This is a rather lengthy dialogue, so I hope you are patient.

Before getting to the experience, itself, please allow me to tell a little about myself, as I feel that it might, hopefully, give a little insight into how atypical the experience was, when compared to my personal lifestyle and beliefs at the time.

To put it in a few words, science had always been my 'god,' as it were, even from early childhood. My family was completely non-religious in any and every way. Other than to scoff, I can remember no discussion of religion or God at any time while growing up.

By the time I was twelve, I had gotten my amateur radio operator's license. That same year, my uncle, who was a nuclear physicist, took me through the cyclotron (a now-outmoded subatomic particle accelerator) in the high-energy physics building at the University of Washington, which so impressed my young, idealistic mind that I, then and there, decided to become a theoretical physicist. I was hooked on science from that point on.

In high school, I was a teacher's assistant for the biology teacher, which then made me want to become a physician.

After joining the navy, I went through electronics school, thereafter working on the radars, radios, and other electronics equipment aboard ship.

After being discharged, I entered the University of Washington and got a BS in biology, then taught high school physics and chemistry for thirty-six years, before retiring in 2005.

All science.

Anything that smacked of the so-called 'paranormal' would give cause for me to only smirk, give an eye roll, or laugh outright at such nonsense. Such things as near-death experiences, spiritual matters, or other-worldly events seemed to be only so much New Age silliness, equal in credibility to the Tooth Fairy or Santa Claus. If something couldn't be observed, repeated, measured, and explained by a logical theory embraced by  mainstream science, then it wasn't worth my time; all else existed only in the realm of conjecture and was, therefore, 'unscientific.' 

But all of that was turned upside down within about five minutes at around the age of 59 or 60 (I can't remember the exact date, now).

But before, I can get to the experience, itself, I must explain a little more. Once again, please bear with me, as I feel it is relevant.

Teaching, if done correctly, is a very high-stress job. Preparing for each day's classes, especially for a physics and chemistry teacher, requires a lot of activity. Aside from the already-hectic pace that other teachers must keep (photocopying hand-outs, grading papers, planning lessons, filling out office/counselor-generated paperwork, communicating with parents, calculating & posting grades, attending faculty and parent meetings, etc.), there were lab.s to prepare, chemical to mix, and lab.s to clean up. All in all, it was a seemingly impossible regimen.

But, far more important than any of that, of course, was the act of teaching, itself. My students were juniors and seniors who were taking physics and chemistry because they were college-bound. They would leave my physics class in June, after their senior year, only to be sitting in a college-level physics class three months later. It was my job to prepare them for that highly competitive setting, a responsibility that I took very seriously. They, in turn, were serious, hard-working kids who would often show up at my lab door, TI-83 graphing calculators in hand, both before and after school, wanting help with understanding a difficult concept or physics equation. They were great kids and truly a privilege to teach.

But, in order to keep pace, I would arrive at school before the other teachers. For much of the year, it would be dark, and my car would be the only one in the faculty parking lot. In order to gain entrance to the building, I had to key in a numeric pass code, which deactivated the Sonitrol alarm system. The only other person on campus at that time was usually the custodian, who was always on the far end of the campus, setting up chairs in the cafeteria, several buildings away from the science wing. He would then work his way northward, unlocking doors, turning on lights and the ventilation systems, moving toward the science wing, arriving much later.

After entering the building and deactivating the alarm system, my routine was to immediately go into my lab., then into my little office, where I would relax by meditating for about half an hour. And, no, it wasn’t any type of religious-oriented meditation, of course, but consisted of merely sitting in my office chair with my eyes closed, relaxing, and clearing my mind in preparation for the ensuing, fast-paced day. There have been an abundance of good, scientific studies, done by reputable university physiology labs, which demonstrate the benefits, both physical and mental, of quiet meditation, so I was completely onboard with all that. No mantrams, no incense, no bells, no weird postures, crystals or other such silly trappings, just quiet, peaceful relaxation.

Now to my experience.

