TENHAEFF, W.H.C. EXPERIMENTS WITH MRS. LOTTE PLAAT-MAHLSTEDT TO TEST HER GIFT OF EXTRASENSORY PERCEPTION

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• Collection: STARGATE
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP96-00792R000700700001-3
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• Document Creation Date: November 4, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 10, 2000
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Approved For Release 20V1 0792R000700700001-3 01374-01378
nature and only partly veridical. Although such dreams are ob-
viously of a clairvoyant, paranormal nature, Dunne denies this and
attempts to explain such dreams by an intricate theory of time. - -
G.Z.
01374. Dietz, P.A. Is everybody in possession of the gift of extra-
sensory perception (E.S.P.) Tijdschrift voor Parapsychologie,
1928/29, 1, 97-108.
Extrasensory perception is a term that was coined around the
time the pioneers of psychical research were busy with the
investigation of the occult, the phenomena of spiritualism, and the
like. Other terms, old and new, were advanced to describe certain
phenomena that could be regarded as belonging to the ESP group,
but that did not encompass the entire subject. Other groups of
phenomena belonging to what was termed ESP include telepathy,
clairvoyance, precognition, and a few others. Discussing the
question of whether all or most people worldwide are more or less
paranormally gifted, Dietz advances the opinion that a greater
percentage of people possess paranormal gifts to a certain degree.
In support, he cites the fact that most people have some musical
talent, some idea of rhythm, etc. Of course, there are a number of
people who are completely devoid of any feeling or interest for
music. The above, in Dietz`s opinion, might well be the case
concerning paranormal faculties. Most people might be para-
normally gifted to a certain degree; highly gifted persons, on the
other hand, seem to be very rare. Dietz's point of view appears to be
upheld by the fact that there are many cases in which ESP
manifests itself only once during a person's entire life. - G.Z.
01375. Tenhaeff, W.H.C. Experiments with Mrs. Lotte Plaat-
Mahlstedt to test her gift of extrasensory perception. Tijdschrift
voor Parapsychologie, 1929/30, 2, 1-80.
In 1928, Tenhaeff Was able to test the medium Mrs. Lotte
Platt-Mahistedt for several weeks. Together with Tenhaeff, dozens
of well-educated men, journalists, medical doctors, judges, etc.
were present and participated in these experiments in which the
medium was offered a "psychometric" object (an envelope, opened
or sealed, a pencil, a pocketbook, etc.), and asked to describe the
owner of the object. The results obtained were quite positive
because far more hits were registered than misses. A remarkable hit
was the following: With regard to the object offered, the medium
said: "This lady is all the time getting hold of her wrists. Is she going
to commit suicide by cutting her wrists?" The truth was that this
lady was very much afraid of being buried when still in a condition
of apparent death. She insisted that her wrists be cut before being
buried. Based on communications of 2 centuries ago concerning
dowsers experiencing subjective sensations when finding themselves
above certain ore veins, coal, mineral deposits, and the like,
Tenhaeff decided to test Mrs. Platt to see whether she was sensitive
to certain chemicals and substances (mercury, silver, gold, sulphur,
etc.). These substances can be found in various homeopathic
medicines. The results of these experiments in which the medium
had to identify which metals were present in the bottles presented
to her were highly successful. According to the experimenters
(Tenhaeff and several other persons), there was little doubt that
Mrs. Lotte Platt was highly paranormally gifted. - G.Z.
01376. Dietz, P.A. Have the dead anything to do with the
paranormal? Tijdschrift voor Parapsychologie, 1929/30, 2, 240-
247.
It is the opinion of Dr. Dietz that the claims of the spiritualists,
that is, that all mediumistic performances are brought about by the
"spirits" of the dead, are not based on actual facts. On the contrary,
paranormal phenomena are the result of certain faculties of living
human beings. On the other hand, Dietz goes onto say, there seem
to have been some rare occurrences pointing to discarnate
influence. As an example he cites the manifestations of apparitions
that year after year appear at some locality. But these apparitions
should not be regarded as spirits of the dead - the still-surviving
personalities of deceased persons. Rather, they are a kind of
dream a dreamlike state having its own life and repeating itself all
the time. Dietz also thinks that a number of cases of alleged spirit
communications that have occurred during seances with Mrs.
