Taking a Closer Look at 'Unexplained Phenomena'

Recently, I noticed an article about "the 10 most notorious paranormal hoaxes in history" mentioning Uri Geller, Salem Witches, Crop Circles, Loch Ness Monster photo, and The Fox Sisters, along with some more salient topics such as The Cottingley Fairies and "Alien Autopsy" footage.  In response, this article offers commentary about a comparable number of 'paranormal' topics, including some that have been previous subjects at this blog.  Hopefully, these perspectives will be informative even for readers who consider themselves a 'skeptic' yet have an open mind.  Concerning the 'Salem Witches,' superstitious fears were aroused by some unusual afflictions and events as recorded among the narratives of the witchcraft cases yet the label of 'hoax' seems too simple a summation of the diverse circumstances recorded in written accounts and testimonials. 

 

This blog has reported about numerous books and other media that can help people develop their understanding of metaphysical subjects.  Data sources are mentioned so that readers can research the documented cases in greater depth if interested.  Upon doing so, even formerly closed-minded sceptics and 'denialists' may find that fear of the unknown and social conditioning has influenced their perceptions of occurrences sometimes referred to categorically as 'paranormal' or 'unexplained phenomena.'

 

1. Eileen Garrett (trance medium, 1893-1970; previous articles: 1, 2)

 

In the book by Abduhl Latif trance-channeled through medium Eileen Garrett Health: Its Recovery and Maintenance (1929), the transcendental communicator was asked what accounts for men having no grasp of intelligence in the afterlife.  Here are some of the thoughts from the response that was spoken.

From the very oldest days there has always been the philosopher, who, because he can see no further than his sense, has said: "that is a fact," and there has always been that feeling in the mind that has been well-trained and well-grooved and becomes what you call academic.

 

Your professors, your advocates, your great men work on that which is organized, and when you organize a thing remember that you are stopping up possible sympathetic chunks of light . . .

 

. . . you have shut the door to all the simple truths that are inside you.

 

You go to your great academic orator and because somebody has said this and somebody has said that and he has found nothing, because he dare not, he disagrees . . .

 

That is why the simple-minded man, believing that the day is, and that the night was meant for sleep, and that God is in His Heaven, and that he is part of that God, has no "ologies" or "isms" to rid himself of.

 

2. John of God (contemporary trance channeling/spiritual healing case; previous articles: 1, 2, 3, 4)

People with only a casual knowledge of Brazil's John of God don't realize the vast amount of existing documentation about this case.  In one You Tube video, an American doctor is seen making an investigation.  Emma Bragdon wrote in Spiritual Alliances (2002): "João de Deus has been studied by teams of legitimate scientists from Russia, Germany, the USA, Japan and France . . . The scientists who studied João are convinced of his capabilities, but bewildered as to how to handle the information."

3. Enfield 'Talking Poltergeist' Case (1977-1979; previous articles: 1, 2)

Television news media interviews of people who have experienced anomalous phenomena have been known to feature skeptic 'detractors' as a customary practice.  One example may be observed in a You Tube clip entitled "This Morning Enfield Poltergeist Janet Interview" from a March 2012 UK talk show telecast.

As show guest Janet Winter reflected about experiencing the so-called 'poltergeist' events as a child, disinformation was given by a TV subtitle designating her as "Allegedly possessed by a poltergeist."  Author Guy Lyon Playfair (subtitled "Poltergeist Expert") then commented about how he became involved with the case.  More disinformation resulted when the interviewer asked Janet about "a voice that came out of your mouth.  It felt like it was coming from behind you."  There was another question about "these words were coming out of your mouth uncontrolled or controlled by you?"  Janet explained, "It felt like it was behind me, not within me."  However, an incorrect impression has already been fostered and is bolstered as Playfair momentarily mentioned his own "vocal folds" theory.  Then the moderator said to "skeptic and author" Deborah Hyde: "So Deborah, for reasons of balance, obviously you are a skeptic and you don't believe any of this."  As Deborah provided an example of 'denialism,' Playfair spoke up: "That's a complete misinterpretation."  Janet said to the denialist, "You wasn't there, love.  You don't know.  You don't know what I went through or how I feel today."  The segment concluded without any mention that there is available a book by Playfair that provides a detailed chronicle of events in the Enfield case, This House Is Haunted (1980); and today people online can listen themselves to the Enfield Tapes of anomalous voice recordings.

4. JZ Knight/Ramtha (contemporary channeling case; previous articles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)

Another well-known contemporary channeler whose numerous public appearances have been recorded is JZ Knight, through whom Ramtha shares his philosophy.  These orations occur at events sometimes called 'assays' (a word associated with trials and tests) — Ramtha sometimes uses remarkable words in his speech.  There is a good reason Ramtha has told students to listen and think about what he says: "You have to be awake to see the runners and the miracles when they manifest."

