Sue St.Clair and Matthew Didier's Paranormal Blog

This week, historian Chris Laursen recognizes the efforts of Dr. Robert Jahn, Brenda Dunne and supporters of the Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) for delving into issues of consciousness over the past 28 years. PEAR is closing its doors at the end of this month.

What will the seeds of PEAR yield?
by Chris Laursen

Earlier this month, the founder of Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR) announced that the famous and controversial lab would be closing its doors. Opened in 1979 by jet propulsion scientist Dr. Robert G. Jahn, at the time Princeton University's Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science, PEAR developed tests which brought forth intriguing results with respect to extrasensory perception, in particular remote viewing and the ability for the human mind to affect machines.

"Since that time, an interdisciplinary staff of engineers, physicists, psychologists, and humanists has been conducting a comprehensive agenda of experiments and developing complementary theoretical models to enable better understanding of the role of consciousness in the establishment of physical reality," PEAR's website states.

"The one interface that hadn't really been explored was that of psychology - the human mind," Dr. Jahn told the Princeton Alumni Weekly about the origins of PEAR last November. "What could engineering utilize, in terms of basic knowledge of how the mind works?" That's what PEAR, led by Dr. Jahn and managed by developmental psychologist Brenda Dunne, set out to do. Dunne offered a counterpoint to Jahn's scientific inventions, providing "the more metaphysical and subjective understanding of the material to bolster Jahn's largely analytical approach," wrote journalist Lynne McTaggart in her 2002 book The Field. "He would design the machines; she would design the look and feel of the experiments. He would represent PEAR's face to the world; she would represent a less formidable face to its participants."

Dr. Robert Jahn and Brenda Dunne

Dr. Jahn, now 76 years old, is resolute in his decision to close the long-standing project and encourages researchers to push these studies further. He told the New York Times, "For 28 years, we've done what we wanted to do, and there's no reason to stay and generate more of the same data. If people don't believe us after all the results we've produced, then they never will." The project has stood under the shadow of constant criticism, much of which has been aired over the past few weeks in the press coverage of PEAR's closure. But such comments do not serve as a "final knife in the back" of a program that has contributed a great deal to a new frontier in science, psychology and understanding our world.

For example, in the 1980s, Dr. Jahn and his team greatly improved the protocols for remote viewing experiments, which he aptly calls remote perception. In his book The Reality of the Paranormal (London: Guild Publishing, 1988), past-president of the Society of Psychical Research Arthur Ellison described the experiment as follows: "The agent photographs the target and writes a description of it, but also ticks off answers to thirty binary questions serving to define the target in a particular code (is it indoors or outdoors? Noisy or quiet? Are there cars or no cars? Is there water present or not? and so on).... The perceptions are acquired and the data sheet completed hours or days before the target is visit, or, in most cases, before it is even selected." Binary coding of elements of the image photographed enabled computer analysis of what was perceived by those participating in the remote perception experiments.

One of the famous results of this experiment was the target photograph of the ruins of Urquardt Castle on Loch Ness, Scotland. The remote perception written down is illustrated in the below photograph from PEAR's website. "How the consciousness of a percipient can get access to points remote in time and space from the current location is well beyond our physical understanding," Dr. Jahn told Ellison.

This is but one of PEAR's many experiments which are fully detailed on the lab's website, in journals, books and magazine articles. The Princeton Alumni Weekly reported: "Jahn's general conclusions are that anomalous phenomena are real, can be studied scientifically in large data sets, and could be used in applications. He admitted that some of his faculty colleagues view the research with scepticism, and others have been completely dismissive. But he does not think that the engineering anomalies work affected his reputation as a distinguished researcher in electric and plasma propulsion."

PEAR's opponents have, not surprisingly, included members of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (formerly CSICOP) and academics such as University of Maryland physicist Robert L. Park, author of Voodoo Science: The Road From Foolishness to Fraud. Park told the New York Times, "It's been an embarrassment to science, and I think an embarrassment for Princeton. Science has a substantial amount of credibility, but this is the kind of thing that squanders it."

Such comments, in my opinion, are very narrow-minded. Science, by definition, is knowledge founded through objective principles involving systemized observation of and experiment with phenomena. That definition works up to a point. But what about comprehending things outside of the material world? Science can readily explain many things in our physical world, but why exclude it from observing the non-physical world, including phenomena related to consciousness? Think of what would not have been accomplished in humanity if people didn't try to understand the invisible, so to speak! If you look back at pretty much all of great thinkers who theorized about the non-material world, they too received a great deal of harsh criticism, yet their work forms the basis of today's commonly accepted scientific understanding - and offers a foundation upon which our knowledge can expand.

The value in projects such as PEAR is uncovering new possibilities in the human mind, our world and our universe - and attempting to do so as objectively as possible. In the world of academia, even where "pure" science is concerned, there is never any waste in exploring speculative thought, especially when it is trying to explain documented human experiences, such as precognition, extrasensory perception or witnessing things that fall outside of everyday understanding. Science is rooted in speculation.

Dr. Jahn and his colleagues have dedicated a great deal of time contributing to a worthy venture. Their dedication has encouraged significant support over the years for PEAR. James S. McDonnell, co-founder of the McDonnell Douglas Corporation, was the first donor, encouraging others, including philanthropist Laurance Rockefeller, to invest a total of over $10 million US into consciousness research since 1979, enough to sustain a small staff and a develop variety of intriguing equipment with which participants could mentally interact. It always has been a good idea, and like any experiment, forms the foundation for future work.

"It's time for a new era," Dr. Jahn said in the New York Times, "for someone to figure out what the implications of our results are for human culture, for future study, and - if the findings are correct - what they say about our basic scientific attitude."

Further reading:

Princeton Engineering Anomalies Research (PEAR): http://www.princeton.edu/~pear/
There are about 50 downloadable papers on the Publications page. Brenda Dunne recommends one entitled "The PEAR Proposition" which offers a comprehensive overview of the history and accomplishments of the program. There is also a 520-minute DVD/CD set available by the same name for those who want a more intimate experience of the laboratory.

Lynne McTaggart. The Field: The Quest for the Secret Force of the Universe. New York: HarperCollins, 2002.

"Mind May Affect Machines" by Kim Zetter in Wired magazine, 19 July 2005: http://www.wired.com/news/technology/0,1282,68216,00.html

"A Princeton Lab on ESP Plans to Close Its Doors" by Benedict Carey, New York Times, 10 February 2007.

Image Credits:

Photos of Urquardt Castle and of Dr. Robert Jahn and Brenda Dunne courtesy of Brenda Dunne, PEAR.

ParaResearchers of Ontario has seen an increase of UFO reports for the month of February 2007. Here is a partial listing of what has been reported to us so far:

Cambridge ON February 7th 6:45 am

"I sighted 3 lights flying in a triangular formation moving across the sky directly above me and heading north in Cambridge Ontario, February 7th, 2007 at approximately 6:45 am in the morning.

One of the "lights" then zoomed across to join another and then back to its original position in the sky. They continued north at a speed faster than any jet and they then speed not off into the horizon but striaght up and out into the sky to the northern hemisphere.......not sure if I was seeing things."

Our thanks to the witness for this report. If you also saw these lights or something similar please contact us.

Hamilton ON February 7th early morning

"I looked out my back window, a very bright star like light 'appeared' and moved rapidly to the left, in the sky. After several seconds, it vanished. No noise was heard."

Investigation:

It was reported that no other lights were on in the house, or on the back porch to account for this light. A phone call has been placed to a local airport, to determine whether any planes were flying during that time. The person who submitted the report indicated that although she does live near an airport, the moving star like light was moving backwards from the traditional light path of oncoming aircraft, as the Hamilton Airport is to the right direction of their property. The reported star like light did not have any blinking lights, and was reported to be bright white in colour.

Upon questioning it was reported that this witness does not have any known eye problems, and in fact had just had a clear eye exam early fall last year. No alcohol was consumed the night prior, or any other medication.

More calls have been placed to local institutions - as of yet nothing has been reported back. Any updates will be added to this report.

Our thanks to the witness for sharing this report. If you have seen something similar on the date and time in question please contact us.

Bancroft ON February 11th Approx 2:30am

"I was sleeping, it was about 2:30 in the morning and I was awoken by this big humming noise. I woke up with my friend and she witnessed the same thing it looked white and it looked like a ball of energy. It was hovering at the top of a tree across the street from us. It was very big we stood there, shocked and terrified neither of us made a noise. When I came home the next morning ( me and my friend didn't tell anyone about what we have witnessed ) my older brother (name withheld by PSICAN) asked me if I'd seen anything weird the night before and I said no but he described the exact same thing I seen the night before."

Our thanks to the witness for sharing this report. If you were in the Bancroft area or have observed something similar please contact us.

Toronto ON February 12th Approx. 10:50 - 11:00pm

Possible fireball on a south/west trajectory sighted to the Northwest of the city of Toronto. Appeared to be an orange ball of light on a very steep descent.

Our thanks to the witness for this report. If you have any further information or have also observed this possible fireball please contact us.

