Apports and Other Strange Phenomena: Stanley Krippner and Amyr Amiden
The Case of Amyr Amiden:
Apports, Stigmata, and Geomagnetic Field
Effects
Scientific and Medical Network in conjunction with the Society
for Psychical Research. 7 November 2013
Venue: Kensington Library, London,
W8 7RX
During 1993 and 1994 Stanley Krippner witnessed anomalous
phenomena that occurred in the presence of Amyr Amiden, a Brazilian psychic
claimant. Stan had designed non-invasive procedures that enabled a
research team to collect data during occasions of ostensible psychokinesis.
Although further work with Amiden was not possible because of health
issues, the procedures could be utilized with other psychic claimants.
Stanley Krippner will explore all this further in his presentation.
Stanley Krippner is internationally known for his pioneering work in the
scientific investigation of human consciousness, especially such areas as
creativity, parapsychological phenomena and altered states of consciousness.
Prior to joining the Saybrook faculty in 1972, Dr. Krippner directed the Dream
Laboratory at Maimonides Medical Center in New York and was Director of the
Child Study Center at Kent State University. He has served as President of the
Association for Humanistic Psychology, the Parapsychological Association and
the Association for the Study of Dreams. He is also a Charter Member of the
International Society for the Study of Dissociation and is a Fellow of the
American Psychological Association, the Society for the Scientific Study of
Sex, the American Psychological Society, the American Society of Clinical
Hypnosis and the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion.Dr. Krippner
received a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from Northwestern University. He has
written over 500 articles and several books, including: Human Possibilities,
Song of the Siren, Dream Telepathy (co-author), The Realms of Healing
(co-author), Spiritual Dimensions of Healing (co-author), Personal Mythology
(co-author), Healing States (co-author), Dreamworking (co-author), A Psychiatrist
in Paradise (co-editor), Dreamtime and Dreamwork (Ed.) and Advances in
Parapsychological Research (Ed.)
Apports
and Other Strange Phenomena:
A
Discussion Arising From Stanley Krippner's Lecture
I
was fortunate enough to attend Stanley Krippner's evening talk at Kensington
Library in Central London on 7th November 2013. Krippner is an
excellent speaker with an engaging personality and perfect timing in his
delivery. He also personifies that rare combination of a meticulous and
balanced scientist and engaged first-hand explorer of the human condition. I
don't want to discuss the presentation in detail as a report of the case and
statistical findings have been published and are available online.1
A recording of the talk will also be made available in the members section of
the Scientific and Medical Network website.
What I would like to focus on is the case of apports, which formed a central
theme of the lecture.
What are apports?
A Shiva statuette apported for Donna James by Kai Mügge |
In
parapsychology the term 'apport' is used to describe a physical object that
materialises (and sometimes dematerialises), usually during a séance in the
presence of a physical or trance medium. There are other contexts in which
materialisations occur. In India, for example, the appearance of objects or
substances is closely associated with Hindu holy men or swamis. One of the best known instances of this type was the late
Sathya Sai Baba who would apparently materialise vibhuti, a sacred ash widely used in ritual, and small objects.2
Jenny's Sanctuary, a centre
for physical mediumship in Oxfordshire, UK, has a display of objects apported
during séances held there. Trance medium David Thompson regularly produces
apports, or rather the spirits manifest objects through David Thompson's
mediumship. These are well attested by regular sitters at his home circle in
Australia and at his many appearances as a visiting medium at places such as
Jenny's Sanctuary. Another leading contemporary physical medium is Kai Mügge (KM) of the Felix Experimental Group in
Germany. Donna
James describes the gift of a materialised Indian statuette during one of
Kai M's séances in September 2013, during a five day conference on physical
mediumship in Eastbourne, England, organised by the Gordon Higginson Fellowship. In May
2013 KM spent a week under observation being studied by Professor Stephen
Braude and a team of scientists. In his book The Gold Leaf Leaf Lady,3
Braude describes the apportation of a piece of copper (the gold leaf of the
title). Braude brought this item with him to KM's séances. During the course of
one séance KM produced two objects resembling the original gold leaf, which
according to the spirits had been created by taking material from the original,
and substances from the natural and supernatural environment. An account of
this séance and the rest of the tests on KM are documented on the FEG
blog. Amyr Amiden seems a little different and unusual in that he is able
to materialise objects outside a séance situation, sometimes at a distance from
himself. He does on occasion offer spiritual counselling, but unlike David
Thompson and Kai Mügge is not a professional or semi-professional
medium; nor does he see himself as a guru or spiritual teacher.
