They Know the Unknown:Celebrity Accounts of Exceptional Experiences

In some of my early writing on telephone anomalies, I stumbled across the book They Knew The Unknown by Martin Ebon, [1] who produced many popular books on psychic phenomena. This particular work, however, focused on popular figures – typically scientists – and their links to psychical research. My own interested in this book was for Thomas Edinson and his interests in spiritualism and contact with the dead. But I enjoy the book for the insight of many other figures and their links to the field, including Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Abraham Lincoln, Charles Dickens, to name a few

Considering Anomalous Events during Bereavement as Evidence for Survival

It has been noted that experiences of perceived interaction with the dead are common for the bereaved. Surveys have reported that around 50 – 60% of individuals will report that they have had such an experience following a significant death. These reports are spontaneous by their very nature and can involve a variety of experiences, from sensing the presence of the dead, to dreaming about them, seeing apparitions in the waking state, witnessing poltergeist type phenomena, and others. Even so, it is acknowledged that instances of alleged reincarnation where a young child may relay information from a deceased individual have been noted, and sought phenomena such as sittings with mediums and therapy induced experiences suggestive of interaction with the dead could produce information pertaining to survival. However, this chapter will focus purely on spontaneous anomalous experiences occurring following loss. The question remains, what are the ontological roots of such experiences? Mainstream opinions have conceptualized such reports as purely pathological and typical bi-products of a grieving mind. However, is there a case for something more at work? To answer this, we not only need to understand the psychology of bereavement, but indeed the parapsychology of bereavement as well. This chapter will consider the place of anomalous bereavement experiences in the debate of ‘consciousness and its survival beyond bodily death’ (aka, the survival hypothesis), and what evidence exists from such events which may add weight to the debate and goes beyond current conventional understanding

The therapeutic nature of anomalous events: a union of positive psychology and parapsychology

Aside from exploring the ontology of anomalous abilities and experiences through the study of parapsychology, the recent re-emergence of clinical parapsychology has allowed researchers to explore the impact of anomalous events on those who encounter them, through spontaneous cases investigation methods, or via the counselling and therapy setting. From this new avenue of research outlook, and reflecting on laboratory experiments of psychic phenomena, links can clearly be made to positive psychology with how people face and perceive anomalous events. Various positive gains have been identified as being fostered as a result of anomalous experiences, which help with personal growth, resilience and coping, especially in the case of bereavement and related phenomena encountered in such stages of life. This paper will briefly consider the findings of such studies and the increasing relationship between parapsychology and positive psychology

Spontaneous Post-Death Experiences and the Cognition of Hope:An Examination of Bereavement and Recovery

Although psychical research identified through structured research the commonality of anomalous experiences for the bereaved from as early as the 1880s, it wasn’t until the 1970s with the publication of a medical doctorate on such phenomena that medical communities and social science began to recognise them too. Beyond this point, research became more popular on the subject. Extensive research conducted on post-death experiences (aka, Post-Death Contacts – ADCs) since the 1970s, has largely focused on what impact they have on the bereaved, rather than the ontology of the phenomena themselves. All such studies have found these experiences to be therapeutic for the bereaved, and a natural aid to recovery. However, no research findings to this point have been presented on what cognitive mechanisms create the therapeutic gains experienced, as a direct result of the spontaneous anomalous experiences. This thesis set out to investigate what makes such experience therapeutic, and aid the process of recovery from grief. From a critical review of the previous literature, it was noted that several of the extensive studies, and related popular literature, identified hope to a consistent reported outcome of such experiences. However, no existing studies appeared to have investigated its presence and process in this context. Therefore, a mixed method study design was developed to investigate the impact of such experiences further and the role of hope within them. A questionnaire approach of validated scales found levels of hope to be significantly higher in groups of the bereaved who do report post-death experience than those who don’t. The bereaved who do not report such experiences appear to encounter a significant drop in hope. Content and thematic analyses were conducted on written feedback of experiences collected from the questionnaires; this highlighted the variety of experiences and their commonality. It also highlighted significant shifts in ‘states of mind’ from negative to positive emotions, from the point of loss, to following the first anomalous encounter. Continued bonds with the deceased were also expressed, as well as previously noted therapeutic gains and themes of hope. In-depth interviews were conducted as the final study of this thesis, with an interpretative phenomenological analysis applied to the data. New findings are presented on the personal changes that take place within post-death events. Experients defined hope and how they saw it acting within their lives and experiences as a support system to feelings of loss, which fell in line with previous positive psychology theories on hope. Several key points are concluded. Firstly, the findings of this thesis have practical applications to clinical practice surrounding palliative care and applied positive psychology, regarding the importance of anomalous experiences encountered by the bereaved. Secondly, the thesis and its findings demonstrate the multi-disciplinary approaches which can be taken to parapsychological issues, in this case combining positive psychology, thanatology and healthcare. And finally, the thesis highlights the usefulness of the mixed method approaches, to provide ‘sweeping maps’ of any given phenomena under investigation, particularly in cases where the previous research findings are limited or are yet to be explored

Positive psychology in the clinical parapsychology setting

This presentation expands on the guest lecture given at the Bucks New University 2nd Positive Psychology Symposium (Cooper, 2016), regarding the union between positive psychology and areas of parapsychology (from the laboratory to the field). A recap will be given, on links between positive psychology and parapsychology, and how the two areas have been seen to complement each other. Focus will then be given to two of the previous areas mentioned at the 2nd symposium, these being instances of spontaneous and sought experiences. For example, there has been much research into the benefits of counselling for anomalous experiences, now seen within the domain of clinical parapsychology, bridging anomalous experiences with an understanding of the therapeutic benefits and transformative features within these experiences. Looking to the typical studies within clinical parapsychology, again, much research has focused on the overlaps between anomalous experiences following a bereavement. Focus will therefore also be given the lead author's own research specifically exploring mediumship as a form of counselling - where people seek out an experience which appears to aid symptoms of grief and loss. It will be argued that mediumship can be seen as a form of holistic intervention, in enhancing positive psychological attributes within the bereaved to help with coping, post-traumatic growth, and other positive psychological attributes