Unexplained Experiences: Coincidence or Connection? Part 3: Premonitions, Predictions, and the Strange

By now, I’ve shared the physical connections I’ve felt to my family — the icy brain tingles with my mother, the sudden pains when my kids were hurt. But some of the strangest experiences I’ve had weren’t physical at all. They were about knowing things I shouldn’t know — through dreams, gut feelings, and, yes, even football.

Dreams That Played Out in Real Life

Could dreams be a way that messages come from somewhere that can't be seen by us?

There are many examples, but I’ll focus on the two most compelling. But I wear headphones at night so I don't dream, as this would start to make me go nuts, wondering if a realistic dream is going to come true.

The first happened when I was about thirteen. My mother told me one morning about a strange dream she’d had: in it, the grass rose to her face, swallowing her view. It stuck with her enough that she mentioned it on our way out the door to get into our RV for a road trip. This was the only time she ever mentioned a dream she had to me.

That very day, we left for the family RV trip to my aunt and uncle's house in Mississippi. On the road, we had a terrible accident. My mother later said she saw the exact vision from her dream play out in real life — the grass rising toward her face as the RV fell - passenger's side down - into the ditch on the side of the highway - just as she had described hours earlier. She hadn’t been the driver, so it wasn’t a matter of self-fulfilling prophecy. Just a chilling coincidence.

The second dream was mine. I've had others, but this one was nuts the way it played out. Before a flight the next morning, I dreamed I lost my phone at the airport. Odd dream, but not exactly earth-shattering. Still, I told my husband. To be safe, we locked my phone in my backpack until we reached the gate. It was in there safe and sound the entire time we sat at the airport lounge.

By then, he teased me: “You’re safe now, get your phone, pull up your ticket on your app, we're about to board.'

I did. Five minutes later, they had a slight delay, so he advised me to go to the restroom that was right across from the gate. And when I came back? My phone was not in my hand.

Then, I had to reenact the dream in real time, angry that I'd woken up in a panic from the dream before it ended with a resolve.

We frantically tracked it down by paging it through the family plan (someone had picked it up in the bathroom stall where I’d set it down and was walking off with it). We ended up being the last ones to board and nearly missed our flight. I had traveled dozens of times before this and never dreamed about losing my phone, and had never lost my phone. Why that night? Why that trip? And what good was knowing something was going to happen when it's going to happen anyway?

Coincidence? Sure. But unsettling all the same.

The Cowboys Game Curse (Yes, I Regret This One)

This is my dog, Winston, wearing a Cowboys jersey. Aww.

This story is one of those “I wish I’d kept my mouth shut” moments. During a Cowboys game, after a few beers, we were down (as always), and I jokingly asked for the name of the opposing team’s star player.

I grabbed a napkin, squished it into a little human shape, and smashed it with my fist against the table. I passed it around, encouraging everyone to do the same.

Within thirty seconds, on the next play, that star player tore his ACL. Out for the season - did not play again for a year. And, of course, the Cowboys didn't win that game.

I wasn’t serious. It was a drunken joke. But it happened. And if you believe in the “threefold rule” — what you put out comes back to you — let’s just say I never joked like that again. I got what was coming to me soon after that. Coincidence? Gosh, I hope so.

Playing the Odds: The NFL Predictions

One of the strangest “skills” I’ve ever had showed up in the least mystical place imaginable: NFL games.

When I was younger, I realized I could pick the outcome of football games before they were played — sometimes even just by being told what the uniforms looked like, so I could picture it. I was never wrong. Not once. It spooked me enough that I didn’t talk about it much, although a few folks used to ask me before making bets.

