| | DISCOVERY OF ELECTROMAGNETIC ANOMALIES AT TWO REPUTEDLY HAUNTED CASTLES IN SCANDINAVIA.
by ANDREW NICHOLS , WILLIAM G. ROLL The authors gratefully acknowledge support for this investigation by the Institut fur Crenzgebiete der Psychologie und Psychohygiene, Freiburg i. Br., Germany. We also appreciate the cooperation of the owner of Dragsholm Castle, F mming Bottger, and of Countess Catharina Piper, Engso Castle. Typing and editorial assistant was provided by Mary West Barclay. ABSTRACT: After interviews with witnesses by Nichols and Roll, Nichols spent three days each at Dragsholm Castle, Denmark, and Engso Castle, Sweden, making instrumental recordings at sites where the witnesses had experienced haunting-type phenomena. Control recordings were taken in other parts of the castles. At Dragsholm, Nichols found an elevated electromagnetic field (EMF) in the Grey Lady's Room where Radin and Roll (1996) had previously found an EMF anomaly. The readings in the Knights Hall were unremarkable. In the Theater on the fourth floor, Nichols recorded a transient temperature decrease that coincided with a geomagnetic field (GMF) anomaly that exceeded 100 Milligauss, the maximum threshold of the meter. Prior to the anomaly, the GMF in the Theater averaged 2-5 Milligauss, the same as in other parts of the Castle. Immediately following this event, Nichols saw a brief movement in his left peripheral field. It appeared to be a person dressed in light colored flowing clothing. Aside from three maids who were in the kitchen/dining room area on the first floor, the Castle appeared to be empty of human occupants. Nichols' apparitional sighting may have been an example of "magnetophosphenes." When the brain is exposed to magnetic fields of specific frequencies, a flickering or flash of white light in the peripheral vision may be experienced. The equipment and method utilized at Engso was similar to those employed at Dragsholm. The only area where an anomaly was recorded was on the third floor where three previous witnesses had described apparitional experiences. Nichols recorded a GMF strength of 157 Milligauss, as compared to the ambient field of 2-3 Milligauss in the rest of the Castle. When Nichols discovered this anomaly, he was unaware of the haunting phenomena at this site. The anomaly was stable. Persinger has suggested that abrupt changes in magnetic field strengths, rather than extended exposure to strong fields, may induce anomalous experiences. At Engso the experiences may have resulted from the movement of the witnesses through a normal field to an area of high magnetic strength. In the Theater at Dragsholm similar effects may have resulted from exposures to transient energies in the same area. In the past, scientists have dismissed haunting experiences as psychological fantasies with no basis in the real world. Investigations by the authors and others suggest that the phenomena are real, and that they may have a physical source. The wide range of anomalous experiences which may be triggered by exposure to geomagnetic and electromagnetic fields reflect the same versatility which is evident from the uses of electromagnetism in the devices that are so familiar to us. Just as these energies, when processed through electronic systems, can become the sounds and images of television and video, so too can they stimulate the brain to experience visionary encounters. -1- | |
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