A brief account of Amyr Amiden
Stanley
Krippner first met Amyr Amiden, a Brazilian of Syrian/Arabian descent, in 1993.
Amiden had been invited to dinner by a mutual friend, Pierre Weil. During the
course of the dinner Amiden materialised an emerald and a gold bracelet for two
of the female guests. The emerald, which was authenticated subsequently by a
jeweller, just appeared apparently out of nowhere. The bracelet was constructed
from foil butter wrappers, which Amiden wound around the wrist of the woman
concerned. Over the course of ten minutes or so the guests watched as the
butter-wrapping bracelet turned into a gold band. This too was later
authenticated by a jeweller. Amiden agreed to undergo tests and the following
year, with a grant from the Society for
Psychical Research, Krippner and and a small interdisciplinary team spent
eight afternoons conducting tests and observations of Amiden once he had
finished work. During this time he produced nearly a hundred objects. Amiden
comes from a family of psychics or 'sensitives'. He had his first experience of
visiting the spirit world at the age of eight, and continues to visit it regularly
(the mechanism of these visits, whether in dreams, trance, out of body
experience or telepathically was not discussed). Amiden referred to having two
personalities, who he perceived as slightly different in appearance and
character from one another. The first was the older Amyr, who at the time of
the tests suffered from heart problems and had a more abrasive character. The
younger Amyr came into being when he was eight with the onset of his psychic
abilities. When Krippner returned to Brazil and met Amiden after a gap of over
twenty years, he claimed that he was now permanently the younger Amyr, and that
his heart problems had disappeared.
Amiden
could tell when he was about to apport an object as it was prefigured by a
metalic taste in his mouth and the sensation of increased heart rate (the
result of physiological tests on Amiden are recorded in the published account).
As Amiden had such experiences from childhood he took them in his stride, and
did not seek notoriety or publicity. He was, however, happy for his abilities
to be studied scientifically. In addition to materialisations, Amiden produced
stigmata (impressions of the wounds suffered by Jesus during his crucifixion).
Although stigmata are not uncommon, and can be produced by hypnosis, autosuggestion
or trance, Krippner had not come across other instances in which a Muslim
manifested them. Amiden claimed that his visits to the spirit world had brought
him very close to Jesus, and that just the mention of Jesus was enough to
produce a sympathetic stigmatic response, which was neither sought nor painful.
Another ability was psychokinesis, the moving or bending of objects without
physical intervention. Amyr had to take particular care when removing his
glasses, and asked the spirits not to bend them. The team of researchers also
established a system of spirit communication in Amyr Amiden's presence, using
white noise static from a radio tuned between stations. This technique has
proved effective in the production of electronic voice communications from the
spirit world. When the team addressed direct questions to the spirits they
utilised a system of discernible 'beeps', one for 'yes', two for 'no' and three
for a 'don't know' or inapplicable.
The materialisation of objects
(apports)
By
far the commonest of Amyr Amiden's psychic abilities observed by Stanley
Krippner's team was the materialisation of small objects. The researchers
agreed that whoever was closest to the materialised object could keep it, and
they noted that the apports were usually appropriate in some way to the person
nearest to them. Pierre Weil, for instance, was a naturalised Brazilian but of
French Catholic origin and many of the apports that dropped near him were
religious medallions. Some of those they traced were apparently common in
Nineteenth Century France. The two women at the dinner when Stanley Krippner
first met Amiden had respectively asked for an emerald and gold bracelet, so
these objects were specific and personal to the recipients. Some of the objects
were attractive, but not particularly valuable, such as polished stones. On one
occasion the daughter of someone present had asked for a gift for her sixteenth
birthday. Amyr immediately produced a ring with sixteen small precious stones
set in it, one for each year of her age (which fitted the girl, who was not
present, perfectly). Krippner had asked Amiden for two rings encircling one
another, as from a parapsychologist's perspective these are hard to fake, and
again he quickly received them. The objects generally appeared to fall out of
the air. On some occasions Amiden would say that he could feel an object
coming, but that it was going to be in the nearby Meditation Room not in the
office where they met. This room was checked before their meetings, and the
objects were found there afterwards as described.
