Jock Brocas is a spiritual author and teacher with books published internationally. Jock is also the president of the charity organization assmpi and works tirelessly to he others develop spiritually and live a more rewarding life. Join Jock Brocas on a spiritual journey.
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If you have a passion for everything paranormal and want to become a paranormal investigator, there are more things to consider than the latest recording equipment or investigative tools. No, you also need to consider the legal problems you could encounter as a paranormal investigator. What kind of legal problems can I face as a paranormal investigator, you may ask? Well, we are about to disclose the legal pitfalls of the profession!
Trespassing Is One Of The Main Legal Problems For Paranormal Teams
One common problem that paranormal investigators often forget about is trespassing. There may be an alleged haunted building in the neighborhood you want to check out, but have you thought about the owner of that particular building? Or has the building been cordoned off because it is unsafe to enter?
Some buildings are associated with local legends, so they are a prime location for paranormal investigators to visit. Unfortunately, some of those buildings can be really unsafe. Even though there may not be anyone inside – or even if the site has been abandoned for years – it does not give you the right to enter the building.
Before you go into any building, home or property, always make sure you have permission to do so. If you do not know the owner of the building, you can head to your local city hall for additional information. In some cases, special permission may be required before you will be able to conduct your investigation safely and legally.
Property Damage On Location
Property damage is another liability you may encounter while you work as a paranormal investigator. For example, a client could ask you to check out a building they own for paranormal activity. Several weeks after you have completed your work, the client can slap you with a lawsuit claiming you have damaged their property. While this is a “he said, she said” situation, you always have to take that possibility into consideration.
Since you can enter someone else’s property during an investigation, it can be a good idea to have a legal document drafted up that ensures you are not liable for damages. Of course, this must be within reason. For example, the document can specify that you will not cause damage to the building and that you cannot be held liable for any damages that are already present. As such, it can be a good idea to take some photographs of the building’s interior and exterior before you bring in any equipment. You may need permission from the owner to take these photographs as well.
Some investigations may require digging or other actions. If this is necessary, then you must have a consent form from the owner of the building. If you don’t have such a consent form, you may be liable for the damages caused by digging, tunneling, or any other actions performed by you during the investigation.
Emotional Distress
You may be surprised just how many legal problems you can encounter as a paranormal investigator and emotional distress is certainly one. For example, a client may claim that your investigation has caused them significant emotional distress. After which, the person in question may deem it necessary to sue you for damages. Therefore, make sure that this particular issue is covered in the legal document you draft for all your clients.
Professional Legal Advice Can Help
Help Lawyer
Now that we have mentioned some issues you can encounter, it is important to get appropriate legal advice before you start your journey as a paranormal investigator. While most people you meet won’t have bad intentions towards you, there is a small percentage that looks to profit from your sheer presence. So, get a legal document drafted by a professional lawyer or law firm and ensure you are covered when someone uses your investigative services. You may also want to look at certain types of insurance, which provide added protection for property damage and other legal problems you could encounter. At the end of the day, good preparation makes all the difference.
Haunted Hotels are not just a Hollywood gimmick—many people believe a few real-life properties around the country play host to several long-term guests. Whether you believe in ghosts or not, there are many places that claim to have unexplained occurrences that can only be attributed to haunting lost souls. To many, going through such an event or testing one's bravado with the unknown is as exciting as riding a roller coaster or skydiving. If you happen to be that person, here is a list of haunted hotels in the United States where you can spend the night and try your luck at spotting a ghost. They all have a history of murder, suicide, accidental death, and past employees and guests that you may be fortunate enough to meet if you dare.
1)The Stanley Hotel
Generally regarded as one the most "spirited" hotels in America, The Stanley is better known for motivating Stephen King's The Shining after the author stayed there one winter’s night. In 1909, the hotel was initially built to house traveling, bourgeois city-folk and offered cars and servants to all their visitors. Today, many of their spirits still remain and guests have reported the sounds of untraceable piano music and maniacal laughs all over the hotel. These incidents are said to be the playful spirits of dead employees and guests.
2)Malaga Inn
The Malaga Inn is the only boutique inn of its kind and regarded as the most haunted hotel in Alabama. Built in 1862, this ancient property in the deep south is reminiscent of the Civil War era. It has 39 private rooms, Victorian furnishings and an outdoor courtyard. Initially, the two townhouses were constructed by two brothers-in-law as a wedding gift for the 2 sisters in the family—but that does not mean they ever left. Guests claim to have seen a ghostly lady figure in white, swinging chandeliers, lights that turn on by themselves and furniture that eerily moves on its own.
Image: Canva
3)Omni Mount Washington
Bretton Woods, NH. Knock, knock. Who's there? at this resort, perhaps no one…whom you can see, in any case. The resident invisible resident here, Carolyn Stickney, is known to tap on doors and once inside your room (whether you invite her in or not) she has no qualms regarding borrowing your belongings. However, she is a Victorian lady through and through—all manners—and will return your belongings to precisely where she got them. Tip: Rumor has it that checking into Room 314 nets the best possibility of spotting the ‘Princess’, as she is known.
4)Omni Grove Park Inn
Asheville, NC. Back in the 1920s, a young woman either jumped or was pushed to her death from her 5th floor room. 545, to be specific. Virtually a century later, employees and guests still report her presence, mostly as a pink mist or as a woman in a flowing pink gown, thus her nickname, the Pink Lady. How do you like these apples? Tip: Allegedly, young children are extremely sensitive to spotting her, so if you really want a glimpse, you know who to let loose on her trail.
5)Otesaga Resort
Cooperstown, NY. Sizeable resort + over a hundred years of history + no sinister sagas = a perfect breeding ground for a ghost neighborhood, and a friendly ghost community at that. Its former life was a winter school for girls and to this day, a giggling gaggle of girls continues to echo through the 3rd floor hallway, when absolutely no children are checked in at the hotel. (Warning: They may be laughing at you but they are young girls after all, so please do not take it personally.) The adults, nonetheless, do want you to take it personally. People have claimed hearing their name called, absolutely out of nowhere.
6)Omni Homestead
Hot Springs, VA. It's an unending story: In the most ancient wing of one of the oldest resorts in the country (built in 1766), a jilted woman committed suicide after her fiancé left on their wedding day and never came back. Since that sad day in the early 1900s, she has aimlessly wandered the 14th floor. Stopping guests as well as employees to ask for the time, she expects to catch the hour when her groom-to-be was meant to come back to her and that this time he'll be there.
7)La Posada de Santa Fe
Santa Fe, NM. This hotel's spectral highlight, a German known as Julia Staab, feels right at home here. Prior to becoming a resort, it was her residence, built by her merchant husband in 1882. After her 8th child died shortly after delivery, Frau Julia spun into a deep depression, ultimately holing up in her room, never to be seen in the flesh again after 1896. But, in wisps and wafts she is still ever present, most often in Suite 100, her former bedroom.
8)Queen Anne Hotel
San Francisco, Ca. Not all ghosts will leave you cold. Miss Mary Lake, former headmistress of the school for girls that opened here in 1890, has been known to take care of guests who stay in her former office, Room 410, just as she really did for her pupils several generations ago. Many have revealed that their clothes were unpacked for them while others have woken up at night to find their blankets tucked nicely around them.
9)The Mayflower Hotel
Presidential alert: The customary inaugural ball at the Mayflower began while Calvin Coolidge was in office; however he missed the grand event due to his son's untimely death a fortnight earlier. To make up for the lost occasion, he apparently returns to the site yearly on the anniversary of the ball. But Silent Cal mainly remains just that in his eternal phase. The only hints of his presence are flickering lights in the Grand Ballroom at 10pm, which would have announced the ball's guests of honor back in 1925. And an elevator that will not budge from the 8th floor (the location of his holding room) until 10:15pm, which is exactly the time that he planned to make his grand entrance.
Image: Canva
10)Esperanza Mansion
Keuka Park, NY. It's uncertain whether this one should be chalked up as local folklore. However, there are many who believe there is a phantom lady, decked out in white, wandering the property. Similar to any ghost worth his/her weightlessness, she is also highly skilled at keeping us mere mortals in the dark. No one actually knows who she is or where she came from. It’s probably better this way. Tip: If you need a vacation from waiting for the lady in white to appear, refocus your paranormal energies on nearby Spook Hill.
