Theresa Cheung - The Element Encyclopedia of the Psychic World - The Ultimate A–Z of Spirits, Mysteries and the Paranormal

I know very well that many scientists consider dowsing as they do astrology, as a type of ancient superstition. According to my conviction this is, however, unjustified. The dowsing rod is a simple instrument which shows the reaction of the human nervous system to certain factors which are unknown to us at this time.

Some believe there may be a psychic connection between the dowser and the hidden object. According to this theory all things - living and inanimate - have an energy force and the dowser, by concentrating on the hidden object, is somehow able to tune in to the energy force field or ‘vibration’ of the object, which, in turn, forces the dowsing rod or stick to move. In other words, the dowsing tool may act as a kind of amplifier or antenna for tuning into the energy and it is common for the dowser to find a tingling sensation, chills or shivering when the object is located.

Recent experiments in Russia have shown that dowsing rods can be sensitive to electromagnetic fields and that almost anyone can learn to dowse - although women tend to be more successful at it than men. Scientists believe this may be because unknown force fields respond better to the polarity in women’s bodies. Sceptics argue that dowsing is a matter of luck and that those with a high rate of success just have good instincts for where objects or water may be found. For both believer and sceptic there is no definitive evidence either way.

Renowned for his Sherlock Holmes detective stories, Sir Authur Conan Doyle is also regarded by many as one of the founders of spiritualism.

During the years 1885 to 1888 when Conan Doyle was a physician in Southsea, he was invited to participate in table-turning sittings at the home of one of his patients. He wasn’t convinced of the amazing phenomena produced - or the medium’s integrity - but it aroused his interest in the subject, and shortly after he joined the Society for Psychical Research.

Almost immediately Conan Doyle participated in a series of experiments that convinced him that telepathywas genuine. He continued to investigate paranormalphenomena for the next 30-odd years, until finally, at the peak of his literary career in his late fifties, he took the bold step of publishing two books that firmly associated him with spiritualism: The New Revelation and The Vital Message.

His critics suggested he was merely grief-stricken over the loss of his son, Kingsley who had died of pneumonia, but Conan Doyle denied this. He said instead that a year after his son’s death, he attended a sitting held by a Welsh medium who he believed truly had made contact with his son. ‘It was his voice and he spoke of concerns unknown to the medium’, he said.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s most impressive book on spiritualism is the two-volume set The History of Spiritualism, and it is essential reading for all serious students of the subject.

Conan Doyle was involved in a number of public controversies over spiritualism. In the late 1920s, while he was president of the London Spiritualist Alliance, a medium sanctioned by the Alliance was charged with fortune-telling (it was illegal at the time), and the Alliance was fined, £800. Conan Doyle wrote a public protest in The Times, suggesting that this was persecution of spiritualists. He also urged that the Fortune Telling Act be modified, and only six days before his death in July 1930, he led a petition to this effect.

A week after his death, a large spiritualist reunion was held in London, where a chair was left empty in his honour. A respected medium of the day said she saw him in the chair and offered a personal message from the great writer to his family. Since then dozens of mediums have claimed to receive messages from the author.

Dragsholm Castle is one of Denmark’s best-known haunted castles and many investigations there by psychical researchers have yielded positive results.

Located in Zeeland, Dragsholm was built in the twelfth century and became the residence for kings and several noble families. It is thought that the castle has three ghosts: a grey lady, a white lady and the ghost of the Earl of Bothwell.

The grey lady is seldom seen but is thought to be the ghost of a woman who served in the castle and who had terrible toothache. She was cured and is said to return now and again to see if everything is in order, and as a thank you for her cure.

The other two ghosts are believed to be considerably less happy and thankful than the grey lady as both met their deaths in the castle in particularly unpleasant manners. The white lady is said to be the daughter of one of the many owners of the castle. She fell in love with a commoner and when her father found out he was so angry that he imprisoned her inside the thick wall of the castle. It is said that every night she returns to the castle and walks around the corridors, and there have been plenty of reported sightings of her. There is factual evidence to back this story up; in the 1930s, when the old walls of the castle were torn down, workers found a hole in the wall and a skeleton with a white dress in it.

The castle also has old cellars for prisoners. In the 1500s the Earl of Bothwell, the third husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, was incarcerated there for five years and died mad in the cellar in 1578. It is said that every night he comes riding into the courtyard of the castle with his horse and carriage.

Considered to be a talismanto ensure restful sleep and productive dreaming, the dreamcatcher is a North American device hung above the bed to dispel nightmares and retain the essence of good dreams.

Use of the dreamcatcher by Native American cultures is based on an old Lakota folktale about a spiritual leader to whom the god Iktomi, the great teacher of wisdom, appeared in the form of a spider. As he gave advice about the cycles of life, the importance of working with nature and of taking good advice when it was offered, rejecting bad advice, Iktomi began to spin a web. When the web was completed it had a hole in the centre. Iktomi gave it to the elder saying: ‘Use the web to help yourself and your people to reach your goals and make good use of people’s ideas, dreams and visions. If you believe in the great spirit, the web will catch your great ideas, and the bad ones will go through the hole.’

Everyone dreams. It is estimated that in an average lifetime a person will spend approximately 25 years asleep and experience at least 300,000 dreams, regardless of whether these dreams are recalled on awakening. Researchers believe that babies dream the most, children dream for four or five hours a night and adults for one or two hours. Animals also appear to dream.

Research from the University of Chicago has shown that dreams occur during the rapid eye movement (REM) period of sleep, which occurs for between five and forty minutes every sixty to ninety minutes of sleep. Most people only remember the last dream prior to waking but if they are woken up during earlier dream periods they will recall other dreams.

Unless written down immediately on waking most dreams fade within a few minutes. Dreams usually occur in colour but seldom have smells or taste, and this may be due to the fact that only visual brain neurons fire during REM. Almost all dreams use metaphors to deal with issues in the life of the dreamer, and every event in the dream is believed to have some kind of significance for the person dreaming it.