The Miami Disturbances

Reprinted from the Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research Volume 65 — October 1971 — Number 4 The Miami Disturbances W. G. Rott anp J. G. Pratt? ABSTRACT : Early in 1967 a case of typical poltergeist activity took place in Miami. The disturbances, located in a wholesale firm dealing in souvenir objects, involved the falling of objects from shelves or their moving greater distances with loud impact and frequent breakage. The events were connected with a nineteen year old Cuban youth employed by the firm as a shipping clerk. The case was still active when it was brought to the attention of the writers of this report, and between them they spent a number of days on the scene during which they observed many disturbances and also interviewed witnesses to events that took place during their absence. A total of 224 distinct events were recorded, and approximately a third of these occurred while one or both of the parapsycholo- gical investigators were present. Fairly early in the case it was observed that objects were most often disturbed in particular locations, and the investigators were there- fore able to focus their attention upon these areas. In several instances objects were disturbed that the investigators had placed in selected target areas and had kept under careful surveillance. In no instance was evidence found indicating that any of the events were caused fraudulently or in any recognized nonpersonal way. The writers offer the opinion that parapsychological forces Ee checocterinn as “recurrent spontaneous psycho- kinesis” (RSPR) were involved. One of the writers (W.G.R.) will present a second — on further analyses and observations bearing upon the nature of these rces. Part I INTRODUCTION General Considerations Investigations of apparent cases of recurrent spontaneous psycho- kinesis (RSPK), more commonly known as poltergeist occurrences, fall into two p .In the first, the parapsychologist is concerned with the question whether the incidents can be explained by familiar physical causes. If no such explanation can be found, the investigator can bring the study to the second phase of exploring for parapsychological processes that may be involved, such as the PK abilities of living or deceased persons. The present study is directed only to the question whether a series of disturbances that occurred in Miami, mainly during January, 1967, can be explained by familiar physical means, A later paper (by W.G.R.) will deal with the parapsychological processes that may have been responsible, * We wish to express our appreciation to the great number of persons who cooper- iat titty tn shon iy? wines tha sume vein fey paper.

410 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research RSPK studies often bring the parapsychologist into contact with groups of people whose attitudes and interests with regard to the phenomena may vary widely. The primary group, the persons in whose territory the phenomena occur, usually wish for an end to them as quickly and painlessly as possible. To achieve this, they may involve a second group by secking help from persons whose profes- sions or skills seem appropriate, such as engineers, police officers, electricians, and clergymen. It is natural for these investigators and observers to attempt explanations and remedies according to their specialties. Sometimes, however, the “‘cures’’ tried by this group can be no less damaging than the disturbances, as when a police officer arrested a member of the family concerned whom he mis- takenly believed to be the culprit (7), or when “exorcism” was attempted by burning the clothes of the boy who was the center of the disruptive events (8). Once the occurrences have become known outside the primary group, a third group made at of representatives of the news media such as press, radio, and may enter the picture. Their main responsibility is to their media and they are often expected to pro- vide dramatic and entertaining stoiiea. Thiele work on a case is apt, in turn, to draw in a fourth group, uninvited visitors and curiosity seekers whose presence and behavior usually prove disruptive both for the normal life of the first group and for the conduct of serious investigations. If an investigation is attempted by parapsychologists at this stage, they cannot expect to settle down at once to a quiet and thorough study, but must first resolve the problems presented by these four groups of people already involved and by their different interests and activities. To a large extent the parapsychologists, usually the last group to appear on the scene, have the same concern as the first group— the family or others primarily involved—namely, to explain the phenomena. However, an investigation can generally best be carried out by studying the phenomena while they occur. It is therefore not in the best interest of the parapsychologist to have the incidents cease before his study of the case has been made. An investigation 1s only likely to be successful if the family realizes this and is willing to follow the suggestions of the investigator, even if these are not designed to lead to an immediate end of the phenomena. To obtain a record of earlier occurrences in a case, which should be as complete and as accurate as possible under the circum- stances, the parapsychologist also needs the cooperation of the second group, the other investigators and observers who have been involved from a practical rather than a scientific point of view, Their collaboration may also be required in gathering information on The Miami Disturbances 411 disturbances that take place while the parapsychologist is on the ‘scene, In case the representatives of the news media have been alerted, the para ologist must reach an agreement with them so that : be as little publicity as possible during the investigation. This is particularly important since the fact that a parapsychological investigation is being made is newsworthy in itself and is likely to bring in additional reporters and curiosity seckers if it becomes erally known. The fourth group, the curiosity seekers, usually lose interest once the publicity ceases and no information about the case is given out, and their interfering activities decline or stop altogether. Persons Involved in the Miami Case In the present investigation there was an unusually close colla- boration with the first three groups of people brought together by the incidents : the owners and employees of Tropication Arts, Inc., a wholesale business for novelty and souvenir items in Miami, Florida; the nonscientific investigators and observers; and the representatives of the news media. The persons making up the primary group connected with the events were : the owners of the firm, Mr. Alvin Laubheim (general manager) and Mr. Glen Lewis; the two shipping clerks, Julio Vas- quez, a nineteen year old refugee from Cuba who was soon identified as the focal person for the events, and an older man, Curt Hagemeyer; the assistant shipping clerk, Iris Roldan, age eighteen; three ladies who painted the novelty items, Mrs. Ruth May, Miss Beatrice Ram- bisz, and Miss Patricia Wolfe; and Mr. Rolando Santovania, the bookkeeper. All were sympathetic toward the scientific study of the case and willing to adapt themselves to the needs of the investi- Among the investigators and observers who did not claimscientific ances the following were particularly helpful : Mr. Howard rooks, a professional magician; Mr. William Drucker, the insur- ance agent for the business; Patrolman William Killam, the first policeman dispatched to the premises; and Patrolman David J.Sack- ett, who also participated in the police investigations. The names of the representatives of the news media do not figure prominently in this report, but their collaboration was important. If they had not been willing to minimize the publicity while we made Our investigation, it is quite unlikely that the study could have been conducted as successfully as it was. Because of their self-sacrificing testraint there were no serious disruptions by curiosity seckers. The person responsible for initiating the parapsychological study

