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Exploring the Edge of Reality, by Philip J. Imbrogno

(Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)

When those interested in the paranormal see my name, they usually associate it with the investigation of UFOs. This is most likely because my investigations into the UFO experience have gained considerable attention (in not only the United States but also in a number of other countries) and my book, Night Siege: The Hudson Valley UFO Sightings, was coauthored by the Dean of UFOlogy, the late Dr. J. Allen Hynek, and the late Bob Pratt, a veteran UFO researcher. However, over my thirty plus years of investigating the unknown I have accumulated a great number of cases concerning the paranormal that were never published or discussed with the media. Also, I have witnessed UFOs and other types of paranormal events firsthand on more than one occasion, making the paranormal a reality to me.

I am a scientist by trade; I have degrees from the University of Texas and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. I have been a science educator for the past twenty-nine years, and try to use my background in science to investigate and document the paranormal. During my almost three decades of being one of the only people with scientific credentials investigating the so called "borderline sciences," I have been criticized by my peers as being involved with something that is "not really scientific." I disagree—science is the attempt to understand the unknown and look for answers, so by investigating the paranormal I am trying to document and shed light on phenomena that has perplexed human beings for countless centuries. My research so far has shown that although some paranormal events are clouded with fantasy and pseudo-religious interpretations, most of the reports are very real.

If you ask most scientists if they believe in the existence of UFOs, poltergeists, hauntings, and a great variety of other paranormal events, the answer is a quick, flat "No." If you then ask these scientists if they have ever investigated or researched the phenomenon in question that they claim can't possibly exist, the answer once again will be "No." To me, this is unscientific. How can you say that something does not exist if you haven't examined the evidence to determine whether or not it is real?

On the other hand, I have been asked many times over the years, by other scientists and non-scientists alike, "Do you really believe in the paranormal?" My answer is, "Yes, most of it." During my research I have experienced, documented, and seen unknown phenomena, from UFOs to poltergeists, that convince me the reports are real and not the product of an overactive imagination of a bored society trying to use a fantasy to escape the reality of a troubled world.

The experiences published in my book, Files From The Edge: A Paranormal Investigator's Exploration of High Strangeness, present irrefutable evidence that credible people are having incredible experiences. Those experiences that border outside our normal reality include strange creatures, phantom beings, contact with dimensional entities, and UFO-like phenomena. Where is all of this phenomena coming from? Well, there is no quick, easy explanation to answer that question, but the solution may truly be dimensional in nature. Taking into account new ideas in theoretical physics, the idea of a multidimensional universe could explain why we see creatures and strange lights that seem to appear out of nowhere, and then disappear into thin air.

According to my research, it seems that there are many places throughout the world in which various types of paranormal phenomena are sighted more. These areas could be portals that open from time to time, allowing this other reality to merge with ours. At the beginning of Files From The Edge, String Theory and the concept of the multiverse is presented in a clear and direct way that people from all walks of life can understand. Once we understand the concept of a multidimensional universe, that which we call paranormal phenomenon seems to make more sense. For example, over the past two hundred years, there have been reports of a sea serpent off the coast of New England and in Long Island Sound. The creature was reported to be serpentine in nature and as large as a ship. If the creature is part of our reality, how could it stay hidden in such crowded waterways? However, if the creature (or creatures) merge into our dimension from time to time and then disappear, it could explain their phantasm-like ability. The sightings came from credible people who reported an animal that they considered "physical." These reports were covered in many of the papers, including The New York Times. On more than one occasion, government investigators and divers were sent to investigate but found nothing.

For many years the appearance of unusual animals has fascinated me, especially the sightings of Big Foot-like creatures. There have been sightings of large, hairy humanoids in almost every section of the United States and in most countries of the world. It seems to me that if the creatures do in fact exist, are physical, and are part of our universe, someone would have killed or captured one. If the creatures are from a parallel reality and not physical (as we know it), then this would explain their ability to be seen in populated areas and then disappear as if they never existed. My investigations concerning the sightings of Big Foot and its relatives are presented in Files From The Edge; I take the reader from my research in the United States to my explorations in Nepal and Thailand and then back to North America, where I investigate the bizarre frightening case of the Sasquatch cattle rustler that terrorized a number of small towns near Bandera, Texas.

Investigating claims of the paranormal is no easy task. It takes long hours in the field, and although on-site explorations can be exciting and dramatic, most of the work is done spending long hours in libraries, historical societies, and the record archives in local towns where the event that you are researching took place. For example, in Brewster, New York, there are a number of underground mining tunnels that stretch for miles. These tunnels have been the location of a great deal of paranormal phenomena. To understand what is taking place in the present we must explore the past. During my research I learned that sightings of apparitions and strange globes of light have been reported off and on for the past 120 years. Before 1960 they were called ghosts. After the 1970s people began to believe that they were UFOs and that the phantom-like creatures seen were extraterrestrial or interdimensional aliens.

