Unbelievable: Investigations into Ghosts, Poltergeists, Telepathy, and Other Unseen Phenomena
from the Duke Parapsychology Laboratory
Some of our members have gravy jobs which allow them to do a lot of reading. We felt that if they were going to go to all of the effort to actually read a book instead of waiting for the movie, then we should take advantage of their current knowledge and share it with you. We hope that you find their hard work entertaining.
Our first review is from Danielle on the book:
Unbelievable: Investigations into Ghosts, Poltergeists, Telepathy, and Other Unseen Phenomena, from the Duke Parapsychology Laboratory.”
Please let us know what you think.
In this day and age of Ghost Hunters, GHI, Ghost Adventures, Paranormal State and the other many paranormal shows out there, it is hard to believe there was never a time when paranormal shows and topics were frowned upon. Interest in the paranormal has grown over the years with the help of television and the internet but it has been studied for quite some time. Many amazing scientists met the so called “death” of their scientific careers when they gave any credence or started investigating anything to do with the paranormal. The book revolves around Dr. J. B. Rhine and his work at the Duke Parapsychology Lab. Rhine primarily focused his efforts in to ESP and other psi-related items. Rhine did not want answer the question of life after death but rather what are humans capable of. The Lab used and perfected Zener cards. Zener cards, according to the skeptic’s diary, were created by an associate of Rhine to test psi abilities. Basically “a deck of Zener cards consisted of five of each symbol. The cards would be shuffled and a receiver would then try to guess the cards that a sender would try to telepathically communicate. Or a subject might try to guess which card from the deck would be turned up next. Rhine recognized that this test couldn't distinguish telepathy from clairvoyance (Skeptics).” The lab investigated some strange activities but tried to stay away from mediums and other “entertainers” of the spiritualist age. At the time many in America where amazed by table rapping, table tilting, levitating objects and the ever popular physic or medium. Many were proven to be fake and Rhine did not want to associate an already frowned upon “science” by mingling with these so called “spirit talkers”. The lab did; however, study some poltergeist activities. This was hard to do since it would only occur for a short period of time and it would take some time for them to respond and in most cases the activity would be over before they got there. This was definitely one of the great minds in the paranormal working hard to make it a legitimate science. This book chronicles the tale using letters and documents from the time showing how the paranormal world was perceived and studied.
Personally I found the book to be very interesting and it really gave you a glimpse into the time and how people perceived the paranormal studies. It was apparent that on a social level in the general public it was an interesting field but many in the scientific community found it to be either against God or all science in general. The book is well written and balances facts with great storytelling. This is a must read for anyone interested in the beginning years of paranormal study in the scientific world.
Also stay tuned for other book reviews and suggestions. We would love to hear your input!
Danielle
Zener Card Information obtained from: http://www.skepdic.com/zener.html
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