A - Z OF THE PARANORMAL
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Coincidence Reincarnation
Ghosts Spiritualism
Poltergeist Telepathy
Premonition Trance
Psychokinesis
COINCIDENCE
The world is full of coincidence. Scientist Camille Flammarion wrote about when an essay he was writing about the wind blew out of his window and was lost. It actually fell in front of a print worker who took it to work and printed it off for him. Actor Anthony Hopkins once found a novel of a film he was about to work on on a bench. It turned out to be an annotated version by the writer of the novel. From a policeman who answered a phone in a factory he was checking, only to find his friend on the line, to the man who ended up carrying out the exact first aid on a policeman that the policeman had carried out on him years earlier, coincidences are the spice of life. Arthur Koestler put them down to puns of destiny, whilst Charles Fort put them down to the Cosmic Joker. Paul Kammerer, on the other hand, suggested that life naturally provides congregations of related events in a process he called seriality. Coincidence is a process whereby events become linked in some meaningful way without meaning behind it. Chance, it seems, throws up situations that imply meaning, but this is only our mind grasping for answers and order when they don’t exist. At least, that is the rational answer. Applied to the paranormal, meaning can so easily be grasped, suggesting telepathy or premonition at work, when in reality, it is inevitable that groupings of events will happen, with nothing paranormal actually occurring. Another way of looking at it is to say that chance, itself, is ordered. As such, the universe conspires to produce fortuitous, or disastrous, coincidences while attuned to your mind. Good or bad luck can be the outcome, with runs of linked events. Carl Jung devised the term ‘synchronicity’ to pinpoint such meaningful coincidence. But if a theory can ever be devised to put real meaning into coincidence, then much of the paranormal could be explained in a stroke. © Anthony North, November 2006GHOSTS
The world is full of ghost stories. Chingle Hall, built in the 13th century, has had a number of sightings over the centuries, from a hooded figure to the touch of an invisible hand. Croft Castle, near Leominster, was mentioned in the Doomsday Book. A leather-clad man is seen regularly, with a spate of sightings in the 1920s. 50 Berkeley Square in London is notorious for a number of ghosts, from a child killed by a servant, to a 'terrifying shape.' And who has not heard of Borley Rectory, dubbed the most haunted house in Britain until it burned down some fifty years ago. The Brown Lady of Raynham Hall in Norfolk has been seen regularly for some 200 years, even photographed on a staircase in the 1930s, whilst a ghostly skeleton hanging from a rotting gallows has been occasionally seen in the Cumbrian village of Eden Hall. What are we to make of such sightings? A ghost is believed to be the spirit of a dead individual. A classic ghost inhabits an old, often famous, building and re-enacts an episode of history. As we have seen, such ghosts are seen occasionally by visitors. Alternatively they can merely ‘feel’ a presence. One obvious answer to such hauntings is that culture is playing on the mind of the experiencer. Visiting an old or famous building, they become steeped in the atmosphere, which goes on to play tricks with the mind. Alternatively, some believe in the ‘tape recording’ theory. Typical was the case of heating engineer Harry Martindale, who saw a ghostly column of Roman soldiers walking through the cellar of the Treasurer's House in York. Here, the emotion of a traumatic event is said to impinge itself on the environment. From time to time, this causes the event to be replayed. Not all ghosts are ‘cultural’ in nature. A large proportion of widowed people see their dead spouse. One likely answer to this is hallucination. Indeed, the classic ‘bedroom visitor’ appears just before or after deep sleep. We regularly hallucinate at this time. But whether real or not, a reason can be found for apparent ghostly tales. Consider Awd Nance of Burton Agnes Hall near Driffield. She haunted her sisters until they finally agreed to a death wish. Then there is the ghost of Dick Tomlin who had died when cannibalised to keep others alive after a shipwreck. One by one the perpetrators were 'killed' by the ghost. With such tales, it is hard not to see the ghost story as a morality tale, designed to keep a suspicious population in check. © Anthony North, November 2006POLTERGEIST
In 1977 a single mother and her four children were haunted in their Enfield home by an entity that could throw furniture and levitate some of the children. Many researchers consider it one of the best documented cases of a poltergeist on record. Other famous cases include the Black Monk that caused a host of paranormality in the Pritchard household from Pontefract, and the Bell Witch that attacked Tennessee farmer John Bell and his daughter in 1817. The Rosenheim poltergeist played havoc with the machinery in a lawyer's office in 1967. At one point it repeatedly rang the speaking clock. There were some forty witnesses to the events. A poltergeist is said to be a destructive spirit that manifests phenomena, from throwing objects to speaking. An infestation is one of the most frightening areas of the paranormal, lasting from a few weeks to as long as six months. Occasionally an actual spirit is seen, whilst in other cases, it is said to levitate people and even possess someone. Usually occurring in the family home, the possession can include Stigmata-like phenomena and speaking in strange voices. Traditionally, the poltergeist is not, infact, always malevolent. Folklore speaks of fairies coming into people’s houses and even tidying up for them. This is classic poltergeist phenomena, so if you have difficulty finding things … who knows. In most cases the malevolent poltergeist infests the home of a family undergoing some form of trauma. This suggests the trauma may be part of the process, the poltergeist a manifestation of troubled energies in the house. Alternatively, the poltergeist has been put down to naughty children, banging things and creating an atmosphere of apprehension. Once such a feeling is in place, some researchers are sure any phenomena are caused by hallucination and hysteria. The identification of children plays a big part in the phenomenon, with many researchers believing the poltergeist is a manifestation of pubescent energy within a household. Certainly, as in the above cases the focus is quite often a young teenage girl. © Anthony North, November 2006PREMONITION
