ABSTRACT: This is a popular account of the author's firsthand observations of special subject Felicia Parise's experimental work at the Maimonides Dream Laboratory and her ability to move small objects apparently by PK. It was originally written as a chapter of a book on parapsychology that was never published. Parise's macro-PK, which is featured in the article, was inspired by firsthand observations of Soviet star PK subject Nina Kulagina made by Western parapsychologists Montague Ullman, Gaither Pratt, and Jiirgen Keil. Honorton (...) describes Parise's first solo efforts, his own observations, and those of a magician/photographer, Norman Moses, who made a film of her moving objects. Also described is research conducted by Gaither Pratt at the University of Virginia and by Graham and Anita Watkins at the Institute for Parapsychology in Durham, NC. Parise specialized in moving pill bottles and compass needles, and in film fogging. (shrink)

The formation of a sitter-group in Buenos Aires is described. Fifteen weekly meetings were conducted, between April and July 2013, attended by 5 to 9 people each. Ostensible movements of a table were reported. In the last meeting one psychokinetically gifted member was identified. He had witnessed RSPK at home, when aged 11. After identifying him, another 10 meetings were conducted with the only this gentleman present. In these meetings he made a table raise a leg at will, even with (...) the additional weight added to the table. All the meetings were conducted with normal illumination, most of them recorded in video. It was impossible to reproduce most of the table movements by normal means. He was not able to achieve the total levitation of the table, nor any movements without hand contact. Gifted people with remarkable psi abilities are scarce, and in the field of physical phenomena objective investigations of macro-PK seem to be stagnant, or at least without the possibility of publishing encouraging results. The Scole Group investigators (Keen, Ellison & Fontana, 1999), did not employ adequate controls in order to confirm or deny the phenomena demonstrated in darkness. The investigation of the Felix group by Stephen Braude (2014) and others (Michael Nahm (2014) has been deterred by accusations of fraud by its "medium," Kai Mügge. (shrink)

This paper chronicles my introduction to and subsequent investigation of the Felix Experimental Group (FEG) and its exhibitions of classical physical mediumship. It’s been nearly a century since investigators have had the opportunity to carefully study standard spiritistic phenomena, including the extruding of ectoplasm, and the FEG is the only current physical mediumistic circle permitting any serious controls. The paper details a progressively stringent, personally supervised series of séances, culminating in some well-controlled experiments with video documentation in a secure and (...) private location belonging to one of the investigators. Regrettably, recent indications of fraud (explored also by Michael Nahm in this issue) have tarnished the case as a whole. However, it remains unclear how extensive the fraud has been. Accordingly, this paper evaluates the arguments both for and against the paranormality of the phenomena displayed under the author’s supervision. (shrink)

In October 2015 I supervised a series of séances in Hanau, Germany with Felix Circle physical medium Kai Mügge. The purpose was to try to obtain better documentation of Kai’s table levitations than my team was able to achieve in Austria in 2013 (Braude, 2014). Although that goal was not met over the course of four séances, we nevertheless witnessed some interesting phenomena that are difficult to explain away normally given the control conditions imposed at the time. These include object (...) movements beyond the reach of the sitters, a very strange “exploding” sound from the séance table, and some extended levitations in which the table seemed to sway or swim in mid-air. But what may be most interesting about this series of séances is the way the phenomena reflect the complex, and tortured, underlying psychodynamics of the occasion. Indeed, what readers need to know about the FEG phenomena has as much to do with personalities involved as with the phenomena themselves. As a result, this report focuses as much on the background to the investigation as on the investigation itself. (shrink)

In an effort to further explore ostensible macroscopic psychokinesis (macro-PK) effects like those previously reported by Batcheldor (1966), Bourgeois (1994), Owen and Sparrow (1976), and Ullman (2001) in a sitter group setting, the first author designed and conducted a series of fifteen experimental sessions in which sitters claiming exceptional abilities attempted to generate a pseudo-spirit named "Daniel," to whom physical phenomena were attributed. To explore possible physical correlates of macro-PK, two approaches to measurement were utilized. In the first, sample data (...) from a local random number generator (RNG) continuously running as part of the Global Consciousness Project were extracted and examined for statistical deviations from randomness occurring in conjunction with the sitter group sessions. In the second, the Multi-Energy Sensor Array (MESA) was used to collect onsite environmental data during one of the sessions. While displays of ostensible macro-PK were observed during several of the sitter group sessions, the RNG data did not show a significant overall correlation with the sessions. The MESA data indicated notable drops in infrared and visual light, as well as changes in DC magnetic field strength, that are comparable to those observed in field studies of haunts. Keywords: sitter groups--macroscopic psychokinesis (macro-PK)--random number generator (RNG)--Multi-Energy Sensor Array (MESA). (shrink)