Bilocation
Over the past few months, I have been inundated with requests for information and explanations of the supernatural phenomena of someone being able to be in two places at once. This particular phenomenon is not uncommon and has happened across the globe for many centuries.
Although the most common type of reported phenomenon is one person being “in two places at once”, it has been reported that some people have been in more than two places at once.
The terms paranormal researchers use for this phenomenon are pretty self-explanatory, they are as follows;
Bi-location: The ability, whether willful or passive, to be in two distinct places at once in physical form.
Multi-location: The ability, whether willful or passive, to be in multiple locations at one single time, in physical form.
The phenomena have been well documented over many centuries, and feature heavily in the writings of one of the Founders of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR), Fredrick W. H. Myers.
Most commonly known incidents involve Saints or are of a religious nature. St Gerard Majella (1726 – 1755) was known for his ability to perform Multi-location. He could appear in many houses of the sick and dying and hold the hands of the unwell as they passed over, this was particularly noted during the outbreak of the plague.
St Martin de Porres (1579 – 1639) is another Saint capable of Bilocation. Reported by his fellow friars that when they were sick in their beds, they would call out to him, and he would appear to them, even though he was known to be far away travelling.
St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696 – 1787) was seen at the bedside of the dying Pope Clement XIV when the Saint was actually confined to his cell in a location that was a four-day journey away.
Saint Padre Pio (1887 – 1968 ) is probably the best-known Saint of the modern era to have the ability of bilocation. Saint Pio was seen flying in his brown robes during World War II, by American pilots as they prepared to drop bombs on San Giovanni Rotondo. As he appeared before the bomber, all attempts to release the bombs from the plane failed. Later, the Americans set up an airbase in nearby Foggia. One of the pilots from the bomber stopped at the local friary, and instantly recognized the little friar in the brown robes he had seen flying through the air!
Pio was asked numerous times about his ability to bilocate and was not inclined to ever answer with conviction on how he possessed such skills from God, the closest he ever came to saying anything directly about was that it occurred “by an extension of his personality”
Other Saints said to have the ability of Bilocation include Saint Severus of Ravenna, St. Ambrose of Milan, and St. Anthony of Padua.
Reports of Bilocation span the annals of time, and it isn’t just Saints that have this supernatural power attributed to them. One of the greatest Mathematical and philosophical minds of the 1st century, Pythagoras, is said to have the ability of Bilocation. He was seen at the same time in both Croton and Metapontum – although all accounts of his life were written well after his death so they can be easily seen as an attribute by followers of the religion that he founded in Greece.
In England, school teacher, Teresa Higginson (1844 – 1905) actually kept a diary of Bilocation and in her time travelled through the ability to Africa, she was also devoutly Catholic
Bilocation is also attributed to Buddhist Monks, Hindu and to Indian gurus, who are often seen sleeping in one location, whilst praying in another.
It would seem that anyone can practice Bilocation if they have the will. It differs from an "Out of Body Experience", as often the secondary image of the person, is actually as solid and coherent as the original source of the image and interacts in the physical world as per normal.
Bilocation experiencers also differ from another supernatural occurrence, that of the Doppelganger (which I will be covering in another post very soon), as the Doppelganger can be an “Apparition of a living person” or sometimes, seen as an omen to a fore-coming death.
It is very possible that many people could possess this unique supernatural skill, but in the modern world, research into it has waned dramatically, other than within the Catholic Church, which still keeps current records on phenomena such as this one!
St Gerard Majella – Patron Saint of Mothers: His intercession is sought for children, unborn children, women in childbirth, mothers, expectant mothers, motherhood, falsely accused people, good confessions, lay brothers and Muro Lucano, Italy
St Martin de Porres – Patron Saint of Social Justice, African-Americans, Barbers, Hairdressers and Race relations
St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori – Patron Saint against arthritis and against scrupulosity. Patron Saint of Confessors, final perseverance, moral theologians, moralists, scrupulous people, theologians, vocations
St Padre Pio of Peitrelcina – Patron Saint of the Unborn, Civil Defence Volunteers and Adolescents.
Further Reading and References
