Hi ! Renkyoko Iglesias here !
Holloween is just around the corner……. and I just realized that in all the years that I’ve been writing about anything under the sun here on WordPress, I have never written about a topic that I like …… scary stuff and things that go bump in the night.
So, do you believe in ghosts or in the paranormal ? To be honest, I am not sure that I don’t.
Let me tell you a story. There were two unexplainable incidents that happened to my mother. One occurred when she was in 6th grade, the other in 2005. When Mom was in 6th grade, her grandmother who lived in the ” province ” fell ill. When the incident happened, the whole family had just come home from visiting her, and their grandmother was fine when they left her . Then one night, something woke up Mom’s older brother ( a college student ) . Something or someone sprinkled water on his face. He also felt that something bad happened to the grandma. With the parents’ permission, he and my mother went back to the province early morning ( which was about 250 miles away, by the way ) to check up on their grandma. She was already dead when they arrived. Then in 2005, the same thing happened to my mother. She freaked out when she felt water on her face, but was relieved that Dad was snoring beside her . She got up to check up on all of us, and yes, we were all * cough * alive. But she knew something bad had happened, so she took note of the time. It was 3 AM. At 6 AM, she got a call from my aunt in the Philippines to inform her that our second cousin, Jay, died of heart attack while playing basketball that night , 7PM Philippine time, or 3 AM US time . Jay was the son of Dad’s first cousin who lived next door to our house in the Philippines. Jay was only 25 years old. But then, Jay was only a second cousin, right ? Well, Jay lived with us here in the US for 4 years to study and went home to the Phil. right after graduation in October, 2004. By March, 2005, 5 months after coming home, Jay was dead from undiagnosed heart condition. Jay was part of our family for 4 years …. my parents treated him like a son. We were his immediate family . I guess Jay thought it was just right that we were one of the first to know that he had passed on by giving a sign.
So, here’s my question…. were they mere coincidences or was it something else ? You be the judge.
This is all for now. Thank you for reading.
Check out my anime/manga blog http://2megaworthitwordpresscomblog.wordpress.com/
Am a Molecular Microbiology student, love to read books, and I play the violin. 
dreamsending
renxkyoko
renxkyoko's space 
Posted by cindy knoke on October 28, 2016 at 4:23 am
The world is composed of mysteries wrapped in enigmas.We understand so little of it. I like to keep written records of these sorts of what I call non-linear experiences and I have been doing this all my life. I have them with all my end of life documents and important papers.
Posted by renxkyoko on October 28, 2016 at 4:56 am
I myself don’t think this is a mere coincidence. It happened twice . If it’s just coincidence, then it’s one heck of a coincidence.
About the grandma….. Mom’ s parents went to live in the city but left my mom and her older brother in their grandma’s care until she was 7 years old. So the connection with the grandma was very strong. You’d think greatgrandma would’ give a sign to her own daughter, mom’ s mother. But no, it was to her grandson.
Posted by disperser on October 28, 2016 at 5:08 am
Well, you know my feelings on this. The problem with commenting on these is that it’s not a controlled situation and it relies heavily on memories that are sometimes many years old.
People think memories are like tape recorders, perfectly replaying the events as they happened. Nothing could be further from the truth.
I’ll also make a comment about recording stuff. Unless one records every dream and does a comparative analysis of the number of “hits” dreams generate, one is more apt to remember only the hits and not the misses.
For example, you don’t have any stories passed down from your grandmother or mother or anyone that go something like this:
The Dream
by ejdalise
“Back in 1978, there was this completely ordinary day that was followed by a completely ordinary evening. Then, I went to sleep!”
“What happened then, grandma?”
“Well, I dreamt of a tall man wearing black. He came down the street where we lived and stopped at our house. He was at the same time familiar and completely alien.”
“Oh, scary! And then what happened in your dream, grandma?”
“He spread his arm, his cape splaying out like wings, and his voice called my name. I felt compelled to move toward the man, my legs as if under the control of someone else.”
“Oh, no, grandma! Where you scared?”
“I was terrified, but had no choice. I ended up in front of the man. He was tall, and his face reminded me of crazy Cousin Joe, only this man had more teeth. Also, his nose was shorter, and his earlobes . . . ”
“Grandma!”
“Right, sorry. Anyway, the man said nothing, but he slowly pointed to my right leg. He then laughed, slowly at first, but then louder and louder, until I woke up!”
“What happened then, grandma?”
“Nothing. I’ve been waiting now nearly forty years for something I can link to it. I’ve since had that same dream about twice a year, but so far, nothing. One year, in July of 1997, I stubbed my toe on the foot of the bed, but it hardly left a mark. I thought that might have been connected, but it was my left toe.”
“That was scary, grandma.”
“Yes it was, kids, but thankfully, it’s just a dream ant it don’t mean squat.”
