The Scole Investigation: A Study in Critical Analysis of Paranormal Physical Phenomena

摘要

A number of experienced psychical researchers investigated the activities of a mediumistic group in Scole (Norfolk, United Kingdom), that claimed to produce under spiritual guidance wide range of physical phenomena. During a two-year-long study, lights, tape recordings and films bearing images, glyphs, poems, symbols and messages in several languages were produced. The investigators could find no evidence of deception or human interference. A lengthy report, published as refereed proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, generated a controversy centring on the nature of acceptable scientific evidence. This is examined in the context of Bayesian and Humian criteria, and the author discusses popular fallacies in the treatment of unpalatable evidence.