A Phenomenal Life

Moving ITC Forward

2010-08-10T11:32:00.003-05:00

Introduction

Conversations on several ITC-related Internet forums have mentioned an interest in moving ITC research forward in various ways. Ideas have ranged from improving listening methods, to testing ideas about the nature of the apparent spirit communicators, to finding new ways and tehnologies to improve communications.

This all prompted me to think about the trends since the early days of ITC, which arguably actually began in the late 19th century. Thinking about these older techniques suggested potential ITC improvements, which are described here.

History

Spirit voices were first heard from mechanical, not electronic, devices. With the discovery of electricity and its common availability, new devices tended to leverage the new invention. However in the interval at the start of the 20th century, many devices were built that seemed on the surface to be incapable of working. A classical example of such a design was a circuit composed of a single diode connected via a wire to a large cone. These devices purportedly produces something akin to spirit voices. Whether any actually did or not remains something of a mystery.

Audio recording brought us EVP much as practiced to this day. People like Raudive produced even more interesting and, for the first time, persistent records of such voice communications. This was the launch point for the phenomena worldwide. Many early technologies were noisy recordings and some voices were quite impressive. As quieter recording technologies evolved, it became harder to record voices. People came to believe that noise was required for EVP recording. Building on this idea, noise was reintroduced into otherwise quiet recording systems, and sure enough, once again the voices emerged.

This led to a 'more is better' approach to evolving EVP techologies. Among these were software like EVPMaker and various innovators' boxes like Frank's Box, Joe's Box, and so on. This last group of boxes essentially use the same idea, to present potential spirit communicators with audio fragments to manipulate on the notion that this could improve communications. But has this in fact happened? Have things gone a bit too far?

Old Is New

It may be time to go Back to the Future. EVP critics are quick to point out that the amount of signal present in the current crop of Box technologies makes it hard to hear any potential communications. Even an objective listener has to sort the audio wheat from the chaff. This often leads to disagreement as to what recordings actually say.

Sometimes, in order to improve things, it's useful to think about a perfect situation and work towards that scenario. Most would agree that the perfect ITC example would be an otherwise quiet recording from which a voice emerged in response to a specific question. There would be no other sounds and no background noise. Again, this is a perfect scenario. The only thing a critic could say about this recording is that it must have been faked. There is no other explanation. And that makes such a recording the best example conceivable.

There is a world of difference between that perfect example and today's box recordings; that is the opportunity for improvement. The focus needs to shift from recordings with audio clutter to techniques that will produce clearer, cleaner and more pristine results.

A New Approach

A simpler box could be designed and built which would be nothing more than a combined white noise and signal generator. A low level audible tone around 80 Hz or any higher frequency mulitple of 8 Hz would be employed as a carrier signal. The tone should be a sine wave, in other words a pure tone. This would seem to be an ideal signal for external modulation. While it could be argued that stray signals might modulate it, the fact is that this is highly unlikely. We would expect the voice to be reasonably clear and it should not be necessary to listen down in the noise for the signal.

The signal would be free from audible distraction and could be visually analyzed for evidence of modulation that would be otherwise difficult to hear. So there is an experimental benefit as well.

No one should be listening to any signals lower than 10 Hz as they can cause various neural problems. Choosing the frequency at multiples of 8 Hz is quite intentional. A frequency of 80 Hz is a good starting point for this carrier wave. Many early theorists on EVP and ITC suggested that the Schumann resonance (just a bit below 8 Hz) is a frequency of potential interest which should be studied more closely. Some people have asked if there is a good area of the spectrum in which they should listen. The Schumann resonance is that area and hence it makes sense to try multiples of 8 Hz (like 80 Hz for example).

Summary

The ITC evolution, much of which involves box technologies, may have gone too far. It may be time to rethink everything.One approach is to go back and simplify everything while raising the standards. In this way, a larger potential audience could hear these communications without the distractions present currently.

The downside of this approach is that it is quite possible those who currently hear words and conversations using the box technologies would cease to hear anything with the new technology. So there is a potential tradeoff: either bring better quality communications to a larger audience while making it harder for others to replicate these successes themselves, or grow the current audience using techologies which, by their very nature, obfuscate the signals they may be receiving.

It is possible the new technologies will breed a new type of listener who actually can produce the phenomena quite easily. Were this to occur, the phenomena would garner a whole new following. Lack of widespread success in the past with similar approaches would suggest a more pessimistic expectation, but that should not discourage a wholehearted attempt. Anyone trying this new approach should do so with every expectation of success.

Current ITC practitioners could ask existing box spirit techs if they could or would be able to assist in the new experimental mode. A highly positive response should inspire even greater confidence. Successful communications with the new technology would demonstrate at least a consistency with the notion that techs are important to such communications.

This is not a trivial decision, but someone needs to do it at some point. It could be groundbreaking and a most reasonable way forward for ITC in general.

Historical Mediumship - Beautiful Stranger of the Hotel Del Coronado

2010-05-09T14:14:00.003-05:00

Introduction

I have described the process of "historical mediumship" elsewhere. Briefly it is the application of techniques of mediumistic communication with historical individuals for the purpose of eliciting new and unknown information from their lives. Using rigorous historical research techniques, this information is checked for accuracy. If it is found to be valid, the information can contribute vastly to existing histories of people and places.

This paper describes on such investigation in some detail. Not only does it illustrate the value of the historical mediumship process, but it also explores the challenges faced when prior histories have been developed without due care in the background historical research. In the present case, it was necessary to recheck all the work of prior authors, understand why the story developed through mediumistic communications was so different, and ultimately arrive at what seems to be the most accurate version of this story to date.

Hotel Del Coronado Beautiful Stranger Legend

The Hotel Del Coronado is located across San Diego Bay from San Diego, California. The hotel overlooks the ocean in what has to be one of most scenic Victorian hotel settings imaginable. For many decades there have been various rumors regarding supposed hauntings of this grand old hotel. Many believe the background of these hauntings can be traced to the stay of a young woman in November 1892. It is believed she never left the Hotel Del Coronado.

On Thanksgiving Day, November 24, 1892, a beautiful young woman arrived alone at the Hotel Del Coronado. She checked in giving the name Mrs. Lottie A. Bernard and was assigned room 302 on the side of the hotel away from the ocean. She said she had neuralgia and was apparently not feeling well. In the ensuing days she conversed with only a few people. It came to be understood that she had been travelling with a male companion from whom she had become separated. This man had her luggage checks and so she had left her luggage at the train station in San Diego. She told several people she was suffering from neuralgia and may have obtained quinine pills for her disorder at the hotel drug store.

The woman spoke at greatest length with the hotel's chief clerk, Mr. Gomer, the morning of Monday, November 28. During that conversation she named her travelling companion as a doctor from Minneapolis; she said he was her brother. But she didn't know where he was. When asked who could assist her with funds for her stay, she gave the name G. L. Allen of Hamburg, Iowa. Mr. Gomer contacted Mr. Allen for funds and received a favorable reply the next day.

Lottie came to check for messages at the office Monday evening as she had for three nights prior. As before, there were no messages. The following morning a worker discovered her lifeless body on steps leading down the beach on the ocean side of the hotel. A hand gun lay near her outstretched right hand, a single bullet was in her skull. She was an apparent suicide. Her body was removed to San Diego where she lay in state for two weeks. A Coroner's Inquest was held and the empanelled Coroners Jury concurred the young woman died by her own hand.

The young woman was identified by different names during those two weeks. Initially everyone believed her to be Lottie Bernard of Detroit. When her travelling companion (who was supposedly nearby) never arrived, the Coroner distributed a sketch of the young woman to newspapers in California and Detroit. The first family to responsd was the Wyllie family of Detroit. They believed a young woman from their family might be this "Beautiful Stranger" as she had come to be called in the newspapers. It turned out this was a misidentification. The second family to come forward was the Grant family of Los Angeles. They believed the young woman might have been their former housekeeper who vanished from Los Angeles the day before the Beautiful Stranger appeared at the Hotel Del Coronado. Convincing yet circumstantial evidence was subsequently discovered which mostly supported this identification. It was ultimately found that this young woman was actually named Mrs. Kate Farmer Morgan of Riverton, Iowa. Accordingly the name on the San Diego death certificate was changed. The young woman was finally buried in San Diego December 12, 1892 in an unmarked grave in Mount Hope Cemetery where she rests to this day.