On the morning of my bizarre experience, I had been meditating like that for probably twenty minutes, when I experienced something which sounds like an anecdote from a psychiatrist’s notebook, taken during an interview with a psychopathic patient. Even at this point, I hesitate to describe it, for fear of being viewed as a complete nut case, but here goes: All of a sudden, the room was filled with a very strong smell of roses.  I can’t overemphasize the words ‘very strong,’ as it was as though someone had opened a bottle of rose-scented perfume and poured it onto the floor of my little office. The smell was so strong that it actually made me suddenly jolt/stiffen in my chair and open my eyes, as though I had been physically prodded in some way. My immediate reaction was a startle response and disbelief at what I was experiencing. I then opened the office door and stepped out into the lab to see what was going on, but, to my surprise, the air in the lab. was completely normal at that point; no smell except that overpowering one within my office, itself.

I stood there with my mouth open, trying to make sense of it all, beginning to doubt my own sanity, when, at that point, I heard the large, heavy doors at the end of the outer hallway clang, as they shut, indicating that someone had just entered the building. I crossed the lab and stepped out, into the hall to see two of my colleagues arriving at school, lunches in hand. So I waved to them, asking them to come. They did, with puzzled looks on their faces, and asked what was up.

After having them come into the lab and approach the door to my office, I very carefully avoided saying anything other than, “Do you notice anything?” Those were my exact words. I was cautious to avoid saying anything that would ‘steer,’ or, lead them to the strange experience that I was trying to understand. One of them, a biology teacher, said, “I smell roses.” (By that time, the smell had then drifted out of my office to the area directly in front of the door, where we were standing) I then looked at the other colleague without saying anything, and he nodded in affirmation. I then told them what had happened. The first one, who said, ‘I smell roses,’ simply laughed and said, “See, I told you so. Somebody is trying to tell you something.” This comment was in reference to the fact that she & I would often engage in friendly, joking banter about religion and God, as she is a Christian and I, in turn, would often tease her about believing in such silly things as a guy floating around in an ark full of giraffes, elephants, etc. At that point she just laughed, turned, and walked away. The other teacher, a staunch atheist, simply rolled his eyes, shook his head and walked off, smiling, as though he was in the company of two crazies.

So there it is. It might not sound like much to the hearer of such a story, but I guess it’s one of those things that you would have to experience yourself, in order to feel the full impact of it. If anyone had told me such a thing, as stated, I would have dismissed it as being simply an olfactory hallucination (there is such a thing, albeit rare, when compared to the incidence of visual or auditory hallucinations).

However, I now had to deal with several facts:

1. Two other people verified what I sensed---without any prompting at all.

2. I was alone in the building, having deactivated the alarm system.

3. Even if anyone else had entered my lab., I would have easily heard them, since the building was totally quiet. The ventilation system had not yet been turned on, so it was very quiet.

4. Immediately upon getting out of my chair and stepping out of the office, the overpowering smell was not noticeable in the lab., itself. It was present only in my little office, a room that is about fifteen feet in length and width. How is that possible?

What that whole incident was about, what it meant, and how it happened, I will never know.

After doing research, I have not been able to find another similar account, except a few mentioning's of the smell of roses as being believed by many to indicate that someone has died. However, I did not know of anyone who had died at that time. So, although I have little to no hope that anyone else could shed light on what it meant, I guess that I am, nevertheless, casting a net of  inquiry, hoping for an answer to a question that would seem to be unanswerable.

The only thing that has come out of the whole bizarre incident, for me, is that I now know, beyond any reasonable doubt (as they say in a courtroom) that there truly is far more to this universe and life than can be accounted for by mainstream science. Beyond that, I have no idea what there is ‘out there.’

Physics, as with other sciences, is not concerned with the 'why' of the phenomena which we experience in this life, but rather the 'how.' The whole notion of 'why' things happen implies a goal-oriented purposefulness that, in turn, implies a driving intelligence behind such a goal. As soon as you begin to question why things happen, you leave the realm of objectivity and enter the subjective, nebulous realm of conjecture; e.g., we all know how genetic information is propagated via transcription and translation within the cell, but why it is so remains a mystery that is not the stuff of science, but rather metaphysics, philosophy, and theology. For that reason, I can only walk away from my experience with a 'beyond reasonable doubt' that what happened was impossible to explain via the current standard scientific model. Furthermore, in this case, I cannot even begin to explain how it could have happened, let alone why it happened.

