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)

In 2014, I published an article on the Felix Experimental Group, its medium Kai Mügge (KM), and my involvement in the following the development of the phenomena reported around KM (Nahm, 2014). In this article, I showed convincingly (in my opinion) that KM had cheated in the past, in particular with regard to producing a red “spirit” light with a magician’s LED device, and with regard to producing (self-luminous) ectoplasm with the help of phosphorescent Halloween spider web while pretending to (...) be in a trance. Recent developments and publications render it recommendable to summarize a few aspects of the aftermath of this publication. (shrink)

The psychical research literature has many examples of séance room materialization phenomena. This article consists of a reprint of, and commentary about, Eric J. Dingwall’s paper “The Plasma Theory”, published in the Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research in 1921. Dingwall discussed some of the previously published ideas on the topic, and emphasized those related to mediums Eva C. and Kathleen Goligher. The purpose of the current article is not to provide evidence for the phenomena, but to present (...) relevant contextual information relevant to the article, additional bibliography, and theoretical concepts, some of which are forgotten today. (shrink)

For SSE members fascinated by well-documented accounts of strong macro-PK phenomena, these are very exciting times. Three outstanding volumes have appeared in fairly short order, each of which is a major addition to the literature. The first to appear was Zofia Weaver’s book on the Polish medium Franek Kluski (Weaver 2015), reviewed in JSE 29:3. Shortly thereafter, Erlendur Haraldsson and Loftur Gissurarson published their detailed opus on the Icelandic medium Indridi Indridason (Haraldsson & Gissurarson 2015), reviewed in JSE 29:4. And (...) then most recently, we’ve seen Michael Grosso’s long-awaited examination of the seventeenth-century flying friar, St. Joseph of Copertino, carrying the additional imprimatur of a respected academic press (Grosso 2016). It will be reviewed in the next issue (JSE 30:2). (shrink)

The formation of a sitter-group in Buenos Aires is described. Fifteen weekly meetings were conducted, between April and July 2013, attended by 5 to 9 people each. Ostensible movements of a table were reported. In the last meeting one psychokinetically gifted member was identified. He had witnessed RSPK at home, when aged 11. After identifying him, another 10 meetings were conducted with the only this gentleman present. In these meetings he made a table raise a leg at will, even with (...) the additional weight added to the table. All the meetings were conducted with normal illumination, most of them recorded in video. It was impossible to reproduce most of the table movements by normal means. He was not able to achieve the total levitation of the table, nor any movements without hand contact. Gifted people with remarkable psi abilities are scarce, and in the field of physical phenomena objective investigations of macro-PK seem to be stagnant, or at least without the possibility of publishing encouraging results. The Scole Group investigators (Keen, Ellison & Fontana, 1999), did not employ adequate controls in order to confirm or deny the phenomena demonstrated in darkness. The investigation of the Felix group by Stephen Braude (2014) and others (Michael Nahm (2014) has been deterred by accusations of fraud by its "medium," Kai Mügge. (shrink)

– Technological advances of the last decades offer possibilities to study phenomena of physical mediumship using new approaches of investigation. Such an approach is represented by Eckhard Kruse’s analyses of supposed “spirit voices” recorded in dark séance rooms during sittings with an alleged physical medium, Warren Caylor. Kruse concluded that the results of his investigations provide evidence, if not proof, demonstrating that these voices are indeed produced by materialized “spirits”. He publicized this interpretation of his work via various dissemination channels. (...) As I will show in this article, however, Kruse’s approach of studying these “spirit voices” is loaded with severe conceptual and methodological deficiencies that ultimately render his claims untenable. (shrink)

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)

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)