'Jinn' Tree Cut Down In Maldives Attack

A group of masked men targeted the tree after it had been blamed for the possession of three children.

A group of masked men broke into Thakandhoo School in Haa Alif atoll after threatening the security guard with a knife in order to cut down what they claimed was a ‘Jinn Tree’ with evil spirits.

Thakandhoo Island Council Vice President Ibrahim Saeed said the incident happened around 3am this morning.

“Three masked men jumped over the school wall last night and one of them threatened the security guard with a knife. And while he held the security guard, the other two went in with a hand saw and cut down the tree,” he said.

The Maldives Police Service confirmed that the incident is currently under investigation and that a police team from Ihavandhoo arrived on the island within an hour of the incident.

Local media outlet CNM has reported that the tree is approximately 13 years old and was planted by the school staff.

“It was a beautiful tree planted to give a good look to the school compound. Sometimes students try to climb it, and last year three students were possessed by Jinns,” CNM was told by the school staff member.

“People say it is because of that tree, so we even brought five people to look into the matter. But even they didn't recommend to cut down the tree.”

CNM also quoted the staff member as saying that the Jinns [of the tree] had already “stabilised” when it was cut down last night.

Fanditha politics

Speaking to Minivan News, a local who supported the cutting down of the tree said that many believed the tree was connected to the jinn possession of children last year.

“Thing went really bad last December,” explained the local man. “Many of those children have recovered now but there is a child who is still possessed. And there is young girl who loses consciousness whenever she walks past by this tree.”

“Even when things are like this, the island is so politically divided that these issues are politicised and an agreement is not reached as to how it should be dealt with.”

He said the rivalry between two group of islanders dates back to the pre-democracy era and that issues have further polarised with party politics.

“Fanditha practice is very common here. The island is divided into two rival groups even before party politics.”

“But now it [the divide] is [politically] coloured, and represented by supporters of PPM [ruling Progressive Party of Maldives] aligned with the former island chief’s family and friends, and those supporting MDP [opposition Maldivian Democratic Party]. There are magicians on both sides,” he explained.

Last September a group of ‘Islamic exorcists’ uncovered ‘hexed clay tablets’ buried near the school compound following a series of ‘jinn possession’ incidents. A police team went to the island with a court warrant and searched all the houses for black magicians and traditional fanditha magic related objects.

The incident, which took place as the whole country was preparing for the second (cancelled) round of presidential election, left the island community in shock and fear.

MDP supporters from the island claimed it was a political plot to frame their members for practising black magic as reports of black magic emerged across the country during the 2013 election period.

Practice of black magic is a criminal offence under Shariah Law, which it is punishable by death – a sentence still handed down for the offence in countries like Saudi Arabia.

In 1953 local black magician Hakim Didi was sentenced to death in the Maldives for practising magic which eventually lead to the murder of an atoll chief by poisoning and use of black magic in a plot to kill President Mohamed Ameen Didi.

Along with a group of magicians and other co-conspirators, Hakeem Didi is said to have confessed to carrying out many disturbing black magic practices. These include the brewing of a magic poisonous fish potion, the extraction of liver oil from corpses of children, and eating them along with flour dough effigies of the president.

Didi was executed by a firing squad, after which there has been an unofficial moratorium on death penalty in the Maldives.

The permitted forms of white fanditha magic are also regulated by the government and can be legally practised only with a written permission from the Ministry of Health according to the Traditional Medicine, Fanditha (Magic), Circumcision and Midwifery Services Act of 1978.

The Philip Experiment

The Philip Aylesford Experiment: Can you Create a Ghost?

One of the most impossible of seances ever conducted was the Philip Experiment of 1972. In an attempt to venture the true meaning of the Buddhist concept of "tulpas" or thought forms, a group lead by famed psychical researcher Dr. A. R. G. Owen set off to 'create" a real ghost through a series of seances. The experiments did succeed, and resulted in the birth of a most incredible entity...

The Experiments Begin...
In the early 1970s, the Toronto Society of Psychical Research (TSPR), a paranormal research group based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, was influenced by the Tibetian idea of "tulpas", the idea that with the power of the mind, people's thoughts can be projected into the material world. Accordingly, the TSPR decided to test the legitimacy of the belief, and thus established a little group of 8 members from different sections of society, including poltergeist expert Dr. A. R. G. Owen and his wife. Other members, however, had no noticeable relation with the supernatural realm. Thus, the group set off on its first step to create a fictional character named Philip Aylesford.

