Ingo Swann

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Ingo Swann is an artist and author, best known for his work as a co-creator (according to his frequent collaborators Russell Targ and Harold Puthoff)[1] of the discipline of remote viewing, specifically the Stargate Project. He has written several books on the subject of remote viewing, including: Kiss the Earth Good-bye: Adventures and Discoveries in the Nonmaterial, Recounted by the Man who has Astounded Physicists and Parapsychologists Throughout the World, the self-help books: Everybody's Guide to Natural Esp: Unlocking the Extrasensory Power of Your Mind, Your Nostradamus Factor - Accessing Your Innate Ability to See Into the Future,[2] Psychic sexuality: The bio-psychic "anatomy" of sexual energies,[3] a 1980 book on future world events: What Will Happen to You When the Soviets Take Over?[4] and his autobiography: Penetration: The Question of Extraterrestrial and Human Telepathy.[5][6]

Swann refuses the term psychic for himself. He considers himself a "consciousness researcher who had sometimes experienced altered states of consciousness." Swann has stated, "I don't get TESTED, I only work with researchers on well-designed experiments."[7] Swann prefers "having a hand" in designing these experiments and also demonstrates his "mental" skills impromptu without controls. When retelling the history of these experiments Swann's version of events is more grandiose than that of others. Swann helped develop the process of remote viewing at the Stanford Research Institute in experiments sponsored by the Central Intelligence Agency. He is commonly credited with proposing the idea of Coordinate Remote Viewing, a process in which viewers would view a location given nothing but its geographical coordinates, which was developed and tested by Puthoff and Russell Targ with CIA funding. [8] Due to the popularity of Uri Geller in the seventies a critical examination of Ingo Swann's paranormal claims was basically overlooked by skeptics and historians.[9] Uri Geller comments very favorably on Ingo Swann. Geller says, "If you were blind and a man appeared who could teach you to see with mind power, you would revere him as a guru. So why is Ingo Swann ignored by publishers and forced to publish his astounding life story on the Internet?" [10] Both Geller and Swann were tested by two experimenters, Russell Targ and Harold Puthoff, who concluded that Geller and Swann did indeed have unique skills.[11] However, others have strongly disputed the scientific validity of Targ and Puthoff's experiments.[12] In a 1983 interview magician Milbourne Christopher remarked Swann is "one of the cleverest in the field." [13]Details and transcripts of the SRI remote viewing experiments themselves were found to be edited and even unattainable.[14]

Contents

[edit] Out of body experiment for Karlis Osis and the ASPR

In the summer 1972 American Society for Psychical Research Newsletter Dr. Karlis Osis, director of research for the ASPR, described his personal controlled out-of-body experiment with Swann. The targets that Swann was to attempt to describe and illustrate were on a shelf two feet from the ceiling and several feet above Swann's head. Dr. Osis does not describe the height of the ceiling. [15] Swann suggests, unclearly, the ceiling was 14 feet in height. [16]The room was illuminated by two kitchen-style overhead fixtures. Swann sat alone in the chamber with wires from electrodes fastened to his head running through the wall behind him. Swann sat just beneath the target tray. [17]He was given a clipboard to use for sketching. Any movement while drawing did not result in "artefacts" in the brain readout. [18] Although his out-stretched hand might not have extended far enough to reach the suspended shelf, the clipboard that he used for sketching could have been employed as an extension. Perhaps with a mirror held by the clip at the high end, the lower end grasped by the fingers of his extended hand. In Swann's book To Kiss the Earth Goodbye there is a photograph of the objects on the shelf. Swann wrote that he was aware of most of the objects on shelf above his head, but he did not know it held four numbers on a side. A side that would not have been visible if a reflecting surface had been angled near the end. Writing about this experiment master magician Milbourne Christopher asks the questions why were the target objects in the same room as the subject? Why were they so close to the subject? And finally, why wasn't an observer also in the room at the time of the experiment?[19][20] The statements that Swann's targets where concealed in sealed boxes are false.

