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Music and the Paranormal Music and the Paranormal An Encyclopedic Dictionary Melvyn J. Willin McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers Jefferson, North Carolina Library of Congress Cataloguing-in-Publication Data Names: Willin, Melvyn J., author. Title: Music and the paranormal : an encyclopedic dictionary / Melvyn J. Willin. Description: Jefferson, North Carolina : McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2022. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2021061110 | ♾ ISBN 9781476685984 (paperback : acid free paper) | ISBN 9781476644714 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Music—Psychological aspects—Encyclopedias. | Musicians—Psychology—Encyclopedias. | Parapsychology—Encyclopedias. | Curiosities and wonders—Encyclopedias. | BISAC: MUSIC / Reference | BODY, MIND & SPIRIT / Parapsychology / General Classification: LCC ML102.P79 W55 2022 | DDC 306.4842/03—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021061110 British Library cataloguing data are available ISBN (print) 978-1-4766-8598-4 ISBN (ebook) 978-1-4766-4471-4 © 2022 Melvyn J. Willin. All rights reserved No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. On the cover: The Davenport brothers circa 1869 Boston, W. White and company (Library of Congress/Flickr); stereoscope of Florizel von Reuter, ca. 1911, Stereostopic Co. (Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain) Printed in the United States of America McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640 www.mcfarlandpub.com Table of Contents Acknowledgments vi Preface 1 The Encyclopedia 5 Appendix 1: A Selection of References to Rosemary Brown 217 Appendix 2: The Cases Explored in D. Scott Rogo’s NAD Books 219 Appendix 3: Selected Books and Articles Devoted to the Sound-Music Hypotheses 225 Bibliography 227 Index 235 v Acknowledgments There is always a risk with acknowledgments of omitting people who should have been named and have not been for a variety of reasons. If this has occurred here, then please accept my genuine apologies. The Society for Psychical Research has been supportive of my research into paranormal matters for many years now and I have frequently used their excellent library which is admirably maintained by Karen Patel. The works of David Tame, Joscelyn Godwin and Scott Rogo were particularly helpful in the preparation of this book. My editor David Alff gave me advice throughout the project and Karen Patel deserves a special mention for all her endeavors in tracking down the illustrations and photographs. vvii Preface The subject of this encyclopedia is music, but not in its commonplace understanding since it will be researched from a paranormal angle but encompassing the abnormal and the anomalous and furthermore what may have been viewed as such in bygone eras. Mainstream books about music tend to provide historical details of composers and their works, instru- ments, theoretical analysis, psychological and philosophical perceptions, etc., which will not be the main theme here. I shall not be listing the count- less thousands of musical compositions that have been inspired by often literary supernatural themes—ghosts, vampires, demons, witches, etc. Instead, the work will consist of references exploring where music has been manifested, perceived, composed, performed or written about outside of its normal presence or realm. It will be as comprehensive as possible but with the limitation that new cases and information are always arising which may escape the author’s eye or ear and some examples may be omitted when they are from single sources that may be spurious! The geographical areas researched will concentrate on the UK, the United States and Europe, but other countries will be included where appropriate. The amount of space available is often an issue, but readers should be able to expand their knowl- edge if desired by using the notes as well as the appendices and extensive bibliography. As to what constitutes music, as opposed to sound, I have included bells, but not doorbells and servants’ bells. The human voice has been included when singing or chanting, but not when speaking, scream- ing, or whispering except when other musical phenomena were present. Extraneous sounds such as creaking doors, howling wind, and possible animal or bird sounds have generally been omitted. There are, of course, many problems to be encountered in using words which are subject to multiple interpretations—“supernatural,” “paranormal,” “anomalous,” “occult,” “esoteric” can all suggest different experiences according to how and where they are used and by whom. What is normal changes according to time and place as well as people’s own preconceptions and prejudices. For the purpose of this work, I shall use such words sparingly and ask the 1 2 Preface reader to accept that the motivation for being included in the book is that the areas under discussion are generally thought to be outside of people’s normal experiences. Another problem is deciding whether or not to include examples from mythology or folklore. I have mainly avoided such material since, although such stories have relevance in an understanding of religions or arche- typal concepts, they are not generally accepted as being indicative of actual events in t wenty-first-century culture. Examples have been included when it was thought that some members of contemporary society might still trust the veracity of the communications, or it seemed wise to incorporate them because of their possible interest to the reader. Gerard van der Leeuw (1890–1950), the Dutch historian and philos- opher, wrote, “Music represents the great struggle of reaching the wholly other, which it can never express” (cited in Sharpe, p. 1912). Furthermore, “the effect of music on the emotions is so mysterious as to seem magical. There is no logical explanation why a particular combination of musical notes, whether in the form of a tune or of a simple chord, can affect the heart. Nothing in nature has perhaps so persistently resisted explanation” (Parker, p. 51). Since music is arguably the most intangible of the arts and since the paranormal, in all its manifestations, continues to intrigue people, the placing of these two subjects together seems long overdue. My own career in music as both a teacher and performer was infiltrated throughout my life with anomalies that intrigued me and my fellow musicians. Nobody seemed to be able to explain why some people appeared to be able to compose music or perform beyond their normal ability which, in some cases, they attributed to the deceased. Nobody seemed to be able to explain why music was sometimes heard when there was no obvious, or even u n-obvious, source of the sound. Nobody seemed to explain why a number of people heard music when they were close to death which they remem- bered when they were resuscitated. Nobody seemed able to explain how intrusive operations could be conducted on people without anesthetic, but by using music to eliminate the pain. Nobody seemed able to explain why autistic people often possessed phenomenal musical abilities. The list of questions continues. I decided to undertake research into these and other related musical anomalies over a period of many years which culminated in two doctorates being awarded by Sheffield University and Bristol Univer- sity, both in the UK. Previous pure music degrees were awarded by London University and Surrey University and a graduate diploma from the Royal Academy of Music, London. For more than thirty years I have been a member and then council member of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) and more recently the archive liaison officer. During this time, I have been directly involved with the archiving of the Society’s manuscripts collection Preface 3 stored at Cambridge University Library. The a udio-visual archive is held at my own premises in Essex, England. The SPR archive contains a wealth of information about the alleged paranormal in all its many guises. The printed sources for my extensive research are many and varied, but I have not found a single book that has brought the multiple strands together. The American parapsychologist D. Scott Rogo wrote two books providing information on what he called “transcendental music” (see Rogo, 1970; 1972) which provided considerable information about some people’s hallucinatory experiences. Joscelyn Godwin has written extensively (see Godwin, 1987; 1989; 1992; 1995) about music and the occult and the English musical medium Rosemary Brown also wrote several books about her alleged musical dictations from composers such as Liszt, Beethoven and Chopin, but none of these fascinating works have explored the over- all subject in such depth and clarity as I shall be attempting here. An earlier work of my own, Music, Witchcraft and the Paranormal (see Willin, 2005), outlined my original academic study of the material. I shall also be able to present my own case histories taken from interviewing a wide range of people and visiting sites where music has allegedly been heard from unknown sources. The end result will be a reference work that can be used to explore the academic study of music and the paranormal in a comprehensive alpha- betical order as well as be of interest to the general public. Parker, Derek, and Julia (1992). The Power of Magic. London: Mitchell Beazley. Sharpe, Eric J. (1970). “Music.” Man, Myth and Magic. Vol. 5. London: Purnell.