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POLTERGEIST IN BRAZIL AND ARGENTINA
Prof. Lic. NOVILLO PAULI, ENRIQUE
INSTITUTE FOR PARAPSYCHOLOGY - CATH. UNIV.OF CO
CORDOBA, ARGENTINA
i a religious environment.
The third case developed in 1978 at a small village of Covunco Abajo(Neuquen
ice) in a very poor home where L.B.a boy aged 12, lived with his grandparents. He
iver met his father and his mother had left him there when he was very little.
reumstances were as usual:pieces of furniture moving by themselves, mattresses
lankets falling, stones thrown by nobody, handfuls of soil hitting them on their
These events aroused fears in the family and neighbours. The Priest of the re-
Santiago Sarriegui, and the Psychologist Alberto Arias, calmed them down and the
pena disappeared. There were no hallucinations of any kind like seeing demons
frits or dead people.
Abstract , Various streams of interpretation of the poltergeist are analysed
The cases presented by some investigators in Tokyo show almost identical phe
i, but they are given a different interpretation. This interpretation reveals the
how the pressure exerted by the environment can lead to vicious conclusions liian atmosphere, fear of magic, witchcraft, occult powers. Offerings to the devil
ing evidence.
observed in public places on Friday night; there are thousands of Umbanda cen
And meetings (Brazilian spiritism, a mixture of primitive african religions, chis
In the First Part I will present three cases of poltergeist in Argentina
which I was asked to intervene. In the Second Part I will analyse the cases Mia-spiritism-superstitions). There are stalls displaying coloured candles, ribbns
ted in the Third International Congress on Psychotronic Research, held in Tokyoces, soils, waters and so forth, at every body's hand. These objects are supposed
effective to dominate the forces of nature and spirits. Once they have been do
1º The three cases in Argentina developed in environments socially and ecd their power can be used at will in rituals which are believed to be and ac-
cally different. a- The first case took place in a middle-class family, P.B., Ma as black and white magic. One can also see and buy images of african gods, the
ved in the city of Cordoba, in 1973.The father was a qualified worker in a carl
with horns, legs of goats, tail, dark fur. These shops stand everywhere, visited by
tory. The phenomena consisted in the familiar falling of stones, objects movingchildren and grown-ups, and what they sell can be frequently seen in homes.
ound without being touched by human hands, appearance and disappearance of mon
his atmosphere exerts a permanent psychological pressure on the population at
ocial levels. Therefore one should not be surprised if the interpretation given
ses of poltergeist is as the one presented in Tokyo:"Some evidences of evil ac
at a distance induced by means of magical procedures"(7), "by macumbeiros (black
ys, clothes and so on;levitation of objects, spontaneus fire. These abnormalitie
ted for over a year and was studied by a team of Psychiatrists, Physicians and
chologists from the Institute for Parapsychology of the Catholic University of
doba. A proper psychotherapeutic treatment both of the stressed twelve-year-old
sorcerers) that can be found in terreiros de quimbanda(a place specialized in
who was adopted and the family put an end to the phenomena. They experienced m
procedures) in Brazil"(7).The authors explain that there are various reasons
of great stress but they knew how to keep calm, and being catholic, they gave people resort to these procedures: threats, love and elimination of enemies etc.
thing & correct interpretation. There were no visual or audible hallucinations,
seeing or hearing strange beings.
"Ley finally say:"the consequences are usually terrible"(7). Thus the authors
elves spoil the presentation and interpretation of the data with their creduli
id acceptance of the cause originating the phenomena;the threat by an enemy and
b- The second case took place in Santa Fe city, in 1975 and it lasted for overittendance to the Macumba in order to use its magical procedures. They do not stop
month. The family A.M. had a lower income; the father was a traveling salesman qalyze objectively and quietly other possible causes of the poltergeist: RSPK,
od products. The phenomena consisted in the spontaneous appearance of blood ons, suggestions and the contradictions exposed in the papers. They accept as abso
gious images. First, this occurred with an image of Our Lady, about 15 cms. tall."The disturbances ceased after a Candomblé group(Afro-Brazilian religion ) per-
flowed between her hands joined over her chest, as if praying. The other imagesd exorcizing rituals in the home.Some mediums and sorcerers confirmed that the
two crucifixes made of plastic, about 10 cms. tall. Blood appeared where the nail
mena were being provoked by terreiro procedures ... "(7) . They do not study if
re and ran down the arms and feet. On one ocassion the phenomena took place wh cessation was due to a real and objective action of exorcism or if, considering
the Biochemists Dr. E. Molina and Dr. C. Zapata were holding the crucifixes in theenvironment the people live in, it was a psychological conditioning that put an
hands in order to get samples of the blood and analyse it. The source was a to the phenomena.