Modern Contacts with the Beautiful Stranger

In February 2006 Spirit Advocate and medium Bonnie Vent and myself arrived at the Hotel Del Coronado. We had come there to speak with the Beautiful Stranger and try to get her story from her perspective. It had been over a century since the events that led to her death and we were unclear whether or not she would even speak to us. We were not to be disappointed. We sat in an interior hallway and initiated communications. At first the young woman would not speak when we called out the name "Kate Morgan", believing that to be her true name. After two failed attempts, we asked to speak with "Lottie Bernard"; this worked. She proceeded to tell us that her name was not Kate Morgan, that she was tired of others telling her story as Kate Morgan's story and in general dismissing her, Lottie, when she was there all the time. We were unable to proceed with any further information until we indicated that we understood this clearly. She really wants the world to know that she is not Kate Morgan.

As she began to tell her story in some depth on that first encounter, it was clear she was telling us her story in her words - exactly what we had come for. Unfortunately (or pehaps in retrospect, fortunately) we did not know whether this was all fact or fiction - we had only a very cursory knowledge of the original Legend and so had to take everything at that moment on faith. We followed up with deep historical research and ultimately discovered that a great deal of what we learned even on that first day was remarkably accurate. And it differed in many important ways from stories others had told before of this same Beautiful Stranger.

We spoke with her again in August 2006 when she told us details of her death. Curiously she believed that she was the victim of an accidental shooting. Even in February she had told us that she was not a suicide, although she fully accepted responsibility for the circumstances that put her in danger that fateful night in 1892 when she did die. When we heard her story in August, we asked if she had seen the person who was the intended target. This got her (Lottie) to thinking and she suddenly realized that she had not. She realized that perhaps she indeed had been the target, something she had apparently never considered before. So at this point, Lottie is unsure if she was the victim of an accidental homocide as she had believed for so many years or was the intended target in a brutal premeditated homocide. Another person would come forward that would help answer this question, but that would not happen for another two years.

Our final conversation in 2006 occurred on the 114th anniversary of her death in the room where she spent her final days at the Hotel Del Coronado. During a remarkable forty minutes, Lottie retold her story through medium Bonnie Vent. Her words and gestures were recorded for posterity on video.

Errors and Corrections

Most prior authors came to believe that the young woman's true identity was Kate Morgan. This was based on the circumstantial evidence mentioned previously. But our research uncoverd details which called this evidence into question. Indeed the Beautiful Stranger herself gave us guidance to help us find key clues to her background and identity. For example, she told us that she grew up in Minnesota. We were able to locate a Charlotte Anderson who did live in Cottage Grove, Minnesota on the Wisconsin border and who moved East to Wisconsin by 1880 with her family.

Most significant was her insistence that she was not Kate Morgan. This left us with a dilemma - either she was right and everyone else was wrong or she was
very mixed up. As it turned out, the evidence for Kate Morgan being the Beautiful Stranger was not that complete. And there were some significant problems that no one had resolved prior to our examining the story from a fresh perspective.

One reason people believed Kate Morgan might have been the Beautiful Stranger was that she knew the name G. L. Allen of Hamburg, Iowa. Kate Morgan's husband, Thomas E. Morgan, was in fact George L. Allen's step-brother-in-law by virtue of a common step-mother. But things weren't that straightforward. Kate Morgan left her husband Thomas in 1890 without divorcing him. Apparently they had what we today would call "irreconcilable differences." She went west with Albert Allen, G.L. Allens' elder brother . The two arrived in northern California, apparently separarted and Kate Morgan ended up working in various households in Los Angeles. This is what she was doing when she vanished in 1892. But was this evidence as clear as it seemed? In fact George Allen had known Kate left his friend and her husband Thomas Morgan. Her leaving had caused Thomas some amount of local embarrassment in Riverton, a small farming community. George Allen was likely not pleased with Kate's behavior and would probably never have helped her. And when he was contacted by the Hotel Del Coronado, he was asked to assist Mrs. Lottie Bernard, not Kate Morgan. In fact, his reponse strongly suggests that he knew of a woman with a name similar to Lottie Bernard and thought he was helping that woman. And that, in turn, suggests that Lottie was a real person.

When George Allen was a boy in Island Grove, Illinois, the family had neighbors named Barnard (not Bernard). We believe the man who married Lottie was in fact one of the Barnard boys. In his telegram to the Hotel Del Coronado in November 1892, Allen said that he 'did not know the woman but did know her husband having gone to school with him'. We believe George Allen was referring to a Barnard.

Perhaps the real evidential 'smoking gun' came from a man who incredibly had not been properly identified until our research. This man signed into the Hotel Del Coronado next after Lottie. His name was Joseph A. Jones. This name is not an alias as has been alledged by others. Mr. Jones was an export broker living in India at the time. He was travelling across the U.S., having come from visiting his parents in Boston. He had come through Denver, Colorado enroute to San Diego. Mr. Jones said he saw the Beautiful Stranger at Denver, travelling with 'a well-dressed gentleman companion.' He noticed them again at Orange, California, when the man left the train leaving the woman aboard, according to Jones. And he saw her, alone, a third time at the Hotel Del Coronado on Saturday, November 26, 1892. He was certain it was the same woman on all three occasions. However, Kate Morgan was known to be working in Los Angeles when Jones saw the Beautiful Stranger on the train at Denver, some 1000 miles to the east! She could not have been Kate Morgan.

And that means: Kate Morgan could not have been the Beautiful Stranger!

Summary

The Legend of the Beautiful Stranger of the Hotel Del Coronado has persisted for well over a century since the events of November, 1892. Despite at least four attempts, no one had successfully told the real story. We did two things which others had not: we attempted to speak with the woman and we carefully examined every detail without preconceptions. The result is, as far as we can tell, the most accurate telling of the story to date.

We discovered that the earlier stories all had flaws, and that most identified Kate Morgan of Riverton, Iowa as the Beautiful Stranger. We learned from mediumistic communications with the young woman that this was incorrect. While we found circumstantial evidence which seemed to initially support the Kate Morgan identity, more careful research revealed otherwise.

We found inconsistencies between Kate Morgan and the Beautiful Stranger in terms of the luggage the woman carried, documents she possessed at the Hotel Del Coronado, her health, her personal effects and her overall demeanor. Most significant, we found a fellow guest whose story of the Beautiful Stranger clearly separates her from Kate Morgan. We found in other words, that Kate Morgan could not have been the Beautiful Stranger. We also established through new research that Lizzie Wyllie also was not the Beautiful Stranger.

We believe the actual Mrs. Lottie A. Barnard came from Canada to Minnesota and Wisconsin before marrying her husbmand who she likely lost in the early 1880s. She moved to Detroit, Michigan where she resided until 1892 when she came West to the Hotel Del Coronado. We have information as to why she came west, with whom and even how and why she died. Unfortunately this information cannot, to date, be verified with historical documents. For the moment we shall simply leave things at that. Hopefully more information will come to light in the future which will serve to substantiate and finally complete the woman's story. At the same time, we may have also located Mrs. Kate Morgan in San Francisco in 1900, clearly indicating that she did not die at the Hotel Del Coronado in 1892 as so many people believed.

This account both informs and cautions. We are cautioned that historians, both professional and amateur, must be very careful not to draw conclusions too quickly. Careful historical research requires seeking out all points of view, carefully and dispassionately weighing the inevitable contradictory evidence. The chain of events in our research inform us as to the most likely account of the story to date. And in that we find the utility of historical mediumship. We find that humans remain one of our best tools when it comes to sorting out complex problems, including those presented by history.

