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.