4- 194 TheJournal #0r0pgpdcFqy Release 2000/08/11 CIA-RD096-00792RO0,07007400or4v%psychology in the lbero-American World 195 minished by increasing communication and collaboration with for- 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 Tralado de Hipnotismo, Mag-netismo, 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). "This section on Puerto Rican parapsychology partly summarizes information contained in an article by Alvarado (1979a). The theoretical ideas of Ralph U. Sierra are also interesting. 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 Caminos de Dios. He discussed a great variety of paranormal. phe- nomena. His main objective was to show that parapsychology dem- onstrates the spiritual aspect of man (Rodriguez Escudero, 1974). Another development in 1977 was the creation of the Instituto de Investigadiones Psicofisicas at the University of Puerto Rico, May- agiiez 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- portant in the effort to bridge the language barrier between the Spanish researcher and the non-Spanish-speaking researcher. This Approved For Release 2000/08/11 CIA-RDP96-00792ROO0700740001-9 __01 196 The journal of Parapsychology Parapsychology in the lbero-American World 197 is particularly true of Alvarado's book reviews (1984a, Mexican me ical community as well as in political 1985) and his circles. In the -barrier problems in parapsychology (1989a). ie of hi, discussion of language court freer he delivered speec s before two presidents of Moreover, Alvarado, a former research assistant at the 9 ).11 Division of ,,,is Mexico, Diaz a Obreg6n (,~. son, 1 Parapsychology (now the Division of Personality Studies) A respected mber of the medi I profession, Pagenstecher at the Uni- versity of Virginia, has maintained a constant flow of said he had been aterialist for for years when information he had his first on parapsychological activities in Latin America to researchencounter with the ranormal. It w during a hypnosis centers treatment in the United States for the last eight years. In addition, among the of one of his patient ho had i.nso ia that he discovered the re- e Tlbero-American parapsychologists, he is the one who has markable Osychical gi f Maria es de Zierold. published Pagenstecher be- a) 0 most extensively in the English-language journals and gan a series of psycho ric exp, ents with her the only one in 1919. Thgre- 0 s crio P'y 0 ever to be elected a member of the Board of Directors of the Para- 1 Iq th he br ght them to the attention o&he sults were so !striking 11 psychological Association. . 0 Mexican medical society, hic ppointed a commission to v$Kfy 0 I- them. Pagenstecher also to write to the ASPR 0 M and &-nd i ex co some ofthe results he ha tained. The results 0 induced VQter 0 Q~ to Mexi& to C*4 Mexico has been kn for a long time as the land of Franklin Prince, Research cer of the ASPR, to the sacred go 0) investigate the case. After e s of experimental I- mushroom or peyotl, a p t used by the Indian shaman sittings with Per- to * uce 0 old, Prince was so impres; wi the results that 0 an altered state of conscio ess, which allegedly facilitatehe decided toocqub- man- t6 ifestation of psychic power This country has also a lish them in theJournal the in 1920 (Pagenstecher, major lg2O). a) Prince later published ther p r in which he (L source for many parapsycho ical researchers inte ed discussed th?ex- in unor- 0 1 periments in which h articipate (Prince, 1921b). Wthodox psychic healing practic Famous curande (healers) Moreoverpthe such J as Maria Sabina and Dofia Pa 'ta have b=een ensively investi-ents ASPR published a m graph by enstecher entitled P~ Ggated by Stanley Krippner an ther farn parapsychologistsa Seership: A Study of omet7y (Page echer, 1922). (Krippner & Villoldo, 1986). 1 1967), agenstecher contributIM to According to am Roll (, ' Although Mexico has been a in r rce of study for many two major areas in a rapsychology: parapsychologists from foreign countr sychical research has not [He wvas], as f as I know the first inve *gator ' to use hypnosigaas a 0 ' flourished there as it has in other co es such as Argentina' and s studieEwere t Iti ESP Spain. Moreover, even-though the , nt is located on the a gifted subject... agenstecher south- means o u in CU C*4 also, I believ the first to indicate that the 4) ern border of the United States has b subject to very arapsychological) a~)cia- strong American cultural influence in ost every ect of life, tion of obje , may be governed by the same ws the dom- that govern th9psy- chological) ,sociation of ideas. (p. 238) 4) inance of the United States not been a tor in the develop-to cc 12 ment of parapsychology. E though in the U d States Pagens I er showed great courage in und taking there are these e-"r- 0more parapsychological arch centers than an here else iments, H eopardized his professional standin in the s well as his&hed- U_ world, very little is kn in Mexico of their re., a ical prac e by trying to substantiate the claims Most of what f Zierold's psychic f V 4) is known about seri , parapsychology comes tin Americanabilities he Medical Commission appointed to i stigate thW-case 0 c as zil. For example, the writin s o uevedo are countries su h 3 howeve was sk tical of the reported phenomena. Fortunat the CL well known in ico, and also most of what is kno generallyCorn sion's leading experts obtained successful r Its in t4 ex- CL