If we believe those of a metaphysical persuasion, bringing these true stories to light may indeed help those who have passed with unresolved issues. If the assertion is true, then we have the satisfaction of knowing we have helped someone in a highly personal way. If it were not true, our work still serves the purposes of History. Either way, the validity and usefulness of historical mediumship has been demonstrated.

Challenges for Mediums

2009-07-01T13:02:00.004-05:00

Introduction

There is a general public percetion that psychic mediums and others who claim ESP abilities are unlikely able to live up to their claims. The early history of psychical research was laden with fraud on the part of some claimants. While more recent research is freer from such concerns, a dedicated skeptical community has engaged in questionable practices and has been reasonably successful, to date, convincing many that claims of psychic abilities in general and mediumship in particular are false. What goes unsaid in these discussions, aside from a careful consideration of the skeptics' true agendas, is the impact that criticism has on individuals who indeed may be as sensitive as they claim. While many think that these individuals are unwilling to be subjected to scrutiny because they are fakes or uncertain of their abilities, it may indeed be the case that such individuals' overriding concern has more to do with maintaining their psychological well-being.

Challenge

To understand this we must suspend any a priori notions regarding whether or not sensitives are real. We must ignore their potential motives and focus instead on their personalities and how those personality reactions might cause them to behave.

If a person's behavior is motivated by a desire to survive and a need to be comfortable, it would follow that like most all people, claimants of psychic abilities and specifically mediumship would strive to do what they feel is their life's purpose while at the same avoiding undue mental anguish and hardship. Many of these people perceive their purpose to be one of helping others, especially those who have passed on or those who survived others' deaths. Accepting this purpose in life creates an internal tension. While there is a desire to serve, that very service potentially creates conflict between these individuals and some in the outside world who are skeptical of these individuals' abilities.

Those with no experience in discarante communications are unaware that those who have passed often desperately need assistance. This theme recurs in reported discarnate post-mortem contacts. Often a timely message must be gotten to a family member or close acquaintance. This can be difficult for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that the message recipients are in grief and often protectively enclosed by others. Outsiders tend to be shunned during this time as families close ranks in mourning. This makes it difficult for messages of this type to be delivered in a timely manner. This challenge can weigh heavily on intermediaries as they come to realize the communications are real and vital. Yet at the same time, at every turn, they meet with resistance and suspicion.

Delivering messages is especially difficult in high profile cases. Not only is the family protected by the usual relatives and friends, but there is a larger circle of fans and associates each of whom has their own unique and conflicting agendas. Most of these agendas have little to do with telling truths about the deceased, especially if doing so would compromise future profits or projects. The great irony is that these people would not even comment in public about the death if there were nothing to gain on their own behalf.

It should be obvious that getting a message through is quite difficult in these conditons. Receiving public recognition for doing so is even more problematic. Hence it should no surprise that reports of such messages being successfully delivered and acknowledge by surviving family members are indeed quite rare. In fact messages are received and in some cases even successfully delivered, but the public is quite unaware of these activities.

Complications

Often in public cases disinformation is put out by so-called "media psychics" - people who are recognized by the public for their proclaimed psychic abilites. These people often appear on national talk shows, are cited by media, have published, speak on the subject and may even have had their own television programs over the years. Unfortunatley, most of these people would not be considered by most reputable research Parapscyhologists as realistic mediumship claimants. Yet their words are considered valid and their comments valued.

The other confounding factor for the public and the perception of any messages that might in fact have been received is the way in which others wish to preserve the public memory of celebrities in particular. Much of this is controlled by personal agendas and financial considerations which in turn tend to mediate away from truth-telling. Fans in particular have their own myths relative to the deceased's persona and there is a strong desire to maintain those myths even in the face of post-morten disclosures by authorities, not to mention pronouncements from those claiming post-mortem contacts.

Examples

Some real-life examples will illustrate these issues. In one case, a well-known Australian television personality died quite unexpectedly. He made himself known to a medium shortly after his death with a message for his wife. The message was delivered, but not without some difficulty on the part of the medium who had only indirect contacts with the family. The message had to do with the personality's intentions regarding his memorial. Changes were made at the last minute to his memorial services based on the information discovered as a consequence of receiving this message. Despite all of this, the message was never publicly acknowledged by the man's widow or the family.

Another example involves a recent death of a worl-famous pop music star. Within hours of his passing the man made himself known to a medium. He was quite confused about his sudden death and kept asking what had happened and how he could return to his body. He was concerned about the family, especially his children, but did not want them contacted. Instead he wanted to know what people were saying about him in death. He was decidedly against moving on or transitioning to any form of afterlife. This case was so public, the medium was highly reticent to mention it to any degree publicly for fear that she would be perceived as trying to cash in on this tragic event. Yet she had been told that some things should be said publicly, presumably by her.

Summary

Remembering those who have deceased is a cherished part of our personal and public grieving. Often though, directly because we tend to focus inward during this process, we cut ourselves off from those who might have legitimate messages from the deceased who are trying to communicate after their passing. This is further complicated by the prevalence of irresponsible and fraudulent individuals masquerading as psychic practitioners. In celebrity cases there is a block from those who are affected in various ways by the celebrity passing and who are generally not disposed to acknowledge post-mortem communications. All of this creates a great sense of stress for credible mediums who are indeed receiving communications, many of which should be shared.

If those who knew the deceased well could validate their messages, the messages could be trusted to a degree. This would separate factual messages from those that are clearly fraudulent.

If we were more open to the potential for post-mortem communications and willing to integrate evidenciary and legitimate messages into the grieving process, what a difference this could make in the resolution and acceptance of passing as a transition from one life to another rather the cold end so many perceive it to be.

Testing Mrs Patricia Putts

2009-05-22T14:43:00.006-05:00

Introduction

Dr Richard Wiseman and Professor Chris French recently tested Mrs. Patricia Putts, a proported medium in the U.K. This was a prepatory test in an attempt to win the JREF million dollar prize. Mrs. Putts sat with 10 sitter subjects. She wrote her impressions for each; no verbal communication was allowed. The medium was unable to see details about the subjects.

After she wrote all 10 readings consisting of some number of statements each, all readings were shown to all sitters in the blind. No sitter was successful in picking their respective actual reading.The experiment was declared a failure by Wiseman and French.

Analytical Technique

But this was more of a test of the sitters' ability to guess their readings than a test of Mrs. Putts' mediumship. It is unclear why Wiseman and French decided to pass on the more common statement analysis technique used in modern mediumship research. Given the subtle nature of the phenomena, it would seem that the statement analysis approach would be more meaningful. There are too many rater bias opportunities to consider the protocol used as fair.

As an alternative, it would have made more sense to ask the sitters to review a list of 100 statements (presuming 10 statements per reading) and have the sitters mark those statements which applied to them. Those would count as 'hits' and the remainder as 'misses'. Scores for each reading would then be rank-ordered for each sitter.

If the highest scoring reading for each sitter were in fact the reading associated with that sitter, the test would be a success, otherwise the test would be a failure. Given ten sitters and ten readings, there is a 1 in 10 chance that any single sitter would be associated with their test. This is below acceptable levels of chance outcomes for small effect sizes according to conventional statistics. Associating 2 out of 10 readings with the correct sitters would occur at the 1 in 100 probability level. Three out of 10 would be at the 1 in 1000 probability level and so on. In fact the chances of all ten readings associating with their correct sitters is 1 in 1 billion. So this technique is capable of measuring incredibly small probabilities.

The original protocol measured a large effect size phenomenon, namely the ability of 10 sitters to each select their respective readings. No special equipment, abilities or knowledge required except that each sitter supposedly had the personal knowledge required to complete the task. In contrast, the method described above supports a far smaller effect size, which is consistent with anomalous psi phenomena (which includes mediumship). Therefore the described procedure would seem to be more correct for the purpose as well as being a far more objective a measure. The chosen protocol for example does not provide a way to know why the sitters selected the readings as they did. So there is no way to know if any influences occurred that might explain the outcomes.

