The book Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain by Sheila Ostrander and Lynn Schroeder is a fascinating account of paranormal events and parapsychology in countries of the Warsaw Pact, mainly the Soviet Union. Among the most interesting accounts is the tale of Wolf Messing, a Soviet psychic who is all but unknown in the West, but who was apparently very famous for many years in the Soviet Union.
On page 43 we hear that Messing was summoned by Joseph Stalin, the dictator of the Soviet Union. We are told Stalin had heard of Messing's reputed ability to influence minds in some paranormal manner. He commanded that Messing go to a bank and try to perform a bank robbery by mentally commanding a bank teller to give him money. Messing claims that he went to the bank, handed the teller a blank sheet of paper, and then mentally commanded the teller to give Messing 100,000 rubles. Messing says the teller complied, and that after Messing showed two witnesses that the money had been successfully extracted, he returned the money to the bank teller (who had a heart attack upon realizing he had given away such a large amount of money).
On page 44 we are told Messing passed another experiment designed by Stalin: being able to enter Stalin's dacha without a pass and without permission (which is rather like some unauthorized visitor strolling into the Oval Office of the White House). Messing says that he telepathically suggested to the guards that he was Beria, the head of the secret police, who frequently visited Stalin's dacha.
It seems to be a well-established fact that Messing was given permission to tour the Soviet Union with an act that was mainly based on demonstrations of telepathy, and that such an act was wildly successful for many years, making Messing a "household name" in the Soviet Union. Typically Messing would ask random people in the audience to write down some command they wanted Messing to do, with the sealed instructions being delivered to some "jury" selected by the audience. The people writing down the instructions would think of their instruction, and Messing would be remarkably successful in performing what they had wished, having never seen their written instructions. Messing had previously performed such demonstrations in many different countries.
On page 104 we read a chapter discussing many examples of so-called "telepathic knockouts." During such events it would appear that a person was put into a state of deep sleep or unconsciousness solely because of the mental suggestion of some other person. We read, "The ability to put people to sleep and wake them up telepathically from a distance of a few yards to over a thousand miles became the most thoroughly tested and perfected contribution of the Soviets to international parapsychology." After reading of countless successful experiments of such an effect, we read of such a test being successful at a distance of a thousand miles. At a scheduled time, one scientist mentally commanded a subject a thousand miles away to fall asleep. We are told, "A thousand miles away Ivanova lost consciousness on schedule as she talked to Dr. Doubrovsky." Since electromagnetic waves diminish with distance, the test seemed to prove that ESP does not work by some transmission of electromagnetic waves.
While such accounts are shocking to the average person in the West, they may not shock careful scholars of the very deep topic of hypnotic phenomena and trance phenomena. It was often claimed by hypnotists that a person could be put into a hypnotic trance purely by the hypnotist's mental suggestion. First, some verbal technique or physical technique such as hand movements might be used to put someone into a hypnotic state. A hypnotist would sometimes report that after such a thing had succeeded, it would later be possible to almost instantly put the subject into a hypnotic state, purely by a mental command of the hypnotist (which might or might not be accompanied by a purposeful stare).
On page 117 we hear a leading Soviet ESP researcher (Leonid Vasiliev) state he has gathered hundreds of "reliable cases" of spontaneous telepathy. On the same page we have an account by a mother who says she saw the face of her son (at a distant location), only to have the apparition vanish. She said she knew that her son had died. She later found out her son had died "at this very time."
On the next page we hear of a similar occurrence. A Russian composer and conductor named Anton Rubinstein made a pact with his student William Nichia, that whichever died first would try to appear to the other one, to show his survival. Six years later Nichia saw an apparition of Rubinstein, and found out the next day that Rubinstein had suddenly died, apparently on the same day the apparition was seen.
Anton Rubinstein
These are just additional examples of a phenomenon often reported in the West: that of someone seeing an apparition of a person he did not know had died, and later finding out that the person had died on the same day. You can read of hundreds of such cases by reading my posts below:An Apparition Was Their Death Notice
25 Who Were "Ghost-Told" of a Death
25 More Who Were "Ghost-Told" of a Death
On page 170 the book has a chapter on the topic of "Eyeless Sight." We read of Rosa Kuleshova, who developed an ability to read or detect colors while blindfolded, merely by touching reading material or objects with her hands. Kuleshova held up very well to a long series of scientific tests. The same phenomenon was reported decades earlier in France, by Jules Romains in his book Eyeless Sight (discussed here). A 19th-century work states this: " Although blind, this girl can read by passing her fingers over the printed or written page, and can describe persons whose pictures were handed to her."
An edition of the EdgeScience magazine (#47) published by the Society for Scientific Exploration has an article "Seeing Without Eyes" (page 9) which discusses evidence for clairvoyance like that gathered by Romains. It mentions work by Carol Ann Liaros in the 1970's, saying, "Liaros discovered that blind people could see the images on black-and-white photos (and could see the photos when they were turned over, face-down, and even their reallife colors)." We read about many other examples of ESP and clairvoyance similar to that reported by Romains, most occurring in recent decades.