I occasionally watch videos on You Tube to better understand some of the sources of information or disinformation about events associated with 'unexplained phenomena.'  This summer while writing articles about the Ramtha case, I viewed the 1988 ABC News report telecast about JZ Knight and Ramtha on "20/20" entitled "The Voice from Beyond".  The segment is a corporate media perspective of channeling and 'The New Age Movement' at the time and undoubtedly influenced many people's perceptions of these subjects.  Hugh Downs nonchalantly introduced the segment by saying about Ramtha's followers, "Who are they really following?  An immortal wise man, a fake or, as some believe, is this the Antichrist, whose presence among us means we're on the eve of Armageddon?"  Then Barbara Walters took her turn reading from the teleprompter: "Ramtha is one of the biggest stars of the New Age Movement.  She's enthralled a lot of people . . ."  Thus, in the opening sentences confusing information had already been presented as Ramtha is a male entity who speaks through JZ Knight, who herself has no knowledge of the interludes (at least, not until viewing or listening to the recordings made).

Judd Rose was the reporter assigned to offer an overview of the case and did so with a somewhat cynical tone of voice, explaining how she "goes in to a trance.  And, finally, after several minutes, this 40-year-old woman says she has turned into a 35,000-year-old man."  Actually, JZ the woman is no longer in control of her body and another personality is speaking.

One of the first images was of JZ's Rolls Royce and a mansion under construction.  The selected clips of Ramtha made it evident that moments of visual novelty had been edited together from who knows how many hours of footage.  What Rose said about Ramtha is incorrect: "Channels say they can summon forth long-dead spirits from other dimensions."  Transcendental communicators are not 'dead' but are living beings who after an Earth life have made the transition to another realm of existence.

After clips of "Ramtha Followers," some denialist perspectives of the case were offered, including from a university professor and a Colorado woman known as 'Linda.'  Rose reported, "Raschke calls the Ramtha movement a sort of collective mass hypnosis . . ." and 'Linda' agreed: "Those [audio] tapes put me under hypnosis and put me through a personality change that no one would have ever guessed or could imagine can happen to someone."  The accusation of hypnosis delivered via a TV program seems ironic to me, especially after reading about the case of trance channeler Mark Probert.

Viewers may not have paused to consider that JZ could have turned down the interview if there was anything she wasn't willing to discuss.  Considering her wealth, is it appropriate to judge a channeler or anyone on that basis?  Today there are numerous inexpensive books and recordings that document the JZ Knight/Ramtha case. 
 

In the "20/20" segment, when Rose reported about a bizarre incident described by a high school classmate in a video tape, the resulting demonic association offers a microcosm for the phenomena of channeling being misunderstood as "demonic possession."  There are people who have had no introduction to the concept of the spiritual Christ Force becoming comprehensible through incidents known categorically as supernatural or 'paranormal phenomena.'  Ramtha also brought up this matter during a 2014 interview: ". . . by the way, don't let any crazy get on and tell you those were demons.  Please.  It's only their reality.  It has nothing to do with ours.  You can only see a demon if it exists in you and, certainly, that is not in you.  That is the need to be relevant.  It doesn't add to the conversation.  It is an admission of superstition.  The sooner we get rid of demons the sooner we close the books on the back story."

If one notices a "verbiage contradiction" (an expression once coined by Ramtha) in these remarks, this will provide an indication of the complexities of this case.  Ramtha doesn't want students to exalt him.  He wants them to each recognize God "within your being" and awaken to a state of Christ Consciousness.

 

During the 2014 interview, Ramtha said: "Any time that there is a freedom of thought it threatens someone.  I am only interested in those who are ready to get over their 'box' . . . When they find that isms don't work is when they find me.  And I am all about telling them that God not only loves them but is at the heart of their essence."

5. Mark Probert (trance medium, 1907-1969; previous articles: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7).

 

Mark Probert once commented about his trance mediumship: "Some of the people who communicate through me are said to be very eloquent and learned, and I wish I could hear them for myself . . . The talk is mostly philosophical and scientific, and since I never had more than a sixth grade grammar school education, it is quite beyond my own normal knowledge and vocabulary."

Probert worked as a bellman or 'bellhop' before he became a trance medium (or what today would be known as a "channeler").  Probert thus has something in common with Ted Serios, in whose presence anomalous photographs were intermittently taken as detailed in the 1967 case study The World of Ted Serios by Jule Eisenbud, M.D.  Serios had been employed as a bellhop at the Conrad Hilton Hotel in Chicago. 

