Gregg Phillips, head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) Office of Response and Recovery, has raised eyebrows over a series of extraordinary claims that recently surfaced after CNN reviewed his public interviews. Throughout his life, Phillips says he has experienced an array of supernatural events. While some observers have suggested that he may be mentally disturbed, there is another possibility that may better fit the available facts: Phillips may be fantasy-prone, a rare condition typically found in high-functioning people who develop a rich, inner fantasy life. Remarkably, many people with fantasy-prone personalities lead outwardly ordinary lives; even close friends and relatives may be unaware.
One of Phillips’ most bizarre claims is that he was once teleported to a Waffle House restaurant in Rome, Georgia, roughly 50 miles from where he had been. In a 2025 interview he said: “Teleporting is no fun… because you don’t really know what you’re doing. You don’t really understand it, it’s scary.” He then noted how it just happened one day. “And you know it’s happening but you can’t do anything about it, and so you just go, you just go with the ride. And wow, what just an incredible adventure it all was,” he said. Just before the alleged teleportation he had remarked that he wanted to go to Waffle House – then suddenly, he was there.
He also described a strange episode in the parking lot of a Lowe’s store in Indianapolis, where he said he collapsed and could not account for two hours. When he regained awareness, he said he was in a nearby McDonald’s parking lot with a Big Mac on his lap. His phone, he said, had recorded nearly 15,000 steps. He describes these events as spiritual experiences. “The whole space and time thing, continuum… it fell with me,” he said. Rather than consider a medical explanation, Phillips was emphatic: “This isn’t a health thing… This is a spiritual thing.”
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