Maryland Paranormal Research ® Research, Discovery and Exploration

1. Research, Discovery and Exploration

2.  This presentation surveys research that
aims to explain varieties of paranormal
experiences using the natural and social
sciences and parapsychology. Designs
and implications for research, discovery
and exploration of ghosts, poltergeists
and hauntings phenomena are explored

3.  " Nature does not know extinction; all it
knows is transformation. Everything
science has taught me, and continues to
teach me, strengthens my belief in the
continuity of our spiritual existence after
death. "
-Wernher von Braun (1912-1977)

4.  Research comprises "creative work
undertaken on a systematic basis in
order to increase the stock of
knowledge"

5.  Discovery is the observation of new
phenomena, actions, or events and
providing new reasoning to explain
the knowledge gathered through
such observations

6.  Exploration is the act of searching
for the purpose of discovery

7.  Psi phenomena are experiences in
which information or energy seems to
have been transferred or apprehended
without the operation of the known
senses or logical inference
CARDENA, Etzel, MARCUSSON-CLAVERTZ, David and PALMER , John (2015), Reintroducing Parapsychology. In E
Cardena (Ed.), Handbook of Parapsychology: A Handbook for the 21st Century, North Carolina: McFarland and Co. Inc.

8. Mind Matter
Interaction
Extra Sensory
Perception
Survival of
Consciousness
reincarnation
ghosts/hauntings/adc
near death experience
psychokinesis (pk)
intentionality
DMILS
clairvoyance
precognition
telepathy
psychometrypoltergeists
mediumship

9.  Effect size is a method of quantifying the
size of the difference between two groups
 Effect Size = Mean experiment – Mean control
_______________________________________________________
Standard Deviation
 In parapsychology the effect size is the
difference from mean chance expectation
 Equivalent to a statistical Z score
Coe, R. (2002, September). It’s the Effect Size, Stupid. In Paper presented at the British Educational Research
Association annual conference (Vol. 12, p. 14)..
Parris, J. (2015, Jan 20). FactorsAffecting Power - Effect size,Variability, Sample Size (Module 1 8 7).YouTube

10.  A statistically significant outcome is a
result that is not attributable to chance
 Does not imply intrinsic importance of
results nor their practical meaning e.g.
small yet significant effects are possible
 Provides a basis for rejecting a hypothesis
 Common threshold is a 5% or 10% chance
for occurrence for experimental outcomesCoe, R. (2002, September). It’s the Effect Size, Stupid. In Paper presented at the British Educational Research
Association annual conference (Vol. 12, p. 14)..

11.  Proof requires a standard of evidence that
is sufficient to support a given proposition
 The highest legal evidentiary standard is
beyond reasonable doubt
 Scientific evidentiary standards require
replicable beyond chance outcomes
 Outcomes depend on experiment designs,
collection and measurement methods
Kaye, D. H. (1992). Proof in Law and Science. Jurimetrics, 32(3), 313-322.

12.  The notion of post-mortem survival
that a disembodied consciousness or
some such discarnate element of
human personality might survive
bodily death at least for a time
IRWIN, H.S. andWATT, C (2007: An Introduction to Parapsychology, 5th Edition, McFarland & Company,Inc,: Jefferson, NC.

13.  The Model of Pragmatic Information (MPI)
is a notion inspired by quantum field
theory that psi phenomena represent
meaningful and self-organizing mental,
social and physical entanglements
Lucadou,W.v. (2015):The Model of Pragmatic Information (MPI). In: EdwinC. May & Sonali Marwaha
(eds.).Extrasensory Perception: Support, Skepticism, and Science:Vol. 2:Theories and the Future of
the Field. Praeger publications, Santa Barbara, USA,Ca., pp.221-242.

14.  Super-psi hypothesis is the notion that
psychic functioning is more pervasive in
everyday affairs than experimentation
suggests, and represents psi functioning
of a highly controlled or refined nature
Braude, S. (2016).The Super Psi Hypothesis, In PSI Encylopedia, Society for Psychical Research..

15. Sense of being stared at
 Common psi experience/ability
 Frequent claim in haunting cases
 Possibly evolved from predator-prey
Psi in animals
 Pets sense of their owners return
 Pets sense of distant intentionality
Sheldrake, R (2015), Psi in Everyday Life: Nonhuman and Human. In E Cardena (Ed.), Handbook of Parapsychology:
A Handbook for the 21st Century, North Carolina: McFarland and Co. Inc.

16. person
centered
place
centered
non-local effectslocal effects
field effects
- intentionality
- psychokinesis
- telepathy
psychosomatic effects
- neurocognition
- transliminality
- dissociation
location effects
- contextual clues
- electrical power
- infrasound
area effects
- geomagnetism
- hydrology
- seismicity

17.  The early psychical researchers believed
apparitions were telepathic transference
and possibly projections in meta space
 Apparitions of persons often appeared in
moments of crisis or danger suggesting
emotional content to these encounters
 However, apparitions have been imaged
suggesting pk/energy transference
Gurney, E., Myers, F.W. H., & Podmore, F. (1886). Phantasms of the living (Vols. 1-2). London:Trübner & Co.
Myers, F.W. (1903). Human personality and its survival of bodily death,Vol I andVol II. NY, Longman,Green and Co.