Psychological scales were developed for rating the quality and clarity (as subjectively described) by Swann of his OOB vison, which varied from time to time. The results were evaluated by blind judging. A psychologist, either Miss Bonnie Preskari or Dr. Carole K. Silfren, was asked to match up Swann's responses without knowing which target they were meant for. She matched all the eight sessions. Dr. Osis stressed the odds about Swann being correct were forty thousand to one. There is no record of any experiments being performed in the dark.[21]

Together, Dr. Silfren and Swann prepared an unofficial report of later out-of-body experiments and circulated it to 500 members of the ASPR, before the ASPR board was aware of it. According to Swann, Dr. Silfren has disappeared and cannot be located. He is searching for her and asks for your help.[22] According to Swann, in April 1972 a move was made at the ASPR in New York to discredit him and throw him out because he was a scientologist.[23][24]

[edit] Different versions of the magnetometer psychokinesis tests

When Ingo Swann arrived at SRI Harold Puthoff decided he would first be tested for psychokinesis,PK. On June 6 1972, the two of men paid a visit to Dr. Arthur Heberd and his quark detector, a magnetometer, at the Varian Physics Building. The well-shielded magnetometer had a small magnetic probe in a vault five feet beneath the floor. The oscillation had been running silently, for about and hour tracing out a stable pattern on the chart recorder. Putoff asked Swann if he could affect the magetometer’s magnetic field. Swann says he focused his attention on the interior of the magnetometer and was getting nothing. [25][26]

Then there are different versions of the following events. Puthoff states that after about a five-second delay,[27] Heberd says it was a ten to fifteen minute delay, the frequency of the ocscillation doubled for about 30 seconds. Heberd continues, when the curve burped, Swann asked, "Is that what I am supposed to do?" [28] Swann said he responded,"Is that an effect?"[29]Then according to Heberd, Swann crossed the room taking his attention away from the chart recorder. [30] Swann says he took his mind off the machine and was sketching.[31]Others watched the recorder to see if the irregularity would be repeated. It was. Puthoff asked Swann, "Did you do that too?" [32] Here Swann says he again responded, "Is that an effect?" [33]According to Puthoff Swann said he was then tired and couldn’t “hold it any longer” and let go. The chart recorder pattern returned to normal.[34]

Heberd supports Puthoff's version that in the second instance Heberd suggested he would be more impressed if Swann could stop the field change altogether. Heberd denies he told James Randi's that he never suggested it. [35] [36][37] Swann recalls he heard, “Can you do that again?” from Puthoff. Only Swann says his feats frightened some doctoral candidates. Two "virtually ran" from the room and one collided with a "totally visible" structure support.[38]

Puthoff writes Dr. Heberd suggested all along there must be something wrong with the equiptment. The following day it was certain the magnetometer was malfunctioning. "The equiptment was behaving erractically; it was not possible to obtain a stable background signal for calibration." Therefore the experiment was not repeated. Swann relates this SNAFU in his book, Remote Viewing: The Real Story. [39] In his CIA report, paranormal expert, Dr. Kenneth A. Kress, does not record anything about Heberd's malfunctioning suggestions. Kress only writes, "These variations were never seen before or after this visit." [40] Though Swann was to spend a year at SRI, in their book, Targ and Puthoff present no further data and, Swann does not mention he was involved in, any other PK experiments with the magnetometer than those that occurred and were recorded on June 6 1972.[41]

Immediately after Puthoff wrote a brief paper in a draft form. Rather than publishing the results in a scientific journal inviting peer review, this paper was circulated hand to hand throughout research and academic instutions across the U.S.A., and Puthoff accepted invitations to speak. [42] This paper caught the attention of the CIA and two spooks paid a visit to Hal Puthoff at SRI and met Ingo Swann. Later this paper was published as a part of a conference proceedings.[43][44]

[edit] Early Coordinate Remote Viewing experiments

Targ and Puthoff write about their pilot experiments, "We couldn't overlook the possibility that perhaps Ingo knew the geographical features of the earth and their approximate latitude and longitude. (It is Swann who suggests these Coordinate Remote Viewing tests, not the experimenters. He is in control.) "Or it was possible that we were inadvertently cueing the subject (Swann), since we as experimenters knew what the answers were." [45]

