BuzzFeed is enjoys reporting readers’ stories of mystery and paranormal and these ones about a phenomenon called the “Third Man Syndrome” is truly awesome:
If there’s one thing to know about me, it’s that I love all things spooky and creepy. I write a lot of paranormal and true crime content for BuzzFeed, so at this point, there’s not a lot on that front that I haven’t at the very least heard of, you know? Recently though, I was listening to my favorite spooky podcast, And That’s Why We Drink, (10/10 would recommend, BTW) where I learned about “Third Man Syndrome.” Y’all…I got sooo into it.
Essentially, third man syndrome (also called third man factor) is a phenomenon that occurs in times of distress and crisis. It’s the feeling that there’s another person or entity there alongside you, even though you’re all alone. People report feeling, hearing, or even seeing this “third man” who acts as a voice of comfort and support in an otherwise horrifying time…or literally saves their life.
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The term “Third Man Syndrome” comes from the T.S. Elliot poem, The Waste Land. The poem was inspired by the real-life experience of Ernest Shackleton — an Irish explorer who went on a near-death expedition in Antarctica in 1916. After their ship got trapped in ice, he and two other members of his crew made a 36-hour long trek across the Arctic, over mountains and glaciers, to a whaling station. During that time, several members of his three-man team — Ernest included — kept feeling like there was a fourth man alongside them. T.S. Elliot wrote this stanza inspired by that phenomenon:
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