412 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research was Miss Susy Smith, a writer of popular parapsychological books and a personal friend of the authors of this report. She heard of the incidents from Miss Rambisz, who phoned her on Jan 12, 1967, at a radio station in Miami w Miss Smith was being interviewed. Miss Smith went to the business establishment the next day, and afterward she tried to call W.G.R. in the evening. He was driving across the country from California, and Miss Smith reached him in Shreveport, Louisiana, on January 18. W.G.R. left his car there and took a plane to Miami, arriving on January 19. Miss Smith continued to collaborate during the investigation in Miami and was also instrumental in arranging a visit by Julio to Durham for a thorough psychological and medical study that will be described in a later paper. For the events that occurred before W.G.R. arrived on the scene and during his later two days absence, the notes made by Miss Smith were an important source of infor- mation. This information was later augmented by interviews con- ducted by W.G.R. with the people involved. ; Finally, the investigation represented the second opportunity for the authors of this report to collaborate on a RSPK study. The first was the Seaford case (5) which we had investigated nine years previously, but which had become largely inactive before we arrived on the scene. When W.G.R. became convinced that the Miami case was worthy of serious attention and found that the case was still active, he suggested that J.G.P. should join the investigation to provide an added measure of observation and control. Our 1958 report on the Seaford case may have helped to spark a renewal of scientific interest in RSPK phenomena. Before that time this problem area had been largely neglected in parapsychology for several decades, but during the years since that report appeared it has become a major target of research activity. Some of the American cases investigated have been reported in detail by one of the present writers (6, 7). In Britain perhaps the most thoroughly studied and discussed case was the one that occurred in 1960-1961 in Sauchie, Scotland (4). Several German cases have been investigated by psychologists, in some instances in collaboration with scientists Som other branches of research (1, 2, 3). These few examples selec- ted from a much wider number of investigations will serve to indicate that the scientific interest in RSPK cases is increasing in spite of the difficulties encountered in research in this area. Nature and Locus of the Miami Disturbances The disturbances consisted of movements and breakages of the objects sold by the firm, mainly novelty and souvenir items. Many of the objects were imported ‘ae the Far East and then painted th Florida symbols, such as palm trees and flamingoes, by the three he incidents probably began in the middle of December, 1966, shen the owners noticed an unusual amount of breakage. ‘The disturbances (with a few possible exceptions) occurred during the working hours of the firm. Occasionally objects were found on the floor in the morning which had not been scen there at the end of the previous working day. However, it is possible that these incidents took unnoticed when people were leaving or entering the premises or were unnoticed because of other events that took place Tt also became clear early in the case that disturbances only d when Julio was present. The disturbances ceased on ; 1, 1967, when he left the firm. The area where nearly all the disturbances took place was the room where the merchandise was received and stored and from it was shipped to retail dealers. This warchouse room, which sured slightly more that twenty-nine feet east-to-west by forty- feet Esetceo-south, was in the north end (back) of the building. as the working arca for the two shipping clerks as they filled orders for shipment, and for Miss Roldan, She mostly sat desk at the south end (front) of the room, placing Florida gnia on the merchandise and assisting in other ways as needed. front part of the business contained the reception room, the ating room, the rest rooms, and the offices of Mr. Laubheim and Santovania. The warchouse had four places where merchandise was stored: a wall tier which occupied most of the east wall, and three tiers parallel to it in the center of the room. Tier | was closest to the wall tier, Ticr 2 was in the middle, and Tier 3 toward the west side of the room. There were thus also four aisles. Aisle | was between the wall tier and Tier 1, Aisle 2 was between Tier | and Tier 2, Aisle 3 between Tier 2 and Tier 3, and Aisle 4 was to the west of Tier 3. _ The wall tier was nine feet high. Tier | was five feet three inches, and Tiers 2 and 3 were both six feet high. Tiers 2 and 3 had three shelves each and Tier 1 two. The second shelf of each of the three floor tiers (counting from the top) was divided by a board twelve inches high running the length of the tier. These boards gave some rotection to objects placed on the second shelves from interference by persons on the other side of the tier. Since the boards only covered the lower part of the space between the shelves, it was le to observe the positions and activities of persons moving the tiers, and sometimes the movements of objects. The tiers were of a rough but sturdy construction, the main Supports being 1-3/4" by 3-1/2" posts (“‘two-by-fours’”’), six for each

414 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research of the three central tiers. The boxes and other objects on the tiers could not be made to fall off by attempting to give the ticr a strong shake or push. Boxes with merchandise were stored on the floor below the bottom shelves of the four tiers and along the west wall, In the north area of the room, about six feet beyond the three tiers, were two tables next to each other. These are referred to as the shipping desk and this was where Julio and Mr. Hagemeyer wrapped the merchandise for shipping. Beyond these, close to the back of the room, were three other tables. The floor was concrete and the walls cinderblock. The ceiling was about fourteen feet high. There were two windows at the back, close to the ceiling. The room was also illuminated by large fluores- cent fixtures. In the north wall at the northeast corner was a large entrance. This was closed by two gates: a sliding door and a separate one made of iron gratings. During working hours, this grating was often the only gate that was closed. Combining all of the separate events recorded by Miss Smith, others in addition that were reported during our interviews with observers of the early stage of the case, and events we recorded after our arrival, a total of 224 distinct incidents was recorded. Of these, 102 took place before the arrival of W.G.R. and 78 occur- red during later days when both of us were absent. There were times before Miss Smith arrived when no formal notes were kept, and there were periods after she was on the scene when distur- bances were happening simultaneously or so close together that it was not certain whether all of the events were recorded. (The 224 happenings will be analyzed in regard to the dynamics involved in the paper to follow in a later issue of the Journal.) Insofar as possible, the events have been numbered chronolog- ically. Items which moved at the same time were counted as one event if they were tied together or if it seemed possible that they spilled from the same container. Otherwise they were counted according to the number of objects involved. Figure | is a floor plan of the warehouse area of Tropication Arts in which most of the disturbances occurred. ‘The numbers are given for disturbed objects whose locations were reported. The arrows indicate the approximate direction and distance of motion, when they were known, of objects displaced from their original position. Arrows drawn with a solid line refer to movements when it secemed impossible, according to others present, that Julio could have caused them; arrows drawn with a broken line refer to occur- rences when Julio or the places where the disturbances took place were not supervised; the dotted lines indicate movements when it was not known where the objects had come from or where they had Fic. 1. Floor plan of the warehouse room in which most of the disturbances took place, showing their locations and chronological order (for explanation, see text).

