A good way to become acquainted with psychic phenomena is to examine, without prejudice for or against, a number of various cases. The following are accounts of actual occurrences. There is evidence that they are not fiction, imagination, or fabrication. What their explanation and rationale may be is a further question; but the reports should be read as what they are, reports:

Report No. 1: The extraordinary occurrences began at 3:30 on the afternoon of Monday, Feb. 3, 1958, in the home of Mr. James M. Herrmann at 1648 Redwood Path in the town of Seaford, Long Island, New York. The weather was cold and clear, the temperature about 29, relative humidity 43%. In the house were Herrmann’s wife, Lucille, and his two children, a 13-year-old daughter who is also named Lucille, and a 12-year-old son, James Jr. As they were not expecting anything unusual to occur, their recollections are not absolutely precise. But they are agreed that at about 3:30 a number of bottles containing various liquids, in various rooms of the house, suddenly began to “pop” and jump about. In the Herrmanns’ bedroom a bottle of holy water on the bureau became uncapped and tipped over, spilling some of its contents. In the bathroom a bottle of shampoo and a bottle of medicine behaved similarly, as did a bottle of liquid starch in the kitchen and a bottle of bleaching fluid in the basement…. On Sunday morning, February 9, Mr. Herrmann had his chance for firsthand observation. . . . Before his wide eyes a bottle of medicine quietly moved 18 inches in a southerly direction across a dead­ level sink top and smashed into the sink. Meanwhile a bottle of shampoo moved 12 inches in a westerly direction across the same sink top and fell to the floor. No human hand had been near the bottles and there were no devices in the bathroom that could have propelled them. . . .

Soon afterward, while Detective Frank Tozzi was in the house, a porcelain figurine in the living room took off from a table, flew some 12 feet and smashed with a thunderous report against a desk. . . . One can only say of the objects what Galileo said of the earth: “E pur si muove-neverthe­ less, it does move.” How or why, no man yet knows.    “The House of Flying Objects” by Robert Wallace,Life, March 17, 1958

Report No. 1 is an example of poltergeist phenomena, of which accounts are numerous. Perhaps the most famous in modern times centers around the events at Barely Rectory; see Tabori’s biography of Harry Price, pages 254-270. For further cases and details of poltergeists and hauntings, see Johnson, The Imprisoned Splendour, pages 190-217, 241-260.

Report No. 2: Let us take … a case from Dr. Louisa E. Rhine’s collection. It is that of a little girl who, when playing with her friends on an apartment house roof-jumping from one section to another suddenly was confronted by a strange man in a blue uniform with brass buttons. He appeared just as she was about to scramble over a dividing wall which would have caused her to fall into a court five stories below. The man spoke to her sharply, saying: “I am Bill Johnson. Don’t do that.” His words stopped her just in time to save her life. Later on she learned, what she did not then know, that she had been adopted and that Bill Johnson was the name of her natural father. He had been a railroad man, which fact could explain the uniform.                     Dr. J.B. Rhine in “Science Looks at Life After Death,” The American Weekly, December 8, 1957

Report No. 2 is an example of a phantasm of the dead, of which, together with phantasms of the living, there is an exceedingly large number on record. Extensive collections of reports of these phenomena are found in Gurney et al., Phantasms; in Myers, Human Personality, vol. 2, pp. 1-79; and in the Sedgwick and Bennett collections mentioned by Johnson, The Imprisoned Splendour, pp. 190-191.

Report No. 3: I remember the circumstances perfectly. Poor Mrs. L. died on July 28th, 1881. I was sent for about midnight, and remained until her death about 2:30 A.M. As there was no qualified nurse present, I remained and assisted the friends to “lay out” the body. Four or five of us assisted, and at my request the matron of Mr. L’s house and a servant went to the kitchen department to find a shutter or flat board upon which to place the body. Soon after their departure, and whilst we were waiting for their return, we distinctly heard a few bars of lovely music, not unlike that from an Aeolian harp, which seemed to fill the air for a few seconds. I went to the window and looked out, thinking there must be someone outside, but could see no one, although it was quite light and clear. Strangely enough those who went to the kitchen heard the same sounds as they were coming upstairs, quite at the other side of the door. These are the facts, and I think it is right to tell you that I have not the slightest belief in the supernatural, spiritualism &c, &c.  From the Myers collection, Human Personality, vol. 2, p. 71

