmation of its identical features and size of my sightings.
Brent, if you would not mind sharing what you shared with me awhile back of the Ute Indian Legend of a similar type of creature, I think that your readers would find that of interest.
Brent Raynes: Khat Hansen, a self-described healer and experiencer of Choctaw ancestry, had written me in 2013 the following in regards to your Stick Man description:
“There is actually an old, old legend about these creatures. These creatures were created so long before humans that they are ancient ancients. These strange creatures have no real body torso or arms, just a head and long, long legs. They are an enormous being that walks the forests at night and has done so since before humanity came into existence. It is said it only appears at night, never in the daytime and that it’s very hard to see. Of course there are exceptions to this...people who are psychic or are allowed by the beings to see them.”
“They will only allow you to see them or connect with them if they sense that you have respect for their forest.”
“In 1931 in Blythe, California an archaeologist discovered huge glyphs that could be only really be seen from the air. They show a huge being with long legs and arms with a small head. You could only see these glyphs from the air. The glyph was about 160 feet long from head to toe. When these glyphs were created is unknown but they can be heard in oral legends from ancient native American’s stories.”
“These creatures are spirit beings that are given charge over a specific area of forest. As their forests are destroyed and decimated they each cease to exist in our realm. For this very reason, we do not see them any longer.”
“Enum'k'a Lu' ushka.”
That’s what she shared. Whether it is indeed related to your experiences of the so-called Stick Man, I cannot say with certainty. It’s an interesting comparison though.
Now Sandy, talk about diversity, you also have seen a Mothman/thunderbird type thing now twice. Are these things drawn to you? Is it a psychic awareness of some kind? Please share your thoughts and tell us some about what happened.
Sandy Nichols: You are so right about the diversity in what I have experienced in my life. Why? I think there are several things at play. There seems to be no doubt that where I live plays a large part in what I experience and see. There is a history to the property I own and the surrounding area. Another thing at play is that I am an alien abductee, and I have been abducted at other places that I have lived since early childhood. So naturally they grab me here as well.
The main thing at play here is my high energy level, my awareness and acceptance at a very early age of strange things occurring in my life. And my openness not to dismiss strange things to a status quo explanation. When I see or experience something strange I don't automatically say...Paranormal. I look at all possible status quo explanations, and when they don't fit I look past the status quo explanation for other answers. When answers are not forth-coming, then I rely on my two most reliable methods to come to possible answers.....personal experiences and gut instinct.
I do have a psychic awareness to a certain extent. I get these feelings. Sometimes they are very strong, sometimes more akin to a passing feeling. I have learned to take notice of the stronger feelings I receive. Sometimes nothing comes about, but the majority of the time it does. There are times where I do not feel anything, but then I do something that I would not normally do, and many times something strange happens. When this happens, I feel that my psychic awareness is happening in a more natural way to just do something and not think about it. This is what I felt happened when I saw the Mothman type being the first time.
At the time my wife and I were building our dream home, the home where we live now, and living in a rental home some 20 minutes away. Every day I would drive to the construction site to see the progress of the construction, and on a few nights as well. During a couple of the night time visits I heard footsteps walking the floors inside and deduced that I was being allowed to hear like a recording of the workers going about their daytime work. On this particular night I experienced nothing strange at the construction site, but witnessed him on the drive back to the rental home.
As I had shared earlier we live in a rural area surrounded by farm land. With the area being rural, most of the roads are typical country roads....wide enough for two cars to pass with narrow shoulders. I was traveling down one of these country roads taking my time. I came upon a straight stretch of the road that gently crested a small rise. I was half-way up this rise in the road when my lights illuminated the creature. He was standing on the back side of a tall sign on the left side of the road. The front side informed drivers of a School Bus Stop Ahead. I immediately slowed down my car. I was a bit taken back by this sighting and actually drove slowly past him by a hundred yards. I turned my car around quickly and drove back to where he was located, but by this time he was gone.
The next day I measured the sign. The top of the creature's head was a few inches above the top point of the triangular sign that was 7 1/2 feet tall off the ground. This would have put the creature near eight feet tall. The width of the sign was 3 1/2 feet from point to point, and his torso was blocking about 1/5th of the sign....slender, but not skinny. Part of him, shoulders down to his feet, minus his arms and the webbing of his wings, was reflective red combined with a slightly darker color. The webbing for his wings was solid, attached near his wrist, and tapering down and attaching near his knees. His eyes were red, and his arms were outstretched from his side. Though I was only mere feet from him as I drove by, he did not move. I never once felt threatened by him. As taken back as I was by seeing him, I was taken back even more by my second sighting.
