In December 1970, while flying a Bonanza from Andros Island to West Palm Beach, pilot Bruce Gernon experienced something in the Bermuda Triangle that forever changed his life.
Bruce and Rob wrote about the experience in The Fog,in which Bruce, his dad, and a friend were surrounded by a yellow fog- an electronic storm. They lot the use of all their electronic instruments in the plane and experienced a time distortion that puzzled him for years.
We had lunch today with Bruce so Rob could clarify a few points about Bruce’s experience for a young adult book proposal they are working on. Rob’s first question concerned the number of TV appearances Bruce has made over the years. From National Geographic to the Discovery Channel and the History Channel Bruce has been on 35 TV shows.
“What and when was the first show?” Rob asked.
“It was 1996 and the show was Arthur C. Clarke’s Mysterious World. The odd thing is that two years earlier, I was driving home and felt a vision coming on. I pulled into my carport – we lived in the keys at the time – and stopped the car and stared into the shadows by my feet. A clear vision unfolded of a television screen where an older man was introducing me as the only person to ever survive an experience in the Bermuda Triangle. At the time, I had no idea who this older guy was.
“But the day I got the call from Clarke’s office, I suddenly understood the vision, The older man was Clarke.”
“How did Clarke hear about you?” I asked.
“I was mentioned in Charles Berlitz’s second book. And the only reason I was mentioned is because some years before, I had met with Dr. Manson Valentine, who knew Berlitz.”
Dr. Valentine, who held three doctorates, was then director of the Miami Museum of Science. In spite of his academic standing and his position at the museum, he explored mysteries that other scientists avoided – Atlantis, the Bermuda Triangle, UFOs. A year or so before Bruce met Valentine, he had a vision similar to the one he had about appearing on Clarke’s TV show. He saw himself talking about his Bermuda Triangle experience with a tall, handsome man in his seventies, in the man’s home.
When he actually met Valentine in 1974, Bruce recognized him as the man in his vision. After Valentine heard Bruce’s story, he turned to his wife and said, “This is amazing. He is the only pilot to have ever flown through the heart of the storm, from its birth through its maturity, and to exit trough the vortex.”
Bruce has had other precognitive visions and hunches over the years, and believes the ability may have been triggered by his experience in the Bermuda Triangle.
Do anomalous experiences trigger psychic ability? Some alien abductees and people who have died and returned report psychic incidents in the aftermath of their experiences. But maybe it’s simpler than that. Perhaps when we encounter the unknown, as Bruce did, as alien abductees do, as NDErs do, a portal is blown open in our consciousness and we are suddenly more attuned to the unseen.
It makes sense to me. Experiences that take us out of the body or out of our normal consciousness surely do seem to open doors – perhaps for many, those doors never close entirely afterwards.
I’ve wondered what happened to Dr. Valentine – I remember reading about the “Bimini Wall” back in the 70’s, and the predictions that parts of Atlantis would be found off the coast of Bimini by Edgar Cayce. What ever happened with that?
Cayce’s timing was off, but I suspect that some of the predictions are panning out. Been a long time since I read him, will have to go back for another look!
It’s true for people who have experienced any kind of major shock or trauma as well. I have met countless people who have come for a reading ,who relay to me some sort of accident, crime or abuse that triggered psychic, and ultimately mediumship abilities.
There is a part in the brain and it’s name escapes me now… but it is a pathway from the Amygdala to the frontal lobe. In trauma, it widens, so the flow from the Amygdada creates ‘flooding’ and so, more sensitivity and emotions are experienced. I’m wondering if the “blowing open a portal’ is actually the blowing open of something in our Limbic system?
Fascinating, Nat. Thanks! It makes sense that there would be a physical component to this. Maybe you’re right about what the portal actually is.
Also, in terms of mental imagery – we have just found out that Mark has a condition known as Aphantasia. This is when people have no mind’s eye or mental imagery at all. He cannot visualise or draw beyond stick people. I consider him very fact oriented and ‘left brained’ and he is very Ego or personality driven.
The opposite of that condition is called Hyperphantasia and it when people have very strong mental visual imagery.
Mark’s parents don’t have Aphantasia, so it is not genetic as far as we know, but he did fall down a waterfall when he was 20 . He hit his head, and broke his back on way down the 30 metre drop. maybe this caused his Aphantasia.
I am mentioning it here, because the Hyperphantasia might have something to do with seeing the future, seeing Spirit etc.
Wow! I’d never heard of either of these terms. Thank you for the info, Nat. I’m off to Google these.