Greetings everyone. Some of you have shared some really profound encounters. This thread made me want to share an experience too, that has had my head swirling since it happened in the mid 90's on 42nd street in New York. This is pretty long but it has been bothering me for so many years.
I used to sell incense, oils and african/religious/conspiracy books on the street. I used to get alot of strange stares and looks because of my inventory. At the time, 42nd didn't look as bright as it do now. Many of the storefronts were closed since this was right after they shut down all the porn stores to rebuild what it is now. It was around Christmas and business was good with many people walking up and down to hit the train stations. Aside from the strange characters that would stop by my table to have religious debates, I usually had a lot of vagrants visit me daily to talk in the mornings mainly to get a cup of hot coffee or spare change. This one vagrant, or so I thought he was, visited me 3 times.
Day 1: He was a dark black man with a mustache and goatie, short afro, in dark blue or black coat. He looked homeless but did not smell. He appeared to be a handsome man underneath it all with nice straight white teeth. He approached my table and asked me how much was a particular ring. I used to sell silver jewelry as well. This silver ring had a black oval shaped onyx on it. I believe I told him it was $12. He smiled at me as if he knew something I didn't. I looked at him thinking he didn't have the money anyway and said I'll give it to him for $9. He went into his pocket and pulled out exactly 9 crumpled dollar bills. I remember wondering how did he pull out the exact amount from his pocket. He took the ring.
He stuck around and asked my name. I gave him a fake name (Maryjane, the Rick James Maryjane) and he knew it too. At the same time, there was something about him that I was drawn to. He then asked me if I was married and I said no. He said back that he loved me. I scoffed and he continued to tell me how much he loved me and wanted to marry me. Nonsense typical male talk I thought coming from this homeless vagrant but I was truly drawn to him and didn't know why. Customers started approaching and he left, me thinking i wouldn't see him again.
Day 2: Well, he stopped by again. I remember it was still bright outside because rush hour didnt' commence as yet. I swear I was put into a trance because one minute it was broad daylight, next minute it was nearing the end of rush hour in the night. At the same time, we started our conversation on the side of my table and ended it about 3 stores down. I do not remember walking not one step and do not remember people walking by until it was over.
He started asking me to marry him again and how much he loved me and how fragile and sensitive I was (didn't understand the fragile and sensitive part until years later). Then he asked "Are you in love, Maryjane?" At the time I was going through a love that I lost but I don't remember what I said to him but I do remember thinking this guy is really starting to freak me out. I got used to the wierdos I encountered in what I still believe is called the 'belly of the beast" (42nd street) and I think he sensed that. I asked him who are you? He didn't give me a name but said that he was like god. and god is like a gangster. okay. this is part that freaked me out. he pointed to a truck driving by and said if he wanted to he could take his finger and overturn the truck and if i want to see it. i said no and felt fear. everytime i felt fear somehow he sensed it and this calming feeling would come over me. the next stuff he said were freaky and fear came over again. first he started off telling me how much he loved me again and how beautiful and fragile I am and so forth then said that he had a penthouse on the top floor of a building and pointed to a building towards the west side on 42nd street (visible tall building). Then he wanted to take me there and f**ck the sh**t out of me and as he was saying these things I felt a strange sexual feeling overcome me along with fear again. The whole time i was still in this wierd trance, like no one existed on 42nd street except for me and him. When he said these vulgar things, I was even more drawn to him this time even more sexually but at the same time I was fighting fighting to break the feeling. Something wanted me to go to this "penthouse" with him and in the back of my if I did want it I would have been in that penthouse in a split second which was blocks away. But my true self fought it so much because I knew it was wrong. I don't know how to explain it any other way but this man had some kind of hold on me that I couldn't shake. He had some sort of power I couldn't understand because I actually envisioned for about 2 seconds us having sexual intercourse, as if it was happening at the very moment in the penthouse but just a flash of it in my mind. He felt what was going through my mind how i was fighting but my final thought was, no this is not right, and i felt something pull me back to a safe feeling again. He smiled as if he just finished putting me through some test and said "I love you, Maryjane" and more marriage proposal talk. I felt that warm feeling again that drew me to him. He asked me to give him a kiss on the cheek. Don't you know I did and it was the sweetest kiss I've ever given. I still don't remember anyone walking past us on the streets. Then he proceed to tell me things about myself and my parents, things that he should not have known, things that have been hidden in my heart that no one else should have known and told me things that have recently came true that had a huge impact on me. After he told me these things, suddenly the world began to reappear again and it was nightime. I sort of snapped out of a dream and looked around to be 3 storefronts away from my table. I ran to it to check if anything was stolen. Everything was left as I last remembered earlier in the daylight. I was shocked and more shocked when I looked at my watch which said after 6pm. It felt as if we were only speaking with him for like 5 minutes or less but apparently 2 hours went by and no one stole anything???? As I was going through this aftershock, customers started approaching and I reluctantly tended to them still keeping my eye on him and his on me. He started walking away and customers were still looking around the table as I kept my eye on him walking down the block. I heard a lady asked how much was a particular ring or earring. With my eye still on him walking away, for not even a split second, I turned to her and told her the price, looked back at him and he disappeared. When I say disappear, he vanished into thin air. The guy had no store to go into, no alley and around this time the rush hour was dying down so i was able to see everyone walking down the block. all the storeshad gates pulled down, no where to go but to the corner which would have taken him about 3-4 minutes to do on foot. 42nd between 7th and 8th ave is a long block and I was located in the middle where that old nasty movie house used to be. That man disappeared and I was so shocked, drained, puzzled, so many different things. But tended to the ladies who gave me a good sale and packed up my table right afterwards and went home. Dazed the whole ride on the train all the way home in brooklyn. The trance, the fact that he knew me, he knew what was in my heart and him vanishing into thin air was an experience I'll never ever forget.
Day 3: He comes back again towards the end of rush hour. He approached the table and told me he wanted to give back the ring he bought. I was puzzled and don't think I had enough change on me or something. I thought it was $12 dollars I charged him but remember giving him back the 9 dollars. I somehow felt that I didn't give him enough and didn't really want to give a refund. I remember trying to talk him out of it but he was confident to return it. I gave him back the$9 and he placed the ring in the exact spot that he purchased it from. He left and that was the last time I saw him because I decided to never sell from that spot again and closed up shop.
A couple of years later, still in the 90's, I was in prospect park in the summertime just enjoying the scenery when I swear I saw the same man from a distance sitting under a tree. Same hair, same complexion, same feeling. I stared for a minute and walked away. I couldn't handle it. I looked back at the tree after a few paces and the man was no longer sitting under the tree.
I've had other experiences like getting on the BACK of a train with an ex boyfriend having an enjoyable conversation the entire ride to head home only to get off in the FRONT of the train. We never changed seats or switched cars, just sat in the same two seats in the back car the whole time. We looked at each other like wdf just happened, we are in the front of the train now. Somehow we moved without moving??
But nothing took the cake like the man on 42nd.