11. Hawthorne Hotel Salem
Salem, Ma. There has been great controversy over this supposed haunted hotel and questions still remain as to whether it is truly haunted and who is haunting it. Perhaps because of Salem’s local history, many people automatically assume it’s haunted. Nevertheless, this hotel has a rich history and some storytellers suggest that the entire sixth floor is haunted, with guests reportedly hearing unusual noises and seeing a ghostly woman wandering along the hallways.
Share Your Haunted Hotel Experience
Have you had an experience of a haunted hotel that you would like to share, then please send it to us so we can add it to this list. We may even feature your story in Paranormal Daily News. Contact us through the PDN Submissions Page. We look forward to hearing from you.
Over the last few years, there has been a dramatic upsurgence in claims of Demonic Possession. Whilst some may have a valid issue that may not be explainable by medical science. There is a grave reaction to label all imbalances of the psyche, or emotions as a spiritual issue such as Demoniacal possession. This is the thin, grey, paranormal line that is tread by ignorance and fools. All too often there will be medical professionals, religious practitioners, paranormal groups and clergy that will be too quick to jump and label something as demonic or of an other worldly influence.
Yoga Is Not demonic
Reiki Is Not Demonic
Healing Is Not Demonic
Bad Moods are not Demonic
Depression Is Not Demonic
Mindfulness Is Not Demonic
and so on!
Neither do any of these cause Demonic Possession. That cause and effect lies squarely at the feet of man and the choices made.
Psychology Of Demonic Possession
Granted, there are many symptoms of Demonic influence that mimic that of a medical problem, such as a psychological imbalance or of course a psychiatric issue. However, there are many clear distinctions which separate the preternatural from the natural one. An emotional issue of anger, depression, and violent outbursts do not necessarily mean one is possessed, and there is a need for a paranormal investigator, team or priest. A cold spot that chills you to the bone may have another plausible explanations, as do some other issues, such as seeing visions or of course hearing a voice.
These are all valid issues within the medical professions that do have a psychological basis for explanation. Many people who are more spiritually minded will often look for an excuse of behavior in order to blame a preternatural force. Dr Graham C.L. Davey Ph.D. alludes to this on his article featured in Psychology Today. In this regard, many spiritualists, even medical professionals, and of course clergy, are those who believe in something more sinister or preternatural. They will shout claims of demonic influence or spirit obsession. However, we have gotten away from the real clear division of phenomena versus another form of pareidolia.
Image: Canva
Spirit Obsession
Spirit Obsession can of course be the influence of one or more spirit entities. However, this is not Demonic. It is not an archetypal demon of a higher order. Spirits can and do influence our lives - especially those of a weaker disposition. It is not an excuse for bad behavior or emotional imbalance brought on by external trauma. We must not mix the two and instantly use excuses of evil influence.
Consequently; many mental illnesses do have some roots in spiritual imbalance and that issue should not be overlooked when looking at mental illness that may have entered someone's life. And there are many cases of where spiritual help has indeed negated that need for medical intervention. Again, this is not a Demonic problem.
There Is A Clear Division From Demon Possession Or Oppression and Psychological Imbalance
Someone is levitating with no possible scientific explanation. Perhaps they are changing in appearance and shouting blasphemy all whilst physical manifestations are going on around you. Emanating putrid smells or bodily fluids and excrement, not to mention that feeling of foreboding and evil that is projected to the sensitive or even non-sensitive individual. There would also be external manifestations of phenomena experienced in the immediate environment, and perhaps even phenomena that is directed in a highly intelligent and deliberate way. Then, of course, one must begin to look at possible paranormal or imbalanced spiritual causation as a point of serious enquiry.
The Need For Discernment On Both Sides Of The Coin
One cannot be successful without the other. One cog won't turn on its own. There has to be a relationship between something as equal in make up and force. Both of these aspects working in unison - bring about the successful movement of the cog that may then have a positive effect on the other. It is time that professionals such as the scientific, medical and spiritual community work together. Each has their own level of discernment. Whilst one aspect may work in the material plain, it is evident that there is a great gap within the non physical plain of existence and this is where perhaps the use of real mediums or those with the power of spiritual discernment should be used as the bridge between the physical, non-physical and religious.
Making False Claims Opens The Box
There are two clear dangers that one can look at as a possibility. The first is making a false diagnosis of demon influence, or possession, and that must be taken seriously. The second is to consider how much suffering it would cause to the inflicted. This could be an individual or a family, and diagnosing something as Demoniacal may cause more anxiety, and suffering.
On the other side of the coin, you have to consider the real danger of becoming the catalyst for real infestation. You have now become one of the causing factors, and you will now have to pay the price either by directly being in the line of danger or of course allowing mother Karma to pay you a visit.
The Reality
Demonic possession is real. Spiritual obsession is real, but so are psychological imbalances, mental illness and of course forms of psychosis. It is therefore important that medical professionals begin to look toward working with professionals that are highly experienced in the spiritual field. Also, working with professional paranormal investigators that consider all avenues of the preternatural as the natural. It is a far too dangerous field that should not be frequented by less experienced, ego-driven individuals, pr groups that can leave a trail of destruction in their wake, making the thin grey line of Demoniacal Possession a reality.
Haunted Stories instill a sense of fear. They stop us in our tracks and make us think twice about everything we think we know and understand. Yet, it holds an element of fantastic mystery. No matter how hard we avoid it, the mere mention of the word sparks curiosity. Even if we refuse to entertain the idea, there is still that moment of contemplation. Curiosity and wonder take over, and for a few moments, our hearts quicken and flutter.
Love resonates deeply with humans. Unlike other emotions, where people might react differently, love is a constant. It's the excitement that quickens our hearts, the warmth that floods our bodies, the hope that blooms, and the sparks that ignite. But what happens when these two collide? What is our fascination with haunted love stories?
Grief Leads To Obsession In These Haunted Stories
A woman who lost her husband and every close relative in the span of one year, and her infant daughter only a month after birth, believes that spirits have cursed her and are seeking karmic revenge. The story of Sarah Winchester may be one of the most famous real-life, tragic love stories ever told. Her life was that of a typical socialite. She was married to the love of her life, and they were wealthy. But a series of events would turn her entire world upside down. One that would go down hauntingly in history.
Mediums and Grief
It’s no surprise that Sarah sought guidance from a spiritual medium after the death of her husband, William Winchester in 1881. It was common for grief stricken family members to attempt to contact the deceased in the late 19th century. However, Sarah received more than a loving message from her husband.
The medium advised Sarah to leave Connecticut and build a mansion of epic proportions. During this time, Sarah herself became an expert at contacting the spirit world. She believed wholeheartedly that the spirits killed by the Winchester rifle (the weapons named for her husband's family and the item that contributed to Mrs. Winchester’s ample inheritance) were responsible for her loss. Sarah spent the rest of her days in almost complete seclusion. For 38 years, she took refuge behind the walls of a home built to the specifications she received from spirits during her séances.
Séances and Our Haunted Stories
It’s not known if Mrs. Winchester ever attempted to contact her husband in these séances, as she only conducted them alone. But I hope she spent the final decades of her life not only trying to appease what she believed were angry spirits but also seeking the comfort of her loved ones on the other side.
Some historians believe that the idea of Mrs. Winchester’s continuous building had nothing to do with her communicating with the dead. But rather, she wanted to feel as she did when her husband was alive and the two of them built their home in Connecticut. It is known that once Sarah arrived in California, she purchased not only the land that the Winchester Mystery House now sits on but also property in Southern California, as well as a houseboat that was kept in Burlingame, CA. Perhaps the elaborate building brought her comfort and reminded her of her life before her entire world crumbled.
Image: Canva
Love Leads To Heartbreak
In Sudbury, Massachusetts, in the idyllic countryside sits the 300-year-old Wayside Inn. It’s not only the expanse of its age, though impressive, that beckons visitors, but the tales of love, loss and death that are so compelling.
Jerusha Howe was the daughter of one of the families who has cared for the inn. She was known as the “Belle of Sudbury,” a talented pianist, singer, and very intelligent. It’s said that she turned down every suitor that approached her, except for one, an Englishman, whose name is not known. But according to legend, Jerusha fell deeply in love and accepted his proposal. He returned to England to make wedding plans, but he never sent for Jerusha, and he never returned.
