The author Morgan Robertson, fourteen years before the Titanic went down on route to New York, killing 1,517 people in the Atlantic, wrote a book called ‘Futility, or the Wreck of the Titan’. In the story an unsinkable ship sank after hitting an iceberg.

Such a creepy story, with even the name of the boat practically the same. How can you explain that?

At the beginning of the 20^thcentury telephones were a new invention. However, in 1909 an engineer and inventor called Nikola Tesla predicted that one-day people would be walking round with a telephone in their pocket. He talked with the New York Times and said that it would be possible one day to transmit messages to many countries and probably one day even all over the World. He also said that he thought people would be able to carry and operate their own apparatus. Interestingly he briefly worked with Thomas Edison.

It was not until 1954 that we had a first major organ transplant However, in 1660 which is 300 years before, a man called Robert Boyle predicted that this would happen. He made many predictions of which most have come true which is absolutely incredible.

James Dean was a promising young actor aged 23 years of age; he died in a car crash in 1955. However, Alec Guinness a famous actor explained in a BBC interview in 1977 that he was talking to James Dean, whom he only met once, as he was showing off his new car, and saying that it could reach 150 mph. Guinness said later that something weird came over him and he told James Dean “please do not get in that car, if you do by 10 o’clock next Thursday night, you will be dead”. So, he predicted the actual date that he would die which was September 30th, 1955.

Do you believe in coincidences or do you think that there is a divine or spiritual intervention?

 

I once heard a man telling a story about something that happened to him. This is a true story.

He had been working very hard and doing a lot of overtime, so he decided to go off for the weekend and chill out.

He told his secretary that he would be away.

On the Sunday of that weekend he decided to go for a long walk on his own up the Peak District.

He had not been walking for long it was about 10.30 am up a deserted track when he came upon a red telephone box, as he passed it the telephone rang, he was surprised but ignored it and carried on up the hill.

A few hours later he came passed the telephone box again on his way home.

To his surprise the telephone rang as he passed it again. So he decided to answer it this time.

To his amazement it was his secretary telephoning him to tell him that there was an emergency at work.

He asked her how she had got the number of this phone box that was in the middle of nowhere.

She said I rang your telephone number, but he said I did not leave my number and they had a conversation and he realized that she had rung his clocking in number!! Thinking it was his phone number and that number was the number of the phone box!

He asked her if she had rung the phone box before and she said yes that she had tried at 10.30 that morning, the time that he had passed the phone box that morning when it was ringing.

So was this a coincidence, or was it divine intervention? Was he meant to be contacted? And as a result meant to sort out his work problem, what do you think?

Do you know the origins?

 

A common superstition is that a black cat will bring you bad luck and is a bad omen. This superstition goes way back to the 1200’s when Pope Gregory waged a war against symbols and he decided that cats, the black cat particularly was a servant of Satan and he had as many as possible killed. Some Historians think that due to being reduced in cats that infected rodents spread the bubonic plague in 1348. In the 1600’s they even believed the black cat had supernatural powers and helped Witches!

Do you walk under a ladder or walk round it thinking it would be bad luck, if you walked underneath it? This superstition would you believe is supposed to have originated 5000 years ago in Egypt. Apparently, ladders were left in the tombs so that the deceased could ascend to heaven. The Egyptians believed that the space between the ladder and the wall was the home to good and evil spirits, and if this space was disturbed then the spirits would get angry.  It was actually forbidden for anyone to walk beneath a ladder. The triangle beneath the ladder was sacred, like the pyramids. The sacred triangle was believed and in Christianity is used to represent the holy trinity, that is the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit, so walking under a ladder was now blasphemous. In the 1600’s criminals were made to walk under a ladder on the way to the gallows. This superstition has continued throughout the ages to the present day.

What about the Superstition of not to leave shoes on the table, or they will invite death to the house? Some believe this originated from when a miner lost his life down the pit, and as a tribute the family would leave his boots on the table. Others believed that when a convict swung from the Gallows his shoes scraped the wooden platform of the Gallows and that was represented as a table. Others believed that their future prosperity would be affected and that marriage prospects would not be good. Some also believed that leaving their shoes on the table would cause thunder and lightning or even invite a fight to their home.