Tulpas, Tibet, and the Conjuration of Philip

When it comes to possible explanations for fortean or paranormal phenomena, I always find myself fascinated by the concept of the tulpa. Tulpa is a Tibetan word that is typically rendered into English as 'thoughtform'. The idea is that someone can create from their thoughts an actually entity or phantom and give it life. Alexandra David-Neel is credited with bringing the term and concept to the Western world in her 1929 book Magic and Mystery in Tibet. David-Neel had traveled extensively around the globe and was one of the first Westerners to be allowed entrance into Tibet and their religion and culture. David-Neel relates a lot of information to the reader about Tulpas in the Tibetan belief. According to David-Neel:

“A Bodhisattva [David-Neel says this is a person that has attained a spiritual perfection that places them just below the Buddha] is the basis of countless magic forms. By the power generated in a state of perfect concentration of mind he may, at one and the same time, show a phantom (tulpa) of himself in thousands of millions of worlds. He may create not only human forms, but any forms he chooses....” (pg 121)

David-Neel continues by saying:

“The power of producing magic formations, tulkus or less lasting and materialized tulpas, does not, however, belong exclusively to such mystic exalted beings. Any human, divine or demoniac being may be possessed of it. The only difference comes from the degree of power, and this depends on the strength of the concentration and the quality of the mind itself” (pg 121)

With this in mind, I wish to take a look at a relatively modern example of the creation of a ghost named Philip. During the 1970s a group from the Toronto Society for Psychical Research, along with a Dr. A.R.G. Owen (who was a mathematician) meet in order to see if they could, in essence, create a ghost. The group was comprised of Dr. Owen, his wife, a former chairperson of Mensa, an industrial designer, an accountant, a housewife, a bookkeeper and a sociology student. Additionally a psychologist by the name of Dr. Joel Whitton would also attend some of their experiments. The original idea was that this group of people could create a ghost seemingly by meditating on the idea of him including the history of the ghost. They would then attempt to make contact with this discarnate entity through séances and gain information from it.

Here is a part of the biography for the spirit the group created in order to flesh out “Philip Aylesford”:

Philip was an aristocratic Englishman, living in the middle 1600s at the time of Oliver Cromwell. He had been a supporter of the King, and was a Catholic. He was married to a beautiful but cold and frigid wife, Dorothea, the daughter of a neighboring nobleman.

One day when out riding on the boundaries of his estates Philip came across a gypsy encampment and saw there a beautiful dark-eyed girl raven-haired gypsy girl, Margo, and fell instantly in love with her. 

He brought her back secretly to live in the gatehouse, near the stables of Diddington Manor - his family home.

For some time he kept his love-nest secret, but eventually Dorothea, realizing he was keeping someone else there, found Margo, and accused her of witchcraft and stealing her husband. 

Philip was too scared of losing his reputation and his possessions to protest at the trial of Margo, and she was convicted of witchcraft and burned at the stake.

Philip was subsequently stricken with remorse that he had not tried to defend Margo and used to pace the battlements of Diddington in despair. 

Finally, one morning his body was found at the bottom of the battlements, whence he had cast himself in a fit of agony and remorse.

One member of the group even sketched Philip's portrait

With this back story firmly in mind, the group meet weekly in order to attempt to communicate with “Philip”. As a part of their weekly meetings the group would come together and meditate on both the image of Philip and also his history. The group did this for about a year with no positive results. Some members of the group did claim during this time that they were able to sense a presence, but apparently nothing that was verifiable. The group was quite determined and rather than let the last year be for waste they decided to change up the tactics a bit. In order to have better results with conjuring Philip, the group began to replicate the séances of old.

Candle light, sitting around a table, soft music playing, the whole thing. They even had pictures of castles like the one Philip would have lived in, had he ever actually lived that is. This new method seemed to do the trick. During one of the group's séances, they began to receive communication from an entity. Through a series of rappings (reminiscent of the early Spiritualism movement) the group was able to determine that they were finally talking with Philip. The entity revealed this to the group through a series of raps. Speaking through raps, Philip continued to display his own unique attitude. This was discovered by how long Philip would pause in between answering the questions which the researchers posed to him.

The group never questioned that the entity they were in communication with was Philip because of it's lack of knowledge on many topics. It seems that Philip only knew the answers to questions that someone in the group knew the answer to. If they would ask him a question that the group didn't know the answer to he would be unable to answer. While the Q & A portion of Philip's ability might have been lacking, he completely made up for this shortcoming with his very clear psychokinetic abilities. Overtime as the séances continued, the group discovered that Philip was able to move the rapping table. Often, Philip would even cause the table to rush over to people that were late to the weekly meetings.