Philip is Born
The group climbed their first rung of success as they created the imaginary character of Philip Aylesford, a nobleman of Medieval England with a complicated a life ending tragically in a suicide. Thus, they drew up a portrait of his (as you can see above) and wrote up the following biography of his life:

• “Philip was an aristocratic Englishman, living in the middle 1600's at the time of Oliver Cromwell. He had been a supporter of the King, and was a Catholic. He was married to a beautiful but cold and frigid wife, Dorothea, the daughter of a neighbouring nobleman.

• One day, when out riding on the boundaries of his estates, Philip came across a gypsy encampment and saw there a beautiful dark-eyed girl. Her name was Margo, and he fell instantly in love with her. He brought her back secretly to live in the gatehouse, near the stables of Diddington Manor – his family home.

• For some time he kept his love-nest secret, but eventually Dorothea, realizing he was keeping someone else there, found Margo, and accused her of witchcraft and stealing her husband. Philip was too scared of losing his reputation and his possessions to protest at the trial of Margo, and she was convicted of witchcraft and burned at the stake.

• Philip was subsequently stricken with remorse that he had not tried to defend Margo, and would pace the battlements of Diddington in despair. Finally, one morning his body was found at the bottom of the battlements, whence he had cast himself in a fit of agony and remorse.”

The Group MeetingsAs a second step, the group began to hold informal sittings in September 1972, where they would sit under normal atmospheres, discuss about Philip's life and meditate on him, trying to picture a "collective hallucination". Although certain members occasionally felt a strange presence in the room, hardcore evidence was absent. Thus the group now decided to try something more traditional, something that has been used for spirit conjuring since ages.

The Seances
At the advice of psychologist Kenneth J. Barcheldor, the group decided to hold seances and try to communicate with the spirit of Philip. Thus, they darkened the room, sat around a table, surrounded themselves with pictures of Medieval buildings and artefacts of that time frame, and tried to conjure Philip through chants and songs. Slowly and slowly, Philip began to communicate with the group by producing rapping noises on the table. When asked, he would answer questions regarding his likes and dislikes, his life and things of his own time. He would not only produce rapping sounds, but also move, slide and left the table. He would dim the lights and make cold breeze blow in the room. Sometimes, a thick mist developed at the centre of the table in his presence. People touching the table often felt a current passing through their bodies. The table would, in fact, rush to welcome latecomers and corner members in the room. However, Philip failed to answer any questions that was not in knowledge of any member of the group, proving that he was only a figment of their collective imagination.

The most significant seance was performed before a live audience of 50 spectators, where Philip moved the table by a few inches and produced rapping noises. The seance was caught on camera and the actual video of it taking place....

This was not, however, the first time such an experiment had been conducted. Similar experiments have been tried with a fictional teenage girl Skippy and the futuristic man Axel. All these experiments bore somewhat similar results. Although the Philip Experiment failed in its primary goal to materialize Philip as a being, it did verify the "tulpa" concept to a great extent, and successfully became one of the most bizarre and successful afterlife experiments. 

Can You Conjure A Ghost With Your Mind?

In the 1970s a group of researchers conducted a unique experiment to create their own paranormal entity. 

Known as the 'Philip Experiment', the endeavour involved para-psychological researchers from the Toronto Society for Psychical Research and aimed to determine if it was possible to manifest an entity using nothing more than the power of the mind. 

 To do this, the group started out by creating a complete history for their entity, who they called Philip. Over the space of a year they talked about this fictional individual amongst themselves, focusing on what he would look like and willing him to appear to them. 

 Finally in 1973 during a seance, Philip actually started to communicate to the group by rapping on the table and causing the lights to dim. The results were so impressive that they attempted the same thing again in front of a video camera and audience, this time succeeding in having the table levitate in front of more than 50 people. 

 But what do these results mean? Could the Philip Experiment indicate that with enough willpower it is possible to break through and connect with the other side or does it imply that paranormal experiences are in fact nothing more than a product of the human subconscious?