Top 10 Unexplained Phenomena

Top 10 Unexplained Phenomena

Number 10
The Mind/Body Connection
Medical science is only beginning to understand the ways in which the mind influences the body. The placebo effect, for example, demonstrates that people can at times cause a relief in medical symptoms or suffering by believing the cures to be effective—whether they actually are or not. Using processes only poorly understood, the body’s ability to heal itself is far more amazing than anything modern medicine could create.

Number 9
Psychic Powers and ESP
Psychic powers and extra-sensory perception (ESP) rank among the top ten unexplained phenomena if for no other reason than that belief in them is so widespread. Many people believe that intuition (see #3) is a form of psychic power, a way of accessing arcane or special knowledge about the world or the future. Researchers have tested people who claim to have psychic powers, though the results under controlled scientific conditions have so far been negative or ambiguous. Some have argued that psychic powers cannot be tested, or for some reason diminish in the presence of skeptics or scientists. If this is true, science will never be able to prove or disprove the existence of psychic powers.

Number 8
Near-Death Experiences and Life After Death
People who were once near death have sometimes reported various mystical experiences (such as going into a tunnel and emerging in a light, being reunited with loved ones, a sense of peace, etc.) that may suggest an existence beyond the grave. While such experiences are profound, no one has returned with proof or verifiable information from “beyond the grave.” Skeptics suggest that the experiences are explainable as natural and predictable hallucinations of a traumatized brain, yet there is no way to know with certainty what causes near-death experiences, or if they truly are visions of “the other side.”

Number 7
UFOs
There is no doubt that UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects) exist—many people see things in the skies that they cannot identify, ranging from aircraft to meteors. Whether or not any of those objects and lights are alien spacecraft is another matter entirely; given the fantastic distances and effort involved in just getting to Earth from across the universe, such a scenario seems unlikely. Still, while careful investigation has revealed known causes for most sighting reports, some UFO incidents will always remain unexplained.

Number 6
Déjà vu
Déjà vu is a French phrase meaning “already seen,” referring to the distinct, puzzling, and mysterious feeling of having experienced a specific set of circumstances before. A woman might walk into a building, for example, in a foreign country she’d never visited, and sense that the setting is eerily and intimately familiar. Some attribute déjà vu to psychic experiences or unbidden glimpses of previous lives. As with intuition (see #3), research into ,human psychology can offer more naturalistic explanations, but ultimately the cause and nature of the phenomenon itself remains a mystery.

Number 5
Ghosts
From the Shakespeare play "MacBeth" to the NBC show "Medium," spirits of the dead have long made an appearance in our culture and folklore. Many people have reported seeing apparitions of both shadowy strangers and departed loved ones. Though definitive proof for the existence of ghosts remains elusive, sincere eyewitnesses continue to report seeing, photographing, and even communicating with ghosts. Ghost investigators hope to one day prove that the dead can contact the living, providing a final answer to the mystery.

Number 4
Mysterious Disappearances
People disappear for various reasons. Most are runaways, some succumb to accident, a few are abducted or killed, but most are eventually found. Not so with the truly mysterious disappearances. From the crew of the Marie Celeste to Jimmy Hoffa, Amelia Earhart, and Natalee Holloway, some people seem to have vanished without a trace. When missing persons are found, it is always through police work, confession, or accident never by “psychic detectives”). But when the evidence is lacking and leads are lost, even police and forensic science can’t always solve the crime.

Number 3
Intuition
Whether we call it gut feelings, a “sixth sense,” or something else, we have all experienced intuition at one time or another. Of course, gut feelings are often wrong (how many times during aircraft turbulence have you been “sure” your plane was going down?), but they do seem to be right much of the time. Psychologists note that people subconsciously pick up information about the world around us, leading us to seemingly sense or know information without knowing exactly how or why we know it. But cases of intuition are difficult to prove or study, and psychology may only be part of the answer.

