Questions and Answers
This page has a few basic questions and answers, divided into two groups, the top one being more oriented towards parapsychology and ghosts, and the bottom one more about psychic abilities.

PARAPSYCHOLOGY Q & A
1. What does "psi" mean?  Psi is a general term used by parapsychologists to refer to all forms of psychic abilities or functioning, and includes both the different types of extrasensory perception (ESP) -- such as clairvoyance, clairaudience, clairsentience, precognition, and telepathy -- and psychokinesis (PK). They picked the Greek letter psi as a neutral shorthand term, and it is gradually gaining in popularity and recognition.

2. What does parapsychology study? A lot of people think that the parapsychology investigates anything that is unusual, anomalous, or just plain weird. This is not the case. Parapsychologists do not research UFOs, crop circles, Bigfoot, the Lock Ness monster, vampires, werewolves, or astrology. In fact, the field of  parapsychology, which began in the late 1800s, is limited to just three areas of study. These are: extrasensory perception (ESP); psychokinesis (PK), and the survival of bodily death.

3. What is ESP? Extrasensory perception (or ESP) is the ability to acquire information through non-ordinary sensory channels. Sometimes it is referred to as "gut instinct," "intuition," a vague "knowing," the kind of ESP one is able to do is often a reflection of need (i.e. what's important to you). Thus, soldiers, firefighters, and police officers may develop psychic abilities as adults to help them survive. Often considered (perhaps wrongly) the "receptive" side of psi, it includes such things as:

• Telepathy: the mind-to-mind transmission of information.

• Channeling: this is where a psychic medium directly acquires mind-to-mind information from a non-human source, whether a discarnate spirit, extraterrestrial being, or other form of intelligence such as a dolphin.

• Clairvoyance: literally "seeing" a distant place, which now days may involve remote viewing (a set of techniques for acquiring that information).

• Clairaudience: literally "hearing" ESP information, i.e. it comes as sound.

• Clairsentience: "feeling" ESP information.

• Out-of-body experiences (OBEs): often considered "astral" travel, it is the experience of your consciousness being at a different location than your physical body.

• Precognition: which can involve "seeing" or other wise "knowing" the future, often this may involve dreams.

• Psychometry: being able to sense information that appears to be somehow stored on objects (or sometimes locations as "place memory").

• Retrocognition: viewing past places and events, very handy for archeologists and historians.

ESP appears to be a universal, if often weak, ability. Some factors seem to promote it, such as feelings of close emotional connection to another person, place or thing. Altered states of consciousness, such as hypnosis, meditation and dreaming, also appear to enhance ESP.

In recent times, an increasing number of parapsychologists are starting to believe that ESP and PK are, in fact, the same thing, and we should return to a single term for the phenomena, such as "psi" or "psychopraxia."

There have been a number of studies on ESP over the years, starting with the classic ones of guessing which symbol is on a card (known as Zenar cards or ESP cards) as shown in the image above. Since many psychics state it is hard for them to "get" numbers or "read" things with ESP, such images and photographs have been more commonly used as targets. In recent years, static photographs have often been replaced with videotape images. Many feel that if such pictures carry an emotional impact (such as a war image) they many be easier to receive.

Altered states of consciousness have been used to enhance psychic abilities for millennia. In ancient times, people often went to special shrines or locations to have prophetic dreams. The dream state, and those on the edges of sleep, are still considered to be very psi-conducive (i.e. they make it easier to get psychic information). Meditation and hypnosis have also been noted to be good states for getting ESP. One form of altered state that has been used a lot in the laboratory in controlled situations is that of sensory deprivation in  Ganzfeld experiments. Basically these studies involve placing a participant in a comfortable position (often lying down) with ping pong ball halves placed like goggles over their eyes (with colored light - often red - shining into them) and white noise piped in through headphones. The idea is to create very even, but unpatterned, sensory stimulation. This technique seems to facilitate successful ESP.

One of the more intriguing experiments on precognition has involved monitoring participant electrodermal activity (also known by the older term of Galvanic Skin Responses, or GSR), such as is used in polygraph (lie detector) testing. What Dean Radin, Dick Bierman, and other experimenters have found, is that when you show an audience a slideshow of photos, some pleasant and others upsetting, people will respond to the unpleasant ones a moment BEFORE the images appear on the screen. This suggests that on some level they knew what was coming -- in essence, precognition.

