PARAPSYCHOLOGY IN THE IBERO-AMERICAN WORLD, ARGENTINA

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• Document Release Date: August 25, 2003
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186 The Journal of Parapsychology Parapsychology in the Ibero-American World
a high concentration of Spiritists whose beliefs threaten the estab-
lished Catholic dogmas. However, when he uses parapsychological
evidence of certain phenomena as a scientific backup to establish
facts, when this same evidence is still very controversial for many
parapsychologists, his position is untenable. Nonetheless, his work
has to be seen in the cultural and ideological ackground from
which he has worked (Alvarado, 1991).
Another dime ion f Brazilian psychical res rch'is the work by
Hernani Guimar-
an Institute of Psy-
s` chosen to make it
iological and physical
of the most significant
from within the Spiritist
piritist himself, has con-
igations of reincarnation
work. His poltergeist cases
le, the one published in a
Thos (1984). These cases in-
damage to furniture and
and spontaneous fires. In
possible witchcraft com-
. Also, as Michel-Ange
s interpretation of the
researchers with Spurs
ducted by the engineer
des Andrade, who in 1'9
chobiophysical Research
clear that the Institute int`ei
as well as purely psychical ph
things about this Institute is tha
movement (Playfair, 1975). Anc
ducted well-planned and detaile
cases along the lines of Ian Steven
are particularly interesting-for ex
monograph entitled 0 Poltergeist de
volve very dramatic phenomena: a
persons, apparitions of strange cr
evaluating and interpreting the ca
carnate agencies hypothesis, som
ponents (Alvarado, 1984b; An
Amorim (1990) has remarked
Andrade interprets the diff
case [the Guarulhos's case]
ents especially in the big
and Spiritist elements
ecclesiastic of popular
199)
According to Am
along the Spiritist li
religion, such as t
to harass victim
that a
m, not only does Andrade int pret his cases
spatel'
s but he also accepts the centra liefs of this a
existence of all sorts of spirits, 1 " Exus and ps
believes that the sorcerer is able ' practice calfcountries.
LATerreiros (a place specialized in these procedures)
magic within th
ccording to Quimbanda laws (the black magic side
of the Umban religion).
Concerning Andrade's interpretation of the aforementioned case For many years Argentina has been
of Guarulhos, Amorim (1990) also states: Ibero-America in terms of experimental
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A
r r(
s
1981
de
ut Andra
d psychical researc
PP). The name
ed to explore
emerge
de, a
inv
ent types of occ
supportive of a Sp
banda tradition has
may be characterized
nces present in this
veral million adher-
Catholic, Indian,
relatively extra-
razilian sects. (p.
Thus, he rejects the usual attributions of RSPK outbreaks to a living
agency. In defense of his position he points to the fact that a psycho-
logical examination of Noemia [a participant in the case], the most prob-
able RSPK agent, was conducted by two psychologists belonging to the
IBPP team. He states, "Mrs. Noemia didn't di lay any form of psychi-
cal abnormality at could justify viewing he s belonging to the `psy-
chokinetic''agent Xaa oltergeist' category i onformity with the theo-
retical patterns sed by the current othesis." ... He adds that
his macro-PK tesof her capacities a also negative. (p. 199)
It is important, how
cases investigated by And
influence of the beliefs and
Andrade has also published
parapsychology in Portugues
(1967). A basic introductory
used in parapsychology, it inc
tistical model used in experi
There are other groups
scientific approach to psyc
recently established ECL
em Parapsicologia. This
one separate from the
Spiritist or Catholic
centers. It received
organize its first co
included particip
from Argentina,
experimental r
lington Zan
Spanish. T
perimenta
guage jo
y
als.
re also other groups involved in parapsych igy in Brazil
eyond the scope of this paper because of limitations of
d because of our initial goal of evaluating Brazilian para-
ology from the perspective of its impact on the Ibero-Ameri-
SY-Institu
cup aims to
ore traditional
entations typical
port from the Uni
erence in parapsychol
s from the University
razil, and Mexico. The g
arch that will be reported in
de Parapsicologia. According t
i, it will include abstracts in En
journal will also include translation
nd theoretical articles published in
Argentina
a
ut that to some extent the
associates seem to reflect the
f Brazilian society (Hess, 1990).
the first systematic treatises of
titled Parapsicologia Experimental
nual of the quantitative method
a detailed description of the sta-
who are interested in a more
h. One of these groups is the
de Investigacoes Cientificas
rsue a different approach,
proaches associated with
most Brazilian research
sity of Sao Francisco to
held in 1990, which
well as researchers
p plans to conduct
,new journal, called
is president, Wel-
from major ex-
e English-lan-
the top-ranking country in
parapsychological research.
