HELP! The math isn't adding up

Thanks to those who have tried to offer legitimate answers for this time lapse of sorts. It's been bothering me for days now. It's strange to have such vivid memories of something that shaped you, but now finding out that I couldn't have been there during that time is bothering me like you cannot believe. I have been racking my brain trying to figure it out. I've searched online for people I worked with, but I can't remember their last names. I know the women probably have different last names. To those who think I'm trolling, I'm no troll. Just go through my past posts and you'll see that I'm truly here to spread useful information and help where I can.

There's no question that I worked in the pet store, but there's no way I was there in 1991. I even remember having a conversation with my assistant manager about this kid and how he'd bring in the original box each time. I can even remember thinking that it was strange that the box was spotted with what I thought was blood, but many times the mice would have injuries when we'd take them out of the tank, so I simply wrote this off as the reason.

I never had any illnesses like Lymes Disease that would mess up my memories. The only time I was sick during my time at the pet store was when I contracted Salmonella poisoning from the Iguanas. We had to work and eat at the same time we were helping customers. Even though I washed my hands, it wasn't antibacterial soap. This is the only illness I had during these years and I'm not prone to getting sick often even nowadays.

I just can't figure this out. I've told so many people through the years about this experience. I asked my parents if they remember the murders, but they said they didn't. I wasn't into watching the news until I got to college, so there's really no way I could've heard about this on the TV when I was 13 and transferred, then combined this info into such vivid memories from my time at the pet store.

Maybe the member who suggested I leave this alone has given me the best advice. Still, I am left baffled. Everyone who knows me will testify that I have a steel trap for a memory and it's even proven to be photographic. There's also no question about my age. I was most definitely born in 1978 and didn't start working in any type of store until I was 16.

This entire situation is bothering me and I want so badly to figure it out. Nothing like this has ever happened to me. I've never experienced anything like this before and I don't like the unanswered questions. It's very unsettling to say the least. The only thing I can think of doing to figure this out once and for all to write to Novak and ask him if he bought animals from the pet store and also ask him to give a description of the salespeople who helped him. Most murderers of this nature have no problems remembering where, when, and how they got their victims. But, would he admit to purchasing animals from the store or even remember me and be able to provide a description of me?

Maybe it's just best to leave this alone, but I just don't believe I can. This whole thing has knocked me off kilter. I've never experienced false memories and I don't understand how this could happen. I know I was there. I know I met him. I know he brought in the same box each time. I know how I felt when they arrested him. I'd be so relieved if they did mess up on the dates and these crimes didn't happen in 1991, but I can't find anything that says otherwise. If someone can find info that demonstrates otherwise, I'll be forever grateful.

Thanks to everyone who has offered possible answers. I appreciate you helping to figure this out.

Did you ever check with the Social Security people, as someone suggested? If you were working, there ought to be records. The only other thing I can think of is that you did work there, but as a younger teen than you thought, and maybe under the table, so to speak.

reply to post by LadyGreenEyes


I appreciate the suggestion, but there's no way I worked there any earlier than I've already indicated. Like I said, it was my second job. I know I started working no earlier than 16 because this is when I got my dad's hand-me-down car and started working at the garden center until I was laid off, then hired at the pet store.
As I started babysitting when I was 11, all the families I babysat for said that they knew I'd be quitting soon since I now had a car and could get a "real" job somewhere.
I wish I could make sense of this. I haven't asked my sister yet if she remembers the murders. She was estranged from my family when I turned 15, so if she remembers them and says that she was living at home at the time, then the mystery deepens. If she says that she wasn't living at home, then this will collaborate my time line as I know it to be. My sister is 2.5 years older than I am, so she may recall better details of these events.
I'm simply baffled and wish I'd never noticed this strange overlap. I really do feel as though I've stepped into the Twilight Zone. Thanks again for offering suggestions. I truly do appreciate you and others helping me figure out this conundrum.

I was going to say that the dates in the article could easily be wrong and explain why, but I did I quick google and found this.

www.courts.state.va.us/opinions/opncavtx/1416921.txt

Definitely says 1991.