A long article in the June 12, 1964 Life magazine was entitled "Seeing Color With the Fingers." It reported a great number of observations very similar to those reported by Romains. You can read the article here, by scrolling down to page 102. In 1964 Life magazine was as mainstream and respectable as the New York Times, and had been a trusted mainstream source for decades. Just as there is now a gigantic New York Times building in New York City, an equally sized skyscraper was once called the Time-Life building.
In the Life magazine article of June 12, 1964, we read a very long account of Rosa Kuleshova's paranormal ability and how it was demonstrated in a long series of tests with different Soviet scientists. Below is an excerpt:
"Rosa, securely blindfolded, could read headlines in newspaper and magazines, and the large type in children's books, just as rapidly as if her eyes were open. She could read ordinary newspaper type, too - more slowly, but still correctly. She was able to describe illustrations in popular publications like Ogonyok and Krokodil as well as on cigaret packages and postage stamps. And she had no trouble at all singling out black, white, red, orange, yellow, blue and green samples of colored papers, colored pencils, aniline dyes, as well as cotton threads and fabrics."
The phenomenon has sometimes been called dermo-optical perception. The 19th-century literature on hypnosis contains many similar accounts of such an ability occurring during hypnosis. The term "transposition of the senses" was often used to describe the ability. A nineteenth century work by William Gregory (a chemistry professor at the very prestigious University of Edinburgh) describes this phenomenon on page 148:
Going back to the Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain book, we read on page 173 of previous accounts of abilities similar to Rosa Kuleshova's. For example:
- A Russian Journal of Neuropsychological Medicine had described a case similar to that of Kuleshova;
- Leonid Vasiliev had got a hypnotized man to be able to read the newspaper Pravda with his hands only;
- A Dr. Novomeisky had found that with a half hour of practice, every sixth person could distinguish two colors only by touching them.
One of the most sensational cases discussed in the book is the case of Ninel Sergeyevna Kulagina, who was sometimes referred to under the pseudonym of Nelya Mikhailova, and also referred to as Nina Kulagina. The book starts telling the story of Nelya/Nina in a chapter entitled "Have the Soviets Found the Secret of Mind Over Matter?' I will use the name Nelya that is used in the text of the book. We are told of scientists and film-makers gathering to test Nelya. After a long period of intense concentration by Nelya, they filmed a compass needle spinning in front of Nelya, along with the whole compass spinning. They also filmed a number of matches mysteriously moving below her outstretched hand, along with a matchbox. You can see some of the footage here. A transparent plexiglass cube with one face removed was placed over some objects on a table, and Nelya was tested under such a setup which should have ruled out any fakery. The objects within the cube still moved.
We are told this:
"Nelya's discovery of her new talents soon led her to one of the greatest physiologists in Russia, Dr. Leonid Vasiliev. Dr. Vasiliev carried out painstaking tests of her ability and had her demonstrate her paranormal ability before scores of scientists. In 1964 a special conference of scientists was called to observe Mikhailova's demonstration and, according to the January issue of Smena, it was a success."
On page 81 we read an eyewitness report by a Dr. Rejdak (published in a newspaper) in which he discusses observing Nelya thoroughly in 1968 during successful tests of psychokinesis, in which there mysteriously moved a compass needle, the entire compass, a gold ring, glass objects, a cigarette, a matchbox and twenty matches. Rejdak says he shredded the cigarette, and found nothing unusual in it. He also says the matchbox and the matches were provided by him, and that Nelya had no chance to prepare them in any way. The movement of such non-metallic objects cannot be explained by hidden magnets. Rejdak says, "Tests with special instruments failed to show any indication whatever of magnets or any concealed object."
Skeptics try to discredit Nelya by pointing out that she was charged with a crime by Soviet authorities. But the crime was merely selling money on the black market, an offense almost as common during the Soviet Union as speeding is in the West. Such an offense does nothing to discredit the reports about her psychokinetic abilities.
In the 1977 book "Advances in Parapsychological Research" we read on page 116 the following written by CUNY psychology professor Gertrude R. Schmeidler (which uses PK to mean psychokinesis or mind-over-matter):
"Since 1968 special interest has attached to a middle-aged Soviet woman, Nina Kulagina, who seems able to make small objects move by PK. Movies show her near but not touching objects on a table before her, and then shows the objects moving as she sits tensely and makes small hand movements. Both Soviet and Western scientists have tested her under more of less formal conditions and have confirmed the effect. A full summary (Keil, Ullman, Herbert, and Pratt, 1976) of these reports indicates that there is good reason to accept them as authentic PK. Typical of the most striking changes is a series of observations on objects that would not be influenced by concealed magnets, such as a cigarette. The investigator brings in the objects, puts them on a table sometimes covered with a cloth, and sometimes covers the assembly, for example, with a small transparent dome. Observers tell of -- and film records show -- movement of one or several adjacent objects, typically in jerks, over a few centimeters. The movements are sometimes bizarre: an upright cigarette, for example, stayed upright as it moved."
