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WT Sharpe · 10-10-2010, 07:35 AM

.....Then came the most important part of the evening: the suggestion. Andy asked Marie to make her presence known by moving the heavy table. The table remained stationary, but Andy suggested that it was levitating, using comments such as: "That's good, Marie," "Lift the table higher," and "The table is moving now." Andy then released the nonexistent spirit of Marie back into the ether, the lights were turned on, and everyone was thanked for coming to the show. Two weeks later, our guinea pigs were sent a questionnaire about their experiences during the show. We first asked people whether they thought that any of the events they had witnessed were paranormal. Forty percent of people who had expressed a prior belief in the paranormal thought that the phenomena were the result of genuine ghostly activity, compared with only about 3 percent of disbelievers. We then examined whether the suggestion had been effective. The results were startling. More than a third described how they had seen the table levitate. Again, participants' prior belief or disbelief in the paranormal played a key role, with half of disbelievers correctly stating that the table didn't move versus just a third of believers. Our questionnaire also asked people whether they had had any unusual experiences during the séance. It seemed that the atmosphere we had created caused people to experience a whole range of spooky effects, with one in five reporting cold shivers, a strong sense of energy flowing through them, and a mysterious presence in the room.
.....The message was clear. In the same way that simple suggestion can be used to fool people into recalling illusory childhood events, so it can also make a significant proportion of people experience the impossible.
..........— Richard Wiseman (1966 - ), Professor of the Public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire (U.K.), former magician, fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI). Quirkology (2007).

10-10-2010, 07:35 AM	#746
WT Sharpe Bah, humbug! Posts: 39,072 Karma: 157049943 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Chesapeake, VA, USA Device: Kindle Oasis, iPad Pro, & a Samsung Galaxy S9.	.....Then came the most important part of the evening: the suggestion. Andy asked Marie to make her presence known by moving the heavy table. The table remained stationary, but Andy suggested that it was levitating, using comments such as: "That's good, Marie," "Lift the table higher," and "The table is moving now." Andy then released the nonexistent spirit of Marie back into the ether, the lights were turned on, and everyone was thanked for coming to the show. Two weeks later, our guinea pigs were sent a questionnaire about their experiences during the show. We first asked people whether they thought that any of the events they had witnessed were paranormal. Forty percent of people who had expressed a prior belief in the paranormal thought that the phenomena were the result of genuine ghostly activity, compared with only about 3 percent of disbelievers. We then examined whether the suggestion had been effective. The results were startling. More than a third described how they had seen the table levitate. Again, participants' prior belief or disbelief in the paranormal played a key role, with half of disbelievers correctly stating that the table didn't move versus just a third of believers. Our questionnaire also asked people whether they had had any unusual experiences during the séance. It seemed that the atmosphere we had created caused people to experience a whole range of spooky effects, with one in five reporting cold shivers, a strong sense of energy flowing through them, and a mysterious presence in the room. .....The message was clear. In the same way that simple suggestion can be used to fool people into recalling illusory childhood events, so it can also make a significant proportion of people experience the impossible. ..........— Richard Wiseman (1966 - ), Professor of the Public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire (U.K.), former magician, fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI). *Quirkology* (2007).