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188 The Journal of Parapsychology Parapsychology in the Ibero-American World 189
However, research has diminished in the last few years, partly be-
cause of the recent deaths of two of the leading contributors, J. Ri-
cardo Musso and Enrique Novillo Pauli.
Early research began in Argentina about the same time the Duke
University Laboratory was established in the United States. The
1930s witnessed one of the most important events in the history of
Argentine parapsychology. In 1931, the first institute of psychology
was established at the University of Buenos Aires. The institute in-
cluded paranormal psychology as one of the areas to be investigated
by the department. Parapsychology appeared to be joined to psy-
chology from the beginning. The chairman of the psychology de-
partment, Enrique Mouchet, was interested in clairvoyance research
and had come to the conclusion that it was necessary to include
paranormal psychology in the syllabus of courses offered by the de-
partment (Musso, 1973).
However, Argentinian researchers have had to struggle with the
traditional spiritualistic methodology that characterized the study of
psychical research in this country in the past. The research being
conducted in the young Duke Parapsychology Laboratory had a ma-
jor impact on the new generation of Argentinian researchers. The
move toward a more quantitative approach to the study of scientific
parapsychology was pioneered by a young engineer by the name of
Jose Fernandez, who was teaching physics at the University of Bue-
nos Aires. Although Fernandez belonged to a Spiritualist group
called ATMAN, he had been in search of an adequate methodology
to investigate the psychic phenomena manifested by mediums and
clairvoyants. He hoped to be able to apply statistical principles to the
responses given by the mediums. Fernandez presented the results
of these experiments in 1941 to a meeting of the Sociedad Cientifica
Argentina. Fernandez's efforts to introduce quantitative methodol-
ogy in Argentina had a major impact on the approaches that other
young researchers were to follow in establishing scientific parapsy-
chology there.
Another development during this period was the creation of the
Asociaci6n Argentina Medica de Metapsiquica in 1946 by a group
of physicians headed by Orlando Canavesio. The aim of this society
was to evaluate the medical and legal status of parapsychology sci-
entifically and to promote its development in scientific circles as well
as to determine its proper classification, that is, to decide whether
the discipline belonged to psychology or physiology, or whether it
could be considered to be a new branch of science.
Canavesio himself wrote his doctoral thesis on a study of elec-
lished a journal called Revista Medics de Metapsiquica summarizing
the research of the society. Included among the articles published
in the journal was a study of the use of dowsers by the government
to find water in towns where the lack of water had become a hard-
ship for its inhabitants. During this period, the work of Canavesio
was important because of his connection to the government, a con-
nection that helped to legitimize parapsychological studies in Argen-
tina (Musso, 1973).
The creation of the Instituto de Psicopatologia Aplicada in 1948
by the Secretary of Public Health was another important develop-
ment. The aim of the government was to establish tight control over
the Spiritist activities in Argentina, which were considered to be a
social evi'. More specifically, the aim was to control the exploitation
of people engaged in nonscientific practices such as healing, and so
on.
The Institute created a subsidiary, the Comite de Investigaciones
Metapsiquicas, which was assigned to conduct experimental research
with gifted subjects, specifically during mediumistic sessions. The
Committee intended to explore the medical and legal implications
of Spiritist practices, as well as to determine whether genuine para-
psychological phenomena were exhibited during these sessions by
the gifted subjects. The Committee was also interested in uncover-
ing negative factors that might induce mental illness, such as neu-
rosis, in the participants. More specifically, it seems that the real ob-
jective of the Committee was to determine whether the promoters
of these mediumistic sessions were practicing medicine illegally
(Parra, 1989).
In 1949 Jose Fernandez founded the Sociedad Argentina de
Parapsicologia. Fernandez, who was already known for his quanti-
tative approach to psychic phenomena, continued to promote the
statistical approach used by the Duke researchers. This approach
was reflected in the Society's main objective, which was to study and
investigate parapsychological phenomena with emphasis on the de-
velopment of statistical methods. By then Fernandez had received
from Rhine a copy of Extra-Sensory Perception After Sixty Years (Pratt,
Rhine, Smith, Stuart, & Greenwood, 1940). The book had a major
impact on Fernandez, who applied Rhine's mathematical models to
his own research. Fernandez also circulated the book among his
friends (Musso, 1973).