Premonition, or correctly ‘precognition’, is the supposed ability to have foreknowledge of a future event. It can vary from ‘seeing’ a disaster before it happens, to having a ‘feeling’ that you will soon see someone. We have all experienced the latter. As for the former, there are many examples. In 1974 a woman from Cleethorpes saw a newsflash of the Flixborough chemical plant explosion on her TV before it happened. David Booth 'saw' an American Airlines plane swerve off the runway and crash in May 1979. He phoned the authorities. A few days later it happened at Chicago Airport. Premonitions can come in groupings. Typical was the Titanic disaster, where dozens of premonitions came to light following the event. Indeed, many people had cancelled the voyage due to fear. But are these really premonitions? You could argue that fears are always present about something important, such as the Titanic's maiden voyage. Premonition, or unconscious concern? Similarly, it is estimated that there could be tens of thousands of nightmares every night in the UK alone. It is statistically inevitable that many will reflect events that actually happen. Theories to account for premonition vary. Some believe we live in several states of consciousness, with one level seeing further into the future than the level we normally live in. Others speak of the future causing a ripple that goes back in time, picked up by some people. A major problem for premonition is the law of causality. Basically, a cause, or action, must come before an effect. If this was not so, then the future would be pre-ordained. In such a universe there is no room for free will, so our decisions are pointless. In one area premonition could be a definite reality. Animals will vacate an area prior to an earthquake. Something in the environment has warned them. We now know this could be down to electromagnetic release from the ground affecting the brain. And us too? © Anthony North, November 2006PSYCHOKINESIS
Psychokinesis, or PK, is the supposed ability of the mind to affect matter. Best known through the spoon bending antics of Uri Geller, a spontaneous form of PK is believed, by some, to be behind the poltergeist phenomenon. For research purposes the phenomenon is split into micro and macro PK. Micro research began proper with the help of random number generators, devised in the 1960 by physicist Helmut Schmidt. Here the subject attempted to affect the random nature of the process. Since then, a whole range of similar tests have been devised by scientist Robert Jahn at Princeton. Research into PK began with J B Rhine and his dice throwing experiments in the 1930s. He attempted to get subjects to affect the statistical rate of the dice landing on particular numbers. Macro PK research attempts to affect matter on the scale above the statistical. Since the 1960s, groups of people have gathered regularly to produce phenomena in ‘mini-labs’, hermetically sealed glass boxes containing objects, first devised by William Cox. Previously, a team of enthusiasts known as SORRAT had attempted to use concentration to levitate tables and other objects. Occasionally movement of objects has been recorded in such boxes. A further macro PK test was the Philip Experiment, where researchers met to produce a fictional entity to levitate a table. They claimed success. But in the main, results from both micro and macro PK have been disappointing. This means the ability does not exist, or is so slight as to be of little use. © Anthony North, November 2006REINCARNATION
Mary Lurancy Vennum. a thirteen year old girl, lived in Watseka, Illinois in 1877. Following a fit, she woke up claiming to be a neighbour's dead daughter, Mary Roff. For four months she literally became the dead girl before reverting to her former self. This is one of the most famous cases of reincarnation. Typical was Dorothy Eady, who became convinced she was an ancient Egyptian. She moved to Egypt to live the life of her previous incarnation in a small village until her death in 1981. Jenny Cockell from Northamtonshire had dreams from a child about 'Mary' who lived close to Dublin. In the late 1980s she located the woman, who had died in 1932, and met her children. Reincarnation is the belief that people live many lives, the soul transferring to another upon death. Centred around eastern religions, the belief can be traced back to early tribal societies, who lived according to the cycles of nature. This understanding of ‘cycles’ could lie at the heart of the belief, with everything in eastern religions being cyclical. Therefore it is obvious that such cycles would intrude upon beliefs in life after death. Dr Ian Stevenson researched many eastern cases from the 1960s onwards. Typical of such cases is Kumari Shanti Devi, born in Delhi in 1926.As a girl she claimed to be the wife of Kedar Nath Chaubey, a hundred miles away. Taken to his village, she had accurate information about this previous life. Evidence of reincarnation can come in two forms. Typically, as seen, a child can awake and seem to have knowledge of a previous life. Often the facts are confirmed, but could similarly arise from hearing of a dead person and taking the facts into the mind. The second form is evidence grasped from past life regression during hypnosis. However, it is often the case that such previous lives are only gained when hypnotized by a therapist who believes in the phenomenon. Has he transferred the belief on? One explanation for the correct information that can be given is cryptomnesia. This is the ability of the mind to remember facts from films, books, etc, that you seem to have ‘forgotten.’ When remembered, they ally themselves to a believed previous life. A typical case is that of Jane Evans who, in the 1970s, recounted six previous lives. One was of Livonia from York when the future Constantine the Great lived there. The accurate facts were eventually traced to a novel by Louis de Wohl. A related phenomenon to supposed reincarnation could be multiple personality. Here, a person's mind fragments into many different characters which take it in turn to take over the body. A combination of this and cryptomnesia could account for much of what we think of as reincarnation. © Anthony North, November 2006SPIRITUALISM