Piper as the medium should probably be regarded as an authentic
contact with a deceased person, although one can never be sure.
Because we know very little about the reach of the psi faculties of
mediums, it is quite possible that a medium can know practically
anything concerning a deceased person by means of his or her ES P
gifts. Dietz regards the alleged physical manifestations of dead
persons (the moving of objects, stopping of clocks, etc.) as a kind of
convulsion of the dead or dying person. The last vital powers are
set free and produce the physical manifestations. These manifesta-
tions are not consciously produced, and very soon come to an end.
But everything the alleged spirit tells us about conditions, etc. in
the life to come are nothing but products of the medium's
imagination. - G.Z.
01377. Dietz, P.A. A successful psychometric experiment with the
clairvoyant E. Hanussen. Tijdschrift voor Parapsychologie,
1930/31, 3, 70-76.
In 1930, Hanussen (who later would often be consulted by
Adolph Hitler) visited the Netherlands and gave seances in several
Dutch towns. When he gave a public seance at The Hague, Dietz.
was very keen to be present, as he wanted to test Hanussen's
paranormal faculties. Dietz was, however, unable to be there, but
he sent his wife to the seance with a psychometric object. The object
was a letter written in 1796 by the clergyman, Jan Scharp, living in
Rotterdam. Scharp was well-known in Rotterdam where he had
been preaching for many years. In the spring of 1796, he was called
to visit a prisoner who had committed a number of daring thefts,
stealing quite a lot of money from two rich citizens. He was
condemned to be hanged. To his surprise, Scharp found that the
prisoner was a very friendly man who was highly educated and had
read the books of Spinoza and Voltaire. The two gentlemen
became close friends. Although he had had an excellent education,
he soon began to indulge in debauchery and lost all his money. In
despair, he jumped on the first ship he could find, and came to
Rotterdam. On May 20th he was to be hanged, but the night
before, he got hold of a knife and cut his throat. Dying, but still
alive, he was hanged. A few hours before his suicide he wrote a
letter to Scharp, and it was this letterthat was handed to Hanussen
in an unsealed envelope to be used as a psychometric object.
Hanussen did not take the letter out of the envelope, but held it in
his hand all the time. His impressions were the following: When he
started talking it was clear that he found himself in a state of great
unrest. Walking nervously up and down, he said: "Had a very
eventful life; a great inner struggle; this man was very much
misjudged; he died a long time ago but he is still not forgotten; he
possessed great mental gifts, a genius." A few minutes later
Hanussen continued: "A life that ended with a cry of despair; what
a terrible end." Finally, he called out with a loud voice: "Suicide!"
During these words Hanussen repeatedly gripped his throat with
his fingers. According to Dietz, Hanussen's impressions were
correct with regard to the most important points of the prisoner's
life. Dr. Tenhaeff was present during the Hanussen seance. -- G.Z.
01378. Dietz, P.A. Stigmatization produced by Paul Diebel.
Tijdschrift voor Parapsychologie, 1930/31, 3, 145-155.
Paul Diebel, a German by birth, was a soldier who fought
against the Russians during World War I. He was taken a prisoner
of war, but he was able to steal the uniform of a Russian officer and
flee. He was caught and condemned to be shot: because he was
wearing a Russian uniform, he was believed to be a spy. The night
before he was to be executed he cut his wrists. When the Russians
found him, they believed him to be dead and put him in an empty
truck. There he came to his senses and saw that the bleeding had
stopped. The owner of a mill took care of him and allowed him to
stay with him until the end of the war. Diebel became convinced
that by pure will power he could make any part of his body bleed,
or any wound bloodless. When Diebel gave public sittings in
Holland, Dietz persuaded him to give a private sitting that would
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