4. What is PK? PK, once known as telekinesis), is the ability of the mind to influence matter. Examples of PK include metal-bending, poltergeist phenomena, teleportation, psychic photography, and anomalous healing. Rhine did the original studies on PK with dice after a gambler claimed he had the ability to control which face landed up. RNGs and REGs (random event generators) improved the true randomness of events -- a crucial factor since the only way to determine whether anything had occurred was by comparing it to random chance. Any result away from random chance was considered normal -- whether something occurred far too often or not nearly often enough.

PK, is typically subdivided into one of two rather fuzzy categories: macro PK or micro PK. Micro PK targets that require statistics to know whether you have been successful or not. Typically things that occur on an atomic or sub-atomic scale, such as random number generators, but can also include things like dice. Macro PK involves targets that are big enough to see with the naked eye and do not require statistics to know whether PK has happened. What makes these categories problematic, is that some targets, like dice or some instances of metal bending, can be considered both macro and micro PK. This can be rather confusing. Likewise, random number generator and random event generator research, which are very popular as they are easy to do with computers, could represent ESP or PK--and it may be impossible to tell which, if not both, is/are responsible for the results.

PK can include such things as:

• Anomalous healing: apparent psychic healing which may involve psychic surgery.

• Bilocation: the apparent ability of a body to be in two locations at the same time (multilocation involves being simultaneously in more than two locations).

• Fire immunity: the alleged ability to come into contact with fire or red-hot coals without being burned. Popular at motivational events.

• Hemography: the paranormal patterning of bloodstains on cloth to make meaningful words or symbols.

• Instrumental transcommunication: the purported communication by discarnate or extraterrestrial beings through an assortment of electronic devices, which may depend at least partly on the mediumship of human operators. It includes electronic voice phenomena (EVPs) on audiotape and videotape.

• Levitation: the paranormal suspension of a being or object off the ground, which may sometimes involve flying.

• Materialization: producing an object from what appears to be nowhere.

• Metal bending: the paranormal ability to soften or bend metal, sometimes associated with the ability to teleport and stress. It was popularized by Uri Gellar with spoon-bending. A great book on this (if you can find it) is The Metal Benders by John Hasted.

• Poltergeist phenomena: human stress-related PK including raps, the production of lights, object movement, and a host of other activities.

• Stigmata: the paranormal or miraculous production of marks on the body which in Christians mimic the wounds of Christ and in Muslims mimics those of Muhammad.

• Teleportation: the paranormal ability of a person to move from one location to another or through objects.

• Thoughtography (psychic photography): the projected of mental images onto film, photographic plates, or digital media.

• Weather PK: the paranormal ability to affect the weather.

Many people who accept ESP seem to have trouble accepting PK, as well. Some of their problem may relate to the fact that if our thoughts and feelings are able to directly impact the world around us, then we have to accept responsibility for that. This is a pretty scary notion for most folks.

Although PK research in the laboratory was originally focused on using dice as targets, computer games are a more popular method today because a large database can be built up quickly and easily. There has also been an increase of mainstream interest in the effectiveness of anomalous healing, with some well-designed studies on psychic healers appearing in medical journals.

PK doesn't have to be done alone. Often, in séances and table-tipping parties, PK can be done as a group. This seems to be helpful, whether individuals are trying on their own to bend spoons, but are surrounded by others trying to do the same, or whether they are working together. The following covers a few basic questions about PK.

Finally, there is some controversy in Parapsychology as to whether RNGs and REGs measure PK at all, but could be just as well explained by ESP -- knowing the exact moment to start your study to get the results you wish. It's called "Decision Augmentation Theory." However, the whole issue may be mute because more and more parapsychologist believe that PK and ESP are not separate or distinct at all. Recent studies suggest they occur simultaneously and are essentially indistinguishable. Thus, it may be better to simply call them all "psi" phenomena. So, eventually the terms PK and ESP may be meaningless.

