I recently I learned that a good friend of mine and her team Equinox Paranormal Research UK was planning to repeat a controversial experiment called “The Philip Experiment”. The experiment left the paranormal community stunned and more questions.
The original experiment had the goal of discovering if demons, spirits, poltergeists, or ghosts are manifestations of the human will and mind. The experiment was conducted by A. R. G Owens, a mathematician, in 1972. He formed the Owen group which consisted of a housewife, industrial engineer, heating engineer, a former chairperson for MENSA, an accountant, a bookkeeper, a nurse, a psychologist, and a sociology student.
Researchers intended to prove that ghost manifestations and poltergeist phenomena were the product of the human mind. The method they chose was to fabricate a person and details that were completely fictional and make this person manifest in some way. A fictional character named Philip was created. The details they assigned Philip were as follows.
- aristocratic Englishman,
- living in the middle 1600s
- a supporter of the King
- was a Catholic.
- He was married
- wife Dorothea, the daughter of a neighboring nobleman was beautiful but cold
- Lived at Diddington Manor his families home
- Philip meets a beautiful dark-eyed dark-haired gypsy girl, Margo, and fell instantly in love with her.
- He stashed her away in the gatehouse as his lover
- Dorothea 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 stricken with remorse that he had not tried to defend Margo and used to pace the battlements of Diddington in despair.
- one morning his body was found at the bottom of the battlements, where he had cast himself committing suicide.
The invented biography included glaring errors and contradictions that were fabricated intentionally. Such as Philip being reincarnated several times, and Diddington Hall does exist but the description given in the biographical account is fake. Philip was detailed to the degree a sketch of his imagined likeness was commissioned for the experiment to give him a face for the group.
In September 1972, the Owen Group began weekly sittings in the “Philip room” during which they sat together, focused on Philip, meditated, and discussed details about him in an attempt to create a shared mental image of him. Some of the participants occasionally claimed to feel a presence, and others reported seeing vivid images of Philip in their mind. However, after several months, no communication, no manifestations, no phenomenon of any kind occurred.
A British psychologist, Kenneth J. Barcheldor, made a suggestion. He pointed out that so far, the experiment was being conducted under conditions in which were purely academic. He suggested trying something conducive to making contact. The group turned the lights off and proceeded with a seance in a tenebrous room. They gathered around a table with objects from the fictional character’s period, and placed their fingers lightly on the surface, and called for Philip.
Shortly after the seance began, a loud rap echoed through the room. The Participants stated that the rap was so distinct and loud that it shook the table. The members said that the sound was “felt” more than heard. The rap was followed by more knocks of which they established a code of one knock for yes, and two for no. The group learned more details of Philip’s life. However, they noted that the details Philip initially provided were historical details that any member of the group could have known beforehand. It’s theorized that the information coming from “Philip” was information being fed into the conversation through their collective unconsciousness.
The phenomena experienced by the group grew in prevalence, producing a wide range of paranormal events that the group was never able to explain through deductive logic. An analysis of the loud raps revealed a sui generis sound that could not be reproduced. The entity began to show distinct personality traits. Loud knocks were received in response to normal questions but if the group asked Philip about his wife Dorothea, loud scratching noises would emanate from table or chairs instead.
Soon Philip began to visibly manifest, and the group members would hear whispers in their ears. In one of the early sessions, the participants were stunned and horrified, when the table suddenly, and violently, jumped, then slid across the floor. Then the table began to ‘dance’ on a single leg and spin.
Safeguards were put in place attempting to debunk the activity. They brought in cameras that filmed under the table and varying methods to catch the participants intentionally, or unintentionally hoaxing the activity, Nonetheless, the table would rock and turn on its own without any logical cause.
The lights would dim, at which point the group would ask Philip to turn them back on, and the lights would come back on. On command, Philip would send a whirlwind of air across the table and into the participants’ faces. It was reported that a mist formed over the center of the table. Soon, the table began to move around the room, rushing across the room to greet latecomers and on several occasions, pushing, and trapping, a team member into a corner of the room. The researchers were astounded but frightened.
Word of the experiment’s extraordinary results spread and quickly captured the attention of the public. A 16mm movie was produced by the group in 1974 (reportedly titled Philip: the Imaginary Ghost) which documented the experiment’s conception, what happened, and showed the table’s movements and loud, booming, raps. Media outlets responded and CBS Television even sent a crew to film the events for a TV documentary, Man Alive. During the filming, before a live audience of more than fifty people, Philip produced booming raps on the table, turned lights throughout the room on and off, and in front of all witnesses present, levitated the table off the floor.
Iris Owen and Margaret Sparrows documented the events in their 1976 book, Conjuring up Philip, and several other paranormal-related books of the day included the incident in their works. The 2014 movie The Quiet Ones was based on the experiment.
Some believe the group made contact or conjured a demon, while others believe their experience was not with the other-side but, a form of psychokinetic phenomena. The Philip Experiment produced results that continue to mystify the the academic paranormal community to this day.
We wait on the edge of our seat in anticipation of this history making event that may finally answer so many questions. The brilliant, pioneering minds of Team equinox are slated to begin the experiment the week of October 14th. We will follow their progress and update accordingly as the team conducts the experiment. We wish them luck. We know they are setting out on an endeavor of the unknown that has it’s own set of risks, and thank them for their dedication to finding answers and the pursuit of truth.
Oracle's Closet 