The Rhine Research Center Gets a New Look

From the email announcement:

“The Rhine has a new website with new colors, a new logo, and an all new interface featuring an events calendar, the new Rhine Shop with books and merchandise from the Rhine, and a special members’ area that provides exclusive access for Rhine members. Take a look today! Consider becoming a member or making a donation to help the Rhine to continue to provide a state of the art online resource about parapsychology and the Rhine. Your donations today will help to fund our research of tomorrow including research into the mechanisms behind PSI and additions healing research like the bio-energy lab which is quickly becoming one of the most important laboratories in all of parapsychology research.”

I grabbed this slide from their new site.

Witnesses to the Unsolved

Another intriguing book, which has recently come out in a paperback edition. Witnesses to the Unsolved: Prominent Psychic Detectives and Mediums Explore Our Most Haunting Mysteries.

This is particularly interesting because the author, Edward Olshaker, focuses on a group of comparatively modern cases. From the publisher’s website (Anomalist Books):

—Martin Luther King, Jr., whose assassination is still an open case after a Memphis trial and a federal investigation reached opposite conclusions in 1999 and 2000.
—Vincent Foster, the White House deputy counsel found shot to death in 1993. Three-quarters of Americans polled in 2000 did not believe the official ruling of suicide.
—Kurt Cobain, the voice of his generation whose death by shotgun triggered scores of “copycat suicides” worldwide, even though America’s leading forensic pathologist maintains that the rock icon, with triple the lethal dose of heroin in his body, could not have shot himself.

“Well-written…could be profitably read by skeptics and believers alike.”
—Fortean Times.

“… a glowing tribute to creative, investigative journalism. The evidence presented could open new ‘cold case’ investigations.” —The Mindquest Review.

I wasn’t aware, for instance, that the trial for the murder of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the federal investigation reached opposite conclusions. Also, these are not the only cases covered in the book. For more information and links to where you can buy it are here.

First Sight by James C. Carpenter

I was very excited to see that Jim Carpenter has come out with a book about ESP. He was one of the scientists I interviewed for my book. Even more exciting was the fact that the Library Journal said the following in their review:

“Recommended for serious readers interested in a scientific theory for parapsychological phenomena that is supported by case studies.”

It’s exciting because the review is objective instead of condescending. Carpenter’s book has garnered a lot of great reviews, but I’m picking this one because the author was in the news so much last year because of his own ESP experiments.

“First Sight: ESP and Parapsychology in Everyday Life is written from James Carpenter’s unique dual perspective as both a respected research scientist and a practicing psychotherapist. It is an exciting and elegantly written book that simultaneously makes a major theoretical contribution to the science of psychic functioning while providing an accurate, non-technical overview of the field accessible to the interested general reader.” — Daryl J. Bem, professor emeritus of psychology, Cornell University

Carpenter has set up a website for his new book here. And you can pick up a copy of first sight here.

Science and Psychic Phenomena: the Fall of the House of Skeptics

I recently learned that a book I recommend highly, Parapsychology and the Skeptics, has been re-released under the name Science and Psychic Phenomena: the Fall of the House of Skeptics. The author emailed me that “Most of the book is the same, but a few sections have been rewritten for greater clarity and there is also some new material scattered throughout the book.”

From my review on Amazon: I recently finished a book about parapsychology myself, and I had planned to have a chapter at the end, addressing the fact the the results of the experiments I had written about were never generally accepted (at least not publicly). I quickly realized that the subject was a book in itself, and not a chapter. There isn’t one reason, there are many reasons, and a lot of misinformation and rumor that has been repeated decade after decade that needed to be dispelled.

I read this book and was so happy because now I no longer had to figure out how to accomplish that, Chris Carter already has. He has done an excellent job of addressing every rumor and mistaken assumption one by one and making it accessible to the non-scientist. It’s an interesting subject. As a non-scientist, and someone looking from the outside in, I had always assumed scientists were so rational. But of course they’re human, aren’t they? Carter’s book is must read. Especially for open-minded scientists.

Please Participate in an Online Survey of Psychic Experiences

Dr. Carlos S. Alvarado of Atlantic University asked if I would help put the word out about a new survey of psychic experiences:

“We are interested in learning more about a variety of human experiences, some of which are unusual, but are by no means uncommon in the general population. We are undertaking an online survey to explore individual differences, synesthesia (the tendency for some people to experience two senses together, e.g., colored words or numbers; tasting shapes; spatially organized calendars, etc.), and a variety of anomalous experiences (for example, extrasensory perception).

“We would very much appreciate it if you would take the time to complete this online questionnaire, even if you have never experienced the things described on the questionnaire.

“Please email Dr. Christine Simmonds-Moore, University of West Georgia, if you have any questions about the survey.”

—

Dr. Gaither Pratt from the Duke Parapsychology Laboratory and a dice machine for testing psychokinesis.

Parapsychology Foundation Lecture Feb. 22: Andrea Fodor Litkei

Andrea Fodor Litkei, author, artist, musician and daughter of famed psychical researcher, journalist and psychoanalyst, Dr. Nandor Fodor, will give a talk as part of the Perspectives Lecture series.

WHERE and WHEN: Wednesday, February 22, 7:30pm, at the New York Open Center at 22 East 30th Street in Manhattan.

DONATION: $10 at the door

RSVP: 1-212-628-1550

From the email I received about the event:

“Dr. Nandor Fodor wrote and lectured extensively on parapsychology and psychical research, particularly on poltergeist phenomena. He collaborated often with PF’s founder, medium, Eileen J. Garrett most notably in the investigation of the Ash Manor Ghost case. Amidst myriad publications, perhaps Dr. Fodor is best known for his Encyclopedia of Psychic Science and the Haunted Mind. Following an illustrious career in journalism and psychical research as a psychoanalyst he achieved international recognition with his many publications one with an introduction contributed by Dr. Sigmund Freud.

His daughter, Andrea Fodor Litkei has had an equally multifaceted career. An award winning poet, artist and musician her credits include soloist and Prima Ballerina with the Metropolitan Opera, an original screenplay, a solo painting exhibit in New York, and lectures and publications in parapsychology.

Mrs. Litkei will generously share her insights and conclusions drawn from her father’s and her own career paths.

Dr. Lawrence LeShan, a long time friend and colleague of Parapsychology Foundation, has graciously agreed to share in a free flowing discussion following Mrs. Litkei’s presentation. His most recent published work is A New Science of the Paranormal: The Promise of Psychical Research.

EVP Experiment at the Rhine Research Center

This call for volunteers came in my email:

“The Rhine Research Center is looking for a number of participants to take part in a study on “electronic voice phenomena” (voice-like sounds that can be heard on audio recordings (such as recordings made on tape-recorders or digital voice recorders) that were not heard at the time that the recording was made). The study is taking place at the Rhine Research Center in Durham and will run for the next few weeks. The study comprises filling out a questionnaire and listening to a series of examples of EVPs and noting down what you hear (this part takes approximately 30 minutes). If you take part, you would also receive a small payment ($6) to thank you for your time.”

“The study takes place at the Rhine, on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday afternoons, and last about 1 hour. If you would like to participate in this study, please contact Susan@rhine.org for more information.”

The picture is of Attila von Szalay, an early EVP investigator.