It was several years later in May 2008. My wife and I were leaving the next day for a vacation in Destin, FL. I was busy running last minute errands and was heading southbound on Interstate 65, a few miles south of Nashville. It was around 2:30 pm, an hour before rush hour traffic was to begin, but still several cars here and there heading in the same direction as me. As I drove, I noticed a short distance in front of me something emerging toward the interstate from a narrow valley on the right hand side. Before and after this valley were small, undulating hills. At first I thought this "something" was either a small, crop dusting plane or a large, model rocket, but as it drew closer to the interstate I could see that it was the same creature I had seen at night a few years earlier. His arms and wings were not outstretched as would be expected in normal flight, but close by his body. He reached the first lane of the interstate, then made a very sharp and tight, hairpin turn to the right that angled him toward the tree covered hill on the left side of the valley. His flight path took him just short of the top of the trees half-way up the hill, and then I lost sight of him. The only coloration I could see on him this time was black against the blue sky.
Unlike the disaster that claimed many lives that followed the Mothman sighting's in Point Pleasant, West, Virginia, nothing of a serious disaster note occurred around or near my area.
Brent Raynes: Where you live now, in Thompson Station, an investigator dubbed your home the "Paranormal Palace," and that name has stuck. Quite a few people have had psychic experiences and even seen ghost-like apparitions there. You even lost a house maid over this business! For you and your wife Sherrie, something odd seems to be going on weekly. I know, because I often get emails and calls from you on the latest incidents.
Sandy Nichols: Sherrie and I moved to South Florida for a bit and then back home two years later. We wanted to build our dream home, so we had planned on traveling back to this area every weekend for two months looking for a lot to build on. This was a two month window we had before fully moving back home. It just so happened that on the first weekend, on the very first day of searching, and the very first lot we look at, we both fell in love with it and the location and purchased it. Now the above seems pretty cut and dried as to how things went down, but us being here I feel was not just by happenstance.
As you know, I try and have Gatherings at my home on a monthly basis with my closest friends and a few other invited friends. It was our good friend, Gina Oldham, that nick-named our home "The Paranormal Palace." The Gatherings consist of the core group formed within the first year of having the Gatherings.....Brent (You) and Joan Raynes, your daughter, Chandra Harrison, Bret and Gina Oldham, Cathy Brockway, Mike and Val Rojas, and myself. My wife, Sherrie, joins us for our Pot Luck dinners, but then she hides away in her home office reading one of her books.
During the building process I had buried under the entry foyer a large Amethyst Stone. I did this for two reasons. This was my New Age way of saying "Welcome to my home." Since I also have had years of ghost/spirit experiences, I thought why not invite them to live in my house. I made a deal with them...They can live in my home, make noises, be seen and heard, as long as they did not scare anyone and kept the bad ones away. So far they have kept their end of the bargain, and in the process made my home, inside and out, a great place to conduct ghost investigations.
By having the Gatherings here it increases the good energy level, and it is not unusual for those attending the Gatherings to have multiple experiences, but there was already some major activity occurring long before I began the Gatherings.
As life's little quirks play out sometimes, my wife experienced the first strange occurrence in our home within a week of us moving in. She was sitting in the garage smoking a cigarette, and she saw through a window a rather stout looking man in overalls walking between the two cars. He then simply disappeared once he reached the back of the car. Several months later this man, George, his wife, Barbara, and nine year old daughter, Libby, appeared to me late one night as I was sitting in my hot tub. Though I only saw them for about 5 to 6 seconds, George conversed with me through thought form for a longer time. I learned their names, where they immigrated from, how long they lived here, and how they died. They are three of the regular ghosts/spirits who live here. Bret and Gina introduced the core group to a new way to use the Spirit Box for communication with the ghosts/spirits. The results have been fantastic....more EVP's and real time talk with the ghosts/spirits, especially with Libby, and several people have seen George.
Another ghost/spirit we communicate with is, Jacob. Jacob was 7 years of age when he passed in a barn fire with his parents not far from my home. We communicate with him on a regular basis as well.
There was Civil War activity in this area too, and I was informed that during this time a stately home was located on our lot basically in the same spot we built our home. There is a tall, 6'8’ to 6' 9", Confederate Colonel or General that materializes from time to time. Toward the end of our first year in our home, one of our cleaning ladies was vacuuming an upstairs bedroom one morning. She turned and saw this tall man standing in the hallway looking at her. She knew that I was the only man around, and I was in my pool house at the time. She shut off the vacuum, walked to the door and peeked around the corner. She saw him walking down the hallway and when he reached the stairs he disappeared. She did not return.
Bret one night, while standing on the pool deck, saw this same soldier emerge out of wall in the den area and walk across the room and disappear.
My wife and I were playing Scrabble one night in the kitchen and heard this tremendous crashing sound in the first floor hallway. We jumped up and found nothing amiss. We searched the whole house with the same results.
