PARAPSYCHOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS
This is not a title. It is what the file prints on its own cover sheet; the file has no title page.
THE COVER SLIDE CARRIES TWO WORDS AND NOTHING ELSE: "PARAPSYCHOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS". No originator, no issuing office, no date and no author appears on any page of the file. Those two words are recorded here as what the cover slide says, NOT adopted as a title, because a deck heading is not a title page.
What this is
The deck's cover slide gives the briefing a two-word title and nothing else.
The briefing was organised into four announced sections, the third of them on Soviet and Chinese activity and the fourth on application potential.
The briefing opened its historical section with a four-item chronology running from mesmerism to Soviet brain-research work.
The deck presented eight named laboratories or institutions, with date ranges, as the line of American research it was summarising.
The deck tabulated which experimental methods each named laboratory used, distinguishing research from applied work only in the case of SRI.
The briefing summed the open research literature into two headline figures, one for ganzfeld and one for remote viewing.
The deck reduced the Maimonides dream-telepathy programme to seven conditions said to favour results.
One inserted page presents a scored precognitive remote-viewing trial against a target in Bratislava.
The deck showed a verbatim session transcript describing an underground installation at a stated range of 2500 miles.
The briefer set out the obstacles to the field under three heads, including the lack of formal proof and the difficulty of replication.
The closing summary asserts that the reality of the phenomena has been demonstrated while progress remains slow.
A seven-point scale for rating how well reported data correlate with a target, carried on a chart bearing the Defense Intelligence Agency seal.
A companion chart classifies the kinds of intelligence data sought, from terrain and facility layout through to plans and intentions.
The deck listed eight competing general names for the subject matter without choosing between them.
The deck split its vocabulary into informational and energetic branches, with anomalous cognition and anomalous perturbation as the preferred terms.
Someone worked over the historical slide in ink, retitling it and revising three of its entries.
The file holds 32 sheets but 25 distinct slides. Seven are second copies: pdf 3 and 4 are the same historical slide, pdf 5 and 32 the same slide again, and pdf 12 and 19 the same Maimonides slide - in each of those three pairs one copy is worked over in ink - while pdf 20 to 23 are filed a second time at pdf 26 to 29, in reverse order, as separate impressions of the same four sheets. Every one of those pairs is recorded on both sides in the page-by-page transcriptions. Those transcriptions are not shown on this page, so this line is here to stop the count above being read as 32 distinct things. Nothing on this map is bound to this file, and that is a measured result rather than an oversight. Of the 598 entities on the map, exactly one - J.B. Rhine - is named in this deck by the name the map carries; of the drawn claims a reader cannot yet open, none has both of its ends named here. The deck talks the way people inside the field talk: its table of laboratories reads DUKE UNIVERSITY, FRNM, MSF, MAIMONIDES, PRL, PRINCETON U. and SRI, where the map holds Stanford Research Institute, Rhine Research Center, PEAR Laboratory and Maimonides Dream Laboratory. Those are probably the same bodies and this file says so nowhere, so no connection can rest on it without an identity the pages do not supply. The date ranges on the historical slide are a related trap and should not be read as founding and closing dates: the deck gives SRI as 1970-1980 where this project's own record runs from 1972 and later, and the hand that annotated the sheet struck its earliest entry, 1917 STANFORD UNIV, out altogether. They are eras of notable work, not the lives of institutions.
16 passages read · 32 pages held · the rest is not described
Open the document at cia.gov →16 passages read
“PARAPSYCHOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS”
- the cover slide carries no originator, no date, no classification marking and no other text of any kind. The only other text on the page is the release stamp 'Approved For Release 2001/03/07 : CIA-RDP96-00789R002600300001-0', printed once near the middle of the page and once at the foot. The title is set in large upper-case sans-serif over two lines, centred. This is page 1 of the file and it is NOT a blank release sheet.
“TOPICS FOR DISCUSSION • HISTORICAL BACKGROUND • RESEARCH ACTIVITY • USSR/PRC ACTIVITIES • APPLICATION POTENTIAL”
- title is underlined on the page. No page in this file delivers a slide answering to the heading USSR/PRC ACTIVITIES; the slides that follow cover the historical and research headings only, so either the deck is incomplete or those slides are filed elsewhere.
