A few of you asked how I came across the idea for While He Was Sleeping. Here is part of what I came across years ago in my research (when I was a lad growing up in the 1980s).
Imagine sitting around a heavy antique Victorian-era table and holding hands with everyone else present while watching the tall ominous shadows dance against the walls in the flickering candlelight. All is quiet as you wait for the answer to a question. Then suddenly... a rap! And another one.
The noises come from no particular place in the air. No one is there.
Or consider the same large table moving. This wooden creation is huge. And very heavy. Yet it moves as though it possesses a mind of its own and even seems to tip and tilt by itself!
Or you're at home alone when your eye catches a movement in the hallway. There you see a young child in the clothes from a past period standing there and watching you.
Are they examples of ghosts? Some would say they could be manifestations of your mind. But how can that be?
Quite a few paranormal researchers believe (or at least suspect) that poltergeist activity (objects flying through the air, etc) and even ghostly sightings are products of the human mind. After all, the moving objects could actually be a case of overactive telekinesis or psychokinesis.
To test the idea, a group of Toronto investigators conducted a fascinating experiment to create a ghost. They assembled a group of people who would create a completely fictional character then conduct a seance to see if they could contact him and receive messages and maybe even see its apparition.
The Toronto Society for Psychical Research, under the guidance of Dr. A.R.G. Owen, assembled a group of eight people culled from its membership, none of whom claimed to have any psychic gifts. The group, which became known as the Owen group, consisted of Dr. Owen's wife, a woman who was the former chairperson of MENSA, an industrial designer, an accountant, a housewife, a bookkeeper and a sociology student. A psychologist named Dr. Joel Whitton also attended many of the group's sessions as an observer.
First, they wrote their fictional historical character's short biography, naming him Philip Aylseford.
Here's a summary of that biography:
- Philip was an aristocratic Englishman.
- Lived in the mid-1600s at the time of Oliver Cromwell.
- He had supported the King and was Catholic.
- He was married to a beautiful but cold and frigid wife named Dorothea, the daughter of a neighbouring nobleman.
- One day, he came across a gypsy camp where he met and fell in love with a beautiful dark-eyed girl with raven-coloured hair: Margo. He instantly fell in love with her.
- He smuggled her back to his home and hid her in the gatehouse near Diddington Manor's stables.
- For some time, they had a lovely little love-nest until Dorothea discovered Margo and accused her of witchcraft and stealing her husband.
- Philip did nothing to speak up for his lover who was eventually tried and burned at the stake.
- Later, depressed, he wandered the battlements of his home... and was one morning found dead after jumping.
September 1972. The group met informally a number of times to discuss Philip and his life. They meditated on him to visualise their "collective hallucination" in greater detail. They did this in a fully lit room over the course of 11 months without results. Occasionally, some group members claimed they felt a presence in the room, but there was no result they could consider communication from Philip.
They started duplicating the atmosphere of spiritualist seances -- sort of like you see in horror films -- in darkened rooms, sitting around a table, singing songs and surrounding themselves with pictures of the type of castle in which they imagined Philip had lived. They even had other objects from that period of time with them.
It worked. One night, they received their first communication. A distinct rap on the table!
Soon Philip was answering questions asked by the group. One rap for yes, two for no. Then they went for other methods to communicate.
How did they know it was Philip? Well, he told them, of course.
From there, things grew more interesting as Philip exhibited more stunts. He elaborated on his life for them. He displayed a personality through his likes and dislikes, and displayed strong views on various subjects, which were made plain through either hesitancy or enthusiasm in his knocks. He even made the table move, sliding it from side to side despite its immense weight and the shaggy carpet upon which is sat. At one point, the table even "danced" on one leg.
But there were limitations. He could only answer questions to which the group already knew the answers. They did create him, after all. The answers came from their subconscious -- their own minds. But some did claim to hear whispers in response to the questions although the tape recordings revealed nothing.
Yet he could dim the lights when requested, cause breezes to blow in the room (and stop them), and other strange things. They interpreted it as evidence of group psychokinesis.
The experiment's climax was recorded live for a television documentary, which you can check out on YouTube by clicking here.
Apart from a fine mist that appeared on the table, the group never succeeded in making Philip materialise. Such a shame.
I first read of the above in the mid-to-late 1980s in a book on psychic phenomena. The idea intrigued me, but there is more to tell in next week's post---set in the early 1900s.
Until then...
Happy Reading!
Chris Johnson
PS: Like strange tales like this. Be sure to check out my supernatural thriller WHILE HE WAS SLEEPING at my store now
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