Number 2
Big Foot
For decades, large, hairy, manlike beasts called Bigfoot have occasionally been reported by eyewitnesses across America. Despite the thousands of Bigfoot that must exist for a breeding population, not a single body has been found. Not one has been killed by a hunter, struck dead by a speeding car, or even died of natural causes. In the absence of hard evidence like teeth or bones, support comes down to eyewitness sightings and ambiguous photos and films. Since it is logically impossible to prove a universal negative, science will never be able to prove that creatures like Bigfoot and the Loch Ness monster do not exist, and it is possible that these mysterious beasts lurk far from prying eyes.



Number 1
The Taos Hum
Some residents and visitors in the small city of Taos, New Mexico, have for years been annoyed and puzzled by a mysterious and faint low-frequency hum in the desert air. Oddly, only about 2 percent of Taos residents report hearing the sound. Some believe it is caused by unusual acoustics; others suspect mass hysteria or some secret, sinister purpose. Whether described as a whir, hum, or buzz—and whether psychological, natural, or supernatural—no one has yet been able to locate the sound’s origin.

I skied in Taos, I didn't hear no hum. Now I want to go back. One thing about the place: Every building and house is Adobe.

All the fast food places, even Wal-Mart. All Adobe looking stuctures. Really neat.


I'm sure it's brick and mortal underneath, but outside and stucture looks like Adobe huts.


I wonder is that kind of thing would cause a hum.

Adobe Huts, eh? The plot thickens...

Half of the unexplained phenomena above I actually chalk up to humanity's stupidity. But that's just me.

adobe? like everything is photoshopped? i bet that is neat.

but i think #11 on the list would definitely be that whole "2 socks enter, 1 sock leaves" thunderdome dryer phenomenon.

See, now, Larke's given us a real phenemon that we all can relate to. That's my number 1.

How is #1 something I've never heard of. Lame.

What about Loch Ness Monster. Or any non-Catholic religion.

-HECK!

I think the mysterious disappearances one could be number one. Though in Amelia Earhart's case, there's no mystery. Flying over a vast body of water and crashing down in the middle of it would make it hard for someone to find you.

True that. It's like when that rich dude recently went missing. People who do crazy things like that, well, it's not too hard to connect the dots.

I'm not saying that it's out of the realm of possibility that somehow there is a way people disappear. Just saying that bitch done crashed in the ocean.

-HECK!

Well, I'd bet that there's no way people go "poof" into nothing. Cut into little bits and spread over all 52 States... probably.

She showed up on Voyager remember? Aliens from the Delta Quadrant got her. Janeway found an old truck in space, and they actually started it up. Stupid.

And then they found Amelia. And it was Sipowitzes wife from NYPD BLUE.


That's right, it wasn't just some stupid alien from within a few years travel distance, it was 70 years away aliens that got her.


About that time, I started just turning off Voyager episodes if they were too stupid.

Also, the one where they met some dino people and they were from Earth, had evolved from our dino's and left earth, I wanted to hurl. Yeah, they went there.

gaboman wrote:

Well, I'd bet that there's no way people go "poof" into nothing. Cut into little bits and spread over all 52 States... probably.

50 states, commie.

-HECK!

heh heh, I didn't catch that. 52 states. What a dumb ass.

Ugh, shitty Voyager episodes. It's a phenonmena that the show actually crapped out 7 seasons worth of episodes. Then it went and made Q suck, the Borg suck and Star Trek suck from that point on.

-HECK!

I think the trying to hook up the hottest chick on the show with the Holographic Doctor or Harry Kim is an damn Unexplained Phenomena.

Or setting up the idea that the gell packs are BIO for almost a full season, then having the BIO packs go bad episode and it's like, yeah, they suck, their BIO, they got sick. OK.

Real winner there. You set something up for a season, make them suckers come alive and take over the ship. They just get ill and quit working? That's about standard, but why mention them over and over for a full year?

***Whidden steams***

I was counting Iraq and the UK.


Actually, not sure where I got 52 from. I may have gotten America mixed up with a deck of cards.