The Society conducted the first serious experiments on clairvoy-
ance in Argentina using ESP cards and statistical procedures. The
troencephalographic records of gifted 1 pjjtW dIl - sPt803/09/10 : CIA-RDP96-0ft 20001AO294U@2)8 these experiments in a pamphlet entitled
study, with gifted subjects, obtained significant results. Fernandez
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190 The Journal of Parapsychology Parapsychology in the Ibero American World 191
Psicologia Experimental. The Society also conducted other experi-
ments such as the one with the well-known clairvoyant Conrado Cas-
tiglione. The study used the empty-chair technique similar to that
used with Ludwig Khan and with Gerard Croiset (Musso, 1973).
The first Instituto Argentino de Parapsicologia was established
in 1953. It brought together several men who represented the most
critical approach of the time, men such as Jose Fernandez, Orlando
Canavesio, J. Ricardo Musso, and Naum Kreiman. The Institute was
organized to include a main scientific research department, along
with several sections, such as the medical-biological section and a
physics and mathematics section. The principles of the Institute re-
flected the critical approach their members followed in conducting
their research. One of these was to subject every hypothesis to sci-
entific examination, so that only those that would withstand the
most stringent tests would remain. In addition to the creation of the
Institute, this period of the 1950s was also characterized by a grow-
ing interest in publishing books on parapsychology. One of the first
systematic treatises on parapsychology in Spanish written by J. Ri-
cardo Musso (1954) was called En los Limites de la Psicologia: Desde el
Espiritismo hasta la Parapsicologia [On the Limits of Psychology: From
Spiritualism to Parapsychology]. Other developments included a pa-
per by Musso in 1957, which was published in a journal put out by
the ministry of education of the province of Buenos Aires. It was
the first time a paper on parapsychology had been published in a
government review. In addition, parapsychology was incorporated
as a course in five different universities. In 1960, Ricardo Musso was
awarded a professorship at Rosario University to teach parapsychol-
ogy, and, for the first time in any country, a course in parapsycho-
logy was made a requirement for a doctoral degree in psychology
(Rueda, 1989).
In 1962 the Institute conducted studies confirming the sheep-
goat effect, using primary-school children as subjects. The results
were published in the Journal of Parapsychology (Musso, 1965). Other
important experiments included "An ESP Drawing Experiment with
a High Scoring Subject," also published in the Journal of Parapsychol-
ogy (Musso & Granero, 1973). Moreover, Musso and his wife and
colleague, Mirta Granero, conducted an international experiment
on long-distance ESP called the "Antarctic Experiment." Although
the results were not statistically significant they were important be-
cause the experiment involved subjects from twenty different coun-
tries (Musso, 1973, p. 168).
The expansion period of parapsychology was interrupted in
thrown by a military coup; most state universities were forced to
eliminate the study from their curricula. In spite of the prevailing
negative conditions standing in the way of university status for the
subject, a new quarterly publication was founded. The Cuadernos de
Parapsicologia, perhaps the most important publication in the history
of Argentinian experimental parapsychology, took the responsibility
of disseminating a high level of academic parapsychology. Headed
by Naum Kreiman, it has been the most professional organ of sci-
entific parapsychology in Argentina to the present time.
Owing to the military takeover of the government that elimi-
nated most of the parapsychology courses offered at the state uni-
versities, parapsychology did not enjoy the same status at the begin-
ning of the 1970s as it had during the period of university
expansion of the 1960s. Some new developments during this period
kept the torch lit, however. Among the most important ones was the
creation of the Instituto de Parapsicologia in 1970. It is headed by
Naum Kreiman, a bio-statistician and a co-founder of the Instituto
Argentino de Parapsicologia in the 1950s. Kreiman has played a key
role in the development of the quantitative approach to the study
of parapsychology for the last 30 years. From 1964 to the present
he has conducted numerous original experiments as well as repli-
cations of some of the most important experiments conducted in
foreign countries. With the help of his wife and collaborator, Dora
Ivnisky, and Ladislao Marquez, he has conducted numerous exper-
iments that have been published in the Cuadernos. Among them are
exploratory testing with ESP cards (Kreiman & Ivnisky, 1964); ESP
using photographs as targets (Kreiman, 1965); the sheep-goat effect
in ESP (Kreiman, 1972); the effect of feedback on ESP (Kreiman &
Ivnisky, 1973); ESP and memory (Kreiman, 1975); memory and
precognition (Kreiman, 1978); psi and volition (Kreiman & Ivnisky,
1980); brain laterality and ESP (Kreiman, 1981); precognition of
human actions (Ivnisky & Kreiman, 1981); and remote viewing
(Kreiman, 1983).