I met my husband at 23 years old - this was in 1993. It took me 7 years before I wanted to tell him about this 'phenomenon.' And when I did? Of course, he didn’t believe me — why would he? He's sane. I wouldn't believe someone without testing it. But football season had just started. It was the 3rd quarter of the Jets game, and they were down 30-7 to the Dolphins. I told him very confidently that the Jets would win. He laughed hysterically. But the Jets made a miraculous comeback and won. They later called this Monday Night Miracle, where the Jets erased a 23-point deficit to beat the Dolphins 40–37 in overtime. That weekend, I picked the rest of the games to prove my 'skill.' I didn’t get a single one wrong. My husband was floored.

Here’s the catch: it only works if I don’t know too much. If I'm pressed too hard, start learning stats, strategies, or getting emotionally biased, the ability fizzles out. And if I feel unsure, I’m usually dead wrong. In fact, I’ve told my husband, “If I say I’m not sure, go opposite.” He’s done it — and won a bet.

But when I get the burning core feeling — a physical certainty deep in me — I’ve never been wrong. Not once. Just the other night (sorry STK), my husband and his friends were watching college football, which I'm not all that familiar with besides the Longhorns. I looked at the teams on the TV before they started playing. It was Clemson versus LSU. I knew immediately LSU would win. My gut feeling commenced, told my husband to bet. He won $175. I don't know if he told Scot about his bet on LSU, but when I feel it, I can't ignore it. But I didn't cause it - gosh, if I did - I'd own the world. But I knew about it.

So why aren’t we filthy rich? Because I can’t summon it on command. If I’m pressed or overthinking, it breaks. But when it comes naturally, when that burning certainty hits, it’s bulletproof.

Coincidence? Probability? It's a 50:50 shot. And I can't tell you how much they'll win by - just who is winning. Some subconscious data processing? Maybe. But as unexplained experiences go, this one’s both repeatable and unnerving.

What Are the Odds of this Unexplained Experience?

Not all the strange stories are about me. Sometimes it’s others in my family — my DNA mates.

Take my grandmother. She was pregnant at 40, which in the early 1960s was practically unheard of. While waiting in the obstetrician’s office one day, a younger woman — maybe 21 — made a cruel comment. She told my grandmother she was “too old to be having kids” and that her baby would probably have Down syndrome.

This upset my grandmother greatly, but here's the twist: my grandmother had a healthy baby. The younger woman? She ended up having a child with Down syndrome.

I want to be clear — I don’t share this story to mock her or to frame Down syndrome as negative. Children with Down syndrome bring extraordinary love, joy, and perspective to their families. But the condition can come with medical challenges and, on average, a shorter life expectancy, especially back in the 1960s. But thanks to modern advances, many now live full, meaningful lives well into their 60s.

The point here is the reversal. Out of all the possible outcomes, the harsh words that were meant to wound ended up circling back on the speaker in a way that feels uncanny.

From a numbers standpoint, it was statistically unusual. At 21, the risk of having a child with Down syndrome is about 1 in 1,500. At 40, the risk is closer to 1 in 100. The odds pointed in the opposite direction from what actually happened.

Coincidence? A statistical fluke? Or one of those strange karmic echoes where life seems to answer back?

It’s not the kind of thing science can explain. But it’s also not the kind of story you forget.

Why It Matters

Psychologists would argue that I was primed for these events. Dreaming about losing my phone made me hyper-aware. Joking about an athlete’s (first-ever) injury made me notice the coincidence when it happened. NFL predictions? Maybe my subconscious was processing tiny signals and patterns I wasn’t aware of. Nah, I was a young girl, Probably not that - but maybe I just got lucky.

But here’s the problem: when I stack these alongside all my other stories — my family connections, my dreams, my gut predictions — they stop feeling like one-offs.

Coincidence? Possibly. But when the odds keep breaking in your favor, you start to wonder whether there’s something more happening — something science hasn’t pinned down yet. Does something on the other side throw me bones here and there? Are they bored and in need of entertainment? I have no clue.

Next in the series: Part 4 – Echoes of Death

The strangest and hardest stories of all — my body mirroring my father’s decline, hunger that vanished with my mother, guardian angel coins, cardinals, flickering lights, and more.