The area around the old mines is very strange indeed, with reports of UFOs and claims of alien abductions, ghostly apparitions, and strange creatures, but the greatest mystery was yet to come. During my final days of research at the Putnam County Records building I found a number of old newspaper clippings so yellowed it made them very difficult to read. The news stories covered a mining disaster at the Tilly Foster mine in 1895. According to local folklore, the ghosts of the men who were killed in a mine cave-in still haunt the area and are often seen from Brewster to all the way to southeast New York. This intrigued me, since I had over ten reports so far in my file of a mysterious ball of light that had been observed in the backcountry of Brewster near the mine entrances. This ball of light was photographed and observed by a number of people over the past hundred years.

The older, local residents of Brewster say the mysterious lights are the ghosts of the miners killed in the accident, while others say they belong to a UFO. To me, the reports seemed more like a phenomenon known in the paranormal world as "spook light." Spook light is an unexplained light source that, for the most part, appears in the distance at a particular location with a regularity that seldom disappoints those who come to view it. Glowing in the night with an eerie, soft color, the light sometimes will pulse, change color, and dance about, near the ground or at tree top level. When the curious try to approach the light, it will vanish, as if purposely keeping their true nature a secret. Spook light is sometimes known as ghost light, and the phenomenon has baffled the human race for centuries. Many theories have been offered to explain their presence, including hallucinations, UFOs, automobile headlights, ball lightning, electrical discharges caused by tectonic forces, and even, as the name implies, ghosts. They are seen in every country on Earth, but for some reason North America has the most well-documented reports. In Files From The Edge, I examine the spook light phenomenon in greater depth and travel to different parts of the United States where the lights have also been seen.

Reports of the paranormal are not restricted to any specific country. People from every culture across the globe experience things that are not a part of our reality. According to both my research and the work of many others, encounters with the unknown seem to be increasing in frequency. The reports come from people of all walks of life. No matter your social standing, educational level, or spirituality, no one seems immune.

In my book, many cases of encounters with the paranormal, plus some of my own experiences, are published for the first time. I hope to publish the remaining encounters from my files in the near future since they present a complete view of my work in this area. Files From The Edge includes a select number of cases that I thought were interesting enough to be published. However, one must remember that they only represent a fraction of the cases in my files.

The world of the paranormal seems strange to people who are locked into believing that reality is the world they have created for themselves. To me (and many others in this field), the paranormal is not at all strange. Most researchers, myself included, have frequently experienced paranormal events; to those of us who investigate and have experienced such phenomena, these events are a very real part of the multidimensional universe.

Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal. Copyright Llewellyn Worldwide, 2010. All rights reserved.

Three nights ago, I awoke at 1:30 a.m. and heard what I thought was my 17-month-old coughing over the baby monitor. I went in to check on him but found him snuggled in his blankets, head on his pillow, apparently sound asleep. I waited and he never coughed, so I went back to bed. Immediately the coughing began again, about every 30 seconds. Five times I got up and checked on him, and he never once moved out of his sleeping position and never coughed when I was in the room. Finally, I went back to bed and the coughing started back up. I woke my husband up and said, Honey, listen to Alec. His coughing won't stop. My husband heard him too, and then we heard Alec call Mama. Matt said, He's calling you. Go in there. Again I went into his room and he was sleeping heavily still. Puzzled, I happened to look up at the monitor and it was turned off! My jaw dropped. Frantic, I went back to my husband and told him the monitor was off. He said, You're kidding. Matt had turned it off earlier that morning when he got up with the boys to let me sleep in. He thought I had turned it back on. What were we hearing? Was it feedback from some other house? We still can't figure this out. The sound and coughing was REAL. I'm so glad I woke my husband up to hear it too. What do you think about this? Thank you.

- Karen

Astrea:

What an exciting but puzzling experience for you and your husband. Of course, running back and forth to the baby's room, worrying all night wasn't fun, but the sounds you heard weren't coming from your baby.

Before offering you what I feel was happening, I should mention that it's possible that what you heard was an Angelic Being who is crazy in love with your baby. This is not something to fear, but it is something to watch. Let's face it, Alec is an adorable baby, and it's natural for him to draw more love and adoration than many other babies do. She has probably appeared to him on a number of other occasions, and since he's used to her now, she can coo and make other sounds to him without startling him.

While this is possible, I feel something else was going on in your case. This baby you heard is someone in your future, a child who wants to come to you. Often when someone reincarnates, the soul coming back to the Earth plane will be enlightened enough to choose his or her parents.

