The Mysteries Of Time Raise Intriguing Questions

By Peter McCue

Dr McCue has a longstanding interest in spontaneous paranormal phenomena. He is a member of the Society for Psychical Research and the Scottish Society for Psychical Research, and he has written various articles on the paranormal.

To me, some of the most interesting spontaneous cases in the field of psychical research are those involving oddities of time. There are reports of apparent precognition, where people seem to have glimpsed the future, and of so-called retrocognition (or ‘timeslips’), where people have had visions related to the past. And then there are cases involving ‘missing time’, e.g. where witnesses of UFO events have been unable to account for significant chunks of time.

Of course, not all disruptions of memory are paranormal. After hypnosis, for instance, a subject might underestimate the duration of the session, or, less commonly, remember little or nothing of what happened (a phenomenon known as post-hypnotic amnesia). And some drugs can affect the sense of the passage of time. To someone under the influence of cannabis, for example, a period of five minutes might seem more like a quarter of an hour.

But let’s return to cases suggestive of the paranormal.

I used to work as a clinical psychologist, and one of my patients told me about a dream in which she and her daughter were in a hall, with two small doors that led into another hallway. A tall man with blonde hair came from behind them and lifted her daughter up in his arms and tried to get through the doors. The mother tried to open the doors, but they didn’t respond normally – they seemed to slide open. She managed to fight the man off, and she watched as he ran away. The woman told her family about the dream the next evening. Later that week, a very tall man with blonde hair tried to put a hand up her daughter’s skirt. At the time, the daughter was in a lift with her cousin. They pushed the man and tried to hit him, and he ran off.

Clearly, some features of the dream matched the subsequent event. Was this simply a coincidence, or was the dream precognitive?

Another informant, Bill Paterson, had an interesting experience in the Scottish Highlands in the 1950s. Nearly five at the time, he was travelling with members of his family to the Black Isle. They were on the old A9 and had just passed Slochd Summit when Bill’s elder brother noticed an unusual locomotive, which Bill then saw as well. The engine was old-fashioned, like one from a Western film. It was coming up a gradient, belching smoke from the stack, and exuding white smoke (steam?) from the sides. They asked their father to stop the car, so they could see it, and he pulled up just past a bridge that crossed the railway line. Bill notes that, ‘We ran back to the bridge and looked over [but] there was nothing!’ (i.e. no locomotive or smoke). That was odd, because Bill thinks that they could probably see for a mile up and down the track.

Did such a train engine once make journeys through that part of Scotland, and was the vision a glimpse into that past time? Even if the answer is ‘No’, the incident remains puzzling, since at least two members of the family saw the old-fashioned locomotive.

One night in the 1990s, James Montgomery and his friend Jane (not their real names) set out from the latter’s house in Glasgow to buy some take-away food. On their way, they noticed a light that moved in the sky. They should have arrived back at Jane’s house within about 25 minutes, but they were away for over an hour. When they got in, the food was no longer hot. They are unable to account for the ‘missing time’.

Another informant, Susan (not her real name), had a similar experience one night in Glasgow about 40 years ago. She and a friend were heading home. They were both about 13. The girls got off a bus around 10.45 p.m. and saw a light in the sky, which seemed to be stationary. Then, as they were walking down a lane, the source of the light performed a series of movements, each of which alternated with a stationary phase. Susan was able to make out a structure with a circular base and a protuberance on top (a classic flying saucer shape?). There were two flashing red lights on the underside of the UFO, and also a circle of white lights, which may have been shimmering. At one point, the two girls huddled together with another pedestrian in mutual fear. The area they were in was then strongly illuminated from above. Susan assumed that the UFO was now directly above them. After what seemed seconds or minutes, things went dark again. When she looked up, Susan noticed that the UFO was still fairly near, although not directly overhead. It performed one or two further movements and shortly after shot up into the night sky and disappeared.

In total, the UFO encounter seemed to last only a matter of minutes, and Susan would have expected to be home by about 10.55 p.m. But she arrived around 11.45 p.m., to be greeted by an angry father!

In her book Time Storms (London: Piatkus, 2001), Jenny Randles relates cases in which people have encountered strange clouds or mists that produce unusual effects, such as experiences of ‘missing time’. One such case, from 1977, involved a group of Chilean army recruits who were camping at 12,000 feet, under the charge of a Corporal Armando Valdes. The corporal went forward to investigate a fuzzy purple glow that was seen a few hundred yards away. He was soon swallowed up in the darkness of the night. Some 15 minutes later, around 4.30 a.m., Valdes returned - but from the opposite direction. He looked as if he were in a trance, and he was heard to say, ‘You do not know who we are or where we are from.’ After reaching the encampment, he collapsed and seemed to be unconscious.

At dawn, it was noticed that Valdes had several days’ growth of beard, although he had shaved some hours earlier. His watch had stopped at around 4.30 a.m., but the date display indicated 30th April, five days on from the actual date! He regained consciousness around 7.00 a.m., but he seemed to be in a state of shock, with considerable memory loss, and lack of proper physical co-ordination. Interviewed by a journalist several years later, Valdes indicated that he still had no recall of the 15 minutes in question.