The height of the Philip saga came when the group set out to perform one of their weekly séances in front of an audience made up of 50 people or so. Additionally a TV film crew was brought in to record the séance as part of a documentary. Unlike most paranormal phenomena, Philip actually seemed to enjoy the spotlight. The rappings and psychokinetic feats were on display for all the audience to see. At one point during the séance the group was even able to get the entire table to levitate a few inches off of the ground. Sadly, because of the dim lighting that was required as a part of the séance the film crew was unable to record this for posterity. Only a part of the documentary seems to be online and you can check out the few minutes of it that exist here.

Although the groups main objective of having Philip physically materialize (not unlike Rosalie), they were overall satisfied with the results of their experiments. So much so that after their success with Philip, the Toronto Society for Psychical Research went on to conjure other ghosts with similar apparent success. In one instance, using a different group of people, they were able to conjure a new spirit which was called “Lilith”. A few other groups are supposed to have been able to successfully recreate this experiment as well, but finding information on those incidents is rather difficult.

At the end of the day it's hard to say what it was that was actually occurring in this situation. It certainly seems to fit in with the concept of the tulpa, especially as explained by David-Neel in her classic work on the topic. I only wish that more of the documentary existed so that it could be scene. Ostensibly, if this experiment was truly as easy as the group proclaimed I suppose that anyone could conceivably do this at home. Before you do decide to go through with this and conjure your own ghost, I feel I must leave you with a parting warning from David-Neel:

“.....the practice is considered as fraught with danger for everyone who …. is not aware of the nature of the psychic forces at work in the process. Once the tulpa is endowed with enough vitality to be capable of playing the part of a real being, it tends to free itself from its maker's control.....Sometimes the phantom becomes a rebellious son and one hears of uncanny struggles that have taken place between magicians and their creatures, the former being severely hurt or even killed by the latter.” (pg 313)

Sources and further reading:

About.com article

Unexplained Mysteries thread

Stranger Dimensions article

Conjuring up Philip by Iris Owen (part of the original group that summoned Philip)

Harry Price and the Materialization of Rosalie

In parapsychological research perhaps no phenomenon is more elusive, and most highly debated, than the actual manifestation of a ghost or spirit. While reading through my recently acquired copy of Brad Steiger's Real Ghosts, Restless Spirits, and Haunted Places I came across a fascinating account of a materialization of a child's ghost that was witnessed and investigated by famed British author and Psychic researcher Harry Price. Price wrote about the events that led up to his coming into contact with Rosalie in his 1939 book Fifty years of Psychical Research. The story that follows is interesting but, like most of the paranormal, is highly controversial. I'll leave it for you to decide what happened that night. Steiger tells us the following:

On December 8, 1937, Harry Price had just concluded a radio broadcast regarding psychic phenomena when a listener contacted him with an interesting revelation. Price was informed that the listener regularly participates in a family séance that was held every Wednesday evening, at which the family materialized the spirit of a child. (pg 234)

Harry Price, Psychical Researcher

Price was offered the opportunity to come and witness one of these weekly investigations on some conditions; according to Price in Fifty years in Psychical Research:

Of course, there were conditions, which I anticipated. But I was genuinely astonished at the simple rules to which I was asked to adhere. In the first place, if I accepted the invitation to attend a séance, I was to promise not to reveal the identity of any of the sitters, or the locality where the séance was held. I could write an account of the séance giving my candid views of it, provided I mentioned no names.

If I were impressed with the proceedings, I was 'not to seek a scientific inquiry', as the mother of 'Rosalie,' who attended each sitting, was 'terrified that her girl might be frightened away.' These Wednesday meetings were in the nature of a sacred communion with the spirit of her daughter, and would be maintained as such.

I was not to bring to the séance any light (such as a torch); I was not to speak to or touch the materialization without permission, and I was not to do anything, or make any experiment, without the sitters' consent. I would not be asked to sign any document embodying these arrangements: it was to be a 'gentlemen's agreement.'

