By Rachel Puryear
Have you ever been in a very dangerous, even life threatening situation? Chances are, you either have, or someone else you love has. Maybe an accident or natural disaster, violence or a serious threat of such, being lost or stranded in a place where survival is unlikely, and so forth.
Sometimes, people have reported that when they were in such a dire situation, they felt the presence of a third person – one who provided them with assistance in some way. That could have been practical advice on how to get out of there as safely as possible, or even providing moral support in order to encourage them to keep going rather than giving up.
This is known as the third person phenomenon (originally the third man phenomenon, or third man factor).
No one yet knows for sure how to explain it, but it has been very helpful and comforting to people facing a great deal of distress and danger.
People have been reporting third person phenomenon experiences for ages. One of the most famous reported cases was of Sir Ernest Shackleton, during his expedition to Antarctica from 1914-1917. He and his crew – totaling three people – became trapped in a pack of ice for two intensely, unimaginably freezing years, and suffered tremendous hardships in their efforts to reach safety (which they eventually did, rather miraculously).
In his 1919 book “South”, Shackleton reported that he often felt during this extreme trial that there were four, rather than just three, people there. And that the fourth person was encouraging them to keep going, and gave them much needed morale at that time.
Not only that, but upon Shackleton admitting this, the other two crew members also admitted that they felt it, too. None of the three men saw or heard another being there, but it felt very real to them – as though someone else were right beside them.
There are other famous cases, and these most well known reported incidents seem to represent the tip of the iceberg in terms of actual phenomena that people have experienced.
As with many things that are hard to explain, and don’t make sense based upon the way we’re used to the world working; there are both scientific and medical theories proposed for this phenomenon, as well as religious and spiritual ones. If you’ve read this blog a while, you’ll know that I don’t think these two are mutually exclusive – or necessarily need to be at odds with one another, so let’s explore a bit of both.
Possible Scientific Explanations
There have been some scientific possibilities proposed to help explain the third person phenomenon.
One is that it is a coping mechanism. People are capable of developing and manifesting a great deal of coping mechanisms, both for short term and longer term troubles and problems. It makes sense that someone in an extremely stressful, life-threatening – and likely painful – situation would utilize coping mechanisms for such events.
Another explanation is that is is a result of a bicameral mentality. A bicameral mentality is a theory suggesting that early humans experienced thoughts and emotions as arising outside of themselves, and possibly (what they perceived as) gods and other spiritual beings, rather than from within themselves. According to this theory, schizophrenia and other disorders involving delusions and hallucinations may be a vestige of a bicameral mind. It is quite possible that an otherwise mentally healthy person could nonetheless experience such symptoms under extreme stress, when they would be unlikely to otherwise.
Spiritual and Religious Attributions
There are religious and spiritual acknowledgements and interpretations of this phenomenon, too. Some believe that the phenomenon is explained by the presence of a spiritual being – perhaps a diety, spirits of ancestors and loved ones (some people having such experiences have reported specifically hearing, seeing, or sensing the presence of a loved one, usually someone departed – see more below), or a spirit guide.
The concept of guardian angels also seems to line up well with commonly reported elements of the third person phenomenon.
The phenomenon may have influenced prayers and religious beliefs, as well. For instance, the Christian prayer “Footprints in the Sand” refers to Jesus as the figure walking beside them during difficult times.
Other Examples
If you take a look at websites like Reddit or Quora, where people can self-report their own experiences, you see many everyday people – some of them anonymous – reporting such phenomena for themselves. Of course, there are always some people who make things up, and people can fall prey to all sorts of illusions, mistakes, and fallacies – but even if a chunk of them are substantially true in their representations of what someone actually experienced, it does invite plenty of curiosity as to what’s really behind this phenomenon.
One man posted about how when he was a young boy, he was playing outside one day with his friends. All of a sudden, while he was standing underneath a large tree branch, he heard the voice of his grandmother – who was by then deceased. Her voice told him to move elsewhere right now. He did so, and then just moments later, the large tree branch cracked and fell off of the tree, landing in the spot where the boy had just been standing. Had he not moved when he did, he probably would have been seriously injured, or even killed.
A woman posted about how she survived a terrible car wreck, in which she was ran off the road while coming around a steep curve. As she was sliding down off the road, she naturally wanted to hit the brakes. Then, she suddenly heard her deceased father’s voice telling her to wait to brake, and then finally when to brake. She followed the instructions from the voice. The car stopped, and then she was rescued. A responding officer told her that if she had not braked exactly when the voice told her to, that she would have flipped over and gone down the embankment (and almost certainly died).
If you look at certain posts on Quora, and subreddits, and other such websites, you can find many more stories like these. I’ve spent hours myself going through them, and it’s very easy to get absorbed in them. They’re fascinating.
So, what about you? Have you ever experienced anything like the third person phenomenon, or known someone who has? If so, feel free to share your own story in the comments below!
Thank you, dear readers, for reading, following, and sharing. Here’s to the forces that help us along, even if we don’t fully understand them. If you enjoyed this post, please “like” and subscribe, if you have not already.
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