REAL X-FILES
1. MOTHER DAUGHTER TELEPATHY
'My mum "gave birth" to my baby'
Nicola Roach, 39 from Old Sodbury, Gloucestershire

Kristina was my first child and it was a difficult birth. The only option was a forceps delivery. I had lots of pethidine but the pain was unbearable and I remember calling out for Mum. The next thing I recall, I felt as if I were falling down a tunnel towards a bright light, then suddenly I was back in the hospital, floating above my body. Slowly, I felt myself drifting back into nay body. I opened my eyes and found Kristina in my arms. I felt dazed, but I had a terrific urge to ring Mum, so they brought me a phone. "Mum,., I blurted out. "I've just had the baby!" "I know - so have I!" she said, and told me she'd just experienced something very like labour pain, returning from a shopping trip. She didn't even know I was in labour, as Kristina had come early.

Nicola's mum Brigitte Stafford, 60, adds The pain washed over me in excruciating waves. I struggled home and collapsed in a chair just in time for a spasm so painful that I screamed. Seconds later, the pain went as quickly as it had started. Then the phone rang and it was Nicola, telling me she'd just had Kristina. I'm convinced I experienced her labour pains

REAL X-FILES: There's a proven special link between mother and child. For instance, if a mother is separated from her sleeping baby, her heartbeat automatically increases the moment the baby wakes up. This telepathic link accords with Brigitte and Nicola's experience.

REAL X-FILES
2. OUR GHOST
'I grew up with a ghost'
Sandra Ashcroft, 31 from Shepton Mallet, Somerset.

Having a ghost in our old farmhouse in Glastonbury was just something our family got used to. We called him Fred. He wasn't very adventurous, let alone dangerous. All he would do was open my brother Richard's bedroom door, then we'd hear footsteps cross the landing and go down the stairs. When he reached the bottom, we'd see the stair door open by itself then one of us would call out, "Oh, Fred -I do wish you'd learn to shut the door!"

Some friends and family refused to stay in the house, but Fred never hurt any of us - even our dogs and cats felt comfortable when he was around. Mum and Dad still live there and have never thought about getting the house exorcised. In 1976 they had some building work done and we worried Fred would dear off but, within a few days, we heard him tiptoe out of Richard's room again.
We were overjoyed!

REAL X-FILES: Sandra and her family have the right attitude. Many ghosts are just an atmosphere left in a building that replays itself like a recording, or spirits that get trapped between this world and the next. Usually they're more frightened than we are. I'm sure the family's attitude to Fred will one day help him progress toward the higher levels of the afterlife.

We bought our house 15 years ago and soon found things would disappear and turn up in odd places. At other times it would suddenly get cold and we'd feel someone's presence. Our neighbours have had similar experiences.

My husband John learnt that the houses, built in the Forties, stand on a ley line, where, say paranormal experts, earth energies collect.

We called in some spiritualists, who held a seance. As we sat, I felt an energy pass through me that sapped my will. The spiritualists told me I'd experienced the ghost of a fettle boy crippled by polio. He was looking for his father, who was killed in France during the First World War and whose spirit was trapped by the ley lines.

We still feel something in our house, but now it doesn't scare us any more.

REAL X-FILES: Parapsychologists have found that where ley lines intersect, many poltergeists appear. Our prehistoric ancestors were so aware of the force of these lines, they built monuments such as Stonehenge on major intersections. John and Joyce might like to consult a geopathic expert, who'll be able to redirect the ley lines' energies.

REAL X-FILES
4. SPONTANEOUS COMBUSTION
'My husband's T-shirt exploded in flames!'
Marcia Fairless, 36, from Warmley, Bristol.

It was the middle of the night when my husband Alan and I heard a loud bang. Still half asleep, we peered out of the window, but couldn't see anything. The next morning we discovered Alan's T-shirt had been burnt to a cinder while hanging on the washing line!

The rotary line was packed with washing. Underneath were the charred remains of Alan's shirt. The line was singed and blackened pegs lay on the grass, but the other clothes weren't even scorched.

Alan called the Bristol weather centre to find out if lightning had struck that night, but they reported nothing so we called the fire brigade. They reckoned someone must have burnt the shirt deliberately, but we couldn't see how that might happen-the shirt had been hanging upside down, yet all that was left was the collar, attached by a burnt thread.

Geoff Cater ofAvon Fire Brigade says "If it were done maliciously, we can't see how the shirt burnt the wrong way and the fire didn't affect other washing on the line. There's no logical explanation."

REAL X-FILES: In the many cases of spontaneous human combustion, it's been thought that the body explodes, but Marcia's story suggests it could be the clothes that spontaneously catch fire.

MORE X-FILE EXPERIENCES:

• Paranormal Experiences
• Out of Body Experiences
• Afterlife Experiences