PARAPSYCHOLOGY IN THE IBERO-AMERICAN WORLD, SPAIN

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The Journal of Parapsychology Parapsychology in the Ibero-American World 177
of parapsychology, some may see little value in monitoring publi-
cations and research in these countries, perhaps because they doubt
that the material produced by such researchers would be of suffi-
cient quality to make an important contribution to the field (Alva-
rado, 1989a).
This lack of attention to informati
parapsychology presents a serious pro
parapsychologists, who often receive in
chological conferences in some of then
groups whose commitme
and whose only purpose in
ize local efforts, which are so
ogy, spiritism, ufology, and so
chology in these communities co
of specific groups who identify
David Hess (1990) has pointed
ian parapsychology:
about Ibero-American
in for English-speaking
tions to attend parapsy-
countries where there are
parapsychology is doubtful
.heir invitations is to legitim-
dubious mix of parapsychol-
better knowledge of parapsy-
facilitate evaluation of the goals
emselves as parapsychologists.
following concerning Brazil-
[Sincel anything "internatiorio " or "first orld" in Brazil means addi-
tional status, the participati of PA pars chologists at Brazilian con-
ferences that represent on 'group could m legitimating either Cath-
olic or Spiritist parapsyc ogy at the expe a of the other group. (p.
110)
Although it is true
tion that there are
many years have ca
recognition even th
ception in the int
bridge this lack of
American researc
ing countries to
styles in research
e English-speak-
s in the Ibero-
American world to improve the quality of their worTherefore, I
have selected the following countries for a general survey of the re-
search that has been conducted in parts of Ibero-America: Argen-
tina, Brazil, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and Spain.
Spain
There has never been a serious attempt to organize the history
of psychical research in Spain, and information is scarce on early
attempts to study psychic phenomena seriously. It was not until the
1920s that the Sociedad Espanola de Estudios Metapsiquicos was
t such groups exist,
serious groups and
ed out important work
gh the language barrier
national parapsychologic
tention and to increase coo
rs will not only help those in
ter understand cultural differ
is important to men-
work that deserves
as hindered its re-
arena. Efforts to
ration with Ibero-
actice, but also help the researc
created under the presidency of the Count of Gimeno, member of
the Royal Academy of Sciences and Medicine. The Society pub-
lished a journal called Revista de Estudios Metapsfquicos (Fernandez
Briones, 1981b). The research orientation of the Society was to
study spontaneous cases and psychics, such as the famous Joaquin
Argamasilla (expert in dermo-optical perception) whose abilities
Houdini attempted to expose (Houdini, 1924).
Most of the work of this society, however, was lost after the
Spanish Civil War during a period of isolation in which only a few
researchers kept the torch burning. Familiar names from this period
are Sanchez Herrero, the Marquiz of Santa Clara, J. Palmds, and M.
Otero y Acevedo, researchers whose independent efforts contrib-
uted toe new generation of investigators such as Ramos Perera Mo-
lina, Francisco Gavilan Fontanet, and Luis Fernandez Briones. This
latter group, at the beginning of the 1970s, founded the first well-
organized society to investigate psychic phenomena in Spain. It was
called the Sociedad Espanola de Parapsicologia (Fernandez Briones,
1981b). From its inception, this Society, under the direction of Ra-
mos Perera Molina, had as its main goal to promote the scientific
study of parapsychology. To achieve this goal, the Society combined
the efforts of experts in experimental design, illusionism, psychol-
ogy, medicine, and other fields of science and in 1976 established a
research center (De Vicente, 1983).
To carry out its research projects, the Society has been divided
into several research committees that specialize in different areas
embracing field studies as well as experimental projects. Among
these committees are those concerned with the development of the-
oretical models to enhance ESP, Kirlian photography, experimental
research, OBEs, and the medical aspects of psi. More recently, a
new committee was established2 to investigate anomalous phenom-
ena along the lines of the Society for Scientific Exploration.
Members of the Society have carried out original research pro-
jects in experimental parapsychology as well as research on sponta-
neous cases. They have also critically evaluated miracle claims made
by the Catholic church in Spain, such as the liquefaction of the
blood of Saint Pantale6n (Jordan Pena, 1983).
One of the most interesting investigations has been conducted by
members of the research committee headed by Francisco Gavilan
Fontanet (1976). In this study, the committee investigated identical
2 The goal of the committee is to investigate UFOs, cryptozoology, religious ap-
paritions, and other phenomena scientifically.
