The Third Man

[Nungali]

"Who is that man standing next to you, where did he come from ? "

 

https://www.adventure-journal.com/2020/09/finding-the-third-man-in-the-lab/

 

Yes they can can get results in the lab but ;

 

" The explanations of science might satisfy the mind, but leave the spirit unfulfilled. The most poignant elements of the third man syndrome remained unaddressed. Why did so many people at the breaking point see someone they knew? Why did they disappear the moment rescue was at hand? Why were these helpers almost always benevolent, while those in the lab were not?* Why did these real people in distress try to aid their ghostly companion, as when Frank Smythe offered half of his mint cake to a ghost on Everest? Why, as in Shackleton’s party or a group of miners trapped underground, does the third man appear to multiple people at the same time? The “how” could be understood, vaguely, but the why was far from explained."

 

*  This is a significant point and well addressed by VanDusen .

 

This also ties in with some other stuff I have written here about 'psychology' , mental health , 'possession' , 'good and bad 'spirits/hallucinations' , etc - look at ' Jay C's ' comment in the link . Absolutely typical of the experience * cited in the mental institution where Dr VanDusen did his research .

* That is, the good experience , the beginning of recovery , for those lucky enough to have had the experience 'happen to them' or where educated about it in their therapy and taught how to invoke it .

It seems this is a very similar dynamic to the 'Guardian Angel ' .

 

And of course it is also  ' Magical theory - evocation  101 . ' 

 

Thing is , it doesnt matter what we call it ; third man ,  the mysterious 'other ' , guardian angel ,   its a dynamic of force that is real , as evidenced by its 'insistent appearance ' in  one form of cultural clothing or another  throughout all our history .

 

https://selfdefinition.org/hearing-voices/articles/wilson-van-dusen-presence-of-spirits-in-madness.htm