As a part of the conditions, Price would be allowed to fully search the room and home where the séance was to be held. In his own words Price says:

I would be allowed full control of the room and the sitters up to the beginning of the séance. I could search the house from top to bottom, seal all external windows and doors, search the séance room (the drawing-room), all doors and windows of which I could lock and seal,

I could move - or remove - any furniture, ornaments, etc., from the séance room which I thought fit, I could control the room to the extent of sprinkling powdered starch or other substance round doors or windows, or place electrical contacts there (she admitted that she had gathered that this was what I did, from my broadcast from the 'haunted house'),

I could search the sitters or any person in the house immediately before or after the séance.

Price agreed and set a date in which to come see the events of the séance firsthand. When he arrived at the location, Price was given a little more background information about the child's spirit that was going to be manifested. Apparently the child was a little girl named Rosalie. Rosalie had died in 1920 from a case of diphtheria. In his notes, Price simply referred to the mother as a 'Madame Z'. In addition to the background on the child, Price was given some information detailing the circumstances by which the weekly séance began. Price notes:

In the spring of 1925 - according to my hostess - Madame Z. was awakened during the night by the sound of her dead girl's voice crying 'mother.' This occurred so frequently that Madame Z. got into the habit of lying awake at night, waiting for the 'voice.' Gradually, she thought she could see (in the dark) the dim outline of 'Rosalie' and hear her footsteps in the room. Finally, the mother declared, one night she put her arm out of bed and her hand was clasped by that of her little girl.

The séance began sometime after dinner. However it wasn't until around 10 pm that something started to happen. Madame Z suddenly said that she felt the presence of Rosalie that she was here. Rosalie's mother began weeping and sobbing. Price, meanwhile, relates that he heard nor saw anything though he did report smelling something. In fact Price says:

At the same moment I, too, realized that there was something quite close to me. I neither heard nor saw anything, but the sensation was an olfactory one - I seemed to smell something that was not there previously. It was a strange, not unpleasant smell.

Smells aside, Price seemed to infer that Rosalie had made her appearance. Finally curiosity perhaps getting the best of him, Price requested permission to touch Rosalie. According to Price:

Permission was given, and I stretched out my left arm and, to my amazement, it came in contact with, apparently, the nude figure of a little girl, aged about six years. I slowly passed my hand across her chest up to her chin and cheeks. Her flesh felt warm, though (and this may have been imagination) not so warm as one would expect to find normal human flesh. I laid the back of my left hand on her right cheek: it felt soft and warm and I could distinctly hear her breathing. I then placed my hand on her chest again and could feel the respiratory movements.

Going further:

There are no words to express how I felt at the appearance of the form before me - or rather to the left of me. A supreme scientific interest, with a feeling of absolute incredulity, would best describe my reactions. I had not bargained for anything so wonderful (or so clever!) as this.

But if I had been tricked, so had the mother, and that was unthinkable. She, at least, was not acting a part. I asked whether I could hold 'Rosalie.' I was told that I could move my chair nearer to the child and this I did. I was now able to use both hands and again felt every inch of that little form.

If it is a spirit - I argued to myself - then there is no difference between a spirit and a human being. With my right hand, I lifted 'Rosalie's' right arm and felt her pulse. It appeared to be too quick and I estimated a rate of 90 to the minute. I put my ear to her chest and could distinctly hear her heart beating.

I then took both her hands and asked X., his daughter, and Jim to speak in order to prove their presence in their respective seats. They did so. I knew that Madame Z. and Mrs. X. were on either side of me, as I had only to put out my hand to touch them.

After time spent investigating the fact that the materialized child was, at least apparently, flesh and blood, Price didn't want to miss the opportunity to speak with what could very well be an ambassador of the spirit world. So he set about to ask her some questions that he felt could give him some more information about where she came from and what 'life' was like where she resided. Price lists the questions and answers, or lack thereof, in his book as:

'Where do you live, Rosalie?' (No answer.)
'What do you do there?' (No answer.)
'Do you play with other children?' (No answer.)
'Have you any toys there?' (No answer.)
'Are there any animal pets?' (No answer.)

The only question that Rosalie was willing, or perhaps able, to answer was whether or not she loved her mother to which she replied in the affirmative. Not long after the Q & A session had ended, Rosalie began to slowly dematerialize and finally disappeared back to whatever realm she had first come from. A mere two hours after returning home wrote notes on the events that had occurred that night. He concluded with the following paragraph that shows what his opinion on the preceding events was. It reads as follows:

I feel I have not done justice in this report to the amazing events of last night, and I am still wondering if 'Rosalie' was a genuine spirit entity, or whether the whole thing was an elaborate hoax. If the latter, then the 'hoax' has been going on for years and no actress in the world could simulate Madame Z.'s poignant emotion.