St. Catharines, ON February 21 2:20pm

"I was drinking coffee and looking out the window when I noticed above and between two large trees a translucent sphere hovering. It was still and the left end of the sphere was misshapen. To explain the object looked as if it was a clear no coloured bag that was in the shape of a sphere. I would say that the object was in the direction of either Port Dalhousie in St. Catharines,Ontario, Canada or Martindale Pond. The object stayed until the sphere was changed to sphere shape, and then disappeared."

Our thanks to the witness for sharing this report. If you have seen something similar at this location and time please contact us.

We are currently following up on all of these reports.

Wayne County, Illinois, USA Feb 12th 2007

"I was standing in my front yard when a bright white light caught my eye. I watched as four more white lights appeared and then it began to shoot a blue light to each of the white lights this lasted about 20 minutes, and then they went out like a light bulb being turned out. The next night the white light was back and would go out, and come back on at a diffrent spot in the sky, but lower and was red and flashing and then as before went out and didnt come back on. A week after this my 14yr old son came running into the house and very excited pulled me outside and told me a triangle shape object just flew over the house and made only a low humming noise and about 100 yards very low was the red flashing light moving across the sky and eventually disappeared out of sight.

Two weeks before we witnessed this I was driving home late one night and my head lights shined on this creature I wish I never would have seen. It was tall, dark black hair, with a dog face and pointy ears, stared at me as I passed. I hope to never see it again. I told very few people of this because I get made fun of, but I know what I witnessed and my son also. If these are related I will probably never know, but the light still appears every night for a short period and disappears as fast as it appears."

Our thanks to the witness for contacting us.

Not so much a smackdown as more of a personal disappointment perhaps.

In a CNN interview entitled "I Want To Be A Dork" Jennifer Love Hewitt star of the hit TV series Ghost Whisperer admits she doesn't really believe in mediumship. I do not expect that an actor or actress should mirror the behaviours, thoughts, and opinions of the characters that they play...not only would that be unrealistic it would be down right loony, especially in regards to those who play the role of a villain.

However, the very same Jennifer Love Hewitt also proclaimed in a Yahoo UK News interview that the set of her hit show Ghost Whisperer was haunted by a ghosts!

She tells US chat show host Megan Mullally, "We've had lights move, literally three and a half inches to the left, as you're sitting there the lights move.

"We've had lights burst over actors' heads when they're playing people who don't believe in ghosts. A light will burst into a million pieces right over them.

"People are like, 'We're not guest-starring on that show!'

"But for us as a crew we're kind of like, 'Awesome! Maybe they (the ghosts) are with us."

So, which is it Jennifer? Your show may be fictional, but it is representative in the hearts and minds of your mostly mainstream TV viewers of those who have actually had these experiences. If you don't really believe in it why state your set is or might be haunted by ghosts? Cheap publicity at the time perhaps?

And for the record yes, overall I do like watching Ghost Whisperer, and will continue to tune in with the kid on Friday nights, taking it for what it is as entertainment only.

Each Friday we will have a look at the stories and experiences that have been related to us over the years that are amongst our personal favourites. These will include Crypto, Ghosts, UFO's and other strange events that may be considered Fortean from in around the Toronto, Canada area .... and since they are from our own personal files will likely not be found elsewhere on the web .... enjoy!

Private Residence - Hamilton, Ontario Canada

"In the summer of 1993, I was employed by my aunt to clean her two-storey century apartment on Herkimer Street in Hamilton. I had done much "growing up" there and was aware of some "abnormal activity" in that premises; however, I ignored hearsay and went straight to work.

While washing the baseboards, facing the front door, I clearly saw the reflection of a boy standing on the landing. He was blonde with a happy face, wearing a sailor style shirt, dark shorts and Buster Brown shoes. There were no children living in the building at the time and the only way in was through the door by which I was sitting. When I turned around to have a closer look, the boy ran up to the second floor, peeked through the railing, smiled at me, then disappeared into thin air. I then heard a strange noise which sounded like someone turning on the faucets in the upstairs bathroom.

A close friend of the family who lived in the same building on the top floor told me, after my experience, that he had often seen the ghost of a little boy in his apartment who ran around through the place turning on the faucets.

I did ask my aunt what if anything she experienced in her building, and she revealed that she had twice seen a black figure on the same landing. It was well over seven feet tall and was cloaked in the typical black "death" garb. In fact, she had nicknamed it "Darth Vader". I, too, had seen that same figure as a child in one of the bedrooms on the first floor. She also mentioned having guests over for dinner one evening when a strange "breathing" noise overtook the house. Even with all of the electrical appliances unplugged and the pipes having been checked, the apartment seemed to take on a heavy slow breathing sound.

On different occasions, she had seen the heating grates levitate and one was thrown clear across the room during an argument she was having with a friend. The stove elements, clearly in the "off" position, had also been seen to heat to red, and on many occasions the sound of children's laughter could be heard in the house.

There had been guests in her house who reported the presence of a strange "phantom" who grabbed at them during the night."

Our thanks to the witness for sharing these experiences with us.

Do you have a real life ghost story, an encounter with a UFO, or other paranormal experience/s you'd like to share? If so, we'd love to hear from you! Post your own experiences in our comments section or send us an email. Please post only true life experiences ... we love good fiction, but there are other fantastic blogs out there to post fictional accounts to.

.... The Paranormal Podcast! As some of you already know and others have gathered from our hinting this past month Matthew and I are getting ready to launch our very own paranormal podcast early this coming Spring. Featuring paranormal topics, interesting guests from around the globe, an eclectic mix of music, we are hoping this newest offering will be a terrific companion to our Paranormal blog and associated websites.

Unlike some other podcasts you gentle reader, soon to hopefully be listener as well, will never be charged a membership or subscription fee. We intend to keep the entire venture in-house to insure it will always be free and easily accessible to you.

However, with the goal of keeping the podcast free to the end user we have had to make a couple of tough decisions. For those that have known and supported us through the years you already know that there has never been a charge for our websites, research, public meetings, investigations, nor forums. We have never charged the members of our group/s any fees or membership dues. Nor asked the general public to pay for any services provided. For the most part everything we have ever done in regards to the paranormal has always been funded out of our own pockets.

The podcast is going to require a large expenditure in equipment, and long distance calls for international guests. Instead of charging a subscription fee we have decided to write the occasional ad copy on this blog to help with the costs. We will try to limit these to one day per week, and we wish to assure you that content will always outweigh any ads you might see. It has never been our intention to completely commercialize this blog, you will never have to put up with loud banners or pop-ups, however we see the occasional ad entry as a fair trade off in helping to get the podcast of the ground.

Please let us know what you think in the comments section below. Can you live with the occasional ad i it means keeping everything else free? Do you support this decision or hate it? Ultimately our readership is what is most important to us, but if we do not generate some revenue to defray the costs then our podcast will have to be put on the backburner for now.

Sue & Matthew

Remembering Dr. Ian Stevenson: 1918 - 2007
by Chris Laursen

Over the past four decades, Dr. Ian Stevenson has opened many to the possibilities of survival after death and reincarnation, in particular through his research of children who apparently remembered their previous lives. On Feb. 8, the Montréal-born physician and psychiatrist died at the age of 88 in Charlotteville, Virginia.

Into his 80s (he only retired five years ago), he traveled the globe doing first hand research for the Division of Perceptual Studies he founded at the University of Virginia (formerly the Division of Personality Studies). The Division has studied phenomena including out-of-body experiences, near-death experiences, apparitions, after-death communications and deathbed visions, Margalit Fox of the New York Times reported in a Feb. 19 obituary on Dr. Stevenson.

Fox wrote: “Ian Pretyman Stevenson was born on Oct. 31, 1918, in Montréal and reared in Ottawa. His father, a journalist born in Scotland, was the Canadian correspondent for The Times of London. His mother had a keen interest in theosophy, the system of semi-religious mystical beliefs popular in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Stevenson would credit her vast library of books on the subject with creating his interest in spiritual phenomena.”

Graduating with a medical degree from McGill University in 1943, he studied psychiatry at Louisiana State University and became chairman of the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Virginia in 1957.

In 1961, Stevenson traveled to India and became deeply interested in reincarnation. Stevenson founded the Division of Personality Studies in 1967 to further explore this and related phenomena for which he found intriguing evidence through people’s past life recollections in his travels to India, Sri Lanka, Lebanon, Turkey, Thailand and Burma.

Among his many key publications are:
- Ten Cases in India. Charlottesville, Virginia: University Press of Virginia, 1984.
- Unlearned Language: New Studies in Xenoglossy. Charlottesville, Virginia: University Press of Virginia, 1984.
- Twenty Cases Suggestive of Reincarnation. Charlottesville, Virginia: University Press of Virginia, 1995.
- Reincarnation and Biology: A Contribution to the Etiolgoy of Birthmarks and Birth Defects (two volumes). Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Publishers, 1997.
- Where Reincarnation and Biology Intersect. Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Publishers, 1997.
- European Cases of the Reincarnation Type. McFarland & Company, 2003.

