What bought you to the dance/whats your story?

a reply to: neformore

I remember it like it was yesterday...

I'd been out shopping and was strolling down Main St. with a fresh Baskin and Robbins chocolate cone in my hand - when this black SUV suddenly pulled up. Four guys jumped out and put a bag over my head. Next thing I knew I was locked in a cement room with a computer in it.



The truth isn't nearly as exciting really.

I'm a bit "type-A" and have a hard time doing "normal-people" things. Where most folks can flick on the TV and sit for hours - I tend to lose interest in about five or ten minutes. It's not easy for me to find anything that can keep me focused. One of the few things that does work, usually - web surfing. I'll open a search engine and just type in whatever jumps into my head and dig around until I start to feel antsy again. Then I just search something else.

Why has nobody created a web browser that opens a random new tab every two minutes? Call it "LOOK! Squirrel" and tag it with any search for "ADHD". I need to call "Shark Tank" now...

Anyway...

Back in the day I did this free-thought web searching a lot and I noticed that nearly every term I searched ended up bringing me to ATS. "Bigfoot sightings"? ATS. "Secret societies"? ATS. "Kennedy assassination"? ATS.

After awhile I caught onto this pattern and eliminated the middle man, skipping the search engine and coming directly here to dig through old threads. I was hooked.

I have come and gone through the years, I cant remember what my original screen name was though as it had to be about 10 years ago.
What brought me here as I recall was an interest in the whole UFO thing.
I want to say I saw something on "The Black Vault" that lead me here but I cant really remember its been a long long time ago.

The Gulf oil spill. I was looking for credible information, that the main stream media wasn't giving me. I was impressed, there are experts here, on every major topic. if nothing else, ATS is an excellent alternative news source.

I was lying in bed one night about to drift off to sleep when the room was lit up with a soft blue glow. A low humming noise filled the room and started to grow louder. Then, there was a sharp sound of static and a loud pop.

Next thing I knew, I was sitting in front of my computer and I had signed up for an ATS account. I said something to the effect of, "Huh." and went back to bed.

For me it has been the thought that I might find a few folk who have broad bases of experience and who might have managed to draw unique speculations on the nature of it all based on their wide spectrum of experiences.

That for the most part people live in a world of 'is'. This is true or that is true. This is the way it is or that is. But I have found that it may be that living in the 'is' limits our ability to truly exercise our human ability to speculate. To many people 'believe' things rather than entertain things. I prefer to hold ideas rather than believe them. Hold them for inspection, for interpretation. I prefer 'if' over ' is'.

Interesting to see everyone's 'hook'.

For me it was twofold. I saw my first (and only) double-crossed contrail over the Cayman Islands, and it was such an oddity, I started googling the phenomenon. What did it mean, if anything? Are these the dreaded chemtrails everyone is buzzing about? I kept finding both Infowars and ATS at the heart of those delicious conspiratorial links.

Around that time, my Bride and me saw what we could only characterize as a 'UFO', since we couldn't begin to classify it. It would have made an excellent 'blurry light in the sky' video had we been able to film it. Still, our perception was that it changed direction, which in our minds made it not a terrestrial satellite, and it appeared to change color and velocity, although I hasten to note that viewing a moving light at night lacks a reference point, and thus very difficult to quantify a relative change in velocity.

Still. It was fascinating, and respurred my ongoing desire to investigate or read about other peoples' accounts of UFOs.

I remember finding a thread about chemtrails and reading and loving the fact that people were inclined to back up their views with a link, which seemed really novel to me at the time. I was able to eventually form an opinion about chemtrails, and along the way noticed that ATS had a real homey feel to it -- a cohesive community much like the weather site I'd been a member of for donkey years.

When I saw there was a survival forum, I was hooked. I registered and have since thanked the synchronicities that led me here. Kismet.

I found my way here while researching certain airplanes I'd seen fly overhead. I'm no expert but I was looking for triangular and black. Not only did I find a discussion on it I found a thread with a picture of one in a hangar.

The second time I was researching chemical dangers on our environment and I was led here again.

The third time I was led here doing reading online I decided to sign up.

As a side note, zazz was the first person I remember replying to my intro thread.

edit : Please correct the spelling of the thread title.

originally posted by: neformore
So...here we are... worlds largest conspiracy/unusual topic message board and all that stuff... and we're all here because something triggered us off in the first place to question what the hell was going on.