Devastated, Jerusha spent the rest of her days caring for the inn at her brother's side. She never married, and she passed away at 45, presumably from a broken heart.
Guests who stay in Jerusha’s old bedroom, room 9, often report that they feel someone curl up next to them in bed, or see her in the room in the darkness of night. Interestingly, these encounters don’t seem to be too frightful. They are more comforting and curious.
Jersusha can be heard playing the piano, her citrus perfume can be smelled, and there are reports of her sweeping past guests on the stairs. Over the years, people have taken to leaving notes of their encounters in room 9 and have stuffed hand-written letters in the crevices of the ceiling, where the old beams are still visible. They are left in any crack and drawer, intentionally in view for future visitors to find.
Does Love Transcend The Spiritual Veil?
Is it only the potential to experience ghostly activity that lures visitors to these historical locations? What keeps us enamored by haunted stories of love and loss?
The possibility of life beyond this one has captivated human civilization since the beginning of time. Attempts to contact the spirit world goes back hundreds of years. Our longing to once again see our loved ones who have passed, to hear their voice, feel their presence, prove to ourselves that there is nothing to fear once we leave this life, drives our pursuit. Did Mrs. Winchester believe that her husband would come through at some point while conducting her seances? Some say she thought that once work on the house was done, it would be the time that she would die. Did William come through and tell her it was time to finally join him on the other side? Or was she at the mercy of the angry spirits, and at last, she was free of their wrath and could finally join her beloved.
What Keeps Us Seeking?
Our innate curiosity to understand the truth and find a reason for our existence and beyond feeds our desire to search deeper for answers. Do we continue living on a different plane of existence with ones who have passed? If so, why did Jerusha choose to stay behind? Does she know she has passed on? Does she feel so betrayed by the Englishman who captured her heart that she can't bear to move on and face him? Perhaps she believes that he was lost at sea, and she’s staying behind, hoping that they will cross paths again one day?
It’s this lack of concrete evidence that propels us to seek out tales to fulfill our imaginations —desperately hoping that someday, we’ll have proof that we will once again re-connect with those who we’ve loved and lost.
This is a story of a phenomena that at first glance looks like a bunch of wild stories. A poltergeist might be depicted as a demon, or it might be believed to be a haunting of a ghost or even a curse. The truth about poltergeist activity though, couldn’t be more different.
By unknown staff artist - Poltergeist activity, La Vie Mysterieuse magazine, Number 55, April 1911., Public Domain
A lot of the confusion comes from the controversy about whether this phenomena even happens at all and of course, skepticism abounds. Wikipedia, where objectivity about the paranormal goes to die, treats the subject with distain and cites claims that it’s basically all hoaxing. Is this really a good explanation though?
Is Hoaxing a Good Explanation?
If we look at this carefully enough, hoaxing might be a good explanation once in a while, but if you review the history of poltergeist research instead of narrowly focusing on a single case, hoaxing becomes very unlikely as a catch-all explanation. To understand why, a little history is in order. Poltergeist activity is extremely rare, but it is also so unusual that people throughout history have taken note of it and written about it.
Written accounts can be found throughout the historical record, with varying levels of detail dating back to the Ravenna case of 530AD. A fairly decently explored case involved French nuns in a monastery in Lyons in 1526. One of the first scientists to explore poltergeist accounts was Robert Boyle, a chemist that was a member of the Royal Society. That was in 1642. One of the first thorough investigations took place in 1689 by a chaplain and fellow of the Royal Society of Great Britain. It centered around drumming noises in the home of John Mompresson.
With the creation of the Society for Psychical Research in 1882, a far more organized investigation of poltergeist cases began, so that it was possible in 1979 for scientists Alan Gauld and Tony Cornell to review 500 of them -almost a hundred years later.
Everyone is Skeptical of Poltergeist Activity
You have to keep in mind that hoaxing is the FIRST thing EVERYONE suspects and the second thing that comes to everyone’s mind is either lying or wishful thinking. This skepticism is even more pronounced for serious investigators when they are examining a new case. There are many documented instances through history where accusations of hoaxing were the starting point and investigators were only contacted after this was ruled out.
It’s not that people actively disbelieve the existence of poltergeist activity, (although many do), it’s just that almost everyone gravitates to the most likely explanations. Barry Taff, who followed up on a mind boggling 4,700 leads, compared finding poltergeist activity to going to an airport in hopes of filming a plane crash.
The Challenges of Poltergeist Investigations
Serious poltergeist investigators have a lot of experience of failing to find poltergeist activity. Typical activity might only last a few days or weeks and be gone by the time the investigators hear about it. On top of that, gaining access is complicated by tense family situations (which are common in poltergeist cases) and the odd hours that poltergeist activity tends to occur. Even if they suspect that they’ve found a real case, they can’t always study it.
They may also find themselves fending off local amateur investigators who found out about the case, which often places them in the position of having to evaluate the reliability of claims that they only heard about second hand.
Hoaxes depend on people believing what they want to believe and ignoring evidence to the contrary. They generally don’t work when the person you’re trying to hoax is suspicious right out of the gate. Hoaxing a suspicious person who doesn’t believe you and treats all evidence with suspicion is extraordinarily difficult to pull off. You need a skill level which few people possess. When something interesting does happen, they immediately take steps to rule out ordinary causes and don’t assume anything.
Image: Canva
Is the Poltergeist a Living Person or Discarnate Intelligence?
As early as 1911, researchers started to notice that the vast majority of poltergeist activity centered around a single living person and, in the intervening years, more evidence has pointed to this theory. While scientists have not abandoned the idea of a discarnate intelligence interacting with the physical world, they have focused most of their attention on poltergeist activity that is generated by a living person who possesses no conscious control over it.
Because there are occasional cases where it appears that discarnate intelligence is involved, this model of poltergeist activity cannot be ruled out. These cases, though, are rare in a field where all cases are rare. It is hard to study with so little data.
Poltergeist activity is generally purposeless. That is to say, if there is any coherent intent to the strange knocks, stuff falling off shelves, tables rocking, etc. that intent is not clear enough for anyone to recognize it except in rare cases. Researchers have found that strong emotions play a part in many poltergeist cases, which points towards a living subconscious mind acting out primal emotions through highly visible, yet poorly understood external actions at a distance.
Another reason why researchers believe that a human is involved is that other research into psychokinesis has demonstrated that people can indeed mentally affect objects. The effect is far larger in poltergeist cases, but it is essentially the same thing.
On the other hand, if you have the same discussion with an authentic spiritual medium, they would most likely be of the opinion that even by today’s modern theories, this is still a theory based on measurement rather than evidence and that poltergeist cases do have intelligence behind them. A topic to further explore in a future article.
The acronym RSPK is used a lot in the literature. It means Recurrent Spontaneous Psychokinesis, which refers to poltergeist activity. The people themselves are referred to by the acronym PGA’s, or poltergeist agents.
The Emotional Aspect to Poltergeist Activity
Here’s an interesting fact. Prior to 1900, about 3/4 of all poltergeist agents were women and they outnumbered the men but this changed over time and now it’s about 50/50. The speculation is that women had things a lot tougher, were more suppressed and this led to more poltergeist activity.
This emotional aspect, William Roll noted, is a common theme. In genuine poltergeist cases, poltergeist agents with suppressed anger toward individuals with whom they had frequent contact, comes up frequently. Lloyd Auerbach noted that poltergeist activity seems to occur as a substitute for throwing things or punching something. The subconscious is apparently acting out.
The Seizure Connection
Barry Taff has proposed another unusual aspect of poltergeist cases: according to him, they are almost always associated with seizures or epilepsy. But the reverse does not hold true. People who experience seizures or epilepsy are not prone to poltergeist activity. Something else, an X factor, is involved in which these medical conditions play a part.
When it comes to objects moving around, some of the things that happen require a lot of energy, and it’s not at all clear where this energy comes from. Is the cold air sometimes associated with poltergeist activity the result of a thermal reaction?
Are There Unknown Physics Involved?
During psychokinesis experiments, test subjects get tired from the exertion, but in poltergeist cases, this doesn’t happen to the PGAs although there is a LOT more energy being used. Somehow, the subconscious intent does not translate into an expenditure of energy by the individual. How does this happen? No one knows.
