Pam Grundy Comes From Outer Space
73
I Discover I Can Fly...Sort of
One of my earliest memories as a very young child is of flying around our local neighbhorhood. These experiences are what most people would call lucid dreams. They were incredibly vivid experiences, indistinguishable from reality except for the obvious impossibility of the act. My flights would start with someone coming to my bedroom window and sliding open the sash. I never actually saw who or what came for me. The window would open, and the two of us would immediately fly upward and around the surrounding area at a height of several hundred feet above the housetops.
What was odd about these dreams was that what I saw during these flights turned out to be topographically correct, even when we flew over neighborhoods blocks away that I'd never seen on foot and had not been past in a car. When I later would go through these neighborhoods by car or on foot I would 'remember' them from my flying dreams, and the memories would be quite accurate. Sometimes I would see details such as bicycles laying about, that I would later be able to indentify in a waking state when I saw that bicycle under the person who owned it. While flying I could feel the cool night air against my skin, and see the moonlight illuminating the scene below me.
Flying dreams were exhilirating and pleasurable, but other parts of those nights, not so much. Sometimes I would wake at night after flying and see a white luminous figure beside the head of my bed. I would scream until my parents came, but by then of course the figure would be gone. Soon I took to sleeping with the covers pulled up tightly over my head. I could not fall asleep unless I had my head safely beneath the covers. I would clamp them down with both hands as if my life depended upon it.
On several occasions, I awoke late at night to feel someone slowly pulling the covers off me all the way down to the foot of the bed. On those occasions, completely exposed, I curled up into a ball and shut my eyes hard. I do not have a single recollection of what happened after that on those occasions.
My parents claimed I was a frequent sleepwalker, and on several occasions they found me at a window, sound asleep, trying to climb the draperies. I was a quiet, withdrawn child with a rich fantasy life and a taciturn manner. So they chalked it all off to congenital weirdness and left it at that.
In other words, nerds happen. Another future X-Files fan, born to the Grundy family. It could be worse.
Scary Mary, Mother of God
When I was about eight, I began to have another recurring dream, this time about the Virgin Mary, or, as she is often referred to in UFO lore, the BVM (Blessed Virgin Mary). In these dreams, I would peek into the window of a neighborhing home and see the BVM standing inside. I would be immediately flooded with pure terror.
In Catholicism, the BVM is a consoling figure (even though whenever she drops by earth she seems to bring news of impending destruction), and she is a favorite of Catholic school girls and grown Catholic women, many of whom have a special devotion to her. However, this BVM in my recurring dreams was... not right. She had a wooden expression and manner. It was as if something horrifying and fierce had put on a BVM suit and plastic mask to fool the locals, and only I could recognize the masquerade.
What I want to especially focus on here is the quality of terror that the sight of the BVM in these dreams provoked in me. It was so intense it is hard to describe: almost as though every single cell in my body dropped everything it was doing to create terror, the cumulative effect of which is total paralysis.
Suffice it to say it's a bad feeling.
These dreams also were accompanied by late night visitations of a luminous figure standing beside my bed, my resultant screams, and my parents running into the room bleary-eyed to tell me everything was fine so please, please, please knock it off and get some sleep.
Easy for them to say.
Aliens Come to Indiana
Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind was actually filmed in my home state of Indiana, not too far from where I grew up. I'm not sure why. Perhaps because during the 1970s, Indiana was one of the 'hot spots' in the U.S. that saw a rash of UFO sightings and abduction reports. While the press tended to focus on the believer/skeptic debate (which, by the way, I think is really, really boring), what fascinated me was the psychological aftereffects of such encounters on the people who experienced them. This is what Spielberg also focused on in his movie, ending his flick with the now famous Mothership landing and a human-alien musical communication finale.
Close Encounters was unique in that it was one of the first Hollywood films to spring from the personal experiences of real people, and, while not a documentary even in a loose sense of the word, it did have a basis in actual reported events. Whether or not the reported events were 'real' is still hotly debated. Close Encounters was a radical departure from the space alien films and pulp fiction of the 1940s through the 1960s, which mostly portrayed UFOs and abductions as lurid sexual dramas in which randy bug-eyed monsters came to earth lookin-fer wimmin. Sometimes they ate thewimmin. (And not in a good way either.) The pre-Spielberg aliens weren't ET; you'd never want to make a children's cuddly toy out of their horny bug-eyed selves.
