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"Philip"

An experimental ghost created by Iris M. Owen and members of the Toronto Society for Psychical Research, Canada, who wanted to test the connections between living individuals and paranormal phenomena. In the past, many psychical researchers have hypothesized that the entities manifesting at séances may be artificial personalities created by the unconscious attitudes of the sitters. Many "spirit guides" and "spirits" have been self-evidently synthetic and illusory entities, although acceptance of them as real personalities often favorably influences paranormal phenomena.

In September 1972, the Toronto experimenters began meditating on "Philip," a deliberately created ghost with a personal history, idiosyncratic characteristics, and even an appearance consciously worked out by the group. The eight members of the group other than Owen (a former nurse) were Margaret Sparrow (former chairman of MENSA in Canada, an organization of individuals with high IQs), Andy H. (housewife), Lorne H. (industrial designer, husband of Andy H.), Al P. (heating engineer), Bernice M. (accountant), Dorothy O'D. (housewife and bookkeeper), and Sidney K. (sociology student). At times A. R. G. Owen (mathematician and Iris Owen's husband) or Joel Whitton (a psychologist) attended meetings as an observer.

After nearly a year without significant results, the group changed their method of sitting to conform with that of a traditional nineteenth-century Spiritualist séance, in which participants were seated around a table and sang or talked to enhance the atmosphere. This approach embodied the suggestions of British psychologist Kenneth Batcheldor, who claimed that skepticism inhibited paranormal phenomena but that the conventional form of a séance tended to dispel skepticism and provide an atmosphere in which paranormal phenomena seemed natural.

Within only a few weeks, the group elicited raps from the table and communications from "Philip" on conventional yesno lines. On one occasion this phenomenon was successfully demonstrated before a live audience of fifty individuals for a videotaped TV show. In addition, there have been instances of noises from various parts of the room, a light blinking, and an apparent levitation of the table.

The results attained by the group have provided insight on the nature of spirit personality, the phenomena of the poltergeist, hauntings, and the claims of Spiritualism.