The Scole Blog

2022-05-13: TRIBUTE TO ROBIN FOY ON 13 MAY 2022

13/5/2022

Robin Foy, A Tribute
by Grant Solomon and Jane Solomon
13 May 2022

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This Tribute is also in the ebook (published 14 Sep 2023) Witnessing The Impossible: The Diary of The Scole Experiment

Remembering ‘possibly the most experienced and successful organizer and promoter of physical mediumship circles in the last century’.

In this tribute to our friend and colleague, Robin Foy (1943-2022), we have attempted to provide an historical journey through a remarkable life dedicated to psychical research in pursuit of physical mediumship.

Robin was both an experienced psi practitioner and knowledgeable field investigator, his ‘other job’, for nearly half a century; a psychical research career that spanned more than a third of the 140-year existence of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR), whose members investigated The Scole Experiment. His specialist book collection was extensive and he was well-read in the history of the subject. Robin’s aims and methods mirrored those of the SPR founders, including the collection and investigation of data and sitting through endless dull séances in the pursuit of scientific explanations.[1] Although not a Spiritualist in the religious sense, Robin sought to combine his special interest in physical mediumship and its ‘spiritualistic’ phenomena – in his view especially evidential because they can be experienced via the five senses of everyone present – with a scientific approach to their investigation. He strove to maintain a foot firmly in both camps in order to gather a body of scientific evidence for life after death in a lifelong effort to prove the existence of an afterlife. To achieve this end, he worked tirelessly to establish and spread a combined area of study he called spiritual science.

It appears that his five decades of dedicated psychical research into physical mediumship were considered fruitful by some senior researchers in the field. David Fontana, a former president of the SPR, said that physical phenomena could lead us to rethink some of the most cherished laws of science and, if this happens, history will rank Robin Foy alongside Lodge, Crookes, Conan Doyle and the other great investigators of the past.[2] Jeffrey Mishlove, winner of the 2021 Bigelow Institute’s ‘Best Evidence for Afterlife’ Essay Contest, describes Robin as ‘possibly the most experienced and successful organizer and promoter of physical mediumship circles in the last century’.[3]

We first met Robin when we attended a seminar given by the Scole Experimental Group (SEG) in September 1998. The SEG, co-founded by Robin, said it was involved in scientific research into physical mediumship and the afterlife. Robin was first to speak. A commanding presence at the podium, with his booming voice, he had little need for the microphone. The SEG were meeting twice-weekly to conduct experimental sessions in the cellar of seventeenth century Street Farmhouse, in the village of Scole, near Diss in Norfolk, where he and his wife Sandra lived. In a jovial and down-to-earth manner, Robin related extraordinary paranormal events which had been happening in the cellar for five years, including: spirit lights whizzing around; photos appearing on unopened film rolls which had never been in a camera; and two-way communication with other dimensions through a machine. The phenomena the SEG witnessed in the early sessions were so unusual that prominent members of the SPR had been inspired to investigate. Robin proudly held up the ‘Germanium Device for trans-dimensional communication’, which one of the SPR investigators, electrical engineer Arthur Ellison, had supervised the construction of after receiving instructions as to its design from the engineers and scientists in a team of spirit communicators. The device apparently worked without a power source. Robin’s talk was peppered with dates, facts, and measurements. The SPR investigators were already preparing a Scole report for specialist and scientific readers. Excited by Robin’s fascinating presentation, we proposed writing a book for a general audience to the four members of the Scole group: Robin, Sandra, Alan, and Diana.

After the spirit team had been consulted about a book, we were invited to Scole. Robin greeted us warmly and enthusiastically at the front door. In the living room, he pointed out the original carved motto above the old fireplace, constructed only a few decades after the passing of William Shakespeare: ‘Welcome Ever Smiles’. We certainly were made to feel welcome. Sandra plied us with numerous cups of tea, sandwiches, and delicious home-made cakes. Laughing loudly, Robin pointed to his ample waistline and said he could never resist his wife’s wonderful baking. Robin impressed us with his encyclopaedic knowledge of psychical research. He reeled off names, facts, and figures at the drop of a hat. He showed us his extensive library, covering all aspects of Spiritualism and psychical research, which had taken him over twenty-five years to collect. Browsing, we saw it included works by Frederic Myers, Arthur Conan Doyle, and William Barrett. Robin proudly pointed out publications going back to the 1800s. A glass cabinet in the corner contained numerous apports—a wide variety of objects which were appearing spontaneously in the cellar with a loud thud during the Scole experiments. He showed us hundreds of audiocassette tapes on which he had meticulously recorded all the sessions. We also learned he was keeping a diary of everything as it happened. His aim in keeping such detailed records was to accumulate a vast and accurate volume of evidence, as in a court of law, so that the weight of such evidence might prove the case for the existence of an afterlife ‘beyond reasonable doubt’.

A life closely connected to matters psychical had prepared Robin well for the events at Scole. He was born on 10 September 1943 in Blackpool, Lancashire, to a ‘naturally psychic’ mother who visited Spiritualist mediums and a logical and ‘rather sceptical’ father; an environment mirroring the two halves of his later psychical research self. Robin’s parents indulged his healthy interest in ghost stories so that a birthday or Christmas meant the excitement of tearing open wrapping paper to reveal such titles as Phantoms of the Night or Shane Leslie’s Ghost Book. The Foy family moved to Lincolnshire, where Robin had a happy childhood. After an education at Grimsby Grammar School, he joined the Royal Air Force and became a pilot and was stationed at RAF Hornchurch in Essex. He and his fellow airmen took full advantage of their free time to enjoy the local pubs. One Sunday afternoon, following lunch in the Officers’ Mess, while resting alone and completely sober in his room, he heard a woman’s voice speaking to him from mid-air, ‘You can heal with your hands.’ This experience was so convincing that he immediately rushed out to try healing his fellow airmen. After much ribbing, he learned the hard way to keep his own counsel in psi-related matters until he had evidence that other people had the same level of interest. Later in life, Robin did indeed go on to develop and practise his healing gift. While on leave at his parents’ home, a woman’s voice again spoke from mid-air to give him another message, ‘You will marry Linda Mitchell.’ Four years after this pronouncement, the prediction came true. Soon after leaving the air force, now married and with a young family to support, Robin began his career as a sales executive in the paper manufacturing trade, in which he was destined to spend the rest of his working life.

In 1973, aged 30, Robin’s life as a psychical researcher began. He felt drawn like a magnet to a newspaper advert ‘as if it were printed in bold type’. It had been placed by Elmer Brown, who regularly shared sittings with two famous practitioners: independent direct voice medium, Leslie Flint; and ‘Battling Bertha’ Harris. Brown was seeking sitters for his recently depleted home circle. An interview led to Robin joining the Elmer Brown Circle, where, in that same year, he made his first connection with the SPR when he met and sat with future president, Alan Gauld.[4] Decades later, Gauld stated: ‘I have known the leader of the Scole group for well over thirty years without finding any reason to regard him as anything other than totally sincere.’[5]

Robin continued to develop his mediumship and psychical research skills through regular attendance at sittings. In 1977, he met his second wife, Sandra, through a physical circle he had established in Romford. The couple married in April 1979. Their shared interest in genealogy led them to spend weekend breaks in the ‘haunted’ seventeenth century Scole Inn, from whose windows they first admired, and were drawn to, Street Farmhouse.

For the next decade, Robin and Sandra ran circles for the development of physical psychic phenomena with varying results. They helped Eileen Roberts, president of the Institute of Spiritualist Mediums (ISM), to establish and run a Home Circle Link, which embraced a number of member circles all over the world, with Robin and Sandra doing the bulk of the work for four years. During this period, they enjoyed meeting many overseas members when they travelled abroad.

In 1989, a spirit message received via independent voice, from a spirit communicator called ‘Noah Zerdin’, led Robin to found the Noah’s Ark Society for Physical Mediumship (NAS) in April 1990. He would remain chairman until 1994, when he left to concentrate on his Scole experiments. In those four years, they achieved their main aim of restoring worldwide interest in physical mediumship and its phenomena, so that it could be developed in home circles around the world and once again be demonstrated regularly and safely to the public.[6]

When the Foys moved into Street Farmhouse in 1991, a cellar was soon set up for sittings, which Robin affectionately called the ‘Scole Hole’. Robin and Sandra began building the Scole Home Circle and invited other groups to visit, including the NAS. At the end of August 1992, during a demonstration of traditional physical mediumship (using ectoplasm), something happened that would be forever etched in Robin’s memory, because it gave him his ultimate proof of life after death:[7]
"During the course of the séance, my father, who had passed into spirit in 1987, materialised quite solidly. I was able to embrace him, and I recognised his voice beyond a shadow of a doubt. Let’s face it, who among us would not know their own father? We had been extremely close in life and were able to carry on a personal conversation during which my father spoke of things that only he and I in the world would know about. He gave me some very valuable advice about my health, which I immediately and wisely acted upon, as it proved to be extremely accurate when I called on my GP for confirmation the following day."

In order to develop the Scole Home Circle, Robin advertised in the ‘Circles Seeking Sitters’ section of the NAS monthly newsletter. Alan and Diana Bennett answered and attended their first sitting in January 1993. The Scole circle learned that their team of communicators were using a new form of ‘creative energy’ to power the Scole sessions rather than the traditional ectoplasm. The communicating team wanted to conduct experiments across the divide with this energy. The circle agreed, becoming the Scole Experimental Group (SEG) in the process, and so ‘The Scole Experiment’ proper had begun. The SEG stated they were not Spiritualists, and did not wish their work to be connected with a religion—whether Spiritualism or any other denomination.[8] After more apports and a wide range of other physical phenomena, Robin, ever the keen sharer and educator, set up the New Spiritual Science Foundation (NSSF) with Sandra and the other members of the SEG to report to a wider audience on the events unfolding in the Scole Hole.

The first issue of the NSSF magazine, The Spiritual Scientist (December 1994), alerted SPR members to what was happening at Scole, through their association with PRISM (Psychical Research Involving Selected Mediums), a joint investigatory body, championed by Archie Roy, involving – harking back to the very earliest days of the SPR – members of both the SPR and the Spiritualists’ National Union (SNU). The Scole spirit communicators had already said it was intended for the SEG to work with ‘sympathetic scientists’. Robin was therefore over the moon when, in 1995, three SPR and PRISM members – Montague Keen, Arthur Ellison, and Ralph Noyes – began attending Scole sessions. After two sittings, David Fontana took the place of Noyes. Scole sessions were later attended by other SPR members, including Alan Gauld, Donald West, Bob Morris, Archie Roy, Bernard Carr, Tony Cornell, John Beloff, Melvyn Willin, Leslie Banks, Rosemary Dinnage, Ivor Grattan-Guinness, Rupert Sheldrake, and Ingrid Slack.[9]

In 1996, Robin published, In Pursuit of Physical Mediumship, an autobiography about his experiences to date. Reviewed by Mary Rose Barrington in the JSPR[10], the book explains how, and why, Robin was captivated by the direct voice productions of Leslie Flint, his communications with Winston Churchill, and how he devoted his spare time to expanding his experience and sharing it with others. On the back cover, Arthur Ellison describes Robin as an outstanding character in the Spiritualist movement whose pioneering research efforts in the field make fascinating reading. The book ends in 1994, when the SEG was beginning to get interesting results.

As word of the physical mediumship taking place at Scole spread, there was interest around the world from people who wished to set up their own group. Robin, together with Sandra and the Bennetts, published A Basic Guide to the Development and Practice of The New Physical Psychic Phenomena Using Energy, which is freely available for download online.[11]

After the Scole experiments ended unexpectedly in disappointing circumstances for everyone concerned in 1998, Robin was heartened when, in 1999, the SPR issued a detailed Proceedings, part of Volume 58, entitled The Scole Report: An Account of an Investigation into the Genuineness of a range of Physical Phenomena associated with a Mediumistic Group in Norfolk, England; in which the three principal investigators confirmed they had witnessed a wide range of phenomena, including evidence favouring the hypothesis of intelligent forces able to influence material objects, and to convey associated meaningful messages, both visual and aural, and were unable to detect any direct indication of fraud or deception.[12] Of course, in an organisation such as the SPR, which holds no corporate view, there were members who were less convinced by the same evidence, as illustrated by the doubts expressed in the contributions from Donald West, Tony Cornell, and Alan Gauld in the Appendices of the report. As a widely read student of psychical research, Robin understood this. However, in his view, some of the criticisms were unfounded, especially the oft-repeated claim that the whole experiment was conducted in complete darkness; since the evidence of his own experience, and the testimony of credible SPR witnesses, suggested the opposite. Robin was therefore very pleased when, in 1999, at the SPR’s Scole Debate in London, Ivor Grattan-Guinness gave video witness testimony, subsequently added to the archives by Monty Keen, relating to his experience catching balls of light which had mass and enough ‘light power’ to illuminate his face.[13]. In Robin’s opinion, Ivor’s ‘fearless’ interview – which may be the first recorded with an SPR member simultaneously crunching on an apple – about what he actually experienced, was ‘very brave’ given his academic status as a professor of the History of Mathematics and Logic.