Of course, cases of the type cited above invite speculations about the nature of time. Regarding the Valdes case, Jenny Randles alludes to the interesting possibility that the corporal lived through five days in under 15 minutes! If so, another way of looking at it would be to say that his metabolism and watch ran, on average, about 481 times faster than normal during those 15 or so minutes. But if we assume that Valdes’ watch displayed the correct date prior to this strange episode, and if we deem that the cause of his disorientation and amnesia was some sort of impersonal electromagnetic event, is it not remarkable that the extra ageing he experienced worked out so neatly at five days? (It wasn’t, for example, 4.73 or 5.29 days!) In other words, assuming that the case has been reported accurately, we should perhaps consider the possibility that some form of intelligence was involved in producing the phenomenon.

A possible explanation of the ‘missing time’ element in the case of Susan (see above) is that she and her friend and the other pedestrian were huddled together for far longer than they thought – energy emissions from the UFO may have induced a state of stupor or paralysis and interfered with the creation of memory traces. But that still leaves a question: what was the UFO? Precognition and retrocognition also raise intriguing theoretical questions. If one can see into the future, does it already exist? If so, is our sense of free will illusory? And if the future already exists, does that also hold true for the past, thereby permitting instances of retrocognition? Or could it be that retrocognitive experiences are reconstructions, perhaps based on some sort of global psychic memory, rather than direct glimpses of the past?

If we knew enough about the present, it would be possible to predict the future. Possibly, then, precognitive dreams are predictions based on current information, some of which is gleaned, unconsciously, through telepathy or clairvoyance? If so, precognition would not be inconsistent with free will.

Sitters Witness Spirit Fingers During Seance

By LEWIS SUTTON

The Cober Hill Conference Centre has over recent years been the venue for several seminars on physical phenomena. The Centre, sited just north of Scarborough, overlooks beautiful Yorkshire countryside with the North Sea visible just a short distance away. This seminar, the second to be organised by Alf and June Winchester, featured seances with mediums Stewart Alexander and David Thompson plus lectures, demonstrations of psychic art, psychic surgery together with daily meditations and healing sessions.

The first seance of the seminar was with medium Stewart Alexander and lasted for nearly two hours - but time passed quickly with all the action that took place. Soon two trumpets were flying around up to about 8ft (2.4m) from the medium who was located behind a curtain in a corner of the room. This type of phenomena does not provide direct evidence of Survival, but does show just how flexible and adaptable ectoplasm is. And I don’t know how anyone other than our Spirit friends could so accurately propel trumpets rapidly around the room in the dark without hitting anything!

On previous occasions when Stewart’s seances have been held in rooms with high ceilings, I have witnessed trumpets flying around way above our heads from nearly one end of the room to the other. This seance was held in a room with a normal height ceiling and it looked to me from where I was sitting that the trumpets just about went over the heads of those sitting in the front row.

Although we were sitting in the dark, we could follow the movement of the trumpets by the clearly visible luminous bands around them. Later on our only other visible evidence came when, what we were told was a partly materialised form, produced light and moved around the room. This light was strong enough for close-by sitters to distinguish the materialised fingers holding it. The light varied in intensity, starting with a dull sphere or circle of maybe 50mm across, down to a much smaller size but of higher intensity.

The partly materialised form, called Freda, (a regular communicator) spoke to us via independent direct voice and told us she was using an ectoplasmic voice box. Apparently this was much more difficult than her usual method of speaking through Stewart whilst in trance. We could hear her voice moving across the room as she spoke and held the psychic light. It is interesting to note that Stewart is now often conscious for short periods and speaks whilst phenomena is occurring.

A regular feature of Stewart’s seances is the demonstration of passing matter through matter. This entails a person being selected to hold one of Stewart’s hands whilst he is in a trance state, with his main control Walter Stinson speaking through him. On this occasion three times the plastic straps were momentarily dematerialised (or a section dematerialised?) to allow one of his arms to become free. Each time after the witness had touched the strap hanging on the chair arm, Stewart’s arm appeared to pass through the strap again to secure his arm to the chair.

The first two times the witness felt the strap come free and was able to retain it in her hand to keep. Each time the spirit control obtained another strap, the first time from a spare within the room and the second time, allegedly apported from outside of the seance room. Each time we could hear the new strap being tightened up around the arm due to the distinctive clicking sound made as the plastic cable tie was applied. The third time the strap was left securing the medium’s arm as at the beginning of the sequence.

Of the various personal communications from loved ones who had passed on, perhaps the most significant was that received by Mary Armour. Firstly, Freda spoke to her giving family evidence and also told her to look in a book to find references to a bird and water. The shelf, book position on the shelf, the page number and the paragraph were given.

I spoke to Mary on her return home and she confirmed the information. The only mistake being that the book was the second from the right, not second from the left. We think the mistake was due to the Spirit form standing in front of Mary rather than from the view point that Mary had on returning home. In other words, her left side was Mary’s right side.

After Freda spoke to Mary, she was overjoyed to hear her father speak to her and to kiss her hand before departing. He also gave her personal family evidence which Mary later verified on checking with family members.