“HISTORICAL SEMI-EXPERIMENTAL/CASE STUDIES • LATE 1700'S -- MESMERISM • LATE 1800'S -- HYPNOTISM • 1882 -- PSYCHIC RESEARCH/SPR; LONDON • EARLY 1900'S -- MENTAL SUGGESTIONS/BEKHTERV INST. FOR BRAIN RESEARCH, USSR”
Both headings are underlined on the page. 'BEKHTERV' is transcribed as printed; it is not spelled with the final E. pdf page 3 is the SAME slide carrying handwritten corrections in ink: the words 'SOCIETY FOR' inserted above with a caret before 'PSYCHIC'; a letter pair (reads as 'AL') inserted above with a caret after 'PSYCHIC', i.e. making 'PSYCHICAL'; handwritten parentheses drawn round 'SPR' over the typed slash and semicolon; and a handwritten 'E' inserted above the end of 'BEKHTER_V'. I read pdf 3 and pdf 4 as the annotated and clean states of one slide but the file gives no indication which was made first.
“HISTORICAL • 1917 -- STANFORD UNIV, CA • 1930-1960 -- DUKE UNIV, DURHAM NC • 1960-PRESENT -- FRNM, DURHAM, NC • 1960-PRESENT -- MIND SCIENCE FOUNDATION, SAN ANTONIO, TX • 1970-1980 -- MAIMONIDES MEDICAL CENTER, NY • 1970-1980 -- SRI INTER, MENLO PARK, CA • 1980-1990 -- PSYCHOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LAB, PRINCETON, NJ • 1980-PRESENT -- ANOMALIES RESEARCH LAB, PRINCETON UNIV, NJ • OTHERS: - SEVERAL UNIVERSITY RESEARCHERS - PRIVATE FOUNDATIONS”
On the page the date column and the institution column are separated by a wide gap and joined by '--'; I have run each entry onto one line. Where an institution runs to two lines on the page ('MIND SCIENCE FOUNDATION, / SAN ANTONIO, TX' and the two Princeton entries) I have joined them; nothing is elided. 'SRI INTER' is as printed, not expanded. The word 'PRESENT' is undated anywhere in the file. pdf page 32 is this same slide heavily annotated by hand — see the entry for that page.
“TYPES OF INVESTIGATIONS • DUKE UNIVERSITY - FORCED CHOICE - CASE STUDIES • FRNM - FORCED CHOICE - GANZFELD/RV - REG • MSF - RV - REG - BIO-PK • MAIMONIDES - DREAM TELEPATHY - GANZFELD • PRL - GANZFELD - REG • PRINCETON U. - RV - REG • SRI - RV (RESEARCH & APPLIED) - REG - THEORETICAL”
The page prints this as a ruled box divided into two columns; DUKE UNIVERSITY, FRNM, MSF and MAIMONIDES are the left column and PRL, PRINCETON U. and SRI the right. I have transcribed left column then right column. Each laboratory name is underlined on the page. 'RV (RESEARCH & APPLIED)' is set over two lines on the page. Abbreviations RV, REG, MSF, PRL, FRNM, BIO-PK are not expanded anywhere in this file.
“RECENT RESEARCH OVERALL RESULTS • GANZFELD - 835 SESSIONS, 10 LABS - 38% VS 25% CHANCE - p < 10-9 • RV - 24,450 TRIALS OVER 15 YEARS - p < 10-21”
The exponents -9 and -21 are printed as raised superscripts on '10'; I have written them inline as '10-9' and '10-21' because the quote field is plain text. The less-than signs are printed as small chevrons that could be read as '<'. 'RECENT RESEARCH' is underlined; 'OVERALL RESULTS' is not. The 15-year period is not anchored to any calendar dates.
“MAIMONIDES MEDICAL CENTER OBSERVATIONS • Vivid, potent, dynamic material is best • Must be relaxed, passive with increase of inner attention • Female participants are more sensitive to colors • Rapport, bonds, emotional tones important • Motivation, goals are important • Openness, self-acceptance is important • Waking PSI experience is not important”
Handwriting on this page: the typed word 'tones' in the fourth bullet is struck through in ink and 'ASPECTS' written in capitals above it; there is a small hand-drawn bracket or hook in the left margin immediately above the last bullet, function unclear. The second bullet runs to two lines on the page ('...increase of inner / attention'). The release stamp is printed across the middle of the slide title on this page. pdf page 19 is the same slide clean, with 'tones' intact and no marginal mark.