5. How do parapsychologists approach the question of whether we survive the death of our bodies? Since the late 1800s, parapsychologists have used a number of methods to try to determine whether or not human personality survives the death of the body. One of the more complex such methods involved the "cross correspondence"  research. This was a scheme dreamed up by some of the founders of the Society for Psychical Research before their deaths -- F. W. H. Myers, Edmund Gurney, and Henry Sidgwick. These men were all classical scholars, well aware of the relative lack of education of most of the psychics of the time. Their plan was purportedly put into action AFTER they died. It involved passing on a series of complex literary messages (often in Latin and Greek) as automatic writing and channeled information through different mediums between 1901 and 1930. These messages only made sense when the they were combined together. The idea was that it showed intentionality on the part of the spirits that were communicating, and contained information and languages that would not have been known or understood by the mediums and could therefore not have simply come from their unconscious minds.

Today, although some investigators like Gary Schwartz (see his book, The Afterlife Experiments) still try to prove survival through checking the accuracy of mediums purportedly passing on messages from the dead, most survival research involves instrumental transcommunication phenomena (ITC). ITC is the supposed communication (whether as writing, audio, or pictures) by discarnate spirits. It can occur through a variety of electronic and related equipment, including tape recorders, telephones, faxes, radios, televisions, and computers. Often these sounds and images are not heard or seen at the time of original recording, but only appear later. It was previously sometimes referred to as electronic voice phenomena (EVP) or Raudive phenomena. The process may involve the mediumistic abilities of the living human operators.

ITC is another small (but growing) area of PK research. It was originated after voices purported to have come from the deceased, which were not audible at the time of recording, were later heard on the magnetic tape playback. Raymond Bayless and Attila von Szalay are said to have been the first to formally report these phenomena in 1956. A few years later Swedish film producer Friedrich Juergenson began working in the field, when, by chance, he heard what he thought was his deceased mother's voice in the background of a tape he was making of birds singing in the woods. He later published a book, Radio Contact with the Dead, which inspired Latvian psychologist Konstantin Raudive to enter the field.

The words made audible on tape are generally pronounced in an unmistakably uniform way, regardless of the language used. Identification of the voices is, nevertheless, often a remarkably difficult task. Raudive often obtained names and sentence fragments, which he documented at length in his book, Breakthrough: An Amazing Experiment in Electronic Communication with the Dead.

Locher and Harsch-Fischbach noted that the earliest documented recorded ITC may have occurred in 1902, when Waldemar Bogoras found spirit voices on a phonograph recording. Other early methods included by telegraph and radio. Rogo and Bayless even devoted an entire book to phone calls that people said they had received from the dead. However, the vast majority of early ITC work was done with ordinary tape recorders. Although some of the sounds that appeared were difficult to decipher, others were very clear-cut and recognizably belongs to deceased individuals.

Recent years have seen ITC involved all forms of format—including on telephones, faxes, computers, printers, VCRs, camcorders,  and other equipment. Despite this diversity of methods for obtaining ITC, some investigators, such as Al Rauber and Chris Fleming in the United States, work to capture ghosts on audiotape—sometimes comparing what is found on the recording with what psychics and others were simultaneously picking up on as happening in the room, with some truly amazing results. This use of ITC as a simultaneous adjunct to other methods of investigation is growing in popularity and would seem to be an ideal application of the field.

A number of researchers have commented on the fact that they believe spirit beings are actively working to try to improve communication with the living. The purported beings on the 'other side' often refer to the importance of the operator's mediumistic ability for successful transcommunication. Thus, there appears to be an aspect of PK involvement, either on the part of the sender or the receiver, which is directly affecting the instrument being used for communication, whether magnetic tape, television, computer, or other. Unfortunately, it is impossible to call ITC 'proof' of the survival of bodily death since we cannot differentiate human PK from that of discarnate sources.

6. What physical factors seem to affect psychic abilities? In recent years, parapsychologists have begun to recognize a number of physical factors that appear to influence psychic functioning. These include:

GEOMAGNETIC FIELDS (GMF): The Earth's geomagnetic field is in a constant state of flux, affected in part by solar activity, a daily GMF cycle, and the lunar cycle. More than a dozen studies show that ESP improves as GMF fluctuations decrease. In other words, low GMF appears to be good for ESP. Similarly, ESP hit rates appear to increase both in the lab and in the casino around the time of the full moon. On the other hand, geomagnetic highs have been associated with  the onset of cases of hauntings and poltergeists.

