"I only know for sure that others have had similar experiences."

You only know for sure that others have reported to have had similar experiences. They might have been similar to yours but then again they might not.

Back when Chladni was gathering experiences, he did not live in an age when people were posting this, that and the other. The witness was less likely to be influenced by previous reports. If anyone sees anything unusual these days they might well search online for previous reports of something similar.