Soon Targ and Puthoff perform more experiments with Swann and the controls are tightened to eliminate the possibility of error. This time Swann is given the latitude and longitude of 10 targets, in the end there will be 10 runs for a total of 100. Only the evaluations of the 10 targets from the 10th run, the last, are disclosed. The results of the targets from the previous 90 (runs 1-9) are ignored. For the 10th run Swann has 7 hits, 2 neutral and 1 miss. The experiments come to a close. Targ and Puthoff are positive "Something was happening, but they are not clear what it is."[46] {This method of selecting a small number of "guesses" from a larger, sometimes never disclosed larger number, is known as the free response method in remote viewing.}[47][48] [49] According to Swann his RV has been correct probably 95% of the time. His personally trained students RV were 85% correct, 85% of the time.[50] [51] See:Stargate Project

Swann and his colleague, Dr. Hal Puthoff, were Operating Thetan-level Scientologists in the 1970s. The connection between Scientology and the CIA has raised concerns from some critics.[citation needed]

[edit] Swann's Jupiter rings

Ingo Swann proposed a study to Targ and Puthoff. At first they resisted, for the resulting descriptions would be impossible to verify. Yet, on the evening 27 April 1973 Targ and Puthoff recorded Swann's remote viewing session of the planet Jupiter and Jupiter's moons,[52] prior to the Voyager probe's visit there in 1979.

Swann asked for 30 minutes of silence. According to Swann, his ability to see Jupiter took about 3-and-a-half minutes. In the session he made several reports on the physical features of Jupiter, such as its surface, atmosphere and weather. Swann's statement that Jupiter had planetary rings, like Saturn, was controversial at the time. The Voyager probe later confirmed the existence of the rings. [53]

The following are Swann's exact statements:

6:06:20 "Very high in the atmosphere there are crystals... they glitter. Maybe the stripes are like bands of crystals, maybe like rings of Saturn, though not far out like that. Very close within the atmosphere."(Unintelligible sentence.) "I bet you they'll reflect radio probes. Is that possible if you had a cloud of crystals that were assaulted by different radio waves?" [54]

[edit] Analysis of Swann's observations

These are the facts as known today. The Rings of Jupiter are not inside the atmosphere and rather than being made of crystal, Jupiter's rings are formed by charged (dust) particles of various sizes. Most of these particles are very tiny (about 1 micrometre across). There are two forces that are exerted on these particles by Jupiter: a gravitational force and an electromagnetic force. The gravitational force is stronger than the electromagnetic force for particles with size of 1 micrometre and it provides the centripetal acceleration that is required to keep these particles in circular motion around Jupiter.

Throughout their lifetimes these particles are ground down by the energetic particles that are abundant in Jupiter's magnetosphere and eventually they become so small (about 0.03 micrometre across) that the electromagnetic force overpowers the gravitational force and the particles leave the rings and fall into Jupiter's atmosphere. The average lifetime of these particles is about 1000 years, a very short time by cosmological standards.

However, Jupiter's rings are a permanent feature because these tiny particles are regenerated continually by collisions of interplanetary micro-meteoroids with boulder-size objects within the rings. [55]

Swann's total observations lasted for about 20 minutes. He made no mention of the many moons of Jupiter, which as of February 2004 counted 63. [56] The raw data comprised only four pages. But according to Swann the confirmatory data appeared throughout the published scientific and technical articles and papers. It was decided that all of these should be included in their entirety to ensure that no scientific passage was inadvertently used out of context. The feedback data therefore amounted to about 300 pages.[57] Swann states, "Only the mountains remained unconfirmed. When skeptics elected to amuse themselves regarding the Probe it was this single item they focused on." [58]

[edit] Ingo Swann's brain activity during remote viewing

In November 2001, there was an article by Michael Persinger published in The Journal of Neuropsychiatry & Clinical Neurosciences. The results with Ingo Swann suggested that during his remote viewing there were associated measurable changes in brain activity. There was bipolar electroencephalographic activity over the occipital, temporal and frontal lobes. [59]

[edit] Swann and PSI TECH

In later years Swann was involved with Major Ed Dames[60] in the founding of the non-profit PSI TECH [61][62] [63].Recently, 26 Sept 2007, Swann posted: "Although I am not part-and-parcel of PSI TECH in any formal business sense, I occasionally serve as consultant and in that function am generally familiar with PSI TECH's setup. It is rather common knowledge that all contracts between PSI TECH and its clients stipulate a full money-back guarantee in the event that PSI TECH-provided information is useless or in significant error. The accusation that PSI TECH is fleecing its clients is therefore completely without any actual foundation from this contractual point of view".[64][65]

