Unfinished Business

Reprinted from the Yournal of the American Society for Psychical Research Volume 60 — October 1966 — Number 4 UNFINISHED BUSINESS BY GARDNER MURPHY, Px.D. AND HERBERT L. KLEMME, M.D.

Unfinished Business Garpner Murpny, Px.D. ann Hersert L. Kizemme, M.D. I. Case Report On October 3, 1963, Mrs. Coleen Buterbaugh, to Dean Sam Dahl, of Nebraska Wesleyan University, Lincoln, Nebraska, was asked by Dean Dahl to take a message to a coll , Professor Martin (pseudonym), in his office suite in the C. C. White Building nearby. At about 8:50 a.m. Mrs. Buterbaugh entered this building and walked briskly along its extensive hall, hearing the sounds of students in a group of rooms set aside for music practice, and notably a marimba playing. Entering the first room of the suite (see Figure 1), she took about four steps and was stopped short (at int “B”) by a very intense odor—a musty, disagreeable odor. ising her eyes, she saw (at point “C”) the figure of a very tall, en rele apred = described oe ee) ina searent and a irt who was extending ight arm to the upper right-hand shelves in an old music cabinet. We now continue the account in Mrs. Buterbaugh’s own words;* ...As I first walked into the room everything was quite normal. About four steps into the room was when the strong odor hit me. When I say strong odor, I mean the kind that simply stops you in your tracks and almost chokes you. I was looking down at the floor, as one often does when walking, and as soon as that odor stopped me I felt that there was someone in the room with me, It was then that I prude pacbrege Prac 2m eee fusca semantic. Bi deathly wah Rents ala. say cette heh A hs bod inet int “D’’] along the wall in the next room. I 1 Ghagrlecvata she was. She had her back to me, reaching up into one of the shelves of the cabinet with her right hand, and standing perfectly still. She wasn't at all aware of my presence. While I was watching her she never moved, She was not transparent and yet I knew wasn't real, While I was looking at her she just faded away—not parts of her Bey Oe ss ene ee ee ee all at once. p until the time she faded away I was not aware of anyone else ing in the suite of rooms, but just about the time of her out pba gg tre gg st mang ge gage Aer ena gar ‘E’ and I had a feeling there was a man sitting at that I turn 1 A professor at the University of Nebraska, noting an account of the case in the Lincoin 7 (issue of October 31, aeape, Reve panther a Sosale of bas experioacn wes cont 89 Aden: Downeeugh. be replied in s mer dosed November 20, 1963. . 43 " ft gE ef 4 : 4 : B. Odor assailed Mrs. B. at this point and she stopped (about four steps into room) C, Position of D. Music cabinet at which apparition was standing E. Desk at which man's “presence” was felt F. Large window through which Mrs. B. saw “old” scene

308 Fournal of the American Society for Psychical Research Mrs. Buterbaugh made no further attempt to find Professor Martin, but went back to her office in the Old Main Building and tried to work at her typewriter. She found she could not do so, and went to describe her experience to Dean Dahl, who listened with full attention and sympathy. Neither Dean Dahl nor Mrs. Buterbaugh had at this time any idea at all as to the identity of the figure seen, or indeed whether it had any “identity.” In the course of the day, however, it was suggested by a member of the staff that there might be some resemblance between the figure and the appearance of a Miss Clarissa U. Mills, an instructor in theory and piano, who had many years before used the office in which the figure appeared and who had died suddenly, in 1936, in a room just across the hall. Identifiable features were the extreme tallness, estimated at six feet, the black hair, and the appropriateness of place and action. Evidence of identity, however, has not been offered by anyone as conclusive, In reply to further questions from G.M., Mrs. Buterbaugh described somewhat more fully what she saw when she looked out the window behind the desk where she had sensed the “‘presence”’ of the man: ... The window was open. Even though it was fairly early in the morning, it appeared as hough it were a very warm, summer after- noon. It was very still. There were a few scattered trees—about two on my right (east) and about three on my left (west). It seems to me there were more, but these are the only ones I can be definite about. The rest was open field; the new Willard sorority house and also Madison Strect were not there. I remember secing a very vague out- line of some sort of building to my right and that is about all. Nothing else but open field. This is the raw core of a spontaneous case which would ordinarily be put in the category of apparitions. But the intense odor which initiated the experience and the appearance of open country instead of the existing university campus* suggests that there is much more here than a typical apparitional experience. In March, 1964, G.M, addressed an A.S.P.R. meeting in New York and described the case, On the basis of suggestions then received from Drs. Jan Ehrenwald and George H. Hyslop, he decided that it would be wise to ask Mrs. Buterbaugh to have a complete psychiatric and neurological examination (with electro- * We were able to find a photograph (not clear enough for reproduction here) taken in 1915 which shows the difference between the contem and the erstwhile campus. It is very unlikely that Mrs. Buterbaugh have seen this photograph prior to the time of her experience. « a 2 = ~~ us 4 CS) : ’ STIL a ; Mrs. Buterbaugh, standing at the old music cabinet, demonstrates height of apparition (Photograph by courtesy of the Lincoln Evening Journal.)

