Could it have been a sign?

[Ericka]

I rented the movie, "The Lake House", staring Keano Reeves & Sandra Bullock. It was one of the best movies I've ever seen. They went light on the romance, light on the drama, light on the special effects, and light on the logic.

The plot was a magic mailbox connected Keano & Sandra together, even when they were 6 years appart. And at the start of the movie a thunderstorm rolled into Pheonix around 9 o'clock. As soon as Sandra wrote Keano a letter telling him to call her 6 years from the time he got the letter, at 9:05, her cell phone rang. And my lights went out, and the DVD turned off.

Kind of spooky... And I have to say this little coincidence changed a movie I might not have enjoyed into one of my favorites.

Have you ever had an experience like this?

[Goshawk]

A sign of what? "Pay the electric bill"? "Don't watch this movie"? "Answer the phone"? "Go and mail a letter"? "Join the Keanu Reeves Fan Club"? :D

Personally, I'd think it would have been spookier if, say, your cell phone had rung at the same time as Sandra's, or if Sandra's power had gone out at the same time as yours. But there's no logical connection between "her phone rings" and "your power goes out".

And you aren't remembering the other times in the past when your power went out in the middle of a movie; you're only focusing on this particular instance because of the "spookiness" factor. If the power went out in the middle of "Schindler's List" or "Armageddon", it would have been an annoyance, but it wouldn't have seemed like a "sign".

"Lake House", BTW, scored a 31% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomato-meter. (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lake_house/) :D So, having the power go out in the middle of the movie changed your mind, and induced you to like a mediocre movie that you weren't enjoying up till that point? Interesting effect. Does Hollywood know about this? They could harness that and use it to boost the box office of some stinkers...

[Kochanski]

It is a coincidence. They happen to people every day. The only thing it is a sign of is that humans are pattern-seeking beings. That is it. If it is amusing to you, then fine, it has no greater meaning in the grand scheme of things.

I had a very fun coincidence once. Was staying out in Montauk one summer, went into East Hampton to see a play, the play was Deathtrap. When I came out of the theater the whole of the end of the South Fork of Long Island from East Hampton to Montauk was in darkness, there was a blackout. I thought it was very cool and very fun, but that was it. Will I always remember it, yes, because it was different from all the other times I had gone to the theater, but it had no greater significance.

[Ericka]

Well you have to be skeptical of these kinds of things, but the timing was just so meaningful. And if I remember right there is a thunderstorm and a blackout in the movie Death Trap so you know what I mean.

:cool:

[Kochanski]

The timing made it memorable but not meaningful. There is no cosmic consciousness organizing anything. There is no message in it.

It is just part of the nature of the human mind to seek the pattern.

It was just the one time out of all the times I have been to the theater (I have many times) that something happened that mirrored what was going on in the play.

It is not statistically significant.

It was just fun.

[Alareth]

Coincidences happen (http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=63888)

[RemieV]

I went to see the movie "Pitch Black" in the theater. During the movie, the theater was struck by lightning and everything went... ah... Pitch black.

:D

Then, when my dad forced me to see "Titanic" in the theater (I'll never regain those precious moments of my life) there was a bomb threat and everyone was forced to evacuate the building... women and children first :D

Then, my friend and I moved into a new apartment. We hadn't gotten the phone service turned on yet, but we went ahead and plugged in the phone. Then we watched "The Ring". After they showed the spooky movie clip, our phone rang. Turns out whoever lived there last had paid through the end of the month.

So yes, coincidence does occasionally happen.

[chillzero]

I got seruiously creeped out one night on my way home from the theatre. I had been to see 'The Woman in Black'. Highly recommend it to anyone who likes to be terrified.

Anyway, one of the biggest drama points in the play is hearing a horse and carriage approaching through thick fog. The incident ends in tragedy which you only hear - not see.

On my way home a real thick fog dropped, and I had a mile to walk down a lonely country lane - past a field where I could hear a horse moving about.

Petrifying.
One of the best evenings I remember.

:D

[Gr8wight]

I rented the movie, "The Lake House", staring Keano Reeves & Sandra Bullock. It was one of the best movies I've ever seen. They went light on the romance, light on the drama, light on the special effects, and light on the logic.