18.  Experiences that involve temporary but
not complete detachments from reality
 Daydreaming is mild/escapist dissociation
 Hypnotism is an induced dissociation and
is indicative of the power of suggestion in
some varieties of paranormal experiences
 Traumatic or creative dissociation involves
cases of alternative or multiple personas
Braude, S. E. (2014). Crimes of Reason: On Mind, Nature, and the Paranormal. Rowman & Littlefield.

19.  Refers to perceptual sensitivity that occurs
at the threshold or limits of consciousness
 Concept advanced by M.Thalbourne can
pertain to personality traits or states
 Components include hypersensitivity to
stimuli and thin cognitive boundaries
 Transliminals are believed to be more
receptive to paranormal experiences
Thalbourne, M. A. (2000).Transliminality:A review. International Journal of Parapsychology, 11, 1-34.

20.  Short-lived phenomena involving physical
activity such as sounds/object movements
that are considered to be person-centered
 Focus persons often are under stress;
mildly dissociative; observant; somatically
healthy; and tend to externalize problems
 Activity tends to cluster at distances of
15ft or less from focus persons
Roll,W. G. (1972).The poltergeist. NY, Nelson Doubleday, Inc.
Lucadou,W. (2016, Jul 7).TEDxTalks: Parapsychology – a Challenge for Science.YouTube..

21.  Prolonged exposure to electromagnetic
fields can have perceptual/somatic effects
 Elevated EMF can reduce melatonin levels
affecting sleep cycles and immune health
 Research by M. Persinger showed EMF can
induce "sensed presences" but apparitions
in most real-life encounters appear lifelike
 EMF may explain some haunting claimsPersinger, M. A. (2001).The neuropsychiatry of paranormal experiences. TheJournal of neuropsychiatry and clinical
neurosciences, 13(4), 515-524.

22.  Inaudible sound below 20Hz in frequency
that cannot be heard but can be felt
 Early studies linked 17-19hz frequencies to
misperceptions of paranormal events
 Later research showed infrasonic intensity
and prolonged exposure may matter more
in inducing feelings of anxiety and stress
 May factor behind some haunting claims
Parsons, S. (2015, Jul 2). Infrasound. In PSI Encyclopedia. Society for Psychical Research.

23.  Alterations in brain activity/chemistry may
trigger events misperceived as paranormal
 Elevated serotonin, a neurotransmitter in
the pineal gland, can induce hallucinations
 Releases of neurotransmitters may explain
feelings of ecstasy encountered in NDEs
 Psychotropic drugs can have side-effects
that can be mistaken as paranormal
Choi, C. Q. (2011). Peace of mind: Near-death experiences now found to have scientific explanations. ScientificAmerican

24.  Correlation of apparitional experiences
with geomagnetic activity (1868-1889)
 1991 study. Randall/Randall
Randall,W., & Randall, S. (1991).The solar wind and hallucinations—a possible relation due to magnetic
disturbances. Bioelectromagnetics, 12(1), 67-70..

25.  Ghosts are recurrent apparitions having an
affinity for a location or parts of a location
 Location effects are statistical measures
that try to discern affinities or contextual
clues that correlate to haunting claims
 Studies by G. Schmeidler compared ghost
sightings and traits with impressions from
psychics unwitting of haunting claims
Maher, M. (2015). Ghosts and Poltergeists, an Eternal Enigma. Parapsychology. A Handbook for the 21stCentury.

26.  Field effects are derived from aspects of
quantum field theories e.g. entanglement
and indeterminacy (non-locality)
 Difficult to demonstrate, the device most
commonly employed is a random event
generator (REG) which indicates micro-pk
 Used by Princeton researchers nearly 30
years to study consciousness field effects
Nelson, R. D. (2015). Implicit Physical Psi. Parapsychology: A Handbook for the 21st Century,282.

27.  Involves the direction of mental states
towards an object, person or situation
 Directly measured through bio-electronic
techniques: galvanic skin response, cardio
or brain wave patterns of activity
 Intentionality has also been associated
with living person/crisis apparitions and
with the sense of being stared at
Schmidt, S. (2015). Experimental research on distant intention phenomena. Parapsychology: A Handbook for
the 21st Century, 244., NC: McFarland and Co. Inc.

28.  Data acquisition is the measurement of
electrical or physical phenomena such as
voltage or temperature with a computer
 A data acquisition system consists of
sensors, a hardware interface, and
measurement software
 Pioneered for field research by the Multi-
Energy Sensory Array (MESA) project
Houran, J., Lange, R., & Black, D. L. (1998). MESA:A portable multi-energy sensor array for low-frequency
electromagnetic field fluctuations. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 30(3), 411-415.