Institute members such as Dora Ivnisky have done extensive
work in keeping the Argentinian parapsychological community in-
formed of activities around the world by translating numerous ex-
periments and theoretical papers from languages other than Span-
ish from the journal of Parapsychology and elsewhere. The diligent
experimental work done by Kreiman since the 1950s and continuing
to the present time makes him one of the most important laboratory
researchers in Argentinian and Ibero-American parapsychology.
Another important development during this period was the cre-
1966 when the then current Argen)OPoigY le el6b3/09/10: CIA-RDP96-00f42i480(PODZ io t62o8 Parapsychology at the Catholic University of
 192 The Journal of Parapsychology Parapsychology in the Ibero-American World 193
Cordoba by the Catholic priest Enrique Novillo Pauli. One of the Recently, a new parapsychology journal, the Revista Argentina de
principal activities of the Institute was to teach courses on parapsy- Psicologia Paranormal, has appeared. It is published by an indepen-
chology in the school of psychology at the University. The staff of dent group of parapsychologists called LAPAS (Laboratory of Para-
the Institute also provided consultation and orientation to bishops, psychology) and edited mainly by Alejandro Parra. Judged by its
priests, and families about phenomena such as poltergeists and content, the journal seems to be a worthwhile addition to the cur-
bleeding religious images. Unfortunately this institute recently rent efforts to keep the Argentinian audience well informed on
closed down after the death of Father Novillo. professional parapsychology. However, some of the experiments of
Prior to the creation of the institute, Novillo Pauli had been at the researchers in this group have not been well received by other
the Foundation for Research on the Nature of Man in North Car- Argentinian researchers, who consider the experiments to be flawed
olina where he conducted some PK research with seeds as targets (Kreiman, 1990; see also Alvarado, 1990). LAPAS has also started a
under the auspices of the Organization of American States. Novillo Spanish-language parapsychology information center. The Center is
Pauli presented the results of his experiments at the annual conven- building a computer data bank from which Spanish-speaking para-
tion of the Parapsychological Association in 1972 (Novillo Pauli, psychologists may obtain information about a bibliography on para-
1973). During the period of his stay at the FRNM, he also prepared psychology similar to the Parapsychology International Abstracts pub-
a book on parapsychology entitled Los Fen6menos Parapsicologicos: Psi lished by Rhea White (Villanueva, 1990).
en el Laboratorio (1975), which included reports of his PK studies. In addition to these recent developments, CSICOP has made its
The studies were also reported in the Spanish-language parapsycho- way to Argentina. A former member of Naum Kreiman's research
logical journals Cuadernos de Parapsicologia (1974) and Psi Comunica- group, Ladislao Marquez, has created an Argentinian version called
don (1876) Centro Argentino Para la Investigaci6n y Refutacibn de la Pseudo-
In spite of the marked decline since the 1970s, an important re- ciencia (CAIRP). The most important aims of CAIRP are to de-
cent development is the organization of a parapsychology confer- nounce fraud and to promote a critical scientific assessment of the
ence in Argentina in 1987, the Primer Encuentro de Parapsicologia. claims made by pseudoscientists. The board of directors, headed by
It was sponsored by the University of Salvador of Buenos Aires and Ladislao Marquez, also includes foreign members, Martin Gardner,
held under the direction of Enrique Novillo Pauli. Some of the top- for instance.
ics discussed at the conference were mental healing studies, altered The prospects for Argentinian parapsychology in the 1990s
states of consciousness in relation to psi performance, and quantum seem less favorable than those of the booming period of previous
mechanics (Alvarado, 1989b). Soon afterward, Argentina suffered years. The present difficulties in the Argentinian economy have in-
the loss of two of its most important pioneers, J. Ricardo Musso, creased for researchers, making it difficult for them to obtain funds
president of the Instituto Argentino de Parapsicologia (which he di- to support their research and publications.
rected until his death in 1989) and, in the same year, Enrique Novi- In a recent survey conducted on the present status of parapsy-
llo Pauli. Consequently, the activities of Musso's institute declined, chology in Argentina, Naum Kreiman reported that research has
and the institute at the University of El Salvador headed by Enrique decreased substantially over the last five years. Most of the recent
Novillo Pauli closed down. Since then, the Institute of Parapsychol- research reports have come from Kreiman's Institute of Parapsy-
ogy headed by Kreiman has remained as the most important source chology. Educational activities in the field are almost nil except for
of professional parapsychology in Argentina. a course being offered at a small university called John F. Kennedy
During the 1980s, parapsychology in Argentina was character- University (Kreiman & Ivnisky, 1989).