Back in semi-real life, at our own house, we were chasing UFOs too. I remember one summer night in particular, sitting on the front porch of my parents' house with my mother and my brother, watching strange lights play across the night sky due west of us. We were all in a jovial mood, laughing about UFOs and so forth. My brother and I were teenagers at the time. Suddenly my mother lept up and said, "Let's go!" and we all piled into the car and took off in search of the source of the lights.
We drove for a little while, having fun, one of us keeping our head out the window to say "Turn here!" or "Go that way!" until we found ourselves on a desolate road somewhere out in the country near the regional airport. I remember getting out of the car and all of us standing in the dark looking up, and my Mom saying, "I guess it was nothing."
We drove home, where my father was waiting, annoyed. Where had we been? My mother explained we went chasing the UFO lights to see what they were, but it was just something at the airport. The airport was about a five minute drive by car from our house, and it seemed we'd been gone maybe 15 minutes tops, which was about exactly right. Five minutes there, five minutes back, five minutes to stand in a dark field like a bunch of morons looking up at basically nothing.
Trouble was, we'd been gone over two hours.
To Be Continued...
You know what? This is getting too long! I didn't realize I had this much to tell about my personal and weird history with inner and outer space, but I do. There's tons more, and this hub isn't big enough to cram it all together, so I guess I am going to have to go back and add 'Part 1' to the title, and then come back and continue the story.
Which reminds of something slightly unrelated. Did you know you can self-publish this kind of thing at Lulu.com? Well, you can, for free. Then if people feel like paying you whatever to read it, they do, then they download your ebook thingie, and you get some moola for that.
So it strikes me that since I have a lot more to say, if anyone else out there has a lot to say on the same topic, let me know. Maybe we can do something with it all. Or maybe I'll just flesh it all up a bit and publish it.
For now if you want to keep reading about this kind of thing, go to:
Pam Grundy Comes From Outer Space Part 2
See you there..
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Hi Karen! OBEs, I remember that term now. Maybe so... I mean, I think that actually is possible, so maybe when I was very young it was a spontaneous thing. I decided ot put this hub together because I realized I'd never really laid out my bizarre experiences chronologically and just looked at them. I'm not shooting for any particular explanation, I just thought it might be interesting and other people might have similar experiences they'd want to share. Thanks for your comments and for reading the hub!
Hi Pam! Another really interesting hub and I have loads to say on these subjects as you know! I'll be putting more of my experiences up eventually. I find its inteeresting how stuff from the past comes to mind when doing this sort of thing.
CJ says in Last of the Hippies that I really am "an alien being" and he explains he is not just saying that too!
I can't remember if you listened to the Karen Lyster interview I posted in one of my UFO hubs but she described seeing stuff from above like you did and gives the example of when she knew that something which was lost was actually on the roof. Karen has had encounters all her life. As it happens some of her friends like me are worried about her because she hasn't attended to her main UFO website or her Myspace one since April and no one has heard from her. She isn't answering e-mails either and never did this before.
Hi Steve! Yes, reading your recent hubs jarred a lot of this stuff loose from my memory and I thought I'd put it all down, just to see how it looked all laid out, but once I got started I realized, whoa--I've got more to say than I thought I did. So I guess this will be a series until I'm done. I'll be looking forward to your future hubs on it too. I think it's fascinating, especially if one can keep an open mind and just put it out there without pushing too hard for an explanation instantly.
I did listen to that Karen Lyster interview you posted--it was fascinating. What is interesting to me is that these sorts of experiences are not rare at all---it's just that the people who have them get such a stigma over it, they learn to put it aside and keep quiet about it. But the stuff is damned interesting, so that's a shame. Then there's the whole circus that comes to call when you do come out about these things--the skeptics, the ufologists, the religious nuts--but it's been awhile since anyone made much of a fuss over it. That may make it easier to write about. I hope Karen is OK. That is kind of disturbing, that absence.
Yes, I have found that a lot of people have these sorts of experiences but don't talk about them too. So this gives an artificial picture of what is real and what isn't. If many people are able to correctly identify things that can only be seen from above, observed in astral travel or alien abduction experiences or whatever you want to call it, it nevertheless shows it can be done and makes a mockery of science we are taught.
Yes, it is worrying about Karen. I asked Rebecca, who is the partner of Disclosure Witness Dan Willis, whom you will have heard did the interview at the same time as Karen, and they haven't heard anything from her either for as long as me. Yes, we knew she was having problems at Myspace and computer problems but that doesn't explain why she hasn't been able in all these months to at least get an email to one of us or post a message on her site. Her birthday has come and gone and people sent birthday greetings but no acknowledgement appeared. I sent an email to say I had given her a plug here and had no reply! I have known Karen for a couple of years and she always would say thank you on such occasions. Also her websites were important to her for getting info out but they are just left. It is a real mystery!
