In keeping up front with you, we all drank, used a little grass, and I took LSD twice over a period of four years. By today's standards, we used very little. I was a draught beer and rum man myself.
In the summer of 1970 the band was working in Winnipeg, Manitoba. We just finished a hectic week and were preparing to head north for another gig. I was laying in my hotel room relaxing when it happened just as I was falling off to sleep. You can imagine my surprise at looking down upon myself from the ceiling. The vision was vivid lasting perhaps five or six seconds. I suggest it falls into the out of body experience category. My understanding is, this only happens to persons near death.
The band returned to Ontario then went on to perform some engagements in Quebec when the next incident occurred. One evening after the gig, I was relaxing on the couch in our trailer just staring through the screen door, and thinking about the bands performance. Suddenly, three distinct faces appeared in the screen which measured approx 28" x 24" The countenance of each were similar and almost featureless. One face was on top, the other two bottom left and right to form a triangle within the screen area. There was a very faint whirring sound, then the faces and the sound were gone. This even was to cause a near nervous breakdown.
This particular incident began at a night club in Peterborough Ontario Saturday, January 10, 1970. The New Grand was a very old hotel with four floors and a solid roof canopy over the main entrance. The front desk was just inside on the left next to the stair case. Jim, our bass player received a room on the second floor directly overlooking the canopy. My room was above his on the third floor. The drummer's room was down the hall from me. It reminded me of those old mansions you see in vampire movies, especially the second and third floors.
Shortly before show time I received word some friends from Smith Falls would be in the crowd. That meant a party afterwards. We gathered in the bass players room after one a.m. as planned and began having a few drinks. The others elected to light up some hash but I had this feeling of foreboding and passed.
Barry our percussionist had an album he wanted us to hear and handed me the cover as he placed the record on the turn table. I noticed the jacket did not have any printing on it except the words " Printed in USA." It's colour was solid black.
Black Panthers were in the news, and it became clear this album was a recording of their views on things. As the album played I had a sudden premonition that someone was in my room on the third floor. I jumped up and made a dash for the hotel entrance racked with fear approaching terror. When I passed the front desk the night clerk yelled, "where do you think your going?" His voice sounded vicious and clearly said I may not leave the Hotel. My next choice was getting to my room as fast as I could run. I remember the door exploding off its hinges from my impact as I slammed into it. Inside my room by the bathroom door stood a dark human figure about 6 feet tall. The momentum of my entrance carried me toward the intruder. My next recollection was sitting on the bass player's bed one floor down and surrounded by police approximately 45 minutes later. Band members informed me I went through my bedroom window and landed among chunks of glass on the canopy over the hotel entrance.
I remember regaining consciousness and feeling extremely happy to see the police. They came to rescue me was my upper most thought. One officer directed me to return to my room with him. Another police officer was in my room looking around when we got there, and I noticed the door was on its hinges as if nothing happened.
A detective informed me I was under arrest for possession of narcotics and attempted suicide. Police said the charges would never stick but he had to come up with something because of the commotion earlier. I spent from early Sunday morning till Thursday afternoon in the County jail. The nice way they treated me by comparison to the others was more disconcerting than stern treatment. The Hotel owner picked me up in his black Cadillac and talked with me as though nothing had happened. We returned to the New Grand and the band members did not say a word about it. They seemed very nervous if not frightened. Thursday night's audience seemed very quiet and non responsive to our music. I expected to be ridiculed but they said nothing about the incident either.
My observation and questions are is as follows:
1. If I were just drunk or drugged up and caused a scene, the band
would have been fired and our agent drop us like a hot potato.
2. Who was in my room and how was I able to see it from the floor
below?
3. How did my room door get repaired so fast?
4. Why did the police treat me so very well and release me with
charges dropped?
5. Why did the Hotel owner treat me as if I were a saint after the
incident?
6. Why did I not receive any injuries from the fall of about 15 feet?
After a short holiday the group reassembled and we played several more venues before disbanding. The final confusing issue was getting booked to perform at a Norad USA ICBM base just outside North Bay. That gig went without a problem although some personnel acted very weird when I was around. I did not perform well that week.
At this point in time I had never heard the term M.I.B. I can say now, the human form in my room that January morning in 1970 could be described as a man in black. MIB
NOTE: Two years after this incident the Hotel owner was murdered.
During the past several years, dreams have occurred that are not the usual type. Most seem normal because I recall a similar variety throughout my entire life, but some deserve more investigation on my part. One in particular is when someone, or something, is hovering over me and evaporates just when I awake. The feeling I get next is, good job I awoke up when I did. The next type of incident involves being awake and heading for the washroom in the middle of the night. On route, I see wispy images or visions both human and animal like at random locations. I theorized the images may be residual from the subconscious. Studies in this area indicate we may at times underestimate the power of our unconscious or subconscious mind.
I do not drink alcohol or use drugs other than tobacco, coffee, and the occasional tylenol. My spiritual, mental, and physical condition is far better now than during the incidents of the late 60's early 70's.
This has given me cause to reconsider some past events once written off as all in my head. The exception is the visual images I see from time to time on my trips to the wash room.
This accounting of personal incidents is not meant to imply abduction nor discount the possibility. I believe we are not alone in the universe. I strongly believe there are supernatural mysteries that science has yet to solve or begin to understand.
-Paulb-kw