WEBVTT - Season 6 Episode 16 Extra: Remote Control 0:00:10.119 --> 0:00:14.640 Welcome to Unexplained Extra with me Richard McLane Smith, where 0:00:14.640 --> 0:00:16.960 for the weeks in between episodes, we look at stories 0:00:16.960 --> 0:00:19.640 and ideas that, for one reason or other, didn't make 0:00:19.680 --> 0:00:23.840 it into the previous show. In last week's episode, Visions 0:00:23.840 --> 0:00:27.000 in the Dark, we traced the incredible life story of 0:00:27.120 --> 0:00:31.520 Vangelia gusht or Ova, also known as Baba Vanger, who 0:00:31.600 --> 0:00:35.479 some believe was the most effective psychic of the twentieth century. 0:00:36.600 --> 0:00:40.120 Fanger died in nineteen ninety six, but according to a 0:00:40.200 --> 0:00:42.720 number of her supporters, she is said to have left 0:00:42.760 --> 0:00:46.360 a string of predictions with instructions to reveal them at 0:00:46.400 --> 0:00:50.479 certain times after her death. So far, this list has 0:00:50.479 --> 0:00:54.040 included the prediction that in twenty twenty three the Earth's 0:00:54.120 --> 0:00:59.160 orbit will change, and that rather enigmatically, in twenty eighty four, 0:00:59.720 --> 0:01:04.360 Nate will be reborn, and my personal favorite that in 0:01:04.440 --> 0:01:08.680 twenty one thirty, with the help of alien civilizations, will 0:01:08.720 --> 0:01:12.320 be able to live under water. As word of bab 0:01:12.319 --> 0:01:15.600 of Anger's apparent powers began to spread, she came to 0:01:15.640 --> 0:01:19.759 the attention of a number of mainstream scientific researchers, who 0:01:19.760 --> 0:01:23.400 were said to have made efforts to study her. Sadly, However, 0:01:23.800 --> 0:01:28.319 no official documentation or other significant evidence for this seems 0:01:28.360 --> 0:01:32.920 to exist either way. Although it might seem unlikely that 0:01:33.040 --> 0:01:36.400 an individual such as bab of Anger and her supposed 0:01:36.480 --> 0:01:41.040 powers would be given any credibility by mainstream science, there 0:01:41.080 --> 0:01:44.680 is a long and fascinating history of well respected academics, 0:01:45.040 --> 0:01:48.520 many of whom have made significant contributions in their field, 0:01:48.920 --> 0:02:00.600 putting such people to the test, with often startling results. 0:02:00.600 --> 0:02:04.480 Of all the supposed paranormal powers that some believe humans 0:02:04.520 --> 0:02:09.040 could possess, none have proved more fascinating to scientific researches 0:02:09.120 --> 0:02:15.280 than clairvoyance. In nineteen thirteen, French physiologist Charles Rochet won 0:02:15.320 --> 0:02:18.880 a Nobel Prize for medicine for his work on immunology, 0:02:19.360 --> 0:02:22.600 specifically the way in which some people can often have 0:02:22.720 --> 0:02:27.440 lethal reactions when injected with an antigen. Richet coined the 0:02:27.560 --> 0:02:32.840 term anaphylaxis, still used today to describe this phenomenon. What 0:02:33.040 --> 0:02:36.919 is perhaps less known, however, is that Richey also spent 0:02:36.960 --> 0:02:41.400 a considerable part of his professional life studying the paranormal, 0:02:42.280 --> 0:02:46.799 in particular the apparent clairvoyant skills of spiritualists, and is 0:02:46.880 --> 0:02:52.280 even credited with coining the term ectoplasm. Richet conducted a 0:02:52.360 --> 0:02:55.920 number of studies which he believed confirmed the existence of 0:02:56.080 --> 0:03:01.920 human extrasensory powers. When others attention did to replicate his studies, however, 0:03:02.240 --> 0:03:06.320 they were unable to draw the same conclusion. Brichet is 0:03:06.360 --> 0:03:09.240 considered to be one of the first to attempt a formal, 0:03:09.440 --> 0:03:13.880 mainstream science study of the apparent phenomenon of clairvoyance, but 0:03:14.040 --> 0:03:18.119 by the mid twentieth century such endeavors had become commonplace. 