Very interesting stuff. I remember flying 'dreams' from my early childhood, as well. As I got older, I was very interested in UFO stuff, and would stare out the window next to my bed wishing to see "something". Alas, no other wierd stories for me (that I remember) other than the very early flights that seems quite real. Looking forward to Part 2, Pam!
Thank you for commenting dineane! It sounds like childhood flying dreams are pretty common. What fun though! (I wish I could fly now!) Actually I still have them sometimes, they're so pleasant.
I am back, from my vacation, and your hub is the first one I read! We had a small kitchen fire from a malfunctioning coffee maker on my first day back home, and it burned the cabinets, the counter, thank God Phil was able to put it out. State Farm is giving us first rate service, wow, house cleaning services, hotel stay (if we want to), picking up the tab for eating out... remodeling... thought I would tell you since you are insurance expert. :)
Looks like you had out of body experiences. I also used to wake up with spirits standing by my bed, pulling covers, and even saw a UFO at one time but when my etheric self "woke" up... in other words, I knew I was in bed, but another me was seeing the UFO. Today's children are luckier, now there is professional psychics and open minded psychologists who help children understand their abilities- its in cable now, forgot the name of the show. I am looking forward to part two of your story, Pam!
Hi Violetsun! I'm so glad you are all right! You know, I'm already glad I wrote this because people have already explained parts of my experience as a child in ways I hadn't really considered, and you have also done this. Thank you for that! I had a coffee pot meltdown years ago, but luckily no fire.
Here's a weird note, speaking of small appliances--after a particularly intense experience in my life that involved brilliant light, I spend the next several years frying every small appliance I touched. I've heard of this in other cases, but never an explanation. There are so many things we really just don't know. Thank you for your comments!
Hi Pam! I guess I was never the kind to be blessed with flying dreams, although my dad talks about his often. I, unfortunately, can only remember a couple very vivid dreams from my childhood (probably about 4 or 5 years old), and those would fall more into the nightmare category. I had the same dream multiple times where I was trying to save all my family and friends from a place that I could only describe as hell, although I don't know where I got the "idea" from, as my family never really talked fire & brimstone & cages & lava (all of which were in my recurring dreams). To this day, thinking about those dreams still makes me cringe, they were so real!
Hi Pam, I just KNEW you must be from outer space. . You can't live in America and have views like yours unless you are a space alien tuned to a different frequency. It's no wonder you and Steve get on. You are both space aliens. What I want to know is, are you from the same planet, or is there a galactic federation?
I still get get those lucid flying dreams every so often. They are my proof that we are more than just a material body since, whenever it happens, I literally leave my body to go flying, sometimes even "passing through" the physical material of it to launch into the air, and there'a always such a feeling of exhileration afterwards, a feeling of freedom. I love it.
Hi Boss #1! Funny you should mention that nightmare. I had a very similar issue as a grade school kid. My brother & I went to public school because my folks couldn't get both of us into Catholic school--since there was only room for one of us, they send neither of us, and as a result I had to be excused for Catechism in third grade so I could make my first communion. The nuns were terrifying--they wore these really weird big headpieces that looked liked giant paper plates, and long black veils & robes. They were intent on putting the fear of God into us in the few days they had, and one of them explained to me that my father would be going to hell since he didn't attend Church (he didn't care about it at all at that time), and it was up to me to save him. I was up all night that night with him, crying and trying to talk him into attending mass. Then he and my mother had it out. In the end I kept going to Catechism, but I did abandon the Church eventually. What a bunch of sadists.
Hi CJ! I'm not sure which planet or galactic federation would claim me. I think I'm more of a changeing. My parents thought the had a real child but over time the truth dawned on them and they died young. Couldn't handle it, poor things. When I have flying dreams today it's always more like I realize (in the dream) that I can lift my legs off the ground and float horizontal to the floor if I want to and nothing bad will happen. Often in those kinds of dreams I show this skill to others and they are totally unimpressed. Kind of like in my rea1 life!
Steve is great. I do really enjoy his perspective. It's not like anyone else's, and actually, yes, I too have been accused of having that quality. But as you point out, living here in the U.S, a person would want that. Trust me, no one decent would want to 'fit in' in the U.S. the way it is now.