6. Baron Albert Von Schrenck Notzing (mediumistic phenomena investigator, 1862-1929; previous articles: 1, 2)

As with channeling cases, seance room phenomena manifests aspects of a spiritual Force interacting with humanity.  One noticeable teaching in transcendental communication cases is spiritual Oneness, as previous blog articles have shown.  

 

Some scientists in their published case studies have attempted to correct misunderstandings that have arisen concerning anomalous phenomena.  One such scientist is Baron Albert Von Schrenck Notzing with a passage in Phenomena of Materialisation (1920) about bizarre stages of phenomena associated with a materialization medium in a trance state (page 97).  Numerous photographs in the book document the array of manifestations witnessed in the presence of hypnotized French medium 'Eva C.'

This is a photo of one of the many surprising materializations documented in Phenomena of Materialisation (1920) by Baron Von Schrenck Notzing (translated from the first edition in German).  This is how Schrenck Notzing described the formation seen in this photo of what is now often called 'ectoplasm': "The photographs show a remarkable half-finished structure arrested in its development . . . The whole thing looks like a half-finished sketch of a female face-mask from nature, composed of pulp and softened cardboard and fragments of veil-like material, or perhaps made of a special mass resembling plasticine."

7.  William Crookes (physicist, chemist, investigator of spiritual phenomena, 1832-1919)

William Crookes's research pertaining to spiritual phenomena is chronicled in the book Crookes and the Spirit World, a 1972 collection of writings by him or concerning his work.  Crookes was confronted with the criticism of denialists in 1871, as he commented in a science journal article:

When I first stated in this journal that I was about to investigate the phenomena of so-called Spiritualism, the announcement called forth universal expressions of approval.  One said that my "statements deserved respectful consideration"; another expressed "profound satisfaction that the subject was about to be investigated by a man so thoroughly qualified as," etc.; a third was "gratified to learn that the matter is now receiving the attention of cool and clear-headed men of recognized position in science"; a fourth asserted that no one could doubt Mr. Crookes's ability to conduct the investigation with rigid philosophical impartiality; and a fifth was good enough to tell its readers that "if men like Mr. Crookes grapple with the subject, taking nothing for granted until it is proved, we shall soon know how much to believe."

These remarks, however, were written too hastily.  It was taken for granted by writers that the results of my experiments would be in accordance with their preconceptions.  What they really desired was not the truth, but an additional witness in favour of their own foregone conclusion.  When they found that the facts which that investigation established could not be made to fit those opinions, why—"so much the worse for the facts."  They try to creep out of their confident recommendations of the enquiry by declaring that "Mr. Homes is a clever conjurer, who has duped us all."  "Mr. Crookes might, with equal propriety, examine the performances of an Indian juggler."  "Mr. Crookes must get better witnesses before he can be believed."  "The thing is too absurd to be treated seriously."  "It is impossible, and therefore can't be."* (*The quotation occurs to me—"I never said it was possible, I only said it was true.")  "The observers have all been biologised (!) and fancy they saw things occur which really never took place," etc., etc.

These remarks imply a curious oblivion to the very functions which the scientific enquirer has to fulfil.

 

8:  Arthur Conan Doyle (author, investigator of spiritual phenomena, 1859-1930)

Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous character Sherlock Holmes is known to have been inspired by Dr. Joseph Bell, a teacher at the medical school of Edinburgh University where Doyle received a medical degree in 1881.  Among Doyle’s nonfiction books is History of Spiritualism (1926) that features a profile of the Fox sisters who are associated with the beginning of the movement in 1848 as it is often defined historically; however, Doyle began his first chapter with the statement: "It is impossible to give any date for the early appearances of external intelligent power of a higher or lower type impinging upon the affairs of men."

Regarding the Cottingley Fairies, Doyle began the narrative of his book The Coming of the Faeries (1922) with a statement declaring the possibility of the series of incidents representing a hoax.  His predicament was evidently influenced by the knowledge that seance room materializations at times encompassed bizarre representations of 'spirits' (including what was known as a 'simulacrum' or, plural, 'simulacra'). 

Since the days of the Spiritualism movement, some of the most publicized denialists of unexplained phenomena have been magicians.  Nandor Fodor cited examples in his Encyclopaedia of Psychic Science (1966) yet also reported, "Some of the most famous magicians acknowledged to have witnessed genuine phenomena."  One of the "magician-opponents of spiritualism" was Harry Houdini, who became a subject of reflection for Arthur Conan Doyle in The Edge of the Unknown (1930) with revealing details, such as: ". . . he admitted that he saw ectoplasm both come and go [with medium Eva] without being able to explain it."