Tom Schroder became the first and only journalist permitted to extensively shadow Dr. Stevenson in his studies, traveling to Lebanon and India. In 1999, he published his account on Dr. Stevenson and his peers in Old Souls: The Scientific Evidence for Past Lives (New York: Fireside Books). The book opens with Schroder bouncing around in a microbus with Dr. Stevenson through rural India. “Why do mainstream scientists refuse to accept the evidence we have for reincarnation?” Dr. Stevenson asked Schroder repeatedly on that road trip.

Schroder met some of Dr. Stevenson’s most intriguing subjects including a Lebanese accountant Daniel Jirdi who, as a child, remembered being a mechanic named Rashid Khaddege who died in a car accident in 1968 and Suzanne Ghanem who remembered being a Lebanese woman who died in heart surgery in Virginia, Hanan Mansour. The Lebanese studies surrounded the Druse people who believe in reincarnation.

Dr. Stevenson has inspired a new generation of researchers in the field, among them Dr. Jim Tucker (University of Virginia), Dr. Satwant Pasricha (who he worked with in India), Erlendur Haraldsson (Department of Psychology, University of Iceland, Reykjavik), Lebanese researcher Majd Abu-Izzeddin, and Dr. Bruce Greyson (editor of the Journal of Near-Death Studies). Studies into past life phenomena will continue thanks to the outstanding work of Dr. Stevenson.

Further reading:

University of Virginia, Division of Perceptual Studies:
http://www.healthsystem.virginia.edu/internet/personalitystudies/

Jim B. Tucker. Life Before Life: A Scientific Investigation of Children’s Memories of Previous Lives. St. Martin’s Press, 2005

Dr. Kirti Swaroop Rawat and Titus Rivas. “The Life Beyond: Through the Eyes of Children Who Claim to Remember Previous Lives.” Online at http://www.prebirthexperience.com/The%20Life%20Beyond.htm

Image Credit:

Society for Scientific Exploration: http://www.scientificexploration.org/

Based on the concept of the Blogoshere's Thursday Thirteen .. Andrea of Ghost Stories has begun something very similar that is paranormal related only. And since we are a Paranormal Blog we thought it would be fun to participate again!

The following is a listing of 13 celebrity ghosts who reportedly have returned from death in order to haunt:

#13 Marilyn Monroe - Reportedly haunting the historic Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood, California, USA.

#12 Montgomery Clift - Also reportedly haunting the Roosevelt Hotel.

#11 Harry Houdini - Reportedly haunting his former home in the Hollywood Hills, located at 2398 Laurel Canyon Boulevard.

#10 Clifton Webb (the original "Mr. Belvedere") - Reportedly haunting the Abbey of the Psalms mausoleum (where he is buried) at Hollywood Memorial Park Cemetery.

#9 George Reeves (Superman) - Reportedly haunting his former Beverly Hills, California home where he was found dead of a gunshot wound.

#8 Thelma Todd - Reportedly haunting a beachside cafe located at 17575 Pacific Coast Highway, near Malibu California.

#7 Boris Karloff - Reportedly haunts his former home in Hampshire England.

#6 John Wayne - Reportedly haunts his beloved yacht "the Wild Goose."

#5 Lucille Ball – Said to be haunting her former California home at 100 North Roxbury Drive.

#4 Joan Crawford - Reportedly haunting the Crawford House, along with several other spirits. The house has been exorcized numerous times.

#3 Redd Foxx - Reportedly haunts Stage 31 at Paramount Studios where he died of a heart attack.

#2 Clark Gable – Reportedly haunting the Oatman Hotel in Oatman, Arizona along with wife Carole Lombard

#1 John Lennon – Reportedly haunting the Dakota building at 1 west 72nd Street in New York City, where he was shot to death.

Have we missed anyone that we should have thought about? Let us know in the "Comments" section...

Thanks to Ghost Stories!

Further Resources For Celebrity Ghosts:

http://www.legendsofamerica.com/GH-CelebrityGhosts.html

http://www.seeing-stars.com/Died/Haunted.shtml

Chris Laursen will be conducting an experiment in psychometry in the coming months. Psychometry is when people get psychical impressions from specific objects related to the object's history, its owner or other aspects connected to the object.

Chris gives further details below:

A bit about the project

This is a project that I hope to complete by the end of the summer 2007. My goal is not to prove nor disprove psychometry. Call it an experiment of curiosity, if you will. I simply wish to test a range of people, from those who claim to have no psychic experiences to those who have psychic experiences regularly. I will record the results and in the end will compare them with the actual recollections written down by the owners of the objects - which will include biographical details about them as well as in-depth detail on the object they are submitting. It should be fun and interesting! Who knows what may happen - past researchers have yielded truly fascinating results in similar psychometry experiments.

Call for objects

I am currently seeking objects to be included in this experiment. It is okay if you wish to lend an object for the experiment and also participate in it - I plan on collecting about seven or eight objects from all sorts of diverse people, and each "reading" will be of five of these objects. If you contribute an object, it will simply not be included when you participate in this project.

You would lend me the object until the end of August, at which point it would be returned to you. The object should have some special meaning to you - though I would rather it not be a valuable (expensive) object. It also should be able to fit into a shoebox.

Then I will give you a biographical questionnaire to complete, and will ask you to write a page or two detailing the meaning of the object and its history. You will write this information and seal it into an envelope which would be mailed to a third party (I will have no knowledge of the object's history). We can arrange for delivery of the object separately.

Please pass this request to your friends in the Greater Toronto Area

My goal is to collect as many objects from outside of the "PSICAN circle" of people as possible, so I would appreciate if you could pass this request on to your friends and family who may be interested in supporting this project by lending an object until the end of the summer.

Questions?

If you have any questions, simply send me an email. But do not describe the object's history - though it's okay to tell me what the object is since I'll be taking care of it and handling it during the experiments. Once I have collected enough objects for this experiment, I will be detailing its protocol and seeking volunteers to participate!

Thank you so much in advance to those interested in assisting with this project.

Very best,
Chris Laursen

You may contact Chris directly via email at chris at tororontoghosts.org or leave a comment on this blog.

From Matthew double-decker bus guy Didier...

This isn't TOO harsh a "smackdown"... but it is something to consider...

When looking at ghosts and hauntings, all too often people desperately want to attach a legitimate history to the phenomena to make it seem more "legitimate".

More often than not, it's not really necessary... and more often than not, in the "race" to "prove" that there's something going on, people tend to make mistakes.

Allow me to give two excellent examples... one that's not-so-well known and a VERY famous one that people take as gospel... and in study, maybe they shouldn't...

The first one happened on Canada's East Coast... there was a famed haunted house that had been turned into a bed and breakfast. The legend went that the ghostly manifestation (which were "ghostly" footsteps, items being moved about - but not violently, and occasional sounds of someone "whispering" or "talking" but always almost inaudible,) was that of a former slave.

The house was built and occupied by a United Empire Loyalist... one of the thousands that fled North during the American Revolution in the latter 1700's... in those times, slavery was unknown in Canada and the governments of the day (in British North America) were staunch abolitionists. This made for a wee problem when Loyalists came North... with slaves in tow. The governments "turned a blind eye" on the newcomers and their slaves and, by proxy, most had to free their slaves anyway for want of plantations and money to support them. Either way, in 1793 legislation was passed starting the outward outlawing of slavery in British North America (Canada) altogether.

Many of the former slaves either became hired help to their former masters or migrated and settled further West in the country.

The fellow in the East Coast, that is our "ghost" (so far) did the former... in fact, he was so beloved by the family that they kept him on even after he was so infirmed, he could no longer do chores... in essence, the family became caregivers to their former slave... and from historical reports, everyone was quite happy with the whole arrangement.

The fellow died feeling very much a part of this family and this house so it seemed a logical conclusion that "he" was the ghost.

Depending on what "spin" is put on it, he haunted because he loved it so much, or he haunted because he had always been a slave and died one regardless of what the "law" thought.

The latter is unlikely as writing of the time and whatnot do say that he had become an honoured member of the family... but I digress...

Years later and LONG after the original family had moved on, a man who was staying at the home as a paying guest saw a figure... he was standing near the dining room table and when the guest approached him, he vanished.

Thrilled with the final "sighting" of their ghosts, the owners were awestruck by the description... an old man in fishing gear... and decidedly Caucasian.

Was this the ghost? If so, what about the former slave?

A nameless fisherman vs. the wonderful story of the Loyalist's former slave... tough call... but kudos to the owners who decided that BOTH stories should be out there... but one has to wonder, was the former slave being blamed for behaviour that wasn't his?

The next one's a touch more famed... and is definitely bad history and folklore over fact... and it involves Hampton Court Palace in England.

The story involves Henry VIII's wife, Catherine Howard, who knew her head was not long to be attached to her body as she had been placed under "house arrest" at Hampton Court after being "tried" and found "guilty" of having some illicit affairs.

The story goes that Henry was in the Chapel Royal for services and Catherine escaped her room, ran screaming past the guards and banged on the door to Henry's private chapel imploring him for mercy and screaming her innocence... to no avail. Henry remained unmoved within the chapel and the guards dragged poor Catherine back to her room and, eventually, to the Tower of London to face the axe.

Her ghosts is now said to be heard (and even occasionally seen) running from her apartment to the chapel royal re-enacting her last, desperate attempt to receive Henry's mercy.

