Tag: Memory

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Paranormal experiences series: Changing conversations or I said what now?

John Rambo in Rambo.

I have a bad memory, it would seem. I remember things that didn’t happen. I read things I can’t find later. I own things that vanish. I hear music that no one has ever heard of. I have conversations that never happened… well you get the idea.

It’s an interesting phenomenon, having memories for things that didn’t exist. I’ve written about three main ones, but that’s certainly not all of it.

I’ve had a lot of conversations with friends over the years where, should I have the same conversation again at a later date, the response is not only completely different, but they deny ever having said the original statements at all.

For instance, back in 83, me and one of my friends, Glenn, went to see the movie First Blood.

At the time, I enjoyed it, being young and all, and Glenn remarked as we discussed it afterwards that if the book was as good as the movie, then he was certainly going to enjoy it.

At this point, I should mention that for many, many years, I kept a diary. It was meticulous, and for whatever reason, I would often write down my friend’s comments, or conversations, verbatim. I was pretty good at remembering the details back then. So, if I needed to remember something, I would just go back and look it up.

This was one of those comments, but oddly enough, a couple of years later, he said he had read the book before seeing the movie, and explained how he had enjoyed the book and had been looking forward to movie.

I’ve had quite a few similar conversations with Glenn over the years, making me scratch my head as to why he would take opposing viewpoints, especially when he just wasn’t that type of personality.  In fact, Glenn is pretty meticulous with his facts and has an excellent memory and I’ve never seen him joke or try to screw around with someone’s head.

The same thing happened with my friend Paul. (who I was with during that incident at Hanging Rock).  Not only would he have a completely different memory of events, but when he told a story, there would be variances in them. Even one story, which he told several times, changed from one version to another, and then back again.

In fact, we had so many arguments about what happened that I was convinced that he had the worst memory of anyone I knew. Yes, he was more than adamant that he was right.

But it didn’t stop there. Often, people would attribute things to me that I had never said or done. For instance, my ex-wife and her daughter swore black and blue that I hated seeing movie previews.

Odd thing was, not only did I enjoy them, but I don’t recall ever even suggesting I hated them. Yet, both shouted me down, saying that I had said so.

Then there were events in history that seemed to change. Things which I was taught were real become just stories, and stories were actual events.

An example of his was in regards to Hanging Rock. One night, a group of us climbed up it and Paul and me discussed that he had thought the story based on Picnic at Hanging Rock was real, but he now understood that it was just fiction.

I had recently heard the same thing, and had also believed it had happened, especially as Glenn had once mentioned that his grandmother actually remembered the incident, and the local view was that the girls had just gone off with some boys.

It would seem that my entire life is peppered with such inconsistencies.

As I said, it could be a bad memory, but there was one incident that really left its mark on me and helped to unravel what might be going on.

Next: The unexpected death.

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Paranormal experiences series: The original version of Wuthering Heights or what the…

The Kick Inside

I’ve found that my as I get older, I find it easier to forget things. This is mostly because there is so much information coming in now that it’s just not possible to retain it all. It’s as though everyday has a heap of new things that I should remember, but I can’t because something else comes in right away after to remember, too.

Still, I’ve found that my childhood memories, especially when it comes to music, are still very strong and accurate.

Music is how I time stamp my memories. Songs will bring back feelings and emotions of the time, and often bring tears to my eyes.

So, when an anomaly turns up, I sit up and take notice.

I’ve already discussed the Say My Name incident, and how somehow it was a different artist singing that song, or at least to my memory.  And while I’m prepared to say that I was simply wrong, it does bring up a similar incident that happened back in the mid to late 70s.

Before going to sleep, as a preteen, I would listen to the radio, and the songs I heard back then remain in my memory to this day, even the obscure ones that no one else seems to remember nowadays.

One song I recall, though for no particular reason, was Wuthering Height.  Like most songs at the time, it was just there, with no real attraction. I didn’t hate it, but wouldn’t have gone out of my way to get it. Not that I could afford to buy any records back in those days anyway.

In 1978, Kate Bush released her first single, Wuthering Height, and I thought to myself, at the time, I prefer the original version and I said as much.

The version I knew was sung by a female artist who had a much lower voice, which was reminiscent of someone like Karen Carpenter. Unfortunately, I don’t know who sang that  particular version.

Over the years, in the back of my mind, I resolved that one day I was going to look that version up, and get hold of it.

Sometimes it takes a few decades for me to get around to doing something (seriously!) and one day in the noughties, I decided to finally do it.

However, I soon found that it wasn’t possible.

The problem was that there was no original version. Kate Bush had written this song in 1977, and she was the original artists.

I’ve checked this fact a number of times, wondering if I had got my information wrong somewhere, but it is correct.  There was definitely no version of that song before Bush.

To hear a song that does not exist, several years before it is released raises some interesting question. The biggest one being: How?

Still, one can be forgiven for thinking that maybe I was mistaken or have a faulty memory (though, as I said, my memory of music is uncannily clear from my childhood.)

Even if I did agree with you, this was not the only thing of that nature that occurred.

Next: The road alongside Hanging Rock.

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Paranormal experiences series: Switching videos or I know I’m getting older but…

Cover of "Holler/Let Love Lead The Way [U...

So, I decided to go looking for a music video that I had seen back around the year 2000, that I wanted to see again.  While YouTube certainly has many detractors, one can’t deny that it’s a wonderful source for finding those obscure and lost songs you thought you’d never hear again.

The video in question was Say My Name by The Spice Girls.

When it was released, I saw it while I was waiting in the waiting room of the doctor’s office where the television was showing the top 40.  Video was average, but I liked it.

So much so, that the next week, I was back in the same place, same time and I waited for the video to be shown, and it was. So I watched it and enjoyed it and Say My Name was firmly cemented in my mind.

But wait a minute, Gary, you might be thinking. Destiny’s Child sang Say My Name, not the Spice Girls.  You must be mistaken.

And normally I’d agree with you. However, when it comes to music, which was an obsession of mine, I do tend to remember songs pretty clearly. I associate memories and feelings with songs. Every other memory I have of music videos and songs is accurate.

When I heard Destiny’s Child’s version of Say My Name, I thought to myself that I liked Spice Girl’s better. They somehow had put more into it. I also assumed that The Spice Girls had done a cover version, as it was clear that the song was attributed to Destiny’s Child.

So,  as I was watching something on YouTube, Beyoncé was mentioned, which reminded me of the video I liked, and so I did a search for it… and came up empty.

No problem, I thought, though I did have a sinking feeling that something wasn’t right. So, I searched every possible way to try and find even a mention or vague reference to it. There was nothing. I checked out the official video by Destiny’s Child, but that was nothing like the one I saw, and of course, didn’t sound like the version I remembered either, plus I was certainly I had not seen that video before either.

I know my memory isn’t that bad when it comes to music. I can remember words and songs from when I was a very young age, and should I look them up, I find I remember them almost verbatim.

Upon further investigation, I found the song Holler, which contains that video, but the music is different.

In fact, I do not recall ever hearing that song before.

I mused that maybe both videos followed each other, but the release timing seems to be out for that, at least for two weeks in a row.

As a one off situation, I would put this down to faulty memory.

But… is it a faulty memory or something more? I’m prepared to say, yeah, faulty memory, but then, there were other incidences in my life that make me wonder… and that leads to some intriguing stories.

Those will be explored next time.

Next: Memories of something that didn’t happen.