There
seemed to be a clear link between environmental electrical activity and the
materialisation of objects. During a thunder storm Krippner observed s shower
of small stones fall from the air onto a car roof, although Amiden was not in
the immediate vicinity at the time. Another more unusual materialisation
observed by the team involved the office fax machine. During their sessions on
a couple of occasions it started by itself and produced a print out with a bright
magenta strip down it, and nothing else. As they watched the strip gradually
seemed to liquify and then drip and finally produce a small diamond. These were
tested and confirmed as diamonds, though not particularly high grade ones.
Most
of the objects seemed to be stable, that is once materialised they remained in
the same condition. There was a difference between the objects produced by the
'old Amyr', which were generally of more weathered or worn appearance, and
those of the 'young Amyr', which looked more freshly minted (some photographs
of the apports are reproduced in the published article – see Note 1). An
exception to this was one of the diamonds from the fax machine that Krippner
wanted to take back the USA. He concealed it in a sealed film canister, not
telling anyone else where he had put it. When he checked the canister before
leaving Brazil he found it was empty. (The dematerialisation of objects from
within a séance room is well attested, and there are even occasional reports of
the medium being transported from a locked séance room). Amiden could also
produce liquid perfume, as sometime described with Hindu holy men. Twenty years
after the first research trip, when Krippner again observed such a
manifestation he dipped a handkerchief into the perfume so as to preserve some
of the scent. The musky smell is apparently still perceptible on the tissue.
The
largest object to materialise was a book belonging to Pierre Weil, taken from
his library. The book had been missing for a couple of weeks, and then suddenly
materialised at his feet. The cover was the same colour as a blue-green stone
that had just materialised for Krippner. He was told that this was his healing
colour and that he should keep the stone. As the apports from the original
experiments with Amiden had subsequently been stolen from Krippner's flat in
San Francisco, he keeps the apported healing stone in a safety deposit box.
Like most of the objects produced, its value is less its monetary worth - the
jewellery and precious stones were not of particularly high grade materials -
but in the extraordinary manner of its appearing and its appositeness for the
recipient.
Observations
There
will undoubtedly be people who assume that the whole process of materialisation
must be fraudulent as it defies rational scientific explanation. To ignore the
facticity of such events is not, however, a rational or scientific move. The
controlled conditions under which Amyr Amiden was studied for eight days and
the presence of a group of scientifically trained observers rules out
deliberate fraud or slight of hand as the most rational explanation. In Minnie
Harrison's mediumship flowers were commonly apported gifts from the spirits to
the sitters at her séances. Fresh flowers
would be particularly difficult to conceal without damage to their foliage.4
Amiden had very little motive to fake these materialisations, which produced no
material gain and put a strain on his health. The speed at which Amiden was
able to respond to specific requests, such as Krippner's linked rings or the
girl's sixteenth birthday present, ruled out preplanning and concealment. The
items were generally seen to drop out of the air and did not come directly from
Amiden's body (Kai Mügge's apports generally come from his
hands or mouth, but in controlled tests these were repeatedly searched and
checked for signs of concealed objects). If we accept for the
sake of argument that not all mediums are frauds or conjurors, and that those
who observe the appearance, and sometimes disappearance, of these objects are
not all hallucinating, gullible or complicit, what can we say about the
phenomenon?
The origin of apported objects
There
does not appear to be a single origin for the objects produced by Amiden or other
mediums. (1) In some cases the apport is an object with known provenance that
has been moved, concealed and then materialised at a later date in a different
place. This was the case with Pierre Weil's missing book. If the spirits wanted
to make a point in this case (matching the colour of the book's cover to the
healing stone for Krippner so as to stress the veracity of the phenomenon) this
implies a foreknowledge of events and degree of planning that points to spirit
rather than human activity. This case is reminiscent of poltergeist activity. I
have a sister who in the past shared a house with a friend. In that house, but
not in others in which they lived, metal objects would regularly disappear for
a few days or weeks, only to reappear in an unexpected place. The commonest
objects were things like scissors that would vanish from a sewing box, only to
reappear sometime later on the front door mat, or car keys that would vanish
from a bag to materialise sometime later in the kitchen sink. They learned to
live with this rather tiresome manifestation of psychokinetic activity with
relatively good humour for a period of several years. As they knew they had not
moved, hidden, and then replaced the objects, they could only assume that some
kind of spirit activity was involved.
