Unbelievable: Investigations into Ghosts, Poltergeists, Telepathy, and Other Unseen Phenomena, From The Duke Parapsychology Laboratory

by: Stacy Horn

Published by: Ecco

Reviewed by Diane Snyder

Dr. J. B. Rhine was a botanist and planned to be a minister but instead took on the most challenging quest of his time – to test the capabilities of the human mind and to determine if there was an existence after death.

In early 1900s, the Ouiji board was immensely popular, mediums were the rage and people were attending séances to contact the dead. The time was right for Rhine and his wife Louise to look for a place and a benefactor to begin a scientific study of paranormal phenomena. Notable persons including celebrities, politicians and several government agencies were ready to invest large amounts of funds to find answers about life after death and mind control.

The small town of Durham, North Carolina had just the right place and person to fulfill the need for the Rhines. In 1930, the lab at Duke University for the study of paranormal activities was established with Rhine as its head. Rhine kept his case studies limited to those which could be researched using a scientific method. He wanted his work to hold up to the scrutiny and criticism he knew would come. Extra sensory perception (ESP) was just such a subject. It could be tested under controlled conditions, and he felt it would lead to other answers such as life after death and the ability to communicate with the dead.

Funds and letters–seven hundred boxes–poured in from people who wanted to know more or who felt they had experienced a paranormal event. Every letter was read and some of the incidents were investigated and determined to 1) have an ordinary explanation, 2) be a fraud, 3) not able to be studied in a scientific form or 4) was of an undetermined cause. One such incident was a boy who was thought to be “possessed.” It was this incident that later inspired the book and movie, “The Exorcist.”

Unbelievable is a fascinating look into the world and work of J. B. Rhine and his exploration of the unexplainable. Although Rhine never found an answer about life after death, on ESP – it was a definite maybe.

Armchair Interviews agrees.

Author’s Web site: http://www.StacyHorn.com