When my sister and I were in college, some friends of my parents (Rose and Johnny) lived in Takoma Park, MD, across the street from "Toad Hall," a house rented by a bunch of college guys who were friends of Jan's. One night Rose and John were getting ready to go out to dinner. She looked out the window and said, "Johnny! Toad Hall is on fire!" When she looked again the "fire" had disappeared and Toad Hall looked normal. Later, while she and Johnny were out, Toad Hall did burn and one boy was killed in the fire.

Rose was accustomed to having "psychic" experiences but this one left her very shaken. Others were a lot more light hearted, such as the story she told about dreaming a certain long shot would win at the track. (She and Johnny were frequent racegoers.) She handed him $100 and asked him to put it on her horse when he placed his own bets. Johnny thought it was stupid to bet on such a long shot so he placed her $100 on his own horse and cost her a couple thousand dollars when her horse won. Rose -- who was a grandmother, an extraordinary person, and a Grande Dame in her way -- was furious; she felt he should have known her well enough to trust her hunches! That evening she made him a nice cup of hot chocolate using Ex-Lax for flavoring.

Well I don't mean to introduce thread creep, but daylia, your experience with the pillar of black smoke reminded me of the way Rose's vision of Toad Hall came and then disappeared.

My own family -- my father, mother, and most of my mom's family -- were accustomed to having occasional clairvoyant or precognitive experiences and to some extent took it for granted, and generally paid attention to them.

Rita F