What do many survivors of traumatic experiences have in common OTHER than a thankfulness for staying alive? Many report the guidance of an invisible, or guiding hand or voice that helped them overcome whatever it was that they needed to surpass…..to survive.
Famous Polar Explorer Earnest Shackleton coined the phrase the “Third Man” for the guardian guiding hand that helped him escape certain death, the aviator Charles Lindenbergh spoke of the third man in helping him succeed in his famous flight and survivors of ALL types and stripes have attributed this same mysterious “man” (or woman..:-) who shows up at the point of do-or-die crisis to lend a much needed helping hand.
Fact or fiction? Check out the full article below, from a recent CNN story in their “surviving death” series, and you’ll think TWICE before you say it’s all an imaginary friend..:-)
When Sevigny awakened, he could barely stand. His back was broken in two places, his knees were busted, and he had internal bleeding. He gave up hope of surviving and curled up in the snow to die.
But then he felt an odd sensation. He felt someone behind him and heard a voice: “No, you can’t give up. You have to live.” Read all about cheating death”It was right over my right shoulder,” Sevigny said. “It was like if I would sneak up to you and put my nose a quarter of an inch from your neck. It was that kind of physical sensation.”What happened next was so profound that Sevigny, a scientist who disdains organized religion, says he couldn’t talk about it for years afterward without crying.
Sevigny still doesn’t know who that voice belonged to, but another man does. He calls it “The Third Man.”Who is the Third Man?John Geiger has sifted through the survival stories of people like Sevigny for six years.
Adventurers, sailors, prisoners of war and pilots, they all tell strikingly similar stories of being saved from death by a mysterious presence, he says.In the book “The Third Man Factor: Surviving the Impossible,” Geiger attempts to solve the mystery of that presence.
I’ve had several experiences. One day, I went to a park on the water (I used to go there whenever I was upset or confused). I was completely alone. There was absolutely nobody around. I was on the waters edge looking out when I felt that I should look to my left. When I did look, there was an elderly man (very sweet looking) sitting on a bench nearby. It was like he appeared out of the air. He asked if he could give me something. So I went over to him & he handed me a small (very tiny) booklet of “Bible” verses. He said that should help me. I thanked him & started to walk away. I turned around to say something more to him & he was gone (within 2 seconds). He was nowhere around. Being elderly, there is no way he could have walked away that quickly. I firmly, to this day, believe he was a “guardian angel” that had come to help me through some tough times.