From Stephen Wagner

How to handle your visions of future events, great or small

I'm not about to discount or dismiss those claims, but neither can I verify them. I have only the word of the authors that their claims of these premonitions are true. And therein lies the problem with the vast majority of alleged premonitions �?they are not documented. Anyone can say they've had a premonition about a train wreck, World Series outcome or some other event after the fact. What makes them worthy of serious consideration is proof that you indeed had the premonition well before the event.

Common and Uncommon Experiences

Most of us have experienced premonitions �?a feeling about something that is going to happen �?to one degree or another. The phone rings and you "know" who it is calling, even though the call was unexpected. Sometimes the premonition isn't as specific, but just as strong �?or stronger: a great, unexplained feeling of sadness has been bothering you all day; it is only later that you learn that a close relative has died. A premonition is foretelling the future.

There are many such instances that we experience now and then, and sometimes (skeptics would say always) they can be attributed to mere coincidence. (Others say there's no such thing as coincidence, but that's another topic.) There are times, however, when a premonition is so strong that the experiencer has little doubt that it is going to happen. These powerful premonitions are much rarer, but happen often enough that serious researchers know they are real. Some people seem to be more sensitive to these types of feelings; we call them "sensitives" or "psychics."

These feelings are also most powerful between close relatives, where the psychic bond seems to be strongest. And if this talk of "psychic bonds" irks you as sounding like New Age gobbledygook, consider that even many mainstream scientists �?quantum physicists and psychiatrists alike �?understand more and more that all human consciousness is connected.

Premonitions can be as subtle as a gnawing feeling or can be so overwhelming that they jolt you out of your everyday routine and prevent you from thinking of little else. They can be vague, nothing more than a feeling, or they can be so vivid that some experiencers say it is like watching a film. Premonitions can foretell something that happens a minute later... or weeks or even many months later. They can come while you're doing the dishes or they can come in dreams.

If you are prone to premonitions that very often come true, or you've had a strong premonition about some future event, you must document it. If you care about being believed, an undocumented premonition is virtually worthless.

You're probably not going to want to document every little premonition you have. In fact, it may not be possible to document some of them: for example, that phone call that comes just two minutes after your premonition.

Let's say, however, you've had a fairly strong premonition, or a vivid dream, about your sister Mary. Although you haven't talked to her in a while, you've had a premonition that Mary is about to experience a major life change �?somehow you just know she's pregnant. This is just one example, of course; the premonition could be of anything �?a plane crash, an accident involving a relative or a natural disaster.

So how do you document your premonition? There are several ways:

Keep a diary. Get a journal and write down any premonitions you might have. Be sure to note the time and date that you experienced it. The weakness in this method, as far as verification by others is concerned, is that such diaries can be altered and faked �?putting down a pre-dated notation for an event that's already happened. The value of a diary, assuming you are being honest, is that you have a personal record of your premonitions, the success rate of which you can track.

Tell others. Don't keep your premonitions a secret. You won't want to become an annoying bore by haranguing your friends with every little premonition you have, but if you think it may be something important, tell someone you trust. It's another piece of evidence. Using the example above, you'd certainly want to surprise your sister Mary with your premonition about her pregnancy before she has a chance to tell you! The weakness in this method is that it, too, relies on human honesty and sometimes faulty memories. Using e-mail might be better. Although e-mails can be altered, they are initially date-stamped.

Use a date-stamped location. The best way to document your premonition is in a date-stamped location that is not in your control. And the Internet provides an easy (and free) way to do this. One website, which has been established expressly for this purpose, is the Central Premonitions Registry. On this website, you can register in real time any precognitive visions, feelings or dreams. A simple form on this page asks for your name and e-mail address, then provides a space where you can write your premonition. (If you've already written out in a word processor, you can cut and paste into the form.) Your premonition is recorded and date-stamped. And later, if you believe your premonition has been fulfilled, you can return to this same page and fill out the fulfillment report form.

Another space in which you can record your premonitions is our own Paranormal Forum. Simply go to the Forum, click Post New and write it all out. Your post is saved and date-stamped.

These methods provide very convincing and compelling evidence for the date of your premonition.

Be Specific

Regardless of the methods you use, be thorough in the description of your premonition, including as many specifics as you can recall. It's sometimes difficult to describe feelings, but do your best. Describe locations, people, names, landmarks, shapes, colors, smells, temperatures and emotions that you sensed. Guard against padding your descriptions with things you didn't really sense. You want to be as accurate and honest as possible.

If you believe your premonition has been fulfilled, be as honest about that as well. It may not be 100 percent accurate, but there should be enough correct detail to verify your premonition. This is where your detailed report comes in. If you just say, "I sense a train wreck somewhere in the eastern U.S...." your credibility goes way down because, unfortunately, virtually every week there's a train wreck somewhere in the eastern U.S. The more likely an event is to happen, the less seriously your vague premonition will be taken.

Don't let your premonitions slip by. The more verifiable evidence we have for this phenomenon, the closer we will come to understanding it. As always, I'm eager to hear of any premonitions you might have and any successes you have recorded.