Report No. 3 is an example of so-called auditory hallucination, a misnomer if there ever was one, because four or five sane and unintoxicated persons do not “hallucinate,” i.e., deceive themselves, with regard to the same sound at the same time. What is involved here is obviously some form of paranormal hearing, distinct from, yet perhaps not entirely unrelated to, clairaudience and direct voice (see below).

Report No. 4: There was, at Caesarea , a centurion named Cornelius, belonging to what is called the Italian cohort, a pious man who worshipped the true God, like all his household, gave alms freely to the people, and prayed to God continually. He, about the ninth hour of the day, had a vision, in which he clearly saw an angel of God come in and address him by his name. What is it, Lord? he asked, gazing at him in terror. And he answered, Thy prayers and alms-deeds are recorded on high in God’s sight. And now he would have thee send men to Joppa, to bring here one Simon, who is surnamed Peter; he lodges with a tanner, called Simon, whose house is close to the sea; thou wilt learn from him what thou hast to do. So the angel visitor left him. . . .  Acts 10:1-7

Report No. 4 is an example of clairvoyance. This example and Nos. 6, 8, and 10 are taken from holy scripture, which abounds in accounts of preternatural phenomena, ranging from sorcery (Acts 13:6-12) to the highest miracle (John 2:3-10). The faculty of clairvoyance has such an important relationship to the problem of life-after-death that special consideration is given to it later.

Report No. 5: … Harry Price . . . had at least one experience which shook him and moved him deeply, an experience that remains a complete enigma to this day. It is known as the Rosalie case. . ..I questioned a friend of Harry Price who had met him on December 16, 1937 the day after the [Rosalie] seance at Brockley, Kent. She told me he had appeared to be deeply disturbed, almost distraught; that he was shaken to the core by his experience. . . . Here, in Price’s own words, [is] the whole account of this memorable experience: …”I arrived … just after seven o’clock on Wednesday, December 15, and made my way to Mrs. X’s residence. . . . The drawing-room where the seance was to be held was nearly square, measuring 24 ft. by 21 ft. by 9 ft. 6 in. high. . . . I stuck four strips of adhesive tape across door andlintel, and initialled them. I treated the windows in the same way, and was confident that no one could enter the room by door or window.”My last act before switching off the lights and electric fire was to sprinkle starch dust in front of the door and chimney after directing the sitters to their seats. It was exactly 9: 10 P.M. when the seance began. We were informed by Mrs. X that we could talk quietly unless told not to. . . .

