Update: September 7th 2008
Last year, with the support of Sue, Matthew and PSICAN, I conducted a six-week-long experiment to see if volunteer members of the public could obtain accurate information by holding objects belong to people they did not know. Sixty-five people are varying ages and backgrounds participated at six different public dates through the Toronto, Hamilton, and Niagara regions of Ontario, Canada between 1 May and 30 June 2007.
Three participants gave particularly accurate impressions of the objects they read, in particular a web designer and online publication editor from Hamilton who has had clairvoyant experiences throughout her life. Other participants were able to give accurate information on a few of the objects they read. However, as expected with an experiment geared to the general public, the majority of people gave no or very little accurate information about the objects they inspected.
You can read my full report and results on the Psychometry Experiment website hosted by PSICAN:
http://psychometry.psican.org/
Many thanks to Sue St Clair and Matthew Didier for all of their help, to the volunteers who assisted with conducting the experiment and managing the volunteer participants, and of course to all of the participants who came out to try the experiment and for their patience while I was assessing results! Thanks to Heather Anderson of Maple Ridge, B.C., for guarding information on those who lent objects for the experiment. I am especially grateful to St. Catharines Museum at Lock 3, the Ancient Mystic (Markham), Robert Cross at Seneca College, and Conspiracy Culture (Parkdale in Toronto) for providing free space for the experiment, and to Lucsculpture Studio & School in the Danforth in Toronto for kindly offering space although that date was cancelled. Special thanks to the anonymous donor who covered travel costs and rental of space at the Dundas Public Library and Toronto Public Library (Beaches Branch). The kindness of people is what carried this experiment.
Update April 9th 2007
The Psychometery Experiment has now been set up on a separate website. Please have a look at this exciting new project by clicking on the Toronto Psychometery Experiment link.
Cheers!
Update April 7th 2007
Psychometry Experiment
May 1 - July 15, 2007
There will be a two-and-a-half month long experiment conducted in the Toronto area on psychometry - the ability to derive facts about an object, its history and/or its owner(s) by looking at it and touching it.
The experimenter, Chris Laursen, has collected all of the objects to be lent for the experiment. Thank you for everyone's interest in loaning a personal object to be used.
If you are in the Greater Toronto Area during the period of the experiment, May 1 to July 15, you will have an opportunity to participate in this experiment by "reading" objects and giving your impressions about it. Locations and dates for the experiment will be announced through the coming months. Stay tuned!
The project is being supervised by Sue St Clair, Matthew Didier (both of Toronto) and Heather Anderson (of Maple Ridge, British Columbia), Directors for Paranormal Studies and Investigations Canada (PSICAN), www.psican.org.
For more information or to express interest in participating in the experiment, please contact Chris Laursen at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Do you own something about which you could tell a good story?
Have you ever wondered if people can psychically perceive information from objects?
Then perhaps you can assist me in an independent experiment I'm doing this summer.
The experiment is on psychometry - the ability to derive facts about an object, its history and/or its owner(s) by looking at it and touching it. This is completely an experiment of curiosity, and I will be writing an article about the process and the results, relating it to a history of psychometric experimentation.
I am currently seeking objects from people - an object you would be willing to lend until the end of August. There are only two restrictions: (1) This must be something that has personal meaning for you - something you could tell me a story about; and (2) It must be able to fit into a shoebox.
In return for lending me your object, you will be privy to an audio CD in which people give their own impressions of your object, as well as the final written results.
If you are interested in lending something, simply e-mail me ASAP and let me know what the object is - but tell me nothing about it. If the object is suitable, I will e-mail you a questionnaire which you will fill out and mail to a third party in Vancouver, B.C. You will be asked to deliver the object to me, and it will be returned to you at the end of August. The project is being supervised by Sue St Clair, Matthew Didier (both of Toronto) and Heather Anderson (of Vancouver), Directors for Paranormal Studies and Investigations Canada (PSICAN), www.psican.org.
People in the Toronto area will have the opportunity to give their impressions of these objects through May, June and July. If you are interested in participating, simply let me know!
This page will be updated throughout this exciting experiment!
Many thanks!
Chris Laursen
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