In the rather well known Miami case, the strength of the psychokinetic effect by distance from the poltergeist agent was mapped by Roll and Joines. This was replicated in six other cases.
Plot of Joines’ decline function against the pattern of object movements with distance from Julio observed in the Miami poltergeist case. Reproduced from data and equations given in Roll and Joines (2001) http://publicparapsychology.org/Public%20Parapsych/Poltergeist%20Phenomena%20Primer%20Final.pdf
This chart may not look like much, but it shows something really important. It shows a decline that is very similar to the inverse square and exponential decay functions. (e.g. if you have a unit of distance from a light source, the light will dim by the square of that distance. The same law appears to apply to poltergeist psychokinetic activity.)
This chart is showing that poltergeist activity appears to be following normal, known, scientific principles. That’s a very big deal because it means that it’s almost a certainty that there’s a very real energetic process at work, even if we don’t know what it is.
One possible clue as to the nature of the energy is that cases tend to occur or increase in intensity in correlation with increases in geomagnetic activity. (Subtle magnetic fields come up quite frequently in psi research.) One other thing we know from a medium’s perspective is that spirits can and will use all the energy available, which includes geomagnetic energy. It also should be noted, the need for moisture and the phenomenon of water in poltergeist activity.
Examining Poltergeist Rapping Noises
When rapping noises are created by poltergeist activity, they are different from normal rapping, as seen in this sound chart from the Enfield case.
The sounds are being created by means other than an ordinary knock, but they’re close enough to sound the same to a human ear.
What Can Be Learned?
By any scientific standard, poltergeist activity is worth investigating. There is a lot to learn going forward and it has the potential to lead to truly breathtaking leaps in science. Discovering the force that’s moving objects or creating sounds at a distance is something unique and important in the world of physics. It’s amazing enough that it originates from a human being, but still more incredible is an undiscovered way to harness and focus energy.
There’s something extremely important hidden in the mysteries of a rare and highly unusual phenomena known by the name poltergeist.
An hour east of San Francisco, CA, sits the long-forgotten relics of five mining towns. Now a preserve, the entire 6,000 acres north of Mt. Diablo has many hauntings attached to it. The old towns of Nortonville, Somersville, Stewartsville, West Hartley and Judsonville sit sandwiched along the rolling hills, between the San Joaquin-Sacramento River Delta and the Diablo mountain range. However, today, the area is known as the old Black Diamond Mines Regional Preserve.
Tales of witches have always been heavily connected to locations on the northeast seaboard of the United States. But, as settlers moved west, the stories and fear of witchcraft came with them, and the Golden State is no exception.
From Farm Land To Lucrative Coal Mining
The discovery of coal in the area put the region on the map, earning it the name "Black Diamond." It became one of the largest coal distributors in California, producing over 300 million tons between 1850 and 1906. The tunnels under the mountain are said to be haunted for obvious reasons. Many miners lost their lives while searching for coal in the Black Diamond Mines.
The Black Diamond Mines Cemetery
The Rose Hill Cemetery is perched on top of a hill between the Sommersville and Nortonville sites. After the towns were abandoned, the cemetery was also forgotten. Many headstones were vandalized or stolen. However, over the years, more than 200 bodies have been discovered in the cemetery grounds —the final rest for many coal workers. It is also the final resting place for other residents of the old towns, including women and children who died from diseases such as smallpox, scarlet and typhoid fever.
Visitors to the abandoned tunnels of the mines, now turned into tourist attractions, have reported seeing figures roaming the grounds of the cemetery and hearing sounds of digging, scraping, and wailing coming from deep within the mine tunnels. Some have even reported seeing the glowing figures of children running through the area. Nevertheless, the most bizarre cases of hauntings are of two women, whom the locals refer to as the "White Witches."
Witchcraft In The Golden State Black Diamond Mines
Interestingly, there are two stories of witches in the area. And they are both referred to as a "White Witch" because of the luminous glow they give off when seen.
White Witch
The first "White Witch" was a woman known only as Mary. In the 1870s, she was a nanny who cared for many children in the area. Sadly, all the children she looked after passed away. Understandably, the town went into an uproar and charged Mary with witchcraft. She was hung for the murder of the children, and her home was burned to the ground.
People have reported seeing her wandering around the area, appearing as a white, glowing apparition. They say she stays close to the entrance to the mines. Some believe that she holds the children she allegedly murdered captive, keeping them earthbound.
She's known as an aggressive spirit who purposely frightens anyone who comes across her, discouraging anyone from entering the mines.
Sarah Norton
The second story of a "White Witch" is of a woman named Sarah Norton. Sarah was a sought after midwife and loved by all the townspeople. On the night of October 5, 1879, Sarah was on her way to assist a laboring woman. She was unfortunately thrown from the carriage she was riding in and crushed to death.
Sarah was not a religious woman and had requested that there be no funeral when she passed away. The townspeople, grief-stricken by her sudden and unexpected death, couldn't accept the idea of not giving Sarah a proper burial. They decided to go against her wishes and hold a funeral service.
On the day of the funeral, a violent storm forced them to delay the service. On the second attempt to hold the service, another terrible storm sprung up unexpectedly, forcing them to postpone yet again. Eventually, the residents decided to bury Sarah in the Rose Hill Cemetery without holding a service and did so without incident.
You can still visit Sarah Norton's grave site. Her headstone is still present and she is periodically seen guarding. People report seeing her hovering above the ground, with a glowing white light surrounding her spirit. The sudden onset of violent winds accompanies her apparition.
It is said that the storms disrupting her unwanted funeral were brought on by Sarah's disapproval of the service, as they formed quickly and without any warning.
Hidden Gems In The Bay
The beauty of the Golden State area should not be missed. Visitors can hike the trails of the preserve, see the local wildlife and experience the abundance of wildflowers in the spring. And if you're lucky, you may even experience your own ghostly encounter with a resident from a long-forgotten, abandoned town.
Since emerging from a colossal wombat hole brimming with closely guarded occult secrets from places most high, I felt called to learn more about the captivating but widely discredited world of magic. So began the task of searching for a good, old - fashioned, well crafted book with robust, natural immunity from censorship.
Browsing through dozens of listings in search of credibility and honed authorship, I settled for two books. One of which was Real Magic by Dean Radin PhD, best-selling author, chief scientist and associate psychology professor who spent the last forty years investigating the many facets of magic from a scientific perspective. His credentials also include a significant spell with Stargate, the US government’s top-secret psychic espionage program, and his work has been endorsed by the Nobel laureate in physics, Brian Josephson, PhD, as “A convincing case for the reality and significance of magic”. Sold.
Magic as a Forerunner of the Future of Science
Real Magic opens with a most unexpected wake-up call from the year 2915. A guest editorial in the New Seattle Province reports the discovery of a fragment of an ancient digitized file. The file appears to be an editorial from the defunct news service Galactica Today. My emotions move into mixmaster mode as Radin paints a rather bleak futuristic view of the “unintended consequences of popularizing neomagic, especially among youth”. it's potential to threaten the social order and even alter history is also of concern. One could point the same finger at some of our devilish secret society adults. However, who was I to question such a well - versed scientist?
Thankfully, the mixmaster effect is short — lived, and the real magic appears in Chapter 1, The Beginning. In his refreshingly on point style, Radin defines the three categories of magic: mental influence of the physical world (force of will); perception of events distant in space or time (divination); and interactions with nonphysical entities, (theurgy, from the Greek meaning ‘god work’). Being a daydream believer in magic for as long as I can remember, I applaud Radin’s confident stance about the reality and future of magic:
“There are rising trends in science suggesting that what was once called magic is poised to evolve into a new scientific discipline just as medieval astrology and alchemy evolved into today’s astronomy…it’s best to think of real magic not as something impossibly mysterious but as a forerunner of the future of science.”
Psi is Real Magic
Radin also shines an upfront light on the contentious discipline of parapsychology — the study of Psi (psychic phenomena), and provides scientific confirmation that Psi is real magic. When he draws attention to fictional movies where magic is often portrayed in negative terms as a struggle between the forces of good and evil, where good only wins occasionally. I am reminded of an interview with a spiritually minded Hollywood producer who described the top tier industry executives as self-appointed gods or gatekeepers who restrict screenwriters from giving too much away to the sleeping masses about the all powerful esoteric realms.