Experimenter Effect

There is also the issue with respect to Experimenter Effect. This was conclusively demonstrated when the same Dr. Richard Wiseman failed to replicate a staring experiment by Dr. Marilyn Schlitz in the United States. When his objections were published, Schlitz exchanged places with Dr. Wiseman in an attempt at replication. Surprisingly replication occurred consistently with Dr. Schlitz and failed consistently with Dr. Wiseman, even when they exchanged test subjects. From this it was mutually concluded that the failure to replicate was something to do with Wiseman and might well have to do with his skeptical belief system. Subsequently, the Experimenter Effect has been noted in parapsychology experiments and in more mainstream research involving small effect sizes and subtle phenomena including medical research.

There was no attempt to counter this bias by using a skeptical and a non-skeptical investigator for example. This despite the fact that both Wiseman and French know and understand the implications of experimenter effect. If the test were truly unbiased they should have objected and at minimum recommended appropriate controls.

Summary

Wiseman and French seem to have followed a protocol that is contrary to modern best practice in mediumship research. It certainly appears they both are well aware of the shortcomings and pitfalls involved based on their published papers. One wonders why they would endorse such a protocol.

It was unwise to have paired Dr. Wiseman, of Schlitz/Wiseman staring experiment fame, with another skeptic like Professor French. The lack of balance not only calls into question the objectivity of the design, apparently supported by the protocol executed, but also suggests that ad hoc there was little opportunity for success. Perhaps Mrs. Putts' surprise at her complete failure was in fact warrented.

The acceptance by Wiseman and French of biased analytical techniques and their lack of attempt to control for well-known Experimenter Effect calls the basis of the entire test and their findings into question. It would be most interesting to reanalyze the data from a statement analysis perspective to see if the score changed.

Thomas Edison Communications Analysis

2009-01-02T18:16:00.001-05:00

Abstract

There has been some debate relating to the probability that Thomas Alva Edison was ever involved in the design or building of a ‘spirit communications’ device. Modern Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP) proponents have claimed that they are in contact with Edison and that he has assisted them in their efforts to build modern devices. Mediumistic communications were established with Thomas Edison in 2006 during which time he mentioned several details regarding the project and acknowledge it was in fact attempted but failed. He further described the working conditions and the limitations and problems they had encountered. If the modern EVP investigators have in fact been in contact with Thomas Edison through their device as they claim, it would be interesting to compare the transcripts of the two types of communication to see if they are consistent. Were this to be the case, it would represent a new type of correlation between two quite distinct forms of communication and would give some credibility to the potential for both forms of spirit communications.

Claims from EVP promoter Chris Moon

Mr. Moon has claimed on his website and in various interviews over the past few years that he has communicated with Thomas Edison, (presumably using these box technologies) and that Edison has given valuable advice that has helped in the newer development of more recent devices. Moon has even gone so far as to name the new boxes “Edison Boxes” reflecting the claimed assistance of Mr. Edison.

If this is true, there should exist some recording of these communications. A written transcript may also exist, or could certainly be created with ease. This could open an opportunity as will be described momentarily.

Experiences of Spirit Advocate Bonnie Vent

Bonnie Vent is a psychic medium and Spirit Advocate. She has assisted those who are departed with their post-mortem issues for several decades.

She was contacted in 2006 by an engineer who wrote to her. All he wrote was “Tell me about my son” in an email to Bonnie. That was it. Bonnie can pick up impressions from emails. She formed an image of a young man standing before a coffin extending a silver necklace in his hand. The engineer responded that he had no doubt Bonnie had been in communication with his late son. He wanted to build a device to speak with his son and sought Bonnie’s help in contacting Thomas Edison.

Bonnie had never attempted this before. She soon discovered how to do so and she spoke with Thomas Edison. With the engineer’s written questions before her, and now speaking with Edison, Bonnie asked each question and wrote the response she heard. Bonnie is not an audio engineer and has no background in the field. She sent the responses to the engineer who told Bonnie the answers were meaningful and was subsequently building the device.

A written transcript of these communications does exist at this time.

Upon researching the history of Edison’s involvement with spirit communication we found there is some debate whether Edison ever built a device. Some have alleged it never happened.

Edison told Bonnie they had built a prototype using existing parts. No new patent was ever applied for, which is consistent with the patent history. There apparently were some fatal flaws with the device. People were shocked and one was even thrown across the room. No records of this work exist, according to the recognized experts in all matters relating to the life and times of Thomas Edison.

When an Edison historian was queried, she responded that while she could not confirm the existence of the device or any drawings, she also had to say that the events as described sounded precisely the way Edison would have behaved had he been presented with this situation. So this curator was reluctant to say these events could never have happened.

Proposed Analysis

We propose to compare transcripts from Chris Moon and Bonnie Vent. We would be looking for answers to common questions or themes as well as thematic and stylistic consistencies from the two disparate sources.

We suggest that a high degree of correlation should exist if the proposed discarnate communicator is in fact the same individual. We should see this correlation in answers to questions and in the words chosen.

Since the ITC technology claims to be using direct communications with a discarnate, there should be no filtering as is the case with mediumship. It is reliably suspected that there may be a filter effect that is a natural by-product of most mediumship. So we should expect there to be some deviances attributable to this effect. However, we should also note several consistencies if real mediumistic communications occurred.

We do not ad hoc give either form of purported spirit communication weight of credibility over the other. At the outset it is our presumption that no spirit communications are possible and therefore that the analysis should produce no significant correlation if any correlations at all.

One important assumption and therefore limitation of the analysis is that by random chance, similar themed questions were asked in both cases. We don’t know at the outset whether or not this might be true since we have yet to examine the EVP investigators’ transcripts. Should this assumption prove incorrect the analysis will be likewise impaired.

Possible Outcomes

Several outcomes from the analysis may be envisioned. One possible outcome is that there is no correlation between the two sets of communications, presuming similar or related questions were asked. This would indicate either that Edison was not involved in the communications, or that Edison chose to reveal different information to the two different correspondents.

Another possible outcome might be high degrees of correlation between the two sets of communications. This would suggest a cooperation at some level. But it does not de facto prove spirit communication. It is possible for example that one or both of the communicators were capable of clairvoyantly knowing the outcome in a precognitive fashion. In other words, one or both communicators might have known what the other would eventually learn before the fact. There is some reasonably good evidence that precognition and presentiment are possible and that they occur more often than one might expect, so this possibility may not be rejected out of hand.

It is possible there was collusion between the two parties. While Bonnie Vent has known of Chris Moon for some time, and knew who he was at the time of the conversations with Thomas Edison, she had not corresponded with him and he had not yet conversed with Edison at that time, as we now understand. Chris Moon on his part has never recognized Bonnie Vent’s work as far as we know, so it is unclear how he might have initiated collaboration to this end. For these reasons, we tend to reject the notion that collusion could explain correlations.

Summary

Two people have claimed to be in communications with Thomas Edison. One is a medium the other is a proponent of EVP and ITC technologies. The current proposal is to perform an analysis of the two communications looking for similarities and dissimilarities to see if there are any correlations, either factual or thematic.

Such a finding is limited by the similarity of the questions asked at the time by each communicator respectively, and potentially by filtering factors that may enter the communications specifically on the part of the medium.

Ad hoc, the expectation is that no correlation will be discovered, and that falsification of this hypothesis would suggest that more work should be done with both approaches to better understand their points of correlation and in the future potentially identify why such correlations might exist.

Alledged Apparitions and Hauntings

2008-12-20T10:33:00.000-05:00

Introduction

The first serious investigations into survival of bodily death focused on anecdotal accounts of alleged “apparitions” and “hauntings”. One of the first organized attempts to collect, review and comprehend these accounts was undertaken by the Society for Psychical Research in London, England beginning around 1885.

Since that time, most attempts to collect anecdotal evidence and reports of apparitional and haunting events have been undertaken by those more interested in the fantastic elements of the stories and less concerned with their merit.

This paper describes one approach that might be considered for those seriously interested in capturing, reviewing, analyzing and potentially verifying anecdotal claims of alleged apparitions and haunting behaviors.

