tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14151837087404222042024-03-13T07:35:44.585-07:00Parascience JournalParascience Journalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16005239781205700954noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1415183708740422204.post-10296176780900641072016-11-20T13:13:00.002-08:002016-11-20T13:20:47.570-08:00 Flash in the Pan<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif; font-size: 15.4px; line-height: 20.79px; margin-bottom: 6pt;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Utopia, "Palatino Linotype", Palatino, serif; font-size: 13.3333px;">Written by George Stadalski on Friday, November 17, 2015</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">I wanted to talk a little about the rapid increase in the number of ghost hunting groups that came into existence in the early 2000s. I am always researching different topics in the paranormal and I like to find the scientific background of the different ideas and concepts that we are using to further our research. I am always looking for references to the concepts of tracking manifestation by identifying cold spots and fluctuations in the electro-magnetic field. These ideas, we need to understand that they are not theories, had to come from somewhere and I am always searching the internet for their origins. When researching these concepts I like to start at the process itself. To learn the history of a thing, we start at the current use of a thing. Often I will remember something I read on a website that I looked at only a few months ago and when I go to look at it again, the website is gone. I will try to contact a person that I had spoken to months prior and they are no longer investigating with such and such group. They left that group and had moved on to another organization, which they also left and are with So and So Paranormal Research now. I am amazed at the speed at which people change affiliations in this business.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">So, I started preparing for this article as I like to do with a quick round of etymological research on the phrase "flash in the pan". I had heard it was from the Gold Rush days when prospectors, excited about seeing something shiny in their pan would be disappointed upon discovering that it was not actually gold, but this material, also known as fool’s gold. I had been led to believe that it was a term from 1930s Hollywood, referring to the flash bulbs that were used to photograph the movie stars. Just years prior, they were still using a flash powder in a hand held tray. Supposedly the photographers would refer to a star that they felt would be short lived as a "flash in the pan". It sounded good, and it was from a trusted source, so I held that belief for years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">What I found out was even more interesting, the phrase was coined in 1706, according to Merriam-Webster.com. It referred to the flash pan of a flintlock musket. The flash pan was filled with finely ground gunpowder, ignited and then the hammer would fall, sending the resulting sparks through the touch hole at the main charge. Sometimes the gun would fail to fire, and the sparks would simply "flash in the pan". So the phrase became synonymous with "a sudden spasmodic effort that accomplishes nothing" or "one that appears promising but turns out to be disappointing or worthless"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Sudden spasmodic effort seems to be the exact term that describes the efforts most paranormal investigation teams. There is a huge showing at first with a website awash in tomb stones and ravens, a mission statement longer than most feature length articles and all sorts of information about the scientific techniques that they will use to contact the spirits in your home. Most have the ubiquitous page on demonology, a section dedicated to the terminology of the trade (which is different on almost every site) and a portion dedicated to the team’s medium or “sensitive” that explains why they are so valuable to the team. Don’t forget the list of all the expensive and almost entirely useless gadgets that the team went out and bought the day before the website was published.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">On a short rabbit trail, I think it also needs to be said that the people that are involved in this hobby did not all get together and vote the folks that have television shows to be the mouthpieces for the genre. Two plumbers from Rhode Island were in the right place at the right time and the Ghost Adventures Crew were production students that happened to be the best of the imitators. I wish them all nothing but the best in life, but not everyone involved in this field of study is comfortable with these people representing the group as a whole.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">Around the turn of this century, the crossover from an average joe to a paranormal expert became incredibly easy. All it took was to watch half a season of Ghost Hunters or Ghost Adventures and you have all the training that you needed and you have chosen your approach based on your show of choice. You had semi-professional “scientifical” investigation or the younger high-energy, extreme, in-your-face approach. But either way you were simply regurgitating what you had seen on the show.