# Unexplained Personal Mysteries **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 28, 2016, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-personal-mysteries/775776 "2016-12-28T14:43:34Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2016, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-personal-mysteries/775776/41 "2016-12-30T08:29:33Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > What do you think the explanation for the vanishing store phenomenom really is? Simply bad memory? If so, why doesn’t it happen more? > > Wouldn’t it be something if it really were intersecting parallel dimensions, but no one ever believed it was true? 🙂 Mundane potential explanations include: [ul] [li]It wasn’t a real shop at all - maybe a back-projection on a full-window screen for some art project[/li][li]Some sort of ‘pop up’ novelty event, possibly related to charity or someone’s birthday[/li][li]Something related to a movie or documentary[/li][li]It was closing down and this came to finality in the interval between when it was first observed and when **jtur88** returned for another look[/li][li]Yeah, some sort of weird memory thing where it wasn’t where it was remembered to be.[/li][/ul] Or a leak from a different timeline. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2016, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-personal-mysteries/775776/42 "2016-12-30T11:17:44Z")
> [@Ulfreida](#): > > Assuming that the shore is the shore of an ocean, the blob looks like some kind of jellyfish. > > The splash sounds like a large diving bird like a pelican, or else a breaching large fish or dolphin or such. Sorry, I should have included this. All three occurrences were on lakes. Shouldn’t be anything larger than a catfish residing there. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2016, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-personal-mysteries/775776/43 "2016-12-30T11:27:48Z")
> [@pullin](#): > > More recently (in the last week) I’ve encountered two really strange things. I put the photos in a youtube [slideshow](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nqXunZ-yRI&feature=youtu.be), since I can’t log into photobucket today. The first slide is a really strange organic looking blob I found near the shore. I moved it to the bank with a long stick. It seemed to weigh about 7 or 8 pounds and was organic, but not alive. Having seen all the horror movies about strange otherworldly blobs, I refrained from touching it with my hands. Note: Sometimes I have to restart the slideshow to get it to pause on the second slide. Did it have any kind of structure? It looks a bit like a big old blob of gelatin - maybe someone ditched a piece of ballistics gel in the lake and that’s what was left. ---
**Author:** ![minlokwat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minlokwat/32/2844_2.png) [@minlokwat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minlokwat)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2016, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-personal-mysteries/775776/44 "2016-12-30T13:22:01Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Did it have any kind of structure? It looks a bit like a big old blob of gelatin - maybe someone ditched a piece of ballistics gel in the lake and that’s what was left. It’s frogs’ eggs according to my wife who grew up in the backwoods of southern Maryland. Search google images and you can see for yourself. Here’s one that’s pretty close: [linky](https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=frogs+eggs+sac&view=detailv2&&id=C4088AA828A54D859A038B79008F097B2F18386D&selectedIndex=25&ccid=tNlhlFPc&simid=608001017740068822&thid=OIP.Mb4d9619453dc7e23808dfb0c7f85e657o0&ajaxhist=0) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2016, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-personal-mysteries/775776/45 "2016-12-30T13:27:24Z")
Looks a pretty close match - I’m used to thinking of frogspawn as being distinct separate small globules with black dots in the middle of each, but I guess it varies a fair bit by species. ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2016, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-personal-mysteries/775776/46 "2016-12-30T14:13:22Z")
> [@minlokwat](#): > > It’s frogs’ eggs according to my wife who grew up in the backwoods of southern Maryland. Are they typically that big? This blob was roughly a foot in length. I’ve never seen them before so I have no reference. ---
**Author:** ![The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_wind_of_my_soul)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2016, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-personal-mysteries/775776/47 "2016-12-30T14:21:12Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > Mundane potential explanations include: > [ul] > [li]It wasn’t a real shop at all - maybe a back-projection on a full-window screen for some art project[/li][li]Some sort of ‘pop up’ novelty event, possibly related to charity or someone’s birthday[/li][li]Something related to a movie or documentary[/li][li]It was closing down and this came to finality in the interval between when it was first observed and when **jtur88** returned for another look[/li][li]Yeah, some sort of weird memory thing where it wasn’t where it was remembered to be.[/li][/ul] > > Or a leak from a different timeline. I prefer the more sensational explanation myself. ---
**Author:** ![minlokwat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minlokwat/32/2844_2.png) [@minlokwat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minlokwat)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2016, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-personal-mysteries/775776/48 "2016-12-30T14:37:27Z")
> [@pullin](#): > > Are they typically that big? This blob was roughly a foot in length. I’ve never seen them before so I have no reference. I haven’t the foggiest. When I showed your slide to my wife, she immediately recognized it as a frog egg sac. google images bears it out and that’s all I’ve got. Mystery = solved, I’m thinking. ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2016, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-personal-mysteries/775776/49 "2016-12-30T14:55:32Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Many years ago (1980-ish) I went to visit a girlfriend of mine in the midwest. Her (then) husband was a crafty type and at the moment he was into making clocks. He had made one in the shape of the state of Texas, and after I ooohed and ahhhed over it, and he said he would make me one. > > A couple of months later, I was at work back home and was just going out the door to lunch with some coworkers. As we opened the door to leave, here came the mailman up the walk with a flat box. I thought, “Oh boy, my clock.” I knew my friend would send it to work, because I lived in an apartment complex and getting packages could be dicey. (This isn’t the mysterious part yet.) > > I went back in my office and glanced at the clock on the wall. It said 12:20 (or something). I put the box on my desk, opened it, and there was my Texas-shaped clock. It was set to 12:20. There were no batteries in it yet. Mysteriously, it was set to the moment that I opened it. > > Still have the clock-- it’s hanging on the wall in my home office as I type. Another clock story. One day I had noticed the clock on my wall stopped working. At the time, I figured the batteries had just ran out. It wasn’t until the next day I got around to changing them. Only now I notice my clock is working again. And not only is it working, it’s telling the correct time! So that means my clock stopped working for EXACTLY 24 hours! ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2016, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-personal-mysteries/775776/50 "2016-12-30T15:02:29Z")
> [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](#): > > I prefer the more sensational explanation myself. I wrote a story outline once in a universe where the world was not the same for everyone - and this was the reason for a whole load of things like: Why people argue about facts Why it’s easier to show someone the way to something than it is to give directions Why your keys aren’t where you left them Why there are places that only some people know about - or aren’t always there when you go back to look for them Why introverts are invisible at parties ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2016, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-personal-mysteries/775776/51 "2016-12-30T15:40:47Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > I wrote a story outline once in a universe where the world was not the same for everyone - and this was the reason for a whole load of things like: > > Why people argue about facts > Why it’s easier to show someone the way to something than it is to give directions > Why your keys aren’t where you left them > Why there are places that only some people know about - or aren’t always there when you go back to look for them > Why introverts are invisible at parties With the way the media has fragmented and how the Internet lets everyone pick and choose their sources of information (and encourages distrust of established authorities), we’re about to live in this world for real if we aren’t already. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2016, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-personal-mysteries/775776/52 "2016-12-30T15:43:39Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > Another clock story. Richard Feynman has a “mysterious clock story” in _Surely You’re Joking_. I think it may be the reference version of such stories. (Mild spoiler: when his wife died, he found her bedside clock in the hospital stopped at exactly the time of her death. Ooooh, spooky… except that it was an old-fashioned flip-number digital that was prone to stopping, and it’s very likely that when the nurse turned it to read the time of death, it did so.) ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2016, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-personal-mysteries/775776/53 "2016-12-30T15:44:58Z")
> [@The\_wind\_of\_my\_soul](#): > > I prefer the more sensational explanation myself. Me, too. But then, every so often, reality takes the fun away. I told my wife about this thread, and she related a story from her sewing group. A woman bought a Bernina sewing machine from a small town store. Years later, she needed a replacement accessory. So she went to town but could not find the store where she thought it was. But she did find a store featuring Viking. The owner swore that her store never sold Berninas, and that there were no other stores around, and not one place with Bernina anywhere. But the woman HAD the Bernina. She bought it there (or so she thought). So where did it come from? So the lady started to drive home, figuring she’d have to mail order the part. She turned down a different street, and right there was the Bernina store! A parallel universe? A ghost store? Nope. When the woman told the Bernina store about her experience, the owner said, “The Viking owner does that all the time. She hates us!” I was also thinking that people file things differently. Like, you ask about that “jewelry store” you went to, and they say there is no jewelry store. But if you asked them about the antique store (that also sells jewelry) they’d know exactly what you were asking about. When you say “jewelry store”, there mind fills in images of Jared or something, a big fancy store. But the store you went to was funky and small, so it doesn’t some up in a brain search for “jewelry store”. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Zappa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71e660/32.png) [@Mama\_Zappa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Zappa)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2016, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-personal-mysteries/775776/54 "2016-12-30T20:47:40Z")
