ESP?
Extra-sensory perception the evidence and the arguments
Have you ever ‘known’ that a friend is going to telephone you, or had a dream, which later comes true? If you have, you may have experienced ESP, or extrasensory perception. “Extra” is another way of saying outside or beyond, so ESP means experiences we couldn’t have had via our normal senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch). Most scientists believe that we learn all we know through our senses. However, if ESP exists, it’s possible that we learn thing in other more mysterious ways.
There are specific names for different kinds of ESP.
· Telepathy – means communication between minds, a simple example is knowing that a friend is thinking of telephoning you.
· Clairvoyance – is when someone ‘sees’ information about an object or event, without receiving it from another mind. An example might be visualising where to find a lost bunch of keys.
· Premonition – this is a warning that something (usually bad) is going to happen in the future, for example a dream that a plane or car is going to crash.
People who experience ESP on a regular basis are often described as psychic.
Most people claim to experience ESP unexpectedly, in situations, which are impossible to repeat. These experiences often seem to be triggered by dramatic or traumatic events. This may be because our powers of ESP only work when we really need them, or at times of extreme emotion.
If so laboratory tests may never be able to provide the right conditions for ESP demonstration. While scientists can’t recreate real life trauma, they have done a lot of research on other factors that may influence people’s performance in ESP tests. Factors such as how they feel, or what they believe. You may think that testing is pointless if scientists can’t create exactly the right conditions however it’s still not clear what these conditions may be. Until we know, testing is the only way to rule out other explanations for what people think is ESP.
In 1934 a scientist called Dr Joseph Rhine gave a new name to phenomena such as clairvoyance and telepathy – extrasensory perception, or ESP. He also developed new ways of testing for them. He realised that ESP could only be proven to exist in strictly monitored experiments. Cheating should be completely ruled out, and the results should be clearly analysed. Dr Rhine often used a pack of cards called Zener cards.
Each pack is made up of five different cards as seen above, and there are five of each design in the pack making twenty five cards in all. In one experiment he would choose cards at random and ask the ‘subject’ (the person being tested for ESP) to guess which he had chosen. For the experiment to work, he had to show that the subjects guessed the correct cards (known as the ‘targets’) more often than chance could account for. These experiments seemed to succeed in demonstrating ESP, and they attracted a lot of attention, However when other scientists tried they didn’t get the results, many began to question whether Dr Rhine had monitored the experiments strictly enough.
Some scientists are still using the techniques developed b y Dr Rhine, but they have refined them to make them more accurate. This sort of testing is called ‘restricted response’ testing, because the subjects are tested on specific targets such as Zener cards.
Other scientists use ‘free response’ tests, this involves letting the mind run free and allowing images to form. The target in these experiments is something more complex than a simple shape, such as a scene or a short video clip. In free response testing, it is thought that people perform their best if their minds are free of distractions. A popular way of achieving this is using the ganzfeld technique. The subject lies down comfortably under a red light. White noise (a gentle “ssshh” sound) is played through headphones to cut out noises. Half table tennis balls are placed over the subject’s eyes to create a soft pinky-red light. A sender transmits a randomly chosen target image, and the subject is asked to describe what comes to mind. This is then compared with the target image.
The overall average for test results is just above what might be expected by chance. Therefore, many experimenters think that ESP may exist, but it is very weak and unreliable.
It’s quite easy to carry out restricted response
ESP tests of your own: -
You firstly need to make a pack of Zener cards and ask a friend to help you with the experiment by being a sender. You will both need a pen and paper an which you should write the numbers 1 to 25 so you can note the card next to each number. Sit back to back is silence; your friend takes the pack of cards and shuffles them, then starts turning them over one by one, making note on the order they were in on the paper. For each card your fiend signals when it has been turned over and you write down which card you think it is. When you have finished all 25 cards compare the results and give yourself a mark out of 25. You should do the test at least 3 times however the more you do the more accurate your score will be,
To find your average, add up all of your correct answers: For example four tests 8 + 7 + 3 + 6 = 24: Divide this sum by the number of tests that you did (four) 24 ¸ 4 = 8, the average is therefore 8.
Scientists have worked out that in order to show ESP you have to consistently get an average of nine.
Case Studies
In 1958, the police in Miami, Florida contacted a psychic named Peter Hurkos. A taxi cab driver had been shot in his cab, and the police were at a loss for clues. The police took Hurkos to the cab and he sat inside. He absorbed the atmosphere, touching the steering wheel and the dashboard. Impressions began to form in his mind; the killer was tall and slim, and came from Detroit; he had a tattoo; his friends called him Smitty. Then Hurkos dropped a bombshell; this wasn’t the first murder. There had been another; this man had killed someone else in Key West, another part of Florida.
The police checked with their colleagues in Key West, Hurkos was absolutely right another man had been shot and the bullets in his body were from the same gun. The Miami police worked on the details that Hurkos had given them and contacted their colleagues in Detroit. They managed to piece together enough information to lead them to a man called Charles Smith, he was arrested and went to trial, where he was found guilty of both murders.
On the night of the disaster, back in England a little girl named Jessie lay dying, Salvation Army Captain W Snowden was caring her for. Suddenly, she called for him; “hold my hand captain” she said, “I’m so afraid, can’t you see that big ship sinking in the water?”
The captain thought she was becoming delirious, “don’t worry Jessie, you’re just having a bad dream” he soothed her, “no, the ship is sinking” she insisted in a frightened voice “look at all those people drowning. Someone called Wally is playing the fiddle”
The captain thought that her fever was making Jessie imagine things, after all she was very ill, indeed she died a few hours later.
Later that night, the Titanic sank with the loss if
over 1500 lives, and whole the passengers waited terrified, the band
continued to play, their leader was
Wally Hartley.
A woman named Blanche Marshall and her husband decided to watch the famous Titanic sail off on her maiden voyage. After leaving Southampton, the ship was to pass the Isle of White, so a large crowd gathered to watch.
The ship was an impressive sight and everyone gazed in wonder and admiration. Suddenly, Blanche was seized with a terrifying feeling and she cried out “that ship is going to sink before it reaches America.” People in the crown turned to stare at Blanche; they thought she was crazy after all the Titanic was supposed to be unsinkable. Her husband tried to keep her quiet but she became more and more agitated, she started to shout, “Do something you fools.” The crowd was amazed at her outburst and her husband was embarrassed he made her stay quiet and the vast ship sailed on past to her doom.
At 3:25 pm Flight Lieutenant James Larkin was in his room when his friend Flight Lieutenant David McConnell opened the door and came in. He had obviously just got back from his mission as he was in full flying gear “Hallo boy” he greeted Larkin. Larkin was surprised that he had made it back so quickly due to the fog and replied “back already”. McConnell replied “yes, got their alright, had a good trip,” they continued to chat for a few minutes then McConnell said, “well cheerio” and left closing the door behind him.
The strange thing was that McConnell was nowhere near the base at the time of their chat as Larkin found out later; he had lost his way in the fog lost control of his plane and spiralled into the ground dying instantly. The time of his death was 3:35pm!