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: medium;">“Across cultures, those whose natural voices have been suppressed have found speaking for the dead a powerful political tool because it derives authority ‘from direct individual spiritual contact or experience rather than from office, position, or training’ (Braude 1989:6; Emmons 2003:57).” - Nartonis, David K., <i>The Rise of 19th-Century American Spiritualism, 1854–1873</i>, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion (2010) 49(2):361–373</span></span></h2>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">The Spiritualist Movement was filled with mediums and mystics that put themselves into positions as spiritual leaders, not by training for years and studying sacred texts, but by tapping straight into the source of the spiritual world. What makes it even better is that now, thanks to the advent of digital technology; we have the equipment and tools that supposedly allow everyday, average, normal people to communicate with spirits and ghosts too. <i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">You can go from an underappreciated cog in the machine to an expert on the evening news in a heartbeat. And who doesn't like to be seen as an expert? That means you know more about the topic at hand than everyone in the room. And the room, being virtual, expands across your local region into the living rooms of all the folks watching the news that evening or clicking on the link you posted to Facebook and Twitter (C’mon, we all do it).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">The best part is that since you did not invest any real effort into earning your title as a paranormal expert, it is very easy to walk away from your current affiliations when you no longer receive the payout you need from whichever step of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs that you are currently on. In the next few months I plan to look into the causes of this trend in the paranormal field. The consistency of the inconsistency in this field is worth a deeper look.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">I find that the similarities between the current craze in the field of paranormal investigation and the American Spiritualist Movement that existed between the 1840s and the 1920s to be astounding. While I encourage everyone with and interest in the field to get out there and investigate, I also caution those that have real interest in the study about who they choose as mentors. I will end with a quote.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">“Spiritualism lost its credibility as a source of consolation because of increasingly blatant performances by Spiritualists and discoveries of fraud discredited the idea of contact with the dead (Nelson 1969:82).”- Nartonis, David K., <i>The Rise of 19th-Century American Spiritualism, 1854–1873</i>, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion (2010) 49(2):361–373</span></h2>
Parascience Journalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16005239781205700954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1415183708740422204.post-28599025683140264182015-11-16T18:15:00.000-08:002015-11-16T18:24:25.893-08:00Instrumental Transcommunication (ITC)<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; line-height: 15.3333px;">Written by George Stadalski on Friday,</span><span style="background-color: #fff9ee; color: #222222; line-height: 15.3333px;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">November 23, 2012</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Instrumental
Transcommunication, or ITC, is the practice of using devices, usually
electronic, to converse with entities that we believe to be the spirits of
people that have passed away. The most
common type of ITC in practice is known as Electronic Voice Phenomenon, or EVP
as it is more commonly referred to. It is
the name put to the activity of capturing the voice of a non-corporeal entity
on a recording device. The concept has
been around since the invention of the technologies that allowed th</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">e transmission
of a person’s voice over radio waves and the recording of sound. It has been a major focus of paranormal
investigators since the ‘50s and Hollywood even made a movie about it (“White
Noise”, 2005). Other methods of ITC
include, Direct Radio Voices (DRV), Electro-Magnetic Field (EMF) Detector
sessions and Flashlight sessions.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I have read that
Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla and Guglielmo Marconi are all rumored to have
worked with methods to communicate with spirits and record disembodied voices. As I began to research this matter, I
realized that I had never read this myself.
I have only heard other people say that this was true, so in the
interest of being thorough, I had to see it for myself. In the course of my research I learned more
about these men than I knew and was able to separate some of the myth from the
reality.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">“<i>If our personality survives then it is
strictly logical or scientific to assume that it retains memory, intellect and
other facilities and knowledge we acquire on Earth. Therefore, if we can evolve
an instrument so delicate as to be affected by our personality as it survived
in the next life, such an instrument, when made available, should record
something</i>”. – Thomas Alva Edison <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I began my research
with Thomas Alva Edison. I am not going
to waste your time with a history of Edison’s career and the accomplishments
that he is credited with. He is an
American icon and we all know of his legacy.