During the seance several others received touches to their heads or had their hands shaken, clasped or touched by Spirit forms. Malcolm Lewis, in particular, had his hand shaken by the materialised hand of Walter Stinson as Walter spoke to him. Malcolm reported that this hand was much larger than the medium’s. Walter also took Malcolm and his wife Anne-Marie’s hands, clasped them together with his hand and held them up high as he conversed with them. Malcolm said he was amazed at the size of Walter’s hand.

Malcolm, a senior university lecturer, described to me afterwards how Walter’s voice descended from 6ft up in the air to floor level as the power rapidly declined at the end of the communication. This account tallies with the many reports over the years of materialised forms sinking into the floor as the ectoplasm returns to the medium.
David Thompson provided the physical mediumship for the second seance at the seminar. As with Stewart, David was tied into a chair with plastic cable ties. However, David was also gagged as all of the verbal communications in his seances are by independent direct voice and not via the medium’s mouth and vocal cords.

First to communicate was a gentleman with a refined voice and introduced himself as William Charles Cadwell. He said he died in 1897. Next a child control named Timothy Booth spoke in a light hearted cheeky manner to put everyone at ease. Timothy and William claim to have known one another whilst on the earth plane.

Like Stewart’s seance, we soon had trumpets whizzing around the room playing intricate patterns without hitting anything. The velocity and distance from the cabinet were again similar and lasted just for a short while, just to prove what is possible.

After the trumpet phenomena Wendy McDougal from Saltcoats in Ayrshire was asked to sit next to the cabinet and soon received direct voice communication from her grandfather. He kissed her head, touched her hair and made a comment about it being sticky! Wendy explained that she had put hair gel on it - a product that no doubt didn’t exist during his days on earth.

Hans, a gentleman from Switzerland, received a communication in the German language from his grandfather. However, the grandfather had difficulty communicating and disappointingly spoke only a few sentences to Hans.

After this came a tune played on a mouth organ by regular communicator Timothy Booth who portrayed himself as a young boy. The mouth organ had been left on a small table a few feet from the cabinet housing the medium. The mouth organ was played quite well but I didn’t recognise the tune.

Next came three well known gentlemen - Quentin Crisp, Peter Cook and lastly Dudley Moore. Quentin and Peter were rather ribald in their humour and comments, which they said was proof that we don’t change into angels when we pass on! The problem with well known personalities communicating is that unless there is someone present who knows them personally, then you just have to take it on face value they are who they say they are. However, their remarks and behaviour were very much in keeping with how I remember them as public figures. I could not possibly quote many of their remarks here!

After this, and in total contrast, came regular communicator known as Honest Jack with what I took to be a cockney accent. He answered a few questions and gave good evidence to two members of a circle whose leader had recently passed to Spirit. This was Beatrice Jackson who had originally planned to be physically at the seminar - not visiting from the other side! When called Beatrice she quickly let it be known that she was called Beatie. Chris, one of her circle members, confirmed that she did not like being called Beatrice by her friends.

Perhaps the most remarkable event of the seance was at the end when a North American Indian apparently materialised and picked up a native traditional rattle that had been left on a small table. It then sounded as if he was dancing around in a circle as he sang and shook the rattle.

The Indian, known as White Soaring Bird, must have been heavy as we could feel the floor shaking and hear his feet pounding the floor. He finished by speaking in his native tongue and saying a few words in English. Afterwards Alf Winchester, who weighs over 13 stone, could not replicate the vibrations we felt through the floor as the Indian danced.

The final physical phenomena after this dramatic materialisation was to find that the medium and his chair had been moved out of the cabinet. David was still bound and gagged and sitting in the centre of the circle when the lights were put back on.

The whole idea of holding physical phenomena seminars is to encourage Spiritualists to form their own home circles in order to develop more physical mediums, as this form of mediumship is very rare these days. So as well as the demonstrations of physical mediumship in the seances, the seminar contained supporting activities that included lectures and a forum.

The first of these events was a talk on Scottish mediums by Mary Armour with accounts of the many physical mediums that her homeland has produced over the last 150 years or so. Many present were amazed at the sheer number of mediums that Scotland has produced. Mary, of course, ended with the most famous of them all - Helen Duncan.

David Thompson gave a talk and demonstration of psychic surgery whilst in the trance state. One of the ladies who volunteered for the demonstration has been reported as walking better and with less pain several days later. I’m told she no longer uses a walking stick. David’s talk included details of how he became involved with Spiritualism and of his very interesting meeting with a Hindu master.

Malcolm Lewis’s illustrated his talk with computerised slides and titled his contribution ‘Mundane to Miraculous’. Malcolm covered the various theories and classification of types of phenomena and made the observation that physical phenomena had often been most abundant where mediums resided near large areas of water. He pointed out that the halcyon days of American mediumship occurred near the Great Lakes in the north of the USA.

Denzil Fairbairn gave us a talk on his late uncle, Jack Webber. He was able to fill us in on much detail that hasn’t appeared in print anywhere regarding his uncle’s wonderful mediumship. He showed several photos that were omitted from Harry Edward’s famous book The Mediumship of Jack Webber, published by The Harry Edwards Spiritual Healing Trust.