Apparitions and Hauntings Redefined

Before proceeding further, it is well to define what is meant IN THIS CONTEXT by the terms: “apparition” and “haunting”. These terms are problematic in that they have inconsistent definitions, depending upon your background and belief systems.

In this paper, the definitions are consistent with their use in modern parapsychology research journals.

One point of confusion stems from early definitions proposed and commonly used by the SPR. These definitions were cemented in the popular mind with the publication of the book “Apparitions” by a former President of the SPR, G.N.M Tyrell. In this book, Tyrell proposes that a “haunting” is one of five forms of “apparition”. At the time, this definition made perfect sense, and was adopted by psychical researchers and even appears in early research parapsychology literature.

In the past few decades however, with an information model approach to anomalous events, including apparitions and hauntings, a new definitional criterion has emerged. Today, we separate the haunting phenomena from the apparition based on a key behavioral aspect, namely degree of interaction.

Haunting phenomena are characteristically “non-interactive” with their experients, while apparitional phenomena are “interactive” with experients.

Apparitions

Apparitions tend to appear to a smaller group of individuals than do hauntings. The apparition interacts with the experient through any one or in some cases several of the normal physical senses.

Some people believe that the term ‘apparition’ expressly defines only a visual manifestation. This is not correct. Any interactive anomalous event may be correctly termed ‘apparitional’ in nature. Thus, if there is a clear interaction between the experient and anomalous phenomena, such as perceived attempt to communicate, that phenomena may be properly characterized as ‘apparitional’.
Characteristics of Apparitions

Rarely do apparitions appeal to a percipient’s sense of taste. Most apparitions appeal to one or a combination of the other normal senses.

Visual apparitions
Visual apparitions are often reported but studies conducted on reliable phenomena data reports indicate that visual apparitions (as contrasted to haunting phenomena) are by far less common. The visual apparition can be confused with a haunting incident if the intention of the phenomena is not readily apparent. Also, a visual apparition may appear similar to side-effects in energetic psychokinetic (PK) environments that often evidence luminous forms.

Example: An example of a visual apparition might be an incident where a person sees a figure in the distance approaching slowly. The figure may appear quite solid. The figure would make an attempt at communicating in some way, such as by gesturing. If it appeared to relate to the movements of the experient, this would be considered evidence of intent of interaction.

Aural apparitions
Aural apparitions are very commonly reported but might be confused with haunting phenomena if the intent is unclear. Perhaps the most commonly heard aural phenomena is the distinct calling of one’s own name. This can be a psychological event having nothing to do with apparitions. However, it could also be an interactive attempt by a discarnate intelligence to communicate directly. Other common examples include hearing the words “Help” and “Hello”. Most aural apparitions are of a direct disembodied voice or sound as opposed to an electronic voice phenomenon. In other words, aural apparitions should be heard by the experient in real time. It should not be the case the phenomena can only be heard in the noise of an audio recording, characteristic of so-called EVP. Aural apparitions may appear similar to side-effects in energetic psychokinetic (PK) environments that often evidence disembodied voices.

Example: An example of a visual apparition might be an incident where a person hears a response to a question they ask verbally. Key to identifying the discarnate communicator as an apparition is an apparent intent to communicate interactively, that is, to answer questions meaningfully.

Olfactory apparitions
Olfactory apparitions are uncommon, although olfactory haunting phenomena are relatively common. Both are often reported as things such as the scent of flowers, smoke or food. As with visual and aural apparitions, olfactory experiences can be confused with haunting phenomena. Olfactory phenomena are quite similar to side-effects of energetic psychokinetic (PK) environment that often evidence nauseous odors.

Example: The odor of a particular type of cigar was noted during mediumistic communications with a specific historical individual. Fraud was rule out. The individual communicating clearly stated his intent to demonstrate his identity by using the odor of this specific cigar, recognizable to the sitter but not the medium.

Tactile apparitions
Tactile apparitions are somewhat common. They are often reported as a feeling of being touched or brushed. Tactile apparitional phenomena are not generally invasive, unlike psychokinetic effects which are highly targeted and generally originate with a living agent. Tactile apparitional phenomena originate with a discarnate intelligence.
Since both tactile apparitions and psychokinetic activity involve interactive touch, it is often the case that the two are confused.

Example: A woman’s skin was depressed in an active location near Washington, DC. Apparitional effects were observed by an independent investigator. The depth of touch was measurable and quantifiable. While the subject was usually able to retain composure, the incidents were a bit traumatic. Clear signs of what looked like finger marks could be seen and bruises were produced on the subject’s skin.

Note that there are many occasions when apparitional phenomena and haunting phenomena are easily confused. The most important differentiating aspect is the presence of interaction and intention on the part of the apparition.

Mediumistic communications through After-Death Communications (ADC) are by this definition likewise a form of apparitional phenomena. This is only accepted however if there is a clear interaction between a sitter and the discarnate communicator through the medium. Of course the information must be proven legitimate and valid and there must be reasonable certainty that the medium could not have acquired the information given in advance of the sitting.

Hauntings

Unlike apparitions, haunting phenomena have no interaction with their percipients. Hauntings have been described as “watching a video or motion picture repeating over and over again”.

A larger population of people report hauntings than apparitions.

Hauntings are place-oriented. It seems that some sufficiently sensitive individuals, often unaware of their ability, will detect the haunting phenomena while others will not.

Some people become confused especially when dealing with visual haunting phenomena. Often a figure will be seen apparently trying to communicate. The most commonly reported manifestation is that of a person, lips moving but no words coming out. This yields the illusion of interaction. However, it is equally likely that what is being witnessed is a memory in time part of which included a conversation that can no longer be heard. This is not an interactive attempt by an intelligent discarnate, but simply a visual record of an event.

Likewise, aural and olfactory haunting phenomena often occur. Most anomalous sounds and smells that are perceived, if there seems to be no attempt to interact with the percipient, are likely haunting phenomena. In other words, they are traces of events that once took place and likely had some significance to someone in the past.

Haunting phenomena are non-tactile in nature. While ‘pushing’ and ‘shoving’ is reported in some reportedly active sites, this phenomena is far more likely due to a living PK agent. See the paper entitled “Psychokinesis” for more details.

Haunting Myths

The literature has become littered with mythical accounts with respect to both apparitions and hauntings.

Vengeful Spirits
- Highly unlikely and rarely reliably reported
- Usually tied to history of questionable origin

Inhuman Spirits
- Some cultures include “Incubus/Succubus” phenomena
- Some cultures include “Elemental” phenomena
- Some cultures include “Faeiry/Gnome” phenomena
- Usually either misreporting or misinterpretation of natural phenomena

Demonic Spirits
- Rich in specific theological settings and cultures
- Recently reincarnated in the public’s mind
- More traditional anomalous phenomena is considered ‘demonic’ by lay people
- No reliable proof this phenomena is anything more than intense PK
- Highly belief-driven: most ‘exorcism’ and ‘cleansing’ rites focus on beliefs

Summary

Apparitions are interactive discarnate intelligences while hauntings are non-interactive. This is a new definition of these phenomena, adopted only in the past few decades.

Apparitions tend to appeal to a smaller population overall and may be perceived by any of the normal physical senses.

Haunting phenomena are mostly commonly olfactory, auditory or visual in nature. They are non-interactive and repetitive. Hauntings are perceived by a broad group of individuals, often over long periods of time.

Traditional mythologies from various sources have suggested over time that such things as vengeful spirits, inhuman spirits and demons may actually exist. Most of these anecdotal stories have problems with the reliability of the reports and are absent documentary and historical foundation.