0:03:19.440 --> 0:03:24.079 In the late nineteen twenties, botanist Joseph Banks Ryan brought 0:03:24.080 --> 0:03:27.560 the study of alleged psychic phenomena even further into the 0:03:27.600 --> 0:03:32.279 mainstream when he established a parapsychology lab at Duke University 0:03:32.639 --> 0:03:35.800 in North Carolina in the United States, one of the 0:03:35.840 --> 0:03:41.400 most prestigious academic institutions in the world. Among Ryan's most 0:03:41.480 --> 0:03:45.600 famous subjects was Eileen Garrett, considered by some to be 0:03:45.640 --> 0:03:48.600 one of the most powerful clairvoyants to have ever lived. 0:03:49.640 --> 0:03:53.320 Garrett's reputation was cemented largely due to a series of 0:03:53.360 --> 0:03:56.760 experiments conducted by Ryan in which she was tasked with 0:03:56.840 --> 0:04:00.960 trying to guess the images printed on cards in envelopes. 0:04:01.960 --> 0:04:05.080 Ryan claimed that Garrett was able to successfully guess the 0:04:05.120 --> 0:04:09.120 images at a rate far higher than chance, suggesting she 0:04:09.200 --> 0:04:13.600 did indeed have some kind of supernatural power, much like 0:04:13.840 --> 0:04:19.120 with Charles Rochet's experiments. However, subsequent efforts to replicate Garrett's 0:04:19.320 --> 0:04:24.599 seemingly positive results proved unsuccessful, with many later questioning the 0:04:24.720 --> 0:04:29.200 validity of Ryan's methods. Of all the scientists who have 0:04:29.279 --> 0:04:33.760 attempted to confirm the existence of psychical powers, however, none 0:04:33.839 --> 0:04:37.720 are perhaps more famous than Harold put Off and Russell 0:04:37.839 --> 0:04:49.000 targ Back in nineteen seventy two, Harold put Off, an 0:04:49.040 --> 0:04:53.280 electrical engineer and specialist in lasers, was looking to secure 0:04:53.320 --> 0:04:56.800 a grant to conduct a study and quantum biology, a 0:04:56.839 --> 0:05:00.279 fledgling concept at the time that examines the way which 0:05:00.360 --> 0:05:05.840 quantum mechanics might affect biological processes. About the same time, 0:05:06.160 --> 0:05:09.920 he was introduced to a man named Ingo Swan, an 0:05:10.040 --> 0:05:13.200 artist based in New York who also claimed to have 0:05:13.360 --> 0:05:17.919 psychic abilities. Swan suggested to put Off that he should 0:05:17.920 --> 0:05:21.520 turn his attention instead to trying to understand at the 0:05:21.640 --> 0:05:25.600 quantum level where the border lies between an inanimate object 0:05:25.839 --> 0:05:30.320 and an animate one. By way of explanation, Swan told 0:05:30.360 --> 0:05:34.920 put Off about some experiments he'd recently conducted with Professor 0:05:35.000 --> 0:05:38.720 Gertrude Schmidler at City College in New York, which he 0:05:38.760 --> 0:05:45.360 claimed provided proof that he had psychokinetic powers. Intrigued by Swan, 0:05:45.800 --> 0:05:48.880 put Off invited him to put these apparent powers to 0:05:48.960 --> 0:05:52.320 the test at the Stanford Research Institute, where he worked 0:05:52.560 --> 0:05:57.520 in Menlo Park, just outside of San Francisco in California. 