Unfinished Business 309 encephalogram). This was not suggested with any thought that Saree of the sort described are abnormal, but solely on the basis of the assumption that unusual experiences with regard to time are often associated with various well-known types of temporal lobe dysfunction; and that in any event, the more we could learn about the subject of the case, both physiologically and psycho- logically, the better for the research. ments were therefore completed with Mrs. Buterbaugh to visit her in Lincoln, Nebraska, on May 13, 1964. Before this date G.M. discovered that H.L.K.—a psychiatrist then at the Topeka VA Hospital known to be interested in psychical phenomena and vio to carry out various psychiatric aspects of the study— would be glad to go along for the investigation. On the way to Lincoln G.M. gave H.L.K. a full account of the ease and read to him extensively from the material contained in the various exhibits, so that upon arrival the two investigators were about equally familiar with the raw facts as related above. They found Dean Dahl and Mrs. Buterbaugh in the Old Main Building. Mrs, Buterbaugh then took them to the C. C. White Building, in which the curious experience had occurred, and spent about twenty minutes reviewing the facts. She said that the newspaper account which had been sent to G.M. was based on an earlier interview and that it was essentially accurate. She then went to lunch with us. After lunch there were extended conversations with Mrs. Buter- baugh and briefer conversations with Dean Dahl and with other faculty members who knew some portions of the total episode. Arrangements were made for the neurological and EEG examina- tions, the results to be sent to us in Topeka for study. (The first EEG examination took place on June 26, 1964.) Mrs. Buterbaugh impressed us as a very direct, matter-of-fact, down-to-earth, and realistic person who was fulfilling very com- petently her life assignment as a wife, mother, and full-time professional secretary. She seemed eager to be asked direct questions and to give all the information she possessed about the case. We now give H.L.K.’s summary of his psychiatric interview and his later (February 16, 1966) comments. We wish, however, to make it at this point that we found nothing strange whatever in the manner in which Mrs. Buterbaugh responded to an experience which was, to say the least, very strange indeed.® i, 4 Mrs. Buterbaugh has kindly given us written permission to use her name in with this case. We wish to thank her for her cooperation in all the Phases of its investigation.

310 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research Il. Report or CoNnsuLTaTION May 13, 1964 1. Identification and Circumstances of this Consultation Mrs. Coleen (nee Cochran) Buterbaugh is a 41-year-old, Baptist, Scotch-Irish mother of four boys and the wife of a retired Air Force Master Sergeant. She is to the Dean of Nebraska Wesleyan University and has resided with her husband in Lincoln, Nebraska, since 1960. Dr. Gardner Murphy asked this examiner to see Mrs. B. pursuant to the thorough investigation of the recent retrocognitive experience reported by the subject. This examination took place over a period of four hours, beginning with the meeting of Mrs. B. in the outer office of Dean a showing of the rooms in which the experience occurred, at lunch with Mrs. B. and Dr. Murphy, and during the course of the next three hours when Mrs. B. was interviewed jointly by Dr. Murphy and this examiner. The examiner was able to interview Mrs. B. alone for a period of approximately 45 minutes in the office of Dean Dahl. As Mrs. B. was attempting to continue her functions as secretary, the interview was interrupted many times by the ringing of the telephone and by various members of the faculty and student body breaking in upon the examination. The details of the subject’s background and current situation as reported were obtained from her and from Dean Dahl and are considered to be reliable. Mrs. B. was very frank and cooperative and there were no significant discrepancies in any of her accounts and no evidence that she was trying to tell anything other than the truth as she experienced it, 2. Background Mrs. B. (born January 13, 1923) was the second of two daughters born to the 22-year-old wife of a 23-year-old movie theater manager in Brewster, Nebraska. The parents moved es ag Sy the family lived successively in six Nebraska communities. father is described as a jovial, lenient man with many inventive ideas and schemes upon which he never acted. He loved the outdoors and to Lars an sing. He is ni hes mgr pig g from heart trouble and recovering from a broken hip, and is cared for by his wife in Denver, Colorado. . z The mother is described as more strict, but a cute, petite, jolly, happy woman, five feet tall, who is lots of fun. The mother still Unfinished Business 311 excellent health. Mrs. B. states that they were very close as a family and very, very happy. Her earliest memory is of the fourth grade when she was ten ears old. She enjoyed school and made average grades, but had