Freaky Friday Files: Third Man Syndrome

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9 min read

Disclaimer: Topics in this blog post may be distressing to some readers. Reader discretion is advised. CW: 9/11, s-word, etc.

Hi friends! For this edition of Freaky Friday Files, I thought we could take a look at the phenomenon known as Third Man Syndrome (or third man factor).

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Third Man Syndrome

What Is Third Man Syndrome?

According to Wikipedia, third man syndrome "refers to reported situations where a perceived unseen presence, such as a spirit, provides comfort or support during a traumatic experience. It is most commonly experienced by mountain climbers." However, "Solo sailors, shipwreck survivors, and polar explorers are also known to have reported the phenomenon." People often feel, hear, or sense something else, like an entity walking with them or talking to them when they are completely alone. Most research suggests people don't necessarily "see" something, but I think it's possible to see someone who isn't there as a coping mechanism.

Third Man Syndrome was mentioned in T.S. Eliot's 1922 poem The Waste Land that was inspired by Shackleton's 1916 Antarctic trek (which we will discuss below).

Why Does This Happen?

Third Man Syndrome can occur for several reasons. The first reason is a survival mechanism where the brain tricks the person's senses to help them cope with extreme stress, fear and/or fatigue. The second reason may be a neurological cause where oxygen deprivation can disrupt the brain's normal processes, and the brain is tricked into feeling/seeing a presence. And the third reason may be that it's some type of spiritual reason, i.e., a guardian angel or an ancestor coming to protect the person in distress.

Real Life Cases

Sir Ernest Shackleton - In the book South (1919), Shackleton recounts a belief that a presence joined him and his men during the final leg of their 1914 - 1917 Antarctic trek. The men became stranded in pack ice when their ship was crushed, battling extreme cold until they could reach safety for over 36 hours. There were only three men on the trek, but Shackleton felt a fourth presence more often than not. When the men reached safety, Shackleton found out that the other two men in his crew ALSO experienced feeling a fourth presence.
Frank Smyth - In 1933, a man called Frank Smyth set out to hike Mount Everest. At the time, no one had summited it. Frank did not intend to climb the mountain alone, but unfortunately, many of his mates succumbed to the harsh elements and either chose to end their climb or passed. Frank continued along by himself. As he kept hiking, Frank felt a presence so strong that he once turned around to offer this "alleged" person a snack. Only, when Frank turned around, no one was there. Frank did not reach the summit of Mount Everest (as we all know the first person there was Sir Edmund Hillary), but he did at least survive the climb and was able to turn around and go home.
Joe Simpson - Joe Simpson was another mountain climber who "heard" a presence that helped get him to safety during a climb on Siula Grande in the Peruvian Andes. Joe was with his hiking buddy Simon Yates, but Joe fell and broke his leg on the way back down the mountain. Simon attempted to help Joe but failed, and I think he left him there. Anyway, while Joe was alone, he started to hear a powerful voice telling him to get to a particular glacier and how to get there. Joe dragged himself all the way to meet back up with his friend and was taken to safety. 11 days later, he was taken to hospital (I am not sure why it took so long to go to the hospital).
Ron DiFrancesco - Ron DiFrancesco was working on the day of 9/11 at his desk on the 84th floor of South Tower of the World Trade Center. People began evacuating, but Ron stayed for the time being. Ron called his wife, telling her that the South Tower was okay and he intended to stay at work. Then Ron went back to work. A friend of Ron's called from Toronto, telling him to "get the hell out". Then Ron called his wife again and began walking towards the lifts (elevators). Obviously, we know there was another hit from a second plane, and Ron was hurled towards the wall. Ron originally tried to escape via an emergency stairwell but was met with fire and smoke; then something grabbed his hands and led him to safety, literally telling him to run through the fire to safety.
Reinhold Messner - In 1970, Reinhold and his brother climbed Nanga Parbat in the Himalayas. They were able to reach the summit, but they did have some trouble along the way. They became stranded and exhausted at one point, where they felt so heavy it was like they were going to pass out. Anyway, they suddenly felt like there was a third climber with them, walking next to them at a regular distance, just a few steps away. Reinhold could not see the figure, but he was certain someone was there with them. Reinhold described it as if he was "watching himself" from a distance. Unfortunately, his brother didn't make it, passing away in an avalanche, but Reinhold was able to make it back to safety.

Everyday Cases from Reddit

From an AskReddit thread, a user asked, "Have you ever experienced third man syndrome? If so, what was your experience like?" Some of the responses are as follows:

u/Barflyerdammit said: "Had to go look it up, but yeah, I've experienced this. I've done a lot of long distance driving in my life, and there have been times when I've pushed myself too hard and for too long. The first time the guy in the fedora appeared in my back seat, it was on a 2 lane highway in rural Wisconsin, and he was sitting between two sleeping friends on the 5 hour drive back from a concert. It freaked me the f*ck out, but woke me the f*ck up. He would then regularly appear when I reached the point of exhaustion while driving. I know now that if I think I see that dude in the back seat, it's time to take a rest."
u/frankiesmile said: "Not my story but my father´s. He was alone skippering a boat somewhere off the English coast back in the 50s. Ran into a terrible storm, got knocked over onto the ground and couldn’t get up to steer the boat. He said 2 men appeared and steered the boat for him and occasionally spoke to him to say he would be ok. He couldn’t figure out how they got on the boat in the middle of the storm. He saw them and heard them clearly. Early the next morning he woke up to voices. But this time it was a coastguard vessel that’d come by his boat. They were amazed he was alive. He was alone, too injured to steer, and based on his last reported position shouldn’t be where they found him. He had in fact been reported on the radio as missing presumed dead. He wondered if he had run into a couple of guardian angels."
u/gimmemoregummybears said: "I guess you could call this third-person syndrome, an out of body experience, or some strange combination of the two. Was a newlywed in my twenties when my husband suffered a serious medical condition, resulting in organ failure. I was faced with the decision of whether to withdraw life support, and pretty much fell apart. Suddenly I was floating above his ICU bed, where I saw myself sitting next to a reassuring, brotherly figure. He put his arms around me, and told me that letting my husband go was the right decision. Anyone who knows me knows that I am about the most rational, science-y person around, but this felt as real to me as the ground beneath my feet."

In another subreddit, Paranormal, u/WielderoftheDarkness asked, "Have you ever experienced "Third Man Syndrome" before? What's your story?" OP shared their story first. It goes as follows: "I'll go first. I had a really interesting experience that I still am not sure if it’s the third man syndrome or something else. It was a freezing day in mid-February last year. I left school earlier than expected because we had been told that a blizzard would be on the way, and they thought it was best to send us home. My classmates had already rushed outside, and I had fallen a little behind. To gain ground, I quickened my pace in the hallway. That's when I heard that voice that wasn't mine and/or a familiar one, "Watch out for the filthy floor, with that coltish walk of yours! You're going to fall!" I looked around; there was no one there. The astounding thing, though, was that I really was about to slip, because people assigned to cleaning duties that day hadn't done a good job, and to risk spraining my ankle, or worse." Some of the responses are as follows:

u/aritheory said: "Yes, since the age of 15. I was very depressed and anxious as a kid for many different reasons, including undiagnosed AuDHD. In my teenage years, I was really bad, sometimes [trigger warning] s*icidal. One night I fell asleep and had a completely lucid dream. In the dream, I felt a warmth that completely brought me down and felt like pure energy. Warm, comforting, empathetic, and also really strongly feminine in nature. Eventually this energy "appeared" to me as a woman. She had reddish/rusty coloured hair and a face that could pass for human, but was incomprehensibly beautiful, like pure light. She said her name was Ari, and that she had been watching me for a while "from a distance". She told me not to be afraid, and no matter how alone I felt, I was never alone, and that she would be with me always. She said that the main reason she hadn't approached me sooner was that she was afraid I would panic, and that she was visiting me in a dream so that it was easier for me to understand. I spent what felt like hours with her, talking about how I felt, coming up with solutions to my problems, and comforting me about the future. I woke up in tears, and at the time I found it impossible to cry. I'm now 40, and she's kept her word. Whenever I'm in distress, going through a stressful time, feeling depressed, or even just lonely, she appears to me in a lucid dream and sits with me. She's influenced me in so many ways over the years. A few years ago, when I was going through a particularly distressing life change, she told me that there were others like her. She said they regularly visit people, sometimes when they're asleep, other times when they're awake, but that they're completely benign and see their role as teachers and almost like loving parents.
I'm not religious or spiritual; I'm a very scientific person who demands evidence and reason first, but I've never been able to explain what I experience, and I almost never tell people about it. I've always tried to look at it in the most grounded way possible, but my experiences with this have changed me. My scientific mind reaches for Occam's razor: my mind has invented this "third (wo)man" to help me get through my toughest times. But there's also a part of me that wonders whether these "others" are real, potentially paranormal, or even some kind of non-human intelligence. Also, my username is "aritheory" exactly because of my experiences. I have theories on who she is, what she is, and whether she's real or an imaginary thing. I don't know. All I know is that I'm better off with her than without, and that's fine by me."
u/Own-Coach-172 said: "Years ago I was meeting some friends for dinner. On the way I stopped to pick up some photos from Walmart (this was before cell phones) and I looked through them in the car. I noticed I was getting close to the time I was supposed to meet my friends. So I started to drive to the restaurant. On the way, a voice in my car went, “Put on your seatbelt.” I actually replied, “Okay.” I had forgot to put on my seatbelt when I started to drive away from looking at the photos. I swear there was a voice or someone in the car with me that told me to put on my seatbelt. I actually responded to it/them. A few minutes later a drunk driver went through a light and turned in front of me and I T-boned his pickup truck going about 40mph. My car was totaled but if I didn’t have my seatbelt on I would have gone through the windshield or had a steering wheel embedded in my chest. I swear there was someone there with me……I’ve always thought it was my dad who had passed years earlier. I swear someone was in the car with me and warned me to put on my seatbelt. If it wasn’t for that voice or whatever it was, I probably would have died that evening."

Have you ever experienced this phenomenon? Let me know in the comments.

Stay safe,

Ash x