The plot was a magic mailbox connected Keano & Sandra together, even when they were 6 years appart. And at the start of the movie a thunderstorm rolled into Pheonix around 9 o'clock. As soon as Sandra wrote Keano a letter telling him to call her 6 years from the time he got the letter, at 9:05, her cell phone rang. And my lights went out, and the DVD turned off.

Kind of spooky... And I have to say this little coincidence changed a movie I might not have enjoyed into one of my favorites.

Have you ever had an experience like this?

Once, while my wife and I were watching a vampire movie on TV, we looked up, and two bats were flying around in our living room.

Movie still sucked, though.

[alfaniner]

I got a little freaked out after I saw The Ring. A week after I'd seen it, I'd walked down to the park to watch fireworks (4th of July). Afterwards, I happened to be walking past a cemetery on a boulevard that had no lights, and only a slim crescent moon to light the way. There was a group of people about 50 yards ahead of me that was walking a little slowly, and I didn't feel like catching up to them, so I crossed the street to the other side which went along a golf course.

After a while I noticed I didn't hear them laughing or talking anymore, and realized they must have turned into the cemetery! The place is closed at that time of night. I couldn't fathom them parking there as the golf course parking lot was right across the street, and I'm sure they didn't turn around and go the other way. I never saw a car pull out, either.

That got me thinking about the movie. The premise of it was that exactly a week after seeing a certain video, you die, and just before that happens, you see The Ring. A few minutes later (now walking a little faster!) I thought of the timing of it, and heard a "Ring! Ring!". I turned and saw a circle of light approaching. OK, heart attack time. Turned out it was a biker also returning from the firework viewing area, and ringing her little bell to signal she was coming up behind.

Damm, I hate horror movies!

[hipparchia]

Once, at the beginning of the spring semester in my sophomore year, I went to see The Ring, part 1. This movie scared the hell out of a lot of students.
Now, after crawling from beneath the movie theater seat and starting classes, strange things started happening. Or at least it seemed so.

The movie revolves around a tape that kills one when watched. The little film looks like something a classmate of mine would have produced, being always drunk or grugged and in a perpetually down mood. The film on the killer tape featured a stair propped against a wall, a single chair placed in the middle of nowhere, and a young tree with leaves falling.

So, I walk into a classroom and there's a ladder propped against the wall.
A day later, someone has placed a single wooden chair in a foyer.
And there was that spooky tree next to the dorms.

Of course, after any holiday, the university building would be repaired, so it's normal to have a ladder somewhere.
And single wooden chairs appear all semester long, when lazy students would just leave them instead of replacing them to a room.
And there's a lot of trees.

But when there's a movie with a killer tape and in the movie those who have seen the tape see its images in real life as well...

I can tell you I pretty much freaked out when a fly buzzed onto my computer screen.

Don't watch that movie.

[hipparchia]

Once, while my wife and I were watching a vampire movie on TV, we looked up, and two bats were flying around in our living room.

Movie still sucked, though.

I watched a vampire movie too. The next day I opened a Kinder Surprise chocolate egg and inside was a cartoon vampire holding a box. When you tilted the head of the teeny vampire guy back, the box opened and inside was a little plastic flower. Cool toy, still have it.

[hipparchia]

Then, my friend and I moved into a new apartment. We hadn't gotten the phone service turned on yet, but we went ahead and plugged in the phone. Then we watched "The Ring". After they showed the spooky movie clip, our phone rang. Turns out whoever lived there last had paid through the end of the month.

So yes, coincidence does occasionally happen.

Did I mention once you have seen The Ring (the movie), you become extremely sensitive to circle shapes?
Also, I switched my mobile off right there in the cinema after I saw "the tape". Some phones went off though, and was it a hear-attack moment...:eek: :jaw-dropp :covereyes

[Beady]

Signs can be anything you want. Nancy Lieder (http://www.skepticalmind.com/nancy.html) found an unwrapped piece of candy in her pocket and decided it was a sign of the End of the World. Constantine saw a gorgeous sunset and interpreted it as a sign to build a new city.

So, tell us, did this sign tell you anything other than "You will like this movie"?

[Psi Baba]

I got seruiously creeped out one night on my way home from the theatre. I had been to see 'The Woman in Black'. Highly recommend it to anyone who likes to be terrified.

Anyway, one of the biggest drama points in the play is hearing a horse and carriage approaching through thick fog. The incident ends in tragedy which you only hear - not see.
I love that movie. Very original and somewhat obscure--you don't hear mention of it very often. Thanks for helping me decide what to watch this weekend. :)

[Kopji]

Two years apart, not six.