The case of Ninel Sergeyevna Kulagina (aka Nina Kulagina aka Nelya Mikhailova) is sometimes dismissed on the grounds that no other person has shown such abilities. But similar abilities have been reported from subjects in the West, in India, and also subjects in China (as described here). Many exclude ideas such as mind-over-matter on an impossibility basis, claiming there is no way that a brain could produce such an effect. But there are very many reasons (including many neuroscience reasons) for rejecting the claim that the human mind is mainly the product of the brain, so we need not assume that our minds are mainly the product of our brains. Once we have got on the right track, by realizing that our minds are some mysterious reality that cannot be explained by the contents of brains, then the door of possibilities becomes unlocked, and swings wide open. We know the kind of limitations a mind would have if it were merely the product of a brain. We know very little about the limitations of our minds under the assumption that we are souls that arose nonphysically.
These reports of dramatic parapsychology successes in the Soviet Union are corroborated by "a Department of Defense Intelligence Document prepared by the Foreign Technology Division, Air Force Systems Command and approved by Assistant Vice Directorate for Science and Technical Intelligence of the Defense Intelligence Agency." The document was entitled "PARAPHYSICS R&D-WARSAW PACT." Paraphysics is a term similar to parapsychology. You can read about the results in that document by reading my post here. The document discusses results similar to the results discussed in Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain by Sheila Ostrander and Lynn Schroeder.
Let me cite an experiment in England similar to results reported above. A paper called "Consciousness and the Physical World" available at the Cornell physics paper server is a record of a 1978 symposium. The paper includes essays by a variety of authors, most of whom parrot the same old talking points of materialism, many of them misconceptions. But within the long paper you will be surprised to read some evidence for psychokinesis, similar to that discussed above. We read the following statement on page 163 by Suzanne Padfield:
"For the purpose of aiding scientific understanding, I have in the past demonstrated some psychokinetic effects under controlled conditions.Most of these experiments took place at the Paraphysical Laboratory, Downton, Wiltshire, with Dr. Benson Herbert, and the principal experiment involved a piece of apparatus known as a light mobile system. This apparatus consisted of a single strand of polyester fibre, the polymer known as polyethylene terephthalate, 25 cm long and 16 microns in diameter (chosen for its high tensile strength and low electrical and thermal conductivity because of its low moisture content). A straw beam 8 cm long was attached to one end of the fibre by means of sealing wax and the other end attached by the same means to a cork which fitted tightly into the neck of a large glass bottle in which the straw became suspended horizontally. The straw was balanced by two differently coloured pieces of plasticine, one at either end, and the sides of the bottle marked with vertical lines, enabling the angle of rotation of the straw to be observed accurately.
The system was placed on a vibration-free surface in a room free from disturbances and left for 24 hours, being monitored during that time to ensure that none of the known factors which might produce an effect on the straw beam were in operation. At the selected time for the experiment (no detectable movement of the beam, i.e. less than half a degree movement, having been recorded for 24 hours) I would enter the room quietly and stand 5 or 6 ft away from the system. I always wore a visor to reduce effects of heat radiation from my face and electrostatic charge from my hair.‘ I would then commence to 'direct' the beam a certain number of degrees towards or away from me, either by free choice, having stated the number of degrees of rotation and direction beforehand, or at the command of the experimenter who was also present in the room but only near enough to the system to allow accurate observation, usually 10-12 ft. The experiment was successful about 70 per cent of the time and the straw beam would rotate the required number of degrees and remain still until a further direction or degree of rotation was chosen. A series of up to fifteen runs of psychokinetic influences could be accomplished during one experimental period with successful deflections of the beam from 5 to 90 degrees, fatigue usually deciding when the period would end. This particular experiment was carried out almost weekly for a period of nine years, and various refinements were made at different times."
The same person describes success with psychometry, stating this on page 165:
"In the case of psychometry I am aware of a feeling of scanning the past events of the object I am holding and am aware of sequences or memory tracks, some of which become actual events and others which existed only as possible events. Both are explored and the actual events are singled out and emphasized in the same way as one might retrieve a memory trace."
Postscript: The page here gives a quite lengthy and thorough rebuttal of skeptical speculations that Nina Kulagina used magnets and wires. As discussed above, the mysterious movements of objects near Kulagina were often of non-metallic objects that could not respond to a magnet. We can only imagine how careless observers would have to be to fail to observe a tested subject using wires to move some object on a table in front of the subject. Instead of being tested by such "most careless observers ever," all indications above are that Kulagina was successfully tested by very careful observers looking out for signs of fraud.
No comments:
Post a Comment