My wife was in the kitchen one afternoon and saw me walk from the pool house where my office is located, across the pool deck to the far pool fence, walk-thru gate. She thought I had come home from doing some shopping. I had not. I was in the local Walmart at this particular time.
When we first moved in we felt it best to lock up the dogs at night in the garage. Sherrie would let them out in the morning. On this one particular morning she opened the walk through door and saw something squat and round sitting on top of one of the trash cans on the driveway 10 feet away. Apparently it noticed her as well, jumped off the can and ran off into the back yard toward the woods. She said she was not scared, just startled. I said "You did not need to be scared of it. It ran away from you."
Sherrie has also experienced multiple other things. A tapping of finger-nails on porcelain jars, something that sounded like bowling balls being rolled across the floor in the attic above her office, but there is not a floor in that part of the attic, just exposed studs and insulation. One Sunday afternoon she had just laid down on the couch in the den area to take a nap. A minute or so later she opened her eyes and was in direct line of sight to the second floor railing that overlooks the den. She also had direct line of sight into the second bedroom on that floor, but the bedroom she saw was the first bedroom. I am under the impression of what she witnessed was a crossover of a Parallel Earth into this Earth.
I, of course, have had many experiences as well, some very profound. One night I recorded choral music in the unfinished third floor, as well as a faint, female voice saying...."Help me!" Other people have heard and recorded other voices on this floor as well. One night after a Gathering I was smoking a cigarette out on the back porch. I was looking around as usual, and I saw a brilliantly white, door size portal opened up just past the side yard, property line. Nothing that I could see left or entered the portal. On two separate occasions I looked up from my desk and saw a tall Grey alien through the glass of the double French doors. Before I could jump up to investigate it moved and I lost sight of it. On three occasions, while sitting in the Hot Tub late at night, I saw a short, Grey alien, and during one of these sightings it was just a mere foot away from me.
A few weeks ago, I saw a full body ghost/spirit just outside one of the double, French doors. His head was turned looking at me working at my desk. When he saw that I saw him, he turned his head and slowly walked past the doors until I could not see him anymore. On too many occasions to count, I have seen a variety of strange lights in the sky, and sometimes close to the ground. These lights vary in size and shape, and brilliance. All of the core group and others have seen these lights inside and outside the house, and Gina was the first of the core group to see a solid UFO in the nighttime sky. Savannah and Carolina have at times chased some of the ground lights, and barked at a few of the lights in the sky. Carolina from time to time when we let the puppies into the house, will walk to the entry foyer and start barking. I believe that she is seeing and barking at new ghosts/spirits that come through the portal into our home.
Sometimes, something will tell me to get my camera and take photos. One night during the construction process I acted upon this feeling and walked into the woods behind our home. I was a hundred yards into the woods when I got the feeling to aim my camera into the farm field next door. I was using a 35 mm camera at the time, and when I got the photos back from the developer, one can clearly see what appears to be a white skull of a horse. No animal was in this part of the farm field when the photo was taken.
As I shared earlier, this area has a rich Civil War History. I was informed that there was a hidden Civil War trail that use to run beside my home and into the valley behind us. There is also a former female residence of the manor home that was located here during the Civil War. She has physically interacted with me on three different occasions by touching me. She is in her mid 20's, and about two months ago I saw her outside near the pool. She has also come through and spoken to us a few times during one of our many Spirit Box sessions we conduct here. Research has shown that five different Native American cultures at one time were present in this area. A new, now regular member of our Gathering Group, is Monte. Monte is a retired engineer, a 23 year employee for NASA. He was one of the lead engineer's for the Space Shuttle program. He is also a gifted psychic, and picked up on two specific points about the property itself. He pointed out the location of a Ley Line that emerges from the woods and continue on its path through my property, and we verified this Line using dowsing rods, and Val's Thermal Imaging Camera. Monte also informed us that one of the Native American cultures used to roll rocks down the steep hill where the woods are located. This created a vibration sound effect used in Native American Ceremonial rituals. Monte also shared that this sound vibration was a result of the natural, geographical shape of the valley behind my home where the woods ended and the main part of the valley began. These rituals took place hundreds if not thousands of years ago when no trees grew on the hills of the valley. The next day, I looked on Google Earth and was able to see the entire length of the valley. I also saw something else quite amazing. Only located in the part of the valley which ended directly behind my home, was a perfect natural amphitheater. When something strange does happen I should not be surprised, but I always am. When I think I have seen, heard or experienced it all, then something else transpires in my life that makes me excited all over again. I guess one could look at this as one big learning experience, but I have to ask two questions....Why me? What is there about me? Maybe the answer is the same for both questions.
Brent Raynes: Another thing not uncommon among alien abductees/contactees are the out-of-body experiences, and you've had quite a few of those yourself in recent years. Please share with us what's been going on there.