LOCAL SIDEREAL TIME (LST): Local sidereal time is an Astronomy term, referring to how the planet is oriented relative to the position of the stars. Twice a year it will match clock time, otherwise it's different, changing by 6 minutes a day. Fortunately. it is easy to find free software to calculate it out for you on the internet. Why do parapsychologists care about LST? Because if you look at studies done around 18:00-19:00 hours local sidereal time (LST) ESP hit rates drop to zero. However, if you look at around 13:30 hours LST, there is a 400% increase in ESP hit rate. Moreover, this appears to be the most consistent finding across over two decades of research by every experimenter in every laboratory around the world. It is consistent. Some have speculated that the effect has to do with how we are positioned on Earth relative to the galactic core. When most of the Milkyway Galaxy is hidden below the horizon, ESP peaks. On the other hand, when the galactic center is overhead, the ESP hit rates drop to zero. 

 7. What kind of cases do parapsychologists get asked to see? Parapsychologists tend to see four basic kinds of cases:

1) Nothing is really going on. This can be because the person reporting the events is: a) crazy; b) wants attention; c) is opening up psychically and doesn't understand what is happening to them (very common); d) is misinterpreting normal factors in the environment, whether it be faulty wiring or a creaky house; e) they made up the story so they could sell the movie rights; and f) is a skeptic trying to make parapsychologists look gullible and/or stupid.

2) Place memory. Place memory is where you have an old recording, which was made by someone while they were still living. Perhaps the easiest way to think of it is as a case where the environment acts like a camcorder. If the conditions are right (involving sufficient repetition, environmental factors, and/or really strong emotions), then events can get recorded. People sensitive to this information (like psychics) can later play back what was recorded, like with psychometry. In these cases, there is no ghost, simply an old rerun of the past. It won't interact with you and the story always remains the same one.

3) Poltergeist activity. The word "poltergeist" comes from German, and means "noisy ghost" -- which probably relates to the fact that poltergeist phenomena often involve raps or other loud sounds. The word itself is a bit misleading, since most parapsychologists believe poltergeists are not ghosts at all, but result from human psychokinesis (PK), or mind over matter. The people involved often appear to be using PK as a stress reliever. Furthermore, the events are meaningful in the same way a dream is. They are metaphors. To understand what's going on, you need to play newspaper reporter, figuring out the who, what, when, where, and why. Once you've done that, the story usually becomes obvious. Psychological counseling is often helpful for these folks, if only for the stress of what's happening.

4) There is a ghost. Ghosts are the spirits of the dead, who no longer have bodies but are still conscious and able (if they want) to interact with the living. Some people like their ghosts and just want confirmation while others consider their "visitors" unwanted. Psychics can be helpful in clarifying what is going on (assuming said psychic is the real deal and experienced at investigations). There are many ways to get rid of ghosts. See the fact sheet pages for more information on this and other, related topics.

NOTE: Apparitions:
8. Can a ghost hurt me?  You need to remember that you have everything a ghost has, PLUS you have a body as well. Not only do you have just as much mind/soul/spirit as they do, but you have the advantage of being able to do things physically. They can't hurt you unless you think they can... Loyd Auerbach has had many encounters with ghosts, and has humorously commented that you have to remember ghosts are people too. He's been known to use such drastic measures as telling hours of knock-knock jokes (guaranteed to send ANY being, living or dead away screaming, vowing never to return) or singing "It's a Small World, After All" over, and over, and over. They are like people in having personalities, likes, and dislikes.

9. What is the difference between a real, "live" ghost, and a haunting?  The environment can act somewhat like a camcorder or videotape recorder. It can record people, animals, and events from the past (especially when they have high emotional impact) which you can "watch" later. The simplest way to tell the difference between a ghost and a place memory is whether it interacts with you or simply repeats the same actions over and over. It is useful to think of a haunting case as being where the environment simply records strong impressions (either from highly charged or frequently repeated events). Sensitive people may be able to pick up on these recordings, and see or hear events from the past (but not necessarily from the dead -- the living can make these recordings, too). With a haunting you see reruns, over and over. A ghost is different.  A "ghost" can sometimes see or react to your presence -- and its not uncommon that they are the one running away in fear. Ghosts generally don't want to harm you. Some are lost, some confused, some have messages they want to pass on, and some just like hanging out. A great book on this subject is Loyd Auerbach's ESP, Hauntings, and Poltergeists

10. Why do ghosts look like they do?  How you see psychic information (which is how you see ghosts, not really with your eyes) depends on two things -- the sender and the receiver.