And where did the 'spirit' come from? These are questions which I shall have to think about, and answer. If I had witnessed the materialization of 'Rosalie' in my own laboratory, I should not hesitate to proclaim to an incredulous world that survival was proved. It is possible - though very doubtful - that last night's historic (as far as I am concerned) séance may be repeated under better conditions in a laboratory. But Madame Z. is convinced that 'Rosalie would be frightened away.'

The sitting I have just attended is at least distinguished by the complete absence of blasphemous humbug and hymn-singing, which characterize so many pseudo-spiritualist séances run by rogues for profit. Looking at it in retrospect, I can think of several things I ought to have done that I did not do, and one of these is the taking of 'Rosalie's' finger-prints.

I had ample opportunity, but no materials. Another thing I might have done was to have ascertained who the 'medium' was. Madame Z. herself denies that she is mediumistic, but I can think of no one else. Apparently, there was no medium.

I have to say that, all things considered, Price maintains a fair amount of skepticism over what he experienced. I'm not so sure that I would have been able to retain such skepticism after what Price had witnessed. Steiger notes that after Price refused to divulge the information about the identities of those involved in the séance, his already tarnished reputation within the psychical research field was hurt even more. Investigators not only wanted to know who the séance members were, they also wished to perform their own investigations. But Price was nothing if not a man of his word and so, as far as I've been able to determine, the identities have remained a mystery. Let me know what you think of this story, and be sure to follow the links below for more information, including a link to the entire chapter of Price's book that was devoted to the case of Rosalie.

Further Reading:

Rosalie Chapter of Fifty years of Psychical Research

Harry Price website

Life happens.

Hey there readers, sorry it's been a few days since my last post. Life has been pretty hectic here the last few nights. So I'm back with just a quick little post in order to get your opinion on what you think.

The video below is purportedly of "poltergeist" activity. It looks interesting, but as with most things that are found on the internet (and YouTube in particular) I take it with a grain of salt, at best. At worst I can only assume it's a hoax. Anyway have a look for yourself and let me know what you think. Until next time, take it easy!

Here's the link to the guys site that is videoing this "activity". And here is a link to the relevant discussion over at the AboveTopSecret website.

It's all about belief

Earlier today on his Twitter account, Greg Bishop posed an interesting question:

spacebrother To disclosure advocates (and others): Would you trust what is disclosed by the government if it's what you want to hear?

My response was fairly straight forward, and if you have been at Forteania long enough you probably know what I said. I replied:

@spacebrother I think so because I don't think disclosure advocates want the "truth" so much as a confirmation of their belief system

The problem with Disclosure, and other issues in the realm of the Fortean (and in life for that matter) are our belief systems. What tends to happen is that people are more likely to accept only those things that fit easily into their world views (reality tunnels) or whatever belief system that they hold. Or in some cases they will interpret the data coming into their brains through their belief systems. As an example, I over heard two co-workers talking about an experience that one of them had had the previous weekend during a church service. A woman was at the front of the congregation singing a hymn, and the entire congregation was really 'feeling the spirit' as my co-worker put it. Suddenly the woman who was singing let out a loud scream. Evidently she had felt a hand being place on her cheek. The interesting part is that all of the congregation was able to clearly make a hand print upon the woman's cheek, immediately following the event. Now of course for those that had witnessed this event, it was truly a miracle. Perhaps it was even a sign from God.

I'm not arguing as to what may or may not have occurred in this case. I wasn't there so I can't say for sure. What we can take away from this story however, is that people interpret events based on their world views. Since this phantom hand print appeared during a church service, then it was obviously the work of God or perhaps angels or what have you. But if it had occurred during say, a séance? What then? Well in this case it might have been further proof of the medium's contact with the 'other side'. This gets us back to the True Believer vs Pseudo-skeptic issue that I have brought up time after time on this blog. Both sides of the eternal debate are so wrapped up in their beliefs that they have a difficult time entertaining the other person's point of view.

Disclosure is another obvious example of this within the Fortean arena. The Disclosure movement will not stop demanding the 'Truth' from the government until it is released. The problem is they have a very specific idea of just what exactly this 'Truth' is. But that doesn't necessarily translate to what may or may not exist in reality. It seems that unless the 'Government' hands over the alien spaceship that crashed at Roswell, or whatever particular part of the modern UFO that the Disclosure person believes in, they will not be satisfied. This would seem to be because they are not looking for some objective 'Truth' that is grounded in our consensus 'reality' (we just can't get away from this damn word), rather they are looking for a confirmation of their beliefs.

