Parapsychology is the study of consciousness and how it interacts with the environment. Research has also turned to how naturally occurring geophysical variables can impact the human mind.
Underground Water Channels
Guy Lambert was President of the Society for Psychical Research between 1955 and 1958. He was a proponent of the theory that geophysical variables caused poltergeist activity. He claimed that underground water channels and seismic disturbances undetectable by seismometer cause small objects to move seemingly of their own accord. The greatest opponents of his theory were parapsychologist Dr. Alan Gauld of the University of Nottingham, England and Tony Cornell, member of the Cambridge University Society for Psychical Research and vice-president of the famed Society for Psychical Research. In 1961, in front of cameras for the television program Arthur C. Clarke's World of Strange Powers, the two set out to disprove the theory. They acquired an old home in Melbourn, Cambridgeshire, England and stationed objects favored by poltergeists inside. An engineer fashioned an engine to the home that would simulate proposed geophysical variables. The theory was disproved. It took the equivalent to an actual earthquake to move the objects. Even then, the objects did not move the distance often sited in poltergeist cases and the vibration was not enough to move heavily objects.
Tectonic Strain Theory
Neuroscientist Dr. Michael A. Persinger of Laurentian University, Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada has conducted many experiments into the effects of electromagnetic radiation on the human mind. He proposes that when geophysical variables are concentrated, people can hallucinate. He correctly observes that seismic tension along fault lines creates pressure on ribbons of crystal in softer rock. This generates piezoelectricity, appearing as balls of light often call will-o-wisp. He claims piezoelectricity causes the mind to see apparitions based on popular culture. In most of the world, the radiation would appear to percipients as unidentified flying objects. He incorrectly believes that the radiation can effect people over hundreds of miles. The most outspoken opponent of this idea is Paul Devereux of the International Consciousness Research Laboratories (ICRL) at Princeton University, New Jersey. He observes that these effects can only take place directly on the fault line. Persinger set out to prove his proposition in the lab. He asks volunteers to sit in a dark room and bombards them with electromagnetic radiation. Most volunteers have strange, hallucinatory experiences. But is it the radiation? Opponents are quick to point out the subjects may simply be hallucinating because they are in sensory deprivation.
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