0:05:57.920 --> 0:06:01.359 On Swan's first day at the institute, put Off claimed 0:06:01.400 --> 0:06:05.680 that he successfully described the structure of a magnetometer, a 0:06:05.680 --> 0:06:10.080 device used to measure electromagnetic fields, that put Off had 0:06:10.080 --> 0:06:13.120 been planning to show him. Put Off was so blown 0:06:13.120 --> 0:06:17.400 away by this seemingly spontaneous act of clairvoyance that he 0:06:17.440 --> 0:06:20.240 wrote it up in a report for his colleagues, which 0:06:20.279 --> 0:06:24.279 came complete with the detailed schematic drawing that Swan, who 0:06:24.320 --> 0:06:28.000 claimed no knowledge of such devices, had drawn on that 0:06:28.080 --> 0:06:32.760 first day. A few weeks later, two men showed up 0:06:32.839 --> 0:06:36.880 unannounced at Putoff's lab carrying a copy of his report 0:06:37.000 --> 0:06:42.240 on Swan. The men had come from the CIA, as 0:06:42.320 --> 0:06:45.640 they explained to a stunt put Off, they'd received word 0:06:45.760 --> 0:06:49.120 that the government of the Soviet Union was funding studies 0:06:49.120 --> 0:06:54.040 in parapsychology with a view to potentially harnessing paranormal powers 0:06:54.400 --> 0:06:58.760 for use against their enemies. The men were intrigued to 0:06:58.800 --> 0:07:01.800 know more about put Off report and asked if the 0:07:01.880 --> 0:07:05.400 engineer would be interested in conducting some more experiments with 0:07:05.480 --> 0:07:09.520 Swan under their supervision, with the aim of starting their 0:07:09.560 --> 0:07:15.200 own parapsychology program. A few weeks later, the two operatives 0:07:15.240 --> 0:07:18.760 were sat and put Off slab holding a box chosen 0:07:18.800 --> 0:07:22.920 at random from a selection of identical boxes, each containing 0:07:22.920 --> 0:07:27.600 a different, unrelated object. It was Ingo Swan's job to 0:07:27.720 --> 0:07:32.440 try and guess what was inside it. I see something small, 0:07:32.840 --> 0:07:37.360 brown and irregular, said Swan, who was sat alone inside 0:07:37.400 --> 0:07:41.239 an adjacent room, sort of like a leaf or something, 0:07:41.920 --> 0:07:47.400 except it seems very much alive. It's even moving. 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After the success of his initial experiments, 0:09:18.320 --> 0:09:22.280 Harold put Off secured funding from the CIA to complete 0:09:22.280 --> 0:09:26.880 an eight month pilot study to determine firstly if clairvoyance 0:09:27.000 --> 0:09:31.520 was genuinely possible, and secondly, if it was, could it 0:09:31.559 --> 0:09:35.640 be used against the United States as a tool for espionage, 0:09:36.480 --> 0:09:39.840 put Off drafted in Russell Targ to assist him, a 0:09:39.920 --> 0:09:44.000 physicist who'd worked with him previously helping to develop lasers. 0:09:45.120 --> 0:09:48.720 In the first few weeks, put Off and Targ continued 0:09:48.760 --> 0:09:51.960 to test Ingo Swan along the same lines as before, 0:09:52.600 --> 0:09:55.760 studying whether he was able to guess symbols and objects 0:09:55.920 --> 0:09:59.520 hidden from his view. When he apparently proved able to 0:09:59.559 --> 0:10:04.160 do this regularly, they decided to expand the experiment. In 0:10:04.280 --> 0:10:08.040 what became known as the Outbounder experiments, put Off would 0:10:08.080 --> 0:10:11.520 traveled to one of six random locations within the San 0:10:11.559 --> 0:10:15.959 Francisco Bay area, while back in the laboratory, Russell Targ 0:10:16.080 --> 0:10:18.960 would sit with Swan as he attempted to guess where 0:10:19.000 --> 0:10:23.960 put Off had gone. Incredibly, according to put Off and targ, 0:10:24.640 --> 0:10:30.280 more often than not he did it successfully. Although Swan 0:10:30.360 --> 