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The Journal of Parapsychology
twin girls presumed to have been born with psi abilities. The case
had received extensive coverage by the media in Spain. According
to the reports of the case, one of the twin girls had suffered a burn
on her hand while ironing. Her sister, separated from her at the
time the burning occurred (16 kms away), developed a similar burn
on the same hand. The Society sent a team of researchers to carry
out a careful investigation of the case. They conducted a series of
experiments to determine the possible existence of psi communica-
tion between the sisters. One of the experiments consisted of sepa-
rating the two girls into two different buildings and stimulating one
of them (the sender) with different sensorial inputs (like perfume)
while observing physiological reactions, such as pupillary and patel-
lar reflexes, in the other twin (the receiver). Psychological profiles
of the twins were also obtained from projective tests. The sessions
with the two girls were simultaneously filmed to document the stim-
uli as well as the perceptual pattern of the reactions. The results
showed simultaneous reactions of the twins' reaction time and visual
.and olfactory responses.
In 1978 the members of the Society conducted another impor-
tant study, an international survey of the motivational factors of
parapsychological researchers. Headed by Gavilan Fontanet (1978),
the main objective of the study was to find out what motivates para-
psychologists to investigate psychic phenomena.
They surveyed 201 parapsychologists from 18 countries around
the world. Among the parapsychologists were J. B. Rhine, S. Krippner,
and C. Tart. Three hundred questionnaires, each having 23 questions,
were prepared in five different languages' and were mailed to re-
searchers throughout the world. Among the interesting findings
were that 61% of the respondents were psychologists, psychiatrists,
and medical doctors, 45% considered themselves agnostics, 24% got
involved in parapsychology while looking for a philosophical answer
to the question of the nature of man, 31% got involved for scientific
reasons, 51% believed in a transcendent intelligence, 50% believed
in some type of survival after death (of these 10% believed in rein-
carnation), and 71% rejected astrology.
Another research objective of the Society was the search for a
theoretical model to enhance psi abilities. For this purpose the So-
ciety created the Committee for the Development of ESP4 headed
by Luis Fernandez Briones. The Committee's purpose was to outline
'The languages were English, French, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese.
' A group that conducts experimental and theoretical research about ESP.
a methodological model for the practical development of ESP. Once
the model and the techniques were developed, the Society hoped it
would be possible to train subjects to obtain positive results over an
extended period of time (Fernandez Briones, 1976), thus confront-
ing the replicability problem that characterizes most psi research.
Although the Committee has not been successful as yet, the results
obtained so far are encouraging. Fernandez Briones summarized
the findings in his book entitled Desarrollo de la Percepcion Extrasen-
sorial [The Development of Extrasensory Perception] (1983). Among
the techniques used by the Committee to attain this goal are the
inducement of altered states of consciousness and the application of
learning theory principles to ESP performance, such as those pro-
posed bL Charles Tart (1966). Although the results have only been
suggestive, Fernandez Briones was hopeful enough to emphasize
the need for more research to test the proposed models sufficiently.
Other research conducted by members of the Society includes
investigations of poltergeist cases (Jordan Pena, 1980)5; conceptual
papers related to the ability of some fish, such as the electric eel and
the sturgeon of the Nile, to obtain information about their sur-
roundings through electrical communication, which the authors
speculated might be a primitive language of telepathy (Bardasano
Rubio & Arano Bermejo, 1980a); examination of the migration of
carrier pigeons and other animals to develop a model for ESP (Bar-
dasano Rubio & Arano Bermejo, 1980b); and studies of the socio-
logical and anthropological aspects of psychic surgery (Jimenez Vi-
sedo, 1984). Moreover, other members of the Society have:
speculated on the pineal gland as a possible somatic organ for ESP
reception (Bardasano Rubio et al., 1981); examined neurophysiol-
ogy and its importance for parapsychological research (Jimenez Vi-
sedo, 1985); considered the psychophysiological correlates of hyp-
nosis and its implications for parapsychology (Gonzalez Ordi, 1985);
investigated perception of the laying-on of hands by a sensorially
isolated subject (Prat et al., 1988); proposed three-dimensional
models of RSPK studies, that is, the cases are studied within a para-
psychological, psychological, and psychosociological context (De Cas-
tro, Gonzalez Ordi, & Berrocal Muela, 1984); and offered theoreti-
cal models to explain firewalking (Perera, 1989).
In the educational area, even though efforts have been made to
include parapsychology in the curriculum of universities in Spain,
' jordan Pena published a book called Casas Encantadas, Poltergeists [Haunted
Houses, Poltergeists] (1982), in which he presented an overview of cases and theories
of hauntings. For a review of this book, see Alvarado (1985).