This baby was auditioning you and your husband for that role. She will probably come again and again until you're pregnant with her, and then these mysterious sounds will stop altogether. Once she gets here as a living human baby, you'll recognize her voice as the mysterious baby you heard on the monitor.

It's highly likely that she's been with you before and is part of your Karmic Family. Being born in human form is important to her in terms of her own goals as well as your well-being. When you and your husband were children, she may have been a spirit guide to one of you. As you grew up and formed a family, she changed and evolved into someone who wants to be one of your children.

No matter what her relationship was to you and/or your husband in a past life, this time around, she has lessons to give you as her parents. Your Karmic Family must be highly evolved because this doesn't happen all that often. This is very lucky, so you should welcome the opportunity to receive this divine blessing back into your lives.

If you and your husband aren't planning on having another baby, now is the time for the two of you to be extremely careful. The baby on the monitor you both heard was not your 17-month-old toddler. This is a child who is hoping to be born to you in the future. On the other hand, if you want to become pregnant again, now would be a super time to make that happen.

*****

Susyn:

The psychic connection between parents and their children is powerful; many times parents can sense problems with their children telepathically.

Baby monitors, receivers and other electrical sound devices can often store residual voices, so they can sometimes replay sounds that are actually coming from the past as well as what we might perceive to be the future.

I doubt that the sounds you heard were feedback coming from another house because instinctually, you recognized the coughing and cries as being your son's. The fact that both you and your husband heard the sounds emanating from the receiver affirms this.

This is a common occurrence in places that are believed to be haunted. After sweeping the home for EVP's with sensitive recorders, people will discover that they are hearing the same voice or conversation over and over, as if it has been trapped in time. If you have heard Alec cough over the monitor in the past, the device itself could have been repeating the incident.

Unless there are other unexplained incidents going on in your home, I don't believe that this is a sign of a haunting or other presence, so there is no need to worry about that. If you start hearing voices other than your son's coming through the receiver, that would be a different story.

It's interesting to note that the coughing ceased once you realized the monitor was off. Though you definitely heard your young son coughing and calling out to you, it's possible that what you heard was transmitted via the special psychic connection you possess with your child. Despite the appearance that he was sound asleep, he may have needed your attention or been experiencing a bad dream.

I had a similar experience with a friend many years ago. She lived a few blocks away at the time of this incident. I awoke in the middle of the night hearing her calling for help. I jumped out of bed and went outside where I had heard her cries but couldn't find her. When I spoke with her the next morning, we compared notes, and I discovered that she had been out at that exact time, and frightened because a man was following her. In her head, she was silently screaming for help, and I had heard her telepathically.

If this happens again, I recommend taking Alec back to bed with you so that he is nearby in case there is a problem during the night. Even if he appears to be sound asleep, you'll feel better if he is with you.

Astrea:

Many times in life we hear, "You will always have what you NEED, but not necessarily what you WANT." Your spirit must have needed to experience the feeling of leaving your human body, and the suggestion in the next chapter of Sylvia Brown's book was all it took to get you there.

Even though you hadn't read it yet, your SOUL recognized the title of that chapter as something it had been seeking, and your soul, knowing that you had that reference to read after your experience, got with it and out you went!

While I don't usually recommend her books, Sylvia Brown has a wide reaching and powerful effect on lots of people. A Gemini like you would be able to relate easily to her writing and put it to good use. Synchronicity - you gotta love it!

I like your description of "getting caught." That's exactly what it feels like, isn't it? One minute you're free and hovering above the room, and the next minute, ZAP! back down into your corporeal form you go!

As a little kid, I loved that "feeling of return." With practice, most of the time we can control that event, but sometimes, when our physical ears hear a distracting noise or something else occurs to knock us back into reality, back we go. With practice you will be able to control your return better.

I find it interesting that you were visiting your mother-in-law and not someone in your own genetic family. Evidently, you and your husband got married for reasons that are even deeper than love. His family's interest in "psychic stuff" will nurture your children in such matters and help them to grow into their own abilities.

You'll never have to be concerned that when your daughter visits them, she'll be discouraged from exploring her own psychic life and power. My parents encouraged me to develop my psychic senses in a time when it wasn't nice to even discuss such things in public. Heck, it's STILL not considered a great topic at the dinner table in some families!

Your kids will get to talk about it ALL and ask questions and read and study. This is going to give them such an edge in life! Talk with your husband about how you want to present this to your kiddos, so that you are united in your approach and ready to tell them their experiences are all natural and okay.

A word or two of warning: Geminis often have difficulty staying grounded in REAL LIFE. Don't get so strung out on your ASTRAL life that you neglect what you're doing here on Earth.

You are at the beginning of a long journey to learn where your power really lies. Try to be patient with this process and take your time.