For a non-member, Robin’s contribution to the activities and interests of the SPR was considerable. Indirectly, his field work raised awareness of the SPR around the world and demonstrated that it is a learned organisation with no corporate view in which members can agree to radically disagree. In regard to the Scole case, whilst the circulation of The Spiritual Scientist and readership of the Scole Report were specialist and initially limited, Robin was delighted when our book for the general reader, The Scole Experiment, reached millions via coverage in national newspapers and magazines in the UK and as far afield as Germany and Japan. This book was written in association with Robin and the other members of the SEG, and in close collaboration with the three principal Scole investigators – Ellison wrote the Foreword, Fontana wrote the Afterword, and Keen contributed heavily to a chapter and acted as overall expert SPR consultant – who expressly asked us to include as much of the Scole Report in the book as feasible. Robin was not, however, so pleased, when, in advance of the report and book, staff journalist, Bryan Appleyard, wrote a long, critical, front-page article on Scole in The Sunday Times Magazine, which he thought was inaccurate.[14] Some SPR members were concerned that Appleyard had made the organisation look foolishly credulous and out of touch with reality.[15] Our own serialisation of the Scole experiments, covering the five years of Scole material in its entirety – including the UFO and extra-terrestrial phenomena – appeared in the Daily Mail shortly afterwards.[16] This also caused a bit of a stir and some consternation amongst SPR members. Robin’s reaction to the hullabaloo was to smile sagely and say to us that, since all those things happened, they should all be reported on. Further controversy about Robin’s Scole field work in association with SPR members inevitably continued in various contributions to this magazine.[17] Melvyn Willin’s brief overview of ‘The Scole Circle’ can be found on Psi Encylopedia.[18]

Through his tireless organization of mediumship circles, research efforts, books, magazines, and websites supporting mediums internationally, Robin became very well known in psychical research worldwide. After the experiments at Scole finished, he and Sandra visited medium, Marcello Bacci, in Italy, where they participated in his attempts to contact discarnate entities by radio. Robin thought there was evidence that members of the Scole team of communicators were coming through. The Bacci radio experiments would later be included in a documentary which generated considerable interest in Robin’s ongoing research. In 2008, Robin published Witnessing The Impossible. This comprehensive diary of the Scole experiments, in which he records nearly every session the SEG conducted in detail, including 180 new types of physical phenomena observed – many in the presence of senior SPR members – is a further example of his dedication to meticulous documentation. A review by Guy Lyon Playfair, who observes that there ‘never seems to have been a dull moment’, can be found in the JSPR.[19] Jeffrey Mishlove’s review says the book describes an amazing project, possibly constituting the greatest variety and intensity of unbelievable physical phenomena in the history of parapsychology and psychical research.[20] In September 2011, Robin featured in a documentary film, narrated by Donal MacIntyre, The Afterlife Investigations: The Scole Experiments.[21] This spread Robin’s work (and indirectly that of the SPR) to more than a million viewers on YouTube. Tom Ruffles, as he helped out with the SPR website’s inbox, regularly noticed emails requesting copies of the Scole Report. This led, in October 2011, to the SPR making the report available to a wider audience as a mass circulation paperback.[22] Needless to say, after a lifetime of striving to make spiritual science more widely known and appreciated, Robin was thrilled that his psychical research work was getting such attention in these various ways around the world.

Robin’s research activity involved a wide variety of people and took him to many countries, including Egypt, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, and the USA. On his travels, he met many prominent researchers, including Ernst Senkowski and Russell Targ. Along this rollercoaster ride of a journey, Robin also felt honoured to meet and work with a wide range of Spiritualists, mediums, and other assorted psi practitioners; those lay psychical researchers who, he regretted, were often under-credited and sometimes unfairly criticised. His opinion was that these people worked hard, often without financial reward, at their mediumship and other skills, thus potentially providing the actual material for investigation by the academics and scientists in the field. These psi practitioners included Leslie Flint, Alan and Diana Bennett, Gordon Higginson, John Squires, Brigitte Rix, Uwe and Beate Siegert, Brian Hurst, Geoffrey Jacobs, Paul McElhoney, Colin Fry, Stewart Alexander, David Thompson, Mavis King, Tom and Linda Anderson, the Yellow Cloud Circle in France, the Theatre School Circle in Streatham, Scott Milligan, Kai Muegge, Sandy Horsford, and Tom and Brenda Sawyer. Last year, two decades after the event, we filmed an interview with medium, Brenda Sawyer, now in her nineties, about her enlightening memories of attending the circle at Robin’s home in Scole, where she and her husband Tom spoke evidentially to their son, Jim, who had been killed some years earlier whilst serving in the RAF.[23]

In 2007, the Foys retired to Formentera del Segura in Spain where, through their continuing psychical research activities, they met and formed a circle with German couple, Uwe and Beate Siegert. This led to Uwe’s rapid development as a physical trance medium. Very soon their circle started to get tangible phenomena such as independent voice, apports, and spirit lights. The led to members of the Sociedad Científica de Investigación Psíquica (SCIP) attending a very evidential sitting which included an impressive range of phenomena: illuminated balls of light travelling around the room; touches which conveyed emotion; and the materialisation of a hand.[24] Robin hoped that this heralded the long-awaited return of something akin to the Scole phenomena. In the summer of 2021, the Foys and the Siegerts, now the Torcal Experimental Group (TEG), founded the Spiritual Science Founders Association (SSFA) and Robin and Sandra moved into its large new centre in the Torcal region, with a view to creating a permanent international facility for the practice and promotion of physical mediumship. Unfortunately, Robin’s health worsened before the Torcal centre could be properly established and it had to be closed down.

Like many psychical researchers seeking evidence for psi, especially spiritualistic physical phenomena, Robin’s disappointments and lows were many and various. He spent thousands of hours in sittings at which not very much, if anything at all, happened by way of evidence. Throughout his life, like other researchers before him, he experienced instances of hoaxing during sittings, when apparently genuine phenomena had been witnessed with the same medium both before and after the offending sitting: ‘It’s complicated.’ Even in the face of the fierce criticism of such events spilling over in his direction, he appeared to endure all such disappointments with good grace, an open heart, and a ‘we need to keep trying’ attitude. Given the huge amount of research time he had spent in séance rooms around the world, and the evidence he had witnessed, he was especially disappointed by researchers who, having attended a sitting or two and spotted some sort of hoaxing behaviour, concluded that all the phenomena of physical mediumship must be faked. Before the Torcal disappointment, Robin went through the pain of the entirely unexpected cessation of the experiments at Scole. He had formed such a warm and close bond with the Scole communicators that he considered them to be part of his family and he felt the loss keenly.

On the other hand, the highs of a life dedicated to psychical research were also many and various. Robin felt privileged to have ‘met’ and worked with so many friends from the spirit world and ‘elsewhere’. These personalities included: Winston Churchill (a regular communicator with a special connection to Robin who presented as ‘Winnie’); William Wordsworth (who sent a poem on a film signed ‘WW’); Oliver Lodge (who presented using his middle name, ‘Joseph’); Arthur Conan Doyle (who transmitted a photograph of himself onto a sealed Polaroid film); Thomas Alva Edison (who transmitted modifications to the design of the Germanium Device onto a Kodachrome film roll signed ‘TAE’ which was in a sealed wooden security box, and then spoke through the machine once it was built); Mrs Emily Bradshaw (a well-spoken lady from the nineteenth century who was heavily involved in charity work); Hoo (who lived in China); John Paxton (an evolved spirit entity who experienced an earth life many hundreds of years ago); Manu (possibly an Inca from Peru – Manu and his Victorian child helpers brought apports to Scole on a regular basis); Patrick McKenna (a jovial Irish priest with a liking for Guinness and cigars); Raji (a prince who belonged to a caste of ancient Hindu warriors); Charlie Small Boy (an associate Raji brought along to public sittings to pat sitters on the head); Reg Lawrence (‘energy voice expert’); Edward Matthews (an army officer during World War I); White Cloud and Stargazer (Native Americans); Blue and Blue Two (extra-terrestrials who transmitted moving images of themselves onto video film in a completely dark cellar [25] – Blue also manifested physically); and Varren-Here-Ic (a high-ranking ‘stellar friend’, who spoke through the Germanium Device from a far-distant dimension to explain why the Scole experiments had to end). ‘Never a dull moment’ indeed!

When we reached out to people for their memories of Robin, we learned just how much he was held in high regard. Alan and Diana Bennett were highly impressed with his dedication, attention to detail, and boundless enthusiasm for field experiments. When British physical medium, Brian Russell, needed help establishing a trance circle for physical phenomena, Robin encouraged the group members at every step in the process, advising them to keep notes and recordings of everything that happened. He was always willing to listen to everyone and to guide others. Beate and Uwe Siegert have fond memories of Robin. They loved hearing his deep, tuneful voice singing his favourite songs, such as ‘Run Rabbit Run’, during sittings and fondly remembered the joy he brought to the proceedings. They were impressed that Robin had a ‘very experienced ear’ and most of the time he was the first to hear a new voice or sound in the room. It was always a great honour for them to sit with ‘the legendary Robin Foy’ and his wife Sandra. French medium, Brigitte Rix, was impressed by Robin’s gift as a public speaker, his modesty, honesty, and empathy with his audience; and his immense knowledge of physical mediumship and all aspects of inter-dimensional communication. She still remembers the excitement of visiting the Scole cellar and experiencing amazing phenomena. Robin’s work proved to her that no one dies and that there are worlds and existence beyond this physical universe: ‘I, too, witnessed the impossible. Thank you, Robin and Sandra.’

Robin endeavoured to give full credit to those he worked with. One example of this was the dedication to the Scole trance mediums he wrote in the copy of Witnessing The Impossible that he presented to them: ‘For Diana and Alan – without whom there would have been no Scole Experiment’. He said to the Siegerts, ‘the whole circle is the medium’, thus confirming his conviction that all group members contribute to the energy of the session and the manifestation of any phenomena achieved.

Robin passed away in Spain on 10 April 2022. During a lifetime dedicated to spiritual science, he did his best to remind the psychical research community that accomplished mediums and committed circles are absolutely vital to field investigations. He looked forward to the day when psychical research would be widely accepted as a respectable subject worthy of scientific investigation, just as much as physics, chemistry, or biology.

It is likely that Robin Foy will continue to contribute to psychical research in the future through his wide-ranging legacy. A short time before he passed, we received an email from Robin asking if we could help him preserve, for future students of psychical research, his extensive collection of books and booklets, with his first suggestion being the SPR. We agreed to take this on. A friend and colleague of Robin’s, science officer of the SSFA, Alan Middleton, kindly organised the transport, at his own expense, of the 28-box collection from southern Spain to the UK, where another friend, Brigitte Rix, sorted and listed the 1,000 or so items. The SPR then arranged to take custody of the collection. Robin also asked us to publish his book, Witnessing The Impossible, his complete diary of the Scole experiments, in digital format, so that more people can study every one of the many hundreds of sessions chronologically and in detail. We have prepared this eBook to fulfil Robin’s request. In addition, hundreds of audiotapes from the Scole Experiment sessions are being digitised by Alan Middleton after Robin expressed his wish that making this audiotape evidence freely available may provide researchers with a deeper understanding as to how the five-year, 500-session, 1,000-hour, multi-country, psychical research experiment was conducted. One of these tapes reveals how, rather than ceasing the visits from SPR members to avoid being ‘exposed’, the SEG and the spirit communicators were working in closed sessions towards being able to invite the SPR investigators back for open sessions which could be captured on video (and so fulfil a particular request the investigators had made). As per the Leslie Flint audio archive, the Scole audiotapes may provide interesting learning opportunities for present and future students of psychical research.