An excellent demonstration of psychic art was provided by John Brett with Bryan Gibson providing most of the mediumistic communication relevant to the drawings (John also provided information). They worked well together as a team with the mental mediumship tying in well with the drawings and good evidence was provided with every contact. Although this demonstration did not come under the banner of physical mediumship it did provide balance to the seminar and was no doubt greatly welcomed by all attendees.

I’m sure this seminar will have played its part in helping to encourage more Spiritualists to sit and try to develop physical mediumship. In this scientific age we need hard evidence from both mental and physical mediumship to demonstrate that there is no death.

Investigation Supports Idea That Researcher Has Communicated With Wife

By Michael E. Tymn

Deceased researcher Montague Keen teams up with Arizona scientist Gary Schwartz to contact Keen’s wife Veronica.

ON JANUARY 15, 2004, at the age of 79, Montague ‘Monty’ Keen, one of Britain’s most prominent psychical researchers, collapsed and died while participating in a public debate on telepathy at the Royal Society of Arts in London.

A few weeks later, Veronica Keen, Monty’s wife, contacted Dr. Gary Schwartz at his University of Arizona research laboratory and informed him that she had received messages from her husband through several mediums requesting that Schwartz conduct some research with him. While still in the flesh, Keen had met and befriended Schwartz.

Schwartz and Dr. Julie Beischel, his research associate, then designed a two phase, multi-medium experiment with four research mediums participating, one of which was Allison DuBois on whose career as a psychic legal investigator the new NBC series ‘Medium’ is based.

With Veronica Keen in Britain and ’sitting’ by her telephone, DuBois did the reading in Arizona, ‘blind’ as to whom she was sitting for and apparently unaware of Monty Keen or the manner of his death.

The information relayed to Schwartz by DuBois strongly suggested that Keen was communicating. For example, DuBois said:

” … he’s showing a man falling at the podium. Like [snaps her fingers]. Like [snaps her fingers again] and falls, and he goes down at the podium.”

Although Keen was not actually standing at the podium when he collapsed, he was near it and facing it.

DuBois also said he was referencing a dedication to him that he didn’t expect or some sort of public acknowledgement that was a surprise to him, apparently a reference to the tribute to him that was then scheduled for June 27, 2004 at the same Royal Society of Arts hall in London. The image of Laurie Campbell, another research medium at Schwartz’s laboratory, also came to DuBois. Before his death, Keen had visited Schwartz’s lab, had met Campbell, and had observed a public demonstration by her. Sometime after this session, Campbell reported to Schwartz that she was getting messages from Keen on a regular basis

“He’s showing the ‘white crow’ as being important,” DuBois further said.

This was no doubt a reference to the famous quote by Harvard professor William James relative to mediums that “If you wish to upset the law that all crows are black, you mustn’t seek to prove that no crows are; it is enough to prove one single crow to be white.” It should be kept in mind that DuBois had no idea that she was receiving information from a psychical researcher. In fact, when Schwartz questioned her she did not know the meaning of ‘white crow’ in the context of psychical research.

There were a number of other veridical facts relayed by DuBois, some of them outside the bounds of telepathy, i.e., facts unknown to either Schwartz or Veronica Keen.

“The pattern of findings provides compelling support for the conclusion that the medium was receiving information related to the designated deceased, particularly in the life questions condition,” Schwartz summarized in his report.

In the ‘non-life’ questions, those not subject to verification, Schwartz asked Keen what he had learned about the afterlife.

“Um… The thing that stood out for him, and that made him so happy is how he could still be here so much after his passing,” DuBois related. “And how he would feel energy-wise like he did when he was younger instead of with issues he had accumulated as he got older, um, were stripped away…”

The Sceptics Regard Us As Nothing But Fools

By Michael Prescott

In SEVERAL online essays, I’ve written about my interest in paranormal phenomena. The topic is always controversial. Despite massive evidence to the contrary, some people continue to maintain that no such phenomena exist. Those who hold most tenaciously to this opinion characterize themselves as “sceptics.”

Now, as has been frequently pointed out, this use of the term “sceptic” is more than a little misleading. In common usage, a sceptic is someone who maintains an open mind, insisting on evidence for any claim. The more unusual the claim, the more stringent the evidential demands. According to this view, the sceptic has no private agenda, no personal bias, but serves only as a guardian of the truth, who weeds out unsupported allegations and superstitious imaginings. The sceptic is the proverbial Missourian; though willing to be convinced, he says, “Show me.”

That’s the theory. In practice, things are different. Far from being a state of habitual open-mindedness, today’s scepticism is characterized by resistance to any new ideas or new evidence, and unwillingness to critically examine its own biases. These tendencies, in turn, rest on a very definite agenda, promoted by a clear and comprehensive worldview, a philosophy of life. This philosophy is rationalism.

Here we have not innocent open-mindedness, but a narrow and intolerant creed, which is today often recognized as such. The word ’sceptic’ is, in fact, increasingly conjoined with ‘dogmatic’, zealous and ‘militant’. Some people accuse sceptics of being nothing but cynics in disguise. A few wags have dubbed them “septics.” Admittedly, that’s not very nice - but, truth be told, sceptics have brought such attacks on themselves by repeatedly characterizing their opponents as credulous, gullible, simpleminded, ignorant, irrational, and foolish.