“Danube River, Bratislava, Czechoslovakia Perception (in part): ... Distance: 5600 miles Time: 23.5 hours, precognitive Normalized Score: .884 z-Score: 3.145 Probability: .001”
THIRD-PARTY REPRINT — quoted sparingly on purpose. This page and pdf page 14 are set in a book typeface (serif, justified, italic captions) quite unlike the rest of the deck, each with a halftone photograph of the target; they are plainly photocopied from a published work. This page carries the word 'CPYRGHT' printed in the left margin beside the statistics block — a marking the releasing agency applies to copyrighted third-party material. The '...' in my quote marks the omitted body of the perception transcript, which I have deliberately not reproduced. pdf page 14 is the same kind of page, captioned 'Ruins of Urquardt Castle, Loch Ness, Scotland', with 'Distance: 3500 miles / Time: 14.5 hours, retrocognitive / Normalized Score: .769 / z-Score: 2.194 / Probability: .014'; it is not marked CPYRGHT. Neither page names the book, the author or the viewer.
“TRANSCRIPT 2500 MILES ‘FLAT SEMI-INDUSTRIAL COUNTRYSIDE WITH MOUNTAIN RANGE IN BACKGROUND AND SOMETHING TO DO WITH UNDERGROUND CAVES OR MINES OR DEEP SHAFTS--HALF MANMADE, HALF NATURAL-- SOME ELECTRIC HUMMING GOING ON--THROBBING, INNER THROBBING. NUCLEAR OR SOME VERY FAR OUT AND POSSIBLY SECRET INSTALLATION--CORRIDOR--MAZES OF THEM--WHOLE UNDERGROUND CITY---’”
Both title lines are underlined on the page. The opening and closing quotation marks are printed as straight typewriter-style marks. The double hyphens are as printed. The transcript names no target, no date, no viewer and no tasking; it stands on the page unattributed.
“DIFFICULTIES • No adequate theory - Limits in current understanding - Interdiciplinary needs • Acceptability - Lack of formal proof - Replication difficult - Cultural constraints - Counterfits • Person dependent - Individual style - Complex psychodynamics - Support”
'Interdiciplinary' and 'Counterfits' are transcribed exactly as printed; both are misspelled on the page and I have not corrected them. Title underlined. The whole page is printed slightly skewed, as if the original was photocopied off-square.
“SUMMARY • Phenomena have deep roots • Spontaneous phenomena keep occurring • A wide variety of research exists - Reality demonstrated - Progress is slow - Goal orientation • Application interests continue”
- this slide is headed SUMMARY but is not the last page of the file; nine further pages follow it, including duplicate slides and the two inserted figure charts. The sub-bullets under 'Reality demonstrated' are indented a further level on the page and use the same dash.
“EVALUATION SCALES NUMERICAL RATING | APPROX. DEGREE OF DATA CORRELATION PERCENT | DESCRIPTION 0 --- 0-10 --- LITTLE OR NO CORRELATION 1 --- 10-30 --- MIXTURE OF RELEVANT AND INCORRECT DATA WITH MAJORITY INCORRECT 1+ --- 30-50 --- 2 --- 50-70 --- MIXTURE OF RELEVANT AND INCORRECT DATA WITH MAJORITY CORRECT AND UNAMBIGUOUS 2+ --- 70-90 --- 3 --- 90-100 --- VERY HIGH TARGET CORRELATION WITH ESSENTIALLY NO AMBIGUOUS DATA SP5353.11 FIGURE 3”
THIS IS THE MOST IDENTITY-BEARING PAGE IN THE FILE. Printed at the upper left of the chart is a round seal legible as 'DEFENSE INTELLIGENCE AGENCY' round the top and 'UNITED STATES OF AMERICA' round the bottom, with a central device. 'SP5353.11' is printed small at the lower right, below the last description block. 'FIGURE 3' is printed centred at the foot. On the page the descriptions are bracketed: one brace joins the 10-30 and 30-50 rows to a single description, another joins the 50-70 and 70-90 rows to a single description, so rows 1+ and 2+ have no description of their own — I have shown this with empty description cells. The row layout is a three-column table with long leader dashes; my pipes and dashes are a reading aid, not marks on the paper. There is a single ambiguous handwritten or printed glyph sideways in the left margin, about two-thirds down, which could be a 7 or an L; because I cannot tell, printed_page is null. A heavy black scanning artefact crosses the top of the page above the release stamp. This chart's typography, its FIGURE number and its agency seal show it did not originate with the rest of the deck.