> [@Quimby](#): > > Not impossible but I didn’t always order the same thing (just that when order this particular sandwich it was in a special way) plus they said it was called in. Was anyone at home when you headed out? Might they have phoned it in to help you or as a prank? ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-personal-mysteries/775776/55 "2016-12-31T00:04:37Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Many years ago (1980-ish) I went to visit a girlfriend of mine in the midwest. Her (then) husband was a crafty type and at the moment he was into making clocks. He had made one in the shape of the state of Texas, and after I ooohed and ahhhed over it, and he said he would make me one. > > A couple of months later, I was at work back home and was just going out the door to lunch with some coworkers. As we opened the door to leave, here came the mailman up the walk with a flat box. I thought, “Oh boy, my clock.” I knew my friend would send it to work, because I lived in an apartment complex and getting packages could be dicey. (This isn’t the mysterious part yet.) > > I went back in my office and glanced at the clock on the wall. It said 12:20 (or something). I put the box on my desk, opened it, and there was my Texas-shaped clock. It was set to 12:20. There were no batteries in it yet. Mysteriously, it was set to the moment that I opened it. > > Still have the clock-- it’s hanging on the wall in my home office as I type. You know the saying: “Even a broken clock is right twice a day”. Really, the odds for the right time within a precision of minutes are 1:1800, so no big deal. ---
**Author:** ![Quimby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/22d042/32.png) [@Quimby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quimby)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-personal-mysteries/775776/56 "2016-12-31T00:33:47Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > Was anyone at home when you headed out? Might they have phoned it in to help you or as a prank? To be honest it was so long ago I don’t remember but that is possible although I didn’t tell anyone my plans so it would be unlikely. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-personal-mysteries/775776/57 "2016-12-31T02:47:07Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > You know the saying: “Even a broken clock is right twice a day”. Really, the odds for the right time within a precision of minutes are 1:1800, so no big deal. Correction: Sigh, that’s what I get for being a smart aleck ;). Confused seconds in an hour (3600) for minutes in a day (1440). So the odds are even better at 1:720. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 7:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-personal-mysteries/775776/58 "2016-12-31T07:22:23Z")
New Year’s Day, mid-1990s. I was the least hungover person in the house, so I was designated to go out and get orange juice and hot 'n sour soup. I went down to the parking garage and saw an SUV idling, with a man and a woman sitting in it. Didn’t think anything of it then (apart from looking out in case they were trying to get out at the same time as me), but when I came back after half an hour or more, they were still sitting there. 😕 This was in Los Angeles, so there’s no way the engine had to be warmed up before driving. They can’t have been jump-starting it, since it was not hooked up to another vehicle. And they were staring straight ahead, not making out or even apparently talking, so it can’t have been an assignation. So I went up to the driver’s side window. “Uh, just curious…you’re not committing suicide, are you?” No, they said, so I went upstairs. Still don’t know why they, especially two people, were idling for so long, but at least I don’t have it on my conscience. ---
**Author:** ![williamweigand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b3f665/32.png) [@williamweigand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/williamweigand)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-personal-mysteries/775776/59 "2016-12-31T13:18:56Z")
About 20 years ago my wife and I were helping to decorate our church for Christmas. It turned out so nicely that I took pictures of it. After we got home we couldn’t find the camera, and thought it was still in our car. I checked the interior of the car then, and as least one other time since then, and couldn’t find the camera. Our only plausible explanation was that one of us may have dropped it, unnoticed and unheard, in the snow and someone may have come along, picked it up and made off with it. Fast forward about 15 years…We keep our crockpot - in its box - in a cupboard. When my wife was taking the crockpot out of the box she found the camera inside the box. We have know idea why it would have been in there. We hadn’t taken the crockpot to church, and even if we did it would have been the crockpot itself, not in its box. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2016, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-personal-mysteries/775776/60 "2016-12-31T13:47:38Z")
A cluster of lucky finds all matched together. When we lived in Jordan, we went up to the national forest the weekend before Christmas. The national forest, in that desert country, was about a half acre of scraggly remnants of the great cedars of the Lebanon, carefully preserved. The maintenance people had just been through trimming low hanging branches from walkways, so we picked up a 5-foot long cedar branch to take home for a Christmas tree, otherwise unobtainable except at obscene cost. On the way home, we stopped and picked up a chicken on the side of the road, apparently fallen off a truckload bound for market. A few miles further on, there was nice cabbage on the shoulder, also spillage from a market truck. So we got home and trimmed our tree and enjoyed a nice chicken and cabbage Christmas feast, all courtesy of some mysterious providence. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-personal-mysteries/775776.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unexplained-personal-mysteries/775776.md?page=4)