Will
New
I understand that there were threads on the Scole Experiments on the old forum, but they were before my time. I'd also like to set some parameters for this thread: I'd rather this not get into whether or not Scole should have gotten greater acceptance. For what it's worth, I think that the conditions set by the mediums (darkness, no cameras) all but guaranteed severe limitations to the study's chances of moving the conversation on the phenomena forward, that controls could have been tightened even with the set conditions, and that the abrupt halt called for by angry figures on "the other side" . What I'd like to discuss (i.e. get some answers to) is some of the finer points of the experiments, and the (apparently to me) lack of significant follow-ups.
What I know of Scole, I've gleaned from that Afterlife Investigations video on YouTube (and the extended interviews with Keen, Sheldrake, and Fontana from the same recording), an incomplete perusal of the Scole Experiment website, and mentions on various blogs and message boards. I've also read the Skeptoid report, which seems grossly uninformed. However, it does muddy the waters for me to some extent on a key aspect of Scole: the photos. Skeptoid claims that the container the film was kept in was provided by the mediums, and that when a box provided by Richard Wiseman was used, no photos appeared. One blog claimed that film in the Wiseman box showed images, and Keen's interview refutes the Skeptoid claim about the box being provided by the mediums. However, I've never been able to find out how many containers were used, who provided them, and which provided results. Does anyone have any data on that?
I would also be curious for more information about the sittings with the Scole group done outside the original location - how successful were these sittings supposed to be, how much notice did the mediums have?
Lastly, I am not aware of any prominent follow-ups to Scole in the study of mediumship that made use of the same group of mediums. Other research efforts, like Schwartz's "white crow" project, have not upon a cursory glance really impressed me. For all its shortcomings, the phenomena reported out of Scole do seem too remarkable to dismiss out of hand. Have there been any comparable follow-up research projects, or are any forthcoming? And if so (to either), are there any efforts to overcome the limitations to Scole?
What I know of Scole, I've gleaned from that Afterlife Investigations video on YouTube (and the extended interviews with Keen, Sheldrake, and Fontana from the same recording), an incomplete perusal of the Scole Experiment website, and mentions on various blogs and message boards. I've also read the Skeptoid report, which seems grossly uninformed. However, it does muddy the waters for me to some extent on a key aspect of Scole: the photos. Skeptoid claims that the container the film was kept in was provided by the mediums, and that when a box provided by Richard Wiseman was used, no photos appeared. One blog claimed that film in the Wiseman box showed images, and Keen's interview refutes the Skeptoid claim about the box being provided by the mediums. However, I've never been able to find out how many containers were used, who provided them, and which provided results. Does anyone have any data on that?
I would also be curious for more information about the sittings with the Scole group done outside the original location - how successful were these sittings supposed to be, how much notice did the mediums have?
Lastly, I am not aware of any prominent follow-ups to Scole in the study of mediumship that made use of the same group of mediums. Other research efforts, like Schwartz's "white crow" project, have not upon a cursory glance really impressed me. For all its shortcomings, the phenomena reported out of Scole do seem too remarkable to dismiss out of hand. Have there been any comparable follow-up research projects, or are any forthcoming? And if so (to either), are there any efforts to overcome the limitations to Scole?