Among psychologists and researchers of paranormal phenomena, the concept of a "third person" is widespread. It denotes some kind of extraneous force, a ghost, an angel, etc., that helps people in trouble.
A typical case of a "third person" happens like this: The victim is in a house on fire. Outside, firefighters try to reach him, but the flames keep them out.
And suddenly the victim in some incredible way escapes through a door or window. And when they ask him how he managed to get out safe and sound, he replies that another "person" helped him. It was he who led him through the fire, helped to knock out the door, glass, and then pushed him out.
At the same time, no traces of this "third" person are ever found, writing off stories about this to the stressful imagination of the victims.
Such cases do not occur often, but one of them is especially striking. It happened on September 11, 2001 in New York, USA. In the early morning, terrorists hijacked three planes and two of them, one after another, crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center. The towers first caught fire, and then collapsed. A total of about 3 thousand people died.
Ron DiFrancesco was in the South Tower on the 91st floor at the time of the attacks, and he went down in history as the last living person who left it before the tower collapsed. Rescuers immediately considered it a miracle.
Ron himself still barely remembers how he got out of his 91st floor. However, he remembers telling the rescuers that another person took him out. And this man led him so confidently along the smoke-filled passages and stairs, as if he had a map of the tower with him.
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At the same time, when Ron ran out of the tower into the street and was among the firefighters and rescuers, he was alone. There was no one with him. A few minutes later, the south tower collapsed.
Ron remembers how he rushed around the 91st floor and felt bad from the burning and suffocating smoke. So when he saw a human figure in front of him, he decided that he was having hallucinations. This man did not seem to suffer from smoke at all, he was tall, dressed in a suit and stood straight.
Only when he extended his hand to Ron and he grabbed it, he realized that this was not a vision, but a material person. He quickly led Ron somewhere through the dilapidated burning offices and walls of former offices.
“It was a supreme being, not invented by my imagination,” DiFrancesco later said, “Maybe it was an angel, I didn’t see his face, but I knew that he came to help me.
Ron never considered himself religious, he was a very down to earth person who loved to drink beer and worked as a construction worker. But now his opinion has changed forever.
Other people, including the famous NASA astronaut and pilot Charles Lindbergh, and polar explorer Ernest Shackleton, also talked about the "Third Man" phenomenon. In his book, Shackleton described that during the difficult trek across the glaciers of South Georgia, it seemed to him all the time that there were not three, but four, that someone else was with them. incorporeal, but clearly present.
When Shackleton shared his feelings with his companions, it turned out that they have the same feelings. Since then, travelers in difficult conditions and people in trouble have often reported about such a phenomenon of the "Third Man".
James Sevigny, scientist and explorer, once traveled through the rocky Canadian mountains with his partner. Once they were overtaken by an avalanche and they were exhausted trying to get out of the ice and snow. And suddenly a man appeared in front of them, who put his hands on his shoulders and ordered Sevigny to get out of the snow and survive.
“It was as if I crept up behind you and put my hand on your neck. It was a definite and very physical sensation,”said the researcher.
When Sevigny and his partner got out of the avalanche, this man did not abandon them, but led them further and brought them to their very base. Only then did he suddenly disappear somewhere and not a trace remained of him.
Believers consider the "third person" to be the Guardian Angel, while psychologists are sure that this is rather an unusual property of the human psyche under conditions of severe stress.