We would like to leave the last word to Robin. When asked if he believed in life after death, his reply, based on nearly fifty years of dedicated psychical research, confirms that he had come to a conclusion: ‘No, I don’t believe in an afterlife. I know it exists…’

NOTES
[1] Zofia Weaver, ‘Our History’, SPR website, <https://www.spr.ac.uk/about/our-history>, retrieved 13 May 2022.
[2] Cover copy, In Pursuit of Physical Mediumship by Robin P Foy, (London: Janus, 1996).
[3] Jeffrey Mishlove [New Thinking Allowed] (14 May 2021), The Scole Experiment with Robin Foy [Video (description)], YouTube <https://youtu.be/kfCaLjQK46Y>.
[4] Robin P Foy (1996), p. 9.
[5] Montague Keen, Arthur Ellison, and David Fontana, ‘The Scole Report’, PSPR, 58, 220 (November 1999), pp. 404.
[6] Robin P Foy, Witnessing the Impossible, (Diss, Norfolk: Torcal Publications, 2008), p. 7.
[7] Grant and Jane Solomon, The Scole Experiment: Scientific Evidence for Life After Death, in association with The Scole Experimental Group, (London: Campion, 2006 [revised edition, originally published London: Piatkus, 1999]), pp. 35-36.
[8] Robin P Foy, (2008), p. 153.
[9] Montague Keen et al, (1999).
[10] Mary Rose Barrington, JSPR, 61, 845, (1996), pp. 268-270.
[11] New Spiritual Science Foundation. A Basic Guide to the Development and Practice of the New Physical Psychic Phenomena Using Energy (1996), <https://www.biofieldimaging.com/uploads/1/1/0/0/11003629/spiritual_science_basic_guide.pdf>.
[12] Montague Keen et al, (1999), p. 157.
[13] Grant and Jane Solomon. [Resolutions Research] (11 December 1999), The Scole Experiment: Witness Testimony from Emeritus Professor Ivor Grattan-Guinness [Video], YouTube <https://youtu.be/Hsu49unCjzg>.
[14] Bryan Appleyard, ‘Four Norfolk people have heard voices, felt flying objects and contacted the afterlife’, The Sunday Times Magazine(27 June 1999), pp.32-37.
[15] Tom Ruffles, ‘The Scole Report 2011 Reissue’, Tom Ruffles [Blog] (22 October 2011), <https://tomruffles.blogspot.com/2011/10/scole-report-2011-reissue.html>, retrieved 27 April 2022.
[16] Grant and Jane Solomon, ‘Is this really the proof of life after death?’, Daily Mail (23 October 1999), pp.48-50. ‘We had made contact with the dead. Now, were we about to hear voices from the far corners of the universe?’, Daily Mail (25 October 1999), pp.32-33.
[17] David Fontana, ‘The Scole Investigation and The Sunday Times’, Paranormal Review, 12 (October 1999), pp.12-15. Alan Gauld and Anthony D Cornell, ‘The Scole Investigation and The Sunday Times – A Response’, Paranormal Review, 13 (January 2000), pp.9-1. Montague Keen, ‘Assessing Scole in an Unworthy Piece of Journalism’, Paranormal Review, 14 (April 2000), pp.8-9. Rosemary Dinnage, ‘Afterthoughts on Scole’, Paranormal Review, 15 (July 2000), pp.9-12. Chris A Roe, ‘Physical Phenomena at the Turn of The Century: A Review of the Scole Study Day’, Paranormal Review, 15 (July 2000), pp.30-34. Montague Keen and David Fontana, ‘The Scole Report Five Years Later’, Paranormal Review, 37 (January 2006), pp.19-24.
[18] Melvyn Willin, ‘The Scole Circle’, Psi Encyclopedia, <https://psi-encyclopedia.spr.ac.uk/articles/scole-circle> (2015), retrieved 10 May 2022.
[19] Guy Lyon Playfair, JSPR, 74.4, 845, (2010), pp. 280-281.
[20] Jeffrey Mishlove [New Thinking Allowed] (14 May 2021).
[21] Tim Coleman, [UFOTV On Demand] (16 August 2012), The Afterlife Investigations: The Scole Experiments [Video], YouTube <https://youtu.be/6qSEi_sfaSU>.
[22] Tom Ruffles, [Blog] (22 October 2011).
[23] Grant and Jane Solomon [Grant and Jane: Writers] (14 December 2021), Witness to The Scole Experiment Brenda Sawyer 03.08.1997. Interview by GrantandJane.com 14.12.2021 [Video], YouTube <https://youtu.be/YBq3S_bp2z0>.
[24] Nacho Blasco, ‘Experience with The Torcal Experiment Group’ [trans. from Spanish by Beate Siegert], <https://www.thescoleexperiment.com/the-torcal-experiment.html> (2019), retrieved 9 May 2022, [original Spanish version <https://www.inveslife.com/experiencia-con-el-grupo-experimental-torcal>].
[25] The Scole Experiment website, [‘Blue’ and ‘Blue Two’ videos can be viewed on home page], <https://www.thescoleexperiment.com>.

The Scole Experiment: An eye-witness account of an 'energy sphere' light

29/9/2021

The Scole Experiment: An eye-witness account of an 'energy sphere' light

Professor Fontana was one of the three principal authors of The Scole Report, the scientific investigation of 'The Scole Experiment' conducted by members of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR).

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ENGLISH TRANSLATION

Report from a skeptical witness [Professor David Fontana (D.F.)]

'I (D.F.) now want to try to describe the light. The small energy sphere had a very vibrant, intense, bright green colour, so bright it was almost white in the middle. It had a round shape of about 5-7 mm in diameter. It was controlled by an external intelligence, as it performed various activities that were required by those present. The light passed through the table in the middle of the room at different speeds, both quietly and with a small knocking sound at the point of impact. On a dozen occasions, I felt it touch or pass through the material of my trouser leg. I want to compare the sensation with the soft touch of a finger, which is easy to perceive. The bullet landed gently on my outstretched hand twice, and the light that emanated from it illuminated my two hands and part of my clothing within an area of about three inches in diameter. This enabled me to observe the structure of the light more closely, and I can only describe it as a miniature version of the planet Jupiter or Uranus, with something that appeared as the outer surface of turbulent clouds. I could feel it touch my fingers, but whether that sensation was due to weight or radiated energy, I cannot say. But I felt it. (Text source: ZSTK, Vol. III, No. 1/2, 1996, S. 91f.)

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ORIGINAL GERMAN

Bericht eines skeptischen Zeugen

'Ich (D.F.) möchte nun versuchen, das Licht zu beschreiben. Die kleine Energiekugel hatte ein sehr lebendiges, intensiv-helles Grün, so hell, dass es in der Mitte nahezu weiß war. Sie besaß eine runde Form von etwa 5-7 mm Durchmesser. Sie wurde von einer äußeren Intelligenz gesteuert, da sie verschiedene Aktivitäten ausführte, die von den Anwesenden verlangt wurden. Das Licht ging mit unterschiedlichen Geschwindigkeiten durch den in der Mitte des Raumes stehenden Tisch hindurch, sowohl still als auch mit einem kleinen Klopfgeräusch an der Auftreffstelle. Bei einem Dutzend Gelegenheiten fühlte ich seine Berührung oder sein Hindurchgehen durch das Material meines Hosenbeins. Ich möchte die Empfindung mit dem zarten Antippen eines Fingers vergleichen, das leicht wahrzunehmen ist. Die Kugel landete zweimal sanft auf meiner ausgestreckten Hand und das Licht, das von ihr ausging, beleuchtete meine beiden Hände und einen Teil meiner Bekleidung innerhalb eines Bereiches von etwa 23 cm Durchmesser. Dies ermöglichte mir, die Struktur des Lichtes näher zu beobachten, und ich kann es nur als eine Miniaturausgabe des Planeten Jupiter oder Uranus beschreiben, mit etwas, das als äußere Oberfläche aus turbulenten Wolken erschien. Ich fühlte, wie es meine Finger berührte, ob aber diese Empfindung auf das Gewicht oder auf die ausgestrahlte Energie zurückzuführen war, kann ich nicht sagen. Aber ich fühlte es.' (Textquelle: ZSTK, Vol. III, No. 1/2, 1996, S. 91f.)

Weird Norfolk: The Scole Experiment

1/12/2017

Weird Norfolk: The Scole Experiment
By Stacia Briggs and Siofra Connor
Eastern Daily Press - 1 December 2017

It was an underground experiment which set out to find scientific evidence of the afterlife – and there were some startling discoveries.

The quartet, initially working with three friends, set out to see if the Victorian practice of holding séances had any basis in fact and whether it had been discredited unfairly as hocus-pocus.

Deep underground beneath the Foy's 17th century farmhouse – in a cellar nicknamed 'the Scole hole', the couples began to hold séances in pitch darkness in order to contact spirits who would be able to help them provide a scientifically-literate public with proof that there was life after death.

From February 1995, they were joined by members of the Society for Psychical Research, who observed what was happening and the sittings in Norfolk were later extended to include other experiments in Germany, Switzerland, Spain, the Netherlands and California. Hundreds of hours were taped by Robin Foy.

The evidence gathered at the séances was strangely compelling: the spirits which the four claimed to have reached can seemingly be heard on the recordings, each with their own distinct voices and at times apparently appearing from mid-air.

Light globes and pinpricks of light were seen dancing in the cellar, their movements responding to investigators' requests. There were lightning-like flashes, levitations, the displacement of objects in the room and endless taps that could be heard. The researchers reported materialisations of moving and walking forms, instruments in the house could be heard being played, those in the room felt they were being touched by hands, fingers and mouths and there were materialisations from cat and dog forms.

After making their way down the winding stairs and through a solid oak door to the midnight blue cellar, those who took part in the Scole Experiment would be seated around a round table in the middle of the room.

Each participant or observer would wear a luminous armband so his or her movements could be tracked in the chilly dark. Robin would begin with a prayer: 'Infinite spirits, creative source of all things, be with us this evening and guide us in our work towards the highest good…'

On one occasion in October 1993, a Churchill Crown coin landed on the table during a séance, during others a so-called 'spirit team' was contacted which told the researchers that it consisted of 'thousands of minds' working in unison to provide tangible proof of other dimensions.

Following the coin, group members saw dancing lights, heard the ringing of bells, saw objects hover in mid-air and heard noisy crackling. In January 1994, they were sprinkled with water.

Cameras began to levitate and take their own photographs, images magically appeared on rolls of unopened film still in their factory-sealed packaging.

In October 1995, three leading members of the Society for Psychical Research, Arthur Ellison, David Fontana and Monty Keen came to observe a séance and all three concluded that they had witnessed 'something paranormal'. In 1999, the society published a 450-page report about the Scole Experiment which was predominantly supportive of the legitimacy of its aims, goals and results.

The phenomena reported attracted criticism from those who suggested that the group's insistence on complete darkness invited suspicion, but those that knew the group insisted on their honesty.

Having created what they called an 'inter-dimensional doorway' the group was dismayed when 'a group of experimenters from the future whose motives were not entirely benevolent' caused 'an interference contrary to the strict laws of time and space'. The group disbanded.

In 2006, Diana and Alan Bennett began work on The Norfolk Experiment, at the time, they said: 'We owed so much to those in the higher realms that we knew in our hearts we would continue to experiment in one way or another. I have always seen, in my mind's eye, a phoenix rising from the ashes with renewed vigour to live through another cycle.' The truth, as they say, is out there.

For original article click here.

The Scole Mediums Give Reasons For Going Beyond The Scole Experiment To The Norfolk Experiment

22/5/2006

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Introduction to the new work of the two Scole mediums, Alan and Diana Bennett (See the new Crystal Photographic Experiments [CPE]).

Extract (pp254-261) from The Scole Experiment: Scientific Evidence for Life After Death (Updated 2006 Edition with new 'The Norfolk Experiment' content) by Grant and Jane Solomon

Having been in regular contact with Alan and Diana, the Scole mediums, since the cessation of proceedings at Scole, we were very pleased to hear from them, in early 2006, with an invitation to visit. They had, we learned, been working ‘in a different way to Scole’, and results had started to come through. We travelled to their home in Norfolk, wondering what might be in store. If the portal(s) had indeed been re-opened for communication with other dimensions, we speculated on what form that communication might take.