Want proof? Look at sceptic Andrew Stuttaford, a frequent contributor to National Review Online. “A sйance,” he writes glibly, “is, by definition, a gathering of the credulous.” Apparently, then, all the researchers who have ever studied mediumship - the noted psychologists William James and F.W.H. Myers among them - were either dupes or dopes. Stuttaford on John Edward: “He’s a fast-talking psychic with slow-witted fans.” Although he admits, “I have no idea … how Mr. Edward does it,” Stuttaford opines that “it … takes, how can this be put politely, a certain special something in the minds of his subjects. It cannot be put politely. Those special somethings are naivety, superstition, and a problem with rational thought.”

Crossing Over fans shouldn’t take undue umbrage. Stuttaford holds an equally negative view of the human race in general - “we are little more than highly competitive apes, after all,” he casually remarks. Even Walt Disney movies earn his opprobrium. “It’s not easy to decide which Disney character is the most repellent,” he muses. “That simpering Bambi would be better roasted, carved and surrounded by potatoes, gravy and parsnips.” Stuttaford approaches the world from a rightist political perspective, but happily there is political balance among sceptics. Leftist writer Christopher Hitchens denounces all spiritual interests and phenomena as a “tsunami of piffle” embraced by the “feebleminded.”

He has high praise for Houdini, who “toured far and wide, exposing and announcing the callous hoaxes of the ectoplasm-artists.” Hitchens doesn’t mention the fact that Houdini himself was exposed as a hoaxer who, on one occasion, framed the very psychic he was supposedly investigating - he had his assistant plant a suspicious article among the psychic’s personal effects, so it could be conveniently discovered later. If Hitchens is aware of this detail, he doesn’t allow it to dim his enthusiasm for the famed “fairy-flattener.”

Science has undergone momentous changes in the past century. The Theory of Relativity and, even more so, the advent of quantum physics have undermined the old Newtonian world picture. Where Newton saw the universe as a great machine humming along in a neat and orderly fashion, following laws that could be mathematically calculated, producing results that could be predicted with pinpoint accuracy, the new physics sees the universe as a place of paradox and ambiguity. In the quantum world, a subatomic particle can be both a particle and a wave at the same time.

The distinction between the observer and the observed, so crucial to the classical outlook, has dissolved, and it now appears that the observer can directly affect or even bring about the events under observation. Entities are able to influence each other over vast distances instantaneously - a multiply verified observation that has given rise to the idea that this is a “nonlocal universe,” a universe in which, at a fundamental level, space and time do not exist. Physicist David Bohm has compared the universe to a giant hologram, a multidimensional image projected out of a two-dimensional wave-interference pattern at the quantum level. Superstring theory argues that the essence of things is not any material object, but cosmic vibrational frequencies.

In many respects, science is evolving into a more open-ended discipline, one that allows for and even celebrates the enigmas, paradoxes, and ambiguities of the universe. Rationalists are unhappy with this development. They resist it. They gripe about it. They make fun of it. They cannot come to terms with it.

The quest for truth is an ongoing process, a journey, not a destination. Indeed, science - and reason itself - can be best understood not as a final answer but as a method, a tool. If science is seen as a set of answers with which one must agree if one is to be deemed “rational” - a viewpoint for which the term “scientism” has been coined - then any new information that challenges the existing scientific worldview is a threat to science and to rationality itself. In that case, one must be perpetually on guard against such threats, by assiduously debunking any new ideas or new observations that fall outside the established paradigm.

Unfortunately, people with a powerful personal agenda do not make the best sceptics - at least not if scepticism is understood as the exercise of unbiased objectivity.

A small example will illustrate this point. It involves Dr. William A. Nolen, who went to the Philippines to study so-called “psychic surgeons.” At the outset, let me be clear that I have no particular interest in psychic surgery and no confidence in its genuineness. In fact, psychic surgery is among the least well documented of all paranormal claims and is not widely accepted even by parapsychologists.

Certainly I would never recommend a visit to a faith healer over a consultation with a reputable doctor. My point in choosing this topic is to show that even regarding one of the most dubious paranormal claims, where the rationalist position may have considerable merit, sceptics still indulge in hasty generalizations while ignoring possible nuances and subtleties of the issue. If they play fast and loose even when occupying comparatively solid ground, how reliable are they in better substantiated areas of paranormal research, such as telepathy and psychokinesis, where volumes of evidence and mountains of data weigh against them? (The best summary of the evidence for psi-related phenomena is Dean Radin’s The Conscious Universe, 1997.)

With that said, let’s return to Dr. Nolen. He tells us that his attitude was admirably unbiased. “I was making a very sincere effort,” he says, “not to prejudge the merits of the psychic surgeons whom I was about to investigate. If I had already been persuaded they were charlatans, I would never have undertaken the assignment.”

But “unbiased” means one thing to people in general, and quite another to a committed rationalist-cum-sceptic. To the sceptic, it means that he is willing to waste a little of his time examining obvious nonsense for the socially beneficial purpose of debunking it. Don’t take my word for this. Here is Nolen again, this time being a little more forthcoming.