I've been to the palace personally three times (last time in the mid-1990's) and I can recommend a tour of the palace without hesitation and the chapel royal is one of the most breathtaking sights one can see within Hampton Court. There is a "certain air", if I may be allowed to say that, in the space at the door near Henry's private entrance to his seat within the chapel... Take this as you will... which, I'm sure after reading the next bit, will be with a grain of salt.

Catherine Howard's run to the Chapel Royal does not stand up to greater historical scrutiny... According to historian, Dr. David Starkey, Catherine was at Hampton under suspicion, but not charged. In fact, while at Hampton, Henry seemed like he might "break" and relent the pursuit of the charges levied against her.

A while after their arrival, Henry left to go hunting (usually a trip that lasted weeks) with Catherine feeling very much like she was out of the proverbial woods. Henry even sent her a note saying that he would send for her to join him and didn't believe the charges at all.

A touch over a month later, Catherine was "escorted" (suddenly) to a nunnery, this was done in an instant and didn't give her time to even consider what was going on... It also wasn't a "death sentence". This didn't happen until much later, when at the nunnery, she was told of her new accommodations at The Tower of London. That was when her "fate" was more or less confirmed.

So, to believe the "legend" of the palace, we'd have to believe that Catherine ran to an empty room where she knew Henry couldn't be... and all the time assuming she was not in any danger. Hard to believe the "running screaming woman" with this being the case.

That said, how come this is such an enduring legend? How come even I, your humble writer, admitted there is an "air" around the corridor and the door to the chapel royal? Could it be millions of visitors are told the story and their own "fear" or whatever has "tainted" the place?

Perhaps Catherine ISN'T the screaming lady and someone else is?

Either way, the "ghost story" that is oft told just doesn't cut it with the real historians.

Now that I've given two examples, I could do more... like mention an Ontario "ghost hunting group" that actually fired their "historian" because his studies found that their favourite haunted place and story didn't stand up to historic scrutiny... that story's probably best left for another day... but the long and the short of it is, they made a mistake about what happened at a site (mistaking something that happened thousands of miles away for happening there) and when this boo-boo was pointed out with evidence by someone on their own team, they fired the fellow... and ignored the evidence. Darn those inconvenient facts, eh?

Anyway, my point is that we must NOT always assume "folklore" and "history" are the same thing... "traditional stories" should always be questioned... and just because "weird stuff happens", we don't necessarily need to pin it on someone... at least, not without really good evidence to back up the claim.

There's really nothing wrong with folklore and story-telling... but when it's mistaken for actual history, it can be quite problematic...

The ghost on Canada's East Coast may not be a slave. Catherine Howard, if making the infamous "run" may only be doing it for tourists spoon fed the story... and who knows, maybe the ghost you've seen or your friend has seen or your family member has seen wasn't exactly who they think it was.

Trust me on this one, asking a ghost for I.D. (preferably something with a picture) is damnedably difficult... and pinning a "persona" on an entity is a little too easy to do in some cases.

It comes down to three little words that some people hate hearing... Do Your Homework!

Penny Dobson, one of PSICAN's investigators - researchers is presently involved in a fund raising effort to collect warm clothes, including hats, boots, warm coats, any clothes, new socks (for any age) for the Aboriginals in the Northern Ontario area of Tikanagen. The weather is very cold in the area and they do not have the means for these items.

She is also collecting books for children for this effort, as they have built a school but did not add in the budget, money for books.

Penny is doing this as a fund raising effort for Sheridan College's Social Service Work program. This is going towards hours for a field work week placement.

The college has a generous pilot who will be flying these items out in two weeks.

If you are in the area of Sheridan College (Oakville, Ontario Canada) any items can be dropped off in front of The Fuse in the main hallway by Tim Hortons. They are also accepting cash donations at the school. We will be there Monday-Wednesday and also Friday 9am-4pm. If needed pick up of items may be able to be arranged.

If you think you might be able to help with this worthy cause please contact Penny Dobson asap via email at pennyeileen at hotmail.com

Thank you!

Each Friday we will have a look at the stories and experiences that have been related to us over the years that are amongst our personal favourites. These will include Crypto, Ghosts, UFO's and other strange events that may be considered Fortean from in around the Toronto, Canada area .... and since they are from our own personal files will likely not be found elsewhere on the web .... enjoy!

Peterborough, Ontario, Canada - Peterborough Centennial Museum

"I was a volunteer at both Peterborough Centennial Museum and Archives as well as Hutchison House. There where stories told by the other volunteers and museum staff at the Centennial museum of the ghost that arrived to the museum. These ghosts, unknown to the museum staff, arrived with a generous donation of two very old identical chairs that have on the ends of the arms things that looks like demons heads.

The apparitions and disturbances started when one of the chairs was put on display in the room where the special attractions where kept. I believe it was a special furniture exhibit. But the main doors to the museum started to open on their own, the museums visitors saw shadows on the wall of where the chair sat of an old woman.

Once there was a full torso apparition which the lady then working at the front desk saw with her own eyes. She told me this herself.

I have seen the chairs once while touring the storage area in the basement of the museum where the chairs are kept and the archive office is also located. The whole place has kind of a strange aura to it.

There is a "make out point" where most of the teenagers around here go and drink and run around in a big parking lot. It is right up the hill from the museum and you have to go into the museums drive way and drive up past the building to get to it. All the of the teenagers avoid it because it is considered "strange".

There is also a doll and a little wagon that move about on their own accord in a display which is a recreation of a Victorian parlor. Also in this display there are a set of tea cups that seem to move on their tray through out the day without human assistance."

Our thanks to the writer for sharing these experiences with us.

Do you have a real life ghost story, an encounter with a UFO, or other paranormal experience/s you'd like to share? If so, we'd love to hear from you! Post your own experiences in our comments section or send us an email. Please post only true life experiences ... we love good fiction, but there are other fantastic blogs out there to post fictional accounts to.

This week, historian Chris Laursen lauds the research done in the case of a 15-year-old Hungarian girl who was mysteriously possessed or transformed into a Spanish washerwoman who had died in Madrid in 1933.

The beautifully strange mystery of Iris and Lucía
by Chris Laursen

What happened to Iris Farczády? The 15-year-old Hungarian girl was an excellent though shy student with a penchant for math and languages, fluent in German and French in addition to her mother tongue. At home, the teenager would partake in family séances with her mother - maybe a little something extraordinary in an otherwise typical upper middle class upbringing. British psychical researcher Mary Rose Barrington wrote that "her attendance at school became erratic, owing to her participation in family Spiritualist circles, an activity encouraged by her mother and also, possibly, by a prediction made a year earlier that she would undergo 'a great psychic miracle.'" Practising trance mediumship, Iris would channel many different personas, even beings she claimed to be from other planets. Some of them were difficult to dislodge, one of them remaining in Iris for a full week; virtually all of them mentally exhausted her for long periods after séances. "Then one day in 1933, a Spanish-speaking entity barged in and took over Iris's body," Guy Lyon Playfair wrote in this month's Fortean Times, "showing every sign of intending to stay in it."

Iris Farczády had transformed in an instant into Lucía Altarez de Salvio, a washerwoman from Madrid who had died at the age of 41 three months prior to possessing the teenaged girl's body, leaving behind in her past life fourteen children and passionate Communist ideals. All traces of Iris had vanished. The new Iris - Lucía - no longer had knowledge of Hungarian or German, but spoke amazingly fluent Spanish. She did not return to school, became preoccupied with household duties (especially cooking and washing) and later had a career as a Spanish-style dancer and Spanish language tutor. Lucía had to relearn German and ended up marrying a German-Hungarian man when she was 21, bringing up three children of her own (all of whom were resistant to people studying their mother). After the Second World War, she studied to become an electrical engineer.

Playfair's article is largely drawn on the research Mary Rose Barrington, Peter Mulacz (an Austrian psychology lecturer) and Titus Rivas (a member of the Dutch Society for Psychical Research who fluently spoke Spanish) did when were brought together and ended up meeting Lucía/Iris in her Hungarian village not far from Budapest in 1998.

Even after thorough investigation, psychologists, linguists and psychical researchers were still unable to explain what happened to Iris Farczády in the 65 years since her transformation. Moreso, they have never been able to accuse Iris of consciously assuming a new personality. Despite inconsistent details she gave of her past Spanish life every bit as unusual as the case itself and the failure to turn up information that corroborated her claims, evidence demonstrated that Lucía indeed was a poor washerwoman from Spain who had inadvertently taken possession of Iris's body three months after death. Her knowledge of little known Spanish terms, recollections of her past life and the stark transformation in every respect of her personality appear to be astonishing proof in favour of Lucía's story. It seems that the knowledge Lucía possessed of life in Madrid, politics, religious life, Spanish saints and obscure linguistic details that most non-native speakers would not know were beyond anything a 15-year-old - or anyone, it would seem - could ever invent.

The things she did not know so well seemed quite human, especially when asked about things long ago. "Pressed about locations, she said she had no more idea about the layout of Budapest streets and statues than she had now or ever had of those in Madrid," Barrington, Mulacz and Rivas reported in the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research. "It was clear that she was not trying to impress us with her memories of her claimed previous life, and one could get the impression that she was bored with the whole subject of Lucía Altarez de Salvio and her life in Madrid."