I believe a UFO connection is an intrusion on our free will. Unless of course we respond by our free will to continue to connect with it by giving it attention in our lives.
UFOs interferred with your connection with Mother Mary, who in reality is an Angel, that by free will chose to embody as human to give birth to the Christ.
There are many levels of the spiritual realms, by free will we learn to choose wisely which levels to connect with and which to ignore.
Interesting opinion Sparkling Jewel, thank you for posting it. Already I am surprised by how interesting the comments on this hub have been. Thank you for taking the time to express how you feel about it. Have a great weekend.
Fascinating stuff all round, I bet you would enjoy reading "Budd Hopkins" and his books about Alien Abduction cases if you haven't already come across his work. He is brilliant and leaves you in no doubt as to the existence of alien Abduction.
I also believe in Astral Travel, or OBE's, and it sounds like you may have had a combination of both these and possibly Alien Abduction.
Thank your for your comments Mistyhorizon! I have heard of Bud Hopkins. If fact, I spoke with him on the phone a couple of times back in the 1980s--I'll write about it in a future hub in this series. Thanks for reading this and sharing your thoughts!
Look forward to reading that Hub.
The BVM is both a terror and a comfort.
She's a terror in the way she was thrust upon us as young Catholics...it was to her that we did our penance and prayed for salvation. Really, how can you identify with a girl who never had sex, but had a baby, and now she's the boss of you because the church said so?
On the other hand, she's a comfort. Did she ask for what happened to her? Some spirit came down from someplace and told her she was to have a child. Since she was a virgin, she must have been terrified, and I can identify with that (I once thought that French kissing gave you a baby). She didn't do anything to bring it on. I am comforted by Mary because she was handed something she didn't ask for, yet she stepped up to the plate. She wasn't any wimp.
The statues of her in the Catholic church are cold and removed. As a kid, I was terrified that she'd start bleeding from her hands if I prayed to her.
She is a mixed blessing to all the humanity that followed her.
Looking forward to part 2.
Hi Sally! Yes I have ambivalent personal feelings about the BVM for all the reasons you mention. But what really fascinates me is how closely she is associated with UFO lore, which I find just bizarre, and this I discovered long after my childhood dreams about her, as I was reading book after book about altered states, UFOs, magic and so forth and so on, and also religious texts.
I think the BVM is the goddess Isis neutered. It was the practice of the Church to incorporate pagan gods, stories, and traditions into Catholicism to more easily convert conquered peoples. But this aspect of her that shows up in contemporary Marian apparitions and UFO lore--that aspect is so bizarre and disturbing, and in retrospect I find it interesting that I had those dreams as a child, knowing this about it now.
Hi Pam,
Enjoyed this hub. Sadly, the only flying I remember from my childhood is that I was a huge Peter Pan fan. I so wanted to fly, and my dad would lift me over his head, and I'd stretch out my arms and legs and pretend I was flying.
One recurring dream I had for I don't know how long, or quite what age I was, but it was nothing but a void, a loud ringing in my ears and circular colors. That's it, no people, UFOs, nothing but sound and color. It continued for some time and it used to terrify me. Then it stopped. Just plain weird if you ask me.
Trish
Hi Trish! Sounds like you had a great dad! The dream about the noises and colors is interesting. I once had a similar experience during very high fever in which sounds had colors--it's hard to explain. Apparently it has neuroscience name: synesthesia. It's when one sense (like hearing, sight, or smell) gets involuntarily tangled up with another sense. Sounds a little like you dream.
Yes, it is hard to explain. I don't know why it frightened me either, maybe because it happened over and over for a period of time. Glad to know there's a name for it :)
Hi. Great hub. I love reading about stuff like this, as it makes me feel less odd. I grew up in a family that had dabbled a great deal in Spiritualism. I remember an endless parade of spirits coming to my bedside when I was a child, and I've also had a number of OBEs. I guess to a large extent I've turned my back on it all as an adult, mainly because I've largely mixed with very level-headed non-believers, including my husband.
Having said that, a few years ago, we stayed in a rented country cottage in Wales, and one morning we were laying in bed when we heard footsteps in the passage outside. We both looked up expecting one of the children to materialise, but when the bedroom door opened, and then shut, nothing visible came in. I felt no fear, and I instinctively reached out to my husband to tell him not to be scared, but he was already cowering under the bed covers! Needless to say, he now has a higher tolerance of spooky tales.