Radin also confirms that discussions from a neutral, scientific perspective are rare. Furthermore, he cites that a 2015 anthology about psi research entitled Parapsychology: A Handbook for the 21st Century, doesn’t even list the word magic in the index. As the perpetual wheel of ignorance keeps turning, he shares some amusing trade secrets about skeptical scientists that bear repeating:
“The upshot of the social taboo is that most academic scientists avoid parapsychology as though it’s a virulent strain of a zombie plague. If they’re secretly interested in Psi — and many are — they first swear everyone to secrecy, and then they approach it slowly while wearing a full hazmat suit, with multiple alibis set up in advance to provide plausible deniability.”
“Controversy invariably invites disagreements, but there’s something peculiar about Psi that seems to push otherwise calm, rational scientists beyond civil discourse and into rabid, foaming-at-the-mouth frenzies.”
A History of Suppression
Saving me many hours of research, subsequent chapters of Real Magic seamlessly move into the history and origins of magic. Unsurprisingly, the theme of suppression continues. Growing up with an innate knowing that magic is real, and minimal exposure to religious indoctrination, I am perplexed to learn that magic is fully accepted by the devoutly religious who perceive magic outside the confines of the church to be frighteningly demonic; religious faiths require an unwavering belief in magic, but many orthodox religions strictly ban magic, largely as a sociopolitical strategy; other religious faiths deem certain forms of magic are acceptable — but only for the priests.
“It would not do if infidels were allowed to worship anything not under the control of the proper ecclesiastic authorities” writes Radin, with his signature fluid grace. “Like any struggle for political power, gaining the allegiance of the masses is much easier by inciting fear of the “other” than by encouraging love and compassion.”
Holy, Holy, Holy
When Radin cites Catholic priests as being sanctioned to “perform the sacrament of the Eucharist, an explicitly magical transformation of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ”. I naturally wonder what they do with the manifested ‘body and blood of Christ’ and if magician priests ever allow curious seekers to observe this ritual.
Addressing the topic of why academia is still so blinkered and prejudiced toward the world of magic; Radin explains that it boils down to the thorough marginalization of magic through to the late 20th century. Most religious scholars avoided talking about esoteric topics as though they didn’t exist, while anthropologists regarded magic as so idiotic that it was erased from the curriculum.
“…magic threatens sovereignty and transcends secrecy. Besides death and taxes, the one other universal truth is that bureaucracies never respond kindly to challenges to their authority. So, there’s enormous societal pressure to suppress the reality of magic.”
I am left pondering the hypocrisy within the upper echelon of secret societies — the self — appointed ‘ruling class’ that strives to keep magic all to themselves; materially wealthy lost souls whose covert dark occult rituals and the worship of demonic entities such as Moloch, the ancient pagan god of child sacrifice, only serve to harm humanity, and ultimately themselves. The responsible upper echelon magi need to take back the runaway magic reins sooner rather than later.
The Road to Scrupulously Willful Ignorance
Radin further explores the root cause of academic avoidance of esotericism and the “scrupulously willful ignorance” during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. We meet German sociologist and philosopher Max Weber (1864-1920) who, in 1917, identified the “disenchantment of modern western society” and the growing conviction among scientists and scholars that there was no longer any need for mysterious incalculable forces, magic or spirits. They also decided that there was no need for institutions that relied on ideas such as religion.
Sadly, anthropologists whose frontline work exposed them to numerous magical beliefs and practices in other cultures, were too cowardly to defend the reality of magic. They instead chose to distinguish themselves from the “scientifically illiterate masses”, further degrading magic by ignorantly and arrogantly associating it with the beliefs of “savages” or “lower races”.
Oxford University’s first anthropology professor, Sir Edward Burnett Taylor (1832-1917), called magic a “monstrous farrago… one of the most pernicious delusions that ever vexed mankind… Belief in magic was due to the psychological need to cope with the uncertainties of life by gaining an illusory control over non-existent supernatural forces.” Small wonder then, that the mere idea of magic came to be regarded as an affront to science itself; a throwback to prescientific concepts.
The Early Sciences - Bravo Medici, Ficino and Mirandola
As we travel further back in time to the grassroots origins of magic, I relish every moment, from the Prehistoric Times through to the 14th - 17th century Renaissance, when translations of manuscripts long held in Arabic, Greek and Asian states were slowly reintroduced to western scholars.
Radin writes:
“Religious reformers such as Martin Luther challenged the rigid authority of the Catholic Church, its increasingly corrupt practices and monopoly in defining what Christian practice meant…As all structures began to crumble, the dust generated a heavy price in the form of nearly continuous conflicts. Fortunately, it also fostered a new intellectual openness that eventually allowed for the rediscovery of Hermeticism. Named after Hermes the son of Greek gods Zeus and Maia, hermetic cosmology contends that reality consists of a single Universal Consciousness known by many names: the One Mind, the Divine, the Tao, Brahman, Allah, God and so on.”
Hermeticism
Hermeticism was considered heretical by the church because it asserts that all humans have an inherent spark of divine power within us, or “God -like abilities” and that there were no special benefits conferred by following someone else’s dogma, because each of us could achieve enlightenment on our own. Radin writes: “As you may imagine such insolence was unacceptable, so the church applied its well-honed strategy for maintaining control and like Neoplatonism and Gnosticism, Hermeticism was forced to go underground.
Thankfully, Hermeticism was rediscovered in the 15th century largely due to the efforts of Prince Cosimo de Medici of Florence, Italy, after the Church’s stranglehold on scholarship began to loosen. He commissioned Marsilio Ficino, head of the Florentine Academy, to translate a set of 17 ancient manuscripts that were found in the Middle East. Ficino’s Corpus Hermeticum was published in 1471, igniting great excitement and debate among the scholars who were in the process of rediscovering the ancient Greek Egyptian and Jewish traditions.
Kabbalah Cosmology
One of Ficino’s students, Count Giovanni Pico della Mirandola (1463-1494,) later added portions of the Jewish Kabbalah (Hebrew word meaning “to receive”) to Hermeticism. The Kabbalah was an ancient cosmology based on sephiroth or spheres of “cosmic vibration” that connect the transcendent divine to the everyday world. Kabbalistic text known as the Sepher Yezirah (Book of the Creation) describes a cosmology that some scholars claim is identical to the Emerald Tablet which was one of several fascinating esoteric realms that I explored in 2020 during a research project.
To avoid the wrath of the Church, Ficino described his magical synthesis as the practical part of natural science and together with Mirandola’s fine work, sparked a flood of new combinations and syntheses of the esoteric traditions, many of which were instrumental in the development of the early sciences and rise of ‘magician-scientists’.
Of particular note were German scholar Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa (1486-1535) who authored De occulta philosophia (Occult Philosophy) in 1510; English mathematician John Dee (1527-1609), advisor to Queen Elizabeth I who combined natural sciences and magical evocations aimed at establishing contact with spirits; Italian mathematician, philosopher and friar Giordano Bruno (1548-1600), whose work proposed that the universe contained an infinite number of worlds inhabited by intelligent beings, but contradicted church dogma for which he paid the ultimate price; and Swiss physician Philipus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus von Hohenheim, better known as Paracelsus (1493-1541), one of the first modern medical theorists and founder of homeopathy who stressed that exercising the imagination was the beginning of all magical operations.
From Enlightenment to the Internet Age
Radin’s magical mystery tour continues with great fervour. Potential movie ideas dance through my mind - to hell with those gatekeepers. By the end of the 16th century, we see the formation of the Freemasons - a medieval guild of stonemasons who essentially follow the lead of the 12th century Knights Templar. Adopting hermetic symbolism and lore, they became an important forerunner for future esoteric organisations. (From what I learned about the influence of Freemasonry in the political and religious spheres, there is need of serious and urgent reform within this vast, unruly secret society that is allegedly answers to the Vatican.)
Occultists of all persuasions, please take note: “Within the magical worldview, everything is deeply interconnected, so if you intend to harm others, you are likely to end up harming yourself. This is not just because of a guilty conscience but more like Newton’s third law: for every action there’s an equal and opposite reaction. Let’s just say it would be exceedingly prudent to avoid black magic.”