And it strikes me that in this day and age of angry politics, that maybe we could step back a bit and consider the more esoteric side of life, and get to know each other a little bit better in the process.

So, the simple question is this - what bought you to the dance?

 

Heres mine;

I've experienced paranormal phenomena from early childhood. My parents house - although only built in the 1940's - had something of an air of the unusual to it, be it my sister describing my dead grandfather (both of our grandfathers were dead before we were born) reading her bedtime stories and telling her things were going to be ok, before exiting from the room through a wall, to seeing shapes moving behind glass doors, clocks chiming wrongly and me getting to the bottom of the stairs to see what appeared to be someone standing at the top of them and then disappear. I've also seen what I would describe as two bona fide UFO's, had an NDE and also experienced the odd small psychic episode (picking up landlines just before they ring/and saying hello to the person by name before they speak).

I mean, its a LOT, which is why I'm here. Weird appears to be in my blood (although, oddly, less so as I've got older)

So how about you? Take a break from the political grind and share your experiences.

Well, here we go. When I was a child I was extremely psychic. I would answer questions or do what they were thinking I should do. For example, one day my mother and I were in the car in a bad area and someone was walking up 'to the car. She thought about telling me to lock the door, but didn't want to make the person think she was afraid. I said, "OK mom" and locked the door to her amazement. I also had been on a ship many, many times as a youngster. Today I wish I could remember what I had been told so many times. This space ship had elders (what I call them) in it. They all had white or grey hair and beards and were sitting at a table that was shaped like 2 sides of a triangle. I was always in the middle and they were telling me something I feel is important to my life. There was a live map of space on the wall and what looked to be digital numbers constantly changing. Later I acquired training in industrial electronics. I was a child in the 60's and realized that we did not have that technology back then. It has always bothered me as to what the whole purpose was. I feel it was something major that would occur in my lifetime. A major impact to earth civilization, but can't remember what they were repeatedly telling me.

I guess I have had a predisposition to the subjects found here. Later, after working deep cover and experiences in military and intelligence and seeing what is really going on I was destined to come to ATS. I actually remember this site back in the early 90's being a site that was about FEMA Camps before it became a forum for all these subjects. I suppose I could be wrong. I lost a couple of different accounts over time and this is my most recent one in 2008. There are things going on that the people do not know about and this site brings a lot of these subjects out for discussion. And I like the folks here too. I have learned a great deal on many subjects. Not to mention dying twice.

a reply to: neformore

Often been told my stories are too short so ill try to get to the point...

The initial life event that made me think outside the box so to speak was way back in a time before terrorism, bank crashes, food stamps, war, death, destruction, food banks, dinosours, biscuits, swiss army knives and toblerones or the time of the great suicidation by shooting ones head with 2 bullets as is the norm in todays reality (in china).

A time when the sun still hid behind the big gray cloud filled with a mystical vapour just before it pissed on ones forehead (Scotland) whilst smoking a cigarette in the street (a cheap one before anyone had even thought of a vape)...

A strange man came up-to me as I was smoking my cigarette (source unknown), he wore a bib, a hood, half a t-shirt, a beard and had one eye in each socket, sporting a limp from each leg that made a mockery of my self imposed swagger.

As he staggered in the shape of infinity walking one leg at a time and getting nowhere, with a packet of risla hanging from his lips covered with nothing but thin slice of carefully placed duct tape and a scarlet scarf, that was black in some places so not totally scarlet of course, and a shopping bag in each hand, he came right up to my chin and said...

"Ahem, hmmm, hummm" or something like that before the Polis (Police Scotland) lifted him (arrested him).

I changed that day and realised something profound.

I was so overwhelmed with this moment because this paranormal/paranoid entity (for what of a better explanation) could have said anything and im still trying to figure out the meaning of this encounter but as I get older I realise that he was explaining the nature of reality with his walk.

I then joined ATS because I realised that I am not alone in this experience.

(sarcasm intended)

I was hoping I could find someone who'd seen the same (or same type of) UFO I saw as a kid. Despite it hovering in the open with traffic slowing down from people looking at it, I can't find any other reports of it.

a reply to: neformore


Oh, let's see.

I was always a hard sci fi fan, about as soon as i could read.
Movies, TV shows etc always had my imagination going.
Science was big enough that my family called me "professor" lol.
How disappointed they were when i went into culinary arts.