On arrival, Alan brought us up-to-date by showing us an article which had been published in the Scole Group magazine, the Spiritual Scientist, which read as follows:

So many times people would say to us, ‘Oh how disappointed you must be, not being able to carry on with the Scole Experiments’. Well yes, there is always some sadness when something like that comes to a premature end, but we were always told to try and be positive in our thoughts whenever possible. So sadness and disappointment should only really be short lived, and not allowed to dominate our thoughts and lives.

Although we (as a group) have not been carrying out experimental sessions at Scole over the last few years, we have as individuals been exploring our own particular interests in psychic phenomena and healing. Having been very much involved (Diana and I were the two mediums at Scole) at the cutting edge of psychic research, we decided, after a long break, that we were not prepared to stop working altogether. We owed so much to those in the higher realms that we knew in our hearts we would continue to experiment in one way or another. I have always seen, in my mind’s eye, a phoenix rising from the ashes with renewed vigour to live through another cycle.

Diana has always had that wonderful gift of ‘far sight’ and receiving guidance in her dreams, so it was no surprise when she told me that she had ‘seen’ the two of us working together again. She was told how we should take the first step, in the form of a shared spiritual experience. We followed her vision of a simple experiment using a crystal, where the two of us linked together mentally and shared a journey of exploration.

This experience was incredible; we were both shown such wonders and places. We were guided by a sentient being through a wonderful ‘magical mystery tour’ where we met another being whom we conversed with. Through several other forms of communication we were shown how to set up an experiment that would, they explained, enable us to glimpse into other worlds (dimensions). We found that it was necessary to continue to follow our intuition, and to be ‘guided’ by them, if we were to achieve satisfactory results. It has required total dedication and perseverance as well as an open but still discerning mind. Before I continue, I would like to mention one very important factor, and that is that old chestnut ‘total darkness’.

We were ‘guided’ to do this new work in full light. After so much criticism in the past regarding the physical phenomena obtained at Scole being in total darkness, we decided that we would only continue to work, as mediums, in full light. This has proved not to be prohibitive in anyway whatsoever, as we have already achieved very encouraging results.

THE NORFOLK EXPERIMENT: EQUIPMENT & SETUP

What lies at the very ‘heart’ of these experiments is the process we are using to access these dimensions. As I have already said, we were told just how to set up these experiments and how it would involve the use of light and colours. This is very important. It also requires our joint input in the form of a powerful visualisation to create a central focal point for the experiment. Refracted light is then focused onto this point through several lenses before the computer software captures the images.

Our current experiments mainly take the form of a joint meditative session, where we raise our consciousness and focus together on our objective for that experiment. The equipment is pre-configured and ready to run, allowing us to concentrate on the ‘higher’ aspects of what we are doing. We usually have several ‘takes’ during a typical session, again leaving it to what feels right as we rarely know for sure if we have been successful in capturing any faces. Some of the best results we have obtained have been with ordinary photographic equipment.

We now find ourselves using our own intuition and not relying entirely on ‘spirit’ communication for direction. This, I have to say, has been very interesting, exploring the different possibilities and approaches to the experiments, by allowing our ‘higher minds’ to guide us.

Only guessing
We can only guess as to what is actually happening when we receive a positive result, and by following the ‘intuitive’ suggestions offered we feel we are giving the experiment the best possible chance. We have felt for some time that the chances of a good result are greatly improved if we offer as many variables as possible within the experimental framework. By this I mean thinking of the experiments themselves as multi-dimensional and not just a singular attempt to get a singular result.

I firmly believe that by supplying a randomized source of material for the ‘other side’ to use, we (and they) stand a far greater chance of success. although not exclusively, faces seem to be the most common results up to this time (see plate section). From the many images we have, around 90% are faces, or parts of faces. Some are literally half faces, which lend themselves to the use of a mirror to make a more complete face.

THE NORFOLK EXPERIMENT: SETUP IN DAYLIGHT & SOME OF IMAGES 'RECEIVED' FROM THE 'COMMUNICATORS' WHO CALL THEMSELVES 'THE TEAM OF MANY MINDS'

Mirror images
By this we mean images (usually faces) that appear to be mirrored as well as captured using mirrors. We do not see any reason why the use of mirrors should be seen as reducing the value of a positive result. On the contrary, we believe that any equipment which aids the results is useful. It was explained to us through ‘communications’ that experimenting with reflected and refracted light would give us a much wider field to explore. It was implied that water was also important and could help.

We have used various types of mirror during our experiments over the past few years. Coloured (polished metal) mirrors have given some of our best results, full of colour and definition. It would seem that colour and definition go hand in hand in our work, as the monochrome images, although still very interesting, seem to lack the quality that the coloured ones have. We have used these mirrors to reflect a light source back into the point of focus (where we capture the images), to give the subject depth. Have you ever looked through a simple microscope and seen how adjusting the mirror (light source) gives the object greater depth and makes it stand out against its background? This is similar to what the camera sees during our experiments.

Refraction and Reflection
With our light experiments, we generate a vast spectrum of colour and intensities by passing the light source through crystal. This source itself is variable, which, in turn, causes many different light patterns and colours to be formed. Some of the light frequencies generated are of course beyond our own visible spectrum, so the resulting light contains much more information than we realise.

We may include a mirror between the source and the crystal (focus) or beyond the focal point, allowing the light to flood back onto the subject. Apart from ordinary mirrors, we have used convex and concave mirrors to very good effect. We have also experimented with polished metallic disks such as brass (yellow) and copper (red), which have created some of the more striking images.

History
‘Scry’ and ‘Discry’ mean looking at things at a distance using your own inner vision. Mirrors and other reflective surfaces have been used for centuries for these purposes. ‘Scrying’ is also the term used to describe the technique of looking into a mirror or crystal to see (using your higher consciousness) into other dimensions. When a crystal is used, scrying is known as catoptromancy or crystallomancy, but historically anything reflective has been used. One aspect that excites us in particular is that this new approach is only now possible with the advancement in electronics and the related computer technologies. Therefore, it is interesting to wonder where will we be, and what will we discover, in the years ahead?

Image examples
Images were captured during an experiment we were conducting using a Herkimer quartz crystal (see plate section). We were focusing a concentrated light source onto the side of this crystal and capturing from the image generated. We have to study the resulting images in the minutest detail; a task which has to be repeated over and over again to ensure we haven’t overlooked a positive result. Sometimes we resort to using magnification, as some of the faces we see are very small. We cannot overemphasize the importance of studying every detail, and these particular results are a good example of what could be missed. We had put most of the originals aside, after looking at them in depth several times but, on a further study and using a mirror as an aid to recognition, the results were there for all to see.

Modern Means
Diana then continued, confirming that they were very interested in using ‘modern means’ in ‘light conditions’. She explained:

‘Technology is moving forward rapidly, and, even since The Scole Experiment finished, there have been advances in the equipment available to record the events that may occur during our sessions. This is the way we wanted to move forward, with “modern means”.

‘One particularly interesting piece of equipment we wanted to use was a “light-imaging” system called the “BioField Reader” or “BFR”. This instrumentation enabled us to see “energies” not discernible with the naked eye, and also, because it used a video camera, there was a record in lighted conditions and in real-time of the “energy” present.

‘We had seen and used BioField Reader in relation to the viewing of light patterns around the human body (see plate section and Further Information) for complementary medicine applications, but soon discovered it had other applications in relation to our experiments with crystals and other inanimate objects.’

The Norfolk Group
After we had heard about the exciting new developments, the conversation came around to ‘what next?’ To cut a long story short, the four of us decided to form a new experimental group and conduct research sessions, to which others may be invited in future. We were excited at this new prospect. Unlike our research for The Scole Experiment, where we interviewed participants and specialists - and reported their experiences and comments - after the events, we would now be in a position to both participate in experimental sessions and report events as they occurred.

The First Session of The Norfolk Group - 19th February 2006
We followed Diana and Alan in to the experimental room, where the equipment comprised digital video and stills cameras, tripods, crystals, bright spotlights and mirrors (see plate section). We each took one of the four comfortable chairs around the central table, on which sat a high resolution camera mounted on a tripod. The zoom lens of the stills camera was extended and focused on a crystal lit by a bright beam from a small spotlight. Diana opened the session with an invitation to those from other dimensions to join and work with us.

Fast-Forward?
We have no way of fast-forwarding to the future. We neither know what will happen in sessions of the Norfolk Group, nor who will be taking part as participant/observer (from whichever dimension of existence). However, we do know what occurred during The Scole Experiment, and, on that basis alone, look forward to chronicling more about these events and all that happens at the sessions of the Norfolk Group in a forthcoming book, working title… The Norfolk Experiment.

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The Scole Report Five Years Later

30/12/2004

The Scole Report Five Years Later by (Montague Keen and) David Fontana [2004]

PROFESSOR DAVID FONTANA

Professor David Fontana (1934-2010), was the author of 45 books (see below). He was one of the three principal authors of The Scole Report and he assisted with the editing of, and wrote the Afterword for, The Scole Experiment: Scientific Evidence for Life After Death by Grant and Jane Solomon.

In the event, fresh criticisms have been conspicuous by their absence.

This has surprised us.

Whatever view readers may have taken over the essential issue of authenticity of the phenomena reported by us in The Scole Report, there can be little doubt that it marked an important milestone in modern psychical research in the sense that it detailed an extensive range of anomalous phenomena and focused renewed attention upon an area of investigation - that of physical mediumship - which has featured extensively in the early history of this Society, but which has been largely neglected for well over half a century.

In our view the Report presented readers with a series of challenges that tested the limits of normal explanation, and we offered to provide every assistance to anyone (particularly professional magicians or parapsychologists with expertise in illusion) wishing to attempt replication of the phenomena by normal means and under the precise conditions obtaining during our investigation.

Magician's Verdict

'The behaviours described in the Report are not ones which can be produced by magicians under the close conditions of the Scole investigation, and some can't be produced under any conditions'.

Five years after the end of the Scole investigation the need for a philosophy of parapsychology is as evident as ever.

Some months before his untimely death in 2004, Monty Keen, who led the Scole investigation and who was the senior author of the subsequent Scole Report, considered that as it was nearly four years since the publication of the Report the time had come to bring those interested up to date by writing a paper detailing any fresh criticisms or supporting evidence relative to the Report that had come to light during these years.

I welcomed the idea and Monty wrote the paper, adding - with my agreement - my name to his. In the event referees proved dissatisfied with certain aspects of the paper, and Monty and I agreed to re-write it. His death changed matters, but I know he would nevertheless wish me to complete the project. I have now done so, taking account of all the points raised by the referees (although honesty compels me to say that neither Monty nor I were happy with them). Taking these points on board has meant a major re-drafting of much of the paper, and I have had to ask myself whether or not Monty would give his approval to the result. On balance I feel confident that he would.

Naturally, in his direct and forceful way, he would want some of the language to be more trenchant, and he would probably disagree with my omission from the paper of things with which the referees disagreed instead of including them in my rewording. Doubtless he would be correct in this, but at the same time I think he would be the first to acknowledge that I have kept to the spirit of what he wanted to say. David Fontana

Introduction
When accounts of investigations into psychic phenomena have been in the public domain for some time it is often incumbent upon the investigators concerned to publish a follow-up paper discussing the observations made by critics in the intervening time and any fresh evidence that may have come to light. The Scole Report (Keen, Ellison and Fontana) was published in 1999, and in the light of the interest it aroused at the time we as authors consider the time for such a follow-up has arrived. Unfortunately, due to the decision by the Scole Group to discontinue their activities, it has been impossible for us to have further sittings with them, so we must confine ourselves in this paper to fresh criticisms of the Report and to any new evidence arising from the details it contains.

Fresh criticisms
In the event, fresh criticisms have been conspicuous by their absence.

This has surprised us.

Whatever view readers may have taken over the essential issue of authenticity of the phenomena reported by us in The Scole Report, there can be little doubt that it marked an important milestone in modern psychical research in the sense that it detailed an extensive range of anomalous phenomena and focused renewed attention upon an area of investigation - that of physical mediumship - which has featured extensively in the early history of this Society, but which has been largely neglected for well over half a century.

In our view the Report presented readers with a series of challenges that tested the limits of normal explanation, and we offered to provide every assistance to anyone (particularly professional magicians or parapsychologists with expertise in illusion) wishing to attempt replication of the phenomena by normal means and under the precise conditions obtaining during our investigation.

We had no takers (or even a single show of interest) in this offer, and five years later changes in circumstances (the deaths of Montague Keen and Professor Arthur Ellison and the disbanding of the Scole Group) mean that the opportunity to act upon it has been lost.