I am not intending on picking on the Disclosure movement. Really we are all guilty of this to one degree or another, we all have a belief system to some degree or another. Now, how much we let it dictate our actions and/or opinions is another matter entirely. Like anything else, perhaps just by recognizing that we have this kind of hindrance to gaining new insight, we can move past it in order to try and learn things. I don't mean to invalidate beliefs, unless they turn out to be incorrect of course, we are entitled to believe whatever we wish.

If you prefer to think that the government has already solved the UFO problem, which I admit is a pretty comforting position to be in (it removes the mystery), then by all means knock yourself out. Personally I would like to refrain from coming down on one side or another. It's part of my life philosophy, which I am in the process of developing because we should never stop growing and learning. I simply try to assimilate as much data as possible on a given topic and then come to a tentative position on the issue. If I later learn something that invalidates my previous opinion I discard it and make a new one. I'm not perfect, so it doesn't always work out. After all I'm only human. But I try a little bit more each day to challenge myself.

I would urge each of you to do the same. Try and be as open minded as possible about whatever is coming into your reality tunnel. The next time a phantom hand print appears on someone, don't be so quick to conclude what caused it (whether religious, paranormal, or perhaps scientific) rather just file it away until you have more data on it. It's hard for us to admit sometimes that we just really don't know a lot about what's going on out there in the world. But it's at least intellectually honest to do so. Until next time, watch out for those handsy spirits!

More pictures! This time of Ghosts!

Following on last night's theme of famous UFO photos, I have decided tonight to showcase some famous Ghost photos. As with last night I will leave the judgment up to you as to the authenticity of the purported phenomena that has been captured by the camera.

First up is the Brown Lady

This is a photo that is believed to have capture the spirit of Lady Dorothy Townsend who was the sister of England's first prime minister, Sir Robert Walpole. Her ghost had been sighted off and on for about two hundreds years when finally she was 'captured' on film. The person that was able to capture the photo you see above was Indra Shira a photographer who had been hired to take pictures of Rainham Hall. According to his testimony, as Shira was preparing to take an image of the staircase he saw a shadowy smoky form appear to take the shape of a girl and had his assistant take the shot. The result is seen above. Experts that have examined the photo have found no evidence of either forgery or fakery.      

Up next is the Tulip Staircase Ghost

When the Rev. R. W. Hardy and his wife were on vacation from Canada to England in 1966, they decided to visit the Queen's House. This was a place that Charles I had built for his wife, Henrietta Maria, which is situated on the Thames below London. While they were sightseeing and taking pictures to remember their trip, the Reverend decided to snap a photo of a staircase (I promise there isn't a pattern developing here I promise). They didn't have the film developed until they returned to their home in British Columbia, once they had they noticed the above photo that appears to show a cloaked figure ascending the staircase.      

The Back Seat Ghost

This next one is fairly straight forward when compared to the last two. A husband and wife went to the graveyard where her mother was buried in order to take photographs  (because who doesn't do that right?). When the wife was returning to the car, she decided to take a picture of her husband who was alone in the car. Or at least he was supposed to be. Upon development of the photos, the wife immediately recognized that the person sitting in the back seat was in fact her mother.    
 
And last but by no means least is the Hampton Court Ghost

This last one is both the most recent one available and the most intriguing. The above is actually a still frame from a CCTV recording of a cloaked figure opening a door at the Hampton Court in West London. Many tourists had claimed that they had seen the figure while on tour of the palace. But it wasn't until the CCTV footage (which you can view here) that seemed to provide some evidence to support this claim. Follow the link to see the footage for yourself, but if you can I will summarize it for you. Basically a figure in what appears to be period dress bursts through the doors in the frame and steps through, then proceeds to close the doors one at a time. Apparently no staff was present at the time, as this occurred after hours. No explanation has been offered and it hasn't been seen since.    

The problem with Ghost pictures is really the same as with photos of any Fortean phenomena, namely that people are going to assume that it was faked. Especially if it's too good to be true. I offer the above images simply for your enjoyment, maybe you hadn't seen them before and so you were able to learn something. Well that's all from me tonight loyal readers. I am off to bed, I have work and then class tomorrow night. Take it easy!