The Miami Disturbances 415 landed; and the crosses indicate the places to which objects moved whose origin was not known. The heavy lines show movements of three or more objects, as indicated by the letters and numbers. The entrance to the office area and the front of the establishment is in the southeast corner of the room. The back entrance is in the north- cast corner, Figure 2 shows a photographic view of the warehouse room. The person at the north end of Aisle 2 is Mr. Hagemeyer. } central £ Plan and Authorship of This Paper In a matter as difficult as the evaluation of the evidentiality of observations regarding RSPK events, we think it is of primary importance to properly assign responsibility for the statements made, We therefore draw a distinction, first of all, between the firsthand evidence based upon events that took place while one or both of us were present and which we recorded ourselves and the secondhand evidence based on the descriptions others gave of events that took place in our absence. Also, W.G.R. was the prin- cipal investigator of the case, and he had complete charge of inter- viewing the local observers and integrating their statements with the information in Miss Smith’s notes. He is also, naturally, responsible for the information collected about the disturbances when he was the only one of us present. On the other hand, during the three days when J.G.P. was in the establishment during business hours, he was present for all ten of the events that took place, while W.G.R. was present for only two of them. For this reason, J.G.P. has written and alone will sign the section of the : paper dealing with those disturbances, while W.G.R. alone will report (a) the events when no parapsychologist was present; (6) the disturbances that took place while he was in Miami before J.G.P.’s arrival; and (c) the occurrences that took place while he was there after J.G.P.’s departure. It is not possible, for reasons of space, to describe in detail in this paper all 224 distinct events recorded. We will omit many of those that took place when we were both absent, will give all ten that occurred when we were both present, and will describe as sad as feasible of those that happened when W.G.R. was there alone. in the middle, and Tier 3 ont * house showing the shipping desk in the foreground and the three ft feast side of the roam), Tier wth part of the ware 2. Photograph taken from the ne tiers behind it. Tier 1 is on the far le Fig.

416 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research Parr I W. G. Roti OxsservaTiIOns BY Owners, EMPLOYEES, AND LocaL VisrTors Beginning and Progress of the Disturbances Beginning in the middle of December, 1966, there had been an unusual amount of breakage in the warehouse. The owners attri- buted this to carelessness by the shipping clerks. During the second week of January, 1967, the pe more serious. In particular, the beer mugs, made of amber-colored glass with a wooden handle fastened by two metal rings, broke unusually often. They were placed on the north end of Tier 3 and would fall into Aisle 4. Mr. Laubheim told me he asked the shipping clerks to place the mugs on their sides with the handles down so that they would not roll or slide off the shelves. On Thursday, January 12, Mr. Laubheim himself placed the mugs on their sides, handles down, showing this to the shipping a, 2 He told me on January 21: “I set the glasses up m and I showed it to the boy and I said, ‘Now, if you put them in this position, they are not going to break or fall off the shelf.’ And as I turned around and walked to the end of the counter, one of them came down right behind me” (Event 18). Mr. Laubheim said he put the glass at least eight inches from the of the shelf and that none of the employees were closer than feet when it fell. Mr. Lewis was not present in the business as frequently as his colleague. When I interviewed him on January 20, he said that he had not observed anything unusual until Friday, the 13th, when he t a few hours in the warehouse during the afternoon. At that time, however, ashtrays (Events 39 and 42) and boxes with differ- ent kinds of merchandise (Events 36, 38, and 40) “fell off the shelves mysteriously. I would put them back and they would continue to fall off the shelves.” Mr. Lewis said he “was skeptical when they told me about it over the phone, but when I was here and saw things being dropped off the shelves right after I had placed them securely, then I knew something was mysterious about the whole thing.” Mr. Thomas Garcia was probably the first reporter to arrive on the scene. I met him on January 24 and he told me that on Wednes- day, the 11th, at 12:00 noon, when he was with Mr. Laubhcim The Miami Disturbances 417 Julio at the front of the warchouse, two boxes with plastic fans (E 9, 10) fell off Tier 2 behind him. He was sure nobody was in that area. Two hours later, when he was at the north end of ‘Tier 3, facing southeast, and when Mrs. May and another woman were at the south end of Tier 2, two beer mugs (Events 11, 12) fell into Aisle 4 from the middle of Tier 3. No one was in that isle, he said. __ Mr. William Drucker, the insurance agent for Tropication Arts, d me on January 20 that he arrived on a business call on the 13th. was informed about the phenomena and shown the debris from some of the occurrences in Aisle 4. “I went about checking the shelves to see how much they vibrate and I checked most of the shelves and I couldn’t see anything but a strong tremor would knock it down because the shelves were rather substantial.” He had spent about an hour and fifteen minutes and was on his way out the south entrance when he heard a “thud.” He turned around at once and asked those present where they had been. Miss Roldan vas sitting at the front desk packing and Mrs. May was seated ind her. Julio said he was in Aisle | with his gocart, packing merchandise, both girls verifying his position. Mr. Drucker told them to remain where they were and examined the room. He found two boxes, tied together (Event 32), at the north end of Aisle 4, fifteen to cighteen inches from Tier 3. He checked the tier for strings, loose shelves, and bad or tilted legs, but found nothing wrong. He did not think that floor tremors could have caused the occurrence since there were no new cracks, nor could he think of any other physical explanation. Since the boxes were at least Seventeen fect from Julio and since Mr. Drucker had checked the a prior to the event, he did not think Julio could have caused Miss Smith was present during many of the events, which she recorded at the time. On January 13 at 1:50 p.m. she was sitting next to the shipping desk at the north end of Tier | when she heard something fall in Aisle 4. A box with rubber daggers (Event 38) from the southern part of Tier 3 had moved into the aisle, spilling its contents. At the time of the event, Julio, Mr. Hagemeyer, and Mr. Lewis were in the warchouse, all in sight of her. Mr. Sinclair Buntin is a pilot at Eastern Airlines and a friend of Miss Smith. He told me on January 20 that at about one o'clock on Tuesday, the 17th, he and his wife joined Miss Smith at the warchouse. They had just arrived when an ashtray fell to the floor in Aisle 4 (Event 68). After this, Mr. Buntin told me, he Spent about fifteen minutes checking the shelves in the warehouse and making sure that everything was put back from the edges.