year-old girl who worked in the house as a maid, She was sent to a school for they even accept the actual existence of a being created by popular folklore
ter control, and there the phenomena repeated with other images. It was possible which they attribute characteristics which are contradictory. They speak of
prove that the blood type taken from the images and the girl's was the same "corporeal agent that obeys the sorcerer"(7). But on the other hand , they claim
phenomena might have been caused by a state of great stress experienced by th this incorporeal agent has been described by several witnesses as:"semi-human
M.famili because of the illness and operation of the youngest child, and by a
ils having dark fur, claws and horns, fetid smell"(7).How can an incorporeal agent
lar case in other town. The girl had pseudoperceptions of seeing and hearing Vi no body! ) have corporeal characteristics at the same time?We might be dealing
an evident eidetic projection, hallucination, of the images of "erus"(devil) they
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are used to seeing.
lusion. In order to study and elucidate poltergeist cases, it is necessary to
In another paper presented by them it is easy to detect the atmosphere of: in mind the various approches given by other authors or streams of analyses,
sive fear in which people lives with all the psychological consequences brougead of merely considering one aspect and interpretation of the problem.
bout by the belief of invisible beings who try to do harm, to destroy them for
kes made during their past lives about which they know nothing. Before accept IOGRAPHY
all these serious matters, they should prove them through evidences. But this it
done;everything is taken for granted. They feel submitted by powers to such an
ent that those who suffer them can not overcome them. These are conditionings
disposing toward all kinds of suggestions, illusions, hallucinations, fears. In tl
per it is said that:"some members of the group displayed a behaviour that sug Seaford Disturbances" by G. Pratt & H. Roll. Journal of Parapsychology, Vol.
field, New Jersey, 1974
the presence of foreing personalities. These personalities were induced by blad
gic procedures to influence and/or create trouble to the patients, hate them &
de references to a relationship with them in past lives"(7).That is to say, it
typical spiritist meeting where one talks with dead people and tray to persuad
to give up their destructive action. There are a series of contradictory suppos
as incorporeal beings suffering headaches, stomach-aches, having sexual desires
so on. It is necessary that everything be proved to be true, and not merely take
granted (7).
In another case there are a number of hallucinations provoked or favoured |
this atmosphere of fear, exorcisms and credulity of a very special community, ty,
cal of Brazil. Here they see an"animal similar to a gorilla"during the disturba
other times they only see parts"like a hand of a monkey"etc. (7) The authors re
to the conclusion:"as the majority of RSPK, this poltergeist suggests the influ
of evil action at a distance, induced by means of. terreiro rituals(black magic).
sions of animal-shaped beings". (7)
Discussion. Having analyzed the cases presented and compared them with the aby
bibliography on the subject, A. R. Owen(1), W.Roll(2), G. Pratt (3) , L. Rhine (4) , H. Thur
(5), E.Novillo Paulf(6), we come to the conclusion that the more primitive or ok
the case, the more its interpretation attributes the phenomena to demons, spirit
ghosts etc. The cases presented by the authors above mentioned, tell and analyze
nomena which are very similar to those in Brazil, but their interpretation is 4
ly different: the source is the human being himself. They develop within anothe
tural background and the way they are focused agrees with the cultural level o'
community. W. Roll says in his book:"If poltergeist phenomena say anything, is m
bout spirits, demons or ghosts but about human personality"(2).
When referring to voices, communications etc.A.R.Owen asserts:"There is not,
one case in which the spiritist hypothesis has been proved"(1).
For these authors as well as for psychiatrists, the fact that the supposed ;
rits succeed one another when the medium communicates, would prove that we are!
ling with splits of his(her)personality and his(her)unconscious creations. His(}
dramatized ideas convey concepts of the environment in which he(she)lives.
In addition to the stress provoked by the conflicting situation with the e
ronment or with himself, feelings of real or imaginary guilt, which would be the!
ce of the poltergeist phenomena, the interpretation given by those who interve
their hallucinations and supposed messages from spirits, make the problem even !
acute, thus creating a vicious circle.
334
Can we explain the poltergeist?" by A.R.G. Owen. A Helix Press Book, Garret Pu-
ilications, N.Y. 1964
The Poltergeist" by William Roll. A Signet Book. New American Library, Bergen-
2,1958
"Kind over Matter" by Louisa Rhine. McMillan, N. Y., 1970
The Physical Phenomena of Mysticism" by Herbert Thurston. Burns Oates, London
1952
Los Fenómenos Parapsicológicos. Psi en el Laboratorio" by Enrique Novillo Pauli,
Kapelusz, Buenos Aires, 1975
Proceedings of the "Third International Congress on Psychotronic Research" pags.
16, 481, 657. Tokyo, 1977
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