# Non-supernatural stories in which something supernatural happens **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 2, 2013, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-supernatural-stories-in-which-something-supernatural-happens/654670 "2013-04-02T22:01:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Sister\_Vigilante](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9de0a6/32.png) [@Sister\_Vigilante](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sister_Vigilante)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-supernatural-stories-in-which-something-supernatural-happens/654670/61 "2013-04-04T16:31:47Z")
(Re: Quantum Leap) > [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > That’s not supernatural, it’s science! Yeah I think it was mainly meant to be scientific rather than supernatural, and I did say “so far”. I saw them all when they first came out and it does get a little woo-ish near the end, with him talking to God and all (and the actor who played him is, incidentally, in the pilot episode). ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-supernatural-stories-in-which-something-supernatural-happens/654670/62 "2013-04-04T17:22:13Z")
> [@StusBlues](#): > > IIRC, this turned out to be John Glenn’s frozen urine in real life. The bonfire connection was more poetic license than anything else. Wait - you mean we were supposed to believe that really happened?! ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-supernatural-stories-in-which-something-supernatural-happens/654670/63 "2013-04-04T18:14:33Z")
In the novel, _A Drowned Maiden’s Hair_ by Laura Amy Schlitz, the heroine, Maud, dreams of another girl, Caroline. In the dream, Maud learns information she couldn’t have gotten in real life. On the other hand, it may have been a coincidence. Otherwise, it’s a straight historical novel. ---
**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-supernatural-stories-in-which-something-supernatural-happens/654670/64 "2013-04-04T18:24:17Z")
Stephen King _AGAIN_. \*\*\*Cujo \*\*\*is just about a dog with rabies, except there was a tip of the hat to another Stephen King story in the first chapter. Some ‘demon’ in the kid’s closet was a real evil spirit. IME, for no reason. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-supernatural-stories-in-which-something-supernatural-happens/654670/65 "2013-04-04T18:29:30Z")
I don’t think anyone’s mentioned the best example: Sharyn McCrumb’s Ballad novels. These include people with clairvoyance and precognition, a Cherokee demigod, ghosts, a family curse, and a woman who talks to an angel who makes a brief appearance. However, the supernatural elements usually don’t have much to do with the main plot. A couple, _If Ever I Return, Pretty Peggy-O_ and \*The Ballad of Tom Dooley \*don’t even have supernatural elements. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-supernatural-stories-in-which-something-supernatural-happens/654670/66 "2013-04-04T18:40:50Z")
> [@Sister\_Vigilante](#): > > (Re: Quantum Leap) > > Yeah I think it was mainly meant to be scientific rather than supernatural, and I did say “so far”. I saw them all when they first came out and it does get a little woo-ish near the end, with him talking to God and all (and the actor who played him is, incidentally, in the pilot episode). The entire series is supernatural. Something is making him leap into people and not letting him leap again until things are made better. There is always the idea that something is guiding him. > [@Morbo](#): > > Wait - you mean we were supposed to believe that really happened?! Yes because it did. > [@](#): > > The spacecraft moved across Australia and across the Pacific to Canton Island. Glenn experienced a short 45 minute night and prepared the periscope for viewing his first sunrise from orbit. As the sun rose over the island, he saw thousands of “little specks, brilliant specks, floating around outside the capsule”; he momentarily felt that the spacecraft was tumbling or that he was looking into a star field. A quick hard look out of the spacecraft window corrected the illusion and Glenn was sure that the “fireflies”, as he called them, were streaming past his spacecraft from ahead. They seemed to flow by slowly but did not seem to be coming from any part of the spacecraft, and they disappeared as Friendship 7 moved into brighter sunlight. It was later determined that they were probably small ice crystals venting from onboard spacecraft systems. > > I am in a big mass of some very small particles, they’re brilliantly lit up like they’re luminescent. I never saw anything like it. They round a little: they’re coming by the capsule and they look like little stars. A whole shower of them coming by. They swirl around the capsule and go in front of the window and they’re all brilliantly lighted. John Glenn started banging the capsule wall and watched the “fireflies” come off, just as Alan Shepard did. > **[Mercury-Atlas 6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury-Atlas_6)** > > Mercury-Atlas 6 (MA-6) was the first crewed American orbital spaceflight, which took place on February 20, 1962. Piloted by astronaut John Glenn and operated by NASA as part of Project Mercury, it was the fifth human spaceflight, preceded by Soviet orbital flights Vostok 1 and 2 and American sub-orbital flights Mercury-Redstone 3 and 4. > The Mercury spacecraft, named Friendship 7, was carried to orbit by an Atlas LV-3B launch vehicle lifting off from Launch Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral, Florida... ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-supernatural-stories-in-which-something-supernatural-happens/654670/67 "2013-04-04T18:46:48Z")
> [@Accidental\_Martyr](#): > > How about in **Life of Brian** when the alien spaceship swoops down a picks up Brian? Damn lucky to be alive. ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-supernatural-stories-in-which-something-supernatural-happens/654670/68 "2013-04-04T19:10:12Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Yes because it did. Wow. I had no idea. Ignorance fought. ---
**Author:** ![Ibn\_Warraq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e19b73/32.png) [@Ibn\_Warraq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ibn_Warraq)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-supernatural-stories-in-which-something-supernatural-happens/654670/69 "2013-04-04T19:41:01Z")
> [@bup](#): > > Stephen King _AGAIN_. \*\*\*Cujo \*\*\*is just about a dog with rabies, except there was a tip of the hat to another Stephen King story in the first chapter. Some ‘demon’ in the kid’s closet was a real evil spirit. IME, for no reason. IIRC(it’s been decades since I read the book and it was one of his weaker efforts) there’s a veiled suggestion that when Cujo got rabies he was possessed by the spirit of the serial killer deputy from _The Dead Zone_(the sherif from\* The Dead Zone\* is also in the story). ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-supernatural-stories-in-which-something-supernatural-happens/654670/70 "2013-04-04T20:19:37Z")