418 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research Around 1:20 p.m., when he was at the front of the room, a box of combs (Event 69) fell into Aisle 4. He told me that no one was near that area. About five minutes later a box (Event 70) fell into Aisle 1. Again there was nobody in the vicinity and “no contrap- tions, or strings, or wires or anything that could cause it to move.” He thought that Mr. Hagemeyer might have been working at the back about fifteen feet from the event and that Julio was in the front area in sight of him, between five and ten feet away from him. Miss Smith independently reported that the four of them were in the front but that Mr. Hagemeyer was away. The box ea plastic calendars and had been on the north end of ier 1. At 1:42 p.m. on the same day a shot glass (Event 71) came off the north end of Tier 2 and fell into Aisle 3 without breaking. Mr. Buntin was certain no one was near. Then, three minutes later, at 1:45, Mr. Buntin saw a box (Event 72) fall off Tier 3 into Aisle 4. He was in the front within fifteen feet and could see the box between the shelves. No one was in either Aisle 2 or 3. The box “fell at an angle which it could not have been at if it had just been pushed off . . . about a thirty-degree angle out away from the shelf.” He then replaced the items in the box and placed this on the shelf about one foot in, A few minutes later it fell again (Event 73) while he was seven feet away. Again no one was near. Shortly before two, Mr. Laubheim arrived with a newspaper reporter. He showed him where the beer a had been when the events started, demonstrating their position by placing one on its side with the handle down on the top shelf of the north part of Tier 3. About five minutes later there was a loud noise and the beer mug (Event 74) was found in the south part of Aisle 4 un- broken. Miss Smith reported that she was within four feet of this end of Tier 3 and observed that no one was near. The mug could not have rolled off the shelf: “It would have had to fly through the air to reach this position. The shelf was examined as usual.” Mr, Laubheim then replaced the mug and Mr. Buntin made sure that it was securely placed: “I picked that one up—propped it up and braced it,” by placing the handle down with the part against a box. A few minutes later it fell again (Event 75) in Aisle 4 immediately below where it had stood and this time it broke. Mr. Buntin was again certain that no one was near. At about 4:05 p.m. on the same day when Mr. and Mrs. Buntin and Miss Smith were still present, a Coke bottle (Event 77) which had been placed on the top shelf of Tier 3 “to tempt whatever it ight be,” as Mr, Buntin said, fell to the floor and broke. Again, Mr. Buntin told me that no one was in the area. Miss Smith said The Miami Disturbances 419 she and a photographer had unsuccessfully tried to make this bottle come off the shelf by shaking the tier. Observation by Police and the Introduction of Planned Investigations au, : : _ Since the police are called in as professional, even though not scientific, investigators, I have delayed until this point the des- cription of how they entered the case and what they reported. In this section, also, I will describe two classes of events that Be cae the first step toward a controlled study of the events. One class includes those events in which observers reported that Poa objects start to move. The other special class of events is | in which “decoy” objects were placed on the shelves in had previously been observed to be favorite target areas and these decoy objects were moved in a way that could not be explained normally. After the beer mug (Event 18) which he had placed on its side came down on January 12, Mr. Laubheim told me (on January 21): sgh Fite? kien g started to happen—boxes came down—a box of about a hundred back scratchers (Event 22) turned over and fell eae eprahige i A ed a ewe Bey side of the room and then we t ere was something definitely wrong around here. And for three days we picked things up off the floor as fast as would fall down. ... We tried to it quiet, because we knew it would hurt our business because we are right in the ... beginning of a season—and it would draw a bunch of curiosity seckers, etc., 80 we tried to keep it quiet for about four days. Then finally delivery men saw things happening and le coming in and out would see it happen and word got out and there were more and more people coming in. And somebody suggested that with the pa pene thrown around and the girls crying in the front from fright we better notify the police; so I did. When Mr. Laubheim called the police, Saturday morning, January 14, Patrolman William Killam was dispatched. Killam told me, on the 30th, that the complaint clerk at the station “ex- plained to me that this person who was calling said that he had a ghost in his place of business . . . going around breaking ashtrays and he said they were just coming up off the floor and breaking. And I told him—I said, ‘this guy has got to be a nut.’ ” When the officer arrived at Tropication Arts, only Mr. Laub- heim and Julio were present. The three went to the back of the warchouse and while Mr. Laubheim and Julio remained at the North entrance, Mr. Killam walked to the other side, looking down each of the aisles. When he came back to the others, he turned around and then saw a glass (Event 53) fall to the floor and

420 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research break in Aisle 4. He saw it through the shelves of Aisle 3. Laub- heim told him this was one of the “‘Zombie”’ glasses, tall painted highball glasses which were stored on the wall tier behind them. The time was about 10:35 a.m. Mr. Killam was unable to explain this incident normally and phoned the police station for help in investigating the case. Two other patrolmen and a sergeant came shortly after 12:00 noon. By then there had been four other inci- dents. At 11:50 a.m., Mr. Killam was still alone with Julio and Mr. Laubheim. When they were in the area south of Tier | and Aisle 1, looking toward Tier 3 where so many of the incidents had origin- ated, he saw two boxes (Events 54, 55) which stood on the floor below the south end of Tier 3 turn over and fall into Aisle 3. “T was standing down by the desk and Julio and Mr. Laubheim ... were in the general vicinity of the desk, too. And we were all looking over there and they just toppled down.” At about 12:00 noon, while Mr. Killam and Mr. Laubheim were still in the southeast corner of the room and Julio was in the southwest corner, a box of pencil sharpeners (Event 56) fell into Aisle 3 from the southern end of Tier 2. Julio replaced them and five to ten minutes later they fell again (Event 57). Since Julio was fairly close to this area, I asked Mr. Killam if Julio could have ushed the boxes. Mr. Killam was not certain about Julio's location in both incidents, but during one of them, he did not recall which, he noticed that Julio had his back toward the south end of Tier 2 when the box fell. During Event 58, at 12:20 p.s., Patrolmen David J. Sackett and Ronald Morse were also present. Sergeant William McLaugh- tin was also there, as was Mr. Howard Brooks and a friend of his, Miss Brenda Gibson, one of the performers at the ice show. At that time a box with address books (Event 58) fell into Aisle 2 from the north part of Tier 2, When this event happened, Mr. Killam said, “... between Ronnie and Dave and I ... we saw everybody ... that was in the room ... each one of them was standing where one of us saw them.” The four police officers were in the front area; Mr. Brooks and Miss Gibson were north of Tier 2; and Mr. Laubheim and Julio were north of Aisle 4, Mr. Killam said that Mr. Morse had noticed the box beforehand and that it was six to cight inches from the edge of the shelf. Mr. Sackett independently told me about this event on January 27. He said he was at the front desk, west of Tier 2, and that the others were also west of Tier 2, with perhaps one or two persons in the back area of the warehouse. Nobody was near the incident. Mr. Killam said that the police officers tested the shelves to see if vibrations or movements might cause objects to fall: “We The Miami Disturbances 421 shook one of them except the shelf at the extreme east [the wall tier] and nothing fell.” From the notes made by Miss Smith and from the additional information I obtained through interviews, it became apparent that several events fitted into a category that was of special scientif- ie interest. These were the instances in which the observers had seen objects start to move. Thirteen observations of this type were made before I arrived on the scene. (As it happened, no further such observations were recorded after the start of the investigation by parapsychologists, but this fact is no reason for discounting is earlier events.) Seeing the first stages of the movements of oye when there seemed to be no known explanations often was what first convinced those who observed them that the effects were not due to recognized physical forces or to trickery. The details regarding cleven of these disturbances are given in the p g accounts. __ Miss Roldan told Miss Smith on January 13 that one day when she was talking to Julio, “... I saw a big cardboard carton start to move by itself. It fell down. I ran, screaming and crying” (Event 5). Mr. Hagemeyer told me on January 20 that on the 13th, at 1:15 p.m., he was working at the shipping desk when he happened to glance up and saw a shot glass (Event 37) fall to the floor, near the north end of Tier 2, without breaking. ‘The glass came out ‘and down—nobody in the aisle—nobody at all—not a soul.” It belonged on the wall tier, approximately fifteen feet from where it landed. Also, sometime that afternoon he was working with Mr. Lewis behind the shipping desk when he happened to look apg see three small boxes (Events 43, 44 and 45) move off ‘Tier 1 and fall to the floor in Aisle 2. ““There was nobody in that aisle or the aisle on cither side of it ... there might have been somebody up by the [front] desk, but nobody [close}.”” On January 17 Mrs. May told Miss Smith (and later amplified the information when I interviewed Mrs. May) that Monday, the 16th, when she was returning from lunch through the north en- trance, she saw a plastic tray (Event 59) take off from the bottom shelf of the south end of Tier 1, fly to the second shelf of the south end of Tier 2 and then back, landing in a large carton in Aisle 2 under the south end of Tier 1. At about the same time, a quantity of metal key chains and a rubber alligator (Event 60), which had been in a box on Tier 2, spilled into the same carton where the tray had landed, the box remaining on the shelf. Julio was at the shipping desk and Mr. Lewis at the north end of the wall tier. May was certain that no one could have caused the event normally.