[edit] Swann and psychic detectives

Swann reported that out of the twenty-five criminal cases he worked between 1972-1979 twenty-two were flops and three were successes.[66][67] According to Swann, Gerard Croiset [68] and Peter Hurkos [69] were super sensitive sleuths. [70] Authors Arthur Lyons and Marcello Truzzi, Ph.D., also a founder of the International Remote Viewing Association, [71] wrote the Croiset and Hurkos cases were "pure bunk" in their 1991 book The Blue Sense: Psychic Detectives and Crime.

[edit] Ufology

Ingo Swann is a supporter of ufology and Saucer Smear. Swann, writing "in appreciation of 'Saucer Smear' and its Esteemed Editor", writes that "although many of its readers might view 'Saucer Smear' merely as a droll ufology gossip rag, in the larger picture it is rather more accurately a profound 'window' opening up onto the sociology of ufology. Therefore its cumulative issues constitute a precious historical archive."[72]

In his 1998 autobiography Penetration: The Question of Extraterrestrial and Human Telepathy, Swann describes his work with individuals in the U.S. government who study extraterrestrials, his remote viewing of a secret E.T. base on the dark side of the moon and his "shocking" experience with a sexy scantily dressed female E.T. in a Los Angeles supermarket. He concludes that extraterrestrials are living on earth in humanoid bodies. A friend warns him that there are many extraterrestrials, that many are "bio-androids", and that they are aware their only foes on earth are psychics. While Swann and an individual known as "Mr. Axelrod" are secretly watching a UFO appear and suck up the water of a lake, they are discovered and attacked by the UFO. Swann is injured but is dragged to safety by his colleagues.[73][74][75][76][77]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Mind-Reach: Scientists Look at Psychic Ability by Russell Targ & Harold Puthoff, A Delta book, Dell Publishing Co. Inc., 1977.
  2. ^ Ingo Swann Tribute website
  3. ^ Amazon.com: Psychic sexuality: The bio-psychic "anatomy" of sexual energies: Ingo Swann: Books
  4. ^ Textbookx.com - 9780960494668 What Will Happen to You When the Soviets Take Over by Ingo Swann at TextbookX.com
  5. ^ Amazon.com: Penetration: The Question of Extraterrestrial and Human Telepathy: Books: Ingo Swann
  6. ^ To the Moon and Back With Love [1]
  7. ^ Chapter.Twelve
  8. ^ Mind-Reach: Scientists Look at Psychic Ability by Russell Targ & Harold Puthoff, A Delta book, Dell Publishing Co. Inc., 1977.
  9. ^ Real Story - Chapter 48
  10. ^ Saucer Smear, October 10th, 1998
  11. ^ Mind-Reach: Scientists Look at Psychic Ability by Russell Targ & Harold Puthoff, A Delta book, Dell Publishing Co. Inc., 1977.
  12. ^ ``The Search for Psychic Power: ESP and Parapsychology Revisited, C.E.M. Hansel, Prometheus Books, 1989.
  13. ^ A Final Interview with Milbourne Christopher, The Skeptical Inquirer, Vol 9, No 2 / winter 1984-85, p 165
  14. ^ The Psychology of the Psychic by David Marks and Richard Kamman, Prometheus Books. Amherst, New York, 2000, 2nd edition. 1st edition, 1980, does not contain all of this information
  15. ^ New ASPR Search on Out-of-the Body Experiences by Karlis Osis, Ph. D-Director of Research, ASPR, ASPR Newsletter, No. 14-Summer 1972 p.2
  16. ^ Chapter.Twelve
  17. ^ Chapter.Twelve
  18. ^ [http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:TjWstiInTy8J:realityuncovered.com/
  19. ^ Search for the Soul by Milbourne Christopher, Thomas Y. Crowell, 1979
  20. ^ Kiss the Earth Good-bye: Adventures and Discoveries in the Nonmaterial, Recounted by the Man who has Astounded Physicists and Parapsychologists Throughout the World by Ingo Swann, Hawthorne Books, 1975
