It was spring of this year, 2023, and I was wandering through our Barnes and Noble when I saw something out of the corner of my eye. I turned and there on the upper shelf of the Psychology section was Ben Alderson-Day’s Presence: The Strange Science and True Stories of the Unseen Other. I read the fly leaf, made a mental note, and moved on to the business at hand.
As I usually do, I checked my local library to see if they had a copy. No, it wasn’t available. I told myself would check again later. I didn’t.
In August, I found myself back wandering in Barnes and Noble – something you’ll find I do when my wife has errands in other stores in the mall. They were having a half-off sale of a selection of hard cover books. Most likely clearing the shelves of titles that weren’t moving. There on the sale table was Presence. Procrastination paid off.
A question you might have is “what is a felt presence?” Alderson-Ben explains:
What happens, though, when we get that feeling without the five senses? What happens when we feel that something. ~-or someone–is present to us, and yet we can’t say how? A silent figure. A visitor. An indefinable change in the feeling of a room. Something is there, unmistakably so. And try as we might, if someone asks how we know, we cannot explain it.
We just know it. We just feel it.
This is a felt presence.”
This is spot-on but it gives a supernatural feel to the experience and, by extension, the book. However this is a psychology book. Alderson-Ben explores the phenomena from many perspectives and experiences. Each is backed with studies from psychological research and neuroscience.
We begin our study of felt presences as Alderson-Ben did with his work as a researcher with people have been diagnosed with psychosis and hear voices. I was surprised that 5 to 15 percent of adults will hear voices at some point in their lives. His interviewees often spoke of something or someone with them. Intrigued he cast a wide net in his study.
Alderson-Ben takes his readers through the experiences of people in extreme situations that experience the presence of another. We learn how people suffering from Parkinson’s and forms of dementia report presences. He explores the phenomenon of sleep related presences when feeling asleep (hypnagogic) or when waking (hypnopompic) and the strangely named Exploding Head Syndrome or noises we hear when falling asleep or waking. Imaginary companions as well as the practice of tulpamancy to bring forth a tulpa – an independent, imaginary creature – are discussed. And, yes, the supernatural is touched upon in one chapter. Again each type of occurrence is presented with research studies and their findings.
If this subject intrigues you as it did me, then Ben Alderson-Day’s Presence may be for you. A warning: if you seek the explanation for presences, you may be disappointed as you’ll find many explanations here.