If you would like to know more about him feel free to check out the
sources listed at the end of this article. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I had looked at many
of his biographies that are available online, and not a one mentioned
experimentation in communication with the deceased. I decided to go to the very source and see if
I could find copies of his actual writings online. I found that Rutgers University has a project
called The Thomas Edison Papers. It is
an extensive collection of Edison’s notes, drawings and correspondence. It is available for viewing in book form, as
microfilm and a portion of his work has been digitalized and is available
online. I searched the site for a few
different topics and found a set of Edison’s notes from 1917 that mentioned the
topic of communication with the dead; this is the tag for that folder.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">“<b>Edison General
File Series -- 1917: (E-17-77) Religion and Spiritualism - </b>This
folder contains correspondence and other documents regarding Edison's opinions
and widely publicized statements about immortality, theology, superstition, and
related subjects. Also included are unsolicited letters, essays, and other
writings on topics such as prophecies, the Bible, communications with the dead,
mystical explanations of electricity, and the war in Europe. Most of the items
for 1917 are marked for no answer. None of the letters bear any notations by
Edison.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Since the notes have
only been digitized up to 1898, I was unable to actually read the entries
mentioned in the description. So, I have
new item on my to-do list and that is to someday visit Rutgers in New Jersey to
view these documents. In lieu of a
visit, I contacted the folks at The Thomas Edison Papers, and Rachel
Weissenburger from The Thomas Edison Papers quotes Edison saying, “…that
consciousness existed in fundamental units that combined to make up each human
being and that these existed prior to and after death.” Evidence of this
belief is found as far back as the 1890s. During the 1920s Edison indicated
in a number of interviews that he was developing a contrivance to assist entities
in their attempt to manifest. A number of these interviews are reproduced
in a book published in 1948 called “The Diary and Sundry Observations of Thomas
Alva Edison”, edited by Dagobert D. Runes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">So what I found out
is that Thomas Edison did in fact have an interest in developing ITC technology
and believed that technology was the key to communication with those that have
passed from this mortal realm. What I
did not find was any information on how he planned to accomplish this feat or
if he ever did.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Since Thomas Edison won the popularity contest that existed
between himself and Nikola Tesla, who by the accounts of many historians and
engineers was the better inventor, there is very little official history to be
found on him online. Outside of a few
encyclopedia entries and some very flattering fan sites, there are not many
sources of information. I know that
Tesla’s notes are out there somewhere in collections, both public and private,
but I have not found a way to access them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">“<i>There is not more
than one out of every ten persons who does not believe in telepathy and other
psychic manifestations, spiritualism and communion with the dead, and who would
refuse to listen to willing or unwilling deceivers.</i>” - Nikola Tesla<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The internet is full of stories of Tesla wanting to converse
with spirits and the experiments that he staged to that end. What I have not found is a mention of this in
any encyclopedic entry or history book I have ever read. The source that would end the discussion
would be Tesla’s own notes where he discussed the theory and how he intended to
translate the concept into practical application.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I read Nikola Tesla’s autobiography titled <i>My Inventions</i>. In it Nikola states that “<i>Ever since I was told by some of the
greatest men of the time, leaders in science whose names are immortal, that I
am possesst [sic] of an unusual mind, I bent all of my thinking faculties on
the solution of the greatest problems regardless of sacrifice. For many years I endeavored to solve the
enigma of death, and watched eagerly for every kind of spiritual
indication. But only once in the course
of my existence have I had an experience which momentarily impressed me as
supernatural.</i>” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">He then tells his story and then explains how it was his
mind playing tricks on him while he was ill.
He concludes his story with this statement. “<i>While I have failed to obtain any evidence in support of the
contentions of psychologists and spiritualists, I have proved to my complete
satisfaction the automatism of life, not only through continuous observations
of individual actions, but even more conclusively through certain
generalizations.</i>” The man, with all
of his knowledge and abilities could not find any proof of life after death.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The final member of the Holy Trinity of ITC is Guglielmo Marconi. While he was a scientific contemporary of
Edison and Tesla, his focus was on wireless communication not energy
distribution. He is a Nobel Prize
winning scientist and is credited for saving the lives of the people that got
off the Titanic through his invention.
But I cannot find a single biography that tells of his being involved
with ITC theories or practices. While I
think that his connection with the Italian Fascist Party might have marred the
way history remembers him, his work with radios has forever changed the way we
live and made it possible to live the wireless lifestyle that we all enjoy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">So for the third time, we reach a dead end with a story that
is sounding like one of three options.