no Eevorite subjects. She enjoyed and participated in sports and had many friends. She describes herself as tomboyish, unlike her older sister, who was more “refined.” The ily had no particular religion and went to church only occasionally. She began dating at the age of 16 and was very popular. She graduated from high school at the age of 18 and married her French-German husband after two months of courtship, After two of marriage, when their first son was a year old, the husband was shipped overseas to the South Pacific and remained there until the war's end in 1945. Mrs. B. describes her marriage as a very happy one and the family, consisting of four boys, now ages 21, 16, 13, and 9, do many things together. They fish, camp, and bowl as a family unit. She states that it is a usual thing for her to be playing football with them. The oldest boy plays the guitar and the 13-year-old plays the clarinet. As Mrs. B, describes this family, it mes quite evident that it is very action-oriented and one that is accustomed to operating as a very close unit. Inasmuch as Mrs. B. works full time and also has the care of the home, each of the boys is said to chip in and help with the housework. During the 15-year iod between 1945 and 1960 this family has been stationed in tah, San Francisco, the Philippine Islands, and Germany. In 1960 Mrs. B.’s husband was transferred to Lincoln, Nebraska, where the ily has remained until now. In 1963 Mr. B. retired from the Air Force and accepted a local position in Lincoln. For the past 22 months Mrs. B. has worked as secretary to Dean Dahl of Nebraska Wesleyan University. The Dean is highly complimentary of her work, abilities, and stability. 3. Circumstances of the Reported Experience On the morning of October 3, 1963, Mrs. B. arose at her usual hour of 6:30 a.M., prepared breakfast for the family, and reported to work at her porcini pli yeracling Sassou 8 before, having retired at 11:00 P.m., and awoke the next morning fresh, alert, and rested, as usual. From 8:00 A.M. until approximately 8:45 a.m. she worked at her job of typing and dictation for Dean Dahl. Then Dean Dahl asked her to go to the C. C. White Building

312 Yournal of the American Society for Psychical Research did not simply ask her to phone. As she walked to the far north end of the C. C. White Building she was aware of the changing of the classes, the chatter of the students, and a marimba playing. As she came to the suite of two rooms occu ied by Dr. Martin, she found the door open and stepped inside ies Figure 1). She took four small steps into the empty room and as she took the fourth step an odor assailed her nostrils which she describes as being very powerful, as if it were “jetted out of a pipe.” She stated further that although this odor assailed her and was very strong, there was no disturbance of the air. She described the odor as being musty, old; as if something were very, very old, not unlike the odor in an old building that has been unoccupied for a very long time. As she walked into the first room she thinks that she must have been walking with her head down, as she usually does. As the odor assailed her she raised her head and looked into the adjoining room. There she saw the figure of a very tall woman (possibly six feet tall) with her back toward her. The figure was reaching with the right hand into one of the hi Be ee eee photograph). Strikingly, figure was dressed in a bushy bo t hairdo (later described as consistent with the fashion of 1915), a long-sleeved white blouse, and a full ankle-length dark brown or black skirt. For a period of time (which Mrs. B. estimates as having been long enough for her to have walked over to the figure if she had been 20 inclined) the ir stood there with the right hand in the files. As she watched the figure, it vanished instantaneously. She describes the figure as being of substance and not transparent. Mrs. B. then described what she had felt all along as the presence of a male figure sitting in a chair in the more proximal room, As she s her eyes from the vanished od dis eeenae to the chair w she felt the presence of male figure, she saw nothing. As che valesdd Une aan 03 thn Winsdow che bey that the aoane hed changed. Instead of the girls’ dormitory and Willard House, which one would normally see from the window, she saw nothing but rolling countryside: no buildings, no streets; merely a landsca suggesting the countryside of midsummer. Upon seeing that the view from the window had changed, Mrs. B. left the room. One of the things that she noticed during this experience was that there was extreme quiet. No sounds were heard during the entire time, and it was not until she stepped into the hall that her ears were in assailed with the usual noises of the chattering students ing classes and the sound of the marimba playing in the background. She realized then, and only then, that only a short period of time could have elapsed because, as she pointed out, the students were still changing classes. Unfinished Business 313 Mrs. B., forgetting her errand to find Dr. Martin, then went back to her office, sat