Newtonian Values
On a brighter note, Radin reveals that the single most famous scientist of the day, Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727), also played a key role in the history of esotericism. This was far from public knowledge until 1936 when economist John Maynard Keynes bought Newton’s personal papers and discovered that earlier biographies of Newton as the “idealized scientist”, left out the majority of what he was really interested in - alchemy and esotericism. Referred to as “the last of the magicians”, Newton owned one of the extensive collections of alchemy in his day.
Other notables from this era and whose books are still on bookshop shelves, include Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772), a prominent modern scientist whose mystical experience sparked an interest in esoteric concepts that led him to write many books on mysticism, magic and conversations with what he perceived to be angels. Another major figure was German physician Franz Anton Mesmer (1734-1815) who created a healing practice of ‘animal (life or living systems) magnetism’ which later became known as Mesmerism. His work triggered an investigation by the French Academy of Sciences chaired by polymath Benjamin Franklin. The completed studies quietly concluded that some of the healing outcomes could not be explained by simple expectation (placebo effect).
Rise of Spiritualism, Skepticism and a New Age Industry
Moving through to the Industrial Age, we arrive in the mid-nineteenth century when the rising popularity of spiritualism created a demand for public séances as a form of “quasi-spiritual entertainment”, sparking an industry “only too glad to provide those services”. Not unlike the present - day New Age industry that has grown exponentially since the birth of the internet, many mediums claiming to communicate with the spirit world were frauds, and each time a fraudulent medium was exposed, skepticism increased.
But the late nineteenth century also gave rise to the first organized scientific studies of psychic phenomena, which attracted prominent scientists such as William James, Sir William Crookes, Sir Oliver Lodge and Lord Rayleigh. They became members of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR), founded in London in 1882 and still in existence today. We venture into the twentieth century’s Information Age and are reminded of the new breed of magic theorists and authors who promoted the same catch cry, ‘You create your own reality’; a belief that originates directly from esoteric traditions, aptly described by Radin as “the very core of magical practice.”
Magic Made Simple
“The essence of magic boils down to the application of two ordinary mental skills: attention and intention. The strength of the magical outcome is modulated by four factors: belief, imagination, emotion and clarity. That’s basically it. The ceremonial robes, somber settings, black candles, secret handshakes, chanting in ancient languages, sex and drugs - all are good theater which may help in withdrawing the mind from the distractions of the mundane world. But ultimately, they are unnecessary.”
Arriving at the intriguing chapter entitled Practice of Magic, Radin weaves through the various aides used to develop magical skills, from gnosis and force of will to SIGILL’s and divination. I enjoy the way Radin continues to define and refine the meaning of magic through a range of quotes from other noteworthy magical souls:
“Don’t only practise your art, but force your way into its secrets, for it and knowledge can raise men to the divine.” Ludwig van Beethoven.
“Chaos magick first emerged in 1980s Britain as a reaction against the moribund state of occultism in general, having staggered out of the 70s with malodorous coatings of Castaneda and Ascended Masters laying atop a long stagnant core of a Victorian magical order nonsense and tawdry infighting. Chaos magick lacks any certificates of participation.” Gordon White, Esoteric Scholar.
“Magick is the science and art of causing change to occur in conformity with will.” Aleister Crowley, British Magician
“It used to be said that magic was what we had before science was properly organized...The techniques of magic will be the hypersciences of the future…The next great advance will be into the psychic domain.” Peter Carroll, British Magician, Giber Null & Psychonaut.
If You Don’t Know What You’re Doing, Don’t Do It
On the topic of Theurgy, the act of evoking spirits, Radin is of the opinion that the scientific jury is still out regarding the reality of such spirits of entities. He doesn’t propose that entities don’t exist, rather that methods are not yet available to strictly discriminate between psi effects in the living, and independent, disembodied intelligences. He describes the evidence for electronic voice phenomena (EVP) or instrumental transcommunication (ITC) as intriguing but points out that the methods do not strictly exclude explanations based on psi. Concluding that the esoteric literature on theurgy suggests that if you don’t know what you’re doing, don’t do it, he wisely passes on providing practical magic exercises.
“Why is it when we talk to God it’s called praying, but if God talks back, it’s called schizophrenia.” Jane Wagner.
The remaining few chapters of the Real Magic present substantial scientific evidence from a range of exacting experiments that may feel ‘unbearably dry’ to those who regularly engage in magical practices. But they may also have the potential to sway the most diehard skeptics in mainstream science, where the existence of psi phenomena remains controversial. Be prepared to embark on a ‘Merlinesque’ adventure far beyond what is typically seen in a laboratory and peer into the future of science where anything is possible.
Politik Of Science
Radin briefly refers to the fascinating subject of how the realpolitik of science is central to why understanding psi and magic are taboo within the academic world. His quote from author and social activist Upton Sinclair sounded all too familiar:
“It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.”
This frustrating attitude is more commonplace and potentially detrimental to humankind than people may realise, and I hope that Radin considers writing a book about the realpolitik factor one day.
Holistic Thinking
Having an active interest in preventative, whole person medicine i.e. physical, mental, emotional and spiritual, I am also heartened to learn about a subtle shift in medical research from solely materialistic models of health and healing. Radin cites a US PubMed search found that from 1940 to 2016, some 2645 articles were published on the topic of ‘spirituality in medicine’ and most of them were published since 2000. Before 1980, a grand total of two were published. Speaks volumes.
“In the world of academia, the primary currency is ideas. And like any form of currency, ideas are fervently protected. This makes acceptable currents in the mainstream move like molasses. Fortunately, given current trends, this particular molasses is beginning to heat up and pour like fine Maple syrup. If that flow continues to accelerate, then formerly esoteric concepts such as magic and scientifically challenging phenomena such as psi, may soon be poised to transform into new modernised forms.” Dean Radin
In closing, Real Magic is a tightly structured, finely crafted read, offering a tantalising blend of esoteric and scientific food-for-thought. Radin’s fluid, succinct, writing style, wry humour and seamless ability to simplify complex concepts with ease, left me feeling more optimistic than usual, spiritually revitalised and excited about the truly magical future that awaits us all.
I used to be in the New Age Movement — back in the day. I taught myself psychic healing and taught others how to do it, although I quickly realized that I did not know much about it. Unlike medicine, there isn’t a wealth of scientific information to draw on. In fact, at the time, there was next to none. So I was flying blind. Because of the ubiquitous presence of bad skepticism, I had no idea that there was any science behind psychic ability at all.
Psychic Ability
It’s been like that for psychic mediums, remote viewers, dowsers and pretty much anyone else pushing the limits of their psychic ability. There is a lot that people don’t know and that has been a big problem. It has opened the door to all sorts of speculation by people who have asserted that they understood THE TRUTH. Countless books have been written offering someone’s version of what reality is and those range from rejecting the existence of psychic ability, to viewing it as a gift of God to the work of the Devil.
The problem with all of these random theories, is that they have no explanatory power. These theories tell you nothing about how psychic ability functions or why. They are useless for going forward because they have no knowledge base to build upon.
The Actual Experts
Parapsychologists; those scientists who do scientific experiments and publish papers in journals while carefully building a body of knowledge, have learned a great deal about psychic ability. Their theories come from a solid body of knowledge based on investigations and published experiments.
The most popular theory among parapsychologists; (i.e. the one with the most explanatory power), is that psychic ability is fundamentally a subconscious ability. The subconscious operates with full psychic functioning, and it’s always “on.” We access this psychic information by accessing the subconscious. To get to it, we have to navigate deeper parts of our personalities that we’re not normally aware of. This isn’t normally an easy thing to do and it may open up hidden fears and buried memories, which are also in the subconscious.
The theory speculates that we normally use our ordinary senses to accomplish our goals and it’s only when we enter into an ambiguous situation that cannot be resolved by our other senses that our psychic ability will kick in. So if we’re still trying to accomplish something with our other senses, we’re not likely to utilize our psychic ability.
My Own Thoughts On Psychic Ability
I have theorized that based on some studies, that psychic ability tends to be stronger based on need, and somehow the subconscious knows what that is. The more you need your psychic ability, -combined with a realization that you’re not going to get the help you want any other way,- the more likely you are to access it.
