The Gold Leaf Lady and Other Parapsychological Investigations PDF
Preview The Gold Leaf Lady and Other Parapsychological Investigations
the gold leaf lady and other parapsychological investigations The Gold Leaf Lady a nd other par apsychological in v estigations Stephen E. Braude the university of chicago press Chicago & London stephen e. braude was educated at Oberlin, the University of London, and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, where he received his PhD in Philosophy in 1972. He has taught since 1971 at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, where he has been professor of philosophy since 1987. He was chair of the department from 1998 to 2005. Braude is the author of sixty journal articles and four previous books, including The Limits of Influence: Psychokinesis and the Philosophy of Science (1986) and, most recently, Immortal Remains: The Evidence for Life After Death (2003). The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637 The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London © 2007 by The University of Chicago All rights reserved. Published 2007 Printed in the United States of America 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 1 2 3 4 5 isbn-13: 978-0-226-07152-7 (cloth) isbn-10: 0-226-07152-9 (cloth) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Braude, Stephen E., 1945– The gold leaf lady and other parapsychological investigations / Stephen E. Braude. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn-13: 978-0-226-07152-7 (cloth : alk. paper) isbn-10: 0-226-07152-9 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Parapsychology—Case studies. 2. Parapsychology. 3. Braude, Stephen E., 1945– I. Title. bf1031.b736 2007 133.8—dc22 2006036517 ∞ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences— Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ansi z39.48-1992. In memory of John Beloff contents Preface ix 1 · Katie, the Gold Leaf Lady [1] 2 · Historical Interlude [25] 3 · Joe Nuzum: Subject from Hell [55] 4 · Dennis Lee: Subject in Hell [77] 5 · K. R., or Who Can You Trust? [97] 6 · The Thoughtography of Ted Serios: A Postscript [107] 7 · The Synchronicity Confusion [127] 8 · Postscript: Some Thoughts on Astrology [153] Appendixes 179 Glossary 183 Notes 185 References 195 Index 201 preface Not long after publishing my first book on philosophy and parapsychology, I began to receive offers to conduct my own paranormal case investigations. That came as quite a surprise, because my book never suggested I had either the competence or desire to dirty my hands with paranormal fieldwork. Granted, the book was all about parapsychological data and their implica- tions, but it dealt primarily with formal experimentation. I had very little to say, and in fact at the time I knew very little about anecdotal reports or field investigations. Nevertheless, word had gotten out, not just locally but even internationally, that there was a new ghostbuster in town, and some apparently thought I’d be interested in checking out spontaneous phenom- ena for myself. As it happened, I was interested. My research was already leading in that direction, and I had even begun work on my next book, which dealt entirely with large-scale, nonexperimental evidence in parapsychology. Contrary to what you might think, this evolution in my interests was both natural and appropriate, and probably overdue. For one thing, I realized I had at most only a cursory acquaintance with non-laboratory evidence, and I felt that it would have been intellectually irresponsible to draw sweeping conclusions about the significance of parapsychology without giving that material a serious look. And for another, once I began that course of study I came to appreciate how profoundly and inevitably unilluminating para- psychological lab experiments were, and how naive it was to think that one could conduct tests for psychic (or as many prefer to call them, psi) abili- ties under strict experimental controls. I also discovered that the quality of non-laboratory evidence was far better than even most parapsychologists made it out to be. In fact, I discovered that parapsychologists, like many ix
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