A Background to my Paranormal

I wasn't born psychic but I was born knowing. But, like most people, I didn't know what I knew and I didn't realize that not everyone was like this. That's one of the things that my paranormal study revealed - the number of adults who, as children, felt different from their peers. Very different! That sense of difference, and in some cases the acting out of that difference, had a marked impact on people's lives. In the survey, participants confided about their early encounters with the paranormal. Some were embraced and encouraged by their families and friends. Others were ostracized and made to learn early in life to keep their own counsel. Subliminally or consciously they learnt to keep quiet about the things they saw, heard, smelt and felt that were not part of the physical world. Oftentimes, this sense of isolation has stayed with them.

The paranormal wasn't talked about much back then - how could it be? There wasn't a lot of time and it certainly wasn't a topic that featured much. Remember, that's all there was back then. This was the world before technology took hold. Words like cyberspace, email and Google hadn't even been coined and the Internet was still in the making. No social media: no blogs; no Twitter; no internet forum or podcasts; no Facebook, Digg, Flickr, or YouTube. Just the radio, the t.v., the newspaper, the library and a sparsely stocked bookshop. That's all. Very little opportunity for information sharing; even less chance to discuss paranormal experiences. 

Back then, things tended not to be dealt with at an international or even a national level. Life was very much played at the local level and for some people local meant very localized. In our house, there was talk of old aunts and their magical powers and ghosts in dimly lit hallways, but psi wasn't something that was dwelt on. There wasn't time. My parents were doing their best at making a life for their family - working full time, running their own business and raising two daughters. The paranormal was neither encouraged nor discouraged. It was always just there.

It's against this background that my desire to understand the other side of life lingered - sometimes simmering to the top, oftentimes bubbling away unobtrusively.

(PS I googled Cummins, where I was born and this is about the only photo that came up.)

Paranormal Researchers Downunder

There are three parapsychologists that I know in Australia. Coincidentally, I went to school with the first, Michael Thalbourne. He and his colleague Lance Storm are based at the University of Adelaide (my alma mater). The third is Hannah Jenkins, from the University of Tasmania, who was one of the examiners of my dissertation on spontaneous paranormal experiences. Each Saturday Hannah hosts an hour long radio program called the Edge of Reason which you may be interested in checking out.

http://www.edgeradio.org.au/listen.php

It's Not Easy Being Accepted!

Half a decade ago when I decided to 'ground my dream' and gain qualifications based on paranormal studies I found it very difficult to identify academics in Australia who would even admit to being interested in what Einstein called spooky action at a distance. I soon came to understood that studying psi is regarded as a career limiting move - especially among the academic fraternity. Fortunately for me, I didn't have a career that I thought could be damaged by delving into the unknown.

I did manage to flush out a few closet psychics and make contact with others who are, even today, still proud to hang out their parapsychologist shingle. I'll reveal who these are next...

Paranormal Researchers Downunder

There are three parapsychologists that I know in Australia. Coincidentally, I went to school with the first, Michael Thalbourne. He and his colleague Lance Storm are based at the University of Adelaide (my alma mater). The third is Hannah Jenkins, from the University of Tasmania, who was one of the examiners of my dissertation on spontaneous paranormal experiences. Each Saturday Hannah hosts an hour long radio program called the Edge of Reason which you may be interested in checking out.

http://www.edgeradio.org.au/program.php

Looking Back, First

My most recent journey into the realms of the paranormal began about five years ago and only ended earlier this month (April 09) when I completed my masters degree at Monash University. The topic of my thesis was the paranormal and the basis of my study was an online survey into parapsychological experiences. Even today this study is still referred to on Wikipedia.

Anyway, by way of introduction to me and this research topic here is a copy of the Press Release that was circulated by the University at the time to alert the media and interested people to the existence of this internet-based questionnaire. (Dr Jane was my Supervisor.)

Surveying the Paranormal    

Monash University is investigating the paranormal using an international, online survey. The poll titled, ‘The Nature Incidence and Impact of Spontaneous Paranormal Experiences’, is asking people about their experiences of premonitions, out-of-body and near-death episodes, telepathy and apparitions. 

The supervisor of the research study, Faculty of Education senior lecturer, Dr Beverley Jane, said the aim of the research is to gather information about people’s experiences of paranormal events that cannot be explained using the current laws of science. 

“This includes out-of-body and near-death experiences, premonitions, telepathy, and apparitions,” she said.  “We are interested in knowing more about what people are experiencing, how frequently these phenomena occur, at what age they start, and the impact they have on those who experience them. In particular, we would like to survey people who have had paranormal experiences but have been reluctant to talk about them, until now.”

Dr Jane reported that nearly number of people from all over the world have already responded to their questions online. “They are sincere and they want to report what they have experienced,” she said.

The survey forms part of a research study into the paranormal by Monash Masters student, Ms Rosemary Breen.  There has been an explosion of interest in the paranormal in recent years, so much so that it is now considered mainstream and part of everyday contemporary life for many people,” Ms Breen said.  “It is also the central tenet of most cultures, and some of the earliest reports of paranormal phenomena are found in ancient scriptures including the Talmud, the Koran, Homer, Socrates, Aristotle, the New Testament and Old Testament of the Bible and the Kabbalah.” 

A recent Gallup poll indicated that three out of four Americans hold at least one paranormal belief, and a UK newspaper poll showed that 60 per cent of Britons accept the existence of the paranormal.  However, little is known about contemporary spontaneous experiences, and official surveys are rare. .

“The potential benefits of participation in this study include adding to the volume of academic literature on spontaneous paranormal events, and helping raise the level of understanding about the immediate and long term effects of such phenomena on the individual and on society,” Dr Jane said.