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January 2002 DPE Report

New Items on the NSAC DPE Web Site: The web site now has an expanded glossary of terms.  This list of terms was put together as a reference tool for those who want to know more about phenomena.  Another new section includes correspondence received from church members about phenomena that has taken place at church gatherings and classes.  We hope that these accounts will provide encouragement and ideas for all NSAC members.  Two Notarized Mediumship Affidavits have also been posted on the site.  These are the result of private readings and should provide a good image of Spiritualist Mediumship for the public.

Worldview Survey: We have been conducting a survey that is designed to determine how well the general public accepts Spiritualist concepts.  This is not a scientific survey and respondents tend to be people who are educated in these concepts.  Over 200 have responded, twenty of which were from the DPE site.  The results have been posted on the DPE.  It is interesting to examine the range of responses to questions that have been designed around the Declaration of Principles.  One of our observations is that respondents may believe in Natural Law, but may not accept the existence of Infinite Intelligence as its source.  This may be the response of a person who believes in a totally spontaneous evolutionary, physical universe—one that came to be without the intervention of an external intelligence.  We believe this survey may provide some clues as to how we could present Spiritualism to the general public.

Medical Journal Publishes Article: An article titled “Near-death experience in survivors of cardiac arrest: a prospective study in the Netherlands” was published in volume number 358 of The Lancet.  The article sites a study by Dr. Pim van Lommel and colleagues of Rijnstate Hospital in Arnhem and is available at http://www.thelancet.com/  online.  From the article, “Our results show that medical factors cannot account for the occurrence of NDEs, although all patients had been clinically dead, most did not have an NDE.  If purely physiological factors caused NDE most of our patients should have had this experience.”

The Lancet is one of the world’s most respected medical journals.  For it to publish an article in which scientists claim to have proof that humans exist independently of the body after death is great news!

More on Weather:  The Rev. Barbara Thurman sent us information about a web site that is designed to help “ghost hunters” know when the environmental conditions are best for hunting.  It is instructive to go first to http://www.sjgr.org.  The South Jersey Ghost Research site is very informative.  Then take the link to Ghost Weather at [No longer there].  There, you will find information about solar flare activity and moon phase influences.  To quote from the site: “Research has shown us that during periods of heightened solar flare activity and geomagnetic activity in space, the amount of spirit activity increases.  M class and X class flares are good sources of energy for the spirits to use to manifest.”  And, “The moon also affects ghosts, the geomagnetic fields on the earth are strongest during the days on and around the new and full moon cycles.  Spirit activity is also increased during this period because of the jump in geomagnetic activity."

The observations about these environmental influences seem to be sound.  It may be an interesting experiment to track these environmental influences with the overall accuracy of our spirit messages.

Spirit Photography: We have received photographs that have captured unusual lights and vapors.  These photographs are often very interesting and some do seem to provide evidence of the presence of etheric energy; possibly ectoplasm and perhaps even nonphysical entities.  Some are simply artifacts of the camera combined with mundane things in the field of view such as dust.  Bruce S. Maccabee, Ph,D provides an interesting study of orb photography at http://www.brumac.8k.com.  Dr. Maccabee details how many orb photographs are actually dust motes.  It is good to know how to distinguish true phenomena from artifacts.

The Mothman Prophecies: AA-EVP member, Richard Hatem, is the screenwriter and co-producer of The Mothman Prophecies.  Richard Hatem informs us that his experience with the paranormal has greatly influenced the screenplay.  The story centers on Richard Gere, who plays a reporter investigating supernatural phenomena in a small West Virginia town (this is based on true events from a book written by John A. Keel).  Much of his investigation involves people who feel they are in psychic—and sometimes physical—contact with "entities."  There's a lot of strange phone calls—and in one key scene late in the movie, Gere is waiting by the phone, convinced that his dead wife is about to call him.  Look for its release January 25^th.