That sequence happens well into the movie and not five minutes in. The thunderstorm could not happen around 9 and the action take place around 9:05.

[bluess]

I thought The Ring was silly. The only part that was scary to me was when she crawled out of the tv set. Other than that, there were too many anachronisms and there was not enough exposition to make it worthwhile.

Unless someone crawls out of my tv set.

[RenaissanceBiker]

THIS is a sign.





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[grayman]

THIS is a sign.





<------------

I like your sign; this is another good sign:

http://forums.randi.org/imagehosting/thum_9246451bea5e7867b.jpg (http://forums.randi.org/vbimghost.php?do=displayimg&imgid=1660)

[Goshawk]

Well you have to be skeptical of these kinds of things, but the timing was just so meaningful.

Well, see, that's what I'm saying, is that I don't think the timing was meaningful at all, since it involved two totally different events: a phone ringing, and a power outage. If they had both been the same type of event--both been phones ringing, or both been power outages--then, to me, that would have been meaningful.

But as it is, you don't have anything that's even as connected as Hipparchia's candy vampire toy.

And if I remember right there is a thunderstorm and a blackout in the movie Death Trap so you know what I mean.

Um, no, sorry, I don't. Death Trap's thunderstorm and blackout were part of the movie, and were carefully constructed to happen by the script; they weren't even coincidental, let alone "spooky". They might have seemed spooky to the characters in the movie, but the movie itself was fiction.

So I don't see any parallel here, sorry, between "fictional characters who experience a spooky coincidence mandated by the author" and your experience.

[Marc L]

Did I mention once you have seen The Ring (the movie), you become extremely sensitive to circle shapes?
Also, I switched my mobile off right there in the cinema after I saw "the tape". Some phones went off though, and was it a hear-attack moment...:eek: :jaw-dropp :covereyes

Serves you right for having them on in the theater to begin with. :D

Marc

[tkingdoll]

I don't get the coincidence. In the movie a phone rang, and at the same time your power went out? Why is that meaningful (or even interesting) in any way?

Or am I overlooking a big part of the story here? At the moment it reads a bit like this:

"Tonight I was typing on an internet forum and then the cat came in the room with a mouse in its mouth! Weird or what?"

ETA: Actually, I think "Ericka" may not be all "she" seems, so, well, whatever.

[Tanja]

My favourite coincidence is from a New Year's Eve party about ten years ago. A good friend of my sister's was there. As was approaching midnight and everyone was chatting, someone jokingly said to my sister's friend that she was a witch. She said something along the lines of "yes, and look what I can do with my powers" and snapped her fingers. As she snapped her fingers, the power went down in a large part of the city (of about 1 million people).
That was hilarious. I hope I remember it correctly - my sister joined the forum recently, so, Maja, do correct me if I am wrong.
The power failure was to do with the fact that everyone in the city had all the appliances on full power just before midnight, but the timing was impeccable.

[chillzero]

I love that movie. Very original and somewhat obscure--you don't hear mention of it very often. Thanks for helping me decide what to watch this weekend. :)

Can you tell me where to find it - I can't locate a dvd of it anywhere, other than region 1, which I can't play (I also need a new copy of 'Immortal Beloved' for the same reason :( ).

[CLD]

Shouldn't be hard to include an all-purpose Bluetooth interface in all new DVD players. Then moviemakers could deliberately "program" such spooky occurrences into DVD movies....your cellphone would ring...your houselights would flick on and off...your car horn would honk...etc.

[Beady]

ETA: Actually, I think "Ericka" may not be all "she" seems, so, well, whatever.

No, she's exactly as she seems. I figure her age at either 16 or a young 18. See the last half of the "Try to stop the magic" thread.

Frankly, I think all of us veterans are to be commended for our restraint in that thread.

[RenaissanceBiker]

One year my brothers and I decided to go to the Ky Derby infield for a fine afternoon of alcohol, fast women and pretty horses. My youngest brother and I were students at UofL and my other brother was home on leave from the Navy. We loaded up a bunch of fellow adventurers in the back of a pickup and headed toward the track. Parking is a premium on that day around churchill downs so we put as many people as we could in one vehicle. My youngest brother (the fellow student) was driving down 3rd street with the ladies of our party in the cab and the guys were in the back.