Research Note : Experiments in Mediumship on the Web

2008-11-25T12:28:00.001-05:00

Introduction

One of the key problems facing any investigator of psi phenomena is bringing the work to colleagues and to the public. This has traditionally involved first peer-reviewed journal publication, followed by publication in mainstream media such as books on a subject suitable for both scientific and lay audiences. Introducing colleagues and the public to the work in the early phases is a challenge. Traditionally this did not pose a great problem, since experimenters and investigators typically wanted to refine methods and protocols privately before publication. But a new type of field experiementation lends itself to early feedback. The key challenge is making the work available to colleagues spanning the globe in real-time. This challenge has been overcome using Internet technology. In a pilot project a public video server was used to make field research work available to the public as a technology experiment. This proved quite successful.

Method

Online technology provides a seamless way to integrate research partners and the public into real-time experiments irrespective of the location of the parties. Co-location has been a problem traditionally. When the experimental setting moves out of the laboratory and into the field, the problems are magnified even further. Ideally, we would like to maintain control of the enviornment while at the same time making it possible for as many colleagues as we wish to see the work in real-time. Using the Internet and streaming video servers answers this need.

We decided to start not with a traditional parapsychology experiment, but instead with something potentially a bit more edgy and likely interesting to the general public. We promoted a field investigation at the world-famous Hotel Del Coronado in Coronado, California. We have had some success in that setting communicating through trance channel with the legendary Beautiful Stranger of the Hotel Del Coronado. Her story has been told and retold for over a century. But the story seems to be very wrong, as we were told by her in 2006. We have been able to substantiate this information with careful historical research over two years' time. We are now confident that the legend is wrong and that we have the correct telling of the story. It is time to embark on a new phase of this research and we decided to expose our process to the public, online, unrehearsed and unscripted.

We chose to record the video in a guest room at the Hotel Del Coronado. At the same time, we streamed video to a publicly available video server at www.ustream.com. The trance medium, Bonnie Vent of San Diego, promoted this using her usual contact channels across the Internet. The broadcast went up on ustream.com at 5:15 PM Sunday, September 7, 2008. The 1 1/2 hour broadcast was archived at www.ustream.com/bonnievent for later viewing. It is available at www.sdparanormal.com under the Hotel Del Coronado section.

Findings

We said at the outset of the broadcast that we had no idea who might speak that evening, and we were certainly correct. We have never had trouble making contact, and this evening was no exception. However, aside from hearing briefly from the Beautiful Stranger herself for a short time, most of the remainder of the evening was spent talking with one or another inter-dimensional individual characterized as "high-level guidance". Eventually we were able to use the ustream.com chat facility to enable our viewers to ask questions interactively, to which this apparent inter-dimensional being was able to respond.

Questions spanned topics including demons and demonism, how those in other dimensions communicate with us, reactions to commercialization of paranormal topics, how to communicate with a particular spirit person, the reaction from spirit when someone in the physical world rebukes or fears attempted communications, the 'shadow people' phenomena and a discussion of reincarnation. Also included was a brief explanation of the nature of this 'guidance' and how it related to the medium as an individual.

Perhaps most interesting and measureable was the time spent in trance channel. Most trance mediums find they become quite tired after no more than twenty minutes. It is rare to go on longer. In this case we timed the trance channel session at over 55 minutes. This is the longest time this medium has spent in continual channel and the longest channel that I have ever observed anyone in channel having worked with mediums for over forty years. It is possible we set a record not only for one of the first online web cast of actual trance channeling from the Hotel Del Coronado, but also for the length of the trance channeling.

Discussion

The obvious question one must ask is 'was this real?' This is certainly top of my mind. The nature of the communications were certainly unexpected. Comparing the work with that of Bonnie Vent's earlier channel of the Beautiful Stranger, the two are quite similar in mode and personality. Even though the two events were separated by almost two years, we have the earlier communications on video and can compare the two. While there are some slight differences, the style and personality is markedly similar to conversations with the Beautiful Stranger in 2006. As to the others who came through in September 2008, it is notable that their style is reminiscent of Bonnie Vent's personal style. However the communicators were more erudite than Bonnie. Some aspects of the trance personality pervade Bonnie's personality. This is not uncommon in trance mediumship. We find traces of the medium's personality interlaced with the various communicating trance personalities. We do not consider this evidence against the validity of the mediumship. Especially in the case of historical mediumship information is often given that at the time even historians knowledgable in the history believe to be wrong. Later it is not uncommon for them to discover the information to be correct, thus changing the history itself. This is the ultimate validation of these events and characterizes much of our previous work.

Future Work

It is our intent moving forward to use this approach for two purposes. One is to provide us with an alternate way to record and archive our field work with minimal site and personnel coordination. A second purpose is to enable colleagues (and where appropriate the public) to join in our investigations. Several investigators have commented that the more eyes on the field work at the time the better. We agree with this position. Properly executed, this approach has great potential for capturing raw original work in the field.

One obvious caution arises in the context of implicit controls to the environment. While in a laboratory setting controls are easier to enforce, this approach neither weakens nor strengthens controls in field settings. While it might argued that not having physically present observers opens the door to potential chicanery, in this type of mediumistic setting it is reasonably easy to see what is in fact occuring. If the medium had done pre-work to present a more convincing case it is unlikely this would be discovered during information gathering. This sort of finding typically surfaces post-hoc during the data analysis phase of the research. However it is still important to have the usual controls in place apropos the experiment in question.

Summary

An experimental prototype was designed and executed wherein a trance medium was observed and queried by observers from the public on the Internet. This prototype was a proof-of-concept that such as technology plan could bring research colleagues together from across the globe in a common research information gathering effort. This prototype was designed for maximum engagement of a public audience. Future work would be more private and would primarily involve research colleagues online.

Scientific Psychology in the 21st Century

2008-08-14T16:23:00.001-05:00

Introduction

Since the late 19th century, Science in general has operated from a 'materialistic' perspective. This made sense in the Mechanical Age, when the entire world apparently could be modeled as a complex yet determinant machinery. This 'macro' view of the world and all that happened within it found favor with materialists of the period and was embraced by most physical scientists of the day. As the 20th century dawned, little had changed to cause anyone in the scientific mainstream at the time to believe that a one hundred diversion was about to begin.

During this same period, the late 19th century, modern scientific Psychology was beginning to establish its roots. Prior beliefs regarding the Mind had given way to a more expansive approach, initially and credibly due to the genius of one man: Frederic W. H. Myers. Myers' name is relatively unknown today, even in among many psychologists. If you ask a clinical or research psychologist who the 'father' or founder of modern psychology that person will most likely respond 'William James' if they are trained in the Western schools of thought.

In fact, James was a contemporary of Myers. And James himself credited Myers as the foundational thinker that in turn inspired and motivated some of James' own best known ideas as expressed in his most well-known early text "Principles of Psychology" (known to most psychologists today simply as the "Princples"). Few modern psychologists have even heard of the greater work which inspired the likes of James, Bernet and McDougall, which was Myers' "Human Personality and its Survival of Bodily Death", published posthumously in 1901.

At Myers' funeral, James delivered the obituary. James said at that time and in later lectures, that Myers was as great a mental giant as Darwin, and likened the future import of Myers' work to anything of Darwin's creation.

How then is it the case that so few know of Myers? And even more important, what has been the impact on 20th science and even more to the point, 20th century psychology? Where are we now at the dawn of the 21st century? Is there change in the wind; does it suggest any recognition of this groundbreaking work of a 19th century investigator? These heady questions demand clear answers. I shall endeavor to give a brief survey that attempts to concisely answer these questions and, in the process, answer the most important question of all: What is the full impact of all of this on science in the 21st century?

Rise of Materialism

Materialism made sense in the late 19th and early 20th century. In physics, as the 20th century progressed, more developments and discoveries in macrophysics and in the disciplines of engineering, mathematics, chemistry, and other 'hard' sciences reinforced the correctness of this approach. Scientists became convinced that everything either had been explained or certainly would be explained in a few short decades.

This was in direct contradiction to the urgings of Myers and those who were of a similar mind, including William James and many early Quantum physicists. While there was a general belief that quantum mechanics should fit into a materialist, objectivist and reductionist view of Science, as time progressed this became increasingly difficult. In retrospect it is now clear that many of the early errors in logic, especially in the field of quantum mechanics, are traceable to an initial lack of belief that mechanical principles could not be adapted to problems involing not the macrophysical world which classical physics in general so well described but instead the 'world of the very small' - the microphysical world, which quantum physics attempted to describe.

