03/09/2001

Extrasensory Perception

Do you believe in extrasensory perception - so-called ESP?

Webster's Dictionary defines extrasensory perception (ESP) as "perception (as in telepathy, clairvoyance and precognition) that involves awareness of information about events external to the self not gained through the senses and not deducible from previous experience." Telepathy is a form of communication from one mind to another by extrasensory means and clairvoyance is the power to perceive things beyond the range of ordinary perception. I think of mental telepathy as the power to send mental messages and clairvoyance as the power to receive them.

In addition to the recognized five senses of touch, taste, smell, hearing and vision, I think people (and many animals) have a "sixth" sense I would call intuition. I could give many examples of it from my own experience, as I'm sure you could, too. But I'm not too sure about ESP -- the actual sending and receiving of specific information through some other sensory pathway. The closest I've come to such an ESP experience occurred a few years ago.

I had flown to San Francisco to attend a conference for school psychologists. While in California I planned to take a side-trip to Los Angeles to visit Chris, an old friend from college. Early in the week I booked a Friday afternoon flight to L.A. and sent Chris (who planned to pick me up at the airport) a note stating that I was due in at 6:30 pm.

Friday afternoon, all went according to plan, at first. The plane took off on schedule, and I tilted back in my seat to take a nap, mentally fatigued after a week of information-packed meetings. Just before dozing off, it suddenly occurred to me that I had not told Chris what airline I was traveling on. Not more than two seconds after that thought, another equally compelling thought came to my mind. "No problem," I told myself, "I'll just meet him at the Pan-Am terminal." Pan-Am was not the airline I was flying, but knowing that didn't phase me in the least. I promptly fell asleep.

Just before landing I awoke to an announcement from the pilot. "Ladies and gentlemen, due to heavy traffic going into LA International, our flight has been diverted to a nearby airport. We will have buses standing by to transport you to the main terminals. We apologize for any inconvenience."

We landed at about 6:45, already late, and waited for the promised buses. Anxious about meeting my friend, I decided not to wait any longer for the bus and arranged with two passengers from my flight to share cab fare to the main terminals. En route we talked about our travel arrangements. When I told them about my predicament, neither of them believed that I would find my friend at all. They were certain that I would have to wait until he returned home to get a call from me about my location (this happened before everyone had cellphones). I was still certain that he would be at Pan-Am, so I asked the driver to drop me off there, waved good-bye to my skeptical companions and went inside.

I have no idea why I went to the ticketing area instead of the baggage area, but I did. There, sitting on a bench in the cavernous hall, was Chris. I walked up to him, casual as you please, and said, "Hi, sorry to keep you waiting."

His jaw nearly dropped to the floor. "How did you ever find me here?" he asked. "I have been at the airport since 5:30, walking from one terminal to another, checking out every flight coming in from San Francisco that was landing even close to 6:30. There wasn't a single flight with any airline listed to arrive at the time you gave me. I stopped here to rest and think about where to go next, and you turn up? I don't believe it."

"I knew you would be here," I replied, equally baffled after hearing about his search.

Was that ESP or just dumb luck? I guess I'll never know. What do you think?

Links:

Online ESP abilities test

Psychic encounters

Please send questions or comments to bbruno@snet.net.