The End
No, what is more likely to be handed down are anecdotes where two unconnected item are linked precisely because the person made that link. They could have made a different link, something like “both times I was constipated” or “it was right after I peeled some potatoes”. My favorite would be “I was picking my nose, and achived a rare double-fingered cleanout.”
Note: I’m not saying anyone in your family picks their noses; that’s just in there for comic relief.
Or, they could have dreamed of splashing water twenty or thirty times and promptly forgot about it because nothing happened, but in those two circumstances, they remembered because they made the link between the two events.
The point is that without any control, these are just anecdotes. They may be fun to ponder and speculate about, but I would not draw any conclusions from them beyond coincidence, happy or not.
Posted by renxkyoko on October 28, 2016 at 5:31 am
I get your point, @disperser. The problem here is , it happened just two times, and both times were followed by death of a loved one. There were no other incidents like that where no one died. It was just these two.
Posted by disperser on October 28, 2016 at 5:48 am
I hesitate to keep going against what is a family memory. I only commented because you asked for an opinion.
However, if you are contemplating about it, you might consider what the mechanism is. And what is the use of it if it’s not useful as far as actually helping anyone.
Also, has any other relative ever died? Why would they not merit a sign? Beyond the spookiness of it, what other significance can be drawn from these two events?
Most people are satisfied with just marveling at the coincidence. I have a tendency to ask questions so that I can understand.
Most of all, I’m well aware people mold and change stories to make them more attractive, interesting, special. Ask any fisherman.
The more memorable the event, the more people adapt it to their lives:
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/911-memory-accuracy/
Most people would tell you they remember perfectly what happened on that day, where they were , what they were doing. And yet, studies paint a different picture.
The point is that every extraordinary claim requires extraordinary evidence. As a forensic scientist, you are not ever going to take someone’s word for anything; you are going to follow the evidence. If someone comes to you and says “I know this because I got a sign”, you are not likely to put away your kit, forego your tests, and say “Well, that’s that, then. Good job; let’s all go get a coffee.”
Posted by renxkyoko on October 28, 2016 at 6:11 am
Also, has any other relative ever died? Why would they not merit a sign? Beyond the spookiness of it, what other significance can be drawn from these two events?
Most people are satisfied with just marveling at the coincidence. I have a tendency to ask questions so that I can understand
You have a point here…… Mom’s father died not too long ago, and there was no sign whatsoever….. To be honest, I want to believe that these two incidents are mere coincidences…..
Interesting topic, though, don’t you think so ? Say yes, disperser. After all, it generated a long comment from you. I like. d (^_^ d)
Posted by disperser on October 28, 2016 at 6:46 am
I’m long-winded by nature . . . haven’t you noticed that in my posts?
Seriously, it’s a topic that concerns me as well, but for different reasons. My interest is in promoting critical thinking. I do so for a very selfish reason.
If there is something to any of the supposed paranormal things people experience, I want there to be impeccable evidence and have people behave like scientists, eliminating obvious explanations. I would love for credible evidence to surface. That would expand our world and our understanding of the universe.
Instead, we get things like “I heard a noise in the basement . . . must be the ghost of Old Man Miller who lived here 80 years ago” or “I saw a strange light in the sky . . . must be aliens coming to milk the cows”. Those kinds of things are of no use to me.
Posted by Cattie's World on October 28, 2016 at 5:38 am
This is 6th Sense ?
Posted by renxkyoko on October 28, 2016 at 5:49 am
I really have no idea. But it does make you ‘ “think”, doesn’t it ? It’s quite interesting.
Posted by Cattie's World on November 2, 2016 at 6:45 am
Hmmm
Posted by Asha Seth on October 28, 2016 at 7:33 am
Whether coincidence or paranormal, it’s creepy as hell. I’d die of shock to have water sprinkled on my face in the deep of the night for no reason. That was really scary.
Posted by renxkyoko on October 28, 2016 at 8:18 am
I know. When the sprinkling woke her up, at first she found it weird. She thought it was sweat, but it was spring here in the US and still cold. Then she remembered that incident with her brother, and that freaked her out.
Another thing, she had told that story to Jay, too. I was there , and it was actually the first I had heard of this, as well. Really weird.
Posted by Asha Seth on October 28, 2016 at 8:49 am
How horrifying! I can’t imagine to be in a state like that wondering what just happened at the same time unable to explain it to anyone. At least for your mom, it was a known incident, sadly. But if it happens to someone for the first time. God save them!