I'm looking forward to reading part 2.
Best wishes
Mandy
Thanks for sharing that story Mandy. I love ghost stories. I love to watch that show "Ghost Hunters" even though almost nothing happens. Every episode is just the lot of them bickering with each other and waiving electronic equipment around, but that's part of what I love about it. It makes me feel like part of a fellowship of nerds. Plus, once in awhile they actually happen upon something cool.
As always pgrundy I love your style. I feel like being hostile today however, so I think I’ll bitch about the content. Is there some metaphorical message I’m missing here? I freely admit that I loved Close Encounters. At the time it was a moving departure from The Thing and the original War of the Worlds (the Tom Cruise remake sucked). But when I read this I feel a bit like I’m watching dancing with the stars or american idol.
Is revenue generation the only purpose for posting on Hub Pages? I’m going to start a new account under a different name and post NOTHING but commercially inspired Hubs. I’m curious to compare the traffic stats between that and the real me.
I’m really not trying to be a prick Pam. I’m just trying to figure out what really matters.
Hi Coldwarbaby,
I don't think you are a prick, and no you aren't missing any metaphorical content in this. It is what it is. But I'm not writing it for revenue generation!It kind of cracked me up when you wrote that--it took me aback--because I've been at Hubpages like, I don't know, 8 months I think, and so far I've generate about 47 bucks. I haven't even hit the Google minimum for a pay out. My worst performing hubs on the ones on the weird stuff like this one--they get the least hits of all. The ones that get the most hits are the ones about how to make money writing or how our economy sucks. Everything else, zip, nada, and the alien stuff--I think only my diehard friends here like you and CJ and Steve and Violet and a few others even look at them.
So no, it's not about making money. If it was I'd write one of those stupid MLM generate thousands in passive revenue while brushing your teeth hubs. I actually care about this topic a lot because it is such a mystery in my own life and such a big part of it.
I wish I could post my traffic stats so you could see for yourself almost no one reads my paranormal hubs. It's so ironic you would say that.
I know you care about what you write Pam. That's why I think a book would be very successful for you. I think you should do it soon. Time may be of the essence.
Thanks ColdWarbBaby, I thought you were offended by the topic or something. It's personal, but I've spent lots of years on it both in formal study and on my own just working it out. Thanks for the suggestion. I do plan on it.
Pam - Greetings from a fellow "frequent flyer"! A little "insanity" is a GOOD thing! Keep the Hubs coming, I always enjoy reading them.
Thanks Marina!
Thanks for this excellent hub! It is strange how I gravitate to the people with these kinds of experiences, even before they start talking about these experiences. I have had flying dreams since i was a child, and so does my mother. I love these dreams...I can float along on the wind, and see everything. I feel so good, that is the first thing I notice when this happens, although, it is not always when I am sleeping. Sometimes, I am half in/out of sleep and the next thing I know I am floating out the window, and I think YIPPY, here we go again!
One interesting thing for me, whenever I was going to make a physical move in my life, I would fly there maybe a year or two before. It took me two move to figure this out, but once I did, I had the key to the future. I have also flown over cemeteries, and knew that someone I loved was getting buried there, and then....a few years later, there I was!
So, flying dreams can also foretell the future, if you pay attention. I feel other beings around me when I have these dreams, and I know I am protected. I kind of feel like a little kid with my training wheels. If this is what the afterlife is like, I am looking forward to it. Of course after awhile, it might get a little boring, flying around like that, but I am sure there are other things to do also!
Thank you for sharing your experiences and affirming mine in the process Magnoliazz. I love flying dreams too. Often in the flying dreams I have now I'm not doing anything unusual, I just realize I can lift off the ground, and when I show people, they're like, oh, well, ok, big deal. Strange. But I still enjoy the dreams. Thank you for posting your thoughts!
I don't recall every having lucid dreaming but I have experienced deja vu many times before and I wonder if they might be connected.
Hi Writer Rider--Deja vu is a weird feeling! I don't know if there's a connection to lucid dreaming. Maybe! :)
Karen LaVelle says:
15 months ago
Hi Pam!
The flying experiences could have been out of body experiences. Although it isn't connected to UFO's specifically, there are huge groups of people who actually, consciously DO this sort of OBE. And they do it in groups or with friends....consciously...yep! It is a body thing.
As for UFOs, well, I too am an X-files fan. I have experiences that I cannot explain at all...no memories of alien abduction...but constant strange stuff. I am looking forward to the second half of your story, too! =o)