  21. ^ New ASPR Search on Out-of-the Body Experiences by Karlis Osis, Ph.D-Director of Research, ASPR, ASPR Newsletter, No. 14-Summer 1972 p.2 & 4
  22. ^ www.biomindsuperpowers.com/Pages/RealStoryCh47.html
  23. ^ Chapter 38
  24. ^ Chapter 25
  25. ^ Mind-Reach: Scientists Look at Psychic Ability by Russell Targ & Harold Puthoff, A Delta book, Dell Publishing Co. Inc., 1977
  26. ^ Chapter 37
  27. ^ Mind-Reach: Scientists Look at Psychic Ability by Russell Targ & Harold Puthoff, A Delta book, Dell Publishing Co. Inc., 1977
  28. ^ Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns and other Delusions by James Randi, Prometheus books, 9th printing 1987
  29. ^ Chapter 37
  30. ^ Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns and other Delusions by James Randi, Prometheus books, 9th printing 1987
  31. ^ Chapter 37
  32. ^ Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns and other Delusions by James Randi, Prometheus books, 9th printing 1987
  33. ^ Chapter 37
  34. ^ Mind-Reach: Scientists Look at Psychic Ability by Russell Targ & Harold Puthoff, A Delta book, Dell Publishing Co. Inc., 1977
  35. ^ Mind-Reach: Scientists Look at Psychic Ability by Russell Targ & Harold Puthoff, A Delta book, Dell Publishing Co. Inc., 1977
  36. ^ http://www.skepticalinvestigations.org/exam/Prescott_Randi.htmhttp://www.skepticalinvestigations.org/exam/Prescott_Randi.htm A Skeptical Look at James Randi by Michael Prescott
  37. ^ Flim-Flam! Psychics, ESP, Unicorns and other Delusions by James Randi, Prometheus books, 9th printing 1987
  38. ^ Chapter 37
  39. ^ Chapter 38
  40. ^ http://web.archive.org/web/20060428105905/www.parascope.com/ds/articles/parapsychologyDoc.htm Parapsychology in Intelligence: A Personal Review and Conclusion By Dr. Kenneth A. Kress, released to the public in 1996
  41. ^ Mind-Reach: Scientists Look at Psychic Ability by Russell Targ & Harold Puthoff, A Delta book, Dell Publishing Co. Inc., 1977
  42. ^ Reading the Enemy's Mind: Inside Star Gate America's Psychic Espionage Program by Paul H. Smith, Tom Doherty Associates, LLC, 2005
  43. ^ Physics, Entropy and Psychokensis by H. E. Putoff and R. Targ in the proceedings of the conference Quantum Physics and Parapsychology (Geneva, Switzerland); (New York: Parapsychology Foundation, 1975)
  44. ^ CIA-Initiated RV Program at SRI
  45. ^ Mind-Reach: Scientists Look at Psychic Ability by Russell Targ & Harold Puthoff, A Delta book, Dell Publishing Co. Inc., 1977, Page 28
  46. ^ Mind-Reach: Scientists Look at Psychic Ability by Russell Targ & Harold Puthoff, A Delta book, Dell Publishing Co. Inc., 1977, Page 29 & 30
  47. ^ remote viewing
  48. ^ In psi literature the use of the free response method is not always devulged to the reader as is done in this instance by Targ and Puthoff. When these same experiments with Swann are described in Parapsychology: The Controversial Science by Richard S. Broughton, Broughton presents one example of Swann giving an instantaneous description of one target from the 10th run, that of a hit. Broughton writes nothing clearly about the 99 other attempts with neutrals or misses.
  49. ^ http://www.trvnews.com/tmn/021502/trvwinning.html Here one can see the winning results of the 2001 Technical Remote Viewing contest for PSI TECH. 15 PAGES containing drawings and verbal responses are displayed. (TOTAL of RV contestants remains UNKNOWN.) The physical evidence, itself, indicates the free response method. From the large number of "guesses" a smaller number of hits are selected from the 15 PAGES by the judges to match the target. All the hits do not come from the same page. The statue of liberty is thus matched and the winner is determined.
  50. ^ http://www.psitech.net/training.htm See video History of PSI TECH to hear Swann's own statements.
