The Third Man Phenomenon

[dannye_chase]

 Who is the third who walks always beside you?

When I count, there are only you and I together

But when I look ahead up the white road

There is always another one walking beside you

–TS. Eliot, The Waste Land, written about Ernest Shackleton’s 1916 third man experience.

On this day in 1916 Ernest Shackleton reached a whaling station in Stromness in the South Atlantic, completing an epic 26 day journey to reach help after losing his ship. While crossing the mountains, starving and without climbing gear, Shackleton famously saw a fourth person in his group of three desperate sailors.

And he’s not the only one. The “third man,” named for the poem above, is the phenomenon where people in life-threatening or highly stressful situations sense another person (of whatever gender) with them. The solo hiker has a companion, or the group of four becomes five, of which most or all report seeing the extra person.

Read all about the Third Man Phenomenon and get writing prompts on my blog, such as:

The Evil Leaper. History is written by the victors, and survival stories by the survivors. If there’s a benevolent voice which tells freezing mountaineers to get up and keep walking toward safety, might there also be a malevolent voice telling people to lie down and give up? We’d never know, because those who die don’t report back. Your plot could have various degrees of an evil third man here: a comforting voice telling people to let go and pass on, an evil voice giving bad advice, or a malicious presence causing all kinds of mischief. Who might experiencers see as the third man here? The devil or an attacker? Or still an angel or loved one?

DannyeChase.com ~ AO3 ~ Linktree ~ Weird Wednesday writing prompts blog ~ Resources for Writers