“It was a few minutes after, I heard the clock in the hall strike ten that Madame Z gave a choking sob and said something about ‘my darling.’ Mrs. X leant towards me and whispered, ‘Rosalie is here, don’t speak!’ At the same moment I realized that there was something quite close to me. I neither heard nor saw anything; the sensation was an olfactory one. I seemed to smell something that was not there previously. It was a strange, not unpleasant smell.”Everyone was silent except for the rather distressing emotion of the mother. I sensed, rather than knew, that she was fondling her child. . . . After a few minutes Mrs. X asked the mother whether I could touch the materialization. Permission was given and I stretched out my left arm, and, to my amazement, it came in contact with, apparently, the nude figure of a little girl, aged about six years. . . .”At this juncture I asked my hostess if Madame Z would allow me to use the luminous plaque. I picked up my plaque and in turning it over a soft fluorescent glow flooded the feet of Rosalie. They were the normal feet of a normal child. Mrs. X held the plaque to the left side of the girl while I illuminated the front other. I could see the soft texture of the flesh, which appeared to be without a blemish. “As our plaques travelled upward, the face was revealed, and we beheld a beautiful child, who would have graced any nursery in the land. Her eyes ( they appeared to be dark blue) were bright, with an intelligent gleam in them…. “I found myself asking Rosalie what I should ask any other little girl who had come from a strange place, and whom I had chanced to meet. I was permitted one minute only, and this is what I asked her:- ‘Where do you live, Rosalie?’-No answer. ‘What do you do there?’-No answer.  ‘Do you play with other children?’-No answer. ‘Have you any toys there?’-No answer.  ‘Are there any animal pets?’-No answer. “The questions were asked deliberately, and I paused between each one: Rosalie simply stared, and did not seem to understand what I was saying. I asked her a final question: ‘Rosalie, do you love your mummy?’ I saw the expression on her face change and her eyes light up. ‘Yes,’ she whispered. Mrs. X placed our plaques on the floor again, and asked for complete silence, rather difficult, as all the women in the circle were crying. I must admit that I was rather affected myself, it was a touching and pathetic scene. In about fifteen minutes Rosalie had gone.” In November, 1939, he [Harry Price] told the story at a gathering of the Ghost Club. He was, as we can well imagine, closely questioned. He declared it was quite impossible for any normal child to have been smuggled into the room and out again without his knowledge. All his seals, etc. were unbroken and the starch he scattered showed no marks. Nor was there any possible motive for deception. Neither Madame Z nor the X’s were after money or publicity. On the contrary, they shunned any outside visitors and Harry Price only gained the invitation because of his skepticism. . . . Was he lying? I do not think so…. I believe that Harry Price was speaking the truth and that he was both frightened and shaken by his ex­periences.         Tabori, Harry Price, pp. 243-252

Report No. 5 is an example of materialization, a striking and yet relatively not uncommon phenomenon occurring usually in connection with mediumship. The “Rosalie” materialization given here is remark­ able for the highly developed vital and tangible qualities in the materialized figure and for the durable skepticism and the elaborate investigative technique of the reporter, Harry Price.

Report No. 6: And he gave orders for the carriage to stop. Then both of them got down out of the carriage and Philip baptized the eunuch. When they came up out of the water the Spirit of the Lord took Philip away suddenly and the eunuch saw no more of him, but proceeded on his journey with a heart full of joy. Philip found himself at Azotus. . . . Acts 8: 38-40

Report No. 6 describes physical transposition, a rare type of occurrence which seems to be indicated elsewhere in a few places in the New Testament (Luke 4:28-30; John 20: 19 and 6:21 ) . The same or a similar phenomenon is discussed also in Prabhavananda, The Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali, pp. 183, 192.

Report No. 7: [In the following account “the man” is Nicholas of Basie and “the Master” is his friend and pupil, John Tauler.] And for a space of eleven days the Master held much discourse with the man. After that, the time came that the Master should die. Then he said, “Dear son, I pray thee, in God’s name, to give thy consent to it, if God should permit my spirit to come back to thee, and tell thee how it fared with me.” The man answered , “Dear Master, if God will have it so, I am also willing.” But it came to pass that at the last the Master had a most horrible and frightful death-struggle, insomuch that all the brethren in the convent, and also other people, were greatly terrified and distressed thereat, and were sore amazed at the dreadful anguish that they saw in his death…. And as he [the man] was on his way, the third day after the Master’s death, at nightfall he was passing through a little village. . . . Now in the night the man awoke and heard a voice close by; yet he saw no one. Then a shudder ran through him, and he made the sign of the cross. Then the voice said, “Fear not, dear son, it is I, the Master.” Then said the man, “Dear Master, is it you? Then . . . tell me, if God will, how it standeth with you, and how it came to pass that you had such a dreadful end. ” Then said the Master’s voice, “Dear son, that I will tell thee. Thou must know that our Lord God saw fit to appoint me such a hard death in order that the holy angels might straightway receive my soul to themselves; and for the same cause thou shalt also have such a like hard death. . . But, however hard my death was, it was as nothing compared to the joy which the Almighty, Eternal, and Merciful God hath given me in return.” Then said the man: “Dear Master, I beseech you from the bottom of my heart that when you come into the presence of God, you pray Him for me.” But whatever the man said after this, or whatever questions he put, no one answered him again. Tauler, Life and History, pp. 97-99

Report No. 7 is an example of direct voice, in which an apparently disembodied voice speaks in a manner audible to physical hearing; direct voice occurs with and without overt mediumship; it is to be distinguished from inner or mental hearing of a paranormal nature, which is called “clairaudience.”