Titus Rivas visits with the lively 80-year-old Lucía, formerly Iris (from a video still by Mary Rose Barrington reprinted in the Fortean Times, April 2007 issue).

The three researchers theorized: "The case of Iris Farczády might be seen as an extreme member of a wide class of phenomena that fall under the general heading 'change of personality.' In trance mediumship the ostensible replacement of the medium's identity by that of a 'communicator' claiming to be have survived death is very familiar, but the (apparent) total replacement of the host personality by a persistent 'guest' for the remainder of the original person's life, which appears to have occurred in the case presented here, may be unique." Ian Stevenson, a well-known American academic researcher of past life phenomena, had documented a similar case in India in which a woman had a near death experience, and returned as a different persona, a woman named Shiva from a village 60 miles away, a strange event which appears verifiable. Such permanent identity changes are extremely rare anomalies. Those who have them claim to have died and been reborn. We don't know for certain.
Playfair wrote that early attempts were made to get Iris back through hypnosis, to no avail. "In trance, the original Iris re-emerged complaining indignantly about the woman who had taken her over, but apparently becoming resigned to the fact that the invader was not going to go away," he wrote.

Lucía could not recall details of Iris's life. "She remembered floating happily in space, rather like a small boat on water, in a state of contentment, and then suddenly there she was in the body of this attractive young girl, a virgin again, as she put it, after having given birth to 14 children; and when she looked down she saw lovely young hands, not the worn-out hands of a 41-year-old washerwoman," wrote Barrington, Mulacz and Rivas.

In Fortean Times, Playfair invites the readers to come up with clues that may help verify Lucía's identity since no records of her life in Madrid can be found. During the psychical researchers' visit in 1998, Lucía obliged them with a song no one has been able to recognize, with lyrics like:

Hace mucho tiempo que haces embrazos
(You've been causing problems for ages)
Pero en el corazón vive todavia el amor
(but love is still alive in the heart)

"Rivas did not recognize the song," Playfair wrote, "and would be glad to hear from anybody who does. If it is a genuine Spanish song form the 1930s or earlier, it will be an important piece of evidence."

What happened to Iris Farczády remains an enigma, as do the facts presented by her "replacement" persona, Lucía Altarez de Salvio. Researchers tried hard, but could not find evidence of Lucía's past life. If her story were true, and she were a woman with strong Communist ideals, it would be hard to say if her family could have survived the brutal Spanish Civil War and its fascist aftermath. They may have even escaped Spain, where the search for Lucía's family was limited.

No doubt this is one of the most amazing mysteries, among the strangest ever documented.

Further reading:

"A Stolen Life" by Guy Lyon Playfair in the April 2007 issue of Fortean Times, pp. 30-34. Website: http://www.forteantimes.com/

"The Case of Iris Farczády - A Stolen Life" by Mary Rose Barrington, Peter Mulacz and Titus Rivas in the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, April 2005, pp. 49-77.

Wishing All Of Our Readers A Weird & Wonderfully Happy Valentine's Day!

Back in June 2006 we asked you our readers if they could assist us in finding any information on this B17 aircraft. We have been in correspondence with someone who feels they may have a past life connection to the Scarlett O' Hara. We were looking for anything in terms of it's history, registration numbers, crew, logs, anything that might aid in fitting some very loose pieces of a puzzle together.

This week one of you came through in a big way!

Here is a photo of the last crew members of the Scarlett O'Hara

"Association records indicate that "Scarlett O'Hara", aircraft 42-29898 (Squadron Code WA-K) was dispatched on August 12, 1943 to bomb the synthetic oil plants at Gelsenkirchen, Germany. This aircraft was listed as Missing in Action following the mission. Crew was as follows:

Osborne, Ralph H 2nd Lt Pilot KIA
Jones, Leslie E 2nd Lt Co-Pilot POW
Hand, William D 2nd Lt Nav POW
Wickham, Thomas C 2nd Lt Bomb POW
Fambrough, Mildred O TSgt Radio Op KIA
Keenan, Patrick J TSgt Top Turret POW
Truman, Lawrence E SSgt Ball Turret KIA
Irwin, Charles B SSgt Right Waist KIA
Dayton, Warren T SSgt Left Waist KIA
Scruggs, Howard R SSgt Tail KIA

The aircraft was observed in a "wing over wing" out of control condition. Sgt Keenan, the top turret gunner, (who our correspondent feels may be the person he is attached to) is listed as having died as a POW."

Further records indicate that information provided by the navigator, Lt. Hand, states that this aircraft was assigned to them at Kimbolton, and saw previous service in North Africa. The pygmy painted on the LH side was left over from the North Africa service.

We wish to personally thank the USAF 379th Bomb Group for the above information and photos. We may never know if our correspondent is in fact a reincarnated crew member, but he does feel a very special and close bond to this aircraft. This information brings him one step closer in perhaps making some sense out of this connection.

From The Desk of Matthew Double-Decker Bus Guy Didier...

syn·drome (sĭn'drōm') - A group of symptoms that collectively indicate or characterize a disease, psychological disorder, or other abnormal condition.

Apparently, there's a lot of "sick puppies" in the world of the paranormal...

Why?

Because you wouldn't BELIEVE how many times even I have attached the word "syndrome" to things...

It took a diatribe from Sue to break me of this habit.

The most ostentatious breech of this word came from the use of "Three Dot Syndrome"... This was ACTUALLY coined by an article on the old ABC News Website and was about the "face on Mars" image.

In essence, the author decided, and rightly, that people tended to look at images and find "familiar" things in them. This is actually a truth.

Much like kids looking for clouds with special shapes, ("I see a bunny rabbit in that one!" or think of it as one does the Rorschach inkblot test,) people DO have a built-in brain function to find familiarity in the random.

Ergo: We used to get scads and scads of images of random smoke, trees, rocks, dirt, "orbs", and the like where the "witness" was certain there was a "face" to be seen... even though, more times than not, one really couldn't discern a face without a lot of effort... Effectively, finding three dots to make eyes and nose/mouth and therefore a face.

In essence, these "faces" would validate the image as bone fide "paranormal" in the eyes of the witness.

Well, not to make light, but on occasion, we had to look at some of these and wonder if the "bunny shaped cloud" was bone fide evidence of large rodents floating above the Earth.

(Oh, so you don't think we "mock" everything that came in like this... in some cases, "witnesses" sent us these faces from places where they admitted there had been no previous reports of "paranormal activity" and they nor anyone around them felt there was a REASON to suspect anything "paranormal"... except the photo with the "face". To be honest, ALL evidence presented MUST be taken absolutely seriously until such time as you can realistically either decide that the weight of possibility of the "natural" being mistaken for the "supernatural" is such that determination of the image as "paranormal" is impossible... even then, it's arrogant to say with absolute certainty that it's "bunk"... or it's "genuine".)

The ABC author felt the same way.

...so "we" (not Sue… this was before Sue and I had met…) adopted it... "Three Dot Syndrome".

Problem is, it's NOT a syndrome. At least, in essence, it has nothing to do with a medical condition or disease... it's perfectly normal human instinct.

In fact, little by little, I've been removing references to "Three Dot Syndrome" on the Torontoghosts website as I come to them.

A better word, coined in 1994 Steven Goldstein to describe "a psychological phenomenon involving a vague and random stimulus (often an image or sound) being mistakenly perceived as recognizable." and more-or-less accepted by the psychological community is Pareidolia.

The word comes from the Latin para meaning, in this case, the Greek for "wrong", "mistaken", or "amiss"... and eidolon meaning image, the "smaller version" of eidos meaning "appearance" or "form".

According to modern dictionaries, it would be pronounced Pairay-Dole-Ee-Ah.

Well, leave it to the "ghost hunting community" to find a word that makes good etymological sense... and try to "cool it up"... and in the process, kinda lose the meaning.

More than one group, (I don't know who truly originated it,) is using the term "Matrixing" for cases of pareidolia.

For the record, "Matrixing" is actually a form of charting... To "matrix" is to create a two-dimensional display of information on a "X/Y" axis in columns and rows.

Actually, the truest definition of "Matrix" is...

ma·trix (mā'trĭks) - A situation or surrounding substance within which something else originates, develops, or is contained.

Now, I suppose, using this "broader" and truer definition, you could say "Matrixing" is okay... but it would elude to the ACTUAL "face" or whatever being there and ACTUALLY finding it.

In other words, when using this "term" (and it could not be called "matrixing" because it is not taking a "X/Y" axis of information to find it,) you'd have to assume strictly positive results.

...and call it a hunch or an opinion, that's NOT what most cases of pareidolia are... sadly.

I think one of the possible reasons that these "ghost groups" avoid the word pareidolia is it's origins... which, to be honest, are from the much loathed CSICOP (now called CSI) as Steven Goldstein coined it in an article for one of their publications.

...but...

The word and it's origins and etymology are accurate... and why throw the baby out with the bathwater?

On occasion, even the worst individuals can occasionally do SOMETHING of value.

...and I'd say pareidolia is an apt term for many (not all) of these cases...

...and realistically, it is better than "Matrixing", sad to say.