(2)
Some objects, the majority, appeared to have been moved in time and space, but
probably existed somewhere physically before materialising through the
mediumship of Amyr Amiden. The French holy medallions and linked metal rings
probably fall into this category. There are examples from spiritualist seances
in which the spirits claim to have taken preexisting objects that wouldn't be
missed by their owners, or which had been discarded, as appropriate gifts for
sitters.
(3)
There are examples of materialisations in which the objects appear to be
self-generated, such as the diamonds from the magenta strip on the fax paper,
and the butter-wrapping bracelet that turned to gold. The piece of copper
apparently fashioned from constituent materials in the 'gold leaf', observed by
Stephen Braude and his team, falls into this category. Here we have something
more akin to an alchemical process than the dematerialisation of objects in one
location in order to re-materialise them in another. The jewellery produced by
the 'younger Amyr' that looked so newly minted might have been self-generated
rather than pre-owned. In one of Minnie Harrison's séances a bell was used by
the spirits to announce their presence. At a certain point a second bell was
heard in the room, and at the end of the séance when the lights were turned on
it was visible to those present. It matched the first one in style (bought at
Woolworths in the 1940s) but was slightly bigger and much newer-looking. After
more than 50 years it still maintained its shiny appearance without evidence of
tarnishing. Tom Harrison speculated that the de-materialisation had affected
the materials in such a way as to maintain their colour. He clearly assumed
that the spirits had found an existing object in this case rather than creating
it from scratch, although it is possible that it was generated from the same
material as the original, as with the copper used by the spirits in Kai Mügge's séance.
The purpose of materialisation
The
motivation for producing various objects might depend in part on who the prime
mover is in any particular instance. The presence of a sensitive or medium
seems essential, but he or she will claim that the spirits working from the
other side are equally important. In Amyr Amiden's case he was on occasion the
main protagonist – as when he produced the emerald and gold bracelet to please
the women he sat next to at dinner. The creation of the butter-wrapping gold
bracelet seems more in the nature of a party-trick than anything else, in the
sense that it was done to please those present rather than prove a point about
survival. When the spirits are asked about their motivation, providing evidence
of the existence of the spirit world is generally their answer. When particular
force and speed are used in the production of objects, it is to make a strong
statement concerning their anomalous spirit origin. Electro-magnetic forces
also seem to facilitate the production of apports, particularly electrical
storms. In both Alec Harris and David Thompson's séances, the spirits would
reverse the pullover or cardigan worn by the medium, who remained bound in a
chair during this process, a physical impossibility without rapid
de-materialisation and re-materialisation.5
It is clearly of some importance to the spirits to prove their existence. They
want people to know that there is a world beyond death and that it
interpenetrates the material world in which we live. The materialisation of
objects does not in itself prove the continuation of individual life beyond
physical death, but does point to communication with other entities who, with a
medium as conduit, have the ability to manipulate the physical world. Amiden
spoke of frequently visiting the spirit world, and for him this transpersonal
communication was a fact of daily life. In the religious context of Brazil,
where spiritism and spiritualist teachings find wide acceptance, this is not
regarded as particularly noteworthy.
The mechanism of apportation
As
to the physical mechanisms used we must be purely speculative, but spiritualist
and theosophical literature speaks of all matter existing at different
vibrational frequencies. This is scientifically uncontroversial, and we are
used to the idea that radio waves, or X-Rays, for instance, can pass through
objects that we consider solid. We are also aware that from the perspective of
an electron even the densest physical objects appear largely as space. Although
we have no current scientific understanding of the mechanisms that are used to
de-materialise and re-materialise objects, or to transform one substance into
another, it is likely to be connected to a change in the frequency at which the
constituent particles of a solid object vibrate, rendering them capable of
rapid movement in time and space. If occasional reports of entranced mediums
being moved through solid walls or doors are true, this process happens without
harming the human body. No distortion of the reconstituted object seems to
occur, and while some apports subsequently de-materialise again after a period
of time (like a leprachaun's pot of
gold), others maintain a bright, shiny appearance, or hold a scent, for much
longer than would normally be expected (a mark of sanctity in the Christian
Roman Catholic tradition is the incorruptibility and often pleasantly scented
aroma of the saint's dead body).
