Really Strange Events

Not really sure where to put this, nor what to make of it, but last night I experienced a really strange series of events...

About a year ago I mounted one of those spring loaded swing arm desk lamps (the tall articulated ones) on my workbench in the basement. I needed a bright light for detail work on some of my firearms projects. The light has been working great. Fast forward to last night.

Back when I had purchased the light (above), I had actually purchased two of them thinking I might need two. The first light proved to be plenty adequate so the other one just sat in the box...until last night. As I noted in another thread, I recently purchased a sewing machine and I'd set up an old drafting table as my sewing table. Well, it seems you can't have enough light when sewing, so I thought "hey, why not use that other light to provide some more light on sewing projects?" I got the 2nd light out of the box and mounted it on the table. That's when all kinds of crazy stuff started happening.

I have a lot of different lights in the basement. The area is a combination wood shop, man-cave, gunsmithing, reloading (etcetera) multi-purpose shop. Now I've added in the sewing area. I got the 2nd light set up and plugged in and was just about to turn it on (I literally had my fingers on the switch to do so) when all of a sudden the 1st swing arm desk lamp I'd set up over a year ago blew out. I mean, at that exact second, the 1st light flashed out. Wow...that's a weird kwinky-dink, but it got even weirder.

I was pretty surprised by the 1st light going out, so I never actually switched on the 2nd light, but rather went over to see what was up with the 1st one. After a quick inspection, the bulb was burned out. Okay, odd coincidence...get a new bulb, no problem. Not so fast!

I went and got a new bulb and changed it out. Turned it on; old light worked fine now...turned it back off. Then I walked over to the new light and turned it on. It worked fine also. Then I walked back over to the first light and turned it on also. The exact second I turned on the old light, the new light (across the basement...on a different electrical circuit) started flickering and went out. WTF? At first I thought maybe the new light wasn't plugged in properly so I went and checked it. After unplugging and re-plugging the new light it came back on again. Thinking it was nothing, I went back over to my main bench (where the old light is) and sat down on my stool to look at something No sooner did I do this than the new light got really bright, flickered a couple times and flashed out. This time though, the new light, another light next to it and the power to my sewing machine all went out. Okay, now really WTF, over???

I went back over to my sewing table and tried to figure out what the hell was going on. Something was definitely wonky with the outlet, like it was shorting out or something. Uh-oh (bad ju-ju), so I unplugged everything from that outlet, went over and opened the breaker so I could take the outlet apart and investigate. I walked over to get my electrical tool bag where my electrical meter and electrical tools are. As I walked over THE FIRST LIGHT WENT OUT AGAIN! Dammit, WTH??? All the rest of the lights and equipment were on, and no problems with anything else, just these two lights!!

Okay, so this is too weird, but there's probably some explanation, so I went back over to my bench and just decided to sit and analyze the situation. As I sat down I looked at my watch. It was 20 minutes until 10pm (on May 18, 2017). WHOA!! (queue Twilight Zone music)...

At exactly 20 minutes until midnight (eastern time, or 10pm mountain) on May 18, 2014 (exactly 3 years ago, to the minute) my father passed away. It was 20 minutes before his 90th birthday. I am dead serious too!!!

Now, I'm generally not a paranormal / superstitious kind of fella, but that whole experience was just WAY to bizarre too not have some kind of meaning!

What do you think??

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Just spit balling here (as they say), but have you played with any Ouija boards or had any recent seances?

Maybe buy a lottery ticket? lol!! Freaky indeed though

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Well, my first question would be, did you attach wire clamp meters to the lamps to ensure that they were receiving the correct current? My second question would be, did you dismantle the outlet to establish whether it was in proper order, and if so, what were the results of your researches?

It is important to discard all possible solutions to the question, before embarking on acceptance of the impossible.

Tell your father Happy Birthday for us...

Was he an electrician by happenstance?

a reply to: TrueBrit

Well, I work in commercial industrial electrical and electronics so I'm fairly qualified in electrical troubleshooting and repair.

The new lamp was actually plugged into a short extension cord, and as it turns out, the extension cord had a tiny cut in it and may have been arcing or shorting out. So the cord has been removed from service.

Now, on to the impossible!

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Short's in A/C electrical wiring will cause all kinds of voodoo. It's just a natural part of existence.

a reply to: dfnj2015

Agreed, it's just the coincidental timing of all those events which is so strange.

