One of the experiments involved a small nonmagnetic cylinder. Pratt filmed it with a home movie camera. Broughton (1991, pp. 142–143) wrote: “As Pratt set up the camera, Ransom spread a patch of aquarium gravel in the center of the table, placed the nonmagnetic cylinder upright in the midst of the gravel, and inverted a tall glass over it. Kulagina concentrated, Pratt filmed, and within moments the cylinder began tracing a path through the gravel. When the perimeter of the glass seemed to restrict the cylinder’s movement, Ransom lifted it and Kulagina again concentrated. Again the upright cylinder plowed a path through the gravel as the camera rolled.”
In April 1973, Benson Herbert, a British physicist, and his colleague Manfred cassirer performed experiments with Kulagina in a temporary laboratory, set up in his room in a St. Petersburg hotel. Broughton (1991, p. 145) stated: “The centerpiece of this impromptu lab was a hydrometer, a glass-bulb-and-tube device used for measuring specific gravity, that floated upright in a saline solution. The entire system was surrounded by an electrically grounded screen. Herbert had hoped Kulagina might be able to depress the hydrometer, thus giving him a means of measuring the amount of psychic ‘force’ being used.” Kulagina was somewhat ill at the time, and did not feel like making any attempts. Still, she was able to induce some small movements of the hydrometer. Exhausted from this effort, she sat down in a chair about three or four feet from the apparatus. from the chair, she focused her attention on the hydrometer. Broughton (1991, p. 145) stated: “Slowly she raised her arms in the direction of the apparatus.Within moments the previously motionless hydrometer floated in a straight line to the far side of the vessel. After resting there for about two minutes, it then retraced its path and continued to the near side. All of this took place under the close watch of the two British investigators, who were able to confirm there were no strings or hidden wires between Kulagina and the device several feet away.” In the same session, Kulagina tried to rotate the needle of a compass, with some slight success. Herbert then saw the entire compass rotate counterclockwise about 45 degrees. “Over the next minute,” said Broughton (1991, p. 145), “as Herbert ran his fingers over and under the table looking for threads and Kulagina sat motionless, the compass case did a zigzag dance about the table.”
Between 1978 and 1984, Kulagina was investigated by physicists and other scientists in St. Petersburg at the Institute of Precise Mechanics and Optics and in Moscow at the Research Institute of Radio Engineering and Electronics as well as at the Baumann Higher School of Technology. The purpose of the research was not to verify her psychokinetic abilities (as these were taken as demonstrated), but to discover a biophysical force capable of explaining them. “In other experiments,” said Broughton (1991, p. 145), “Kulagina reportedly decreased the intensity of a laser beam by affecting the physical properties of the gas through which it passed.”
Zhang Baosheng was born in Bengxi city, in Liaoning province on china’s northern coast. Local researchers learned of his paranormal abilities in 1976. chinese scientists had for some time been studying paranormal phenomena under the name of “exceptional functions of the human body” (Broughton 1991, p. 166). Interest in this research became very strong in the late 1970s, causing a negative reaction from some scientists and communist Party officials. In April 1982, the Party’s national committee of Science decided to resolve the dispute by inviting supporters of exceptional functions of the human body (EfHB) research and their critics to conduct joint experiments with leading psychics. Zhang was brought to Beijing and produced good results during these tests, which many other psychics failed (Broughton 1991, p. 166). for the next couple of years, Zhang was studied by researchers in several Beijing laboratories. during this period, much of the work with Zhang was done by Lin Shuhuang, a professor in the physics department of Beijing Teachers’ college, who had also been involved in the April 1982 tests. nineteen researchers conducted experiments under Lin in the period from december 1982 to May 1983.
Broughton (1991, p. 167) said, “In one experiment specially marked pieces of paper were chemically treated and placed in a glass test tube. The tube was melted to constrict it roughly at the midpoint. Into the top part were placed cotton wads that had been treated with a different chemical that would react if it came into contact with the chemical on the target papers. The top of the test tube was then irreversibly sealed with special paper. With four experimenters watching from different angles, the tube was placed in front of Zhang. five minutes later the target papers were lying beside the empty tube. The seal on the tube was undamaged. . . . In another experiment of that series a live insect was marked and placed inside a tube. The tube was sealed so that any attempt to open it would break a fine hair glued inside. With two experimenters watching, the tube was placed on a table in front of Zhang. Several minutes later the insect, still alive, was outside the tube.”
In 1984, research with Zhang came under the control of the Institute for Space-Medico Engineering (ISME), an agency connected with the chinese military. This marked the end of regular publication of the results. But there were some occasional leaks. Broughton (1991, pp. 167–168) stated: “In 1987 the chinese scientific community received a shock when the Spaceflight department awarded its Scientific Research Achievement Prize (second class) to the ISME team for a film of one of Zhang’s experiments. Articles in the press and a chinese science magazine reported that the ISME scientists filmed the movement of a medicine pill through an irreversibly sealed glass vial. The film was made in color using a high-speed (400 frames per second) Japanese camera. The reports say that three frames of the film clearly show the pill passing through the glass (entering the glass, halfway through, and exiting). Although no scientists outside of china seem to have seen the film, in late
1990 researchers both in and outside of china were surprised by the arrival of a new chinese journal, the Chinese Journal of Somatic Science. In it was a report of new experiments with Zhang by the ISME team. Accompanying the report was a series of photos, reportedly from a 400frame-per-second camera, showing a pill exiting from the bottom of a bottle held by Zhang. The report does not indicate whether the photos are from the prize-winning film.”
Part one Conclusion: there is a mind element
The experimental evidence accumulated by scientists of the past two centuries in the areas of telepathy, clairvoyance, and psychokinesis cannot be easily dismissed. Among the experimenters reporting positive results were several nobel laureates, including the curies, Richet, and crookes. In later years, other scientists of lesser fame have conducted careful reproducible studies of a variety of paranormal phenomena. The phenomena were judged so reliable that governments and militaries invested considerable sums of money in practical applications of remote viewing. This body of paranormal evidence points to the existence of a mind element associated with the human organism. This mind element appears to be endowed with sensory abilities that enable it to perceive things at a distance and manipulate objects composed of ordinary matter in ways not explained by our current laws of physics.
PART TWO:
EVIDENCE FOR A CONSCIOUS SELF
THAT CAN EXIST APART
FROM THE BODY AND MIND