Precognition: I Saw House Fire Before It Happened

Precognition is the claimed psychic ability to foresee future events. DEBORAH CONTESSA describes her own strange personal precognitive experience

Is linear time, as quantum physics suggests, just an illusion? How else can someone have awareness of a future event or situation seemingly through extrasensory means?

Precognition and foreknowledge of an occurrence or catastrophe violates the principle of causality, as it is not possible for an effect to ensue before its cause. However, magazines and newspapers regularly report visions of future events, including sports results, disasters and celebrity scandals, along with the usual births, deaths and marriages. 

Many famous premonitions and prophecies have come to fruition, including those of Nostradamus, Mark Twain and even Jules Verne. 

Therefore, I feel I have placed myself in good company as I regale you with my own personal precognitive experience… 

My precognition experience

My eyes flew wide open as I was suddenly jolted awake, adjusting to the darkness that enveloped me, my mind tried to work out what had caused such a rude awakening. I became aware of blue flashing lights partially visible through a chink in the curtains and the reverberation of motors close by.

Returning to full consciousness, I gathered the emergency  services must be in attendance on the front street and this was immediately confirmed by the high-pitched wail of sirens from  further approaching vehicles. 

My curiosity piqued, I popped on my dressing gown and quickly descended the staircase. Opening the front door as quietly as I was able, I stepped outside, walked along the path, then out onto the main road. 

Surveying the area, I soon became aware of the cause of all the nocturnal activity, about two blocks up, one of the terraced houses was ablaze! Firefighters were urgently running into the burning building, their hoses constantly pumping gallons of water in a vain attempt to save the suburban family abode and  its occupants. 

What made this terrifying sight even more horrific was I knew the residents of that now-charred black shell, it was home to a middle-aged lady who was notorious locally for her alcoholism, and her teenaged daughter Sammy who had been a couple of years below me at school. I watched transfixed, as the house seemed to collapse in on itself, scorched timbers protruded from where the roof had once been and the whole place became ravaged by the catastrophic conflagration. 

I was relived when all the flames were doused and the paramedics who had appeared on scene returned to their vehicles, devoid of casualties, the only victim of the inferno seemingly being the residence itself. 

As the other bystanders began to file back to their respective homes, I too decided to go back inside and snuggle down for what was left of the night. 

The following morning, over breakfast, my mother mentioned she had heard my nocturnal wanderings and enquired as to why I had gotten up in the middle of the night and gone outside. I recounted the previous evenings drama to her as we sipped our morning coffee, suggesting we took a walk to the local shop so we could pass by the ruined property and check out the devastation for ourselves. 

Imagine my surprise when passing the premises it appeared entirely intact, not displaying any evidence of a fire whatsoever! 

Confused, we continued to the newsagents and interrogated  the shopkeeper for any information regarding the previous  nights blaze. She hadn’t heard a single thing about such an event but suggested we try the nearby hairdresser as ‘nothing  happened around here without Nancy knowing about it’ – but  she too was clueless.

In fact, no one could help us, we chatted  to various neighbours and friends but drew a blank every time.  Mum became convinced I had either dreamed or imagined the whole thing, but even she couldn’t explain how she’d heard me  going outside if it had just been a flight of fancy! I was left  feeling utterly perplexed by the whole experience!  

The rest of that day passed by uneventfully, although I did receive a few sideways glances from Mum just before bedtime and Dad joked that I shouldn’t have cheese for supper in case it brought on more night terrors! 

Thankfully I drifted into a deep dreamless sleep almost as soon as my head hit the pillow and I awoke the next day fresh and relaxed, my strange experience all but forgotten. 

That is until the lady from across the road turned up on our doorstep and frenetically began to describe a disastrous fire. An inferno that had occurred as we all slept obliviously in the comfort of our homes! 

We quickly headed outside to find the rest of the neighbourhood inspecting the ruination of a familiar dwelling. An implausible feeling of indescribable horror enfolded me, chilling me to the core as I viewed the image of a collapsed house, the scorched timbers protruding from where the roof had once been…

So how had I witnessed an event 24 hours before it actually occurred? 

Did I actually visit another physical location and see, hear and feel everything that was going on as I slept? 

Time is not an absolute, so are the present, future and past mostly unwritten?

I can find no plausible explanation for this strange experience which occurred almost thirty years ago, and freely admit to feeling a frisson of distress as I recount this tale.

Have you experienced precognition? Tell us about it in the comments section below!

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