By the middle of the 20th century, it was becoming clear although not often openly discussed in scientific circles, that quantum mechanics and quantum physics were stretching mechanistic concepts beyond all reasonable limits. Clearly a new direction was called for. Mainstream physicists in the main turned a blind eye, preferring to return to the relative safety of classical experiments hoping desparately that somehow this 'quantum madness' would simply go away. This was not to be. And the challenges faced by quantum physicists were soon to be echoed from a quite unexpected camp, the field of research Parapsychology.

Ignorance of Mental Functions

In the early decades of the 20th century, the research world F.W.H. Myers, and his colleagues Edmund Gurney, Price and others - the 'pioneers' of psychical research - was already changing. Psychical researchers had focused primarily on anecdotal case studies, applying rigorous logic to their problems that is admirable even to this day. They successfully sorted the 'wheat from the chaff', ensuring that they discriminate for those case studies that were most likely to have merit without being concerned it the cases themselves fit into a model of physical reality.

It became clear that the world of classical physics would not be capable of explaining what these early pioneers were continuing to discover. As the body of evidence grew, objections from the classical science community likewise began to be heard. In a very real way, these objections have not - to this day - yet silenced. What was it that so concerned mainstream classical scientists, espousing this physical world view?

The primary concern was that the psychologists in describing classical mental functions had, in the main, acquiesced that mental functions might be explicable in terms of physical processes. In other words, they had agreed at least in principle, that 'mind' was the product of the human brain. This was a necessary, albeit unfortunate, requirement from the scientific community if psychology was to be accepted as a 'science' at the turn of the 20th century.

However, when psychical research came forth and began describing even more anomalous phenomena that classical physics and materialism had no way to explain, there was only one response. The data or the analysis had to be, in some way wrong. It was unthinkable something could be accepted as scientific fact which had no foundation in physical laws. And yet this is precisely what the careful work of the psychical researchers of the late 19th century, like Myers and Gurney, were demonstrating clearly, concisely and evocatively.

When the final confrontation occurred, the matter came down to whether psychology wanted to be taken seriously. Psychical researchers, such as Myers - who had a significant stake in the future of modern psychology - could have simply acquiesced en masse. And in fact, most of Myers' colleagues reluctantly did so. However, Myers and to a degree James, were not so easily moved from a position they knew to be correct. Myers proposed a compromise. Myers suggested that perhaps science should expand to consider the psychical research as peer to all the physical research that had gone before. This was heresey from the majority viewpoint, and Myers was soundly rejected. Not until almost a century had passsed, into the final quarter of the 20th century, would a groundswell occur in the scientific community that would finally signal significant change and ultimlately lead to the beginnings of what today can only be called the most significant paradigm shift in science since the introduction of the Modern Age.

An Integrated Science

One key goal of 21st century science will be the integration of more traditional materialistic concepts that have served science so well in the past, with the newer elightenment that is coming from the research and methods described here. The traditional material, reductionist approach to macro physics will remain viable and intact in the short term at least. More likely during the next decade, we will begin to see the evolution of advanced physics based on premises founded in quantum dynamics and realizations of the need for a marriage of the material and the conscious worlds. It is highly probable that such a paradigm shift, for that is precisely what it is, will be required to advance 21st century science.

Pyschokinesis

2008-06-11T15:03:00.001-05:00

Introduction

There has been an interest in 'mind-over-matter' ever since the beginnings of psychical research. Early concepts allowed for some form other other-worldly agents responsible for most movement of objects. Today most parapsychologists who study this phenomena are in agreement that, for the most part, the outbreaks can be traced to living individuals, so-called "PK Agents".

The PK Agent (PKA) has traditionally been thought to be mostly pubescent, or have a personality that is suggestive of the period of puberty. Many outbreaks are highly spontaneous and reminiscent of the kinds of tirades witnessed during this generally trying time in peoples' lives. But is this concept of the Agent correct? And what other factors may be at play that enable the phenomena?

The PK Agent Redefined

More recent research including the work of Dr. William G. Roll, Dr. Barry Taff and Dr. Andrew Nichols to name a few, now suggests new aspects of the PK Agent, the process by which the Agent functions and the environment required for PK phenomena to occur.

It has long been suspected there are aspects to personality that naturally contribute to PK agency. One that has been frequently reported is the apparent presence of neural disorders in some agents. Significantly though, not all PK Agents show signs of such disorders. This suggests that while specific brain signatures may assist in locating some potential PK Agents, it is not a foolproof method for doing so.

Many PK Agents are goal-oriented. Some have dysfunctional family histories. Targets are often selected with an apparent regard for this history. Father and mother figures for example may be targeted while siblings are not. Those who are trying to help can often negotiate with the PK Agent in terms of potential targets to avoid damaging valuable instruments or delicate personal objects. Such negotiation is less successful if the PK Agent considers an individual as a threat or an impediment to an unfulfilled desire.

It is now believed there is both a psychological and a psychophysiological aspect to PK Agents.

The psychological aspect includes belief in or experience with the phenomena at some level of consciousness, and a need for the phenomena to manifest. The psychophysiological aspect is more complex; long-term data analyses indicate that there is likely a neural bias that is redirecting normal brain function and creating potentials that lead to PK behaviors. These potentials are measurable in some situations.

It is not completely understood yet as to how PK manifests. In other words, the physics of PK are not fully described. One of the most promising explanations, at least with respect to local PK Agents, is the "scanning beam" theory. This holds that a local PK Agent (as opposed to one distant from the site where activity occurs) continually emits a wave that interacts with physical objects causing movement or perhaps a disturbance in gravity potentials.

Psychokinesis and "Poltergeists"

Most so-called "poltergeist" phenomena is associated with some form of psychokinesis (PK). Spontaneous PK (RSPK) is the most often reported form of this functioning. However, there is another form of PK function, intentional PK (RIPK) which is also of interest when considering the general types of "poltergeist" phenomena.

RIPK is usually associated with healing, table tipping and levitations when physical explanations can be reliably excluded. However, intent may play a significant role in specific types of PK phenomena.

One interesting and replicable form of intentional PK has been RIPK at a distance, or remote RIPK otherwise formerly called 'remote intention'. This skill has been tested rigorously. While not yet significant in trials, successes are highly suggestive statistically.

If the remote RIPK agent is in fact this capable, we must consider that such an agent could be at work in at least some portion of reported PK cases that might initially appear spontaneous. This would explain why even an identified local PK Agent could be absent from a location and a slightly different activity occurs than the activity presented when the local PKA is nearby.

An alternative explanation, offered by Roll, to this apparent remote agency, is that the RSPK process may operate in two phases: an "initiation" phase that occurs when the local PK Agent is present in the near environment, and an "execution" phase when the target object(s) move at some later time, when the PK Agent is absent. It must still be explained how the execution phase trigger mechanism operates. There is a tantalizing similarity in this "execution" phase and in a potential requirement for Remote PK. So the two phenomena, while likely different in their details, may have more mechanistically in common than was previously believed.

Environmental Considerations

Most recently, the environment in which the events take place has been more carefully considered. A forty year study encompassing some 380 discrete cases of PK activity reveals that there are usually very high magnetic fields present, directly correllating field strength with the intensity of the observed PK phenomena. In other words, it appears that specific environments with high magnetic fields are conducive to PK outbreaks, especially of the spontaneous variety. Roll, Taff and others have suggested that there may be a gravitometric effect at work possibly mediated by the presence of the magnetic field. Zero-Point Energy (ZPE) has also been considered as a candidate to intermediate weak neural impulses producing observable movement of target objects.

The apparent requirement for the nexus of a local PK Agent with a suitable environment to produce phenomena suggests an interesting experiment. It should be possible to construct an environment where a demonstrated PK Agent can be introduced. It is predicted that this agent will be successful is targeting or moving objects only in the presence of high power magnetic fields, and should be less successful in the absence of these fields.