down at the typewriter, and wondered what she should do. She reasoned that she really couldn't tell anyone of this experience because who would believe her? Might they not say, or think, that she was crazy? She attempted to go about her work as usual, but found that she could only a line or two, then would have to stop (observed by Dean Dahl). This occurred several times and after approximately 30 minutes to an hour she decided she would have to talk to someone and immediately consulted Dean Dahl. After she had told him of her experience, she was relieved to find that he did not question the veracity of her statements. (In a later interview Dean Dahl stated that he never once questioned that she was reporting accurately what she had seen.) Then Dean Dahl and Mrs, B. contacted other faculty members, wondering just what the apparition was that she had seen. Upon investigation, they discovered that a music teacher named Miss Clarissa Mills fit the description of the apparition and that she had worked at the college from 1912 until her death in 1936. They obtained some old yearbooks (never before seen by Mrs. B.) and found Miss Mills’ picture. Mrs. B. identified the hairdo as that worn by the apparition and the picture was dated 1915. When they found an older faculty member who remembered Miss Mills, she was described by him as being a very tall, thin, black-haired spinster whose interests were in music and choral group singing. Upon examining the filing cabinet with which the apparition was occupied, it was found to contain choral group arrangements, many of which dated back before the death of Miss Mills in 1936. 4. Psychological Examination Mrz. B. is a petite (5 feet, 99 pounds), attractive, naturally red- headed woman who is well-dressed, warm, friendly, and cooper- ative. She met Dr. Murphy and the examiner in a self-assured, itive manner and exhibited an eagerness to share her experience. Ss was alert, accurate, and made her points concisely and clearly. She exhibited no evidence of perceptual or thought disorder. She was judged to be of high normal to superior intelligence and her feeabolery was consistent with her educational and socio-economic status. She does not appear to be a reflective person, but is more inclined to be action-oriented. Her affects and actions were appropriate and her prevailing mood was one of happiness and contentment, although her recent experience was perplexing. | ae pg of her daily activity disclosed that she is quite in- terested in all active sports, both as a participant and as an observer, it cies feocqoentty. plays bepetall ant with her four sons.

314 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research Mrs. B. relates to others easily and well. Her major attachments seem to be to her family and a to be very adequate. She spoke affectionately of her husband and sons. In talking about soa, little was htained during the examination, but does place strong values upon both work and play. Observation of Mrs. B. at work revealed that she is proficient, effective, and derives con- siderable satisfaction from her job. In all of these areas her im- mediate boss, Dean Dahl, corroborated these observations. An example of her ability in her recreational activity is that she carries a 152 average in a bowling league. Her self-image and self- esteem are good and there is no evidence of self-dissatisfaction or self-directed aggression. She aspires to continue to improve herself and hopes to go back to college when her sons are grown. Relative to the present situation, although she bad besa through a rather traumatic experience she did not seem to be experiencing any particular discomfort. But at the time of the experience she was shaken by what she had seen, and even now is perplexed. In the area of reality testing, Mrs. B. uses good common sense and adheres to reality consistently. She says that her marital adjustment is an excellent one and that she and her husband are extremely happy. Recapitulation: In the relatively short period of time thet thre er od t ys sae Bs he con ony “y that eee tite evidence of gross psychopathology was found. She a: and action-oriented; a suocomtel wife, mother, on soslavee. Repression as a mental mechanism seems to have been extended beyond the usual expected time as she has no recall before the age of ten years. The experience that she had of perceiving an apparition is a unique one and no similar incident had occurred to her before. She did admit to déjd@ vu phenomena and described these in some detail for the examiner. The immediate and complete acceptance of the account as told by Mrs, B. to Dean Dahl attests to the positive ne j¢ conclusions ; During the brief span of this examination Mrs. B, was seen as a comfortable, happy wife and mother. No evidence of gross psychopathology was discovered. Hersert L. Kiemme, M.D. Ill. Supprementary Report February 16, 1966 At the request of Dr. Gardner ey FA and because of our mutual interest in psychical phenomena, I interviewed Mrs. B. on three separate occasions for a total of approximately twelve hours— Unfinished Business 315 five and