1. STANFORD UNIVERSITY (1972 - 1980S)
Stanford University has many claims to fame when it comes to
paranormal research: For starters, the esteemed university can rightfully
assert itself as the first academic institution in the United States to study
extrasensory perception (ESP) and psychokinesis (PK) on an official basis. In
1911, John Edgar Coover began conducting experiments into ESP. Other claims to
fame include a rigorous scientific exploration of the purported psychic
abilities of the famous “spoon bender” Uri Geller (there is no spoon!), which
were studied intensively at the affiliated Stanford Research Institute (SRI)
over a five week period during the 1970s.
Maybe even more exciting and curious than the possibility of
bending metal with one’s mind was the CIA-sponsored Stargate Project, which
took place at SRI in the 1970s. This secretive project was an effort by the CIA
to explore the practical applications of Remote Viewing. Unfortunately, during
the mid-90s, Stargate Project research officially ceased due to claims that the
project failed to yield useful applications and intended objectives—but word on
the street is that claims of failure were overexaggerated, and that research
merely continued unofficially under the popular radar.
2. DUKE UNIVERSITY: PARAPSYCHOLOGY LABORATORY (1935 - 1965)
In 1935, Duke researchers J.B. Rhine and William McDougall
made that university the second in the nation to officially enter into
paranormal research when, after an exceptionally fascinating lecture by Sir
Arthur Conan Doyle on the possibility of communication with the dead, the men
formed the Parapsychology Laboratory as part of the university’s main
psychology department. Laboratory research focused mainly on the critical study
of extrasensory perception (ESP) and psychokinesis (PK).
To this day, Rhine is commonly accepted to be the father of
parapsychology, not only for having coined the term with the help of his
trailblazing partner McDougall, but also for having almost singlehandedly
established parapsychology itself as a field of scientific and academic
inquiry. While the Rhine name is no longer associated with Duke University
directly, J.B. Rhine’s purported success in the vein of paranormal inquiry
lives on at the Rhine Research Center.
3. PRINCETON UNIVERSITY: PRINCETON ENGINEERING ANOMALIES
RESEARCH (1979 - 2007)
From 1979 to 2007, the tiny basement of Princeton
University’s engineering building was home to the Princeton Engineering
Anomalies Research (PEAR) project, which aimed to determine whether there was
factual basis for theories in mind/matter interaction—or in layman’s terms,
extrasensory perception (ESP) and telekinesis (TK). While officially expressed
by university administration to be an embarrassment, the program claimed
success when it was all said and done: Over the project’s 28-year run it was
determined by PEAR researchers that compounded data from the many trials did in
fact reflect highly significant statistical deviation from what one could
expect from chance alone. In other words, minds intelligent enough to teach at
Princeton believe that ESP and PK exist.
4. HARVARD UNIVERSITY (1990S - 2008)
Not everyone conducts paranormal research with the hope of
finally harnessing proof of its existence. Recently, a team of Harvard
scientists set out to disprove the existence of ESP, and even introduced a new
method of research into the mix in order to do it.
To conduct their research, the Harvard duo included use of
brain scanning with the aim of deciphering whether individuals have knowledge
which cannot be explained through “normal” means (AKA the five senses). While researchers
admit that technically the project’s results do not disprove the existence of
ESP, they assert that findings from their experiment provide the most
persuasive evidence to date against the existence of ESP. Professional skeptic
James Randi is beaming with pride, I’m sure.
5. UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: DIVISION OF PERCEPTUAL STUDIES
(1967 - PRESENT)
With six years of research in the area of past lives
(reincarnation) already under its belt, UVA’s Division of Perceptual Studies
(DPS), a research unit within the Department of Psychiatric Medicine, was
established by Dr. Ian Stevenson in 1967. The division is still kicking today,
holding the field of Parapsychology afloat in North America as one of the only
university-sanctioned paranormal research programs remaining in the U.S.
DPS research has explored such phenomena as reincarnation
(most specifically through its focus on children who claim to remember past
lives), near death experiences (NDEs), apparitions and after-death
communications, altered states of consciousness, as well as many other psychic
(psi) experiences. The Division credits its persistence over time with the
great success it has had in substantiating claims within its reincarnation
research.
6. THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA: THE VERITAS (2006 - 2008) AND
SOPHIA (2008 - PRESENT) RESEARCH PROGRAMS
The Department of Psychology at the University of Arizona is
parent to an interesting and ever-evolving body of paranormal research. The
VERITAS and SOPHIA research projects at UA were created with the primary aim of
exploring the possibility that human consciousness might survive the experience
of physical death. From 2006 to 2008, VERITAS explored survival (existence of
the personality beyond death) and mediumship, until the decision was made to
create a more comprehensive body of research including broader claims of
after-death communication, such as communion with discarnate entities (spirit
guides, angels, divine higher power) under the program name SOPHIA.
7. THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES (1968 - 1978)
Dr. Barry Taff
Remember that “based on actual events” movie from 1982
called The Entity? Well, here you go: Over a ten year period, UCLA’s
Neuropsychiatric Institute (NPI) was home to a “non-sanctioned entity” of
paranormal research which studied clairvoyance, telepathy, haunted houses,
Kirlian photography and even boasted a psi development group (1971 to 1980)
which sought to help "normal people" develop latent psychic
abilities. The lab operated on the fifth floor of what is now the Semel
Institute, and existed by effort of a small group of passionate volunteer
researchers—including Dr. Barry Taff and Kerry Gaynor, the very team who
conducted the real-life poltergeist investigation on which The Entity was
based.