Sandy Nichols: Actually my first OBE was when I was 16 years of age. I was lying on my bed just chillin’ after taking a hot bath. I had my transistor radio beside my bed and turned on listening to music. The volume was down low. I closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep. The next thing I knew I was looking at me from above sleeping on the bed. I could hear the music playing. I thought to myself how could I be seeing me sleeping on the bed and also be where I was above. I knew nothing of OBE's in those days, and I became extremely scared. The next thing I knew I was sitting up in bed wondering what the hell had happened.
I do not know how I came to purchase a book on OBE's, but it was several years before I began any research into any Paranormal subject matter. According to the book, it is said that all people experience OBE's, though the vast majority will not remember or accept that they are occurring. Apparently this was the way it was with me for years until I had this one experience that was as profound as the one I had back when I was sixteen.
It was late at night and I had fallen asleep on the couch. I found myself in what appeared to be a black void. I knew I was not dreaming and that something strange had commenced. I could see nothing in this black void except this little speck of light far away, and this became my reference point. I began moving toward the light, but for reasons I could not understand I never got any closer to the light. I became frustrated and then scared, then it felt as if my body had gotten body slammed. I awakened on the couch with this strange vibration feeling in my body which dissipated after a few minutes. This scenario played out several more times over the next month with the same body slam feeling at the end. Something told me that I needed to find the book on OBE's and read it again. I did, and came to this part that explained about the black void, the little speck of light, and the body slam feeling.
The black void is that a person has already left their physical body. The part of you that leaves is your soul/consciousness/essence, that part of you who you really are. It means in the simplest of terms that when you leave that there is another you. It is not a copy or a duplicate. Nothing of you is missing. Your three dimensional you is still there and complete as if you were awake...nothing is missing. When out though, you now are experiencing new things while in another dimensional state without physical limitations. You are also using your "third eye" to see.
The black void and the little speck of light are basically one in the same. Since this is a new, unknown experience, your third eye is almost completely closed and not allowing you to see/experience this other dimensional state. Think of it as when you were a child alone in bed and you heard a strange noise and got scared, and you pulled the covers over your head. It may already be dark in the bedroom, but everything got darker still with the cover pulled over your head. In essence you have isolated yourself from any and all things beyond the cover of your bed. The black void can be looked upon in the same way. In an OBE, your lack of understanding of what is transpiring is keeping you from knowing that you are having an OBE. A fear builds, and this fear keeps your third eye closed preventing you from recognizing that you are now in another dimensional state.
Moving toward but not closing any distance between you and the little speck of light, is simply your fear forcing you to keep your third eye closed. You are already at the light because you are seeing the light with your third eye.
Many people fear OBE's because of..."What if I can't back in?" I think this fear stems from two things...A fear of the unknown and something not believed in by Status Quo beliefs, and for those who read Shirley MacLaine's book "Out on a Limb." In this book she describes having OBE's and a Golden Cord attached to her. It was said either in her book, or by someone else, that if the Golden Cord was ever cut or broken, then the person cannot get back in. In all of my OBE experiences I never once saw or felt anything physically attached to me. I do believe though that we are attached to our physical body but in a spiritual, dimensional way. In this way the attachment cannot be physically cut or broken except when the physical, human body has worn out and died. One need not worry about their body dying while out. Though out, you are still in your physical body and totally aware of what is transpiring while out. The spiritual, dimensional attachment allows for an unbroken connection between the two. If the you in your physical body is not aware of something, the Out of Body will be. A great example of this unbroken connection is an experience I had a few years ago.
I was having an OBE while in an Astral Body state. An Astral Body state is like the next level up from experiencing an OBE. Like an OBE, another you goes out but into another you created physical body. In this way, a person can also physically experience other dimensional states of being. In this particular experience I was in Astral Body and walking down something like a White Hallway headed for what I call a "White Area," when I became aware of me napping on the couch having a bad dream. Apparently this me in my physical body could not awaken myself from the bad dream, so I left the White Hallway and went back into my physical me to awaken this me.
When one is not aware of having OBE's of any sort, and fears build up during the OBE and the person wants to go back, then within less than the time it takes to have a thought, the person is back in. The slamming and vibration that one feels is not being able to control the speed of the reconnecting process. Once someone is aware and conquerors the fear, then the merger of the two is not even noticeable until the person awakens, though the speed it takes to transition from two to one stays the same. Once the fear is conquered the person will want to have more experiences.
Once I conquered the fear and my knowledge grew, the scope of the OBE's began to expand past just having a regular OBE and Astral Body experience. They typically occurred at night while taking a short powernap, and involved crossing dimensional boundaries of our Earth to a Parallel Earth. This PE is very similar to our earth but with differences. Many of these differences are subtle and not recognizable at first, while others stand out like a sore thumb. These experiences are by no means just dreams. They are as real as me sharing some of my experiences with you the reader. The experience I am sharing next is just one of several expanded OBE's I have experienced in the last few years.