I liken it to Sagan again... Absence of Evidence is not Evidence of Absence was not uttered by him to PROMOTE Ufology... he was, for the most part, adamantly and utterly against the idea of UFOs and the ETH (Extra Terrestrial Hypothesis).

...and yet, this "catch phrase" works wonders in favour of our studies.

So, call it what you will... but "Three Dot Syndrome" doesn't work as it's not a disease or symptoms of a disease... "Matrixing" isn't correct as to "Matrix" means to chart or graph something on an "X/Y" axis (oh, and there's a type or printing known as "Matrixing" too!) and sadly, someone from CSICOP (now called CSI) had it right.

The best term and really, the only "acceptable" one is pareidolia.

I guess, in essence, there's a larger lesson to be learned...

If you want to "coin a term" or "word", you really DO need to try and ensure it's origins are sound, it's etymology stands up to scrutiny, and you're not trying to capitalise on a recent movie or what the news media is tossing down the masses throats.

Each Friday we will have a look at the stories and experiences that have been related to us over the years that are amongst our personal favourites. These will include Crypto, Ghosts, UFO's and other strange events that may be considered Fortean from in around the Toronto, Canada area .... and since they are from our own personal files will likely not be found elsewhere on the web .... enjoy!

Private Residence Lawlor Ave, The Beaches, (aka The Beach) Toronto, Canada

The following was submitted by one of our readers...

"I moved into a house on Lawlor Ave. (circa 1911) in the beaches area of Toronto in August 1993. Two of my friends had lived in the house for several years already and had told me that the house was haunted by a ghost of a woman that they had named "Sophie". I rented a bedroom on the top floor and my friends told me that this bedroom had the best "vibes" of all the rooms in the house. I admit that I was skeptical and quickly forgot about Sophie.

Shortly after I moved in I noticed that I was losing things like my car keys and other small items. These items would reappear elsewhere in the house. My friends pointed out that I was (and still am) one of those people who never misplaces things and that it was probably Sophie playing tricks on me. I just attributed it to being in a new environment and my carelessness.

In September 1993 I came in to find one of my friends sitting on the couch shaking with a drink in her hand (this is really unusual for her). She looked at me and asked me if I had been in the basement during the last half hour. I told her that I was out all day and had just then returned.

She then told me that she was busy working in the basement when someone with long blond hair (like mine) had walked by her. She thought it was me and started talking, but when she did not get a reply she looked up and noticed the woman had disappeared. There was no way this person could have left the basement without passing by her again.

That same month I was alone in the house watching a Blue Jays game in the living room when I felt very uncomfortable and uneasy - like someone was watching me. I ended up going back up to my room to watch the game and as soon as I left the living room, the feeling disappeared.

My room felt very safe, but in the middle of the night sometimes my television would go on by itself. I would have to get up to turn it off, since It was an older set without a remote. I mentioned this to the friend in the front bedroom and she told me that she had the opposite problem - her television would go off whenever she was watching something interesting.

Was it bad wiring in an old house, or was it Sophie?

In November the three of us decided to have a meeting to discuss all the weird stuff going on. We were all in the living room talking when suddenly the back door flew open. One of my friends swore that she had closed it and locked it after going out for a quick smoke. By this time I was a believer.

I moved out in May 1994 when the house was sold. I often tell people about "Sophie" and I hope the new owners of the home are not scared of her. I believe that she was a benevolent ghost who just wanted us to know she was there. Looking back at the events I now feel spooked, but while I lived there I never had a sense of real fear or dread, just a few uneasy feelings here and there, nothing threatening.

I hope Sophie is happy and eventually able to leave this world and go on to the next."

Our thanks to the writer for sharing these experiences with us. Please note we cannot give out exact addresses of private homes.

And on an unrelated note, Happy 17th Birthday Sarah! This one is for you, we hope you enjoyed reading it, and that this day and throughout the coming year will be everything you dream of....

Cheers!

Do you have a real life ghost story, an encounter with a UFO, or other paranormal experience/s you'd like to share? If so, we'd love to hear from you! Post your own experiences in our comments section or send us an email. Please post only true life experiences ... we love good fiction, but there are other fantastic blogs out there to post fictional accounts to.

Coming to a theatre near you "the Messengers" ........... my non-psychic prediction, read informed guess is that with the debut of this spooky film our submissions from people claiming "my child sees dead people" ala The Sixth Sense are going to go way up .... and oddly, when we do try to comfort some of these parents and reassure them that their children are in all probability not receiving demonic messages from beyond .... get snarked at as if they really do wish their children were being traumatised thusly ....oy vey!

Matthew and I once knew two women who fought over whose child was more psychic, both children at the time were around three years of age!

People are strange .... far stranger than anything paranormal!

This week, historian Chris Laursen considers the ability of mediums to offer accurate information, especially in terms of how impressed sitters are when they produce specific people's names.

What's in a name?
by Chris Laursen

One day in 1885, a man of science and his wife visited one of the most renowned American mediums in late nineteenth century Boston, Lenora Evelina Piper, on the advice of his mother-in-law and sister-in-law. William and Alice James stepped into Mrs. Piper's parlour for the first time, not revealing their identities and with the strictest controls in mind when dealing with her. The medium eased back into her chair and went into a trance, mumbling names that sounded like those of the couple's family members, but William and Alice reserved their reaction. Then, the medium asked about a dead child, describing a small boy with the name of 'Herrin.' She repeated the name until it became clearer to her that his name was Herman, the son the couple had lost a year prior to illness.

Famed medium Leonora Piper

For William James it was sufficient proof that something otherworldly was in the works. The name seemed to be a key component in what convinced him that Mrs. Piper had connected somehow with this information about his son, and it led to a thorough investigation of Mrs. Piper's talents by the American Society of Psychical Research and its British counterpart in the following decades. I first read of this incident in Renée Haynes's amazing 1982 book documenting the history of the British Society for Psychical Research (SPR) and Professor Deborah Blum's recent book Ghost Hunters: William James and the Search for Scientific Proof of Life After Death.

Producing names in readings has historically increased the "wow" factor for sitters. Beyond many other details, sitters seem to find the greatest verification if a name of someone they loved is accurately given in the reading.

Mary Rose Barrington, a retired lawyer from London, England, and long-standing researcher for the British Society of Psychical Research regularly digs in archival documentation of things paranormal, and writes about them for the Society's quarterly magazine Paranormal Review. In the October 2006 issue, she summarized and liberally quoted an article that appeared in the Institut Métaphysique International's publication Revue Métaphysique in 1926 by the French medium Raoul de Fleurière.

De Fleurière apparently had quite a knack for accurately giving names to his sitters. "I never search for names," he wrote. "To try for them would be the surest way of never finding them. When they offer themselves to my vision it is always spontaneously and just at the moment when I am thinking about it least." He said he could come up with name through auditory clues, such as songs, or in visual clues, such as a flower that would relate to the Christian name of his sitters. He prided himself in accurately coming up with very unusual names, including Abéline, Paquita, Xénia, Zénaide and Dolly. "I have to smile when I remember the astonishment of certain people when I have told them, for example: 'You are called Viviane-Coralie-Adolphine...' For in many cases... it is not a single name that presents itself, but a whole series in a long line, one after another," de Fleurière wrote.

The French medium, in another sitting, produced the full name of the French-speaking woman the sitter, Jean Lefèbvre, would later meet overseas and end up marrying, Marthe-Emma-Rose-Charlotte-Ghislaine. Indeed he did end up meeting a woman from Belgium, and four of the five names reported by de Fleurière were correct. "And his excitement is very natural and reasonable," Barrington commented, "because a name is a specific item, unlike the sort of pronouncement... that may be open to various interpretations and modes of fulfillment."

De Fleurière further commented that upon meeting one sitter, he greeted her with the first thing that came to his mind. "Cécile is not going to die," he told the sitter. "She has serious broncho-pneumonia, it's true, but her eighteen Spring-times will triumph over it." The medium remarked, "I could have spoken for an hour; but one single thing had taken her breath away; the name of her daughter that I had uttered." For de Fleurière, the name came to him without difficulty. "This name seemed to me to be written on her forehead, in her eyes, engraved in her soul, her brain, her heart," he said of the sitter.

These are only two of many documented examples where mediums have produced accurate information, one from the records of a scientist, another from the medium's perspective.

Lately, in my volunteer work with Paranormal Studies & Investigations Canada (PSICAN), I have had the pleasure of working with an experienced medium and a member of The Spiritualist Church of Canada, Toronto Spiritualist Temple, Old Aurora Branch Pastorial, Lynn Tucker. She has never been one to obtain specific names in her readings, so it was much to her surprise that she got a very specific name in a recent investigation, first and last, even spelled out for her! "Left to my own devices I would not naturally ask for a name," Lynn told me. "Mostly because I have always felt that a name could be the easiest thing to be assumed a 'cold read.' A cold read is when a psychic will ask questions of a subject to get facial expression clues to encourage a direction of conversation." Yet, on another recent investigation, Lynn did the same, getting several names as she explored a haunted site.