I have also theorized that psychic ability tends to be emotionally based. (This ties into need.) Reading other people’s emotional state, even when they’re not physically present, is what psychic ability is “tuned” for. Especially when people are deliberately hiding their emotions. I think that it’s the thing that it does best.
Psychic Ability Explained?
So how does this explain anything? Well, for starters it answers the question of why we don’t use psychic ability all the time. Our other senses can and do handle our day to day functioning just fine. It explains that a person’s ability to tolerate ambiguity will affect their psychic functioning. People who can stop thinking, stop trying and just relax and let things be, will do better psychically than people who keep hammering away and never give up.
This also describes the creative process, so we would therefore expect people who are better at creative tasks and holistic thinking to perform better at psychic tasks (which require entering into an open, receptive state of mind) than people who excel at linear thinking. It doesn’t take much of a leap to realize that the latter more or less describes skeptics.
The Trouble With Skeptics
The skeptics, who pride themselves on their linear thinking, are revealed to be lacking in the qualities that would make them good at psychic ability. A lack of ability to enter into a receptive state of mind means that they are most likely not good holistic thinkers; this would explain why they have trouble making the necessary connections to understand psychic ability. Another aspect of this is that the more linear your thinking is, the more trouble you have changing your mind.
We would expect psychic people to be inclined towards holistic thinking, to be creative in other areas and to have personalities that capable of having quiet moments and self reflection. This does, in fact, describe psychic people as a group quite well. It’s also been shown that creative people do better than others at psychic tasks.
That’s what explanatory power is. The theory matches what is observed and explains it, and also provides a map towards future knowledge.
The Psychic Process
The psychic process is challenging to describe because it occurs solely within a person’s mind, where it cannot be directly observed by anyone else. Psychic information, because of how it’s obtained, is difficult to distinguish from one’s own thoughts.
To sift through one’s own thoughts, one must first have strong inner awareness to know what one’s own thoughts look like and from there discern what psychic information personally looks and feels like. All of this must occur without trying to hard, which will disrupt the process. It’s a delicate balance that requires discipline, good intellectual awareness and strong holistic thinking skills. Not everyone is capable of this. So when researchers test for psychic ability they should expect to see some people do far better than others. In the scientific lingo, they would not expect to see homogeneous results. (Yes, this is also confirmed in scientific testing.)
Suspension of ordinary thought processes is so crucial to the psychic process that the Ganzfeld experiment is constructed around it. Ordinary sensory input is reduced to the absolute minimum. Unsurprisingly, this experiment also yields some of the most reliable results.
How This Relates To Physics
Of course, eventually we get around to the question of what the mechanism is. How does it work? And that is a damned good question. Psychic ability does not rely on sending or receiving signals. All forms of electromagnetic waves have been ruled out, even including ELF waves. (That is a story for another time.) In order to understand it at all, we need to look at reality differently, and here is where quantum physics comes in.
The question lands us smack in the middle of the mother of all scientific debates of our time: Is the universe fundamentally material, like a giant clock? Or is it fundamentally like a giant mind? If we look at the universe as material, then psychic ability is impossible, end of story. But it plainly IS possible, so that avenue does not match the evidence and we can safely dismiss it. So we conclude that the universe is like a giant mind and consciousness is therefore fundamental to the universe. Consciousness shapes our reality.
Time and Space Reality
Moving on from there, time and space are not absolutes. They utterly relational to one another, (You measure time with distance and without time you are everywhere at once and distance doesn’t exist.) which is why the term “spacetime” was coined. If consciousness is fundamental to reality, -and there are good arguments for this- then the mind has the ability to transcend this aspect of reality. Thoughts do not travel from one person to the other because their minds were never separate in the first place. With telepathy, we’re only making particular connections stronger and bringing them into conscious awareness through our own intent. They were already there.
This is what entanglement shows us: a universe beyond space and time. Bell’s Inequality Theorem states that QM only works if the universe is entangled. A lot of people miss the implications here and act as though entanglement was just another feature of QM instead of realizing that it’s showing us something fundamental about reality.
Space and time must be something created by a more fundamental reality; they cannot be fundamental themselves. If photons can entangle and behave as though space and time don’t exist, then space and time can be treated as though they don’t exist. That’s why psychic ability operates as though it’s time and space independent. Because it is. It seems spooky and weird and in defiance of physics only if you’re stuck in a Newtonian materialist view of the world. Once you understand the implications of quantum physics, and you view consciousness as fundamental to reality, psychic ability is not only possible, but predictable.
Over the past month and a half, I’ve been researching Dr Barry Taff’s career and his poltergeist cases, and having conversations with him to write an article. Imagine my surprise when Ben Radford, writing for the Skeptical Inquirer, published a criticism of Dr Taff’s most famous poltergeist case, known as The Entity.
The Entity
Image: Dr Barry Taff, barrytaff.net
While there was certainly an air of synchronicity about it for me, the likely reason for Radford’s timing was the Skeptical Inquirer going for the Halloween theme. Regardless, I was already familiar with the case and the sources that Radford was using to draw his conclusions. It happened in 1974. That’s almost 50 years ago. Quite a few people associated with this case have shuffled off their mortal coil and the world has changed dramatically in the meantime. Rebuttals are necessarily long, so bear with me.
Many Sources for “The Entity” are Gone
The only original sources of information about The Entity that we have at this point are Dr Taff’s blog posts, his book and, of course, Barryhimself,f as well as some interviews and shows that made it online. His source material is not online. It’s in a storage unit in a small town south of Los Angeles, CA. In his book he has reprinted the scientific article published in the PSI Journal of Investigative Psychical Research. That report is not online either. The easiest way to access it is to read his book, Aliens Above, Ghosts Below, which is only available in paperback.
The only sources of photos from The Entity case are online. This is problematic for research because forensic examination of photos from that era requires that you possess the original negatives. Or in the case of Polaroids, that you possess the original photo. In addition to that, the expertise surrounding these cameras is nearly gone. At the time of the investigation, there were experts who used these cameras regularly and were familiar with their quirks, strengths and limitations in a way that no present - day hobbyist can possibly match.
It’s not a case, in other words, that lends itself to easy re-examination, let alone drawing new conclusions. Any such attempt should be met with extreme skepticism. You have to evaluate the case according to the era in which it took place. Radford was four at the time. (I was fifteen.)
Doris Bither
The Entity case centered around Doris Bither, a woman who was living in Culver City, CA, in a small, rundown house with her three sons. The movie and the sensationalism surrounding the case involved her unsubstantiated claim to have been raped by three ghosts. When Dr Taff was first approached with this story, he dismissed it as fantasy and as he put it to me: “When people lie about paranormal phenomena, they tend to be whoppers.” He only followed up on the case after neighbors of Bither reported unusual things happening next door.
Doris Bither'’s friend Candy (taken by Kerry Gaynor)
This article is focused on the skeptical reconning of The Entity case and Radford’s portrayal of Dr Barry Taff as an opportunist exploiting a mentally vulnerable woman and doing shoddy work that he then promoted as proof that something paranormal was happening.
Before I get into the details of what is wrong with this attempt to re-write the history of a decades old poltergeist case, it’s important to understand why Radford would go to the trouble of smearing the name of a septuagenarian about a case that happened well before Radford even learned to read.
100% Certainty of Denial
Radford is deputy editor for the Skeptical Inquirer and research fellow for the Center for Inquiry, which is part of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, which used to be known as the Committee for Skeptical Investigations of Claims of the Paranormal.
It’s an organization built around complete denial of the paranormal as well as actively opposing pretty much every type of holistic medicine you care to name, whether it’s a crusade against chiropractors, or an assault on acupuncture. They have even declared war on Santa Claus. This weird mindset is reflected in Radford’s work.
His bio on the Center for Inquiry describes him as “one of the world’s few science-based paranormal investigators.” That’s a bit of a whopper. His efforts do not compare favorably with actual scientists studying these phenomena. World renowned Dr Barry Taff, PhD, for instance, has done 4,579 investigations over 50 years. Lloyd Auerbach, M.S. in parapsychology, has done field work for 32 years and has affiliations with numerous scientific organizations and presents his cases at scientific conferences. Dr William Roll was also active in several scientific organizations, spent 20 years working on investigations and wrote many scientific papers on the subject.