So now, twenty years later, I am still left in a state of confused amazement, but also with an open mind to matters that, before, I would never have considered possible.

Thank you for reading my account. Admittedly, I don't really know why I am going to the bother to relate all of this, other than to 'get it off my chest,' I guess.

Any associated medications or substances with the potential to affect the experience?      No     

Was the kind of experience difficult to express in words?          No     

At the time of this experience, was there an associated life threatening event? No     

What was your level of consciousness and alertness during the experience?    I was in a meditative state of mind; relaxed and tranquil.

            Was the experience dream like in any way?  Not at all.

Did you experience a separation of your consciousness from your body?   No     

What emotions did you feel during the experience?         I was totally startled, amazed, and confused at what was happening.

Did you hear any unusual sounds or noises?         No

LOCATION DESCRIPTION:  Did you recognize any familiar locations or any locations from familiar religious teachings or encounter any locations inhabited by incredible or amazing creatures?         No     

Did you see a light?        No     

Did you meet or see any other beings?         No     

Did you experiment while out of the body or in another, altered state?         No     

Did you observe or hear anything regarding people or events during your experience that could be verified later?          Yes    'What I smelled was almost immediately verified by two other people who had not been present when I first smelled it. They had no idea what I was referring to, when I asked them if they noticed anything.

Did you notice how your 5 senses were working, and if so, how were they different? Yes    This question is stated rather ambiguously. Did you mean to say, 'Did you notice if your 5 senses were working differently, and if so, how were they different?' My senses, themselves, were working normally; however, what I sensed was very abnormal, given the circumstances.

Did you have any sense of altered space or time?  No     

Did you have a sense of knowing, special knowledge, universal order and/or purpose?         No     

Did you reach a boundary or limiting physical structure?           No     

Did you become aware of future events?      No     

Were you involved in or aware of a decision regarding your return to the body?          No     

Did you have any psychic, paranormal or other special gifts following the experience that you did not have prior to the experience?         No     

Did you have any changes of attitudes or beliefs following the experience?     Yes    I now realize that there are things in this world/life that cannot be explained by logical, rational scientific methodology using the standard model of physics and biology. Before this event occurred, I was truly a close-minded person regarding anything that smacked of the 'paranormal,' spiritual, etc. as being nothing more than nonsense; however, I am now open-minded to such possibilities, after being directly, unintentionally involved in such a paranormal phenomenon.

How has the experience affected your relationships? Daily life? Religious practices? Career choices?   No

Has your life changed specifically as a result of your experience? Yes    As already stated, I now am more open-minded about paranormal ideas.

Have you shared this experience with others?       Yes          For a while, I was reticent to even mention such a strange thing; however, since it was what it was, I realized that I was being more 'non-scientific' by not opening up to others and discussing it. The reaction to the whole thing has been mixed by others, with some being surprised and others simply writing it off as being explicable by some logical reason, such as perhaps somebody passed my office who was wearing rose-scented perfume--a facile hypothesis that would be completely impossible, given the tight circumstances given, such as the quietness of the area at the time, the fact that I was sitting behind three sets of locked doors, I knew that I was alone in the building just having turned off the Sonitrol, the fact that the smell existed only in my office, not outside of it, and--most of all--the overpowering strength of the odor, itself.

What emotions did you experience following your experience? Extreme disbelief and confusion. Initially, I began to question my own senses, which is why I asked my colleagues who had just arrived, if they noticed anything. This question was stated in a completely neutral manner; i.e., without giving any hints as to what I expected them to notice.

What was the best and worst part of your experience?          The best: It was an eye-opener in the sense that I now--somehow--have been 'given' (I almost hate to use that word) the knowledge that there is a whole realm of unexplored phenomena that lies outside of what we normal experience; just what it is I cannot even begin to surmise.

Experience description 2516:

Okay, this is probably going to sound completely crazy to anyone who reads it.  I know that it seemed crazy to me, when it happened, and still does.  But no matter how it sounds, I can guarantee you that it did happen exactly as I am about to describe, and it was an event that was verified by two completely independent witnesses.