Lynn goes to great lengths to ensure that she goes into situations objectively and openly. She avoids obtaining information on locations until the hours before departing for the investigation, when she merely enters the address online into Mapquest to find her way there. When giving readings, she will turn her back to the sitter to ensure she does not pick up on their facial expressions. If doing psychometry, she receives items to read in a basket with a cloth lid, each item sealed in an envelope. She will pull the envelope out and open it to show the audience of sitters what the object is. Then, she turns her back to the audience for the majority of the reading. She has no idea who owns the object until the reading is completed.

Lynn Tucker gathers impressions during a recent PSICAN investigation.

My challenge, as a historian, is verifying the names Lynn gives. It takes a great deal of time and digging, and there are no guarantees. Even if people with these names once lived and were connected to the location being investigated, they may never have been documented in official records. So far, no records have confirmed the full name Lynn gave at the first investigation in the time period I have focused on. I will continue the search.

What's in a name? Is the name given really the most impressive factor in the information given through a medium? In working with Lynn, I have been more intrigued by other factors that are more easily verified. I have been at three different locations with Lynn so far, and she has offered some specific, historically verifiable information; often they are physical details that no longer exist at the location. For example, in one investigation she stared out of a window at a park, and was told by a spirit that a building once stood there with a basic description of the building's function. An employee of the place investigated verified this; he is quite knowledgeable of the place's history. Her physical description of the operation of a business in another building we investigated was very reminiscent of the detailed description given in an obscure Victorian-era local newspaper article describing the building's layout. My work on this is only beginning, but the clusters of puzzle pieces I have managed to put together so far are fascinating.

"I understand that names places and dates are important to scientific affirmation and identification," said Lynn. "So I am sure that my state of understanding when regarding PSICAN or Ontario Hauntings investigations passes on to the spirits I encounter. So perhaps the spirits want to prove something too."

Further reading:

Mary Rose Barrington's summary in the Society for Psychical Research's Paranormal Review (October 2006, Issue 40) of "How I Experience The Functioning of My Clairvoyant Faculty" by Raoul de Fleurière originally published in Revue Metapsychique, Issue 4, 1926.

More on the history of mediumship: Renée Haynes. The Society for Psychical Research, 1882-1982: A History. London: MacDonald & Co., 1982.

The Society for Psychical Research: http://www.spr.ac.uk

Institut Métaphysique International: http://www.metapsychique.org

Lynn Tucker's Blog: http://www.motivated-motion.blogspot.com

For those of you who may wish to volunteer with us our 2007/2008 researchers exam is now online.

For further information please click the following link:

http://torontoghosts.org/course/

The OGHRS (Ontario Ghosts & Hauntings Research Society) are particularly interested in prospective researchers/investigators in the Durham, Ontario area and the Windsor Ontario corridor.

Please note that we are a Canadian based organization made up strictly of volunteers. We do not charge membership fees, but do require active participation of those who pass our online exam, complete our rigorous screening process, and work with our group/s.

Nobleton ON January 15th approx 11:30pm

"It was January 15th 2007, about 23:30h, I was northbound on Hwy 400 and I decided to turn left onto King Road towards Nobleton. I continued west on King Rd past Weston Rd, and as I dipped down the first hill past Laskay on my left, I noticed a HUGE light (oblong & blue-white) on my right just half visible above the trees(due to being in a gully) I'm guessing about over the Holland marsh to the north (a guess it could have been closer or farther).

I kept watching it while driving up & down the hills towards Nobleton. At Nobleton, I turned right (north) on Hwy 27 towards Schomburg, it was in front of me, slightly off to the right. I did consciously look at the clock on my dash, it was 23:42h then in Nobleton. It was I guessed slightly north of Hwy 9, or Canal Road, and between the 400, and Hwy 27. I got as far North as Concession 16 (just past Nobleton Lakes Golf Club), when the object gained a lot of altitude (about five times the height it had), then veered left (west), rose higher & disappeared, not quite straight ahead of me. It was I am guessing due to the unknown distance it was from me, a few thousand feet higher than a large jet may be on an approach to Pearson when it vanished. Or I lost it among the stars."

Our thanks to the witness for this report. If you have also witnessed something similar or can add further information please contact us.

From The Desk of Matthew Double-Decker Bus Guy Didier...

I've ranted about this before... but I'd like to take it further, if I may...

All too often we come across paranormal investigators that claim to have umpteen years of experience (usually into the decades) within the field... but oddly enough, when you look at the ages of those involved, that would mean they started their "studies" in earnest when they were in their "tweens" usually.

Think about that.

Now, I'm not denying that there are "child protégés" in the world, but apparently, in the realm of psychical investigation and study, there seems to be a plethora of them.

What I have to assume is what THEY consider the criteria is for "when they got started" must be a little different from my own... and I believe, a lot different from what MOST people consider normal.

Now, I'm going to have to measure this against myself for the purposes of this post...

I probably heard my first "ghost story" when I was well under the age of five... so does this mean I have been "in the field" for over 35 years? I wouldn't count that...

I first saw a movie and understood the ramifications/classifications of what a ghost might be probably by the age of seven. So, does this mean I have been in the field for 33 years? Um... no.

Okay, I have to swerve now...

I was more interested in Ufology in my "tweens"... and as such, read as many UFO related books as I could get my hands on in the libraries at that tender age (between ten and thirteen). So, have I been a Ufologist for over 25 years? Not a chance.

My first "experience" (personal) with something odd (that would be considered by most) to be "ghostly" and, Ergo: Led to me reading every book I could get my hands on about "true ghost stories" since the age of thirteen in order to get a grip on what happened. THERE NOW! Now I can say, without quibble, that since I had a personal experience AND started studying to find out about it, that I've had twenty-seven years of experience!

...no... I don't think so.

Now, despite being involved with investigations, studies, and continuous reading since thirteen, it was always an "interest only"... it never took more than ten hours out of any week. In fact, to make a claim that I spent that much time "in the field" would be the equivalent of saying that since I touched (but didn't understand) a Commodore PET computer in grade seven, I've been in the computer field since 1980... so twenty-seven years.

That's not accurate at all.

I really started making a living (paying the bills full time) in the computer field in 1989. Therefore, I've been (removing the last three years as I was not employed in that field) in the computer field for fifteen years. To say otherwise is misleading and a lie.

OKAY, now... where am I going...

I started my website, Torontoghosts, in mid-October of 1997.

Initially, the idea was it would be a repository for "true ghost reports". You see, most of my friends knew I had a wee self-induced savant on the subject of ghosts and, because I can be accused of looking "weird" (I hate to call myself a "Goth", but most would have back then...) many old buddies, both "looking weird themselves", but especially the more "normal" folks would come to me for stories about "ghosts" around where they lived or the like.

So, I figured, in mid-October, that I'd hunt up some ghost stories for them... new ones from Toronto... and I'd use this new-fangled Interweb thingie I was working in at the time (y'know, that series of tubes that Al Gore invented.)

Well, imagine my surprise when Yahoo!, at the time the only decent search engine out there in the main stream, yielded NO results when I searched Ghost Stories Toronto.

...so, I broadened my search...

Ghost Stories Ontario and still came up empty-handed.

Fine... Ghost Stories Canada.

Three hits.

Two of them were general ghost sites in the United States... one was a site selling books in Canada with no data or "meat" on the subject except those books and their prices.

What "tipped me over the edge" to really build a good site was the fact that one of the American sites suggested that a person visit Mackenzie House in Toronto... and then take an AFTERNOON DRIVE to Calgary to see a haunted hotel there.

The only way this would be an "afternoon drive" is if your car moved at roughly Mach 5.

Being Canadian, I was bordelining outraged at this lack of knowledge, information, or understanding of our country (obviously the site looked at an atlas... but neglected to notice the "scale" of that atlas.)

So, I cobbled the site together... and even sent out an e-mail to a rather well known Canadian author who'd penned a very good book about Toronto's ghosts, John Robert Colombo.

To sum up this lengthy missive, instead of 1,000 visitors a year, we honestly ended up with 1,000 visitors in the first month... since then, we've been known (usually around Halloween) to hit 1,000 visitors per day and much more... sometimes, ten-times that amount.

John Robert became a friend, people started e-mailing me their own reports, I was invited to investigate claims, our horizons broadened to actual research and experimentation, we "joined forces" with other groups, we spurred over a dozen groups to either literally "join us" or adopt (and sometimes adapt) our methodologies... in essence, the whole thing ballooned.

Now, to be fair, I've never made a dime of profit from my efforts... EVER... in fact, Sue and I often sit down and calculate the "losses"... as an average, we lose roughly $300 per year... just on our internet costs!

The current tally is $4,300.00 in the red.

...and since 1997, on average, we spend well over 40 hours per week of our "free time" working in the field in some fashion.

Okay, FULL CIRCLE TIME...

If you didn't pick it up, the question would be...

Why'd you get started in the first place? and you might ask, If it's cost you so much time and money, why are you STILL in it?

Well... it stems back to something you just read above... I had an odd experience... and I want to know what it was and WHY it was.

Now, this may confuse some folks...

I'm not going to lie... If I TRULY thought it was perfectly explainable through some form of brain malfunction or mental issue, I'd be VERY fine with that... but the events were witnessed with other people... and a hallucination that "matches" other people's description of events strikes that off the table.