Real Research Similar to “The Entity”
Poltergeist cases, such as The Entity are extremely rare. True scientific research involves following up on hundreds or in Dr Taff’s case, thousands of leads, most of which are dead ends. They are often time - consuming and boring, where researchers unsuccessfully attempt to get phenomena to occur. As Dr Taff put it,
“If poltergeist phenomena were completely fictional, we would have nothing to talk about. If it were completely common, we would also have nothing to talk about.”
It’s only because it’s very difficult, but not entirely impossible to investigate, that there is room for discussion and controversy.
If you’re curious about the actual science of poltergeists, here is a relatively short document that will get you up to date on the real research.
Because Radford has never found anything paranormal to the best of my knowledge, he has learned nothing of the phenomena and has nothing of interest to report from his own investigations. He’s not affiliated with any organizations that take the phenomena seriously nor has he advanced the field in any way. His only goal appears to be debunking all of it and painting everyone involved as either deluded or opportunists.
Conclusions Before Research
I have little doubt that his mind was made up well before he did any research. With the Skeptical Inquirer, it was undoubtedly just a question of what negative spin to put on TheEntity case, not whether it was a good idea.
It is so predictable that the moment I knew that the Skeptical Inquirer article existed, I was 99.9% certain that it would be negative. Getting the opinions of atheist materialists about a subject with obvious spiritual implications is like asking Christian evangelicals about evolution. You are not going to get an objective review.
Radford’s article mostly takes the facts of The Entity case and then interprets them in the most negative way possible. It gives him the cover of not lying, while presenting his own beliefs as objective analysis.
A Haunted Woman
He first paints Bither as a troubled woman. That’s correct. He also paints her as an alcoholic and drug user. There seems to be a bit of debate on that point, coming from her middle son, but as she did drink and use drugs — it’s a matter of how much. Radford sets up his point that:
“the introduction of psychics, paranormal investigators, and other self-styled ghost hunters escalated—and arguably exacerbated—Bither’s situation. Where a trained psychologist or social worker might have seen a troubled woman needing help, Taff and Gaynor saw a golden opportunity to research a real haunting.”
I suppose that if you believe that none of it is real and that these investigations just prey on vulnerable people and exploit them, then Radford’s speculations might make sense. But when the phenomena are real, as was obviously the case, then it’s an entirely different story.
Bither reached out to Dr Barry Taff because she needed someone to take her seriously, and she found one of the few people who were familiar with this extremely rare situation and would handle it professionally. She needed someone to say “you’re not crazy, this is really happening.” According to Dr Taff, she turned down requests for her to seek medical assistance anyway.
Image: Canva
Fear of Being Labeled Crazy?
And that may have been due to her very legitimate fear of being labeled as a crazy person. I wasn’t there and I don’t know for sure, but it would be consistent with other people I’ve encountered. Relying on medical professionals when it comes to the paranormal can be a huge gamble. At the very least they can assume you’re spinning a tale and at the worst they can assume that you’re having a psychotic episode and involuntarily commit you.
There are very few safe people to turn to and Dr Taff was one of them. Radford’s conclusion here is based on his ignorance of what people actually go through when they experience extreme paranormal phenomena. So, on to the next thing.
Why did Dr Taff introduce seances? If you are going to observe the phenomena, you can either wait around in the hope that it randomly happens or you can try to trigger it. For The Entity case, Dr Taff chose the latter course. It’s something Radford would know if he had any familiarity with the subject.
The Omnipotent Skeptic
Radford didn’t have access to the original notes, yet he felt confident in saying that the case “was never competently investigated” as though he had some supernatural power of Omnipotent Skeptical Insight.™
And how about this gem: “There is curiously little independent corroboration of the allegedly extraordinary events, and we are forced to rely extensively (if not exclusively) on secondary sources.” Yeah, that happens after 47 years. Not only was there no Internet back then, the personal computer had only just been invented. A lot of people involved have either died or tracking them down is not worth the effort.
According to Radford, “Taff is still capitalizing on his involvement in the famous case through media interviews and books.” That’s news to me. Taff wrote one book and the case is one chapter of it. The media interviews about the case are long gone and in fact, he’s been on the brink of homelessness due to medical issues and accrued debt from not being able to work, barely surviving financially on social security and relying on charity and housing assistance.
Skeptic Doesn’t Know What “Documented” Means
Radford then moves on to write: “. . . had many of the phenomena typically associated with ghost reports: cold spots; odd, subjective sensations; a bad smell; and so on. The pair claimed to have experienced some unexplained phenomena, for example, “suddenly the cabinet door swung open. A frying pan flew out of the cabinet, following a curved path to the floor over 2.5 feet away, hitting with quite a thud.” Sadly and predictably, none of this was documented.”
“Sadly.” It’s one of those words that skeptics overuse to profess their fake disappointment that something didn’t live up to their Obviously Superior Skeptical Standards.™ Radford’s claim that none of this was documented is rather idiotic in my opinion. Of course, it was documented. Taff wrote down what happened. That’s how Radford knows about it. It. Was. Documented.
Otherwise, what on earth does Radford expect from Dr Taff? In 1974, the technology wasn’t there to film everything continuously. Capturing any photo at all is one of the more remarkable things about the case. The criticism is complete nonsense. In addition to that, this is an investigation, not an experimental trial. Investigations are about writing up observations and providing other types of documentation when possible. That’s exactly what Dr Taff did.
Scientific vs. Debunking
This is where scientifically minded people diverge from debunking skeptics like Radford. If you are going to seriously evaluate this report of poltergeist activity, you compare it to other poltergeist reports. The skeptical conceit that investigative researchers like Dr Barry Taff must either be lying or deluded is not how you do science, it’s just emotionally charged bias.
Records of poltergeist cases go as far back as 530 AD with more complete documentation dating back as far as 1526, in a monastery in France. Perhaps since Radford is so fond of old cases he can criticize the reporting of the nuns who lived 700 years ago.
It’s an incredibly rare phenomenon, but the other side of this is that it’s so remarkable that when it happened, people documented it. And we have enough of those cases throughout history that we can see similarities in the reports.
There is only so much evidence that you can dismiss as insane before the dismissal itself becomes the insanity.
If you are going to go about this scientifically, you should measure this case against all the others and add it to the database if it seems reasonable by those standards. The Entity certainly falls within the boundaries of other poltergeist cases and that’s how it should be judged.
Bad Photo Examination
In a separate article, a skeptic photography hobbyist, Kenny Biddle, criticizes the photos. The Entity photos were vetted by an expert of the time, Adrian Vance, editor of the West Coast edition of Popular Photography. In keeping with the skeptic tradition of interpreting everything in the worst way possible, he uses a quote from Vance and turns it on its head.
“As for Vance giving his opinion on whether the photo shows an apparition, he merely writes, “it now appears (to them) that they had some success” (Vance 1976). This does not appear to be an enthusiastic endorsement of the photo’s authenticity as depicting some unknown energy.”
It was the photographer’s job to merely rule out artifacts as an explanation, not vet the pictures as paranormal. And that’s exactly what he did. And our skeptical hobbyist goes on to criticize the original photos because the poster board wasn’t up. He got his timeline wrong. The poster board came later after Dr Taff and others realized that there was something to photograph. It’s another pointless and inaccurate criticism.
Maybe Pay More Attention?
And he goes on to compare this:
To this:
And forgets to include this:
The images look nothing alike. The hair artifact in the first picture isn’t uniformly illuminated like in The Entity pictures and it has well-defined edges, which the entity anomalies do not. In the second picture, the light is interacting with the curtain and there are two of them. It makes the claim of hair outright impossible.
Another thing I’d like to point out is that the aspect ratio of that picture is different from an SX-70; the photo is overexposed and the hair looks like a digital artifact. The picture could have been cropped, but it seems to be digital. I am not certain of this, but if that’s the case, then this is an outright dishonest comparison.
When Skeptics Attack
So there you have it. Bad skepticism. A couple of guys with no feel for the subject or any clue as to how to properly assess a poltergeist investigation have taken a decades old case launched into an over-the-top biased assessment of it. Sadly, (see what I did there?) all Radford and Biddle have shown is ignorance and bias.
