I really wish it was possible to link to the full articles.
That's one of the things which annoys me the most about the entire internet... (quite the broad statement, I know.) Still, it's true. What I'm referring to, of course, is how appallingly difficult it is to link to the full text of scholarly articles.
I've looked through all of Persinger's articles that are available through PubMed, which really is the gold-standard site for anything published in a truly reputable publication, and I have to say that Persinger's actual experiments seem to have very good protocols. His research in anything related to these areas produces conclusions which I would think to be exactly the
opposite of anything that anyone hoping for the woo-ish would want to find. Essentially, he concludes that if mystical experiences and "sensed presences" can be evoked by simply aiming a weak magnetic field at most people's heads, then the paranormal explanation is pretty much out. Persinger contributed to a really funny study which examined supposedly paranormal apparitions of Jesus and Mary in a specific site, and the findings were that the
site had unusual geomagnetic activity and that two people with signs of complex partial epilepsy were the ones who had been convincing everyone else that they really saw the apparitions. I don't know if I can say that Persinger NEVER had ANYTHING to do with any kind of woo-ish study, but so much of his stuff really seems to be debunking paranormal events and abilities. (A lot of it also has nothing to do with the topic whatsoever--he's done some really good work on the use of novel anticonvulsants for traumatic brain injury!)
Persinger did test Sean Harriman, which is one case I was planning to bring up next. (I can email this study to anyone who wants to see it as a pdf). That was fascinating, because Harriman claimed (probably still does) that he can diagnose people's illnesses and ailments from photographs. Now, we all KNOW how this is relevant. Remember the original title of this thread??? The study didn't address whether or not Harriman had any actual paranormal powers in this area. Instead, it published the results of a complete neurological and psychological workup of Harriman. His psychological test results weren't all that unusual, but there were ALL kinds of functional abnormalities in his brain. And then there were the particularly interesting results of EEG's done while he was handling photographs and reporting all kinds of specific details about the people in them. The more specific the details became, the more abnormal his EEG was. It's extremely important to remember than we are not talking about increased
accuracy of specific information about these people in the photographs. Rather, this particular finding means that when Harriman subjectively
believed that he was relaying accurate information which reflected paranormal ability, his EEG became significantly abnormal.
Look, my personal opinion is that yes, this and a whole lot of other evidence like it (which I'll post tomorrow, when I have more time!) MIGHT apply to VFF. I don't know if it does-- I couldn't possibly say that without seeing a neurological exam done on her! But I think that IF it does, it could actually be an explanation that would be very kind. There have been so many threads about her and so much discussion over such a length of time, and it seems that a big part of the fascination has got to be an ongoing attempt to figure out why on earth someone would keep clinging to a belief in paranormal powers in the face of all evidence. There have been a lot of theories as to why, and some of them haven't been, well, very
charitable. I think there's no doubt that for some people who have made exactly the same claims as Anita, the reason why they've kept doing it is that they have overpowering subjective sensations which continually convince them that they
must be correct about their paranormal senses and powers, and that eventually they'll be proven right. I don't believe that these people are deliberately attempting to be fradulent, or playing games, or trying to fool themselves, or attempting to trick anyone. And
if Anita
might fall into this category-- again, God or Odin or Bast or Inanna or whoever only knows if she does-- then I don't think that she's deliberately trying to do any of these things either.
have some serious studies concerning American East Coast haunted motel rooms to do and record.