Check your birth certificate, you never know you might just be filling in blanks in your memory, it could come from a story related to you by the person who did work there or even a dream. Memory is a funny thing, it's so easy to make a false memory, but the thing is you believe it 100%

If your birth certificate does say 78, then that's just 2spooky4me.

reply to post by Afterthought


Well, the whole situation does sound very frustrating, and more than a little upsetting. I know I would have a hard time just letting go myself. As the saying goes, though, two heads are better than one, and you have a lot more than two on site here!

There has to be an answer.

reply to post by LadyGreenEyes

Well, the whole situation does sound very frustrating, and more than a little upsetting.

Yes. This overlap is causing me much anxiety.
I did speak with my sister last night. She said that she remembers me telling her the story of how I sold this freak small animals when I visited her a few years ago. Then, I asked her if she remembers where she was living when these murders happened. She says that now that she thinks about it, she is 75% sure that she was living at home when these boys were killed. That blows my time line out of the water. Since she remembers still living at home, I had to have been 13 or 14 when the murders occured. Her husband really didn't recall many details around this time, but she said that she was going to ask her mother-in-law this morning if she remembers whether or not my sister was living with them or not when the murders happened.

I'm truly baffled. I could understand if I recalled this kid coming in once to buy a small animal, then I could write this off as a false memory I invented. But, the fact that I remember him coming in several times and even remember him reusing the same box and seeing spots of blood in the box in vivid detail are too much for me to wrap my head around. I wonder if the police found a pet store box in his room that fits the description. I don't remember the police coming into the pet store to speak with any of us, but I guess this doesn't mean anything now. As far as I remember (which is now questionable), the police were much more focused on the D&D aspect instead of where he got the animals and how many he'd killed.

Also, the fact that this kid is now 37 when I'm now 34 cancels out the fact that I was working at the pet store. We'd both have to be the same age since he killed those boys when he was 16.

So, I'm left to accept the fact that I couldn't have been there. So, what are the remaining options?
Is it possible that I had some wierd OOBEs when I was 13? Since I've always had a deep connection to animals and was frequenting the pet store during the times leading up to the killings, could I have dreamt all of this as if I was an employee there? Placing myself in the body of an employee who actually did work there and sold him animals? Is it possible that each time he bought an animal, I dreamt of it that night as though I was there in place of the actual employee? Then, I'd also have had to have dreamt about driving into the shopping center and seeing the police on the day of the murders. I'd also have had to have dreamt about speaking to my assistant manager about all the times he came into the store to purchase animals with the reused, bloody box.

I just don't know anymore. I don't know if I could write to the VB police and ask the detective who worked the case if they ever found a bloody pet store box in his room or if Novak ever spoke about getting animals at the pet store. I guess writing Novak and asking him if he purchased small animals at the pet store would be a useless endeavour since his wife is still convinced that he didn't commit the murders. So, he must be continuing to lie and profess his innocence in all of this, so I hardly think he'd admit to purchasing mice and other rodents to satisfy his urges.

Well, I'm simply beside myself here. I don't know how I could've been shaped by events I never experienced, but my memories of getting this close to a potential serial killer certainly caused me to be the person I am today and how I never take people for face value.
I'll have to wait to hear back from my sister about what her mother-in-law recalls. I'll post whatever I find out.

Originally posted by DerepentLEstranger
reply to post by Afterthought

 

hhmmm very odd.
sounds a bit like multiple personality
this would be a possible explanation for the inconsistent "timelines" you reference
that is to say, you may have integrated all the memories but they are not lined up properly

would rather not go into even more terrifying possibilities as i need to think this through a bit more
flagged so as to draw attention to the matter

I too think you should maybe think that through as I don't see how multiple personality disorder has anything to do with what the OP is saying unless one of the personalities was further suffering from some kind of psychosis to create a false memory or give the impression that the memory of the event happened at a different time than it actually did by using another event as a catalyst to create what would seem as conflicting timelines.

reply to post by Afterthought


Well, if you frequented the pet shop as a younger teen, and worked there as an older one, you could have still seen him there purchasing animals, and gotten the memories crosses. That is very possible. You might have even seen him more than once, and seen the box. If it was one memory, I would think maybe you didn't see him, but several times? Seems like you probably did, and just got mixed up on the exact details. Certainly, a younger teen might like hanging out at a pet store.