**Karate Kid** , Mr Miyagi’s laying hands to fix Daniel’s knee. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-supernatural-stories-in-which-something-supernatural-happens/654670/71 "2013-04-04T22:19:14Z")
There was an episode of ER some years ago, or it may have been a two-parter, where Dr. Carter had a storyline featuring Ed Asner as a tired old practitioner running a (free?) clinic. When Carter went to talk to Ed Asner about something, the room in the building where the clinic had been was completely derelict and empty. Not a stick of furniture, like it had been deserted for years. The clinic had existed the day before. Had Carter dreamed the whole thing or…what? It was creepy and left unresolved. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-supernatural-stories-in-which-something-supernatural-happens/654670/72 "2013-04-04T22:39:25Z")
> [@salinqmind](#): > > There was an episode of ER some years ago, or it may have been a two-parter, where Dr. Carter had a storyline featuring Ed Asner as a tired old practitioner running a (free?) clinic. When Carter went to talk to Ed Asner about something, the room in the building where the clinic had been was completely derelict and empty. Not a stick of furniture, like it had been deserted for years. The clinic had existed the day before. Had Carter dreamed the whole thing or…what? It was creepy and left unresolved. I think Asner’s character was a thief who embezzled the money that Carter gave him. ---
**Author:** ![salinqmind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@salinqmind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/salinqmind)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-supernatural-stories-in-which-something-supernatural-happens/654670/73 "2013-04-04T22:48:43Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I think Asner’s character was a thief who embezzled the money that Carter gave him. Yes, that’s it, thanks - it’s been years since I saw it and my memory is fuzzy, all I recall clearly was that last scene. So…n/m ---
**Author:** ![Morbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morbo/32/389_2.png) [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-supernatural-stories-in-which-something-supernatural-happens/654670/74 "2013-04-04T23:02:36Z")
I realize that there was supernatural stuff in **The Shining** , (specifically, the shining), but even so I was surprised when the ghost of Mr. Grady actually unlocked the door to the freezer in which Jack was trapped. Up to that point there was just the shining stuff and Jack seeing things, which I wrote off as a form of his madness. Another one I just thought of - the Molly Turgiss episode of **Green Acres**. ---
**Author:** ![TimeWinder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bcef8e/32.png) [@TimeWinder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimeWinder)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2013, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-supernatural-stories-in-which-something-supernatural-happens/654670/75 "2013-04-04T23:08:38Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > It has been forever since I’ve seen the film, but I always connected that with someone coming into the bar and wind from outside shifting the air, not anything the headpiece is doing. That’s right before she gets confronted by the NAZI thugs. Even so, I place the whole Indiana Jones set in the “supernatural stories” camp, anyway. The Ark melting people and obliterating its box, the priests pulling people’s hearts out without killing them in temple of doom, the Holy Grail healing wounds, etc. The characters expected these things to be supernatural, and never acted very surprised when they turned out to be right. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-supernatural-stories-in-which-something-supernatural-happens/654670/76 "2013-04-05T20:06:00Z")
Another nod to Stephen King: The Green Mile. Except for John Coffey’s supernatural healing powers, the whole tale is plausible. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-supernatural-stories-in-which-something-supernatural-happens/654670/77 "2013-04-05T20:52:28Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > I’ve often wondered how real the ghost was. You’ve got a couple of guys on a night watch in a spooky Danish castle in winter. Anyone could see a ghost in those conditions. I’m a rational 20th century boy, but I’ve been spooked walking through dark woods at night. Then Hamlet hears the rumors and starts seeing the ghost himself. But is it really an actual ghost, or is it an inner manifestation of his own guilt and suspicion. Hamlet struggles between it being the ghost of his father or an evil spirit has taken the shape of his father and is trying to trick Hamlet into doing evil. Either way, it’s a supernatural being. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-supernatural-stories-in-which-something-supernatural-happens/654670/78 "2013-04-05T21:30:32Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Another nod to Stephen King: The Green Mile. Except for John Coffey’s supernatural healing powers, the whole tale is plausible. That’s because \*The Green Mile \* is King’s exercise in [magic realism](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_realism) I would think most magic realism stories would fit what the OP was asking for. Edit: Incidentally, I now notice that other posters have mentioned magic realism. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-supernatural-stories-in-which-something-supernatural-happens/654670/79 "2013-04-05T21:38:43Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > That’s because \*The Green Mile \* is King’s exercise in [magic realism](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_realism) I would think most magic realism stories would fit what the OP was asking for. > > Edit: Incidentally, I now notice that other posters have mentioned magic realism. And the fact that the healing powers are not incidental and are in fact the driving force behind the plot. If it were a different story he could have made it just a regular prison story. But the big reveal and plot twist is what happened to the narrator. And Mr Jingles. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2013, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-supernatural-stories-in-which-something-supernatural-happens/654670/80 "2013-04-05T22:17:26Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > I never thought Radar was being given ESP. He had great hearing for the choppers, and was very organized and understood his boss very well, so he could anticipate. Nothing supernatural required, and I never took it that way. I’m pretty sure there is one episode where Potter is trying to trip Radar’s anticipation of his next request up - and finally manages it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-supernatural-stories-in-which-something-supernatural-happens/654670.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-supernatural-stories-in-which-something-supernatural-happens/654670.md?page=5)