Expanded OBE Experience example (1):
Many times I write and do my research into the early morning hours. This means that sometimes I do not get enough sleep, so to compensate I will take a short powernap either in the afternoon or early nighttime hours on the couch in my pool house office. This experience occurred around 8 pm. I found myself crossing the dimensional boundaries between the two earths. I can best describe crossing this boundary as like crossing a river to get to the other side....from Point A to Point B. The time at Point A and B is the same from my location. The problem is navigating across the river and reaching Point B at the exact amount of time it took to cross in order for Point A and B time to remain at the same time. The time flow between this dimensional divide is not smooth. Like a regular river there are eddies and other obstacles that can change the speed of the time flow and can land you either before or past your designated landing spot. If you reach the other side downstream of Point B, then you are in Point B's future. If you reach the other side upstream of Point B, then you are in Point B's past. At this point in time I am not able to control exactly where I will land on the other side. This means that it can be either day or night, or a day/week, even a year sooner or later of Point B. In the context of my experiences it did not really matter what time or day in the PE I landed.
After crossing the divide I found that I had OBE into the physical body of a man. Once inside I knew him as well as I know myself...6 feet tall, medium build, good health, brown hair, works out of his home, mid 30's, a wife, a son, age 13. I could know every memory and every thought. I also felt every emotion and every physical sense he felt, but even though I felt these things, I personally was not affected by these things. In other words, if he smashed his finger in a door I could feel his pain but there would be no feeling of pain on my end. The same applied to me with his emotions.
As I merged with him he was beginning to stand up. He then walked over to the stairs that led from his basement office to the main floor. It was at this point he did something that was totally unexpected. He began to float and turned invisible. He floated up the stairs and into the den area, then turned left and headed down a hallway past an open kitchen area. Halfway down he turned right into a back bedroom. Sitting in the middle of the room in a rocking chair was his wife reading a book. His son was sitting on a cushioned bench in front of three-bay windows playing with something that resembled an I-Pad. He approached his wife, still invisible, and reached out and softly caressed her left arm. She seemed not to notice, and so he caressed her arm again. By this time his son had arisen and left the room. Still his wife seemed not to notice, and he caressed her arm a third time. She looked up in the direction of where we were and said "I know you're there. Stop it!" The moment after she had spoken a major difference between our two worlds became apparent.
On our Earth, scientists dismiss the ability of humans to have amazing gifts that I witnessed and was a part of in the PE. Such gifts are known about and accepted as real in the PE.
A few seconds later we left the bedroom and went back down the hallway. His son was now sitting on the couch in the den area. We moved over toward his son, and then his son said "Dad! Quit showing off." As we headed back down the stairs to the basement I suddenly found myself back in my own body.
Expanded OBE Experience example (2):
This experience began like the first example, just an hour later. Soon after falling asleep I crossed the dimensional divide into the Parallel Earth. Once again, I found myself inside a man who had been trimming branches off a tree growing next to his deck and throwing the branches out into the backyard. His backyard looked identical to the back yard of the house I had built in Brentwood, TN after my divorce from my ex was finalized. Nice and open for my children to play ball in, and the back property line butting up to the woods. There was even the old, solitary tree on the far right side of the openness that I had not the heart to cut down. When Sherrie and I got married she sold her condo and moved into my home. Great minds think alike I thought, but then he turned and I saw the back of his home. My home looked exactly like my old home. Confusion took control of my senses. Was I having a memory dream instead of an OBE from a time in my past? Was this man actually me? If so, when did I do what he was doing now? If so, then why does everything seem to be happening in real time? My questions began to be answered as he stood near the thin tree, wiped his brow, and stretched. His stretch was not just up and back, but combined with a twist and turn. As he turned I saw the entire panoramic view of the back of his house, deck, and back yard, from right to left....Similar, but with differences.
His deck was long and rectangular, the wood was Oak, and much lighter color. My deck was shaped like a laid down, backward letter "P," and was made of Redwood. The thin tree he was trimming was near the steps leading to the back sidewalk. I had a tree in the exact location as his, but mine was a very robust and much bigger Hackberry. The limbs of my Hackberry began 10 feet above the wooden hand-railing that wrapped around both of our decks. My daughter's trampoline that was located in the back left part of my yard was nowhere to be seen. There were other small differences, and something totally unexpected occurred when I awakened on the couch afterwards.
Nope! This was not a memory dream, or my home, nor was it me. I was in the midst of another OBE journey to the PE. This particular experience really impressed on me how similar the two Earths were, but with some major and unmistakable differences as well.
