The 30-minute video in the center of the lecture was edited by Steven Shippy @Haunted Saginaw for Dr. Gerald Solfvin’s lecture uploaded here for the ParaMOOC2023 free course. Shippy’s work on this excerpt for the lecture was much appreciated by Dr. Solfvin, the ParaMOOC team, and the students in the live session.
To see more of Steve Shippy’s video content, go to: https://www.youtube.com/@UC9PIQuiRXhMU_J9NdBWu2cA
The longer Dice Road videos from which the excerpts were taken are listed here with the YouTube link to the original’s on Steve Shippy’s YouTube channel:
“The Michigan Hell House-The Pomeraning story” https://youtu.be/Wm7oOFOkGbo
and
“”Investigating the Michigan Hell House of Dice Road”
Several other Dice Road videos are available on Steve Shippy’s YouTube channel. We recommend that you explore those as well.
This lecture by Dr. Gerry Solfvin was presented in the free Parapsychology Research and Education course (also known as ParaMOOC 2023). The live session aired on Tuesday, March 7th, 2023.
Abstract of the Lecture:
There are well-known reasons for favoring controlled experimental studies in the scientific study of parapsychology, but without a bridge to real-life psi, it is sterile. Spontaneous case investigations may provide that bridge. Louisa Rhine studied spontaneous cases of the non-recurrent type (Rhine, 1977), which opened the door with hints and suggestions for laboratory work. On the other hand, William Roll (1974) argued that spontaneous cases of the recurrent type are in some ways superior to laboratory studies. His use of a more scientific rubric, RSPK (recurrent spontaneous psychokinesis), was a significant advance that, even now, a half-century later, is misunderstood, ignored, and even ridiculed by some investigators. This presentation offers a brief historical prospectus on spontaneous case investigations in parapsychology with emphasis on the recurrent type; a discussion of some methodological problems and prospects for moving forward; and an introduction to the AECKO (pronounced “ECHO”) approach to this topic, which continues and extends the line of thinking which William Roll started many years ago. A novel feature of the AECKO approach is the inclusion of this work’s human service (clinical) aspect as integral and essential to the scientific investigation.
Biography of Dr. Gerry Solfvin:
Gerald Solfvin holds degrees in Mathematics (B.A.), Psychology (M.A.), and Social Science (Ph.D.). After completing a 4-year tour of duty in the U.S. Air Force as a weather officer (meteorologist) and teacher/researcher, he began his long-time formal connection with parapsychology with William Roll at Duke University’s Psychical Research Foundation, where he investigated meditation & psi, psychic healing, and field studies of recurrent spontaneous psi phenomena. He was later affiliated with the Parapsychology Laboratory (with Martin Johnson) at the State University of Utrecht in the Netherlands; and the Parapsychology Department in the School of Consciousness Studies at John F. Kennedy University in Orinda, California. He is now retired from his most recent academic affiliations (University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and Massasoit Community College) and remains active with the Institute of Advanced Sciences (Dartmouth, MA). He is a full member of the Parapsychological Association. He has published in the Journal of Parapsychology, the Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, the European Journal of Parapsychology, the Journal of Scientific Exploration, and Advances in Parapsychological Research. He lives in Massachusetts with his life partner and two dogs.
Published on March 8, 2023
