Sadly, too many scientists are quick to dismiss reports of anomalous phenomena - 'damned' data as Charles Fort called them - from high quality sources . It is from such 'signals in the noise' that major paradigm shifts might result if scientists and academics were free from psychological, institutional or commercial and economic constraints.

"It is clear, then, that the idea of a fixed method, or of a fixed theory of rationality, rests on too naive a view of man and his social surroundings. To those who look at the rich material provided by history, and who are not intent on impoverishing it in order to please their lower instincts, their craving for intellectual security in the form of clarity, precision, 'objectivity', 'truth', it will become clear that there is only one principle that can be defended under all circumstances and in all stages of human development. It is the principle: anything goes."

— Paul K. Feyerabend, Against Method: Outline of an Anarchistic Theory of Knowledge (1975), 27-8.

Home
Folk-lore & Antiquities
Spirituality & Esoteric Traditions
Science & Philosophy
Politics, Economics & Environment
Local History

Books & Articles (PDF & RTF formats)

1691. "The certainty of the worlds of spirits, and consequently, of the immortality of souls. of the malice and misery of the devils, and the damned. And of the blessedness of the justified, : fully evinced by unquestionable histories of apparitions, operations, witchcrafts, voices, &c..." (From the Title Page)

1831. There are mysteries even in nature, which we cannot investigate, paradoxes which we can never resolve. (From the title page)

The Night Side of Nature: Or, Ghosts and Ghost Seers V2 Catherine Crowe

1907. A major classic of early psychical research and indeed of psychology in general. Although it was published two years after Myers's death, most of it had been finished and was ready for publication at the time of his passing. The book consists of 10 chapters plus lengthy appendices that present empirical data and case reports supporting the primary material. Myers begins by outlining his overall purposes and introducing his unifying conception of the nature of human personality—the Subliminal Self. Chapters 2 and 3 begin fleshing out this theory by discussing hysteria and genius, two seemingly different phenomena that Myers believed are closely related psychologically. Chapters 4 and 5 discuss the emergence of subliminal functioning in sleep and hypnosis. Chapters 6 through 9 present a wide variety of evidence, both spontaneous and experimental, for psychological automatisms, conceived as messages sent up to everyday consciousness by the subliminal consciousness in sensory or motor form. The final chapter is an epilogue assembled by the editors from some of Myers's more speculative writings, consisting largely of a "Provisional Sketch of a Religious Synthesis" and several related appendices in which Myers outlines his hope and belief that science and religion will ultimately come together so that the methods of science can be applied to the great questions of life that the religions alone have thus far asked.

Esalen Center for Theory and Research

Fairies and their Kin Bob Trubshaw

A short comparative study of fairies, ghosts and other apparitional forms, earthlights and abductions. He adopts a phenomenological approach - i.e. he accepts that the experiences that people have had of these forms are genuine and proceeds to enquire into what might be the possible causes.

An Appraisal of the "Cunning Men" of Cwrt Y Cadno, Camarthenshire

Time travel, UFOs, mysterious planets, stigmata, rock-throwing poltergeists, huge footprints, bizarre rains of fish and frogs-nearly a century after Charles Fort's Book of the Damned was originally published, the strange phenomenon presented in this book remains largely unexplained by modern science. Through painstaking research and a witty, sarcastic style, Fort captures the imagination while exposing the flaws of popular scientific explanations. Virtually all of his material was compiled and documented from reports published in reputable journals, newspapers and periodicals because he was an avid collector. Charles Fort was somewhat of a recluse who spent most of his spare time researching these strange events and collected these reports from publications sent to him from around the globe. This was the first of a series of books he created on unusual and unexplained events and to this day it remains the most popular.

Goodreads

Charles Fort's parade of scientific anomalies frames the larger anomaly that is human existence. Lo! is a book with the capacity to rewire brains and sculpt new lenses for seeing the unexpected, the unexplained - and perhaps for glimpsing our own role in Fort's mystifying cosmic scheme.

Google Books

New Lands was the second nonfiction book of the author Charles Fort, written in 1925. It deals primarily with astronomical anomalies. Fort expands in this book on his theory about the Super-Sargasso Sea - a place where earthly things supposedly materialize in order to rain down on Earth - as well as developing an idea that there are continents above the skies of Earth. As evidence, he cites a number of anomalous phenomena, including strange "mirages" of land masses, groups of people, and animals in the skies. He also continues his attacks on scientific dogma, citing a number of mysterious stars and planets that scientists failed to account for.