These stories are either an extreme misunderstanding of a man’s life work,
wishful thinking on the part of paranormal investigators taking on a life of its
own or a blatant fabrication to try to lend credibility to a hobby.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The timeline
tracking the evolution of the practice of Instrumental Transcommunication is an
interesting look into the work that has gone before and, I think, an important
part of every paranormal investigators personal education.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>The 1920s</b> -<span style="color: red;"> </span>Thomas Alva Edison, American inventor and
entrepreneur, with the help of his assistant, Dr. Miller Hutchinson, is
reported to have worked on building a machine designed to achieve communication
“<i>with the dead</i>”. His assistant is quoted as saying that, “<i>Edison and I are convinced that in the
fields of psychic research will yet be discovered facts that will prove of
greater significance to the thinking of the human race than all the inventions
we have ever made in the field of electricity.</i>”<span style="color: red;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>1925</b> -<span style="color: red;"> </span>“<i>Voices from
Beyond by Telephone</i>” is published by Oscar d’Argonell. In his book d’Argonell tells of conversations
that he had with friends that he had made in the spirit world, describing how
these calls to the spirit world were made.<span style="color: red;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>1936 </b>- Atila
von Szalay used phonograph cutting equipment to record EVPs.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>1949</b> - Marcello
Bacci used an old vacuum tube radio to record EVPs. His work was seen as being so successful that
people would visit Bacci at his residence to have him connect them with their
loved ones who had passed. He reported
that there were a group of spirits that believe it is their duty to maintain
contact with people still living. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>The 1950s</b> –
Most people are unaware that the Vatican has been involved in EVP research from
the earliest days of the field of study. Father Ernetti and Father Gemelli
discovered disembodied voices on recordings that they had made of monks
performing Gregorian chants. They were hesitant to approach Pope Pius XII
with their recordings for fear that an investigation of this phenomenon could
be considered a sin. Pope Paul VI became acquainted with Friedrich
Juergenson, who we will talk about next, during the production of a documentary
about his papacy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>1959</b> - Friedrich
Juergenson, a Swedish film producer, was recording bird-songs for use in a
project when he recorded what he believed were voices on audio-tape. While he was listening closely to the voices
after the initial discovery, he heard what he believed was his mother's voice
speaking in German; “<i>Friedrich, you are
being watched. Friedel, my little
Friedel, can you hear me?</i>” This was the starting point of many
different recordings that are amongst the clearest ever recorded. Friedrich Juergenson published two books
based on his work titled, “<i>Voices from
the Universe</i>” and “<i>Contact with the
Dead</i>”. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>1967 </b>- Franz
Seldel created a device he called the “psychophone” that he intended to use for
the recording of voices from the “Astral world”. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>1971 </b>-<span style="color: red;"> </span>Konstantin Raudive performed a series of experiments
with the chief sound engineers of Pye Records Limited. They invited Raudive to their sound
laboratory, which had been fitted with special equipment to eliminate stray
radio waves and electrical impulses.
While most people would name Friedrich Juergenson as the father of
modern EVP work, it was Raudive that brought it into the public
consciousness. His success prompted many
people to begin experimenting with ITC with commercial recording devices in
their homes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Raudive, expounding
on the work of Friedrich Juergenson, had evolved six different methods of
recording these voices. They were
methods that used a microphone, radio frequencies, a frequency transmitter, a diode,
a goniometer and the device, created by Franz Seldel, known as the
“psychophone”.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Peter Bander, who
worked extensively with Raudive, postulated that a personal approach to voice
recordings is more effective than a clinical method. They had determined that the three possible
sources of the voices were “electronic impulses sent out by our subconscious
mind and registered as human speech on the tape”, “voices transmitted by an
unknown method from perhaps another planet or an intelligent source somewhere
in the universe” or “people who have died on this earth and try to retain
communication with those who are still here: in fact that the voices originate
from where they say they do”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>The late 1970s</b>
- George and Jeanette Meek funded the work of psychic William O’ Neil working
with a device known as the Spiricom. This device could supposedly convert “spirit
voices” into easy to hear words and sentences. The Spiricom was able to generate 13 tones
that included all of the sounds created by the average male voice. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">By the end of 1980
the Spiricom device had been improved upon and was receiving messages that were
clearly designated as the voice of O’Neil’s friend, former NASA scientist, Dr.
