The present paper describes the development and the phenomena of a circle for physical mediumship, based predominantly on my own observations. Over the course of four and a half years, I have participated in 21 sittings. Typical phenomena include unusual movements of a table, raps on the room walls and the ceiling, various luminous and psychokinetic phenomena, the generation of supposed ectoplasm, and apports. I will describe the controls applied during the sittings and my personal involvement in accompanying the development (...) of the phenomena, and explain why I finally arrived at the conclusion that considerable parts of the phenomena were produced by fraudulent means. Keywords: Physical mediumship - raps - psychokinesis - ectoplasm - apports - circle - fraud. (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)

Between June 2014 and December 2015, a PK laboratory was organized in Buenos Aires. Up to five video cameras were installed to record the events. Various devices were assembled to measure physical, physiological and environmental variables. 23 meetings were held with a presumptive PK subject, identified in previous research. The subject was apparently able to move a table at will, through an alleged "PK force", and the phenomena were documented and recorded on several occasions. Although contactless movement of the table (...) or other objects could not be achieved, muscular effort was ruled out as the cause of the observed movements. One experiment developed by William Crawford was repeated, although Crawford’s results were not replicated. EEGs studies were performed with the subject at rest and also during the production of the phenomena. Unexplained anomalies were observed in the EEG data obtained during the production of the phenomena, and the normal curve of a Random Number Generator also deviated significantly (p = 0.008) during the trials. No variations of electric and magnetic fields were found to be associated with the phenomena. Stephen Braude visited the laboratory and attended 3 meetings. (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)