194 '!6 The Journal of ParaApprqyed For Release 2003/09/10 (tlA-RDP96-007,92RO007OP7&~RAjl;,y in the Ibero-American World 195
minished by increasing communication and collaboration with for- The theoretical ideas of Ralph U. Sierra are also interesting.
eign parapsychologists.
Puerto Rico"'
Early psychical research in Puerto Rico was strongly influenced
by the nineteenth-century Spiritualist movement that had also
spread to other countries. Mediumistic s6ances in which raps and
communication with the spirits were common drew attention mostly
from people with a religious interest.
It was perhaps this influence that led Agapito Morales to publish
in 1904 a more critical examination of these phenomena. In his
booklet Breve Tratado de Hipnotismo, Magnetismo, Espiritismo y Suges-
toterapia, Morales contended that all those occurrences could take
place without assuming the action of spirit agencies. He interpreted
possession as being autosuggestion and attributed paranormal phe-
nomena to our own psychic faculties. He considered that all of the
experiments made until today demonstrate that there is an invisible
force in our being that is capable, for instance, of playing a guitar,
lifting a table, or lifting our own bodies. According to him this force
is under our control. He also believed that mediumistic communi-
cation could be explained by means of telepathy between the me-
dium and the sitter.
Another major influence in the formation of a more empirical
and critical approach to parapsychology was the work of Francisco
Ponte, a dentist who became president of the Puerto Rican Feder-
ation of Spiritists. Ponte visited Europe in 1912 to familiarize him-
self with the work of several Spiritualistic centers, as well as psychi-
cal research centers. He had had the opportunity to participate in
mediumistic s6ances in Italy with famous mediums such as Lucia
Sordi and Eusapia Palladino. During these s6ances he witnessed
manifestations of apparent telekinesis and materializations (Alva-
rado, 1987; Ponte, 1914).
Later Ponte returned to Puerto Rico and tried to reproduce the
same phenomena with local mediums. He reported some of his find-
ings on materializations of body parts during s6ances to Walter
Franklin Prince, then Research Officer of the ASPR. Ponte's work
was important because of the critical and empirical approach he
brought to his research on s6ance phenomena (Alvarado, 1979a).
IoThis section on Puerto Rican parapsychology partly summarizes information
contained in an article by Alvarado (1979a).
Sierra, who was interested in the psychology of ESP, believed that
to develop telepathy it was necessary to develop first an internal
state of tranquility so that the electrical activity of the brain did not
interfere with the telepathic process (Sierra, 1966).
Some of the most important developments, however, took place
during the last two centuries. At the educational level, it is impor-
tant to note the work of Celinda Madera who, during the 1970s,
offered a series of courses and lectures at different campuses of the
University of Puerto Rico. Madera's courses focused on the human-
istic and transpersonal aspects of psi. She herself had received train-
ing at Duke University's Parapsychology Laboratory (Alvarado,
1979a).
In 104, Nestor A. Rodriguez Escudero, a lawyer, published a
series of essays about parapsychology and Spiritualism in his book
Los Ca?ninos de Dios. He discussed a great variety of paranormal phe-
nomena. His main objective was to show that pa 'rapsychology dem-
onstrates the spiritual aspect of man (Rodriguez Escudero, 1974).
Another development in 1977 was the creation of the Instituto
de Investigaciones Psicofisicas at the University of Puerto Rico, May-
aguez campus. Founded to conduct investigations in parapsychology
and related areas, the Institute carried out studies of various param-
eters of Kirlian photography and of the effects of hypnosis on ESP.
However, these research investigations were never made available
for publication. During this period Alfonso Martinez Taboas began
to publish a newsletter Explorando lo Paranormal, a semipopular mag-
azine later edited by Carlos Alvarado starting in 1976.
Martinez Taboas and Carlos Alvarado wrote articles on parapsy-
chology in Spanish for the Spanish journal Psi Comunicaci6n; they
also published in other journals. Their articles covered a wide range
of topics. Among these, Alvarado wrote on experimental studies of
OBEs (1976), historical precedents of the so-called psychic discov-
eries behind the Iron Curtain (1978), the use of historical knowl-
edge (I 979b), and on J. B. Rhine (1980). Martinez Taboas published
a review of the problem of repeatability in parapsychology (1979),
critiques of psychological and physiological concepts of poltergeist
research (1977, 1980, 1984; Martinez Taboas & Alvarado, 1981),
and a discussion of the concept of parsimony applied to parapsy-
chology (1983).
The work of Martinez Taboas and Alvarado has been very im-
e language barrier between the
portant in the effort to bri th
Spanish researcher and the non-Spanish-speaking researcher. This
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196 TheJournal of Parapsychology Parapsychology in the Ibero-American World 197
is particularly true of Alvarado's book reviews (1984a, 1985) and his
-barrier problems in parapsychology (1989a).
discussion of language
Moreover, Alvarado, a former research assistant at the Division of
Parapsychology (now the Division of Personality Studies) at the Uni-
versity of Virginia, has maintained a constant flow of information
on parapsychological activities in Latin America to research centers
in the United States for the last eight years. In addition, among the
Ibero-Amerfcan parapsychologists, he is the one who has publishk
most extensively in the English-language journals and the only one
ever to be elected a member of the Board of Directors of the Para-
psychological Association.