0:10:34.320 would rarely guess the target location exactly, he provided enough 0:10:34.360 --> 0:10:37.360 elements to define it, such as the sense of water 0:10:37.720 --> 0:10:42.200 or a particular geometric shape, which, taken together, put Off 0:10:42.200 --> 0:10:45.600 and Targ argued could reasonably be said to be a 0:10:45.640 --> 0:10:49.840 correct reflection of it. Since such a process had never 0:10:49.880 --> 0:10:52.800 been tried before, the three men had to coin a 0:10:52.960 --> 0:10:55.760 term for what it was. They were doing, and eventually 0:10:55.800 --> 0:11:01.960 alighted on the phrase remote viewing as Ingo Swan. Former 0:11:02.000 --> 0:11:05.839 police officer Pat Price was examined during this period too, 0:11:06.240 --> 0:11:09.480 and also found to have the capacity for remote viewing. 0:11:10.960 --> 0:11:14.320 At some point during the study, Russell targ invited his 0:11:14.400 --> 0:11:19.080 friend Hella Hammid to take part. Hamid, who immigrated to 0:11:19.120 --> 0:11:22.319 the US from Germany in the nineteen thirties, was a 0:11:22.440 --> 0:11:27.080 successful photographer at the time with little interest in psychical studies. 0:11:28.080 --> 0:11:31.560 Hamid's job was to be the control subject to help 0:11:31.640 --> 0:11:34.960 get a sense of how much Swan or Price's apparent 0:11:35.120 --> 0:11:38.960 visions of the target deviated from the random guesses of 0:11:39.000 --> 0:11:43.240 a lay person. What they hadn't bargained for was Hamid 0:11:43.679 --> 0:11:47.360 apparently becoming the most effective remote viewer of them all. 0:11:54.720 --> 0:11:57.720 For her first trial, Hammid was asked to enter a 0:11:57.760 --> 0:12:01.440 shielded room, then close her eye and just say whatever 0:12:01.600 --> 0:12:06.840 came into her mind. As she sat taking long, calm breaths, 0:12:06.840 --> 0:12:10.000 she claimed to see a series of squares within squares 0:12:10.240 --> 0:12:14.440 that got smaller and smaller, tapering off like a long path, 0:12:14.920 --> 0:12:20.200 disappearing into a central vanishing point. At the time, Harold 0:12:20.280 --> 0:12:23.040 put Off was standing at the entrance to a long 0:12:23.160 --> 0:12:27.280 pedestrian crossing with a chain link frame along the entirety 0:12:27.320 --> 0:12:30.800 of it that stretched out ahead of him and disappeared 0:12:30.960 --> 0:12:35.720 into a central vanishing point. In the first nine trials 0:12:35.720 --> 0:12:38.560 conducted with hammid she was judged to have seen the 0:12:38.600 --> 0:12:42.240 location in her mind without question in five of them, 0:12:42.640 --> 0:12:45.959 while the other four were judged to be only marginally 0:12:46.080 --> 0:12:51.800 less accurate. In nineteen seventy seven, Hammered and Ingo Swan 0:12:52.200 --> 0:12:56.079 were invited to take part in another experiment with Stephen Schwartz, 0:12:56.320 --> 0:12:59.959 a scientific researcher who was also fascinated by the possible 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:04.680 abilities of remote viewing. In collaboration with put Off and 0:13:04.800 --> 0:13:08.640 targ and the Institute for Marine and Coastal Studies at 0:13:08.640 --> 0:13:12.839 the University of Southern California, Hammered and Swan were asked 0:13:12.920 --> 0:13:16.720 to locate and as yet undiscovered shipwreck that was thought 0:13:16.800 --> 0:13:20.680 to be located somewhere off the coast of California near 0:13:20.760 --> 0:13:25.400 Catalina Island. After separately being given an ocean map of 0:13:25.440 --> 0:13:29.200 the general area, both Hammered and Swan are said