“I have to confess that I undertook the assignment with fear and trepidation. I knew that by looking into and writing about psychic surgery I ran a serious risk of being labelled a ‘kook’, a label that might destroy my reputation as a legitimate medical writer. I didn’t want that to happen.” On the other hand, I didn’t agree with the AMA’s policy. It seemed to me that ignoring the lunatic fringe, hoping they would just go away, was unrealistic. Remaining silent while quacks went out and sold their ideas, unopposed, just wouldn’t work …” So Nolen’s “very sincere effort not to prejudge the merits of the psychic surgeons” took the form of assuming in advance that they were “quacks” who were part of “the lunatic fringe.” Remember this the next time a sceptic boasts about his impartial, objective stance.

Nolen spent a total of two weeks in the Philippines, a rather short time in which to investigate a phenomenon that, by some estimates, involves more than four hundred Filipino healers. Nevertheless, he was able to confidently conclude that the whole business of psychic surgery is a fraud.

So, then - cased closed. Or is it? Before we grant the final word on the subject to Nolen’s two weeks of study, we might consider some contrary points of view.

Psychic Readings

If you are interested in consulting with a psychic there are various things you must carefully consider before parting with any money.

Firstly, do you want to personally meet the psychic or would you prefer a telephone or e-mail reading?

If you would like a face-to-face consultation, then there are various Spiritualist organisations you can contact. Organisations such as The Spiritualist Association of Great Britain and the Spiritualists National Union (in the United Kingdom) or The National Spiritualist Association of Churches in the United States, all have vetted mediums on their books who have undergone quality training and development.

Contact these organisations and they will provide you with all the information you need in booking a private consultation.

Good psychics are always aware that people are looking for the reasons why things happen as they do, so they realise that clients can be emotionally vulnerable and open to misunderstanding - particularly if they have recently suffered a bereavement.

Expectations about what should or should not happen in a mediumship reading often creates an anxiety which blocks the flow. It could be that there is a message from someone who has passed away, but guides, angels and other friends are also contacted through mediumship. Clients who are open and relaxed get most benefit from a mediumship reading.

Psychic Websites

The Internet has literally hundreds of sites offering psychic readings. Where on earth do you start? Well, while there is no guarantee that every person claiming to be a psychic is genuine, there are various things to consider before parting with any money.

The website itself. When you first arrive at the site, ask yourself the following questions:

1. Is the website professional-looking, or does it look amateurish? The quality of presentation will give you a good indication as to the quality of the psychic.

2. Does the site provide a valid contact address, e-mail and phone number? If it is a company, do they provide a registered company name? An honest company or psychic will not be afraid to divulge this information as they will have nothing to hide. If these details are missing, you have to ask yourself why?

3. What sort of claims are made on the site? The more outlandish or too good to be true they are, the more you should steer clear!

4. Look for testimonials. If they haven’t any, that should give you a warning. If they have testimonials, do they appear credible or do they seem too good to be true?
When you have found a website that appears to be what you are looking for, it is always a good idea to phone the person or company in order to ask a few preliminary questions. If they are honest and ethical, they will be only too pleased to answer your queries. Questions to ask before you book a psychic reading:

1. Can I request a particular psychic?
2. What psychic arts are your psychics skilled in? I.e.. Tarot, clairvoyance, clairaudience etc.
3. Can I ask questions during the reading?
4. Is there a minimum charge for a reading?
5. How much does it cost per minute?
6. Have I a recourse for complaint if I am not happy with the quality of my reading?

By asking these questions and considering the response you receive, you will be able to judge if the company or psychic is the right one for you. It is important that you feel comfortable with your choice before you part with any money.

How to spot a charlatan - the top 4 giveaways!

1. Don’t believe in ‘amazing’ promises or predictions: Charlatans don’t care how they con you out of your money. They will make all sorts of ridiculous promises they know they can’t keep.

If you hear promises like “We’ll make your boyfriend come back to you”, or “Cast a spell that guarantees financial success,” or “We’ll help you win the lottery,” then run the other way very quickly!

2. Fatal or Scary Predictions: Predictions of death and tragedy are a great way for a charlatan to keep you enthralled (and frightened) without actually giving you any real insight or understanding about your life. These kind of predictions can often be quite traumatic for the client and my experience is that genuine psychics have no wish to create unnecessary pain and trauma for the people they read for.

3. Obscure or trivial information - Charlatans are always looking for ways to beef up a reading with comments that sound psychic but are in fact, quite nonsensical. Comments such as “I see a broken window pane in your house” or “I see a disregarded object that means a lot to you,” might actually sound impressive but on closer examination these remarks could mean anything to anyone.

4. Too many questions - There is nothing wrong with a psychic asking questions during a reading. Just because we are psychics doesn’t mean we know everything. However, when you find a reading starts becoming an endless succession of questions then you have to start wondering whether your reader is just trying to skilfully gain information from you. The best way to counter this problems is not to go silent but to ask questions yourself.

Conclusion: While making sure you keep this criteria in mind, it is important to always keep an open mind to a reading. Sometimes a problem with a bad reading might be blockages in you, not the reader! So, don’t jump to a conclusion about a reader too early in a reading.