After stretching the man dropped to his knees to continue his trimming. He held in his hand a round, silver tool with a circular blade on the end. It reminded me very much of the very versatile Dremel working tool that I own. As he proceeded to trim, the tool made a humming noise that combined with the sound of the blade cutting through wood. Two minutes later the man heard over the din of the noise the voice of his wife calling out to him. He turned off the tool and looked around. Even though she was a very attractive lady and dressed in somewhat sexy lingerie, she was not a happy camper. She had just laid down for some much need sleep, and wondered why he had to do the trimming then. Shaking his head he turned around and continued with his work. This did not please his wife and she was surely letting him know this. He just continued his trimming thinking..."Damn! She's been wanting this trimmed for a couple of weeks, and now she's gripping when I am able to do it."
I could not help but smile and chuckle, and with this still fresh in my mind, I found myself awakening on the couch. From what I had experienced in the past during these expanded OBE's, awakening should have been the end of the experience, but yet there was more to come. Behind the couch I could still hear the lady getting on to her husband. Was this some type of residual recording I was hearing, or was she really behind me. I raised up and looked behind me. Sure enough there she was where last I saw her. The back of her home was now where one set of the double French doors once were. The light from the sun from her Earth was reflecting on the single, coach light attached to the red brick next to the doorway she was standing in, but that light did not filter into my office. A few seconds later the image began to slowly fade and the experience was finally over.
There is no doubt in my mind that part of the PE had crossed over the dimensional river and merged into this earth dimension. I have had some past experiences in my home where I would be sitting in my office and hear people talking, and one time someone playing a guitar. Mainly I hear this through the ceiling coming from the open attic above the pool house. One night last year, when the air temp was bitterly cold, the voices were so loud filtering through, that I thought that several people had decided to escape the cold in my attic. I awakened Sherrie and had her stand on the back porch with her 38 caliber revolver, while I brandished my semi-automatic Glock and investigated. I also had our two labs with me as an added safety measure. My investigation revealed nothing amiss. Sherrie returned to bed, me to my office. I could still hear the voices when I entered. I was just going to live with it, but then I remembered that I had to arise early the next morning. I yelled up to them and said...."Hey! I'm going to bed early, so can you keep it down up there?" Immediately the voices stopped.
There are several others besides myself who have heard similar types of voices. One of the theories we have put forth is this...What if some of the voices we hear in and around my home and other places are not ghost/spirit voices, but voices from a parallel dimension....a physical crossover between two dimensions. If true, my bet would be placed on the PE crossover....the door swings both ways so-to-speak. If we can hear them, then surely they can hear us, and we wonder if they think they are hearing ghosts/spirits.
Now the physical part of the PE crossover is not limited to my home alone or to me. After our last Gathering a month ago, Cathy Brockway experienced something physical on her drive home that seemed to be somewhat similar to what I have experienced during the expanded OBE's. Cathy said her experience began just a few miles from my home while on Interstate 840. She had driven this route many times before. I believe that as she drove along she was witnessing and experiencing dimensional shifts between our earth and the PE. Various things that should have been at one location was not there, while something at another location that should not have been there, was there. Even the air seemed to be morphing to and fro as well.
These experiences did not end when she finally exited the interstate near her home. They continued on into her neighborhood and into her driveway where she parks her van. One second she sees her home on the left where it should not have been, then the next second it is back where it should have been. This same thing applied to her driveway and her parking spot.
The thing about these shifts is that they sometimes happen in the blink of an eye, and they can cause a great deal of confusion with the differences between the two earths. Sometimes they continue on for several minutes. One of our regular, monthly Gathering friend's was a lady named Shirley, who transitioned suddenly to the other side a few months ago. Shirley had several experiences where when leaving my neighborhood she turned right, or north, back toward I-840, a straight shot for a mile, but instead found herself several miles to the south. In order for her to get as far south as what she did, she had to make several turns onto several different country roads.
Another one of Shirley's experiences was after a special Gathering celebrating, her daughter, Kass, and Cathy's daughter, Corrine’s, birthdays. Shirley and Kass left my home around midnight and turned onto the entrance ramp of I-840 heading east. Within a couple of minutes they passed the next exit, Arno Road. Nothing seemed amiss until they passed the Arno Road exit three more times within 20 minutes. Never once did they backtrack. She felt that they were caught in some sort of physical time loop caused by a dimensional shift. There are others in the core group, including myself, who have experienced strange time and distance anomalies while driving.
Brent Raynes: Your wife Sherrie, who has worked in the medical field and been a captain in the U.S. Air Force, has been rather skeptical about a lot of these things, though she admits she's had some experiences herself since marrying you, including seeing UFOs and mysterious orbs of light.
Sandy Nichols: I thought you might ask a question about Sherrie. LOL.