to 0:13:29.240 --> 0:13:32.760 have pinpointed a similar location within a hundred yards of 0:13:32.760 --> 0:13:37.040 each other. Both also provided details about what would be 0:13:37.080 --> 0:13:41.440 found there, including chains pulleys, and the location of the 0:13:41.480 --> 0:13:46.520 ship's wheel, and, most oddly of all, a large rectangular 0:13:46.640 --> 0:13:51.760 block of stone. In June nineteen seventy seven, in what 0:13:51.880 --> 0:13:56.160 became known as Project Deep Quest, Hammered and Swan were 0:13:56.200 --> 0:14:00.560 taken down in a submarine named Taurus Wan. They guided 0:14:00.600 --> 0:14:05.080 its pilot to the precise location of the wreck. Sure enough, 0:14:05.559 --> 0:14:10.000 they also found the pulleys, chains, and ship's wheel sticking 0:14:10.000 --> 0:14:13.600 out of the seabed, just as Hammered and Swan had predicted, 0:14:14.480 --> 0:14:17.760 and among it all, just like Hammid had also said, 0:14:18.240 --> 0:14:23.680 was the incongruous site of a large rectangular block of granite. 0:14:24.640 --> 0:14:29.920 A declassified CIA report released in nineteen ninety five stated 0:14:30.000 --> 0:14:34.200 that there can be no question that Hella Hammid can repeatedly, 0:14:34.520 --> 0:14:39.920 although not reliably, reduce information not available through normal means. 0:14:41.520 --> 0:14:45.760 In nineteen seventy eight, having been sufficiently impressed by Harold 0:14:45.800 --> 0:14:50.120 put Off and Russell Targ's experiments at the Stamford Research Institute, 0:14:50.760 --> 0:14:53.880 the pair were invited by the CIA to lead a 0:14:53.960 --> 0:14:59.160 secret Defense Intelligence agency program to determine the potential usage 0:14:59.160 --> 0:15:04.800 of psychic nomena in real world military engagements. The program 0:15:04.880 --> 0:15:08.200 was called the Stargate Project and you can hear much 0:15:08.240 --> 0:15:13.000 more about it in the next season of Unexplained. For now, 0:15:13.280 --> 0:15:16.200 there are three more episodes of season six still to come, 0:15:16.480 --> 0:15:20.080 along with their extras for you to enjoy. So as ever, 0:15:20.480 --> 0:15:28.920 thank you for listening and until next time. If you 0:15:29.000 --> 0:15:31.600 enjoy Unexplained and would like to help support us, you 0:15:31.640 --> 0:15:34.840 can now do so via Patreon To receive access to 0:15:34.880 --> 0:15:38.440 add three episodes. Just go to Patron dot com Forward 0:15:38.440 --> 0:15:43.120 Slash Unexplained Pod to sign up. Unexplained. The book and audiobook, 0:15:43.440 --> 0:15:46.200 featuring ten stories that have never before been covered on 0:15:46.240 --> 0:15:49.800 the show, is now available to buy worldwide. You can 0:15:49.840 --> 0:15:54.280 purchase through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and Waterstones, among other bookstores. 0:15:54.680 --> 0:15:58.360 All elements of Unexplained, including the show's music, are produced 0:15:58.360 --> 0:16:01.640 by me Richard McClain smith. Please subscribe and rate the 0:16:01.680 --> 0:16:04.600 show wherever you listen to podcasts, and feel free to 0:16:04.640 --> 0:16:07.200 get in touch with any thoughts or ideas regarding the 0:16:07.240 --> 0:16:09.960 stories you've heard on the show. Perhaps you have an 0:16:09.960 --> 0:16:12.520 explanation of your own you'd like to share. You can 0:16:12.520 --> 0:16:16.400 reach us online at Unexplained podcast dot com, or Twitter 0:16:16.720 --> 0:16:21.440 at Unexplained Pod and Facebook at Facebook dot com. Forward 0:16:21.480 --> 0:16:23.520 Slash Unexplained podcast