As we came to a red light, I snapped my fingers twice and pointed my index finger dramatically at the light. It instantly changed to green. My Navy brother grinned at the coincidence. His grin faded though when I did the same thing to the next 7 lights in a row. The truck never had to stop at a light until the traffic got heavy near the track. He demanded to know how I was changing the light. I finally let him in on it. My youngest brother and I car-pooled to UofL down that street every morning. We figured out that the lights were timed for 35 mph. We both got pretty good at cruising at the proper speed so that the lights would change just as we approched them. I knew he would do it again out of habit so I simply timed my "point" for when I knew the light was going to change.

Some coincidences aren't.

[Kochanski]

RenaissanceBiker that is a nifty driving trick :D

I wish more drivers around here would pay more attention to the way lights are timed, I live in hazard everyday of the aggressive drivers going breakneck speeds, changing lanes constantly up to the next light only to sit at it as I attempt to get to the light with all parts of my car still attached and undamaged.

We probably all can think of coincidences of one sort or another, again it doesn't make them significant, merely memorable.

[sophia8]

I don't get the coincidence. In the movie a phone rang, and at the same time your power went out? Why is that meaningful (or even interesting) in any way?I've read her post three times, and if I understand correctly, Erika's power went out at just after 9, just as one of the characters was getting a call timed at 9.05.
If the power outage happened at exactly 9.05, that would make it one chance in 720 (the number of minutes in 12 hours); odds like that aren't too high. if the timing was less exact, then the odds would be lower.

I've had coincidences at higher odds than that. For instance, I once went into a shop and bought eight items. The bill came to exactly £8.88. And my birthday is on the 8th of the month!
Can somebody calculate the odds on that?

[Rasmus]

If the power outage happened at exactly 9.05, that would make it one chance in 720 (the number of minutes in 12 hours); odds like that aren't too high. if the timing was less exact, then the odds would be lower.

It doesn't matter what the odds are. The point is, that meaning is assigned to something *after* the fact. We would have seen a nearly identical post, if at that particualr scene at the move the doorbell would have rung in the viewer's apartment, or if it had started to rain, or if the washing had finished, etc.

And for any of those events, there are probably around 50 significant moments oin the move that you could math them to.

[Goshawk]

I've had coincidences at higher odds than that. For instance, I once went into a shop and bought eight items. The bill came to exactly £8.88. And my birthday is on the 8th of the month!
But before the UK went to the decimal coinage, your total could never have come to 8.88, and so the coincidence was totally dependent upon an arbitrary, artificially imposed measurement. And your birthday is only on the 8th of the month in the Western calendar, not in the Mayan or Chinese or Islamic calendars.

So if you had been an Asian person shopping in Hong Kong in 1970, you wouldn't have experienced a "coincidence" at all. You would have bought eight things, your total would have come to some combination of pounds and shillings, and your birthday wouldn't have been the same number as the amount of things you bought.

It's like when the astrologers do their calculations based on somebody's birth moment: are they using Daylight Savings Time, Babylon Standard Time, or what? It's all completely arbitrary and human-imposed.

[Silly Green Monkey]

From talking to my sister and her husband, people don't pay attention to traffic light timing because they think that it changes if they think at it hard enough.

[Cuddles]

Then, when my dad forced me to see "Titanic" in the theater

I was really hoping that sentence would end with the theater sinking.

[Dogdoctor]

I was at a family gathering when I was about 16 years old and decided it was boring and that I would rather go drink some beer with my friends. I hitchhiked home and walked the last mile. About half a mile from my house I was thinking maybe this wasn't such a good idea since I was broke and right at that moment I looked down at the ground and there was a 5 dollar bill (enough for a case of beer and a pack of cigarettes). Coincidence or did someone want me to drink beer and smoke cigarettes?

[Alareth]

I seem to have the amazing ability to nearly always look at a time keeping device at 11:11.

[Elizabeth I]

Can you tell me where to find it - I can't locate a dvd of it anywhere, other than region 1, which I can't play (I also need a new copy of 'Immortal Beloved' for the same reason :( ).

Shameless plug -----> If you just want to watch and not own, check your local library. Most of them lend videos and DVDs - FREE. Also, if it's not in the library's collection, they can usually get it from another library through interlibrary loan.