63-year-old American historian Michael Shermer is one of the most famous materialists of the modern world. This popularizer of science created the so-called Society of Skeptics in 1992, aimed at combating pseudoscience and superstition. In addition, Dr. Shermer is the editor-in-chief of the popular Skeptic magazine, which is largely devoted to refuting various supernatural claims.
In a word, a more exemplary materialist is still worth looking for in our world, moreover, an intelligent, talented and well-read - just Mikhail Berlioz from Bulgakov's novel The Master and Margarita. However, few people know that something happened in Michael's life that he could not explain rationally. This happened, by the way, not so long ago. The mysterious story began on June 25, 2014, on the day of the wedding of the historian with the German woman Jennifer Graf. The man's bride was brought up in childhood by her mother and grandfather, who was like a father to her. Unfortunately, her grandfather died when she was 16 years old.
Supernatural grandfather radio
Among the things that the future wife of the American brought to his house from Germany, there was an old transistor radio "Philips 070" of 1978, which once belonged to her grandfather. Shermer, interested in such a rarity, decided to bring it back to life after decades of silence. The man disassembled the device in order to make sure that the contacts did not come off anywhere, the parts did not burn out, and inserted new batteries. Nevertheless, the receiver remained silent, and therefore the couple in love soon lost all interest in him, despite his symbolic connection with the memory of Jennifer's grandfather, worthy of all respect.
Three months later, the couple received a marriage certificate by signing in a Beverly Hills court and returned home. There, the lovers swore an oath of allegiance to each other and exchanged wedding rings in the presence of witnesses and those closest to them. True, Jennifer was saddened that her grandfather was not next to her at that moment, who would take the bride to the altar. When the ceremony was over and the newlyweds retired, they suddenly heard strange sounds from their bedroom. It looked like music was playing there.
Our heroes were amazed when they discovered that the very radio, lying in the drawer, suddenly played some old romantic melody. Jennifer burst into tears and said:
Promotional video:
My grandfather is with us today. This music is his sign of approval and a gift to us.
The newly minted spouses did not close their eyes all night and listened to retro hits about love, and the next morning the receiver fell silent and has not turned on since then. Michael took the device to the workshop, but there he was told that it was critically malfunctioning and could not be repaired, since today there are not even spare parts for it. When the surprised man said that the radio was working fine just recently, he was told that it was simply impossible.
Mysticism that surprised the hardened skeptic
This story may not seem so striking and unusual to many of the regulars on our site, but it had a tremendous impact on Dr. Shermer and his wife. The American continues to consider himself a skeptic, but now admits that not every phenomenon can be explained by science and common sense. Here's what he writes:
If this happened to someone else, I would explain what happened as a simple electrical anomaly or the law of large numbers. There are septillions of events in the world every day, and some of them will surely seem extremely unlikely to us, standing out from the crowd due to their timing and the possible significance of what is happening. I won't say that this incident proves that the afterlife is real and the dead can interact with us using electronic devices. However, now I also will not undertake to argue that nothing out of the ordinary has happened. The scientific method is not always to be skeptical and categorically deny everything that does not correspond to your beliefs, but to think openly when you are faced with something inexplicable.
To this it would be worth adding the assertion of spiritual people who rightly believe that modern science has shouldered too much of an overwhelming burden - the desire to explain this world using only logic and physical laws. And when she does not succeed, then such hardened materialists as Michael Shermer just shrug their shoulders, instantly sinking from their know-it-all pedestal to the very, perhaps, frank understanding of the Universe, once expressed by the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates: I only know that I do not know anything…
Victoria Prime