George Jeffries Mueller who had passed in 1967. The body of work that was undertaken under
the Spiricom name has been dissected by many investigators and skeptics. There has been much evidence provided of the
entire enterprise being a fraud. I
mention this simply to incite you to research it on your own.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Between 1982 and 1988</b> - Hans Otto Koenig developed a device that used extremely low frequency
oscillators and quartz-crystals irradiated with ultraviolet light which he called
HRS (Hyper-Raum-System or Hyperspace System). In 1983 he appeared on Radio Luxembourg with
his equipment where it was held to the close scrutiny of the engineers at the radio
station. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>Between 1984 to 1985</b> - Ken Webster used his computer to receive in the area of 250 messages from
a spirit that was supposedly named Thomas Harden. The spirit, who had passed on in the 16th
century, made claims he had owned Ken Webster’s property four hundred years earlier. The messages contained historically factual information
delivered in an accurate old English dialect. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>1985</b> - Klaus
Shreiber claimed to receive images of spirits on his television that included various
deceased family members, Austrian actress Romy Schneider and Albert. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>1985</b> - Mark
Macy, of the World ITC organization, started to work with an international team
of scientists and researchers. Of his
work, Mark Macy said: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">“Sixteen of us met
in England to discuss this modern day miracle, its tremendous possibilities for
our world, and the obstacles that stood in the way. We formed new friendships,
and by the end of a long weekend we also formed INIT; The International Network
for Instrumental Transcommunication. In the coming months Ethereal beings told
us that they were observing our efforts closely and would provide guidance and
support. We began to observe unprecedented miracles in our research. Many of us
received phone calls, from Spirit friend Konstantin Raudive, and the
Harch-Fischbachs; note: radio based ITC equipment of Maggy Harsch-Fischbach and
her husband Jules Harsch of Luxembourg; received astounding pictures and
messages through their computer, all as a result of resonance among INIT
members. It was clear that a new phase of ITC research on Earth had begun. Our
Ethereal friends told us that the greatest strides would be made by individuals
from different countries who committed to work together in harmony with pure
intentions”. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">In the past few
decades we have been inundated with the entertainment’s world deluge of
unscientific examples of Instrumental Transcommunication. With the influx of devices that are out there
these days that are supposedly able to allow spirits to communicate with
investigators and concepts like using a flashlight or a KII EMF detector to
communicate, I believe that the entire field of study has gotten severely
off-track.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sources<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>The Thomas Edison
Papers</i>, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ: <a href="http://edison.rutgers.edu/index.htm">http://edison.rutgers.edu/index.htm</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>The Diary and Sundry Observations of Thomas
Alva Edison</i>, edited by
Dagobert D. Runes. Philosophical Library, New York, 1948) [A reprint of the
article is available at <a href="http://ufoexperiences.blogspot.com/2007/04/survival-of-spirit-peripheral.html">http://ufoexperiences.blogspot.com/2007/04/survival-of-spirit-peripheral.html</a>]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">"Thomas Edison,
Paranormalist" by Martin Gardner, Skeptical Inquirer, July-August 1996,
pages 9, 11-12<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Tesla, Nikola. <i>My
Inventions</i>. Filiquarian, 2006.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Raudive, Konstantin.
<i>Breakthrough: An Amazing Experiment in
Electronic Communication with the Dead.</i> Taplinger Publishing Company, New
York. 1971<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Bander, Peter. <i>Voices from the Tapes: Recordings from the
Other World.</i> Drake Publishers, New York. 1973.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Welch, William. <i>Talks with the Dead.</i> Pinnacle Books, New
York. 1975.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Rogo, D. Scott. <i>In Search of the Unknown.</i> Taplinger
Publishing Company, New York. 1976<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Sherman, Harold. <i>The Dead are Alive: They Can and do
Communicate with You.</i> Fawcett, New York. 1993<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">MacRae,
Alexander. <i>EVP and New Dimensions.</i> Lightning Source Inc, La Vergne, TN . 2004<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Toms, Nathan. <i>The Electronic Ghosts.</i> Lightning Source
Inc, La Vergne, TN. 2006<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Markowicz, Mike. <i>EVP: Electronic Voice Phenomenon:
Massachusetts Ghostly Voices.</i> Schiffer Pub Ltd, Atglen, PA. 2009 <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Cardoso, Anabela. <i>Electronic Voices: Contact with Another
Dimension?</i> O Books, Blue Ridge
Summit, PA. 2010</span><o:p></o:p></div>
Parascience Journalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16005239781205700954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1415183708740422204.post-10130726870335247842015-11-11T08:28:00.001-08:002015-11-16T18:28:11.122-08:00Introduction to the Scientific Method<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Written by George Stadalski on Friday, November 23, 2012</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The theory of relativity is accepted because it can be
proven through scientific experimentation.
The theory of evolution is accepted because study has shown that life is
able to change itself to meet the needs of its environment. Experiments that can be repeated by anyone
within prescribed parameters combined with the study of documentable events,
lend credibility to these theories.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The theories that we are discussing here are
unproven. They are promoted, in general,
by laypeople with rudimentary training in scientific experimentation and a
basic understanding of the scientific method.