“DATA CATEGORIES GEOGRAPHIC DESCRIPTIONS -- e.g., TERRAIN FEATURES; WATER, MOUNTAINS OBJECTS (LARGE SCALE) -- e.g., AIRFIELDS, FACILITY LAYOUT, DOCKS, SILOS OBJECTS (SMALL SCALE) -- e.g., LASERS, TANKS, ANTENNAS FUNCTIONS (LARGE SCALE) -- e.g., R/D, WEAPON TESTING, PRODUCTION FUNCTIONS (SMALL SCALE) -- e.g., LASER TESTING, CBW STORAGE, MISSILE FIRING PERSONALITY DATA -- e.g., STATE-OF-HEALTH, PHYSICAL FEATURES, BACKGROUND PREDICTIVE -- e.g., PLANS, INTENTIONS, FUTURE LOCATIONS, FUTURE ACTIONS/ACTIVITY FIGURE 2”
printed_page 9 is a clean printed numeral standing sideways in the left margin, reading upright when the page is turned a quarter turn clockwise — i.e. this is a landscape-format page from a paginated report, and 9 is its page number. 'FIGURE 2' is printed centred at the foot. The page is scanned badly skewed and the left edge carries a dark binding or edge-of-glass shadow. Together with pdf page 24 (FIGURE 3) this is the second of two figure pages lifted from a document that is not otherwise in this file; no title, author or number for that source document appears on either page beyond 'SP5353.11' on p.24.
“GENERAL TERMINOLOGY • ANOLMALOUS PHENOMENA • PARANORMAL PHENOMENA • PARAPSYCHOLOGY • EXTRAORDINARY HUMAN FUNCTION • PSYCHOENERGETICS • BIOFIELD PHENONEMA • PARAPHYSICS • PSYCHIC RESEARCH”
'ANOLMALOUS' and 'PHENONEMA' are transcribed exactly as printed; both are misspelled on the page and I have not corrected them. Title underlined.
“DESCRIPTIVE TERMINOLOGY INFORMATIONAL • ANOMALOUS COGNITION (AC) • REMOTE VIEWING (RV) • EXTRASENSORY PERCEPTION (ESP) - TELEPATHY - CLAIRVOYANCE - PRECOGNATION/POSTCOGNITION - OTHER ENERGETIC - PSYCHOKINESIS (PK) - [struck through] - ANOMALOUS PERTUBATION (AP) - OTHER”
The item I have marked '[struck through]' is a short typed abbreviation of about four letters, cancelled in ink by a hand-drawn line with a spur at each end. Enlarged, the letters under the cancellation read most like RSPK but I cannot be certain and I am not going to guess it into the quote. 'PRECOGNATION' and 'PERTUBATION' are transcribed exactly as printed; both are misspelled on the page. 'INFORMATIONAL' and 'ENERGETIC' are underlined on the page, as is the title. Under ENERGETIC the items carry dashes rather than bullets, unlike the informational list.
“HISTORICAL • 1917 -- STANFORD UNIV, CA • 1930-1960 -- DUKE UNIV, DURHAM NC • 1960-PRESENT -- FRNM, DURHAM, NC • 1960-PRESENT -- MIND SCIENCE FOUNDATION, SAN ANTONIO, TX • 1970-1980 -- MAIMONIDES MEDICAL CENTER, NY • 1970-1980 -- SRI INTER, MENLO PARK, CA • 1980-1990 -- PSYCHOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LAB, PRINCETON, NJ • 1980-PRESENT -- ANOMALIES RESEARCH LAB, PRINCETON UNIV, NJ • OTHERS: - SEVERAL UNIVERSITY RESEARCHERS - PRIVATE FOUNDATIONS”
This is the same typed slide as pdf page 5; the quote above is the TYPED text only. The handwritten amendments, in a single ink hand: (1) the typed title HISTORICAL is struck through with several strokes and a replacement title is written large across the top of the page, running over the release stamp, reading as 'KEY US RESEARCH EFFORTS' — the word KEY sits below and to the left of the rest, with 'US' above 'RE-', so the intended reading order is inferred from position and I flag that inference; a long hand-drawn rule with an arrowhead at its right end is drawn under the new title. (2) The whole first entry, '1917 -- STANFORD UNIV, CA', is struck out, and 'PALO ALTO,' is written above 'STANFORD UNIV, CA'; a large hand-drawn stroke also crosses this line. (3) A wholly new entry is written in by hand between the DUKE and FRNM lines, reading '1950-19[?] TO PRESENT -- PARAPSYCHOLOGY FOUNDATION, NY, NY.' — the digits after '1950-19' are overwritten by 'TO PRESENT' and I cannot read them. (4) 'NY' is added in hand after 'MAIMONIDES MEDICAL CENTER, NY', giving 'NY, NY'. Small ink tick marks stand in the left margin beside the 1930-1960, 1970-1980, 1970-1980 and 1980-1990 entries.
Where no sheet is shown, the quote was still read off the page, rendered from the file we hold. A page image has not been prepared for the web for that page yet.
What this document is used for
Nothing on this map rests on this document yet, and nothing has been tested against it. It is here because it is held.