Goodreads

Wild Talents captures Charles Fort at his finest, most thought provoking, and wittiest. Containing accounts of - among numerous other bizarre topics - strange coincidences, vampires, werewolves, talking dogs, poltergeist activity, teleportation, witchcraft, vanishing people, spontaneous human combustion, and the escapades of the 'mad bats of Trinidad, ' the book is essential reading for anyone wanting to learn about the early years of research into the myriad mysteries of this world and beyond.

Goodreads

The Strange Properties Of Psychokinesis Helmut Schmidt

This paper, in Mind Science Foundation, discusses evidence for a psychokinetic effect acting on chance events.

A NeuroQuantologic Approach to How Human Thought Might Affect the Universe Michael A. Persinger, Stanley A. Koren and Ghislaine F. Lafreniere

A speculative but serious attempt to understand how quantum and neuro-physiological processes might help explain how thought might interact with the universe.

After using Tarot cards daily for several years as part of a meditation and self-reflection practice, Jane English, a Ph.D. physicist felt both personal and scientific need to reconcile her Tarot experience with her scientific worldview. Statistical analysis of cards chosen daily in meditation for three years from 1978 to 1981 (one card for “body,” one for “mind” and one for “spirit”) shows 99.97% probability of their being non-random ...

As a physics teacher beginning in 1974 I soon began to hear reports from students who claimed they they had seen UFOs, so I took it upon myself to undertake some very basic investigation and interviewed them in what I believe was an impartial and unbiased way. I also began to receive reports from other people. I did not normally seek out witnesses of these phenomena but acted only when individuals, or a mutual friend, came to me because they knew of my interest.

Links

Skeptical Investigations As a scientific enterprise, anomalistics is normatively skeptical and demands inquiry prior to judgement, but skepticism means doubt rather than denial. While recognizing that a legitimate anomaly may constitute a crisis for conventional theories in science, anomalistics also sees them as an opportunity for progressive change in science. Thus, anomalies are viewed not as nuisances but as welcome discoveries that may lead to the expansion of our scientific understanding.

skepticalinvestigations.org

skeptiko.com This website, hosted by Alex Tsakiris, follows the data in the fields of parapsychology and consciousness research wherever it leads. It explorse the possibility that science-as-we-know-it might be at a tipping point and engages the top thinkers in pointed discussions about the questions that matter most. It treats all guests with respect.

Adapted from the "about" page on the website.

Experiencers - A documentary by Stephane Allix about the Alien Abduction Phenomenon featuring research by the late John E. Mack, professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School until his death in 2004.

Mack took seriously the accounts of people who claimed to have been abducted by aliens. These 'experiencers' were neither mentally ill nor delusional. His research showed that many experienced a shift in their perception of their own identity, reducing their sense of separateness and precipitating a cosmic perspective.

Jacques Vallee, Terrence McKenna, John Mack and Budd Hopkins on UFOs and the Alien Abduction phenomenon This informative and insightful compilation of video extracts provides a clear overview of a more "transcendentalist" than physical "nuts-and-bolts" interpretation of the abduction phenomenon. It reveals the different nuances in the perspectives of the researchers. For example, Budd Hopkins favours the idea that the aliens are actual beings who come in craft powered by technology far more advanced than ours and who perform highly unethical procedures on their victims. Hopkins adopts, as John Mack suggests in the last video, an "anthropocentric humanist" approach which resists and rejects the aliens - as far as is possible - and supports the ongoing recovery, and the psychological and spiritual healing of the abductees. Mack, as Hopkins suggests, is more concerned with understanding the purpose behind the phenomenon and recognizing its transformative potential. Mack is less protective and anthropocentric and feels that the phenomenon has profound implications for humanity. It strikes at the root of human arrogance and "cosmic egoism", and if, however difficult it may be, we embrace the experience it can open the human mind and spirit to other vast orders of reality beyond our immediate physical environment.

Scientific Evidence for Reincarnation Whether the skeptics like it or not there is strong evidence for the reality of the phenomenon of past-life recall. The research of the late Professor Ian Stevenson of the Division of Personality Studies at the University of Virginia, for example, using strict scientific protocols, rules out the kinds of "rationalistic" explanations invoked by the skeptics. Aslo, Jim B. Tucker , an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Virginia Medical Center's Division of Perceptual Studies, has continued the research, again, with startling results. It must be understood that this research does not prove reincarnation, which could have other causes, although they, too, would lie outside the current scientific paradigm. Simply because Tucker invokes quantum mechanics to explain the phenomenon - and this has been rightly criticized by many physicists - it does not invalidate the data obtained.

Dr. Robert Almeder, talking in the first video, is Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at Georgia State University, and is known in particular for his work on the philosophy of science, and has also written on the philosophy of mind, epistemology and ethics.

National Archives UFO files released by the Ministry of Defence.