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The Issue of Timing

© Dina Ely

You can experience the paranormal at any time, on any day, in any month of any year. But analysis suggests that your chances of a Fortean encounter are significantly increased at certain times.

Anyone embarking on a serious study of cryptids and other mysteries such as UFOs should be well aware of the research that suggests a very real, cyclical pattern of time that governs, at least in part, the manifestation of paranormal activity.

As reported by John Keel in his book Our Haunted Planet (pp 81-83), and has been observed by many parascientists and researchers, the 24th day of any given month is a day of great supernatural importance. Even the Bible discusses Fortean occurrences on the 24th day of the month. Many well-reported, impeccably-documented sightings of cryptid beings, ghosts or poltergeists, UFOs, and other oddities all have the "24th day" connection in common.

A smaller percentage (but still too significant a trend to ignore) also center around the 10th of the month. There must be some cosmic calendar, some regular cycle of unseen events (perhaps not even in this dimension!), that make it easier for supernatural beings to manifest at certain dates.

Another very important factor is that the majority of reports also take place on Wednesdays. For some reason not known to us mere humans, supernatural entities are particularly fond of our "hump day". If you are planning an excursion to investigate a cryptid and your chosen date happens to be Wednesday, the 24th of any month, statistics suggest you may have surprising luck.

Of course, this doesn't mean that every 10th or 24th that falls on a Wednesday will bring a slew of activity. It depends on many other factors, such as location (which we will discuss in a future article). The year also has some importance, it would seem. C.L. Mallows of Bell Telephone conducted a study comparing Fortean events over a wide number of years and discovered that a flurry of activity occurs every 9.6 years.

Often times significant paranormal events will happen nearly simultaneously with surprising regularity and frequency during a short period of time. So every 9.6 years you may have a series of events such as those surrounding the Mothman sightings in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, in the late 60s.

Though several large studies have confirmed these temporal trends, no-one knows for sure why these events tend to be cyclical and well-scheduled. Perhaps the time of the month is simply "full moon madness"? I doubt we will ever know for sure.