Despite its proximity to Duke's Research Drive, the Rhine Research Center is conducting a slightly different type of research than what most Duke students are familiar with. The Rhine Center is one of the world's leading facilities for the study of parapsychology, or psi phenomena, which includes extrasensory perception (ESP) and psychokinesis. I got a chance earlier this week to visit the center and speak with some of the researchers there about psychics, telepathy and the new frontiers of psi-ence.
"Everybody's psychic," said Maggie Blackman, public relations and media specialist for the center, "and we look at psychic ability as creativity, like drawing. Everybody can draw, but some of us can draw better than others. Men will say it's gut instinct, while women will say it's woman's intuition." Some people, Blackman says, may be using their psychic abilities without even realizing it, such as stock market analysts whose hunches are often dead-on or policemen in high-crime areas whose instincts tell them not to walk down certain dark alleys.
When most people think of psychic phenomena, visions of the X-Files come to mind, but, according to Blackman, "there's so much misinformation out there. TV programs really do a disservice to the field." In fact, many people have misconceptions about what it is that the center actually does. "The most common calls we get are from people who want us to recommend a psychic, and the second most common are from people who want someone to come look at their house [because it appears haunted]."
The Rhine Center does not give direct recommendations of this type, although Blackman says she usually counsels people to "wait at least a year" before attempting to contact someone who has recently died and to go about picking a psychic as one would a psychologist. She said people who are dealing with a recent loss are more likely to fall victim to phony "psychic" readings because, "people who are grieving are willing to stretch."
The Past
J.B. Rhine, for whom the center is named, began his study of parapsychology at Duke in 1927. The original Duke Parapsychology Lab was located in the West Duke Building. Rhine was one of the world's first researchers to look at psi experiences scientifically and to begin gathering reputable data in the field. He also coined the terms "extra sensory perception" and "parapsychology." He and his wife Louisa, who was also a scientist, famously debunked several phony mediums early in their careers and, in turn, brought a level of credibility to the field that had not been present previously.
For over 30 years, the Duke Parapsychology Lab conducted research into the existence of ESP and psychokinesis, but in the early '60s, Duke decided not to continue the research, and Rhine was forced to retire. So, while all it's archives up to that point were still housed at Duke, the center moved to a house across from East Campus, where the center continued its research outside of the University's watchful eye.
Last May, the parapsychology lab, now known as the Rhine Center, moved to a brand new facility on 2741 Campus Walk Ave., which is open to the public, and is host to regular open research meetings, monthly lectures and a renowned summer study program in parapsychology--the only one of its kind. Though the center has not been affiliated with Duke since it moved off campus in the '60s, there is still a common misconception that the lab is run through the University. This is evidenced in numerous pop-culture references to the "Duke parapsychology lab," such as the one in the recent What Lies Beneath, in which Harrison Ford's character calls up "a paranormal-psi guy at Duke."
The Present
Today, the Rhine Center is run by Sally Rhine Feathers, daughter of J.B. Rhine, the center's founder. It is still home to some of the most fascinating research in the field. "This is the first lab built for ESP research. There isn't another one like it anywhere," said Blackman. The only comparable center for research in the United States is the PEAR lab at Princeton, and there are fewer than 10 centers worldwide. The institute also records the testimonies of people who believe they have had a psi experience. According to the Summer 2002 issue of "Mindscapes," the Center's newsletter, the Rhine Center had more reports of psychic experiences preceding the events of Sept. 11, 2001, than any public or national disaster in history. These included reports from people who dreamed or saw visions of tall buildings, smoke, fire or airplane crashes.
In addition to this work, the Rhine Center is currently conducting a number of studies, including health-related applications of psi abilities, such as "intuitive diagnosis" and a study of people's ability to affect the rate of hemolysis of red blood cells. While such research was once conducted on people's ability to move objects with their mind, these types of tests were abandoned in favor of ones that are much more difficult to "fake," such as the mind's influence on random numbers generated by a computer or on atomic orbiological processes.
The center is also testing the psi aptitude of business people to pick stocks in a simulated stock market. If any "gifted intuitives" are found, Blackman said, they will undergo a series of tests to try to determine what it is about them that gives them a more pronounced psychic ability than most people.
"The more fine-tuned the work is," said Blackman, "the more it's applicable. We want to investigate things that are psi experiences, but you can't call it that until you rule everything else out. There are lots of skeptics in this field, and there need to be."
--Macy Parker
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.