How to Create a Ghost? Canadian Experiments

In the 1970s, a group of researchers from the Toronto Society for Psychical Research conducted an experiment to create a fictional ghost named Philip. As a result, participants began experiencing psychokinetic phenomena, such as table rapping and levitation, which seemed to confirm the existence of paranormal manifestations. This experiment, documented on film, raised controversy and questions about the nature of ghosts and the role of the human subconscious in creating such phenomena. What conclusions can be drawn from this extraordinary research?

In the 1970s, a group of parapsychology researchers "discovered" a spirit named Philip. To their surprise, Philip actually communicated with them through a host of incredible psychokinetic phenomena.

A group of teenagers sitting around a Ouija board received mysterious messages from the spirit of a person who claimed to have died 40 years ago. A paranormal society conducts séances during which members interact with the spirit, who communicates by tapping on a table. Residents of an old house constantly see the ghost of a small child moving through the hallway.

What are these manifestations? Are they truly the spirits of deceased people? Or are they merely creations of the minds of those who see them?

Many paranormal researchers believe that ghostly manifestations and the poltergeist phenomenon (noisy spirits—e.g., flying objects, mysterious footprints, and slamming doors) are creations of the human mind. To test this notion, in the early 1970s, the Toronto Society for Psychical Research (TSPR) conducted an interesting experiment to see if its members could create a ghost. The idea was to assemble a group of people who would invent a completely fictional character and then, through séances, see if they could contact that person, receive messages, and experience other physical phenomena—perhaps even ghostly apparitions.

The results of the experiment – fully documented on film and audio tape – are astonishing.