Articles

Miraculous Visions Of The Clairvoyant Without Sight by Simon Forsyth

Sitters Witness Spirit Fingers During Alexander Seance by Lewis Sutton

Charles Tart - A Man Of Many Passionsby Simon Forsyth

The Mysteries Of Time Raise Intriguing Questions by Peter McCue

Investigation Supports Idea That Researcher Has Communicated With Wife by Michael E. Tymn

Exploring the Shadows of the Paranormal

An Interview with Dr. Robert M. Schoch

by Bianca Waxlax

Is there scientific evidence that a world beyond the ordinary exists? Dr. Robert M. Schoch, PhD, strives to answer this question in his latest book entitled, The Parapsychology Revolution: A Concise Anthology of Paranormal and Psychical Research, co-authored by Logan Yonavjak. This anthology contains reports, essays, and arguments, dating from 1886 through 2007, which explore whether such phenomena as clairvoyance, telepathy, and poltergeist activity are grounded in scientific evidence, or just hearsay.
A full-time faculty member at the College of General Studies at Boston University since 1984, Dr. Schoch earned his PhD in geology and geophysics at Yale University. He has been quoted extensively in the media for his pioneering research recasting the date of the Great Sphinx of Egypt, as well as for his work on ancient cultures and monuments in Peru, Bosnia, Egypt, and Japan. He has appeared on many radio and television shows and is featured in the documentary, The Mystery of the Sphinx. I recently had the chance to speak with Dr. Schoch about his paranormal and psychical investigations.

VM: What sort of research is discussed in your book, The Parapsychology Revolution?

RS: Let me begin by saying that while parapsychology and psychical research is incredibly important, it is at the same time poorly understood and often ignored, dismissed, or ridiculed by mainstream academics and conventional thinkers. It is my hope that The Parapsychology Revolution will help make the case that studies of paranormal mental phenomena need to be taken seriously and demonstrate that many serious scientists and researchers (including Nobel prize winning scientists) who have studied parapsychology in depth agree that there is something happening here that requires explanation.

In The Parapsychology Revolution, Logan Yonavjak and I discuss paranormal and psychical phenomena in a strict sense, addressing the concepts of ESP (Extra-Sensory Perception, including telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition) and PK (psychokinesis, or the ability of the mind to directly influence physical objects). Certain topics that are sometimes included in more general definitions of the paranormal and parapsychology, such as UFOs, aliens, Big Foot, and so forth, are not of concern in this book. Likewise, our primary focus did not include evidence bearing on survival beyond the grave (though we do briefly discuss evidence for reincarnation).

The survival issue is highly controversial and the evidence typically used to support life after death is subject to many interpretations. In terms of paranormal mental phenomena, we felt it was important to first establish what is possible now, while people are still alive.

VM: How did you personally become interested in the field of parapsychology research?

RS: Parapsychology is something I have actually had an interest in for many years. My late grandmother was a Theosophist and open to non-conventional ideas. I was never a “true believer” in the reality of such phenomena and always maintained a healthy skepticism of all reports of paranormal manifestations. Indeed, my initial interest in such phenomena was from an anthropological point of view, not necessarily judging whether alleged paranormal experiences are “real” or not, but simply being interested in why people seem to experience them, and what their meaning might be for the participants. In college I earned degrees in anthropology and geology, and in studying one “primitive” or “traditional” culture after another, supposed instances of the paranormal kept cropping up.

VM: How did your work in ancient civilizations affect your desire to pursue the field of parapsychology?

RS: Beginning in the 1990s, I found myself applying my geological expertise to ancient monuments, initially working on the Great Sphinx and pyramids in Egypt, and then expanding to other ancient stone monuments and megalithic structures around the globe. Issues I had not given much thought to for years started to haunt me once I became involved in studying not just the stones, but why past civilizations had erected them into such magnificent edifices. The “why” behind the monuments, more often than not, apparently included religious beliefs and practices, as well as initiation rites and rituals, which in many cases seemed to have an ostensible paranormal aspect, whether it was clairvoyance, divination, or manifestations of higher levels of consciousness.

The temples and tombs of ancient Egypt, Mexico, and Peru seemed to cry out “paranormal.” So, was it all a mixture of ancient myth, superstition, and downright fraud on the part of many seers, priests, and priestesses, or could there be something to it? Were the ancient structures used, at least in part, to alter consciousness, and possibly enhance paranormal psychical phenomena?  Such questions led me to look seriously at the paranormal.

VM: What do you find to be the most compelling evidence supporting the reality of paranormal phenomena?

RS: Most people who have seriously studied the subject conclude that telepathy is the best-supported class of paranormal phenomena. Perhaps most compelling for me is the work of various modern researchers which has demonstrated a weak but persistent correlation between low levels of geomagnetic activity on planet Earth and cases of apparent spontaneous telepathy (based on records going back to the latter half of the nineteenth century). This, in my opinion, is a very strong argument supporting the contention that there is something genuine to the concept of telepathy.

It suggests that spontaneous telepathic phenomena are real and that their manifestation is influenced by other natural parameters. Alternatively, are we to think that hundreds of hoaxers over nearly a century and a half have conspired to falsify telepathic incidents in identical correlation with geomagnetic activity? This latter hypothesis strikes me as rather far-fetched, if not downright ludicrous.