The
relatively inconsequential objects materialised by Amyr Amiden, as observed by
Stanley Krippner and reported from other contemporary mediums, can nevertheless
raise questions concerning the veracity of various religious phenomena. As
previously noted, Sai Baba is one of the best known exemplars of
materialisation in a modern religious setting. He did not permit scientific
tests of his abilities, but was frequently observed and many of those who saw
his manifestations believed them to be genuine. The biblical story of Jesus
feeding the crowds by multiplying loaves and fishes (John 6 1-15, Luke 9 10-17)
could plausibly seen as a case of duplication, like Minnie Harrison's bell and
Kai Mügge's gold leaf. The
New Testament accounts of the resurrection appearances of Jesus in the forty
days between his death and ascension, describe Jesus in a body that appears
completely solid, can eat and drink, walk and talk, but also pass through walls
and walk on water. He was sometimes visible to many people simultaneously, but
could also disappear at will. Jesus's resurrection body appears to share some
characteristics with apported objects in apparently passing through solid
objects without loss of form or function.
Conclusion
Stanley
Krippner began his talk by stating that he didn't like to use the term 'proof'
in relation to parapsychology. It is a technical term in mathematics and
philosophy (and can be used of whisky) but not in science. This is not so much
a refusal to reach conclusions based on research data and observed facts, but a
recognition that there is always more to learn, and that our knowledge is
always partial. By the same token one might add that to claim to have disproved
a phenomenon is equally suspect. The white crow might always appear, and one
fraudulent medium does not disprove the existence of the spirit world. What was
abundantly clear from listening to Stanley Krippner's presentation of Amyr
Amiden was that the world in which we live is one full of mystery, about which
we still know very little.
The original gold foil from Stephen Braude's 'Gold Leaf Lady'
and the apported copper from it.
Notes
1Stanley
Krippner, Michael Winkler et.al. 'Physiological and Geomagnetic Correlates of
Apparent Anomalous Phenomena Observed in the Presence of a Brazilian
“Sensitive”'. Journal of Scientific
Exploration, Vol.10, No.2, pp.281-298, 1966. Online version available as
pdf www.scientificexploration.org/journal/jse_10_2_krippner.pdf
2Krippner
had visited Sai Baba and heard him give and inspirational talk, but not
personally observed any of his materialisations. While there seem to be
sufficient observational accounts to give credence to at least some of Sai
Baba's claims, the same cannot be said of all Indian holy men (and women).
Erlendur Haraldsson and Joop M. Houtkooper were less than impressed with Gyatri
Swami when he agreed to be observed. See 'Haraldsson and Houtkooper, 'Report on
an Indian Swami Claiming to Materialize Objects: The Value and Limitations of
Field Observations'. Journal of
Scientific Exploration, Vol. 8, No. 13, pp.381-397, 1994. Richard Wiseman,
a psychologist and magician accompanied Haraldsson and concluded that Gyatri
Swami was probably using sleight of hand.
3Stephen
E. Braude (2007) The Gold Leaf Lady and
Other Parapsychological Investigations, Chicago & London: University of
Chicago Press.
4Tom
Harrison, Life After Death: Living Proof:
A Lifetime's Experiences of Physical Phenomena and Materialisations through the
Mediumship of Minnie Harrison. Revised edition, 2008. Saturday Night Press,
York.
5Louie
Harris claimed that she felt a sudden drop in Alec's body temperature as the
pullover was withdrawn from his body, indicating that a large amount of power
was necessary for the demonstration (Alec
Harris: The full story of his remarkable physical mediumship by Louie
Harris, 2009, Saturday Night Press, York, p.85). I have witnessed this reversal
of clothing in a séance with David Thompson. (A written
account appears on my Academia.edu
website).
Labels: Amiyr Amiden, Apports, Brazil, Circle of the Silver Cord, David Thompson, Felix Experimental Group, Kai Muegge, Mediums, Parapsychology, Psi, Stanley Krippner, Stigmata