Past life regression hypnosis and UFO encounter for the Bard of Ely

I'd been hoping to be in the first series of HTV's Weird Wales. After all I've enough strange and spooky stories! Also I'm a friend of Dave Jones, who produces the programme, so I thought he'd be able to fit me in somewhere. But it was not to be.

Even my UFO experiences were not weird enough. I was gutted, as they say, but where there's a will...

I'd heard that another series was planned and the Big Issue Cymru was actually advertising it, seeking people with paranormal experiences to get in touch with HTV. The problem was I didn't have any new and remarkable goings-on I thought they would want to feature. What could I do?

I racked my brains and coming up with no answers, all I could do was hope. Then late one night I got a phone-call. It was Dave from HTV and he wanted to speak to me about Weird Wales. I finished the sentence for him and thought, Yes, it's happening, I'm going to be in this after all!

Regression hypnosis

Dave went on to tell me they wanted to record a regression hypnosis session but needed someone to be regressed. "And so you were wondering if I'd be interested?" I asked.

"Well, yes," said Dave. "But if you're going to do this you'll have to get in touch with the hypnotist pretty fast as we want to record it all the day after tomorrow."

Needless to say, I agreed and he gave me the telephone number of David Coggins, who would be hypnotising me - if I was suitable. Apparently, I would have to meet him first to determine this.

Actress Shirley MacLaine

Now regression hypnosis is something I've heard a lot about. It's standard practice these days for UFO abductees to be regressed and also a lot of people investigate past-lives through this method. Stars like Shirley MacLaine are very into this sort of thing and she knows a lot about who she was before.

I've always been fascinated but I've never been able to afford hypnotist's fees. Now, here was my big chance. I'd be getting regressed for free and appearing on Weird Wales after all! Perhaps he'd find out if I really was a Knight of the Round Table or an alien being. Then again, perhaps not.

The next day I phoned David and I could tell right away that we would get on well; we were blabbing on about King Arthur and UFO abductions. He agreed to come to my house that evening for a proper chat and to find out if I was suitable for regression.

We talked for ages and it turned out we had a lot in common. There were a couple of requirements that needed to be met and we were all set for the session tomorrow. First of all, David said I had to trust him and feel happy about the procedure. There was no problem there as, like I said, I'd always wanted to try regression and I certainly felt I could trust him.

I did ask what would happen if I became some raging maniac in a past-life or get into anything else that was difficult to handle and he assured me he would swiftly pull me out of any such problem areas. He did a little test to see if I could be hypnotised, which meant that I had to relax. Simple enough and he said I was a suitable subject.

We arranged a time to meet the next morning. When we got to the Television Centre we lost no time in going into the studio and got set for them to record the session. David put me in a trance by the method I've outlined. He told me I couldn't open my eyes. Then he told me to try. Despite all my efforts I discovered I couldn't.

He soon was taking me back through the years and I ended up in 1365 when I said I was a Swedish lumberjack named Hans and my voice changed to an appropriate Nordic accent. I was able to describe my life in a village and tell him about my family. He took me further on in that life and I became an old man with a bad leg. It all seemed very real to me.

UFO experience

He also took me into a past-life as a woman market-trader in Putney. We investigated a UFO experience and, to my surprise a whole lot of new material surfaced.

We did have one spot of trouble though, because when David asked me to go to any life in which I had been a famous person, I got hopelessly lost. I could see nothing in my head. I didn't know who I was or where I was and I said so. Fortunately, he quickly moved me to a location in time where I regained my identity and found myself as a schoolboy aged eight.

I worked out later that I had either never been anyone famous in a past life or I had been so many well-known people in past-lives that I was spoiled for choice.

The session is all captured on video. I couldn't wait to see my copy. It was all a strange experience but what was even stranger was bumping into my old friend Bick, now working at HTV. I'd known him as a punk-rocker, Big Issue vendor and busker. I've even seen him with a dog on a string!

Now here he was smartly dressed, with a new car and steady job. Bick told me he'd been to university. Very soon he'd be jetting off to America and he'd got engaged as well. Isn't it amazing what a bit of education and the power of love can do?

Footnote: First published in Big Issue Cymru, No 149, April 26-May 2, 1999.

Link:

The paranormal investigation team that Dave Coggins belongs to and info about him:

http://www.psychicinvestigations.net/html/about_us.html