Another line of compelling evidence for the reality of paranormal phenomena is the study of pre-sentiments or “pre-sponses,” essentially a form of short-term precognition as measured by physiological parameters (heart rate, electrodermal activity, and so forth). Numerous replicated experiments have demonstrated the physiological responses of individuals to disturbing photographs, for instance, a second or two before they are actually viewed by the person. According to conventional science, this should not be possible.

VM: What is the most interesting case study that you found while doing research for The Parapsychology Revolution?

RS: I encountered many fascinating case studies while researching the book. However, one is of particular interest to me as I was personally a part of it. One Saturday a spider bit me. This particular spider had the appearance of a hairy little tarantula with large green “eyes” that I found very striking and beautiful. I was quite worried about the incident as my thumb hurt where I had been bitten, and I knew stories of people becoming extremely ill or even dying from spider bites. I did not know what kind of spider it was, and thus could not judge whether it was poisonous or not, so before letting it go, (I do not believe in killing anything unnecessarily), I took photographs of the spider in order to later identify the species if necessary. That night a friend of mine, thousands of miles away, dreamed about a tarantula-like spider, and also dreamed of a baby with “beautiful large green eyes.”

Furthermore, I appeared in her dreams that night. The next day she felt a need to tell me about the spider, and sent me an e-mail about her dream. She does not write to me that often, nor does she normally relate her dreams to me. Upon receiving her e-mail, I told her about the spider incident and sent her photos of the actual critter. To this day, I am convinced that my spider bite and her dream were not just a simple case of chance or coincidence.

VM: Has the evidence for the reality of paranormal phenomena altered your personal belief system?

RS: I would say the answer is both yes and no. In all honesty, I have always been highly skeptical of any alleged paranormal phenomena. However, my concept of skepticism is not the same as dismissal, and in my studies of ancient and traditional cultures, alleged paranormal phenomena kept making an appearance. Still, when I first began working on this anthology, I honestly doubted that much compelling evidence would be found to support the existence of genuine paranormal phenomena. Indeed, initially my conception was that the anthology would present “both sides of the coin” in equal amounts, namely evidence for and against the reality of paranormal phenomena.

In hindsight, I realize I was naïve. The more I researched the paranormal, the more evidence I found to support it. All the “evidence” against it seemed to simply be skeptical dismissals without any real substance, or isolated cases of exposing fraud here and there. Cases of fraud, more often than not, were exposed not by the debunkers, but by serious parapsychologists.

Perhaps the reality of paranormal phenomena has not so much fundamentally altered my personal belief system as supplemented and expanded it, broadening my understanding of the human experience and human potential. Human beings are not as isolated from each other, from other life forms, and the world at large as a traditional mechanistic, materialistic, rationalistic worldview suggests. What we think “privately” in our heads really does matter and our very thoughts can and do have consequences.

Source: http://www.visionmagazine.com/archives/0810/mindstates_paranormal.html

To learn more about the work of Dr. Robert M. Schoch, PhD, please visit www.robertschoch.com.

New Research Seeks To Verify Accuracy Of Psychic Communication Under Scientific Controls

From USPRwire:

Do you want to connect with a loved one who has passed away? Skeptiko.com and OpenSourceScience.net are sponsoring a research experiment aimed at determining if psychic mediums can really deliver messages from beyond. And, they’re currently looking for participants. According to OpenSourceScience.net founder, Alex Tsakiris:

“There isn’t enough quality research into medium communication. There’s tremendous public interest in the topic, but as far as tightly controlled double-blind experiments, there isn’t much. We’re hoping to find participants interested it connecting with a relative or friend who have passed away.”

Those interested in participating are encouraged to send an email to: info@skeptiko.com.

About Skeptiko

Skeptiko is the first scientifically oriented Podcast exploring new research in controversial areas of science such as telepathy, psi, parapsychology, near-death-experience, reincarnation, and after-life encounters. Each episode features open, honest debate on new scientific discoveries. The show includes interviews with top research scientists and their critics.

About OpenSourceScience

OpenSourceScience.net is the first scientifically oriented website to bring the power of open source methods to the controversial areas of science such as telepathy, psi, medium communication, parapsychology, near-death experiences, and after-life encounters.
Press Release Submission by PressReleasePoint(http://www.pressreleasepoint.com/)

Contact:
Joni Johnston
Skeptiko
Del Mar, CA
858 225-7554
pr@skeptiko.com
http://www.skeptiko.com

A Post With a Left-Aligned Image

Nulla sagittis convallis arcu. Sed sed nunc. Curabitur consequat. Quisque metus enim, venenatis fermentum, mollis in, porta et, nibh. Duis vulputate elit in elit. Mauris dictum libero id justo. Fusce in est. Sed nec diam. Pellentesque habitant morbi tristique senectus et netus et malesuada fames ac turpis egestas. Quisque semper nibh eget nibh. Sed tempor. Fusce erat.

Another Text-Only Post

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Sed eleifend urna eu sapien. Quisque posuere nunc eu massa. Praesent bibendum lorem non leo. Morbi volutpat, urna eu fermentum rutrum, ligula lacus interdum mauris, ac pulvinar libero pede a enim. Etiam commodo malesuada ante. Donec nec ligula. Curabitur mollis semper diam. Continue Reading