  51. ^ http://www.trvnews.com/tmn/062503/truehistory.html In 1983 Ingo Swann contracted to train four US Army officers and one female civilian. Their names were: CPT. Tom McNear, CPT. Edward Dames, CPT. Paul Smith, CPT. Bill Ray, Charlene Cavanaugh (who later married Brigadier General James Shufelt, DIA, the Defense Intelligence Agency. (Only Dames & Smith continued to participate as remote viewers in the DIA's RV unit - they later trained Mel Riley, Lyn Buchanan, Gabrielle Pettingell & Dave Morehouse.)
  52. ^ Mind-Reach: Scientists Look at Psychic Ability by Russell Targ & Harold Puthoff, A Delta book, Dell Publishing Co. Inc., 1977, Page 207
  53. ^ In the 1970s, Ingo Swann, one of the most gifted OBE adepts ever to work under laboratory conditions in the U.S., carried through with a number of journeys in a laboratory setting in which he reportedly visited the planet Mercury (and later Jupiter, under the same circumstances). Much to the gaping amazement of NASA scientists, all of his observations were later proved to be correct by probes sent to these planets. --Janet Mitchell ["A Psychic Probe of the Planet Mercury," Psychic 6, No. 4 (June 1975): pp. 17-21; see Mitchell, 1981]
  54. ^ 1973.Jupiter.RV.Probe
  55. ^ [2] IVC GEOLOGY 422/522, Planetary Geology for Teachers: Jupiter and the Jovian moons by Kari Hetcher
  56. ^ [3]Jupiter
  57. ^ 1973.Jupiter.RV.Probe
  58. ^ [4]
  59. ^ The Neuropsychiatry of Paranormal Experiences - Persinger 13 (4): 515 - J Neuropsychiatry Clin Neurosci
  60. ^ Some biographical information on Dames can be found at Stargate Project
  61. ^ PSI TECH’s Premiere Remote Viewers Services for Remote Viewing Training since 1989
  62. ^ [5]
  63. ^ The Ultimate Remote Viewing Information Center
  64. ^ [6]
  65. ^ http://www.remoteviewer.nu/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1882 Remote Viewers Get Bad Reception
  66. ^ The Blue Sense: Psychic Detectives and Crime by Arthur Lyons and Marcello Truzzi, Ph.D., The Mysterious Press, 1991, Chapter 5, A Psi of Relief What Psychic Sleuths Do, p.92, Primary Source: Letter from Ingo Swann 03 Oct 1989
  67. ^ http://www.biomindsuperpowers.com/Pages/SuperpowerSeries5.html "I recoil from psychically sighting, as it were, stuff like cruelty, murders, locating dead and decomposing bodies, and other forms of carnage -- because contacting and reliving those events wrecks not only my emotions but even impacts on my physiology. Thus I don't make for a very good psychic crime detective in the way other more stalwart psychics do."
  68. ^ See: The Blue Sense: Psychic Detectives and Crime by Arthur Lyons and Marcello Truzzi, Ph.D., The Mysterious Press, 1991, Chapter 6, Gerard Croiset: The Scrying Dutchman
  69. ^ See: The Blue Sense: Psychic Detectives and Crime by Arthur Lyons and Marcello Truzzi Ph.D., The Mysterious Press, 1991, Chapter 7, Peter Hurkos: The Clown Prince`?
  70. ^ http://www.biomindsuperpowers.com/Pages/CanSuperpowersBeTrained.html
  71. ^ [http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:0DlwHQ4FAMgJ:www.remoteviewingnews.net/+remote+viewing+association+truzzi&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=us
  72. ^ http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:kstJ5LtU5TsJ:www.martiansgohome.com/smear/v42/ss950105.htm+birth+of+ingo+swann&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=5&gl=us
  73. ^ Courtney Brown | Book Review of Penetration by Ingo Swann
  74. ^ Amazon.com: Customer Reviews: Penetration: The Question of Extraterrestrial and Human Telepathy
  75. ^ Penetration by Ingo Swann
  76. ^ Astounding Mood Footage - Comment
  77. ^ To the Moon and Back With Love [7]

[edit] Further reading

[edit] External links