Summary

It is very probable there are various mechanisms to produce PK phenomena. We have considered the local PK Agent producing phenomena spontaneously and the remote PK Agent producing phenomena intentionally. The local PK Agent may need a high power magnetic field in order to produce large-scale phenomena, such as moving sofas and throwing people. This field may be intermediary rather than having a direct, energetic, target object impact.

Remote PK Agents may use a different mechanism through intention that produces extraordinarily similar phenomena from the perspective of the experient.

Future work should isolate behaviors and personalities of intentional and spontaneous PK Agents, determine the viability of controlling the phenomena as described, and focus carefully on the psychological, psychophysiological, environment and energetic aspects of the relevant PK models under consideration.

REFERENCES

1. Roll, William G., "Energetic Aspects of PK", (2007) Proc. of the Parapsychological Association

2. Roll, William G., “The Poltergeist” (1972)

3. Taff, B.E. & Gaynor, K., “A new poltergeist effect," Theta, (1976)

Psychical and Parapsychology Research

2008-05-04T10:38:00.000-05:00

To understand what I do, it's important to understand the boundaries of psychical research and parapsychology research.

Psychical research began around 1885 in Western Europe and England. The most well-known Western organization and the earliest formed was the Society for Psychical Research in London. Psychical research focuses mostly on attempting to answer the question of survival of bodily death. Early attempts were characterized by careful analysis of anecdotal statements. Only those statements that met strict guidelines were considered. For example the stories reviewed had to have secondary substantiation in some form. Stories were grouped and rated. Of the thousands considered only a small percentage were ever considered satisfactory for incorporation into the initial body of evidence. At this phase, the research was far more speculative and less scientific in nature. Statistical analysis had yet to be incorporated.

The first President of the SPR was Henry Sidgwick, a Professor of Philosophy at Cambridge University. Significant co-founders of the SPR included Frederic Myers and Edmund Gurney. Two great works were published by the SPR during this early period.

The first book was "Phantasms of the Living", written by Edmund Gurney, together with Frederic Myers and Frank Podmore, published in 1886 . This book was a collection of historical evidence and was the first landmark in psychical research. It contained over 700 carefully analysed cases, presented within the telepathic theory of crisis apparitions (interpreting reports of communications from people dying or in life-threatening situations as telepathically generated hallucinations).

The second book was "Human Personality and Survival of Bodily Death" written by F.W.H. Myers and published posthumously in 1903. The work spans two volumes and more than 1,000 pages. The eight chapters are: "Disintegrations of Personality," "Genius," "Sleep," "Hypnotism," "Sensory Automatism," "Phantasms of the Dead," "Motor Automatism," and "Trance, Possession and Ecstasy." This book is an expansive synthesis of Myers' thinking, presenting his theory of the "subliminal self". See Dr. Carlos Alvardo's SPR Journal review of "Human Personality".

The introduction of quantitative measurements and the use of laboratory procedures began in the 1920s with the likes of George Tyrell who explored a variety of methods for inducing altered states of consciousness, techniques to differentiate between telepathy and clairvoyance, and made attempts to automate the randomisation of targets.

In the 1930s, J.B. Rhine extended this work in the United States. Rhine was a prime exponent of the "experimental approach" which is used today in refined forms in modern research parapsychology. Replication and new quantitative methods were employed in everything from studies on "extra-sensory perception" (E.S.P) to experiments attempting to influence normally random pattern events, such as the outcomes of dice tosses. Rhine's original laboratory was on the campus of Duke University. The Rhine Research Center carries on and now extends this significant work off-campus.

Modern parapsychology research focuses on two key areas, anomalous cognition and anomalous perception. Anomalous cognition has been known as E.S.P. in the past. It includes claimed abilities such as telepathy (the ability to send and receive symbols, phrases, words and numbers between two living subjects). Anomalous perception was formerly known as 'clairvoyance' (the ability to see at a distance or perceive unknown facts visually).

Anomalous cognition has been demonstrated in well-controlled experiments worldwide. It has been successfully replicated in telepathy tests under strictly controlled conditions. It is one of the two scientifically proven phenomena that continue to replicate in modern experiments.
A related ability, known to many as 'remote viewing' was of great interest during the Cold War when governments recognized the ability to potentially incorporate these abilities into intelligence programs.

Dr. Edwin C. May organized a small team of remote viewers under a government contract to study this phenomena at Stanford Research Institute (SRI) in California. Later this research continued at SAIC. The outcome was a series of experiments that clearly demonstrated the viability of Anomalous Perception as it was known in the 1970s. Key parapsychologists who designed and executed these and related experiments were Dr. Harold Puthoff and Dr. Russell Targ. Dr. Jessica Utts performed a meta-analysis using this aggregate data. Her seminal 1996 paper, "An Assessment of the Evidence for Psychic Functioning", demonstrates the statistical validity of this work in the latter half of the 20th century.

There are many other references that demonstrate the broad nature of and interest in the field of research parapsychology. One example is "The PK Zone" by Dr. Pamela Heath. This has been called a 'tour-de-force in PK research'. Psychokinesis (PK) is the apparent ability to move or affect objects with the mind, in other words, mind over matter.

Another recent work worthy of some time is Dr. Dean Radin's "Entangled Minds". Radin has capably outlines the broad field of research parapsychology in this book, and makes the compelling case that not only is parapsychology a legitimate discipline based on scientific methods and principles, but that it is also far more expansive than most readers might otherwise believe.

Parapsychologists study Anomalous Cognition (AC) and what has come to be called Anomalous Participation (the new name for PK or psychokinesis). Anomalous Participation (AP) has been studied both at the micro- and macro levels.

Micro-PK experiments attempt to influence the outcomes of what should be random events. Random event generator technology is used to create the events. Subjects are asked to attempt to de-randomize these events. Modern experiments of this type are conducted online. See the Parapsychological Association website for the currently ongoing experiments in this area worldwide.

Macro-PK experiments are less common since they don't lend themselves as well to control evironments. However similar effects are often reported in anecdotal cases as 'poltergeist' phenomena. Some of the principle work in field PK and poltegeist phenomena was done by Dr. William G. Roll beginning in the 1960s. Dr. Andrew Nichols has studied this phenomena as well. Only recently has one U.S. researcher been able to create a sufficiently large database of case study data to be able to predict the primary causal factors involved in such incidents. Dr. Barry Taff now believes that he not only is beginning to understand the basis of this phenomena, but that it could even be created on demand in a laboratory setting.

Adjunctive studies such as the effects of electromagnetic fields on human perception and the potential induction of hallucinations as a result, have been studied by Dr. Michael Persinger. Following on his work, Dr. Jason Braithwaite et al. have pioneered magnetic anomaly detection using high-quality fluxgate magnetometers and spectrum analysis software. They have successfully detected suspicious patterns in various locations around the UK where anomalous phenomena has previously been reported. For a more complete discussion see the Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena (ASSAP) research website.

While the field of parapsychology is potentially expansive, with many areas of adjunctive study. However, from the most conservative parapsychologist's point of view the field is currently restricted to AC and AP investigations, principally in laboratory settings or other well-controlled environments. The primary reason for this control conditions can be truly and repeatably established in such settings. This is one of the reasons that most parapsychological research is done in the lab and not in the field.

There is a growing trend to move (again) out of the lab. With this comes the attendant issues of how to maintain control conditions and document findings in such a way the relevance and replicable data is gathered. This is the 21st century challenge for parapsychology research as the field evolves to an even more mature science.

Introduction

2008-03-28T14:27:00.000-05:00

Welcome! I will periodically be posting experiences and general thoughts in the fields of parapsychology, psychical research and anomalous experiences and perceptions.

This is not a forum, but rather a medium for publication of some of my new ideas. Please feel free to comment; all comments are managed. Your feedback will help grow an online community of virtual reviewers of new work in various related fields of interest.

Thank you for viewing -- keep watching for new content coming soon!