29.  ElectronicVoice Phenomena (EVP)
refer to electronically generated
sounds that resemble speech, but
are not the result of intentional voice
recordings or renderings
 EVP are often short lasting < 4 secs
 EVP contain unusual speech formants
LEARY, Mark R and BUTLERTom (2015), ElectronicVoice Phenomena. In E Cardena (Ed.), Handbook of
Parapsychology: A Handbook for the 21st Century, North Carolina: McFarland and Co. Inc.

30. Compact
Disks
[1982]
Magnetic
Tape
[1948]
Radio/Disc
Phonograph
[1889]
Electronic
Recording
[1925]
Friedrich
Jurgenson
[1959]
Konstantin
Raudive
[1968]
Sarah
Estep
[1982]
AttilaVon
Salzilay
[1941]
Ernst
Senkowski
[1974]
Stereo
Recording
[1941]
Telephone
[1877]
Transistor
[1947]
Compact
Cassette
[1964]
Television
[1928]
Personal
Computer
[1977]
Spiritualist
Movement
[1840-1920s]
Digital Audio
Formats
[1985]
Researchers
Technologies
Society for
Psychical
Research
[1882]
American
Association
of EVP
Marcello
Bacci
[1949]
Frank
Sumption
[2002]
 Realized with the advent of telephony

31. MACKIE
1202-VLZ3
12 Channel
Compact
Mixer
ART
EQ351
Equalizer or
HARMON
DIGITECH
VocalistVR
HARMON
DBX 1066
Compressor/
Expander/
Limiter/Gate
Digital
Audio
Recorder
-35 dB
Speech
Transcription
Platform
BEHRINGER
XM1800S
Dynamic
Microphones
 Modernized microphone method

32. EVP should meet four criteria:
Specific
Direct
Context-relevant
Phrase and/or sentence length

33.  Making the Inaudible Audible
[Evidence of post mortem
survival via audio methods]

34. Chaos
Induction
Infrasound
Radio/Light
Speech Recognition
Trans communication

35. MAGNETIC
SCIENCES
MC95VF
Sensors
SRS
SIM 910
JFET
Low Noise
Preamplifier
MACKIE
402-VLZ3
4 Channel
Ultra-
Compact
Mixer
ART
EQ351
31 Band
Equalizer
ROLLS
CL151GLC
ROLLS
DA134
Line
Amplifier
Digital
Audio
Recorder
Spectrum
Analyzer/
Oscilloscope
Speaker
Data
Acquisition
Console
-35 dB
Low Pass
RF Filter
50 kHz
-80 dB
50 Ω
 Direct Electro AcousticVoice
 Audio from electromagnetic induction

36. Intent: Identify instances of EVP
Method: Automation to remove
subjectivity from audio analysis
Complexity: Medium
Status: In progress

37. Intent: Identify location effects
Method: Infrasound analysis of
perceived paranormal events
Complexity: Medium
Status: In progress

38. Intent: Identify sources of EVP
Method: EVP capture across
the electromagnetic spectrum
Complexity: Medium
Status: In progress

39. Intent: Identify effects patterns
Method: Modern variations on
trans audio/video experiments
Complexity: High
Status: In progress

40. Intent: Identify effects patterns
Method: Phase-space analysis
of trans communication events
Complexity: High
Status: In progress

41.  Making the InvisibleVisible
[Evidence of psi-functioning
in the environment]

42. Imaging
Field Effects
Battery Drain
Intentionality
Data Acquisition
Change Detection

43. Intent: Event horizon detection
Method: Monitor power loss in
9V battery with voltmeter
Complexity: Low
Status: In progress

44. Intent: Event horizon detection
Method: High and low infrared
imaging of energy transference
Complexity: Medium
Status: In progress

45. Intent: Event horizon detection
Method: Use of video filtering
to visualize high-speed events
Complexity: Medium
Status: In progress

46. Intent: Identify location effects
Method: Real-time monitoring
of environmental conditions
Complexity: Medium
Status: In progress

47. Intent: Event horizon detection
Method: Use of random event
generators to find field effects
Complexity: Medium
Status: In progress

48. Intent: Event horizon detection
Method: GSR and EKG sensors
to detect distant intentionality
Complexity: High
Status: In design

49.  Paranormal research is an effort involving
discovery and exploration of psi agencies
on ghosts, poltergeists and hauntings
 Poltergeists are considered to be person-
centered and hauntings place-centered.
Both involve psi location or field effects
 Effect sizes, significance and experimental
designs influence the quality of evidence

50.  Threshold experiences (dissociation and
transliminality) may possibly increase
receptivity to paranormal encounters
 Prolonged and elevated exposure to EMF
and infrasound can entail physical effects
that may be mistaken as paranormal
 Statistical designs and devices are used to
ascertain psionic location or field effects

51.  Trans communication, and in particular
EVP, provides compelling indications of
post-mortem agency and psi functioning
 Meaningful EVP should be direct, specific,
contextual and phrase or sentence length
 Techniques that measure intentionality,
environmental conditions, field effects
help provide convergent evidence for psi

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