Mind Over Matter II: Poltergeists & Fires Of Unknown Origin
(This is an expert from a University Of Metaphysical Sciences course at www.umsonline.org, please feel free to visit the school website)
On the subject of poltergeists, Fred Archer writes in his book Exploring The Psychic World (1967) that “more independent testimony to the phenomena is on record than for any phase of psychic activity.” Poltergeists manifest most often in the presence of a medium, which seems to suggest that the phenomena might be a kind of involuntary psychokinesis. The word “poltergeist” means “noisy spirit,” so named due to their penchant for making a racket by whatever means are available. Even the most hardheaded skeptics often believe after being hit by a poltergeist’s projectile. As Archer states in Exploring The Psychic World (1967), “The poltergeist is not to be intellectually intimidated. He takes the offensive and bludgeons the skeptic into belief. Often the poltergeist has no apparent purpose beyond the desire to make its presence felt. In other cases intelligible contact is established, usually by means of raps but occasionally by writing or by speech.” Poltergeists are rarely malevolent and seem to have an extraordinary degree of control over their PK powers. To quote from Exploring The Psychic World (1967) on this point, “Objects may be smashed violently from a person’s hand and the holder be unhurt. Stones may whiz at people with fearsome velocity yet strike as lightly as the proverbial feather. Fires may be started but localized in such a fashion that they do little damage.” Note here, as an aside, that poltergeists are known to have the power to start fires. This may be important later when we go over the phenomenon known as spontaneous combustion. For now, suffice to say that although most poltergeists are “merely mischievous,” some are, in the words of Fred Archer, “dangerously malefic.”
To illustrate the poltergeist phenomenon, it might be useful to quote at length from an extremely well-documented account from the records of the Catholic Church. This will help us get an idea of how poltergeists behave, and also show how difficult this phenomenon would be to fake. The following story comes from Father Herbert Thurston’s book Surprising Mystics, and concerns Christina of Stomeln, known to her own country as “St. Christina.” In Exploring The Psychic World (1967) we read that “Christina, a thirteenth century mystic, is said to have had a vision of Christ when she was ten years of age. Five years later the devil appeared to her in the guise of St. Bartholomew...” After these events, Christina was beset by “poltergeistic manifestations” for which “there is sound priestly corroboration.” One of the most disgustingly irrefutable phenomena to manifest in connection with Christina was the appearance of “filth”, which today might be scientifically termed “ectoplasm.” Of this we read in Exploring The Psychic World (1967): “At the height of the disturbances Christina herself, her clothes, her room and her visitors were again and again bespattered with indescribable filth. On different occasions no less than five Dominican monks shared this unpleasant experience...” This would suggest that Christina’s poltergeist had the power of ectoplasy, which is, according to The Encyclopedia Of Parapsychology And Psychical Research (1991), “A term used by F.W.H. Myers to describe the alleged power of forming, outside the body of a physical medium, a concentration of what is said to be vital energy, or vitalized matter, called Ectoplasm.” This ectoplasm is said to be “produced by the medium” and can even “form into visible, tangible phenomena known as Materializations.” Once again, Christina could just as easily have been the agent of these materializations rather than the alleged poltergeist. However, even spookier things took place in the course of St. Christina’s tribulations. Further on in Exploring The Psychic World (1967) we read, “Father Maurice, of Cologne, gives an account of more varied phenomena. Stones were thrown at Christina and others, her garments were set on fire, and priests were bitten. Most grotesque of all was the appearance of a skull, which was thrown about the room and from which came a voice speaking to Christina. The skull appears to have been physical, not just clairvoyantly seen.” Ectoplasy could also explain the appearance of the skull, but how was it able to talk? Also, here we have documented cases of both PK (flying stones) and of poltergeist fires.
Modernists might not be satisfied with one account of poltergeists from the 13th century, so let’s briefly examine a classic case of a noisy ghost from modern times. Imagine yourself transported back to Brazil in 1939, where a series of disturbances took place at the venerable mansion of Senior Cic de Ulhoa Canto, in a town called Itapara, in the State of Sao Paolo. Exploring The Psychic World (1967) tells us, “For forty days stones and household objects rained down on the family and the many visitors, who included a priest, a police inspector, a lawyer, several doctors and schoolmasters.” The stones in question were “warm to the touch” as if they had recently been transported from hell. The household objects included “oranges, lemons, knives, and forks.” Police inspector Aroldo Costa’s official statement reads as follows: “The attorney general, Dr. Jose Carlos de Camargo Ferraz, was also present. He picked up the knife, put it into the cupboard, without forgetting to lock it. After some moments a metallic sound was heard again. It was the same knife, falling on the floor. It was put back in its place, but it fell out again. While this was going on in the kitchen, stones and fruits were simultaneously falling in various other apartments of the house.” The inspector was not convinced at first of the reality of the phenomenon, and so, “in a joking tone, he said he would like to be given a more convincing demonstration: perhaps he could be hit on the head by a lemon.” The attorney general mentioned by the inspector also made a statement, “claiming to have witnessed about a hundred incidents, including the lemon striking the inspector in the head.” Ask and you shall receive.
So much of the unexplained mystery we find on earth seems to be paranormal activity. Many people that have had personal experiences with the paranormal seek a psychic reading to help explain what happened. A reading may just add to the mystery of the unknown phenomenon unexplained by science. Mysterious paranormal or psychic activity occurs all over the world. Often, even with a picture, it remains unexplained. Maybe in the future we will better understand paranormal phenomenon, possibly through the assistance of a psychic medium.