ized by a marked decline in experimental activities. Most of the In a letter published in the journal of Parapsychology, Jorge Villa-
work during this period was conducted by members of the Institute nueva (1990) pointed out some of the major problems that Argen-
of Parapsychology under Kreiman, who, as in previous years, main- tinian researchers face at the present time. Among them are lack of
tained a constant interest in reporting original experiments, includ- support from public and private institutions, lack of serious books
ing replications of foreign experimental works. They also continued in Spanish to provide responsible information on the subject, and
to publish regularly their quarterly journal, which contained trans- lack of proper technology and other means to conduct sophisticated
lations of some of the most important r sapr h g8bPor epeas l Obi/09/10 :CIA-RDP96-00 ~1 X0070029000 g problems, Villanueva suggests, may be di-
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194 The Journal of Parapsychology Parapsychology in the Ibero-American World 195
minished by increasing communication and collaboration with for-
eign parapsychologists.
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 series of courses and lectures at different campuses of the
University of Puerto Rico. Madera's courses focused on the human-
istic and t anspersonal aspects of psi. She erself had received train-
ing at Du e University's Parapsycholo y Laboratory (Alvarado,
1979a).
In 1914, estor A. Rodriguez E cudero, a lawyer, published a
series of essa about parapsychol gy and Spiritualism in his book
Early psychical research in Puerto Rico was strongly influenced
by the nineteenth-century Spiritualist movement that had also
spread to other countries. M iumistic seances in which raps and
communication with the spiri were common drew attention mostly
from people w4 a religiou interest.
It was perhaps this infl nce that led Agapito Morales to publish
in 1904 a more c 'tical amination of these phenomena. In his
booklet Breve Tra de ipnotismo, Magnetismo, Espiritismo y Suges-
toterapia, Morales con e ded that all those occurrences could take
place without assumin the action of spirit agencies. He interpreted
possession as being a uggestion and attributed paranormal phe-
nomena to our own syc is faculties. He considered that all of the
experiments made til t ay demonstrate that there is an invisible
force in our being hat is c pable, for instance, of playing a guitar,
lifting a table, or h ting our wn bodies. According to him this force
is under our co rol. He als believed that mediumistic communi-
cation could be explained by deans of telepathy between the me-
dium and the tter.
Another or influence in the formation of a more empirical
and critical a proach to parapsycliblogy was the work of Francisco
Ponte, a de ist who became presidet of the Puerto Rican Feder-
ation of Sp' itists. Ponte visited Europe, in 1912 to familiarize him-
self with t e work of several Spiritualistic centers, as well as psychi-
cal resear h centers. He had had the opp unity to participate in
mediumi tic seances in Italy with famous ediums such as Lucia
Sordi a d Eusapia Palladino. During these eances he witnessed
manife tations of apparent telekinesis and terializations (Alva-
rado, 987; Ponte, 1914).
Later Ponte returned to Puerto Rico and trie~to reproduce the
same phenomena with local mediums. He reporte `some of his find-
ings on materializations of body parts during seances 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 seance phenomena (Alvarado, 1979a).
"This section on Puerto Rican parapsychology partly summarizes information
contained in an article by Alvarado (1979a).
Los Caminos de ios. He discussed great variety of paranormal phe-
nomena. His in in objective w to show that parapsychology dem-
onstrates the spi 'tual aspect f man (Rodriguez Escudero, 1974).
Another deve pment i 1977 was the creation of the Instituto
de Investigaciones sicofi cas at the University of Puerto Rico, May-
aguez campus. Fou e to conduct investigations in parapsychology
and related areas, th nstitute carried out studies of various param-
eters of Kirlian pho aphy and of the effects of hypnosis on ESP.
However, these r ear investigations were never made available
for publication. uring is period Alfonso Martinez Taboas began
to publish a ne sletter Exp rando to Paranormal, a semipopular mag-
azine later e ted by Carlos lvarado starting in 1976.
Martine Taboas and Carl Alvarado wrote articles on parapsy-
chology i Spanish for the Spa ish journal Psi Comunicacion; they
also pub shed in other journals. eir articles covered a wide range
of topi s. Among these, Alvarado ote on experimental studies of
OBEs (1976), historical precedents f the so-called psychic discov-
erie behind the Iron Curtain (1978 the use of historical knowl-
ed (1979b), and on J. B. Rhine (198 . 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
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