Sherrie rose to the rank of Capt. in the United Air Force, and was a flight nurse for four years. She then joined the TN Air Guard and served our country for another four years. When 9/11 happened she tried to re-up, but was turned down because of her age. I first met Sherrie six months after she left the military. It was a blind date arranged by a mutual friend in July 1989. We dated for four months and then broke up. Six months later we got back together and we married on March 7, 1992. She owns her own business and investigates medical fraud. She is very well respected in the medical profession. I know of no one that does not like and respect her.
Sherrie was very skeptical at first about anything not easily explained by a status quo explanation. Before we were married we took a vacation on Kiawah Island, South Carolina. One night while walking the beach I brought up the subject of UFOs. Though in denial about my abduction experiences I still had this fascination about UFOs. It never dawned on me at the time that someone had to be driving those things, and those someone's I believe are some of the aliens abducting me. I became pretty excited sharing with Sherrie to the point that she believed that I was trying to convince her of how real they are. I wasn't. I was just excited. Well anyway, she thought I was, and she got upset. One thing about Sherrie is that she does not like it when someone tries to change her opinion or beliefs.
Now things began to change slowly for her when we got married. I believe the main turning point in her beliefs began a short time after her dad passed away on Halloween, 1991. We were engaged to be married by this time. During our time of dating I would usually stay the weekend at her condo. If I have this right and I think I do, one early morning she awakened and saw her dad's face where my face was. Sherrie is a good, Christian lady, and like most Christians she worried about her dad's immortal soul. On this morning, her dad spoke to her and said that she did not have to worry about him...that he was fine where he was. At first she had a hard time believing this experience was real. A year passed before she shared the experience with me.
Her mother passed away in mid 1996. By having the experience with her dad, she was not so quick to dismiss the three times her mother came back to visit and chat with her. Ironically, during each visit, I was away attending two UFO conferences and one ghost conference.
For Sherrie not to dismiss these visits is a big step for her. They were a big-time shock to her beliefs. Half jokingly I once said to her....For you to believe something, then something has to bite you on the butt, but for you to believe it without any doubts, then you would also have to see it bite you on your butt. To her credit though, she does admit that strange things are happening around here and to me as well, but what that something is she does not know.
Now I fully respect her beliefs, but there is one thing that I talk with her about that I feel has plainly been laid out before us that she cannot accept as is. I am talking about the difference between what is just a coincidence, and what are synchronistic events. I am a firm believer in synchronistic events that I feel have guided my life through the years, and continued to guide both of us after we married. Where she states, "I don't know." I state, "How can they not be." I will share a few examples of what I believe are synchronistic events in both of our lives.
Sherrie was presented a business opportunity to grow her business in January 2002, but it called for us moving to South Florida. In March 2002 we moved Sherrie into an apartment in Miami Lakes. I stayed back and packed up our home, and then moved down in September 2002. The first couple of weeks of us both being down there were rough. Nine days after I moved down my father suffered heart failure and passed three weeks later. Our black lab, Blazer, was diagnosed with cancer and had to be put down in January 2003. After these events we finally got fully settled into our home, but Sherrie's business opportunity began to unravel but through no fault of her own. As the next few months passed, we were not enjoying living in this area. The people were nice for the most part, but the pace of life was not to our taste. We talked about moving back home but could not justify the moving expense for Sherrie's business and our home, and the hassle of moving again.
Things changed in September, 2003. Almost a year to the date of my father's passing, my mother called. She had been diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer. The doctors estimated three more years of life. We said, "Hell with the moving expense." On December 6th we left the Miami area for good, and arrived back in the Nashville area the next day with our new black lab, Hogan. My mother passed in October 2007.
In January of 1992, I had the first of a series of three dreams that occurred on the same dates, of every month for four and one half years, with the last series occurring in July 1996. The three dreams had two things in common for every dream...dancing, multi-colored lights in the sky, and the same geographical location...a valley surrounded by hills, white houses and white fences.
In July 1996 I bought my first computer, an HP, new and sealed in the box, and preloaded with Microsoft Office. I used this computer to write using MSWord, and to surf the Internet. A year later, I decided to see what the other programs of MSOffice were all about. The last program I opened was Excel. In the very first, rectangular box, top left, were two, pre-typed words....."Destination Earth."
One night in September 1996, while on vacation in Destin, FL, I drove to Shoreline Park in Gulf Breeze, FL. Gulf Breeze was a hot spot for UFO sightings. I came upon 20 people skywatching. Some of these people were the founding members of the "Gulf Breeze Research Team," formed after the spectacular UFO sightings of Ed Walter. Two nights later I joined them again for another skywatch.
In March 1997, I attended my first conference...the Project Awareness UFO Conference, held in Pensacola, Fl, across the bay from Shoreline Park. In mid 1997, I began my participation in an Online abduction support group. In March 1998, myself and fifty of my new friends attended my second Project Awareness UFO Conference. In July 1998, I decided to formally go public with my abduction experiences, and had my first abduction research web site constructed. Soon afterwards, I began giving lectures to various groups and had my first article published.