9.  Arthur Ford and Houdini's Message

 

When Harry Houdini made his transition from Earth life to the ascended realm in 1926, clairaudient and trance medium Arthur Ford (1896-1971) communicated a code message from him to his widow, Beatrice.  An account of what happened is provided in Ford's 1958 autobiography Nothing So Strange written in collaboration with Margueritte Harmon Bro. 

 

Ford related that when Houdini died after dedicating his life for many years to exposing mediums as fakes, he left behind a widely publicized message that if there was survival after death he would contact his wife with a code message that only she could decipher.  Ford was a medium who would go into a trance to allow his 'control' Fletcher to serve as "interlocutor between the invisible and visible visitors who came to talk together through my intermediacy."

On February 8, 1928, Fletcher communicated a message from Houdini's mother offering the cord word "forgive" and declaring that Beatrice Houdini would declare it to be the true message that had been long awaited.  Houdini's widow confirmed that he had waited in vain to hear this message communicated from his mother by a medium during his lifetime.  

Beginning in November 1928, the spelling out of Harry Houdini's message to his wife came through during portions of eight sittings of Ford with, on one occasion, five explanatory words being given in French.  After the final code word was delivered, Fletcher said that Houdini instructed that the ten-word code message be taken to his wife.  The first word in the code was the name "ROSABELLE."

At Fletcher’s request, the message was signed by each person present.  Fletcher commented that Houdini stated, "I know that she will be happy, because neither of us believed it would be possible."  Houdini requested through Fletcher that upon receiving the message Beatrice set a time to sit with "this instrument" (Ford) so that Houdini could repeat the message via Fletcher and receive a supplement code from her — "and the two together will spell a word which sums it all up, and that word will be the message which he wants to send back."

When Beatrice was contacted the following day, she read the report and said it was right.  Beatrice arranged a sitting with Ford that occurred one day later.  Ford went into trance and Fletcher relayed Houdini's conversation with his wife, referring to her as 'Bess.'   The code was explained and the message that Houdini wanted to send back to his wife was revealed to be "ROSABELLE BELIEVE!"

In conclusion Fletcher repeated Houdini's final words. "He says, 'Tell the whole world that Harry Houdini still lives and will prove it a thousand times and more.'   He is pretty excited.  He says, I was perfectly honest and sincere in trying to disprove survival, though I resorted to tricks to prove my point for the simple reason that I did not believe communication was true, but I did no more than seemed justifiable.  I am now sincere in sending this through in my desire to undo.  Tell all those who lost faith because of my mistake to lay hold again of hope, and to live with the knowledge that life is continuous.  That is my message to the world, through my wife and through this instrument."

 

Ford explained that the code had been a handy device employed in Houdini's instructions to his wife during their stage act.  No one except Houdini and herself knew the cipher, or the key, and its application.

From the moment that Mrs. Houdini pronounced the message genuine there began a flood of attack ranging from the ludicrous to the vicious.  Mrs. Houdini's veracity was questioned; she was accused of giving the code to someone who then gave it to me—as if there could be any comfort for her in securing a message she already knew from a source she did not believe existed.  She was also scored for selling out her own husband who had so widely publicized his conviction that all mediums were fakes.  Consistently she avowed the genuineness of the messages and defended having made them public.  "It was what he wanted me to do, and I am doing it."

I was likewise accused of fraud, of course, and was once also approached by an ingenious blackmailer.  Then a man impersonating me fabricated a newspaper story, which only one tabloid printed, after which he confessed his hoax under promise of immunity from criminal prosecution.  Three individuals brought charges to the United Spiritualist League of New York City that I had been in cahoots with Mrs. Houdini and the press.  The president of the board of trustees of the First Spiritualist Church redeemed my character, Mrs. Houdini stood her ground, and the respectable press was meticulously fair.

 

Martin Ebon reported in True Experiences in Communicating with the Dead (1968) about a 1967 Arthur Ford seance that was seen on television from Toronto and "created a worldwide sensation."  Reverend James A. Pike was seen engaged in a dialogue with his son, who had committed suicide in 1966 at age 22.  Ford's control Fletcher related the son's conversation along with messages from others who had made the transition from Earth life.  Ebon wrote that Pike concluded: "Everything matched up.  All the long-forgotten facts and details matched up . . . I feel the whole thing is sufficient for an affirmation that there is continuity with people who have passed on."

  

10.  Ray Brown/Paul (contemporary trance channeling/spiritual healing case)

 
The "Ray, Gillian & Paul" episode of the UK series "Trust Me, I'm a Healer" (broadcast in 2007) can be watched on You Tube.  The series was produced by Rachel Bell.  More information about this case is available at raybrownhealing.com