Religion was and is, a big factor in my life.

I've seen a UFO and have had paranormal experiences.
At my age, I've been around the block a few times.

The "what if" always fascinates me, still.
New ideas, trains of thought and the ridiculous are fun even tho I'm a "get off my lawn" guy sometimes.

ATS is a great place to learn and share.

Oh yeah, where the hell is my flying car!

I've always been one to not trust "TPTB"... the corruption, the conspiracies, the lies, the deceptions.

And it seems any time I would google a subject (JFK, Bush/Cheney, Illuminati, big pharma, area 51, 911, etc etc) I always ended up getting linked to some thread on ATS.

So I quietly lurked here for several years feeding my brain with all kinds of interesting info, but always too shy to share my voice.

But it was the Fukushima incident that finally gave me the last push to want to jump in on the conversation and partake in this crazy place.

... and it's been downhill down the rabbit hole ever since.


You crazies are all my kinda people.

I was flyfishing on the Calabras river in southern Colorado and happened upon a mutilated cow on the northern bank. The events that followed changed my life forever. And as luck would have it, I met a lady ATS mod in a bar in Taos and she commented on the glazed look in my eyes. I told her about the bovine, the crazy Mexican family, the Bell Helicopters and
Nash Ramblers that followed me everywhere; she recommended ATS to try and find some information concerning my plight. That's when it began to get really weird.

a reply to: XXXN3O

I had an experience one day, I was buying a carton of cigarettes and this young kid, I don't know 18, 19 maybe he probably could have been 21 22, not really sure, but anyway this kid comes walking into the store talking about how he quit smoking and being an obnoxious kid, I was just like alright dude ignoring him even though you could tell he was intentionally being obnoxious. But you know I walk out the store and there he his a few steps behind me and makes the comment "haha Scarred you".

Oh, then at the movie store, I pull up and this guy and girl were waiting outside. I get out my car and go inside walk around get my movies and they were checking out right in front of me and they were talking crap with the clerk and I made a commit and he looked at me like how I looked at the young kid in the previous paragraph. He was flashing 100's or what or not he was pulling out of his wallet.

When I was buying that carton of cigarettes, that was the day I knew someone wanted me to change.


ETA:

Also just other weird things, lots of subliminal things. Eventually I learned about this thing called a "gaslight" and it was a book written in the 1800's about an abusive husband who would dim the lanterns in the house and when his wife would ask are lanterns dimmed he'd lie and tell her she was crazy, or intentionally misplace a fork or spoon.

I'm currently working on a thread I'm going to post about how the New York Police Department and Los Angles Police Department are wanting to get the mob out of the music industry and it ties all these experiences together.

I came here because I was investigating a multiple murder tied to a real life conspiracy. Someone with information on that conspiracy posted here....

While I was here, I came across other posts and topics on a variety of subjects which are very near and dear to me (banking industry, intelligence, secret societies, and the paranormal). Given these other topics, I decided to hang around and share my knowledge where appropriate....

My grandson went missing and came home with a crazy story, so I started searching for anything on-line that might be similar to his story and it led me to the postings on ATS. www.abovetopsecret.com...

I also think I found ancient geoglyphs and I started searching for other undocumented glyphs which also led me to ATS. americangeoglyphs.com...

After reading and lurking for awhile, I wanted to add my 2 cents to the latest threads.

UFO experience, and when I was in the Navy I saw a bunch of weird underground base like activity at China Lake.

I have always tended toward the idea that there was something happening that no one was talking about. Whether it was Roswell, or Area 51, or more mundane but still sinister government machinations, it always had a sliver of my attention. I was talking to a relative, whom I often brain storm with on such things, and he very casually mentioned ATS assuming I was familiar with it. He seemed genuinely surprised I was not, which led me to believe I was missing something. And here I am. I have been on numerous message boards/forums in the past and left after a short time due to the kind of actions frowned upon so much here. Sadly, I am seeing many of the same traits again and again. I hope the pros always outweigh the cons.

I wonder if anyone was looking for the American Thoracic Society but landed here by mistake

Everything I read on the Alternet. I had early internet access due to my employ at a university...got a bonus of 2 free hours of dial-up at home back in the FTP days. It was pretty much the conspiracy theories that drew me in.

Quick edit to day that I lurked here for quite a while first as I did not want to draw undue attention to my inquiries. As such, there are still a few that I dropped because they were getting a mite weird