Magicians' verdict
The result is that the magicians' verdict on the Scole phenomena must rest with the three magicians who have already commented upon them. The first of these is James Webster, who has the advantage of actually having been present at three sittings with the Scole Group. It is interesting that although magicians were welcome to attend sittings at Scole only James Webster availed himself of the opportunity. Fortunately he is uniquely well-qualified to act as an observer of the phenomena and deliver this verdict. An Associate and Silver Medal Holder of the Inner Magic Circle (the premier echelon for magicians in the UK), and a man with over 40 years of professional experience as a stage magician and as a psychical researcher, he is fully versed both in illusion and in the various tricks used by fraudulent mediums in the past. On the strength of his experience and of his observations at Scole he is unequivocal that the phenomena witnessed there by him could not be duplicated by professional magicians, even had they prior access to the room in which the sittings were held and were able to import into it the tools of their trade. James Webster's testimony to this effect was published in the Scole Report, but subsequent to the Report he was one of the platform speakers at the SPR Study Day on the Scole investigation and was able to confirm his verdict and his reasons for it in person.

James Webster was present at Scole, but what of magicians who have had to go solely on their reading of the Report? Those who were present at the Study Day on Scole will remember that Dr (now Professor) Richard Wiseman, who is an experienced magician as well as a rigorous and well-informed critic of psychical research, went on record at the time with the judgement that the Report is 'very impressive', and offered no suggestions as to how the phenomena could be replicated by normal means (which must not of course be taken to imply that he necessarily accepted their paranormality). A more extensive verdict, and the third of those delivered on the Scole Report by magicians, is by Professor Arthur Hastings of the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in California, USA. In addition to being a leading psychologist with a long-standing interest in psychical research, Professor Hastings is a highly accomplished magician who has worked professionally in that capacity and continues to give talks and demonstrations on the subject. In his written verdict submitted to us he insists that the phenomena at Scole could not be produced by sleight of hand or trickery. In his own words: 'The behaviours described in the Report are not ones which can be produced by magicians under the close conditions of the Scole investigation, and some can't be produced under any conditions'.

These then are the three magicians who have taken the trouble to be present at Scole or to study the Report and to comment upon it to us. Given that in addition no magician took up our invitation to replicate the phenomena under the conditions operating at Scole we are left with the conclusion that the phenomena witnessed there by us cannot, in the light of present knowledge, be dismissed as trickery, no matter how clever.

The bundle of sticks principle
In addition it seems that the sum total of reasonable theoretical criticisms of the Scole phenomena (and it is important to remember that these criticisms were in fact theoretical - none of those who attended sessions at Scole reported any evidence of trickery of any kind) remain those put forward at the time of our investigation by three senior members of the Society. These were published in the issue of the Proceedings devoted to the Scole Report (Keen, Ellison & Fontana, 1999), and were answered by us in the same issue.

There is no need to refer back to them as nothing further has been added to the arguments concerned to date. However, it is worth saying that the correspondence we have received in the years since the publication of the Report has demonstrated virtually unanimous support for our conclusion that the phenomena were genuine, and represent an important landmark in the history of psychical research. No one has challenged what is sometimes referred to as the 'bundle of sticks principle' which one of us (MK) described at the Scole Study Day and insisted has special relevance to investigations such as that at Scole, where the phenomena observed are so varied and so numerous (for example at Scole we observed more than 30 different versions of the light phenomena).

When applied to Scole the bundle of sticks principle has it that even though it may be theoretically possible that one or other of the effects witnessed by us could have been accomplished by trickery (although in the light of our own experience and the testimony of two experienced magicians this seems doubtful), it is inconceivable that the whole wide range of them, many of which took place repeatedly and many of them simultaneously with each other, could have been effected by this means. It may be possible to break a single stick (i.e. explain away a single effect), but place a large number of sticks together in a bundle (i.e. produce a wide range of spectacular effects during each of the sittings) and their combined strength becomes unbreakable. In terms of Scole, the bundle of effects surely resist the strength of even the most far-fetched criticisms.

Further evidence in favour of Scole
If no further arguments have been advanced against the Scole phenomena, has anything further emerged in their favour? Three pieces of evidence merit placing on record. The first is the identification by Guy Playfair of an anomaly in the recording of the Rachmaninov 2nd Piano Concerto which we received - on an audio tape supplied and secretly marked by ourselves - apparently by paranormal means at Scole. The incident is fully described on pages 297-300 of the Scole Report, and we were told by the communicators that the composer was `going to play it himself ... as a projected memory'. We were also told that the music was a gift to one of us (MK) as a special treat, and MK, who was deeply moved by the music, confirmed subsequently that it had been a mainstay of his inner life during a lonely period of his childhood, a fact he had never divulged to his fellow investigators or to the Scole Group.

The controls operating when the music was received are described in the Report, but the anomaly identified by Guy Playfair is unlikely to be identified by anyone without his familiarity with the piece concerned. It is the erroneous repetition of a cadenza, an error that is unlikely in the extreme to occur in any recording of the piece. Taken together with the controls operating at the time and the fact that the music was announced in advance by the communicators, this rules out the notion that the music was the result of a stray radio transmission captured by chance by the audio tape recorder.

Although concerned with mental rather than with physical phenomena, another valuable piece of evidence to emerge concerns a séance given by the Scole Group - at which one of us (MK) was present - in Los Angeles, USA. In the course of the séance one of the two mediums in the Scole Group, Diana, speaking to 20 unknown sitters in unfamiliar surroundings, gave very precise and easily recognisable details of the recently deceased partner of one of them, George Dalzell, a senior social worker in the Los Angeles Department of Mental Health, along with the circumstances of the partner's death.

These details were not given in the Scole Report, but the evidence concerned was readily susceptible to confirmation and evaluation, and was fully accepted by Dalzell. So impressed was he by it that, at his own expense, he attended the SPR Study Day on Scole (a review of which, by Chris Roe, is in PR issue 15) where he described the whole incident and his own confirmation of its accuracy. Subsequently he further confirmed this in his book, Messages, written shortly afterwards and available both in the USA and the UK (Dalzell, 1999).

The third piece of evidence concerns one of the supposed apports that appeared at Scole. As it was received by the Scole Group before we began our investigation and we were therefore not present at the time, we made only brief references to it in the Report, but one of us (MK) decided to carry out some subsequent research into the incident. The apport concerned was a pristine copy of the Daily Mail dated April 1st 1944, the front page of which carried the account of medium Helen Duncan's 18month gaol sentence handed down at the Old Bailey under the Witchcraft Act. The Scole Group received it after being told by one of their communicators that Mrs Duncan would bring them something as evidence of her interest in their work. A natural objection advanced by one of our colleagues to the authenticity of the apport was that the pristine condition of the newspaper indicated it was no more than a modern facsimile reproduction of the original. Accordingly MK took the paper to the Print Industries Research Association, a world authority on paper and printing, who informed him in due course that their detailed examination of the typeface demonstrated that it had been printed by letterpress, a long-since obsolete technique. Furthermore, their chemical analysis of the paper on which the apport was printed revealed it to be Second World War newsprint, long since unavailable. In his further investigations MK ascertained that the apported version differed from the copy of the Daily Mail for April 1st 1944 kept in the British Library only in that it was an earlier edition of that day's print run.

We therefore have in the apport a tangible piece of evidence (a so-called permanent paranormal object) for which there is no normal explanation. Even if a devout spiritualist had kept a copy of the newspaper back in 1944 as a memento of the legally martyred Helen Duncan, it would hardly have been in pristine condition 60 years later. Even careful vacuum packing and secure sealing against the intrusion of light and air, although it might have helped delay the yellowing of the wartime newsprint, would hardly have maintained it in this condition for such a lengthy period of time. In addition, the notion that someone would have had access to the necessary technology and expertise for doing this back in 1944, with the Second World War still at its height, surely stretches the bounds of credibility to breaking point.

The challenge still facing critics five years after the publication of the Scole Report is by no means peculiar to the Scole phenomena. It is to advance credible alternative explanations for so many effects investigated under careful conditions and reported in appropriate detail. We are often told that the inability of critics to explain how a convincing piece of evidence can be explained by conjuring in no way detracts from the fact that those reporting it must nevertheless somehow have been deceived. But if this argument is taken to its extreme limit it permanently precludes acceptance of anything as paranormal because it merely arises from the a priori view that nothing can be paranormal because paranormality contravenes the rigid laws of normality. Those who subscribe to this view resort all too often to postulations of fraud or of self-deception on the part of investigators or of those they have been investigating - fraud or self-deception on a scale and to a degree that frequently affronts common sense. alternatively, they may insist that the critic has no duty to explain by normal means how phenomena could have occurred or to replicate them under the same conditions on the grounds that it is the responsibility of the paranormal claimant to prove beyond doubt that all conceivable normal explanations have been exhausted. And if and when they are exhausted, the same people can always fall back upon the argument that although normal explanations have so far eluded everyone, they will doubtless turn up one day.

These responses to the challenge of advancing credible alternatives to reports of well-conducted investigations into psychic phenomena are not only unscientific, they actively inhibit the publication of such reports and perhaps even the motivation to conduct the investigations concerned. It is no inducement to spend time and money on an investigation only to be met with responses of this nature, often accompanied not by a careful examination of all the evidence but by reference to the few snippets that, taken out of context, can be made to appear vulnerable. This is not a plea for an end to criticism of investigations such as that at Scole. Far from it. Extraordinary events require extraordinary scrutiny and extraordinary justification before they can be accepted as fact. It is simply to suggest that more people might become involved in researching and reporting these events if they knew that their results would be evaluated on their own merits and not in terms of a priori convictions that cannot possibly be true.

What next?
An objection of a very different kind that can be raised against investigations such as that of Scole is what do we do with the evidence they produce even if we find it acceptable? Unlike laboratory work in parapsychology, where the outcome of each experiment can in theory at least be used to help design improved protocols and contribute towards the development of an identifiable subject discipline, each of these investigations tends to be isolated and self contained. Even replication is often impossible since the conditions associated with success the first time around may no longer apply. Thus although the evidence produced by investigations of this kind has built up impressively over the years we yet seem no further forward in knowing how to use it. No matter how convincing an individual investigation appears to be at the time, it is usually quickly forgotten, helped on by the myth of eternal progress. The myth has it that we always do things better than our predecessors, and that earlier evidence should be dismissed on the grounds that the investigators involved were not as astute or as well-equipped as we are. Those who are given to studying our published Proceedings from the early years onwards should have little difficulty in recognising how wrong this is. Many of our predecessors in this Society and in comparable groups abroad were every bit as meticulous and knowledgeable as we are, and no evidence should be dismissed simply on the grounds of age.

Nevertheless, the problem remains, what do we do with this evidence? Certainly it is valuable in itself in that it may convince readers of the reality of the paranormal, but are there other ways in which it can be used? One possible answer is that it can help us develop what may loosely be called the philosophy of parapsychology. Over the last half-century the philosophy of the physical sciences has grown rapidly as a discipline, and enabled us to understand better the meaning of science as well as its purpose and methodology and the theoretical constructs that drive scientific exploration and influence the interpretations put upon its discoveries. The philosophy of parapsychology has not kept pace. Professor Hornell Hart (1959) and noted philosophers such as Professors Broad (1962) and H. H. Price (see Dilley, 1995) among others made important contributions to the subject in the past, but in recent years there has been little attempt to advance it further by exploring the relevance of its findings and of its theoretical constructs to the explosion of scientific interest in the nature of consciousness, the mind-brain relationship, the fundamental nature of matter, models of space-time, and the influence upon physical health and well-being of inner states such as meditation, visualisation and positive/negative thinking. In all these areas a philosophy of parapsychology has potentially useful contributions to make.

The most obvious of these contributions may be to theories of mind, in particular theories to do with its nature and with its relationship to the material world. At Scole for example we witnessed macro physical effects, and equally if not more impressive effects have been reported elsewhere. If these effects are indeed a direct product of mental energy, whether from the deceased or from the living, the implications for our understanding of mind could hardly be more profound. At a practical level we may never be able to measure this energy, but at a theoretical level its very existence surely suggests we might entertain once more modified theories of dualism or even the vitalism espoused by Professor William McDougall, one of the fathers of parapsychology who founded Rhine's laboratory at Duke University and who was the first psychologist to become a Fellow of the Royal Society (e.g. McDougall, 1928 - a classic text that still has much to say to us). And if we accept that the communicators at Scole really were the deceased, not only may this throw light on which aspects of the mind may survive physical death, it may suggest that even during our lifetime these aspects are not due solely to physical processes. At Scole we found that the communicators showed humour and other emotions, intelligence of a high order, significant powers of memory, and what seemed a genuine and continuing compassion towards others. In addition they manifested consistent signs of individual identity throughout the two years of our investigation, and never varied in terms of accent, use of words, mannerisms and interests.