Mexico
Mexico has been-knN for a long time as the land of the sacred
mushroom or pe t' a p%t used by the Indian shaman tolhduce
'o ' s,
an altered state of con cic. ess, which allegedly facilitate
Alff man-
ifest-ation. of psychic pow Ttisl country has also. biff a major
!f % I
source for many parapsyc 0 a researchers interffed in unor-
-_@amous
Xanther
thodox psychic healing practic
as Maria Sabina and Dofia Pa ta have
gated by Stanley Krippner
(Krippner & Villoldo, 1986).
Although Mexico has been a
parapsychologists from foreign cov
flourished there as it has in other
Spain. Moreover, even though the
ern border of the United States
American cultural influence in
such
Kensively investi-
par Iapsychologists
r rce of study for many
sychical research has not
es such as Argentina and
int is located on the south-
as b subject to very strong
every ect of life, the dom-
inance of the United States not been a tor in the develop-
ment of parapsychol?ogy. E though in the U d States there are
,0 *F
al
more parap'sychol cal arch centers than an here else in the
logic
world, very little is kn in Mexico of their resea Most of what
he
by
/n
during
hypnosis
@1'
so ia that he discovered the re-
so
la
_s de Zierold. Pagenstecher be-
es d(
ents with her in 1919. The re-
ents
vht tho
ght them to the attention of the
ippointed a commission to verify
to write to the ASPR and send
ined. The results induced Walter
of the ASPR, to go to Mexico to
of experimental sittings with Zier-
the results that he decided to pub-
0 Pagenstecher, 1920).
'R 192 '
er in which he discussed the ex-
(Prince, 1921b). Moreover, the
enste
g\ Cher entitled Past Events
eecher, 1922).
Roll (1967),Vagenstecher contributed to
[Fle wasl, as fffas I know the first inve%gator to use hypnosis as a
eto cu"'
a
n
m Is to culti . e ESP in a gifted subjec t _genstecher's studies were
s
ean t.,.Xa
also, I believ . the first to indicate that arasychological) associa-
0
s
3/bee
ws-'
tion of obje may be governed, by the same ws that govern the (psy-
n
bem
0
0'0
chological) sociation of ideas. (p. 238)
c
gl a" soc!
0 @dn el
d t
sers n
Pagens er showed great courage in und taking these exper-
gen
i
iments. H . eopardized his professional standin s well as his med-
sHeoa I s w
tcbyPr' ims f @Zie
r
ms
ical prac by trying to substantiate the claims Zierold's psychic
)rattry
is known about seri , parapsychology comes from tin American abilities he Medical Commission appoin o i stigate the case
ies.he Med ed t stil
0
countries such as il. For example, the writi@ngs o uevedo are was sk tical of the reported phenomenz, or unat , however, the
tc
Z @kIa@ of th t It
well known in ico, and also most of what is kn. o generally Com sion's leading experts obtained successful rIts in the ex-
sionslead @r
-s
Come from lar magazines. Perim ts in which they participated (Gomezharp de Trevifto,
nts in wB Irp
P
Early ef to study Psychical research within a scien c frame- 1990).
in
wort i -o began in 1919 with the isolated efforts o uch re-
-born medical doctor Gustav Page echer, Obreg6n was a revolutionary military leader, later President of Mexico. Walter
searche the German
the fir esearcher to conduct serious Psychical research in xico. Franklin Prince (1921a) relates an interesting psychic experience witnessed by Ob-
reg6n, about a precognitive dream Obreg6n's brother had about the death of their
Page echer was a very well-known and respected physician in the mother.
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re
b
Mexico, Diaz a Obreg6n (Allison, 19
0
'19
g
d
in
b
r
ed'1
A respected mber of the medi 1 profession, Pagenstecher
e
e
-en
said he had been aterialist for for years when he had his first
at
e
rJ fory
encounter with the ranormal. It w
treatment
the ran( tw
a
aj co
Mexican me ic I mmunity as well as in political circles. In the
eec
course of hi Lreer he delivered speec s before two presidents of
sp
ic
te
ai_nh
of one of his pai ie ho had i:
p
markable Psychical gi f Maria
hjcal gifI
gan a series of psycho
Psy ho
trJkJnt
sults were so striking th
Mexican medical society,
them. Pagenstecher also
some of..the results he h;
Franklin Prince, Research
investigate the case. After
old, Prince was so impres
re
s
PW
'ou
lish them in the journal
Prince later published
d
-h ha
periments in which h Ia
ASPR published
a mog
I mog
Pcho7j
Seership: A Study of or
f
iam
According to. iam
two major areas in araps
araps