2004 DPE Reports

September 2004 Department of Phenomenal Evidence Report
By The Revs. Tom and Lisa Butler, NST

Psychic Art. The lead article in the April 2004 issue of Fate Magazine was about Psychic Art. The article began with some information on the Fox sisters, Spiritualism and mediumship. The mediumship of the Bang sisters was discussed leading up to their achievement of precipitating spirit paintings. The Bang sisters were able to demonstrate this phenomenon in lighted exhibition halls. Some paintings were precipitated in as little as five minutes. The spirit paintings were of a quality that would have taken human artist days to complete. A couple of instances are mentioned in which the person requesting the painting asked for changes while the painting was being precipitated and the changes were made as requested. Changes often occurred after the paintings were taken home with the hair or clothing changing to conform more to the style worn by the deceased.
     From: “The Phenomena of Psychic Art” by Elisabeth Owens

Accuracy of Mediums. NewsNet5 of Cleveland, Ohio ran a story about the work of Dr. Gary Schwartz of the University of Arizona and his afterlife experiments. Schwartz is beginning his seventh year of using the scientific method and controlled conditions to test mediums. Schwartz is quoted as saying, “When you look at the totality of the data from our laboratory, the simplest explanation is actually that survival of consciousness is real.” From: NewsNet5, www.newsnet5.com/index.html

China’s Psychics. In the book, China’s Super Psychics, by Paul Dong and Thomas Raffill (ISBN 1-56924-715-3), we learn that the Chinese government financially supports psychics. This means that the government of China accepts the existence of psychic phenomena. This is happening in a country that we think of as very conservative and is in stark contrast to the view of psychics and phenomena in the much more liberal but very skeptical United States. China is, of course, using Psychic’s for espionage against other countries.

From: Victor's Friday Report, www.victorzammit.com/index.html

Filipino Reality TV Series on the Paranormal. According to its producers, “Nginiiig, the Hidden Files,”is the first mainstream television show that incorporates drama into a paranormal documentary. The show hopes to widen the understanding of the paranormal for the Filipino audience. Unlike myths, “Nginiiig” is about real people and their experiences with the paranormal. To make the show an authority in explaining ghost sightings, wandering spirits and the supernatural, “Nginiiig” brings in five psychics. The University of the Philippines Paranormal Society under Paul Reyes is also participating in the television series. The series will showcase raw footage of the psychics and Bagatsing investigating paranormal activities in different parts of their country.

From: “Raymond Bagatsing will make you shiver in fright!” By Walden Sadiri, March 5, 04 Manila Bulletin

Electric Dreams. We all spend a substantial amount of our lives sleeping; however, being asleep does not necessarily mean that we are inactive. Spiritualists know that we are etheric beings temporarily living in a physical body, and that when we sleep or when we transition to a different “atmosphere and awareness” at the end of our physical life, we are still very much alive and aware. The problem is that it is so difficult to bring what we experience, when we are dissociated from our physical body, into our physical awareness. Thus, learning to remember and understand our dreams opens an important window into who we really are—or at least what we are up to when our perspective moves from the physical to the etheric.

A significant aid in learning to work with dreams is the Dreamgate publication, Electric Dreams.  Creator, Richard Catlett Wilkerson, states that, “DreamGate began as a networking project for regional and global sleep and dream research, education and information. Over the years, a global virtual community developed. The leader in computer mediated dream sharing, the Electric Dreams Community, encompasses and serves many other communities online.” The Electric Dreams publication is available at Dreamgate, 4644 Geary Blvd PMB 171, San Francisco, CA 94118, Phone: (415) 221-3239, info@dreamgate.com, http://dreamgate.com.

There is a wealth of information on the Dreamgate site, including a link to www.cyberdreamwork.com/, the web site of a group that offers a free “Nightmare Hotline” at 1-866-DRMS911 (1-866-376-7911). Cyberdreamworks.com also offers an online forum where the visitor can discuss their dreams. Another important source of information about dream research and how one can learn to work with their dreams is the monthly emailed newsletter at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/electric-dreams/.

AA-EVP Conference a Success. By all accounts, the first AA-EVP conference since we assumed leadership of the Association fulfilled all expectations. The conference was designed to address both the world of communicating with the other side using technology and development of human potential. The Rev. Barbara Thurman held a spoon bending class and there was even a message service!

The Reverend Robert Egby’s talk and workshop about developing psychic ability was well received by the audience, which was split between people who use Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP) to communicate with loved ones and those who prefer to use mental mediumship.

AA-EVP members, Martha Copeland and Karen Mossey, conducted a workshop about using EVP for grief management. They are continuing their relationship with their children who are on the other side via EVP and are teaching a rapidly growing group of “survivors” to do the same.

The Reverend Robert Egby addressing the audience about developing psychic abilities

Other presentations and workshops concerned such subjects as using computer software to make the phenomenal voices easier to hear and understand by Mike Sullivan, past research in EVP and Video Instrumental TransCommunication (ITC) by Erland Babcock and a fascinating discussion by Dr. Anabela Cardoso of Spain about communicating with her spirit team via real-time conversations using radios. We gave a presentation about EVP, Video ITC and possible areas of research, along with a workshop demonstrating how to conduct a Video ITC experiment.

Mark Waters of Backcountry Productions

Of course the pioneer researcher and original founder of the AA-EVP, Sarah Estep, did a presentation and workshop. Well known ITC historian and author Mark Macy also gave a talk and attendees were able to have pictures taken with a device called a Luminator. Pictures taken with the Luminator often produce spirit “extras.”

We were surprised at the number of attendees who stopped to tell us what a “spiritual” experience the conference had been.  Several even said that it had changed their lives. A member of the Universal film crew told us that she felt blessed to have gotten the job that brought her to the conference and the information on EVP.

 Mark Waters, owner of Backcountry Productions, video taped the presentations and some of the more visual workshops. All other workshops were audio recorded. The tapes will provide an important tool for teaching people about EVP and spirit communications. They are available at http://aaevp.com or by writing to us. [No longer available] We recommend that churches consider these tapes for a workshop fund raising event, since they include quite a lot of information about physical phenomena that is not readily available elsewhere.