Memory can be a funny thing. I saw a test someone did once, where they were trying to see how memories could be altered. They took a group of people on a walk, and lead them past a place in the woods with some indeterminate origin debris, taped off with crime tape. No people there at all. Immediately after, most (though not all, if I recall correctly) remembered what they actually saw. A month later, many had added details that were not real, even going as far as claiming to see more specific debris, and armed people at the site. We had video of everything they really saw, and it was fascinating to hear the changes. They were not lying, either' they sincerely believed what they were saying they saw. I think there might have been some suggestions made, after the walk, that caused some of this, but it showed very well how flexible memories can be.

I would not worry about this too much. However close your encounter with that killer was, it wasn't so close that you became a victim, and that's something to be thankful for!

reply to post by LadyGreenEyes


Thank you for the comfort of your closing words. You're absolutely right. Whatever the reason for my memories, it certainly didn't make me a worse person and I did use this "experience" to better myself by learning to listen to my inner voice. How this happened, I suppose it's best not to ask why and just accept it as a fluke that has helped me stay safe.

Regarding your story, that is quite interesting and I'd be interested in reading about it if you were to locate it.
I was also watching a similar thing about psychology years ago where they were discussing how people don't trust their inner voice anymore when they should. The show gave the instance of a person waiting for an elevator. The doors open and a man is inside. You get a bad feeling in your gut about this guy, but most people will shrug this feeling off as being silly and enter the elevator. A place with no windows and, essentially, no doors. Basicly, no immediate escape. The show then stated that a dog would never enter the elevator given this gut feeling of danger and would run away from the perceived danger.

Anyways, whatever the reason for my memories, I am sort of embarrassed now that I've told this story to so many people over the years, but maybe it did someone else some good, too. If even one person decided to be more careful around someone who gave them a bad feeling, it was beneficial and my imaginary experience was worth repeating.

Still though, it's going to take me a long time to get over this one. I'll just assume it was the time that I ventured into the Twilight Zone and returned to tell about it.

Thanks for being supportive and bearing with me while I tried to unravel this strange "experience".

Originally posted by Afterthought

I don't know how I could've been shaped by events I never experienced . . .

That's actually quite interesting and thought-provoking; yet, I suspect it happens much more frequently than we might imagine.

reply to post by Afterthought


Most welcome! I can't for the life of me remember the name of the program. Something on one of the cable channels, I am sure. If I can locate it, will let you know.

That inner voice stuff, though, so true! I suspect a lot of people die because they didn't listen. I would rather feel a little foolish than end up dead, though! So don't sweat sharing; surely someone needed to hear this. If one person pays more attention to some detail like the blood in the pet box, a life could be saved.

You slipped into an alternate reality.

I'm the same age as you and have had similar time-warps where there really is no other possible explanation. I have a very good memory going back many years. However, once in awhile this world will really throw me for a loop just like you.

I refuse to accept any other answer.

To all the doubters...I say wait until (if) it happens to you.

reply to post by Goldcurrent


An alternate reality. You may be right.

(Thanks to DrumsRFun for posting this video to this thread here: www.abovetopsecret.com...# )

Goldcurrent: Thanks for your comments and feel free to add your own experiences to this thread. I'm happy to be seeing that I'm not alone in my strange "experience". As far as I'm aware right now, I haven't had any other experiences other than what I've documented thus far. Maybe Philip K. Dick is right and there is a glitch that happens because of who knows what and the resulting unexplained memories are the only evidence we're left with. I haven't finished reading the thread about our lives being computer simulations, but I'm fascinated with the idea of a manufactured reality where things aren't as they seem. Frankly, at the moment, it's the only thing that makes sense and answers my questions.

Most of us have played video games and experienced the bugs and glitches that cause us to have to reset the game from the beginning, or the last "save" point. What if, during my time at the pet store and soon after the murders, a glitch happened and the simulation had to be restarted from the last "save" point? This would explain the three to four year difference. It sounds so bizarre, but, really, what if?

I have read a handful of these types of threads,and although I respected others' recollections of events, I often figured it was the result of some innocent confusion. But after this past Saturday, I now see things differently after having my first run-in with something I know happened, and yet I cannot substantiate my allegation with proof. I've never been so freaked out. It's as if I was part of a different version of earth. Thanks for sharing OP.

One thread is good : Original Thread