Report No. 8: And they passing by Mysia came down to Troas. And a vision appeared to Paul in the night; There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us. And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach th gospel unto them.    Acts 16:8-10

Report No. 8 describes a common type of visionary experience, in which a human being is seen who delivers a message. There is no direct indication to tell whether Paul has beheld a phantasm of the living or of the dead; from the context one might presume the former.

Report No. 9: So I started by reading through the Philokalia with great care, from beginning to end. . . , So many matters were dealt with in it, and it contained such a lot of lessons from the holy Fathers, that I could not very well grasp it all, and take in as a single whole what was said about interior prayer.    I thought over the matter for a long time. What was to be done? My mind and my understanding were not equal to the task, and there was no one to explain. I made up my mind to besiege God with prayer. . . . At last my thoughts were calmed, and I fell asleep. And then I dreamed that I was in my departed starets’ [spiritual teacher’s] cell and that he was explaining the Philokalia to me. [The starets outlines the order in which the Philokalia is to be read and says further]: “And if, in addition, you want to find a very understandable instruction on prayer, turn to part ·4 and find the summarized pattern of prayer by the most holy Callistus, Patriarch of Constantinople.”

In my dream I held the book in my hands and began to look for this passage, but I was quite unable to find it. Then he turned over a few pages himself and said, “Here it is, I will mark it for you.” He picked up a piece of charcoal from the ground and made a mark in the margin, against the passage he had found. I listened to him with care, and tried to fix in my mind everything he had said, word for word. When I woke up it was still dark. I lay still and in thought went over my dream and all that my starets had said to me. “God knows,” thought I, “whether it is really the spirit of my departed starets that I have seen, or whether it is only the outcome of my own thoughts….”With this doubt in my mind I got up, for day was beginning to break; and what did I see? There on the stone which served as a table in my hut lay the book open at the very page which my starets had pointed out to me, and in the margin, a charcoal mark just as in my dream! Even the piece·of charcoal itself was lying beside the book! I looked in astonishment, for I remembered clearly that the book was not there the evening before, that it had been put, shut, under my pillow, and also I was quite certain that before there had been nothing where I now saw the char­ coal mark. It was this which made me sure of the truth of my dream, and that my revered master of blessed memory was pleasing to God. The Pilgrim, pp. 37-40

Report No. 9 is an example of monition or instruction in dream. Scriptural instances of dream monition are numerous. See, for example, Genesis 20:3, 31:10, 31:24; Daniel 7:1; and Matthew 1:20, 2:12, 2:13, 2: 19, 2:22, 27:19. For a review of theories, with cases, of para­ normal dreams, see Gurney et al., Phantasms, pages 295-456.

Report No. 10: And now, as we were on our way to the place of prayer, we chanced to meet a girl who was possessed by a divining spirit; her predictions brought in large profits to her masters. This girl used to follow behind Paul and the rest of us, crying out, These men are the servants of the most high God; they are proclaiming to us the way of salvation. And when she had done this for a number of days, Paul was distressed by it; he turned round and said to the spirit, I command thee to come out of her, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; and there and then it came out of her. [An uproar follows, and Paul and his friends are beaten and thrown in prison.] Acts 16: 16-19

Report No. 10 is an example of spirit possession, of which there are many throughout the New Testament. A very considerable part of Jesus’ healing work was concerned with correcting this condition, which evidently often resulted in mental derangement and various physical malfunctionings. If it should turn out after all that spirit possession is indeed a fact in the sense in which it clearly is understood in the Bible, very interesting new avenues might be opened up in psychiatric technique. Wickland’s work in this area should be consulted.

Now what are we to make of all this? The above occurrences are all types of ” psychic phenomena.” There are many more and different kinds of such events; those given here are indicative only. This sort of thing has been happening all over the civilized and uncivilized world in all recorded times, and apparently not less in our own skeptical age than in earlier periods. What does it all mean?