a half hours in the formal private interview situation and the remainder of the time in observations and interviews in the nea Mi of other ns. Pacer interviews were: May 13, , March 12, 1965, and June 3, . : rie oecy, bse B. was found to be an intelligent, happy, and action-oriented person and a successful wife, mother, and employee. The experience she described was a unique one, although she has had several episodes of the so-called déja ou phenomenon, Because of the description of the olfactory sensation of a musty odor which can be caused by pathological involvement of the uncinate gyrus of the temporal lobe, a complete neurological examination was re- ested. The neurological examination was éntirely normal the initial electroencephalogram which disclosed “two 250- microvolt bursts lasting only five seconds of high amplitude, hyper- synchronous, diffuse five cycles per second sharp waves under the influence of chloral hydrate. The neurologist commented that such ms during wake-sleep and sleep-wake transition are com- mon. (A second EEG executed at a later date was interpreted as being entirely normal. In view of this sir Mrs. B. was asked at the wee interview (March 12, 1965) specifically about any phenomena ~ might have ienced which could be epileptiform in nature. S then anced a recurrent phenomenon which occurs at least once a week when she lies down to sleep. Her description of this re- current experience seems to be the same as the neurologically described syndrome called “‘predormital sleep paralysis.” = isa state through which some people often pass while falling asleep. Though fully conscious, the person is unable to move a muscle. This condition sometimes occurs in persons who suffer from narcolepsy or other sleep disturbances, but it is also fairly common in otherwise normal people (1, p. 127). Mrs. B.’s first experience with predormital sleep paralysis occurred in 1954 and caused her severe fright; but when she was reassured ag physician that it was not serious, she relegated it to being of or no si and did not mention it to a physician thereafter she was questioned by this examiner. On June 3, 1965, arran ts were made to have Mrs. B. re-experience the C. C. White Building phenomena while in time regression under hypnosis with a concomitant EEG tracing. Mrs. B. was an excellent hypnotic subject and experienced both positive and negative hallucinations in the first and only session of caver During time regression she said she re-experienced the ode o the C. C. White Building in its entirety; while still under _ she was questioned intensively about the phenomenon and de cribed it exactly as she had before. During regression to the point

316 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research of reliving the scene, the resting EEG frequencies suddenly changed to a low voltage, fast, “alert” response lasting a total of four seconds, then spindling of drowsiness supervened in another six seconds without evidence of arousal or movement. There was no evidence of any electrical central nervous system abnormality in this EEG tracing, which lasted for over one hour. When Mrs. B. Seawind eas the trance state, she was amnesic for the entire period an ormed posthypnotic suggestions well. Initially, and especially when the first EEG revealed abnormal- ities, it was deemed expedient that no stone be left unturned and that a total neurological examination should be done. At this point in time there was no way of knowing whether this first EEG pattern was or was not an early symptom of a serious neurological disease process. During the ensuing year and a half no new symptoms pee and neurological examinations continued to be un- changed. The subsequent EEG taken approximately one year later was entirely normal. One can only conclude that the neurological condition of predormital is is not progressive and is = interfering — teehee y-to-day oo for all intents and p is performing as a ically and men normal, individual. = ie wa Whether the neurological aberrations discovered during the course of the evaluation did or did not have anything to do with Mrs. B.’s unusual experience in the C. C. White Building is a moot point, Hersert L, Kuemme, M.D. IV. Discussion Intense odors are familiar to neurologists as a warning or “‘aura”’ in certain pseudoconvulsive or convulsive states, But this aspect of Mrs. Buterbaugh’s experience is regarded by us as quite likely a symbol or marker of a transition from one mental state to another as she left the “‘here-and-now” and plunged into the past. Or the odor could itself have been the first manifestation of a somewhat dissociated state, or a state of altered ego, not unlike what F. W. H. a pose a —— automatism” (4, Vol. I, Ch. 6). It is possible to ano sensory process as potentiating a - normal process, or to regard both normal and arnt te as working together in the potentiation of the paranormal. Or perhaps it is best of all to regard these distinctions between the normal, the pathological, and the paranormal as very arbitrary and ultimately unjustifiable distinctions. The most important thing is that