So, what was it?

Then, because of people coming to me when they found out about my studies, I was in more places where MORE odd things happened that I couldn't explain...

...and as time went on, more and more of these things happened... or I heard about them from VERY reliable people.

Now, here's the rub...

I am a man of science... logic... and yes, despite the black eye it's gotten from the "so-called sceptical groups", critical thinking.

...but none of these things are AGAINST "the paranormal" at all... despite the lies we've been fed... the REAL people of science, logic, and critical thinking just want MORE EVIDENCE. That's right... they HAVEN'T made up their mind as it's an unknown. To say something "doesn't exist" without clear data is as bad as saying something "does exist" without clear data...

What data is brought to show that the paranormal CAN NOT exist?

...the answer is none.

What data is brought to show that the paranormal MIGHT exist?

Witness testimony, occasional bits of filmed or taped data (inconclusive), occasional bits of hard evidence (inconclusive)...

What does this tell you?

"Inconclusive" doesn't mean "NON-EXISTENCE".

...and witness testimony? Well, remember, that can send you to jail... but apparently, to some, it's not enough to acknowledge the concept that these things DO exist.

According to well known auto-debunker of UFOs, Dr. Carl Sagan, "Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.".

Oh, and before anyone quotes-back Sagan's "catch-phrase" of "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.", do me and yourself a HUGE favour and find out who he stole that from. Click here and ensure you read WHY it's originator decided it probably wasn't a very good quote.

Oh, and for more on Sagan... allow me to share a "sound bite" with you... Click here to hear it... it's an MP3 of Dr. J. Alan Hynek talking about Sagan's brilliance in Ufology.

...moving on...

Many people "in the field" are in it for something pretty straight forward... and I'm not going to lie about them.

The VAST MAJORITY (not all) that we've come across are either...

• Thrill Seekers looking for a Good Scary Hobby.
• Fame Seekers Hoping to Get Their Name in the Media.
• People Hoping to Make a Buck from Their "Efforts".
• People Looking to Become Preachers of Their Own Faith.
• People Wanting to Seem Smart/Intelligent as it's a Field That's Based Mostly on Faith and Without a Governing Body.

Honestly, this is the reason that MOST people are in the field of paranormal study.

...in case you haven't figured it out, none of these explain our reason for being in the study.

We've had a GOOD number of "scary things"... but they don't scare us... not like "normal folks"... they intrigue us. We don't like to run away from things, we run towards them.

We've had LOADS of media exposure... and hate it. The media is mostly interested in us only to do the "Ghost Busters"/"Be Spooky for the Camera" crud... we turn down WAY more media than we actually do because of this... we feel it cheapens our work.

We've consistently lost money... lot's of it... and have never tried to turn a profit. Our "unofficial" motto is "Information and Education Should Always Be Free".

Our only preaching is to try and get people to be legitimately sceptical... to DEMAND better evidence and DEMAND better data... and be open to ALL possibilities... be they "pro" or "con" paranormal activity. A real sceptic doubts, but never denies... and simply wants more information to make an educated decision on something. Not a preacher who doesn't believe "in that nonsense". If those who CLAIM scepticism and those who BELIEVE without shadow of a doubt in the paranormal truly were "agnostic" and "neutral" in their efforts, imagine what might come of the work!

As for "feeling smart", considering who we've worked hard to surround ourselves with, more often than not, we feel like pre-schoolers sitting in on a University physics class. We are students... we're learning... and will always be. When we have SOLID information or ideas, we pass it on to those around us... but we're not smarter OR dumber than most... we're just neutral in our efforts and when we say "X" is "X"... you can bet we've got the evidence and data to back it up.

So, why are we here?

Simple... we want to know more. We want to learn. We want better information. We want to TRY and come up with answers and then prove them not only to ourselves, but to everyone.

We will never be finished our work.

Sue and I are quite willing to acknowledge that, indeed, we will probably die not being all that much-more in the know about the paranormal than we are right now...

...but...

Perhaps our efforts will assist the NEXT group of people trying to find answers... Perhaps our data will spur them on... Perhaps our work will save them time, allow them to ask better questions...

...and the big "maybe"... Maybe these studies, if done away from the overly credulous AND the loud deniers, will progress and actually find out why "weird things happen".

...and let's not make ANY mistakes here...

Weird stuff DOES happen. Like it or not.

In essence, our job is to try and figure out why.

We will continue to fight, to learn, to grow... and maybe, one day, we WILL answer those questions... and if we don't, those that come after us will.

Now you know... our experience in the field and study is really a small particle in what we hope will be a much greater understanding.

True enlightment comes from just that... understanding... not "acceptance of a faith" or "denial of what we cannot understand"... it comes from truly understanding the mechanics of those things around us.

Now you know... so...

As of 2007, I've had a legitimate decade of experience in the field... and, just so you know, we won't be going away until we literally cannot think, learn, speak, read, write anymore.

We're in it for the long haul.

...and perhaps, those that have wondered why we haven't "dissapeared" yet (and there have been MANY that have predicted Sue's and my "departure" from the field,) you won't be so confused about us anymore.

Yes, this is a meme and you gentle reader may thank our dear friend Andy for tagging us. And since we are sworn to uphold the sacred order of the blogoshere tag here goes.....

1.) You can't keep us quiet! Either of of us, so this is just another venue for us to bring you our thoughts, opinions, experiences, and stories. Love it or hate it this blog is here to stay. On a side note we are working on an exciting new venture based on our mutual love of radio. Watch for an announcement this coming Spring!

2.) We adore our topics of interest and love to interact with our readers who share our enthusiasm for everything considered spooky, weird, or odd by the mainstream. The blog allows us a way to interact with others that simply cannot be matched otherwise.

3.) Whilst our websites Toronto/Ontario Ghosts, Pararesearchers, and PSICAN allow us the opportunity to creatively express ourselves they are limited by being Canada centric. This blog allows us to go International .... Watch out world here we come!

4.) For us this is not a hobby, but our joint life's passion. By blogging about it we hope to bring a greater understanding of these topics, removing long held myths, and generally educating people while hopefully being enjoyable as well.

5.) Finally blogging brings us the opportunity to become more disciplined as writers, practicing and learning new skills as we go forward.

And now gentle readers by the laws of the sacred order of the Universe which will go totally out of whack or some such thing we will tag:

Andrea, Faith, Lynn, Dave, and Riri

Cheers!

Each Friday we will have a look at the stories and experiences that have been related to us over the years that are amongst our personal favourites. These will include Crypto, Ghosts, UFO's and other strange events that may be considered Fortean from in around the Toronto, Canada area .... and since they are from our own personal files will likely not be found elsewhere on the web .... enjoy!

Private Residence - Wallace Ave, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

"I happened to find your website and I'm enjoying all the stories. I do have a story that has been in my family for years that I would like to share with you.

My mom lived at XX Wallace Ave. when she was young girl along with her parents and 2 younger sisters. My grandparents were immigrants from Italy and moved to the Dufferin and Bloor area in the late fifties. Since I was little, I heard of ghost sightings in the house. Although I lived there myself (up until the age of 3), I've never witnessed anything.

The story begins with my aunt (the middle daughter of 3 children), waking up in the middle of the night screaming because she saw an image of a man - with a dark, long cloak and black hat sitting on her window ledge. Her sisters, sleeping the bed with her, awoke to the screams but never really saw anything. There were many repeated "outbursts" by my aunt seeing the dark cloaked man.

My grandmother was the other witness to the ghost. She was always very skeptical of her daughter's visions and chalked it up to childhood dreams. One day, she was in a room doing housework and looked over to another room. There, she saw a vision of a man - long black cloak and tall hat. She screamed as the image floated across and disappeared into the wall. Being a devoted Catholic, it upset her to believe in what she just witnessed in front of her eyes.

My grandfather, while he never saw the ghost, was terrorized for years in his dreams by night terrors. He would get quite violent in his sleep. I'm not sure if this had anything to do with the dark cloaked image...or just a coincidence.

Needless to say, my grandparents moved out of the house back in the seventies and have never seen anything again. Thankfully, my grandfather's night terrors also stopped.

I have always been very curious if anyone else has ever seen or heard anything in that house other than my family."

Our thanks to the writer for sharing this family's experiences. Please note we cannot give out exact addresses of private homes.

Do you have a real life ghost story, an encounter with a UFO, or other paranormal experience/s you'd like to share? If so, we'd love to hear from you! Post your own experiences in our comments section or send us an email. Please post only true life experiences ... we love good fiction, but there are other fantastic blogs out there to post fictional accounts to.

On the 1st Birthday of our friend Nicola's own terrific blog Life At The Edge we were honoured to have our blog entry My Own Christmas Miracle named as one of Best Blog Posts for 2006/2007.

With all of the rumours and often strangeness that accompanies some of the big blog awards programs it is a real honour when a reader, fellow blogger, and yes, dear friend goes out of their way to say something you have written has touched me, or provoked further thought and perhaps research, or simply I enjoyed reading your article.

Thank you VERY much Nicola .... :)

This means more to us than you probably know.

Cheers!
Sue
XOXOX