Five years after the end of the Scole investigation the need for a philosophy of parapsychology is as evident as ever. One of us (DF) discussed this on occasions with the late Professor Bob Morris, and sought to encourage him to turn some of his attention to the subject. No one was more suited to the task than Bob, and he indicated that he had indeed been thinking of involving himself in it when his departmental duties at Edinburgh University became less onerous. Sadly, for this among so many other reasons, Bob's death has left an enormous gap in our subject.

References
Broad, C. D. (1962). Lectures on Psychical Research. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Dalzell, G. E. (1999). Messages: Evidence for Life After Death. Charlottesville, VA: Hampton Roads.
Hart, H. (1959). The Enigma of Survival. London: Rider.
Keen, M., Ellison, A. & Fontana, D. (1999). The Scole Report. ProcSPR, 58, 220.
McDougall, W. (1928). Body and Mind. London: Methuen.
Dilley, F. B. (Ed.). (1995). Philosophical Interactions with Parapsychology: The Major Writings of H. H. Price on Parapsychology and Survival. London: Macmillan

About: Professor David Fontana

PROFESSOR DAVID FONTANA

Biography
David Fontana, B.A, M.Ed., Ph.D. (1 November 1934 – 18 October 2010), was a fellow of the British Psychological Society, a Chartered Psychologist, and a Chartered Counselling Psychologist. He was a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Cardiff University and Professor of Transpersonal Psychology at Liverpool John Moores University.

He also held professorships at the University of Minho and the University of the Algarve in Portugal. Professor Fontana was the Foundation Chair of the Transpersonal Psychology section of of the British Psychological Society and a past President of the Society for Psychical research, of which he became a Life Vice President.

He wrote 45 books covering issues in educational psychology and areas such as meditation, dreaming, spirituality and personal growth. Among his books are ‘Know Who You Are’, ‘The Meditator’s Handbook’, ‘Elements of Meditation’ and ‘Teaching Meditation to Children’. He was one of the most widely translated of psychologists, with titles translated into twenty six languages.

Professor Fontana's publications include popular treatments of dreams and symbols.

Among his academic books, Psychology for Teachers is the best-selling text on educational psychology in Britain, and his popular books include works on meditation, dreams, symbols and the psychology of personal growth. His interest in psychical research went back to his boyhood. He was co-opted to the Council of the British Society for Psychical Research in 1992, elected to Council in 1993, served as President from 1996 to 1999, and was also a Vice-President and Chairman of the Society's Survival Research Committee. He investigated mediumship for many years, and took a particular interest in poltergeist cases and in physical phenomena, writing widely on the subject. He worked with Montague Keen and Arthur Ellison on the extensive investigation of the phenomena witnessed at Scole in Britain, and was one of the co-authors of 'The Scole Report' (Proceedings of the society for Psychical Research 58, Part 220).

He took an interest in paranormal research such as mediumship, poltergeist cases, and electronic voice phenomena, and was president of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) from 1995 to 1998.

Professor Fontana studied the results of EVP research for a number of years, but it was not until he began work with Dr. Anabela Cardoso that he became finally convinced of the paranormality of the phenomena. He was present in Dr. Cardoso's studios both in Vigo and in Lyon when results were obtained under carefully controlled conditions, and, at Dr. Cardoso's invitation, he served on the Editorial Board of the ITC Journal. He was Dr. Cardoso's co-organiser for the 2004 ITC Conference.

Some publications by David Fontana:
The Meditator's Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide to Eastern and Western Meditation Techniques (1992)
Meditation: An Introductory Guide to Relaxation for Mind and Body (1999)
Discover Zen: A Practical Guide to Personal Serenity (2001)
Learn to Meditate: A Practical Guide to Self-Discovery and Fulfillment
The Secret Language of Symbols: A Visual Key to Symbols and Their Meanings (2003)
Psychology, Religion and Spirituality (2003)
Learn to Dream: Interpret Dream Symbolism, Enhance Inner Life, Remember Your Dreams (2004)
Is There An Afterlife?: A Comprehensive Overview of the Evidence (2005)
Life Beyond Death: What Should We Expect? (2009)
Creative Meditation & Visualization (2007)
1000 Dreams: Discover the meanings of dream symbols , secrets & stories (2011)

1997-03-30: THE SCOLE EXPERIMENT SESSION ON 30 mar 1997

30/3/1997

The Scole Experiment Session on 30 Mar 1997:

EVIDENCE: At the California, USA home of medium, Brian Hurst, the Scole group demonstrate The Scole Experiment phenomena for a large group of witnesses.

THE SCOLE EXPERIMENT in the USA
In March 1997, the Scole Experimental Group travelled to Reseda, Los Angeles, USA.

DETAILS
On Sunday 30 March 1997, they conducted a seminar and sitting at the home of Brian Hurst.

Twenty-seven sitters took part in the experimental session: Scole Group (Diana Bennett, Alan Bennett, Sandra Foy, Robin Foy), Brian Hurst, Ramesh Jani, Carol Tanaka, Sue Slutzky, Kathe Orrison, Mary Hunt, Marlena Ross, Margaret Parrington, Milt Wolpin, Lynnda & Ulf Israelsson, Marta and Gina Sasso, Ken Loar, Tricia Loar, Rev Candice Hincks, Paul Murphy, Stacey Murphy, Jim Steinmuller, Richard Clark, Dorothy Clark, and Donna Babcock. The final sitter was a media personality referred to in the Scole diary as ‘AS’.

TAPE RECORDINGS:
Scole-1997-03-30-000000-020857-TAPE-AUDIO-SECTION-RAW-USA-Brian-Hurst
Section= 00:00:00-02:08:57. Duration= 02:08:57

FILE NOTES
The numbers in the file name (000000-020857) refer to the digitised session recording timings. In this case, from zero at the start to 2 hr 08 min 57 seconds at the end. This session was recorded on cassette tapes more than a quarter of a century ago. Fortunately, given the time that has passed, the quality of the recording is fairly good.

CURATOR NOTES BASED ON WITNESSING THE IMPOSSIBLE: THE DIARY OF THE SCOLE EXPERIMENT BY ROBIN FOY

Session Starts...

Whistling from Communicators.

Manu speaks through Diana about topics such as the Scole spiritual science phenomena, love, energy, service to others, and the purpose of the Scole Group.

Spirit "Edwin" speaks through Alan.

Spirit "Emily" speaks through Diana.

Spirit "Patrick" 'pops in' through Alan to explain that the spirit team are having some problems with the fear and apprehension of a few of the people in the room.

After forty-five minutes, phenomena starts.

Wind chimes ring gently then build to much more vigorous ringing.

Then the cow bells ring.

Sitters react as spirit lights dart about all over the room before performing aerobatic displays.

A spirit light enters one of Tricia Loar’s legs (she had received healing in the same way to her other leg at the first seminar in Reseda, which she said had been extremely effective).

The spirit light also sits six times on Dorothy North’s chest; she says it feels 'sticky'.

Several of the other sitters are touched by spirit lights during the course of the session.

A child spirit, a girl arrives in solid form.

Several more teleported spirit beings built up; moved around the room and touched sitters.

Dorothy North feels a complete hand and arm, and is told by spirit Emily that this is someone who was well known to her in life.

A man called Jim is frequently touched and has his hair ruffled (as does Tricia Loar).

Emily says it us someone Jim would have known well in life.

Jim says he has lost both a son and a daughter.

Jim becomes a bit vocal and constantly asks to be touched again and again.

Ken Loar actually sees the little spirit girl who was with us.

Teleported spirit animals arrive.

A number of sitters feel a cat’s tail on their legs - especially Dorothy North, who was a cat fanatic.

Dorothy is told the cat near her is a ginger one - and she recognises that.

One of the spirit lights sits on Ramesh's hand for a minute or more.

Ramesh has spirit hands touch his head and nose, which was part of his healing for his hay-fever allergy.

The central table moves about the room on several occasions without any of the crystals on it being displaced - although it did not levitate this time.

There is an excellent energy voice - that of spirit "Reg Lawrence" - who addresses the gathering from from mid-air [i.e. not through a medium], although he takes a little while to get it right.

As always, 'ladies man' Reg makes a point of touching the ladies’ knees at the same time as he speaks to them.

Ken Loar gets an excellent message about ‘Nam’ [Vietnam] from Emily and is asked to accept a whole series of evidential names from that era.

Emily says that it will help the spirits to ‘touch base’ with him.

Ken is happy to accept this, and a number of names are then given.

Emily also mentions a malfunction of an aeroplane Ken was flying in ‘Nam’ and she volunteers that he had been forced to bail out and that, at the time, Ken thought that his ‘number was up’.

Ken confirms all of this as 100% correct.

Emily goes on to say that Ken had too much spiritual work to do in the future for him to have lost his life in Vietnam.

A spirit "Huey" is then mentioned by Emily, who then says Ken is very aware of a number of people who died in a ‘Huey’ helicopter.

Ken confirms he was indeed aware of this incident, and acknowledged everything Emily has said, including his total acceptance of the people Emily has mentioned.

Emily tells Tricia Loar that, in the last week or so since her attending her first sitting with the Scole Group in Reseda, her own experimental group had ‘gelled’ together.

Tricia acknowledges this (apparently the group had suddenly become aware of sitting beneath a ‘golden canopy’ of energy).

Tricia is then told that she is now likely to go on and get some good energy phenomena similar to that of the Scole Group, which pleases her immensely.

Both Ken and Tricia are told that, since their energy is compatible, they should work together - even if not in a group - by meditating together.

Robin is touched by a slender female spirit hand on the back of his left hand.

END OF EXPERIMENTAL SESSION

AFTER SESSION
The Scole Group learned a few days after the session that the light entering Tricia Loar's other leg at this session proved to be just as effective as it had on the first occasion. She later reported that she had remained pain-free in both legs.
Ramesh reported that his healing was 'extremely effective'. Afterwards, he said he had the best night’s sleep he had managed for weeks.

CURATOR NOTE
There will be more Scole Files to follow. Please share the Scole Experiment Files so that more people can be aware of this remarkable experiment.

1996-07-01: THE SCOLE EXPERIMENT SESSION ON 01 JULY 1996

1/7/1996

The Scole Experiment Session on 01 July 1996

Invisible, intelligent beings played a trumpet and rapped non-existent drum sticks in the presence of independent witness, Dr Hans Schaer.

LOCATION:
Finca of Dr Hans Schaer, Ibiza, Spain.

RESEARCHERS PRESENT:
Robin Foy, Sandra Foy, Alan Bennett, Diana Bennett, Dr Hans Schaer.

COMMUNICATORS INCLUDED:
Manu, Joseph, Mrs Emily Bradshaw, Anonymous Musicians.

EVIDENCE:
At the Ibiza finca of Swiss lawyer, Dr Hans Schaer, invisible, intelligent beings played his trumpet and rapped non-existent drum sticks.

DIARY EXTRACT

1996-07-01-DIARY:

Monday 1 July 1996 in Ibiza
Five sitters: the Scole Group plus Dr Hans Schaer

The second and last Ibiza sitting of this visit proved to be just as fascinating. The crystals had been left in exactly the same configuration on the central table and, once again, the four members of the Scole Group wore our luminous armbands secured with Velcro fastenings. The remaining Polaroid 35 mm Polachrome film (with twelve exposures) was put on the table in its lightproof container. Additionally, the remainder of the previous film and the two slides received were also placed on the table for the spirit team to examine, because we had not previously used any colour films in this latest series of spirit photography.

Manu opened enthusiastically as usual; telling us that the evening was to be given over to experiments with sound. The phenomena built up slowly after we started; the first thing we heard being footsteps on the quarry tiled floor, walking about the room. These started as faint noises which gradually grew in intensity until it was obvious that a spirit being with weight and substance was moving amongst us - travelling backwards and forwards in the room, towards and away from the central table.