Mrs. Buterbaugh was in a special state allowing special types Unfinished Business 317 of perception. To call any of these phenomena either pathological or paranormal in no way helps to explain them. — . In discussing the case, we found ourselves moving rather — toward certain ways of conceptualizing these phenomena, w we piece together hie here offer very tentatively, but without apology, as suggesting a way of combining a number of current dynamic conceptions about psychical phenomena. We chose the title “‘Un- finished Business” because we wish to stress a common factor which seems to run through several features of this curieus case. First, Professor Martin — Pome thir’ Nebraska rae iversity a month prior to Mrs. Buterbaugh’s experience to wor! ae concerni cine singing in which he felt the University had eanething <6@lee even to a distinguished specialist in this field, and he had been assigned to the office in which the experience happened. Secondly, Miss Mills, who had used this office many years before, had been concerned with choral singing. Third, in the upper two right-hand shelves of the music cabinet, to which the figure had been extending its right arm, was found a series of items on choral singing from from Pergolesi, and from Thomas Whitney Surette’s “Concord Choral Arrangements.” Fourth, Mrs. Buterbaugh had been sent us wen Dahl - =a cee some arrangements apparently having to do wi oral singing, but Professor Martin was not there. There is a firm theme to find something (indeed, something having to do with the integration of male voices, or male and female voices together), which — could not be completed by any of the three persons involved. minds were concerned with the same theme. — This conception is very strongly reminiscent of Whately Carington’s conception of a psychon system, or a cluster of related ideas binding together di t minds which contain similar psychons (2). The point which Carington repeatedly stressed is that classical association theory, binding psychons together, is useful in psychical research if we do not insist on the concept of an ego anchored firmly in time and place; as competing with another ego and ing itself from the psychological activities of all other egoe. Rather, it will be » the Carington thesis is that associations form as easily between A’s mind and B’s mind as they do between two parts o. A’s mind; and that the possession of a common item or cluster of items (which Carington called a “K- object”) is the seed of a telepathic process of communication. It would a to be simple, then, to put Carington’s theory to work, saying that the three legs of the tripod on which Mrs. Buterbaugh’s ce is erected all have to do with unfinished business, some- which must be found; and all have, in fact, to do with un-

318 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research finished business of a specific sort, namely, choral arrangements nei to such a thesis, various psychoanalytic conceptions might be brought in: First, a male figure is obviously d to complete the picture and is perhaps provided by Mrs. Buterbaugh’s awareness of a man’s ‘“‘presence” at the desk. nd, a very short female figure (Mrs. Buterbaugh is only five feet tall) reaches up (see photograph) to indicate the extended upper-reaching activity of the tall figure of Miss Mills; 20 if che efloet to roach wees coneral From oe poss of view, the three contemporary minds—those of Dean , Professor Martin, and Mrs. Buterbaugh—are all striving to Sey 2 ep nrn onal oy 00 bo speaks ding Sito thal ethcte the or other-time-related efforts of Miss Mills to find certain material having to do with choral arrangements. It should, in- cidentally, be noted again here that Miss Mills‘ died shortly before 9 a.m. in the office across the hall after struggling through a bitter wind to the C. C. White Building, and that Mrs. Buterbaugh arrived at the building shortly before 9 a.m. Perhaps this is another psychological link. Our first impression of the case was that its claim to paranormal character lay largely in the authentication of a relation between the woman's figure seen by Mrs. Buterbaugh and the actual Clarissa Mills who had made much use of the room in which the apparition had appeared. It must be admitted, however, that our perspective has changed considerably. The evidence connecting the apparition with Miss Mills is not entirely convinci i Ié-dp tide thet the appearance of the figure from behind, parti ly its height, hairdo, and clothing, are easily reconciled the impression that this, in a certain sense, ‘“‘was’’ Miss Mills; but in the absence of a view of the face, it is hard to prove that this was anything more than a perception of a tall woman's figure. And it is not too remote a shot to suggest that for a very short woman, as Mrs. Buterbaugh is, to see a very tall female figure could be connected plausibly enough with some sort of infantile memory in which a little girl saw the tall (relative to her own size) re of her mother, or indeed of some mother surrogate. The of the man was not even identified, and cannot be given much weight. On the other hand, if we note that the initiation of the whole experience by a strong odor is something strongly suggestive of the commonplace olfactory aura initiating subacute as well as acute convulsive attacks, and that these ently involve disorientation in time, interest naturally shifts to . Buterbaugh’s looking out * We were not successful in our attempts to determine just what Miss Mills had been » Or what lectures she was preparing, in last weoke of her life. Unfinished Business 319 the window and seeing the campus “as it was.”’ This aspect of the experience may very well have been paranormal, and a clean-cut case of retrocognition. It is also quite possible that Mrs. Buter- baugh had been thrown into a moment of orientation to the past, and that this predisposed her to look at the campus as she imagined it or heard it to have been. However, it would seem that the case for something paranormal in the total experience is somewhat ee nt ee eee long ago, and we are inclined to shift attention somewhat away from the apparition of Miss Mills and somewhat more to the retrocognitive of the case, We feel that retrocognition is a reasonable classification of this experience, utilizing the Carington theory (2) to include retrocognitive experiences. We are less sure that the dynamic interpretation having to do with the choral arrangements is a related clue. We do believe, however, that at this stage in our ignorance of such matters, it is legitimate to speculate to combine these speculations into a system. But this must not be defended dogmatically, and its primary purpose is to guide in the collection, classification, and interpretation of spontaneous cases. To return to the neurological aspects of the case, in The Varieties of Religious Experience ‘3 William James vigorously took the position that giving a neurological term to a human condition leaves the question of its total meaning and value completely open. George Fox's neurological difficulties do not, said James, bear on the spiritual meaning of his message, nor of the Society of Friends which he founded. In the same way, we wish to affirm our own conviction that there are many different approaches to human nature and to human adjustment problems, and that the utilization of one approach never rules out the possibility that others may Specifically, we think that there are indications in the neuro- logical record, as well as in the hiatric interview and inter- pretation, of some trouble signs. Most of these would not in themselves demand clinical attention, but those having to do with the occurrence of predormital sleep paralysis suggest that at times there have been neurological problems of at least subclinical interest. Moreover, they seem to be related to the paranormal phenomena with which our inquiry began. As already mentioned, temporal lobe difficulties of the sort indicated in the record are not infrequently related to disorientations in time such as feelings of “having been there before” (déjd ow) and, by implication, of “glimpses into the past,” as suggested by the observations ‘ here. This does not in any sense bear on the question of the reality of the contact with the past which may have been involved in Mrs.

320 Yournal of the American Society for Psychical Research Buterbaugh’s perception of the apparition of the woman, the sense of the man’s “presence,” and, more significantly, the view of the Nebraska Wesleyan University campus as it existed some years earlier. The retrocognitive aspects of the experience, together with the aura which initiated it, all mark it as being at least of great psycho- logical interest; and by pursuing this vivid little thread rather than tossing it aside, we may hope to lead with Ariadne to something new and valuable. We venture therefore to suggest that whatever mild pathologies there may be in this case leave entirely open the question of its paranormal features. The case may be viewed as relatively ‘‘normal”’ or relatively ‘‘pathological” as far as the neuro- logical record is concerned, It may also be regarded as presenting a “good” line of evidence for paranormal contact with the past, or this evidence may be regarded as unconvincing. Our purpose is not to plead, but to lay bare for consideration what seems to be some ri iy de research material and some rich neurological material which interdigitate and give meaning one to the other. For us, then, the case as a whole, and not only its parts, remains “‘unfinished business.” REFERENCES 1. Braty, W. Russett. Clinical Neurology. (Second edition.) London: Oxford University Press, 1964. 2. CaRINGTON, WHATELY. “Experiments on the Paranormal Cogni- tion of Drawings, IV.” Proc. 5.P.R., Vol. 47, 1942-45, 155-228. (See the section A Theory of Paranormal Cognition and Allied Phenomena.) 3. James, WiLLIAM. The Varieties of Religious Experience. New York: Longmans, Green and Co., 1902. 4. Myers, F. W. H. Human Personality and its Survival of Bodily Death. London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1903. The Menninger Foundation Topeka, Kansas 66601 PRINTED IN BRUGES, BELGIUM, BY THE ST CATHERINE PRESS, LTD.