422 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research Mr. Brooks, a professional magician, made an investigation at the request of Mr. Laubheim, a friend of many years. Mr. Brooks did not think much of his friend’s problem. He told me, on January 20: “My first reaction was that the stock clerks or the shipping clerks or somebody is having a prank—a playful joke.” On Satur- day, the 14th, he spent an hour and a half in the warehouse: “I saw nothing happen and I discounted the whole thing. As a matter of fact, I made a practical joke of it by showing them how— while I was standing talking to someone—I took an article from behind my back and threw it and they all jumped and said, ‘there it goes again,’ ... so | wasn’t convinced .. . last week.”” He came back Monday morning, the 16th. Mr. Sackett, who was off duty, also came together with Mrs, Sackett. At about 12:00 noon, Mr. Brooks saw two boxes (Events 61 and 62) fall down in Aisle 4 from Tier 3. He was behind the shipping desk and saw them through Tier 3. Mr. and Mrs. Sackett were at the front desk and nobody was in the area between them. The cartons, each weighing about two pounds, hit the floor with a loud noise. Mr. Brooks could find no way in which this event might have been staged. “I can't buy this spook theory at this point, but something did move those [boxes] and I couldn’t figure out what.” I interviewed Mr. Sackett independently about this event on January 27 and discussed it with Mrs. Sackett on the 30th. They also saw the movement through Tier 3. Mr. Sackett said the boxes landed approximately a foot west of the tier, about five feet from where Mrs. Sackett was. He saw them in the air. The boxes had been on top of each other on the shelf and they came out as a pe |. maybe a three-inch difference in their horizontal out- ook . . . maybe three inches removed from the other one, but they were on top of each other.” And they remained on top of each other when they came to rest. Mr. Sackett noticed the location of Mr. Brooks at the northern area of the warehouse. Julio was between the shipping desk and Tier 2. In this case, as with other incidents, Mr. Sackett said he went to the shelf and examined the area where the object had been located for evidence of trickery. He found none and was also certain that no one had been close enough to throw the boxes. Mrs. Sackett told me she was seated on a stool at the end of Tier 3. Mr. Hagemeyer was in her view at the south end of Aisle 3. She did not see anyone who could have caused the objects to move. Mr. Brooks told me (during the same interview on January 20) that he returned about 1:00 p.m. on the 19th. Two TV men and Mrs. George M. Joice, a sister of Mr. Laubheim’s, were also ere Nothing happened for two hours and one of the TV men As Mr. Brooks was talking to the other one in the front area, The Miami Disturbances 423 Julio came by ing a stack of four boxes when there was a -erash. Mr. Brooks grabbed Julio so that the cameraman could get to the area first to investigate. A beer mug (Event 101) had crashed te Aisle 4. No one was near. The mug was the one that Brooks the TV man had placed on Tier 3. Mrs. Joice told Miss ith about this event on February 2. She said she was looking at the mug when it moved. It “sort of scooted off” the ; moving straight out into the air and then dropping straight down. _ An event in which a bottle seen to move and bounce on the floor was observed by two persons from opposite directions and described ind dently. Mrs. Joice, Mr. Laubheim's sister, Miss Smith on February 2 that she saw an Orange Crush t (Event ng leave the top shelf of Tier 2. It ‘went way out in the air, then down with a bang on its neck. Then it bounced On its side three times.” Mrs. May, who was seated at the front ‘desk at the time, had independently told Miss Smith and me about this event earlier. It took place on Thursday, January 19, at around 3:00 p.M., shortly before I came, At the first sound—she thought when the bottle bounced against the shelf—she looked around and saw it land in Aisle 2. It bounced three times on its side, at least a foot high each time, moving north about three feet. Julio was at the shipping desk and Mrs. Joice near Aisle 2. The Bey “pier near enough to have pushed the bottle was Mrs. Joice. _ Still another kind of observation that had been initiated before I arrived was the placing of decoy objects in places that had been involved in earlier events in the hope that these prepared objects would be disturbed. In recognizing and seizing the opportunity to entice the effects to continue under such semi-controlled condi- tions, the local observers were demonstrating a truly scientific attitude toward the events and they were setting an example in their investigations that we were glad to follow and extend in our Subsequent investigation. The value of the method of setting up decoy objects was proved in a number of instances in which the Prepared objects were disturbed, and this continued to be true during our work on the case. Eight such incidents were reported for the period antecedent to my arrival and five afterward, The details regarding some of these are given below. On Wednesday, January 18, when Miss Smith, Mr. Sackett, and Mr, Brooks were present, they placed a Coke bottle on the north of Tier 3. Five minutes later, at 11:40 a.m., when she and Mr. rooks were in the northwest part of the warehouse and Julio was in the north end of Aisle 2, the bottle (Event 79) crashed in Aisle 4. Miss Smith was not certain where the other people in the ware- house were at the time, but it happened that a friend of Mrs. May,