Mrs Bradshaw then popped in to tell us it was building up very nicely, and that a second experiment would be running in parallel with the musical one - but she wouldn’t give us any details. A little later, we heard from Joseph. Apart from Manu, he and Emily Bradshaw were the only two members of the spirit team to speak to us via the trance state of the two mediums.

Their words to us were followed by tapping sounds on the trumpet (which was yet again sitting on the central table in such a way that none of us group members could access it) and blowing sounds in the air. After this, a small but bright spirit light travelled along the trumpet to show us that it was still there, whilst the sound of a trumpet being blown loudly came from mid-air immediately afterwards. Then we heard drumming (this sounded like wooden or metal drumsticks although there were none physically in the room) on the central wooden table, on the trumpet, and on another wooden table further away. This built to an amazing crescendo, with the spirit drummer demonstrating his drumming skills well. Loud raps also occurred on the back and the bottom of Sandra’s chair. A low, rich, gravelly voice spoke to us in the form of an energy voice, but we were unable to hear most of the words clearly enough, with the exception of his addressing Hans with, ‘Hello, Boy!’

A trumpet was blown loudly several times, apparently in mid-air, and with many differing sequences of notes. At one time, it was moved right to the other end of the room before sounding. Hans was of the opinion that the player could have been a military bugler, as some of the sequences sounded like known bugle calls. Whilst the trumpet was being blown, the three of us who were conscious made a point of all speaking together at the same time, in order to prove that it could not be any of us blowing the trumpet. At one stage, I was informed by an energy voice that a trumpet was pointing directly at me and, shortly afterwards, it blew a loud note in my direction.

Another instrument sounded a little later on. This time - from its tone - the instrument sounded like a trombone, according to Hans, and yet (as we already knew) there was no physical trombone in the room. Then we were told by Mrs Bradshaw that the instruments which were being played were only the spiritual counterparts of physical instruments.

Materialised spirit visitors touched Hans, Sandra, and me on several occasions. Hans once again had his thumb pulled gently by three spirit fingers and received a comradely pat from a spirit arm across his shoulder. Occasionally all three of us who were conscious were touched separately but simultaneously to emphasise the fact that there were at least three teleported spirit visitors present. When Hans asked later if it was Fernando touching him, he was told by Joseph that, ‘It may well have been, as Fernando was definitely present at the session all evening’. Joseph did go on to say however, that the team were not always aware of the exact identity of the corporeal spirit visitors at any particular time.

An amusing energy voice joked that another spirit person had crawled into the trumpet and got stuck there! As if to prove a point, a faint energy voice kept on shouting, ‘Oi, get me out of here!’. In the end, the jokey voice told us he was going, ‘to blow the other chap out of the trumpet’, and the trumpet was then duly blown. One loud energy voice spoke impressively out of the bell of the trumpet!

There was not enough time for Hans to ask all of his intended questions, as the energy was getting low, but the team did say that if he wrote his questions down and gave them to us, they would answer them for him in the near future and we could then send Hans the answers. One question prominent in Hans’ mind was however, anticipated by Mrs Bradshaw, who said that the melodic sounds and musical phenomena started in Ibiza at these two sittings and witnessed by us was only a beginning and - if Hans gave the spirit team further opportunities - they would be able to build on the phenomena they had produced thus far.

Joseph told us that once again, the spirit team felt that the film on the table had been influenced, and we should find some symbols on it relating to Ibiza and its inherent energies. He was right! When we developed it, it was found to be full of brilliant green images from end to end.

The ‘gravelly’ energy voice had earlier told us that ‘the temperature was just right’. Joseph went on to confirm to us that different temperatures helped in the production of different types of phenomena; adding the fact that different phases of the moon also influenced the phenomena (the previous night had been a full moon). Mrs Bradshaw commented that the new ‘musical phenomena department’ of the spirit team had enjoyed their experience immensely, and that the ‘drummer’ just couldn’t wait to ‘get his hands on a real drum kit’! She also asked that when I did my report of the sitting for the bulletin (the quarterly publication of the New Spiritual Science Foundation), I should not be tempted to use a play on words to describe ‘trumpet phenomena’ in any way that could be confused with the old way of working (using ectoplasm - which was not the way we worked in the Scole Group). It is very important, when studying the unique Scole phenomena, not to confuse séance trumpets (aluminium megaphone-like pieces of séance room equipment traditionally associated and used with ectoplasmic phenomena) with the real thing (standard musical trumpets). In order to prevent this from happening, Mrs Bradshaw asked me to entitle my report ‘Experimental Musical Soirées in Ibiza’, and I was happy to oblige.

When the lights were turned on at the end of the sitting, we discovered that the slides and films we had put on the central table at the beginning of the sitting had been neatly and silently stacked on top of one another - something none of us could possibly have achieved by normal means in total darkness.

END OF DIARY EXTRACT

SCOLE FILE NOTES:

The Scole Experiment Afterlife Research Files (The Scole Files) are curated by Grant Solomon and Jane Solomon, authors of The Scole Experiment: Scientific Evidence for Life After Death.

For more diary extracts, read Witnessing The Impossible: The Diary of The Scole Experiment by Robin Foy.

For the scholarly, scientific analysis of The Scole Experiment, read The Scole Report: An Account of an Investigation into the Genuineness of a Range of Physical Phenomena Associated with a Mediumistic Group in Norfolk, England by Montague Keen, David Fontana & Arthur Ellison

1994-11-18: THE SCOLE EXPERIMENT SESSION ON 18 NOV 1994

18/11/1994

The Scole Experiment Session on 18 Nov 1994:

First issue of The Spiritual Scientist bulletin [December, 1994 (Winter)] is released.

scole-1994-11-18-pdf-the-spiritual-scientist-bulletin-pp01-15.pdf
File Size:	502 kb
File Type:	pdf

Download File

DIARY EXTRACT

Friday 18 November 1994 at Scole
Seven sitters: all the members of the Scole Group

There was nothing spectacular about this sitting on 18 November. Although we had the now customary ringing of bells, and a profusion of spirit lights and raps, the evening was very much ‘run of the mill’. Our Pyrex bowl was again silently levitated from its position on the floor and placed on the table, where it was often illuminated by a spirit light. The Ping-Pong ball, which we had placed in the bowl, was madly chased physically round in it by the spirit light at various times. We had the usual communicators, two of whom - Raji and Edward - spoke a little about the team’s intention to, henceforth, get down to some serious work with the photographic and scientific experiments. Whilst there were no results with the 35 mm Polaroid films this time, we did have two excellent prints on the flat Polaroid films, showing energy formations in greens, yellows, and browns.

Round about this time, we were finalising the first issue of the bulletin that we had been strongly urged to create by the spirit team. It was to be initially typeset on A4 paper and photocopied. The pagination we had decided on was fifteen pages of news and views about the New Spiritual Science Foundation and, in particular, the Scole Group and its phenomena. It was hoped that, as other groups came together throughout the world and started to get their own results using the energy-based new technology of the spirit world, we would also be able to report their progress in the Spiritual Scientist. There were to be no adverts, just text plus eventually, photographs. The bulletin would be issued quarterly with its publication dates in December, March, June and September of each year.

By the third week of November, several hundred copies of the first issue had been completed, photocopied, collated, and stapled. These were sent out, free of charge (but at a considerable cost to ourselves), to people all over the world, whom we considered might be interested in our work, and gradually we started to receive our first subscriptions. The numbers coming in were small but steady and it became apparent that the opening spark of interest was there - enough, at least for us to sustain publication of the Spiritual Scientist throughout its first year.

SCOLE FILE CURATOR NOTES:

The first issue of The Spiritual Scientist bulletin we have been able to obtain is not correctly formatted – possibly due to it being compiled in an old publishing program before being made into a PDF – but the content is readable and we have therefore posted it 'as is' so that Scole researchers can view it.

The Scole Experiment Afterlife Research Files (The Scole Files) are curated by Grant Solomon and Jane Solomon, authors of The Scole Experiment: Scientific Evidence for Life After Death.

For more diary extracts, read Witnessing The Impossible: The Diary of The Scole Experiment by Robin Foy.

For the scholarly, scientific analysis of The Scole Experiment, read The Scole Report: An Account of an Investigation into the Genuineness of a Range of Physical Phenomena Associated with a Mediumistic Group in Norfolk, England by Montague Keen, David Fontana & Arthur Ellison

1994-08-24: the scole experiment session on 24 aug 1994

24/8/1994

The Scole Experiment Session on 24 Aug 1994:

Did Winston Churchill speak with Independent Voice?

LOCATION:
The Scole cellar.

RESEARCHERS PRESENT:
Robin Foy, Sandra Foy, Alan Bennett, Diana Bennett.

COMMUNICATORS INCLUDED:
Manu, Edward, Patrick McKenna, Sir Winston Churchill.

EVIDENCE:
A Communicator, claiming to be (and sounding like) Sir Winston Churchill (1874 – 1965), spoke for 1 min 33 sec with independent energy voice (IEV).

TAPE RECORDINGS:
Scole-1994-08-24-014742-014915-TAPE-AUDIO-SECTION-RAW-Winston-Churchill-speaks-with-independent-energy-voice
Section= 01:47:42-01:49:15. Duration= 00:01:33

TAPE NOTES (below):
Scole-1994-08-24-014742-014915-TAPE-AUDIO-SECTION-RAW-Winston-Churchill-speaks-with-independent-energy-voice
Section= 01:47:42-01:49:15. Duration= 00:01:33

WINSTON CHURCHILL
Patrick won’t mind me
coming in here
to say a word to you tonight
I am delighted to let you know that I am still around.
If there is any call for a strong leader.
I shall do my very best.

But I have to say to you
I have not forgotten
the book which I wish to write.
And it will be brought to you
as time goes by.
Dictated
by me.
And I hope
that you will be in a position
to show my works to the world:
The Adventures of Winston in Wonderland

[SCOLE GROUP LAUGHTER]

I do beg your pardon
for taking up your time
but I am afraid
that I was never one
for standing on the side lines
when I could slip in
and do some work.
God bless you all.

CURATOR NOTES:

Winston Churchill and The Foys
Sir Winston Churchill (30 Nov 1874 – 24 Jan 1965) was a British politician and WWII leader. He was a regular communicator throughout the psychical research career of Robin Foy and Sandra Foy, appearing a number of times when they hosted or attended séances prior to the start of The Scole Experiment. Robin Foy said he had formed a ‘connection to Winnie’ through those many interactions over many years.

The Scole mediums confirm Churchill spoke in an 'independent energy voice'
The Scole trance mediums, Alan Bennett and Diana Bennett, have since confirmed this was an independent energy voice (IEV) communication from Churchill. IEV occurs when a Communicator speaks in their own voice (so they often sound like they did during their earthly life) without use of the physical voice-box of the medium. The voice can come from mid-air or from within the walls or ceiling, or from under the floor, of the séance room. It is one of the five ways the Communicators made their voices heard during The Scole Experiment.

DIARY EXTRACTS

1993-10-04-DIARY: The Scole Experiment began with the 'teleportation' of a Churchill Crown coin
A Churchill Crown coin 'apport' (teleported object) arrived with a thud; having been 'cut' from one [unknown] location in spacetime and 'pasted' into another [known] location – the 'Scole Hole'; the cellar beneath Street Farmhouse in Scole village – on 4 October 1993.

The phenomena proper started in earnest on Monday 4 October 1993. Due to illness, there were only three of us sitting that evening - Alan, Diana, and I. Through Diana, Manu suddenly announced that he was bringing us an apport, which was a token of greater things to come. Moments later, a thud was heard as something dropped on to the central table, and we afterwards discovered that the apport was actually a coin - a Churchill crown. This was most appropriate for me personally, as those of you who have read In Pursuit of Physical Mediumship will know that, for several years prior to the arrival this apport, I had myself enjoyed frequent and varied communications from Sir Winston Churchill in the spirit world.

WinstonChurchill.org

1994-06-13-DIARY:
Winston Churchill's possible first séance at Dorincourt, London, in 1920s.

Just before we closed, Emily spoke of a communicator who kept mentioning ‘Dorincourt’. We gathered that this may have been in connection with Dennis Bradley, who lived in a house called Dorincourt at Kingston Vale, near London, and who (together with his family) ran a successful physical circle there in the 1920s. He was also responsible for a best-selling trilogy of books (in diary format) about the special UK sittings at Dorincourt with the American voice medium, George Valiantine; which Bradley organised and sponsored. From an historic point of view, it was at a sitting with George Valiantine - held at Dorincourt in the 1920s - that I believe Sir Winston Churchill attended his first physical séance, when he was the Chancellor of the Exchequer.