After a little over ten years of research, the toll of
political tension and pressure from unapproving university administration over
ongoing media attention got the best of the project, and research was forced to
conclude abruptly. Today, the lab itself is a ghost of sorts: UCLA and Semel
Institute officials deny that the lab ever existed—other than a few flyers
advertising the parapsychology classes which were taught on campus by the
researchers, no evidence of the lab or its research even exist.
8. CORNELL UNIVERSITY (2002 - 2010)
In 2010, Cornell University's Daryl Bem concluded a rigorous
eight year study on the subject of precognition, which involved 1000 Cornell
undergrads over nine experimental runs and resulted in unprecedented, almost
incomprehensibly positive results. Through a unique “backwards” approach to
psychological phenomena, Bem’s experiment affirms the likelihood of
"retroactive" psi effects or in this case, the ability of a person’s
physiology to “predict” an upcoming event regardless of the individual’s
conscious awareness of its impending occurrence.
As if that wasn't wild and exciting enough, Bem’s findings
seems to be re-affirming theories within quantum physics. In total, an
overwhelming eight of Bem’s nine experiments confirmed his hypothesis that psi
is a real phenomenon and, according to Bem, the odds of getting such a combined
result due to chance or statistical flukes are about 1 in 74 billion.
9. UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH (1985 - PRESENT)
A Chair of Parapsychology was established within the Department
of Psychology at the University of Edinburgh in 1985. This entity of research
is the esteemed Koestler Parapsychology Unit (KPU), which prides itself on its
interdisciplinary approach to parapsychology. Scientific research at KPU
examines such phenomenal claims as extrasensory perception (ESP) and
psychokinesis (PK), as well as the nature and consequences of belief in the
paranormal itself.
In 2010, KPU brought research into the 21st century when it
used Twitter as the platform for conducting a mass-participation research
project in the area of remote viewing and ESP. While the study itself did not
conclusively show evidence for remote viewing per se, it was determined that
Twitter was an excellent tool for future studies conducted by the Unit.
10. GOLDSMITHS, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON
Among one of the more hip experiments taking place in
current paranormal research is the Mobile Telepathy Test being carried out by
The Anomalistic Psychology Research Unit (APRU) of the Department of Psychology
at Goldsmiths, University of London. This Mobile Telepathy Test seeks to
explore instances of possible telepathy involving individuals receiving a phone
call from someone they have just thought about. Through its research and
experimentation, APRU hopes to determine whether this apparent phenomena is
simply a coincidence, or possibly indicative of psi phenomena such as telepathy
or precognition.
Also on the menu at APRU are studies in altered states of
consciousness and hypnosis, as well as a series of recently concluded projects
including the Joint Telepathy Test, which aimed to determine the possibility of
sensing, for instance, when individuals are looking at the same photo
simultaneously.
11. UNIVERSITY OF ADELAIDE: ANOMALISTIC PSYCHOLOGY RESEARCH
UNIT (2003 - PRESENT)
In 2003, a division of dedicated research was established at
the University of Adelaide in South Australia in order to further the
scientific and academic study of psi phenomena. This division of the
university’s Department of Psychology, named the Anomalistic Psychology
Research Unit (APRU), was the brainchild of respected parapsychologist Lance
Storm and his colleague, Dr. Michael A. Thalbou. One of APRU’s interesting
ventures into the paranormal seeks to scientifically test the hypothesis that the
blind are able to compensate for deficits in sight by naturally developing psi
abilities that are statistically superior to those of individuals with normal
abilities in ocular vision.
12. LUND UNIVERSITY
The ever-progressive Lund University of Sweden is currently
involved in a long-term research project, investigating states of consciousness
and parapsychology. The program aims to find a correlation between hypnotic
suggestibility and incidence of psi phenomena during experiments. This inquiry
follows previous experiments which found that highly suggestible individuals
are found to experience a high rate of anomalous experiences such as telepathy
and clairvoyance.
13. UTRECHT UNIVERSITY (1953 AND 2008)
The Netherlands is definitely known for its proclivity to
produce open-minded thinkers. In 1953, Ultrecht University in The Netherlands
definitely lived up to this reputation when it was host to the “First
International Utrecht Conference on Parapsychology”—the first ever conference
of its kind—from July 30 to August 5. The event, considered to be one of the
most critical moments in the history of modern scientific parapsychology,
brought together 78 scientists and parapsychologists from 13 countries, who
lectured and held exciting roundtable discussions about current research and to
plan for the future of the field. In 2008, the followup “Utrecht II” conference
was held, where lectures were once again offered by a who’s who of the field on
subjects such as the reality of psi phenomena, ESP in dreams, field
investigations of hauntings and poltergeist activity, self-organized reality,
clinical parapsychology, and even physics as it applied to the field.
UNIVERSITY OF AMSTERDAM: ANOMALOUS COGNITION SECTION (1990S
- PRESENT)
During the 1990s, The University of Amsterdam took on an
interesting project in order to hone its students’ and faculty’s empirical
research skills: it created the Anomalous Cognition Section (ACS), which in
addition to making rockstar researchers out of its pupils, sought to explore the
possibility of anomalous cognitive effects (which is simply
parapsychology-speak for telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition). This
section was created under the oversight of the university’s Psychology
Department, where as early as 1982 and 1986, student-run experiments had been
conducted under university sanction in order to study the possible existence of
psi phenomena.