I mean, one could make an argument that I started the work noted above at a coincidental time, and I would somewhat agree, but there have been things plugged into this same cord and circuit for quite a while. Why did everything pick that moment to go wonky?

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
What do you think??

I think you gave me chills in a positive way. Now this is ATS stuff, a breath from the past ages.

And i think the electrical stuff acting up was strange, and even more the fact that you happened to check the time on that exact moment.

But i also think that if this was some kind of a contact from your father, if he was able to mess up the electrics, i think he could have also just leave a note on your desk or something telling stuff about where he is now and how is it there.

I'd suggest keep using both lamps and see if the problems repeat themselves.

If it keeps happening then you've got faulty equipment.

If it doesn't happen again then give more thought to other explanations and perhaps raise a glass to your father next May 18th.

I agree the short may have been the cause but the timing is the fascinating thing

Reminds me of some experiences I have had around my house.
My mother in law lived with us for 5 years before she passed away 15 months ago at age 93, she was confined to a wheelchair and needed pretty much around the clock care.
My wife and I are both smokers (she has since quit for about 5-6 months now though), and her mother always harped about us smoking though we never smoked around her or in the house.
This has happened about 7 or 8 times to me since she has passed with the last time being last week...
Me and a few buddies were having some beers outside on my patio, I got my smokes sitting on the table and my lighter in my pocket like I always do. I grab one out of the pack and reach for my lighter....it's not in my pocket. So I say to the guys "ok who's got my red Bic lighter?"..everyone says not me, so I use one of their lighters.
After a while we go in the house and I look around for it but don't see it anywhere.
Fast forward hours later after I got in bed, I get up to go to the bathroom and as I get up I see something fall and hear it hit the floor...it's my red lighter!!
This has happened the same way every time its happened. I get up and the lighter hits the floor after being missing from earlier in the day. A couple of times it happened getting out of bed and the other times it was getting up from the table or a chair. It's like it was just sitting on my lap without me knowing it was there.
Not saying it's paranormal but it is strange and has happened multiple times to me.

originally posted by: NightFlight
Tell your father Happy Birthday for us...

Was he an electrician by happenstance?

I'll do that!

No, not an electrician at the tradesman level, but he owned an electrical contracting company. (which was where I learned much of my electrical skills). He was an engineer. Gosh, I hadn't even thought about that angle until you mentioned it!!!

The timing is indeed curious, something to think about. The only time Ive encountered situations with electrical circuits (possibly faulty) has been streetlights being triggered on and off when I hit an intersection. I believe this has been a topic of several threads here.

While nothing paranormal is in the following, its still strange and I've heard nothing like it before or since. As I read your story, this was brought to mind.

A few years back, I managed to get my hands on an old slide projector at a garage sale for a quarter. Happy with my find, I proceeded to harvest the lenses from the machine, that being my intended purpose.

I got around 7 total of various types and sizes, one being an aspheric, similar in appearance to the ones in the newer automotive headlights. It had a bluish tint and i liked just messing around with it. (Ok, im still a kid at heart)

My wife worked at a job where I could come and hang around at times and so i happened to be there with my lenses one day just killing time. I was holding the aspheric somewhat loosely in my right hand between my thumb and forefinger with the convex side pointed out and in my left hand, I held a 2 to 3 inch standard magnifying lens. As i was focusing the 2 lenses in a basic telescope fashon, I hear a light pop and my thumb and forefinger come together as pieces of the aspheric go flying . This happened just as the image came into focus and surprised me to say the least. I wear glasses and all the pieces flew outward so my eyes were ok. My wife was still concerned but i was fine.

I was more fascinated by what just happened. I collected up the pieces and "reassembled" the lens. It had broken up into (7 or 8, its been several years and i didnt get pics) pie shaped chunks of even size and looked like they were purposefully done that way. I wasn't putting much tension at all on the lens with my right hand.

The only explanation i have found is glass fatigue. Something like, if the glass structure is under tension while it is molten, those tensions remain within the structure when hardened. As glass ages, it becomes increasingly weaker and unable to withstand the internal tension and breaks.

Well that makes sense but why break in even sized, symmetrical pieces and only once the image viewed came into focus?

Anyway, thanks for your post and reminding me of my own strange story.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

The short of it is that you have a wiring problem. Not one here to dismiss strange powers, but your electrical powers need to be checked with a voltage meter at each and every outlet.

I suspect some less than professional electrical work. Maybe 220 volts sneaked into your basement via different legs of 120 wires. Careful, a basement is an excellent place to make yourself into an equally excellent ground.