The Manor 36 - The Experiments

GC Experiments conducted during 36hr investigation.

Whilst still being present in the manor house that was to be our home for 36 hours we decided to also take some time to conduct some experiments in various realms of the paranormal.

1.Psychometry
2.Talking Board / Glass Divination
3.Fake photography challenge.

1.Psychometry has become a stalwart of the psychic. Supposedly a skill whereby an object of any description can be held by the 'reader' and, without any input from the objects owner accurate information about the owner or previous owners can be forthcoming from the object.
In order to test this theory we chose to obtain objects from random people within our work places which would be provided in a sealed plain envelope only to be opened within the realms of the experiment. The team would select an envelope at random and open it and record any information gleaned on a piece of paper. The objects would, at some later point, be 'read' by another member of the team and again the results recorded. The experiment concluded the objects would be returned to the work location from which they had been provided and the owners requested to claim them. Once claimed the owners were requested to 'mark' the recorded information for accuracy according to their own interpretations without any further input being provided by the team.

This was thought to have been a relatively foolproof method of conducting the experiment. It was to fall down at this point. Two of the objects where returned and six months later the results have still not been handed back to the team. Any accurate assessment of the experiment cannot be made on this basis.

What we can say is that there were very few accurate answers recorded among the results we did get returned. An analysis of these results also shows that what one 'owner' may see as accurate information could actually be a relatively vague piece of information given. This is the assessment of the team including the team member who wrote the information.

In this way we have been able to say that none of the specific information i.e. names, dates, locations given was correct. Small snippets of information can be interpreted by the 'owner' as relevant however vague they may be. We believe that when dealing with a number of 'owners' it can never be guaranteed how they will interpret the information recorded when not given any specific guidelines how to.

It would appear, that in this instance, that our lack of instruction in the interests of fairness showed the flaws in this type of approach.

We are keen to explore this further although are currently working on a more reliable method of doing so.

2.The talking board has become widely known as the Ouija after a board game marketed in the US by Parker Brothers. It commonly consists of a board on which the letters of the alphabet and numbers 0-9 plus 'Yes' and 'No' are marked, with variations. Upon this board is placed a planchette or drinking glass. The planchette is normally of similar construction and design to the board and has a pointer or hole in its design in order that letters can be clearly indicated. It is alleged that 'spirits' can talk through the board by manoeuvring the planchette to the required letters to spell out a word or phrase at their own behest or answering a question raised by the persons seated around the board. The 'sitters' around the board place their fingers upon the glass or planchette and it then moves.

Theories for its movement include genuine spirit movement, fraud (i.e. deliberate movement on behalf of one or more of the sitters), or ideometer effect (subconscious movement caused by one or more of the sitters).

Frequently, reports of its use indicate that disjointed phrases are forthcoming and interpreted by those present to be from the dead. It is also widely seen that in many instances of its use are claimed to be personal relatives as opposed to anything linked to the premise that the exercise is being conducted in.

There are further schools of thought that place the use of boards in the realm of the occult and believe them to be harmful or attractors of evil spirits.

Ghost Connections do not advocate the use of talking boards during normal investigations although the exploration of the phenomena itself has long intrigued us.

In previous experiments of a controlled nature we have never seen any movement exhibited although have questioned the fact that there may be a small degree of movement from the feelings in our fingers on the glass or planchette. In this case we set out to closely monitor the board with video cameras for further analysis of any movement later. We also chose to use a marked glass. Markings were placed on the edge of the glass that would be visible to the camera and show any degree of rotational movement.

We had, further, made our own board as this is also mooted to enhance the keenness of the dead to communicate.

We took our places and recorded the events on video and audio.

Alternating those persons in contact with the glass ensured that muscles didn't relax and cause involuntary movement. Further, Paddy placed his finger upon the glass in an inverted position so there was no friction caused by the finger contours in the skin and the likelihood of any enforced movement was reduced.

We were all willing the glass to move by any means other than our own conciousness.

There was no movement witnessed, either at the time or on the latterly reviewed footage.

Our experimental use of a talking board was inconclusive.

We had previously marked the reverse of the board with a cross haired design marked around the base of the glass. The cross hairs themselves were marked to match the markings on the rim of the glass. This was to show the degree of any movement.

The method of glass divination is very similar to the technique of the talking board and the theories to explain its movement are identical. The only difference is that the board or surface used is not marked in any way and specific directions are dictated by either the sitters or the 'spirit' being contacted upon invitation.

Again efforts were made to invite anyone to use this method of communication.

Again there was no movement observed, either at the time or on the footage.

Our experimental glass divination experiment was also inconclusive.

3.Photography recreation

We undertook to reproduce another fake photograph with the use of photography skills and modern trickery.

We chose a photograph of a polish medium by the name of Stanislawa Tomczyk allegedly raising small object by a technique known as psycho-kynesis (power of the mind) in 1909.

If you look very carefully at the right thumb of the medium where she has the scissors suspended between open hands it appears that there is a constriction around her thumb as if the scissors are suspended from them by some sort of cord that is unseen in the photograph.

Using fishing line we suspended a pair of scissors between Kim's thumbs in a similar manner and then took long exposure photographs in a well lit room without the use of flash to cut down on reflection on the fishing line.

Due to Kim wearing a black top we had to use photoshop to alter our image to remove the shine of the fishing line against the black top. It will also be noted that there is a constriction around Kim's thumb in the same position.

This produced the finished product seen here inside a few minutes.

Whilst we can't say that the original is definitely a fake or manipulated photograph we have shown that it is possible to imitate the photograph using a modern SLR camera and after market computer manipulation programs.

We suggest that the original photograph shows some sort of illusion where the method of suspension is not visible against the bright background of the mediums white blouse.