Posted by pseudomonaz on October 28, 2016 at 12:50 pm
I don’t think it was a coincidence… Though nothing like that has ever happened to me (I would be the first one to die if something like that happens to me!!) but I do believe in such things.. May be when you are highly attached to some people your intuitions warn you about some ill happenings. Don’t you think love has a magical power? Somethings that can’t be explained…
Posted by renxkyoko on October 28, 2016 at 6:50 pm
That’s true. However, I don’t really want to have that kind of power….. it will worry me to death, no pun intended. Like what happened to Mom, she had to check up on all of us to see if we were all okay…. then worrying if something bad would come up. aaargh.
Posted by imagesbytdashfield on October 28, 2016 at 2:12 pm
I’m inclined to believe it was a message. I’ve never heard of anyone feeling water on their face connected to a death before.
Posted by renxkyoko on October 28, 2016 at 6:31 pm
Yeah, not even in movies.
They say the best way to wake up a person is to sprinkle water on their face. So, perhaps that’s the reason ?
Posted by Business and Beyond on October 28, 2016 at 2:33 pm
This isn’t coincidences. Some people who have been really true to their feelings for their love ones have such a bond that whenever something happens, they would wake up in the middle of the night.
Posted by renxkyoko on October 28, 2016 at 6:27 pm
It’s something that cannot be explained rationally. We then pile it on the paranormal, the unexplainables.
Posted by Raj Krishna on October 28, 2016 at 3:06 pm
May be intuition…I believe all of us have this for our loved and dear ones..
Posted by renxkyoko on October 28, 2016 at 5:28 pm
It’s strange, but true.
Posted by Raj Krishna on October 28, 2016 at 5:32 pm
Even I came across such kind of incidents..so could totally connect with you..
Posted by renxkyoko on October 28, 2016 at 5:43 pm
Strange but true. My mother told us another story….. when her mother died, and the whole family got back home from the funeral ( her mother was buried in the town where she was born , about 250 miles from their house ) the whole house suddenly smelled of flowers….. my mother was in her bedroom when it happened, so she ran out and asked everyone if they could smell it…. the scent was very strong, she said, almost suffocating…. there were no flowers in the house, and besides, there was no one in the house for almost a week as they were all in their mother’s hometown.
Posted by Raj Krishna on October 28, 2016 at 5:53 pm
oh my God…I have also heard many paranormal experiences and in almost every story there are some common links like- smell as you mentioned, symbolic dreams, dense air, whispering voices, unusual movements of household objects, electrical appliances malfunctions etc etc
Posted by disperser on October 28, 2016 at 7:45 pm
I wish I could shut up. I wish I would have unsubscribed to this comment thread . . . but , I can’t and I didn’t.
I don’t want to rain on anyone’s self-congratulatory and awe-filled parade, but there are things to be considered when holding to such beliefs, and some are not good.
For instance, if one accepts the idea that what’s at work here is a link between people based on strong feelings (love, for instance) and if that is the basis for someone “feeling” when something happens to a loved one far away, how should people who don’t get similar “messages” feel?
Does it mean their love is not as strong? Does it mean that the person who passed away didn’t care about them all that much?
Say a wife dies far away from her husband, but he only finds out when a cop calls him. Does it mean that while he had a deep love for her, her love for him was not as deep?
What if a mother dies, and one of the children “feels” when she leaves . . . but not the others. Did she love that one child more?
What if one reads or hears all this but never experiences anything like it . . . does it mean they are unloved, uncared for, and that no one is close to them?
Would the desire to have that connection predispose one to assign meanings and significance to unrelated events so that they can say they too had a special connection, the power to communicate through time and distance?
I read about the involvement of the senses, but it’s already well established the senses are connected. Memories are connected to smells, to tastes, to sounds, to touch, and each sense triggers memories of the others. You can smell something and remember a taste. You can see something and remember an associated smell.
Do we really need to assume a connection outside of everything we know about the world to explain these things?
Sure, we might want to. Sure, it adds wonder to our lives. Sure, it makes us feel special . . . because everyone wants to be special, don’t they?
The truly wondrous thing is that we have the ability to honor those who have passed and who had an impact on our lives, and we do it by remembering them.
They live in our memories, as they should.
Posted by renxkyoko on October 28, 2016 at 8:08 pm
I guess some of us here are trying to make sense of what I posted here, and of course we come up short, and scratch our heads.
And , actually, I was supposed to add something to my comment re scent of flowers…. sometimes, scents do linger in our noses, or the smell sticks to our dresses ( like tobacco smoke ), and because of our grief and sense of loss, we tend to attach and find meaning to anything that we feel can make us closer to a beloved deceased.
Posted by disperser on October 28, 2016 at 8:15 pm
. . . I think you should remove my comments. I have enough people hating my guts without adding strangers to the mix.
Seriously, just blow them away; I won’t mind at all and it will make the comment section for this post a better place for people to express what they feel without some cranky old man giving them crap about it.
Again, please remove all my comments. I’m also unsubscribing to this post so that I won’t be tempted to comment some more. Thanks.
