Probably coincidence, but...

stevenmu

For the last year or so I've been thinking a lot about getting stuck in an elevator. It's not something I've been particularly worried about or afraid of, I definitely wouldn't describe it as some kind of fear or phobia. It's something I've just been curious about, wondering what it would be like, how I'd react etc, all very casual. I'd rarely see or get into a lift without picturing it getting stuck, and quite often in an idle moment my mind would wander to thinking about it. I wouldn't say I was pre-occupied with the thought, but I definitely thought about it more than I would consider normal. In particular, a few months back we moved offices to a new building almost every time I got in the elevator I would look at the inner doors and wonder how easy it would be to force them if needed. And being interested in the paranormal I've occasionally wondered if this was some sort of premonition, or just an overactive imagination.

So last Friday, I was taking the lift up and, well if you can't see where this is going by now you don't belong in this forum :P, the lift got stuck just before our floor. It could of course all be coincidence, and of course there's no way to show otherwise. But at the same time it is something I felt I spent an unusual amount of time thinking about, you don't get to moderate the paranormal forum without being at least slightly unusual, but even still. And like I said, it was always a very casual, relaxed thought. Someone who's afraid of dogs for e.g. will naturally always think of being bitten when they see one, but I don't feel that was the case here. It could also be said that I was on some level aware of some defect in this lift, and to be fair it's pretty small and cramped so I'd imagine most people would think of it when they first get into it, but the thoughts do pre-date me ever having seen it.

Anyway, impossible to say anything for sure, but it was an interesting experience and I'll certainly be listening to those nagging thoughts from now on.





Oh, and in case anyone's wondering, I got out in the end

smithcity

That's pretty interesting alright. In most circumstances I would call that a coincidence, but getting stuck in an elevator is such an unusual things to happen that it lends quite a bit of significance to your preoccupation with the possibility of it happening.

Had you ever tended towards being claustrophobic or anything like that previously, or was the idea of being stuck in an elevator totally new to you?

Genghiz Cohen

Do you think about getting into a car crash?
The end of the world?
Any other unusual occurrence that you think about?
Any way they could happen too?

stevenmu

smithcity wrote: »

That's pretty interesting alright. In most circumstances I would call that a coincidence, but getting stuck in an elevator is such an unusual things to happen that it lends quite a bit of significance to your preoccupation with the possibility of it happening.

Exactly, it's probably not quite on the same level as winning the lotto, but it's a pretty rare event. I don't think I know anyone it's ever happened to (which would be another reason to think about it a bit).

Had you ever tended towards being claustrophobic or anything like that previously, or was the idea of being stuck in an elevator totally new to you?

I've never really been claustrophobic, I'm not a huge fan of tight enclosed spaces, but not many people are The closest I'd come to anything claustrophobic is that I don't like spaces that are crowded with lots of people. Actually thinking about it now the idea of being trapped in a crowded elevator would be pretty freaky, but it was always alone and that's how it happened.

Genghiz Cohen wrote:

Do you think about getting into a car crash?
The end of the world?
Any other unusual occurrence that you think about?
Any way they could happen too?

I've been thinking a lot about winning the lotto, but I think it's safe to put that one down to pure optimism (for the moment)

Oryx

Keep us informed on the lotto thingy.:)

You can always ascribe stuff to coincidence, but when you are the person in the middle of the experience, it seems to go deeper than that.

Once as a passenger in a car, I remember suddenly settling myself in the seat, checking my belt, and positioning my hands in a way I felt they wouldnt get hit by the dash, all just on some kind of a whim. Five minutes down the road, we meet a jeep with bullbars on our side of the road, with our only other option being the stone wall of a bridge. Cue mad braking and evasive steering, and our car doing some kind of a Harry Potter bus impression, and we escaped shaken up but unscathed. I always thought it odd that I had that urge to prepare for a smack (which almost, but didnt happen).

Has your fear of being stuck in a lift been expunged now, do you think? Or is it worse!

faceman

Unfortunately it does sound concidental to me. I know quite a few people who have been stuck in a lift too. (Even Stephen Fry has been stuck in a lift! )

It sounds like you may have some, albeit tiny, anxiety about being stuck in a lift which may have been behind your recurring thoughts on the matter.

karynp

Id think the laws of attraction happened here,the more you thought of it ect.
keep up the lotto thoughts and remember meeeeeeeeeee

maggie797

many years ago when I worked in london and used the lift at covent garden tube station..i can recall one particular day when I was gazing at theinside of the lift and started wondering how horrific would it be if the lift got stuck.. or worse its cable car fell. the image i had of this was so strong i was horrorstruck in the lift.. I had to really shake off the image and feeling when I got out of the lift and went to work. on my way home I picked up the evening standard and i couldnt believe it when I read that a girl had been killed that day in a lift in london in one of the city buidings..the lift was stuck between floors and when she was been rescued one of the cables snapped and the lift fell.. she was killed instantly..i read that story with horror as that had been exactly what i had been wondering about earlier that day ...I ddid wonder if i had a premoniton at the time.... people getting killed in lifts is pretty rare.

stevenmu

^^^ I'm glad I didn't read that before hand

Oryx wrote: »

Has your fear of being stuck in a lift been expunged now, do you think? Or is it worse!

Oddly I've barely thought of it since. It's like it's done and dusted now and out of the way

faceman wrote: »

Unfortunately it does sound concidental to me. I know quite a few people who have been stuck in a lift too. (Even Stephen Fry has been stuck in a lift! )

It sounds like you may have some, albeit tiny, anxiety about being stuck in a lift which may have been behind your recurring thoughts on the matter.

The funny thing is I really didn't have any anxiety about it at all, if anything I'd say I almost wanted it to happen to see what it would be like (odd I know).

It does sound very coincidental I know, and plenty of people do get stuck in lifts, but I suspect very few of them develop a fascination with it before hand. Of course that can be just coincidence too, but I still think it's out of the ordinary enough to be interesting.

smithcity

My dog is stuck to another dog. I've seen this coming in my dreams

RLJ

I had been thinking of someone i had not seen for years and then met them a few days later. I am quite sure there were not times I thought of but did not meet them which would be my usual explanation

smithcity

I remember seeing Stephen Fry talk about that kind of thing, saying that people attribute it to some kind of psychic event when they think of someone they havent seen in a long time, then they phone or you bump into them somewhere.

He said, it would be even stranger if that never happened! How many times must that person pop into your head and back out again in any given week. The fact is you will only remember it the time you do actually bump into them.

I'd agree with that.