| The Skippy Experiment | | | | experiment which could be performed by any |
| The Skippy Experiment has been modeled on the | | | | dedicated circle ofsitters. The Philip Experiment |
| highly successful Philip | | | | showed that conscious thought could betranslated |
| Experiment, which was conducted by the Toronto | | | | paranormally into actual physical force. |
| Society for Psychical | | | | So with this background six Sydney-based participants |
| Research in the 1970s. | | | | committed themselvesto meeting on a fortnightly basis |
| Philip was an articifical 'ghost' created by the collective | | | | (the modern lifestyle being somewhatmore hectic than |
| minds of eightresearchers who dedicated themselves | | | | that of our 70s counterparts!) to round out the |
| to creating a false history for theirsubject through a | | | | characterof one Skippy Cartman, schoolgirl femme |
| series of weekly meetings. They used | | | | fatale: |
| meditation,sketches and various 'artefacts' to focus | | | | "A sweet and attractive 14 year old, Skippy Cartman |
| and generate a collectivehallucination of an imaginary | | | | lived out all ofher short life on her parent's property |
| person. | | | | near Dubbo, NSW. Her overbearingand overprotective |
| "Philip was an aristocratic Englishman, living in the middle | | | | parents kept her on a short leash and she was |
| 1600's atthe time of Oliver Cromwell. He had been a | | | | veryinexperienced with the joys and dangers of life |
| supporter of the King, and wasa Catholic. He was | | | | when she got her firstschoolgirl crush - on her Catholic |
| married to a beautiful but cold and frigid wife, | | | | school teacher Brother Monk. Flatteredby the attention, |
| Dorothea, the daughter of a neighbouring nobleman. | | | | Brother Monk embarked on a foolhardy affair with |
| "One day when out riding on the boundaries of his | | | | theyoung girl, with nature running its course and Skippy |
| estates Philip cameacross a gypsy encampment and | | | | finding herselfpregnant. |
| saw there a beautiful dark-eyed girlraven-haired gypsy | | | | "Full of schoolgirl naievity, Brother Monk reacted vastly |
| girl, Margo, and fell instantly in love with her. Hebrought | | | | differentlyto the news than an idealistic Skippy had |
| her back secretly to live in the gatehouse, near the | | | | expected. Not for her whitedresses and smiling |
| stables of | | | | children. After all, he had his career to safeguard,not to |
| Diddington Manor - his family home. | | | | mention the reputation of the Church! He swiftly |
| "For some time he kept his love-nest secret, but | | | | murdered his youngstudent, strangling her and burying |
| eventually Dorothea,realizing he was keeping someone | | | | her corpse under the floorboards of anabandoned |
| else there, found Margo, and accused herof witchcraft | | | | shearing shed on her family's property. |
| and stealing her husband. Philip was too scared of | | | | "Her body was hidden quickly and quietly, not |
| losinghis reputation and his possessions to protest at | | | | discovered for nearly ayear afterwards - despite her |
| the trial of Margo, andshe was convicted of witchcraft | | | | family's continued searching. By that timeher body was |
| and burned at the stake. | | | | found it was so badly decomposed that no one ever |
| "Philip was subsequently stricken with remorse that he | | | | discoveredthat she had been pregnant. And Brother |
| had not triedto defend Margo and used to pace the | | | | Monk had moved to another town,and another parish, |
| battlements of Diddington in despair. | | | | his dark secret going with him." |
| Finally, one morning his body was found at the bottom | | | | With this darkly disturbing background it's no wonder |
| of the battlements,whence he had cast himself in a fit | | | | her ghost is stilllingering! We're rather pleased to say |
| of agony and remorse." 1 | | | | she's deigned to join in on ourregular sessions and |
| But no apparition resulted. So after a year of sittings a | | | | communicate through soft raps and scratchings - |
| new approach wasadopted following the discovery of | | | | onone occasion our hands were'nt even touching the |
| the work of Batcheldor, Brookes-Smithand Hunt, which | | | | table! In a perfect worldwe'll soon be wheeling out our |
| led to immediate results in the regular production | | | | audio visual equipment to capture this onfilm and tape, |
| ofparanormal physical phenomena. | | | | and perhaps invite some observers to witness this |
| Communication with Philip was established and he | | | | curiousexperiment in action. |
| regularly answeredquestions with coded raps, all the | | | | References: |
| while remaining true to his character | | | | 1. Paper: Generation of Paranormal Physical |
| (as determined by the group) - and even more | | | | Phenomena in connection withan Imaginary |
| amazingly, all phenomenaoccurred in full light. | | | | "Communicator", authored by Iris M.Owen & Maragret |
| Batcheldor, Brookes-Smith and Hunt believed the | | | | H. |
| production of physicalphenomena by a group "not | | | | Sparrow, Toronto Society for Psychical Research, |
| specially selected for psychic talent" was arepeatable | | | | 17.10.1973. |