Florence Cook used to attract large audiences in 19th century America. She was a Spiritualist medium who, as well as offering evidence of dead people, also had a spirit guide called Katie King who would take over her body. Equally fascinating was Helen Duncan who died in 1956. This Scottish woman became famous during World War Two and was even prosecuted for her work. At one point she gave out information about a sunken warship during a seance. It was still a secret. Spiritualism is a form of mediumship which first appeared in the 1840s following the antics of the Fox Sisters, who claimed to contact a dead pedlar through a series of knockings. Publicity from the case caused an explosion of such mediumship. Soon, people throughout Europe and America began to gather in front rooms for a séance, where attempts were made to contact the dead. A medium would go into a trance whilst people held hands around a table. A spirit guide would then take over the person and communicate with the dead. In its heyday, physical manifestations were said to break out, including spirit hands, table tilting and the appearance of ectoplasm. However, as methods of recording such phenomena appeared, the ability declined, suggesting fraud was involved. Typical of this was Eusapia Palladino. Researcher Hereward Carrington became convinced she was genuine, offering strong evidence of mediumship and table tilting. But at other times, she was a clumsy fraudster, easily caught out. At one stage, researchers looked at Spiritualism in the hope of finding proof of life after death, but fraud and delusion led to disappointment. Today, Spiritualist churches have cleaned up much of this fraud, but evidence is still illusive. Mediums are often said to use ‘cold reading’, where the questions they ask provide hints as to what the client wants to hear. Others, such as 1940s medium William Roy, used apparatus from telescopic rods to fake levitation, to hidden microphones in the anteroom. Even where genuine phenomena is said to exist, telepathy between medium and client could be the cause. Many mediums seem to have a traumatic childhood and turn in on themselves. This could suggest that their spirit guides could be related to multiple personality, where the mind can fragment into other characters who take over the host. Medium Eileen Garrett admitted she wasn't sure that her spirit guides were who they claimed to be. Such a phenomenon could also explain why sometimes they appear genuine, and at other times cheat. Is there an alternative location for the spirit guide other than from the afterlife? Split-brain research could offer explanation. The brain is made up of the left and right cerebral hemispheres, the left dealing with reason and the right being more the artist. At times they seem to work separately, and it has been suggested that the right brain can give the impression that emotional thoughts are coming from elsewhere. Mediumship is, infact, very ancient. In tribal societies a ‘shaman’ would commune with animal spirits to cleanse the tribe. Similar ‘spirit guides’ are used to this day, whilst other mediums have become ‘channellers’, said to be contacting discarnate entities. However, no medium was more famous that Daniel Dunglas Home. During the 1840s he was famous throughout America and Europe for his small seances where he levitated people, large objects and himself. Witnesses often spoke of the fleetingness of what they had seen. Indeed, the phenomenon is similar to stage hypnosis, where people can think such phenomena occurs. Does this suggest cheating, or maybe the mediums had no idea they were natural hypnotisers. © Anthony North, November 2006TELEPATHY
Explorer Sir Hubert Wilkins once went on an Arctic expedition in which he co-operated with researcher Harold Sherman. Over 68 nights he would spend a little time trying to communicate the events of the day by thought to Sherman in New York. Records of the test show that Sherman wrote some incredibly accurate notes.This was one of the most celebrated cases of telepathy, the believed ability to receive messages in the mind from another mind. A term coined by Frederic Myers in the 19th century, it is usually called extrasensory perception, or ESP, today; although the latter also takes in clairvoyance and precognition.
Classic examples of telepathy which most people have experienced include foreknowledge of someone about to phone you, or thinking about someone then seeing them. Sceptics deny this is telepathy, but merely coincidence. J B Rhine began the first ‘scientific’ analysis of telepathy in the 1930s. Using packs of 25 cards with 5 sets of five symbols, subjects would try to guess which symbol another person had turned over. The number of guesses above chance suggested ESP. By the 1970s, the Ganzfeld became popular, where a person is placed in sensory deprivation and asked to speak his thoughts whilst another person concentrates on sending images of a picture he is looking at. Evidence has been patchy. Theories to explain telepathy have included the idea that messages are carried on radio-like waves, or are a product of pheromones, or airborne hormones. All such ideas have been discounted. Others opt for more esoteric explanations, such as Carl Jung’s ‘collective unconscious’; a level of mind below the personal and arguably connecting minds together. Quantum mechanics allows spontaneous action, suggesting an answer may also exist here. © Anthony North, November 2006