Philip, The Imaginary Ghost. CBC 1974. Philip Experiment Documentary REMASTERED
3Philip, The Imaginary Ghost. CBC 1974. Philip Experiment Documentary
"The Philip experiment drew the attention of TV stations and other media. The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation filmed an hour-long documentary entitled Philip, the Imaginary Ghost"
The experiment was conducted by a Toronto parapsychological research society led by mathematical geneticist Dr. A.R. George Owen and overseen by psychologist Dr. Joel Whitton. The test group consisted of Owen's wife Iris Owen, former chairperson of MENSA in Canada Margaret Sparrow, industrial designer Andy H., his wife Lorne, heating engineer Al Peacock, accountant Bernice M, bookkeeper Dorothy O’Donnel, and sociology student Sidney K.
Their goals were to create a fictional character through a purposeful methodology and then "attempt" to communicate with it through séance. The character created and agreed upon was named "Philip Aylesford", referred to as Philip during the test. His fictional history partially coincided with actual events and places, but with multiple contradictions and errors. He was born in 1624 in England, had an early military career and was knighted by the age of sixteen. He was involved in the English Civil War and became personal friends with Charles II, working for him as a spy. Philip was unhappily married to a woman named Dorothea and later fell in love with a Romani girl who was accused of witchcraft and burned at the stake. In despair, Philip committed suicide in 1654 at the age of thirty.
The group was seated around a table with initial séances yielding no contact, no communication, and no phenomenon. Owen changed test conditions by dimming lights and changing the environment to mimic that of a more “traditional” séance. Participants began feeling a presence, table vibrations, breezes, unexplained echoes, and rapping sounds which matched responses to questions about Philip's life. At one point the table tilted on a single leg, and at other times moved across the room without human contact. Although audio, video, and witness accounts document the paranormal phenomena, Philip never appeared to the participants
Criticism
The experiment has been criticized for lacking solid controls and providing ambiguous results due to the unreliability of séances.[2] Repeated tests, which created fictional characters named "Lilith" and "Humphrey", yielded similar results under similar circumstances and were deemed inconclusive.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_experiment
The group’s original members were:
Al, a self-employed heating engineer whose hobbies were scouting and photography
Lorne, an industrial engineer, a creative and artistic person who studied Oriental philosophy and ancient history
Andy, Lorne’s wife, who shared his interest in astronomy and was artistic; she drew a picture of ‘Philip’
Bernice, an accountant who was widely read and interested in philosophy
Dorothy, a housewife trained in book-keeping and accounting whose main hobby was scouting
Sidney, the youngest member, a sociology student taking time off to work as a salesman and travel
Sue, chairman of the Canadian chapter of Mensa and a former nurse with many interests; she originated the story of ‘Philip’
Iris, wife of Dr ARG (George) Owen, Director of the New Horizons Research Foundation, who also co-founded TSPR with her. Her career also involved nursing, social work, and leadership in these fields. She is the primary author of a 1976 book Conjuring Up Philip, from which all information here is drawn except where otherwise noted.
George Owen and Dr Joel Whitton, a psychiatrist, were present as observers.
Film, English, 1975
Publisher: Bruce A. Raymond Co., [Toronto], 1975
00:00 Intro & Release Notes
00:12 Introduction to Séances
01:55 Intro to The Philip 8
05:35 The Experiment Goes Old-School Seance
10:25 Thoughts On Questions To Philip
10:45 Dr Joel Whitton Gives Comments
15:20 Interview w Society of Psychic Research
20:30 How To Summon Philip
23:00 Philip Experiment Live On Air CBC
25:20 Interviewer Reports Psychiatrists Witnessed Events
37:55 Implications Of The Experiment