The lot that we purchased is located on one of the smalls hills overlooking the valley in my dreams. The front entrance to our neighborhood is located in the valley. There is a 150 year old, white house surround by a white fence that is located at the front entrance to our neighborhood. There is another white fence that encircles an older family cemetery. We live in an equestrian neighborhood with three miles of white fences that line the riding trails. Sherrie and I purchased the first lot, built the first home, and lived here for two years before the second home was built.
Before construction began I would walk the lot. Where our bedroom is located now, there was once a tall dirt pile. Thinking it was the kid in me, I had this desire to climb to the top. I kept putting it off until one night when I was there by myself. When I reached the top I found a full, adult turkey feather. Two more climbs within ten days resulted in me finding two more turkey feathers. Each feather was a little shorter and from a younger turkey than the previous one. The pile was removed after finding the third feather. Three days later, at night, I walked where the pile had stood, and found a fourth feather. This feather was from a very young turkey, still covered in soft, down like feathers.
The spring months before construction began in June, had seen an increase in the amount of rainfall for the area. Visits to the lot were fewer in number, but on this particular day I felt a need to go there. Sherrie did not want to venture out in the rain, but I talked her into it. The rain had stopped by the time we reached the lot, but it was way too muddy to walk. We sat in the car instead for about 15 minutes imagining how things would appear. We then left, and at one point I looked in the rear view mirror and saw a beam of light shining directly on our lot. There was a single break in the clouds which allowed the rays of the setting sun to shine on our lot.
We live at the end of one of two cul-de-sacs, on the left, and part of the white, horse trail fence runs along the right side of our property line, turns left and continues along the back property line, and also continues down to the valley located behind our home just past the woods. Only part of the main, circular road was finished when we purchased our lot. The unfinished part of the main road was barricaded just past our street. Our street had already been graded and graveled when we purchased it. The white, horse trail fence was incomplete at the time and did not run past our home yet. After we purchased our lot, the developer set his people to work finishing the riding trail fence around our property line. A few days before Christmas of 2003, two months after the purchase, the workers were finishing up a section of the fence at the end of the cul-de-sac. Since it was dark they were using their truck headlights to illuminate their work area. One of the workers looked around and saw a white ball of light dancing in mid air about 100 feet over our lot. He alerted the other two to this sight. The ball of light then began to split into multiple balls of light...2, 4, 6, 8 separate balls. After they had separated they continued to dance over our property, and then began changing from one color to the next. After several minutes of this show, they slowly drifted away and over the valley. Only one of the workers came forward and shared the story with me. He shared this with me while myself and two others were burying the Amethyst Stone in the ground under the entry foyer. I shared the story with Brent, and he contacted the gentleman and interviewed him by phone.
Since this was such a personal sighting for me, I waited to share what I had been told. I wanted to see if there had been any other sightings of a similar nature in the area. About a year later, I read a report of a couple returning home from a weekend football game out of town, and how they sighted several balls of white light dancing in and out of some low, hanging clouds. The area where this sighting took place is only 10 minutes from my home.
What I have shared here is only a small sampling of what I feel are synchronistic events in my entire life. Other experiences that I have not shared in this interview were just as important in guiding me on my journey....a journey that began at birth. I believe that I was guided to Sherrie. I believe that my journey has helped Sherrie to expand her beliefs past status quo beliefs, and this expansion of beliefs has not only helped her, but myself as well.
Now I believe that Sherrie has reached the pinnacle of her belief expansion until some type of...bite her in the butt proof comes along. This is fine with me since she must be who she is. Words cannot describe how much support she has been to me. When I became frustrated from not getting answers I came close to shucking the whole process a few times. It was Sherrie's words of encouragement...."Sandy, you can't stop now!" That kept me going. Without her in my life I would probably still be confused, searching for answers alone, or still pulling the covers over my head scared to death.
Brent Raynes: Obviously after all of these experiences you must have some fairly strong personal opinions on what is going on.
Sandy Nichols: I do have some strong opinions, ideas and theories, but only a few things that I have written in stone....
(1) I am an abductee.
(2) I have been an abductee since early childhood, and they are still ongoing.
(3) I do not like my abductions because they violate my free will to choose.
(4) I have had and continue to have a multitude of other paranormal experiences.
(5) I am still searching for the answer as to "Why me?"
Now as far as opinions, theories, and ideas go:
I believe that no one answer is going to fit the whole. Though people have similar experiences, there are a multitude of answers that lie within each individual as it applies to that specific, individual alone. With this being said, I believe that we need to share answers so that people will have a starting point to find their own answers.
In other words....Look, Learn, Listen, but make up your own mind.