1994-07-11-DIARY:
A pristine condition Daily Express newspaper apport ('cut and pasted' from 28 May 1945 to 11 July 1994) arrives in the cellar. Manu said it was for Robin 'from one of your spirit helpers'. When the newspaper was seen after the session, the Scole Group saw Winston Churchill's photograph on the front page.

The next session on Monday 11 July was an extremely interesting one - not so much for the phenomena this time, but for the communications received through the two mediums, both of whom were in a deep trance state throughout the sitting. After Manu’s initial greeting however, an apport was heard to drop on the central table with a loud ‘plop’. Manu told me that this was from one of my own spirit helpers, and that I would understand why this particular item had been chosen!
When I had the chance to study this apport after the session, it turned out to be an original copy of the Daily Express, dated Monday 28 May 1945. What was even more amazing was that it was in almost mint condition when it arrived, in spite of the fact that it was actually forty-nine years old! It was printed on paper of the type used some years ago for everyday copies of national and provincial newspapers. This paper was made from mechanical wood pulp, which contained a chemical impurity, lignin, that caused the paper to rapidly turn yellow when it came into contact with sunlight and air. But there was no sign of the expected ‘yellowing’ of the newsprint on the apported newspaper. However, just a few weeks later, even after the apported newspaper had been carefully stored away from light and air, it had deteriorated and turned yellow. The three SPR scientists, who sat with us regularly later on, had a sample of this newspaper apport sent to PIRA (the Paper Industry Research Association) where it was thoroughly tested. Their conclusion was that there was no doubt whatsoever that the printed paper was genuine wartime or early post-war newsprint, that had been printed by the Letterpress method, which went out of date many years ago.
On the front page of this copy of the Daily Express was a photograph of Sir Winston Churchill, whose presence as a spirit helper I certainly understood, since in the past I had received many communications from him.

1994-09-07-DIARY:
Mrs Bradshaw 'popped in' to comment on Winston Churchill's possible first séance at Dorincourt

I [Robin Foy] was told that I would be doing much writing in the future, which would include a number of books. Then Mrs Bradshaw ‘popped in’ to comment on the evidence she was trying to get about Sir Winston Churchill’s visit to Dennis Bradley’s home in the 1920s, in order to attend his first physical phenomena séance.

1998-07-28-DIARY:
A Communicator, 'a very strong personality', possibly Winston Churchill, said, 'I was determined to come and be heard!’

[Communicator] James then announced that there was a very strong personality present, who wanted to make himself known to us. Slowly but surely, a deep stentorian energy voice spoke from a point above the table. The tones were indeed very like those of Winston Churchill, and this time he managed to get through whole sentences we could understand. Quite an improvement from the previous session. He told us ‘I was determined to come and be heard!’ No name was given, but the voice was ‘classic Winston’, complete with the customary ‘slurring’ of certain syllables.

LINKS + MORE

Churchill's Secret War by Dr David Clarke – Fortean Times (Nov 2018)

Winston Churchill’s interest in strange phenomena and UFOs makes the cover story in the November 2018 issue of Fortean Times magazine.

Top Secret War chronicles the British Prime Minister’s curiosity about a range of unexplained phenomena during his long career as army officer, politician, wartime leader and writer/journalist.

Richard Nixon is said to have described him as the only political leader in history ‘who has his own crystal ball’.

Many people are familiar with Churchill’s famous 1952 memo to the Air Ministry demanding to know ‘the truth’ about flying saucers.

But fewer know that he ordered the very earliest British government inquiry into a UFO sighting in 1912, when he was First Lord of the Admiralty.

Or that in 1939, as the world stood on the brink of WW2, he took time out to write a lengthy essay on the possibility that ET life existed outside our solar system – and came out to say he believed this was a distinct probability.

Or that he took a personal interest in the controversial prosecution of spiritualist medium Helen Duncan during World War 2, that has been described (wrongly) as the ‘last Witchcraft Trial’.

Is there a common thread linking these disparate expressions of interest? Did Churchill ever learn ‘the truth’ about UFOs? And did he really believe in the existence of supernatural forces, as Major Wellesley Tudor Pole told a friend in 1964?

My research into Churchill’s papers at the University of Cambridge and at The National Archives have thrown up some intriguing clues. Read my article and make up your own mind.

DrDavidClarke.co.uk

Churchill's Secret War by Dr David Clarke – Sheffield Hallam University Research Archive (SHURA)

Millions of words have been written about Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965), British prime minister and one of the most influential statesmen of the 20th century. DAVID CLARKE examines Churchill’s curiosity about unexplained phenomena that occurs throughout his long career as army officer, politician and writer. Read more...

This document is the author deposited version. You are advised to consult the publisher's version if you wish to cite from it. Published version: CLARKE, David (2018). Churchill's secret war. Fortean Times, 372.

Churchill Clairvoyant: Seeing 1940 in 1891 by Richard M Langworth

Churchill’s most astonishing prediction came when he was 17 years old, as quoted in Sir Martin Gilbert’s In Search of Churchill:

…I can see vast changes coming over a now peaceful world; great upheavals, terrible struggles; wars such as one cannot imagine; and I tell you London will be in danger—London will be attacked and I shall be very prominent in the defence of London. I see further ahead than you do. I see into the future. This country will be subjected somehow, to a tremendous invasion, by what means I do not know, but I tell you I shall be in command of the defences of London and I shall save London and England from disaster.…dreams of the future are blurred but the main objective is clear. I repeat—London will be in danger and in the high position I shall occupy, it will fall to me to save the Capital and save the Empire.

In Search of Churchill: A Historian's Journey by Martin Gilbert
Sir Martin Gilbert CBE is the official biographer of Winston Churchill and a leading historian of the Twentieth Century

Churchill Proceedings - Winston Churchill and Religion - A Comfortable Relationship with The Almighty by Andrew Roberts

30TH INTERNATIONAL CHURCHILL CONFERENCE, WASHINGTON, DC, 1 NOVEMBER 2013
“If you are the recipient of a message which cheers your heart and fortifies your soul, which promises you reunion with those you have loved in a world of larger opportunities and wider sympathies, why should you worry about the shape or colour of the travel-stained envelope; whether it is duly stamped, whether the date on the postcard is right or wrong?…I adopted quite early in life a system of believing whatever I wanted to believe, while at the same time leaving reason to pursue unfettered whatever paths she was capable of treading.” — Winston Spencer Churchill

Denis Bradley's Threat To Smash Spiritualism – Valiantine's Reply To His 'Frame Up.' – The International Psychic Gazette (Dec 1931)

SCOLE FILE NOTES:

The Scole Experiment Afterlife Research Files (The Scole Files) are curated by Grant Solomon and Jane Solomon, authors of The Scole Experiment: Scientific Evidence for Life After Death.

The Scole Tape Notes (in green) above were transcribed by Scole Experiment Afterlife Research Association (SEARA) Associate Alan Middleton, an engineer who volunteered to convert hundreds of the original physical Scole Tape cassettes into digital files.

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The SCole Experiment: Book, REport, Diary, and Documentary

THE BOOK

THE REPORT

THE DIARY

THE DOCUMENTARY

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE SCOLE EXPERIMENT VIA THE BOOK, REPORT, DIARY AND DOCUMENTARY

For many people, this website or the 86-minute film documentary, The Afterlife Investigations, are the first time they encounter The Scole Experiment.

In addition to the film documentary, three books - with images, descriptions, and analysis - provide a comprehensive overview of this 'important to science' 5-year experiment.

The Scole Experiment: Scientific Evidence for Life After Death introduces all 5 years and the key experiments and concepts for the general reader.

ABOUT US

The Scole Experiment Website Managers and Curators of The Scole Files
The managers of this website are Grant Solomon and Jane Solomon. Grant and Jane are also the collators and curators of The Scole Files since 1998, administrators of The Scole Experiment Afterlife Research Association (SEARA or 'The Scole Association'), psi investigators and journalists, SPR members, writers, editors of The Scole Experiment diary ebook, and authors of the internationally best-selling book... The Scole Experiment: Scientific Evidence for Life After Death.

Ownership and Copyright Notice
All the original material produced and collected during The Scole Experiment - including photographs, objects, audio/video recordings, as well as the records and diaries kept of the events - is owned by the Scole Experimental Group. In 1998, the Scole Experimental Group granted Grant Solomon and Jane Solomon - in their capacities as authors of The Scole Experiment, appointed collators and curators of all The Scole Experiment material, and administrators of SEARA - all rights to use all The Scole Experiment material for their books, articles, films, and other projects. Separately, The Scole Experiment book and other original books, articles, and documents created by Grant Solomon and Jane Solomon, including material provided for the development of moving picture productions, is owned by Grant Solomon and Jane as the originators and creators of those works.

30th Anniversary in 2023 and publication with universal free access 'for educational purposes only' to all The Scole Files
In 2022, in preparation for the 30th Anniversary of the first significant Scole phenomenon (1993) in 2023, Scole Group members - Robin Foy, Alan Bennett, and Diana Bennett - asked Grant Solomon and Jane Solomon (officially appointed collators and curators of The Scole Experiment material since 1998) to digitally publish - with universal free access for study and discussion ('educational purposes only') - all The Scole Files, including Notes and Transcripts regarding the audio recordings of the 'Communication' during the 500 x 2-hour sessions of The Scole Experiment. Previously, in the book, the report, the diary, the documentary, the commentary, and elsewhere, only approximately 10% of the files had been published. The remaining 90% of the data and evidence will begin to be made universally and freely available 'for educational purposes only' at the start of 2023.

Grant & Jane website
To see more about the psychical research and other projects Grant Solomon and Jane Solomon are undertaking for their further books and scripts, visit: GrantandJane.com

2022-05-13: TRIBUTE TO ROBIN FOY ON 13 MAY 2022

The Scole Experiment: An eye-witness account of an 'energy sphere' light

Weird Norfolk: The Scole Experiment

Weird Norfolk: The Scole Experiment
By Stacia Briggs and Siofra Connor
Eastern Daily Press - 1 December 2017

The Scole Mediums Give Reasons For Going Beyond The Scole Experiment To The Norfolk Experiment

The Scole Report Five Years Later

The Scole Report Five Years Later by (Montague Keen and) David Fontana [2004]

About: Professor David Fontana

1997-03-30: THE SCOLE EXPERIMENT SESSION ON 30 mar 1997

1996-07-01: THE SCOLE EXPERIMENT SESSION ON 01 JULY 1996

1994-11-18: THE SCOLE EXPERIMENT SESSION ON 18 NOV 1994

1994-08-24: the scole experiment session on 24 aug 1994

The Scole Experiment Session on 24 Aug 1994:

Did Winston Churchill speak with Independent Voice?

CURATOR NOTES:

LINKS + MORE

The Scole Blog by Grant & Jane Solomon

Archives

Categories

The SCole Experiment: Book, REport, Diary, and Documentary

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE SCOLE EXPERIMENT VIA THE BOOK, REPORT, DIARY AND DOCUMENTARY

ABOUT US

FOLLOW AND CONNECT WITH
THE SCOLE EXPERIMENT AND
THE NORFOLK EXPERIMENT

​Weird Norfolk: The Scole ExperimentBy Stacia Briggs and Siofra Connor​Eastern Daily Press - 1 December 2017

​The Scole Report Five Years Later by (Montague Keen and) David Fontana [2004]

About: Professor David Fontana

​The Scole Experiment Session on 24 Aug 1994: ​Did Winston Churchill speak with Independent Voice?

CURATOR NOTES:

LINKS + MORE

The Scole Blog by Grant & Jane Solomon

Archives

Categories

The SCole Experiment: Book, REport, Diary, and Documentary

FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE SCOLE EXPERIMENT VIA THE BOOK, REPORT, DIARY AND DOCUMENTARY

FOLLOW AND CONNECT WITHTHE SCOLE EXPERIMENT AND​THE NORFOLK EXPERIMENT

Weird Norfolk: The Scole Experiment
By Stacia Briggs and Siofra Connor
Eastern Daily Press - 1 December 2017

The Scole Report Five Years Later by (Montague Keen and) David Fontana [2004]

The Scole Experiment Session on 24 Aug 1994:

Did Winston Churchill speak with Independent Voice?

FOLLOW AND CONNECT WITH
THE SCOLE EXPERIMENT AND
THE NORFOLK EXPERIMENT