Posted by renxkyoko on October 28, 2016 at 8:33 pm
Uhm, no way, disperser. I like your comments. really I do. It’s now a part of my blogging history. In fact, I wish I could delete some of my posts here…. but it’s my WP history…… I just hope no one else gets to read those posts anymore. they are so biased and discriminatory, and too harsh. I have a different opinion now.
It’s okay, disperser. You’re just strongly stating your opinion. I like this stuff in my comment section. d(^_^d) C’mon.
Posted by rayneq04 on October 28, 2016 at 10:01 pm
Water sprinkles on your face with no reason? such a Halloween atmosphere!
Posted by rayneq04 on October 28, 2016 at 10:01 pm
also loving your blog hehe.
Posted by renxkyoko on November 1, 2016 at 3:07 am
Hey, thank you ! !
Posted by A. Blake on October 29, 2016 at 4:38 am
Yes, there are many people who have the power of the 3rd eye – my grandmother did and I sometimes have it but only when it’s a disaster looming. Thank God I don’t get the premonitions often!
Posted by renxkyoko on October 31, 2016 at 4:42 pm
My mother is what we call ” sensitive “, I think. But it’s not a big deal to her. She doesn’t even talk about this kind of stuff, except these two unusual coincidences, if that ‘s what they are. It ‘s fun to speculate.
Posted by D K Powell on October 30, 2016 at 9:35 pm
Spooky stuff! I have a few stories like that myself…
Posted by renxkyoko on October 31, 2016 at 4:48 pm
I hope you can write about these stories. I prefer British spooky movies over American ones. They’re so much scarier.
Posted by D K Powell on November 7, 2016 at 9:07 am
I think they’re already on my blog somewhere! Look under ghost stories and you should find them there!
Posted by loujenhaxmyor on October 31, 2016 at 8:37 pm
One night my dad visited me in a dream. It was so vivid, I immediately got out of bed and gave him a call to where he was living in Hawaii. The person who answered the phone said she was sorry– that my dad had passed away about five minutes earlier. Perhaps this was a coincidence. But I’d like to believe that there are spiritual forces at work that cannot be realistically explained.
Posted by renxkyoko on November 1, 2016 at 3:07 am
365 days , 24 / 7….why call at that exact time when your father passed away/ It’s too much of a coincidence.
Posted by Elyse on November 2, 2016 at 2:03 am
Maybe both?
Posted by marple25mary on November 2, 2016 at 3:45 am
I’m not sure. I have mixed feelings about these things. My logical side tells me that these things are coincidence, but my intuition says otherwise. Ibthink it will always be kind of a mystery which it is..
Posted by marvaseaton on November 2, 2016 at 4:46 am
Sometimes things come to you in dreams. For instance whenever i dream certain things I know something is going to happen and I find especially if I dream of being back in the home where I grew up as a small child it often means that someone I know or someone related to that person is going to die.
Posted by Arohii on November 4, 2016 at 7:41 pm
I would like to believe it was mere coincidence. But I have read articles which made me believe in the fact that there is a world beyond this world and maybe this was a Paranormal thing. Sad and sorry to hear about Jay.
Wish you a great weekend.
Posted by inesephoto on November 5, 2016 at 6:31 pm
Definitely not coincidence. The thing is that not everyone can hear the message because of the “background noise”. Very sad story, hope Jay is well wherever he is now.
Posted by renxkyoko on November 6, 2016 at 3:41 am
Too young .
We still get so many junk mails addressed to him. 10 years have passed by, but it feels like he’s still alive in the Philippines.
Posted by inesephoto on November 6, 2016 at 10:05 am
Sad, very sad.
Posted by beetleypete on November 23, 2016 at 10:01 am
Much in life cannot be easily explained. We make of it what we will. For some, it is religion, for others, the paranormal. Nobody can ever be completely sure.
Thanks for following my blog, which is much appreciated.
Best wishes from England. Pete.
Posted by Thoughts in Life on November 29, 2016 at 8:26 pm
I am still not sure though. I enjoyed your post!
Posted by renxkyoko on November 30, 2016 at 5:26 pm
I am sure my Mom believed what she had experienced…… as for me, I’m not sure either.
Posted by Thoughts in Life on November 30, 2016 at 7:09 pm
You will find the answer to your question soon. I hope 😊😊
Posted by renxkyoko on November 30, 2016 at 7:21 pm
Yikes ! ! LOL
Posted by Thoughts in Life on November 30, 2016 at 7:27 pm
😄😄😄
Posted by shopgirlanonymous on December 7, 2016 at 10:34 pm
I very much believe in the paranormal, but I also very much think there are many moments of coincidence. Only the person there can really know. 😉 I myself have predicted many deaths and health issues in my family just before they happened when I was very young, and I remember someone telling me about them, and even my mom said it was incredibly eerie.