424 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research Charlotte Sheffield, was standing outside the back gate looking at Tier 3 when the incident took place. She said that no one was near. After the Coke bottle had broken, Mr. Sackett placed a beer mug, clean of fingerprints, as a “decoy” where the bottle had been and roped off Tier 3. He requested that no one go back of the rope. Miss Smith ey Se “Then everyone went out for lunch except Julio and me. cone had brought me food and I was eating at the desk. Julio was standing beside me at the south end of the room and no one else was in the room at 12:00 noon. I said to him, “This would be a good time for something to happen.’ At almost that instant the sound of a shot glass (Event 80) landing on the cement floor was heard. I have heard this enough almost to identify the sound by now. We found it inside the roped area between on. 2 and 3, about midway down Aisle 3. It was not broken. e walked back and I sat down, as we discussed the fact that the shot glasses were kept along the east wall at the back. Neither of us recalls secing one on the shelf in that area that day” (i.c., on Tiers 2 or 3). Though Julio could not have thrown the glass, Miss Smith could not be certain that someone might not have done so from the outside through the iron grill of the back entrance. For the next two events, the back door was closed. Within two minutes of the previous event Miss Smith reported that “... there was a loud crash of glass. At the end of Aisle 3, outside the rope, a beer mug (Event 81) was broken. We did not recall seeing one of those in that area either. I went under the rope and ascer- tained that Sackctt's decoy beer mug was still in its place on Tier 3. The back doors were now closed. No one was looking in. Julio and I were alone. | walked back to the desk and almost immediately the identical sound was repeated. This time it was the decoy mug (Event 82) breaking at the end of Tier 3 into Aisle 4. No one was in the room except Julio and me and we were together all of this time, near the desk.” The pieces of Mr. Sackett’s beer mug were never examined for fingerprints. When he returned later that day the rope had come down and people had been in the area. Shortly afterwards Mr. Brooks came. Miss Gibson was again with him. He, too, did an experiment. He told me (on January 20) that he put out two objects on Tier 3. “There were two beer mugs that we placed as a test because it is not beyond the possibility that somebody could toss something in here and if something crashes here like a Coca-Cola bottle, how do you know where it came from? ... but when you set it here and it crashes and there is nothing on the shelf, then we have to assume that it is the same one.”” At about one o'clock, one of the mugs (Event 85) crashed in The Miami Disturbances 425 . Aisle 4 He and Miss Gibson were by the front desk. He was that the only people near Aisle 4 were the TV crews trying to televise the incidents (none of the objects moved when they were filmed). At about 2:20 p.m. the other beer mug (Event 90) fell into Aisle 4 but without breaking. Mr. Brooks and Miss Gibson were F in the front area and none of the employees or owners were near the event. _ Between the two beer mug incidents, there were four other occurrences, At 1:23 when Mr. Brooks and Miss Gibson were in the front areca as before, he saw a plastic glass (Event 86) in the air. Mr. Brooks, however, said he could not rule out the ibility that the glass was thrown from behind him. (It fell into the middle of Aisle 1, presumably from the south end of the wall tier.) Seven minutes later, while he and Miss Gibson were again by the front desk, a box of rubber daggers (Event 87) fell into Aisle 4. He saw one of the daggers bounce on the floor, At about two o'clock another beer mug (Event 88) fell into Aisle 4 while they were in the same position. They had put out another object, a Coke bottle which they had placed against the back of the shelf in Tier 3. About 2:15 while they were still in front, it fell into Aisle 4 (Event 89). For the three last events Brooks was certain that the only persons in the vicinity were the TV crews. Part Ill W. G. Rou Tue Frirast Stace OF THE PARAPSYCHOLOGICAL Stupy (One INVESTIGATOR) When I came to Miami I had two plans in mind which I hoped would indicate whether the disturbances could be explained normally. (a) I intended to question witnesses about the past events, and my findings about them have already been summarized. (6) I hoped to observe some of the events myself, assuming the case was still active. I expected to tape record some of the inter- views, but mainly to rely on written notes. In addition to a tape recorder and writing materials, my equipment was limited to a tape measure which I planned to use for recording movements of objects and for making a floor plan. I did not approach the case with a fixed program of research, since I intended to let the inci- dents dictate my procedure. It had already caine clear by the time I arrived that occur- rences could only be expected when Julio was present. This

426 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research influenced my procedure insofar as it was concerned with checking upon the fraud hypothesis. The easiest normal explanation was that he, perhaps assisted by one or more accomplices, simply pushed the objects off the shelves, picked them up to toss them later when no one was looking, or placed them precariously so they would fall off by themselves. It was also possible he used reaching instruments, thread arrange- ments, or other forms of magic. It seemed unlikely that the events could be solely attributed to impersonal physical processes, such as earth tremors, since the disturbances nearly always occurred when he was present and they focused upon certain kinds of objects in # rlasae-ry places. As in other such investigations, I planned to make my study as inconspicuous as possible to minimize my intrusion into the chological situation which may be important for such events. evertheless, I was prepared for the possibility that I might inhibit the phenomena, which seemed more likely to be the case since Miss Smith had already identified me as a scientist who specialized in the investigation of such cases, In earlier studies I have sometimes found that the disturbances would diminish or disappear altogether when I arrived only to resume when I had left. If the case were to quiet down after I arrived, I was prepared to leave for short periods to enco the incidents. I arrived at the warehouse in the afternoon of Thursday, January 19. There was one disturbance (Event 103) shortly after I came which could have been caused normally. The two other incidents (Events 104 and 105) that day took place when I was out of the room. On Friday, January 20, I left for short periods to see if my absence would encourage the events. I informed Mr. Brooks and Miss Smith about my plan and asked them to observe the situation as best they could in case the events should resume. There were three incidents (Events 106, 107, and 108) at these times. Two of these occurred when Mr. Brooks or Miss Smith were convinced that no known physical causes were responsible. Since it was clear that the case was active and could not be easily dismissed, on Saturday morning, January 21, I decided to remain in the warehouse in the hope that any inhibitory effects I might have would wear off and that something would happen when I was present. There was one occurrence (Event 110). I left for Durham Sunday morning, January 22. I planned to return a few days later if the case remained active. On January 23 I used the occasion of a meeting of the Board of Directors of the Psychical Research Foundation to inform J.G.P. about the case and to invite him to join the study. We agreed that he would do so if the disturbances continued. The Miami Disturbances 427 I phoned Miss Smith from Durham Tuesday evening, January 24. She told me the case was as active as ever. I learned later that there had been fifty-two incidents on Monday (Events 111-162) and thirteen on Tuesday (Events 163-175). This amounts to more than one quarter of the total number of incidents which have been hoa in this case. returned to Miami Wednesday afternoon, January 25. I again brought a tape recorder and this time also a camera to record disturbed objects and the positions of people at the time. In view of the unsuccessful attempts by the TV crews to photograph objects in motion, it was not my intention to attempt that. During this second visit, I hoped to move the study to the imental stage by using selected objects and areas. The advantages of this procedure over situations involving the move- ments of unselected objects are obvious. (a) A target area and a target object placed in it can be examined much more closely for special mechanisms, faulty construction of shelves, and other rs that might cause or facilitate a movement than can all the places and objects in the room. (6) After a target area has been _ prepared, the experimenter can keep it under observation much more casily than the whole area where incidents take place. Target areas can be supervised without disrupting the normal activities of the occupants (and thus keep the disruption of the psychological Situation at a minimum) if the experimenter reexamines the areas whenever somebody has been near, instead of restricting access to them. (c) When an event involving a target object takes place, there can be no doubt as to the origin of the movement, the distance the object traveled, and other details. From the point of view of evidence for parapsychological effects, movements of target objects are often more convincing than movements of unselected objects that occur in full view of the investigator, since the possibility of fraudulent preparation can often be more definitely excluded in the former case than in the latter. y Since the employees as well as the other investigators had already successfully used “decoys” in selected areas, this experi- mental stage of our study could, I hoped, be introduced out ing the psychological situation. My main worry was about Niother the case would still be active and whether my presence would inhibit the effects. By: Nothing happened on Wednesday, which was not surprising since Julio was absent with a cold. : Julio was back at work Thursday morning, January 26. While I observed (but without seeming to take a direct part in the experi- ment), Miss Smith placed an alligator ashtray as a target object