How can regular people compete with trained scientists?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">By following the same strictures and rules that the
scientists do!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Although Aristotle and the ancient Greeks were the first
to use observation and measurement to answer questions about the world that
they lived in, they did not have enough structure in their system to be
considered the scientific method. The
first use of the scientific method to answer questions by performing
experiments and recording observations is credited to Muslim scholars who began
the practice between the 10<sup>th</sup> and 14<sup>th</sup> centuries. The process was continually refined during
the Renaissance and on through the Enlightenment periods, but it was Sir Isaac
Newton that improved the process to the one that we use today.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Prof. Frank L. H. Wolfs</span><span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">
describes it thusly, “The scientific method is the process by which scientists,
collectively and over time, endeavor to construct an accurate (that is,
reliable, consistent and non-arbitrary) representation of the world.” He goes on to say that since personal
opinion, religious belief and cultural differences can all sway the way we
interpret natural phenomena, it is important to have a standard practice that
will limit that those pressures when attempting to establish a scientific
theory. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">According to Prof.
Wolfs here are the four basic steps to the scientific method:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<ol start="1" style="margin-top: 0in;" type="1">
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Observation and
description of a phenomenon or group of phenomena. <o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Formulation of a
hypothesis to explain the phenomena. In physics, the hypothesis often
takes the form of a causal mechanism or a mathematical relation. <o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Use of the
hypothesis to predict the existence of other phenomena, or to predict
quantitatively the results of new observations. <o:p></o:p></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Performance of
experimental tests of the predictions by several independent experimenters
and properly performed experiments.<o:p></o:p></span></li>
</ol>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> If the
experiments prove the hypothesis that has been presented then the hypothesis is
on the way to becoming an accepted theory.
If the hypothesis is disproven, then it must be disregarded or reworked
in light of the new evidence that has been collected.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Experimentation is the crux of
the process. This is where you will
either confirm or disprove your hypothesis.
If you cannot support your original hypothesis with this data, you will
have to use the evidence that you have gathered to modify your hypothesis. For a hypothesis, no matter how wide spread
the concept is or how many people believe it to be true, to be treated as a
scientific theory the experimental data must coincide with the hypothetical
prediction to be accepted by the scientific community.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">An experiment can test the
hypothesis directly (EVPs recorded during an investigation) or they can test
the side-effects of the hypothetical process (EMFs, ions, and cold spots
present as an entity manifests). This
step carries the inference that your hypothesis must be testable for it to be
proven (or disproven). It is said within
the scientific community that theories cannot be proven; only disproven.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">There are some common mistakes
that tend to occur while using the scientific method. The most common mistake is to accept the
hypothesis as fact before any experimentation is performed. Often, we have been told something so many
times that we believe it to be truth.
Care must be taken to remember that the theories that we are dealing
with are just that, theoretical postulations that have not been proven through
empirical data collection and analysis. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Another mistake is to ignore
data that goes against the hypothesis.
The scientific method is used to remove opinion from experimentation,
but often the researcher can be swayed by personal belief or by social coercion
to attain a specific outcome. Sometimes
it can be as simple as looking for fault in data, or not examining data that
does not agree with desired outcomes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">The next mistake that we want
to touch on is to not account for the possibility of error; systematic,
procedural or human. Often discoveries have been lost in what were inaccurately
labeled as systematic errors. On the
other side of that coin systematic errors have been confused for valid
data. Any type of equipment used to
measure data has the potential for giving a bad reading. This is referred to as a random error. A systematic error is where the procedure for
the collection of data is flawed. This
could be the use of a digital thermometer that registers surface temperature to
record the ambient temperature in a room.
No experiment is perfect, but we must take the precautions to minimize
potential errors. When taking
measurements; whether they be in milligauss, degrees Fahrenheit or decibel
levels; it is important to quote a quantifiable margin of error. Without this margin of error your collected
data has no meaning.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Finally, the last mistake we
will discuss is probably the most common mistake in the field of paranormal
investigation. Within fields that have
active experimentation and open communication among the members studying that
field, the prejudices of different groups or individual investigators tend to
cancel out each other’s findings.
Additionally, the groups that are out there are all using different
equipment with different procedures and are correspondingly getting different
results.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<u><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Sources<o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">“Who Invented the Scientific Method?” by
Martyn Shuttleworth, Experiment Resources, 2009: <a href="http://www.experiment-resources.com/who-invented-the-scientific-method.html">http://www.experiment-resources.com/who-invented-the-scientific-method.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "tahoma" , "sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Introduction to the Scientific Method” by Prof. Frank L. H. Wolfs, Department of
Physics and Astronomy, University of Rochester: <a href="http://teacher.pas.rochester.edu/phy_labs/appendixe/appendixe.html">http://teacher.pas.rochester.edu/phy_labs/appendixe/appendixe.html</a></span><b style="font-family: tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10pt;"><o:p></o:p></b></span></div>
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