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180 The Journal of Parapsychology
these have not been successful as yet. Since its inception, however,
members of the Society have been very active in organizing numer-
ous educational activities and seminars at different universities. The
seminar offered by the president of the Society, Ramos Perera Mo-
lina, at the Universidad Aut6noma de Madrid in 1975 drew distin-
guished and prominent figures such as Prince Juan Carlos of Spain
and his wife and the minister of education.
Since 1975, the Society has also published a biannual journal,
entitled Psi Comunicacion, which includes English abstracts. The
journal covers both the activities of the Society and a wide range of
topics in parapsychology, some of which have been mentioned. In
addition, their journal includes a section for national and interna-
tional news on parapsychological activities around the world. Mem-
bers of the Society have published several books summarizing its re-
search activities. I have already mentioned the books by Fernandez
Briones (1983). Other books include an anthology, entitled La Nueva
Parapsicologfa: Introducci6n a la Parapsicologfa Cientfca [The New
Parapsychology: An Introduction to Scientific Parapsychology] ed-
ited by Fernandez Briones (1981a), a valuable introduction to the
field, and Mario Capel's La Supervivencia Despuis de la Muerte: Evi-
dencia Espont(nea y Experimental [Survival after Death: Spontaneous
and Experimental Evidence] (1981) reviewing some of the research
and phenomena related to the issue of survival after death.
Although parapsychology has been negligible in Spain until re-
cent times, it is important to point out that we are now witnessing a
boom in parapsychological activities in that country. Unfortunately,
even though the Society seems to be the best organized, and to have
the most resources in the Ibero-American world, its members have
not participated in the broader international parapsychological con-
ferences, such as that of the Parapsychological Association, possibly
because of the language barrier. In addition, it is unfortunate and
disheartening to find that such a large, productive, and well-orga-
nized society has no member in the PA.
At the 1990 Parapsychologic on convention, David
Hess, who has made several to study Brazilian parapsy-
chology, presented a p which h scribed Brazilian para-
psychology in the f g terms:
Brazil does ave a coherent community of academic parapsycholo-
gists, and there are few if any people in Brazil who research and publish
Parapsychology in the Ibero-American World 181
at the standards of the Parapsychological Association. Instead, what is
called "parapsychology" in Brazil is larg defined by rival groups of
Catholic and Spiritist (Kardecist) intellectual& (Hess, 1990)
To
with the
inated by
we have th
erstand parapsychology in Bra
tural milieu from which it h
ro-Brazilian cults and Ca
piritist tradition that c
Ilan Kardec; Spiritists
teachings of
effected by a
mediumship
individuals. Mo
the Afro-Brazilia
from the-African
(Bastide, 1971; Gie
This spectrum o
has crept in and mix
variety of belief syste
chology have evolved.
ries of compulsory
vides opportuniti
over, Spiritism
igions brou
r, 1985).
Spiritis
, we need to be familiar
F volved, one that is dom-
icism. On the one hand,
e from France through the
eve that spiritual progress is
carnations. They believe that
to communicate with deceased
strongly influenced in Brazil by
mbanda and Candomble derived
t to Brazil through the slave trade
liefs and Afro-Brazilian religions
ilian society (Hess, 1987), creating a
which Brazilian brands of parapsy-
e are many interesting combinations of
-tism and all sorts of Brazilian religious
the Kardecist type of Sp
movements that essenti
sess individuals and
On the other ha
veloped a system th
to fight and eventu
superstition and
1990). This syste
one of the mos
Ibero-America
Jesuit priest li
Luis Ferrei
Parapsychol
1970.
The
1989 un
for peo,
gious
whi
there
ept possession, the influence of spirits
ll as the belief that divinities can pos-
healing (Parra Alvarez, 1981).
the Catholic tradition that has de-
sychology as an ideology with which
y destroy
as been dev
fluential and
tablished Catholic dogmas (Hess,
ped mainly through the work of
spected "parapsychologists" in
alez Quevedo, a Spanish-born
ather Oscar Go
g in Brazil. Padre
Silva cofounded
evedo (as he is known) and
Latin American Center of
eta College of Sao Paulo in
ter, which was closed do
e suffering from psychologi
periences and practices (e.g.,
still has an impressive library of
used to be housed in huge facilities
monic possession). The
ks on parapsychology,
at also accommodated
a museum of objects
xperimental and clinical laboratory an
6 One of the biggest parapsychology libraries in Latin America with approximately
in 1982 and reopened in
to offer clinical counseling
problems related to reli-
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