428 Yournal of the American Society for Psychical Research on the second shelf at the north end of ‘Tier 3. Right in front of it, Julio put a cowbell that had been involved in earlier incidents. After this I checked both objects to see whether there were any attachments or foreign elements that might be used to simulate an incident. I found none. I checked the area periodically and always did so after any of the owners or employees had been in the area. This ashtray later moved (Event 176) while I was present and when none of the employees seemed in a position to have caused the movement normally. (See Table | for events involving target objects placed and/or examined by J.G.P. or me.) Later the cowbell (Event 177) and a box (Event 178) moved, shortly after I had been out of the room and when I could not be certain that the objects had not been tampered with beforehand. The following are more detailed accounts of the main events that ie 3 rer | my first and second visits. Even though I had deliberately left the room when some of the disturbances took place, my presence only a short time later to interview the persons who were there allows us to have more confidence in their accounts than for earlier events when their recall had to span longer intervals of time. Three Bottles Move (Events 103, 104, and 105) On Thursday, January 19, at 3:24 p.m., when I had just arrived in the warehouse for the first time and the room was full of people; a Coke bottle (Event 103) fell from the south end of Tier 3 into Aisle 4. Julio was close by and the event could easily have been caused normally. During the next incident, which happened at 4:03, I was in the front office and Miss Smith by the desk in front of the warehouse, A Coke bottle (Event 104) fell off the north part of Tier 3 into Aisle 4 without breaking. Julio was at the north end of Tier 2 with two friends, Pedro Collado and Chris Carreno, both sixteen years old. I asked them about Julio’s activity at the time and they said he had been moving a box and talking to them when the bottle fell. The only event reported to have taken place when none of the owners or employees were present occurred on the evening of January 19, at 10:45. Mr. Jerome Eden of the South Florida TV Network told me the next day that he was alone in the warehouse telecasting from the front desk when he heard a crash at the back. He found a Pepsi bottle (Event 105) broken on the floor near some boxes which had fallen over, their contents spilled. Apparently the bottle had hit the boxes and turned them over, in the process spilling cola over the area. Mr. Eden remembered seeing these boxes in a stack previously (he had placed a bag of Fritos on them). The Miami Disturbances 429 He also remembered seeing the bottle in its original fortes on the front desk where he was seated. It had been left there earlier in the day by Miss Smith, who had finished half the contents. The only other person in the building was a colleague of Eden’s who was resting in the front office. The bottle broke thirty-six fect from its original position. Beer Mug and Two Boxes Move When Investigator Leaves to En- courage Events (Events 106, 107, and 108) Friday, January 20, was my second day at the warehouse. Nothing happened during the morning and I suspected that I was inhibiting the phenomena, I therefore decided to leave to encourage the events. At 12:50 I announced that I was going on an errand. Before I left, I told Mr. Brooks about my plan, asking him to ie Ue careful lookout in case anything should happen. I had only been away ten minutes when a beer mug (Event 106) from the second shelf of Tier 3 fell into Aisle 4. Mr. Brooks was by the front desk at the end of Tier 2, Mr. Lewis was at the end of Tier 1, and Julio was with Mr. Laubheim in the middle of Aisle 1. Mr. Brooks noted that he was the person closest to this incident: “There was no one near enough to do anne like to push it, pull a thread, or shove it with a wire [or] tilt the shelf.” At the time of the incident, he said that Mr. Laubheim was asking Julio if he would be willing to work the next morning, Saturday. Mr. Laubhcim told me that the incident happened at the time he said to Julio, “Let's come in tomorrow, it will be nice and quiet.” There was no one else in the warehouse. Miss Smith was in the front office talking to a reporter. On January 20, after the beer mug fell while I was away, I again left to encourage the phenomena, but this time only for the outer office. This time Miss Smith was present and she and Mr. Brooks remained as observers. At 1:40 p.m. a box of imitation leather goods (Event 107) fell off the north end of Tier 3 into Aisle 4 while Julio was just on the other side of the tier. Miss Smith, Miss Roldan, Mr. Brooks, and two friends of his were by the front desk. 1 rushed in and heard Miss Smith say to Julio, “Julio, you did it!” She told me that she had not seen anything suspicious, but that Julio was close enough to have caused the event. Julio staunchly denied it and became angry and upset, said he wanted to leave, demanded an apology, etc. By and by, feelings were placated. The next incident took place at 5:00 p.m. when I was in the outer office with Mr. Laubheim and Mr. Hagemeyer and when only Miss Smith, Miss Roldan, and Julio were in the warehouse,

430 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research Pile) Wee EW L a se | aaa hh peste Table t Evierts Invotvine Onyects Usan as Tancers sy THe PARApsyCHOLOGICAL InvesTicaTons | iF 5 a lala t LH i

432 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research all by the front desk. A box of address books (Event 108) fell into the north end of Aisle 2 from Tier 2. This time Miss Smith was certain that neither Julio nor any of the two others could have caused the event normally since all three were with her at the front desk. Box with Combs Falls When Investigator Present (Event 110) Mr. Laubheim had persuaded Julio to come to work Saturday morning, January 21, which was not usually a working day. To facilitate the investigation, it was agreed that when anything happened all would “freeze” in their positions so that it could be determined where everybody was. At 11:10 a.m. Julio was next to Miss Smith at the front desk, and I was making measurements south of Tier 3, facing the direction of Miss Smith and Julio but without looking at them. We heard a noise, I looked up at once and all “froze."" I saw Julio just beyond the south end of Aisle 2 with his writing board in one hand and a pencil in the other. Miss Smith was on the phone next to him and Mr. Laubheim was in the northwest end of the room, facing southeast. A box of combs had fallen from the south end of ‘Tier | to Aisle 1. Mr. Laubheim said he saw the box fall to the floor through the shelves. Julio was about five feet from its original position. I examined the area for strings and other foreign objects but found nothing suspicious. It did not scem possible that Julio or anyone else could have - ushed the box off the shelf without my observing this. Only the our of us were in the warehouse. Target Ashtray Falls (Event 176) On Thursday, January 26, during my second visit, at 2:05 p.m., the alligator ashtray that Miss Smith and I had placed on Tier 3 fell and broke in Aisle 4. At that time Julio was standing with his back to Tier 3, four feet from where the ashtray had been. I was in the back area about twenty feet from Julio and looking directly at him. He was making no suspicious movement at the time and I could find no way in which he could have caused the incident. Between him and the tier was a stack of boxes four feet high and the end of the shelf on which the ashtray stood was covered with a twelve-inch-high board. There were three other employees in the warehouse at the time, Mr. Hagemeyer, Miss Roldan, and Miss Rambisz. All were in the north area and all were in my view, Mr. H eyer being nearest to the event, standing north of Aisle 2, eight feet from the ashtray. None of them could have caused the incident normally as far as I could determine. The cowbell re- The Miami Disturbances 433 mained in place. Consequently the ashtray must cither have moved around or over it. I phoned J.G.P. and shared these developments with him. ‘We agreed that he should join the investigation and he arrived the same evening and went with me to the warchouse Friday morning, January 27. It was my experience that a new investigator might put a damper on the incidents, especially in the beginning. In order to minimize this effect as far as J.G.P. was concerned, I introduced him to Julio as a friend who was generally curious about the incidents and not as another investigator. There was one incident (Event 179) that morning when J.G.P. was present and I had briefly left the room, and another (Event 180) in the early afternoon when I had also left and was returning. Again it seemed that the incidents were favored by my absence. During the remainder of the time J.G.P. was present (the after- noon of the 27th and the mornings of the 28th and 30th), I there- fore left for periods lasting between fifteen and thirty-eight min- utes. During five such times, accounting for less than two hours, there were six occurrences (Events 181, 182, 183, 184, 194, and 195) and only two when I was present (Events 185 and 196).* Since J.G.P. was usually in a position to observe the situation in the warchouse at the times of the incidents, the procedure of my deliberately leaving seemed justified even though it removed one ‘of the investigators from the room. The details of the ten events that took place while J.G.P. was in the room will be described in the next section. Here | will be concerned only with some of the preparations we made jointly. The first incident after J.G.P.’s arrival was the breakage of a ‘spoondrip tray (Event 179) that had been on the second shelf of ctr nes side of Tier 2, We asked Julio to put up another tray as a replacement—intending this to be a target object, but without ‘announcing this or seeming to supervise the experiment. We ¢xamined the tray at the time and periodically during the after- ‘noon, when it fell into Aisle 2. The movement of this object (Event 181) into Aisle 2, added to similar incidents in the past, encouraged us to try experiments with target objects as a major part of our methodology. On Saturday morning, January 28, before anything had happen- ed, we prepared five target areas, selecting places where the inci- dents had been particularly frequent. In all cases we used types of objects which had been disturbed before, and sometimes particular * Events 186-193 refer to eight objects that Julio found in the area (open to the warchouse) over Mr. Laubheim's office on January 30 and which could have Moved there at any time prior to that date,

434 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research objects that had previously moved. The target areas were (a) the northwest end of Tier 3, second shelf (alligator ashtray with cow- bell in front of it); (6) the northeast end of Tier 2, second shelf (Zombie glass and spoondrip tray); (c) the north end of the wall tier, bottom shelf (two alligator ashtrays, one damaged during an earlier incident, the alligator being loose); (d) the southwest end of Tier 3, second np tes Pepsi bottle); and (e) the southwest end of Tier 3, top shelf (empty Tab bottle). As part of our procedure we kept these areas under control by px ic inspections, and always when the owners or employees had near. ‘T'wo of the target objects (Events 194 and 195) moved after I had left to encourage the events and J.G.P. was the only investigator present, and one object moved (Event 185) when we were both there. Part IV J. G, Prarr’ FirsTHAND OBSERVATIONS OF TEN INCIDENTS DuRING THE SeconD STAGE OF THE PARAPSYCHOLOGICAL StupY (Two INvEsTIGAToRs) Methodology Since the disturbances in the Seaford case on which W.G.R. and I had collaborated in 1958 had virtually ceased before we reached the scene, the prospect of collaborating on a case that had not yet run its course was especially attractive. I arrived in Miami on Thursday afternoon, January 27, 1967, and W.G.R. met me at the airport. During the rest of that day he told me about the preceding developments of the case. y part in the investigation began when we arrived at the location of the disturbances, Tropication Arts, around 9:00 a.M. on Friday, January 27, 1967. We agreed to take observation vantage points in opposite corners of the large room where all of the pre- vious disturbances had occurred (see Figure 1). I had a battery-driven tape recorder which I placed in my briefcase, with the microphone outside. The tape recorder could be * The reason why a report signed only by me on the ten events that occurred when I ene reneat seems appropriate is that eight of these disturbances took place while -G.R. was not in the room, This method of reporting makes it Penna che Teaponsibility for the statements made here sbout these events rests on me, record of what the persons in the room ha The Miami Disturbances 435 started or stopped by a remote-control switch on the mike. This ‘arrangement made my use of the recorder as inconspicuous as possible. I could record in a whisper while seated at my assigned _ observation point or while walking around the room with my briefcase in my hand. Three parallel tiers of back-to-back shelves occupied the center part of the room. Their construction was such as to enable one _ to see into the aisles between these tiers by looking through the openings between the shelves. Thus I could follow the move- ‘ments of the people in the room and also observe in a general way what they were doing, especially which way they were facing and how they were using their arms and hands. At the same time, the shelves ly screened me from being seen by the employees. This kept them from being directly aware of the fact that I was constantly watching them. The physical layout of the room and the construction of the tiers of shelves provided a good oppor- tunity to observe inconspicuously what was happening in the room from minute to minute (see Figure 2). I decided to make a running account on tape of what was taking in the manner of a sports announcer giving a verbal descrip- tion of an athletic contest, I began doing this without waiting for disturbance to occur. Thus, if an unaccountable movement of one of the objects in the warehouse should take place, the infor- ‘mation on the tape immediately preceding it could provide a a been doing and just where they were at the instant of the disturbance itself, Thi would be more reliable than memory. The information reported here is mainly based on the descriptions recorded in advance on tape and on statements recorded afterward on tape or in my notes for purposes of reiteration and clarification (but never modification or amplification). W.G.R. also had a tape recorder. Following the disturbances, including those that took place when he was absent, we would discuss the events, W.G.R. tape recording the discussion and taking notes as the need arose. I have used this material to supple- ment my own notes, Incident I: Spoondrip Tray Broken’ (Event 179) By 10;45 a.m. on Friday, January 27, I had been recording a ing description of the activity in the room for approximately an hour, and during this time nothing unusual had happened. Julio, to whom I paid special attention, kept busy going to differ- ent points in the room to collect the souvenirs’ listed in the orders that he was filling. He would assemble the parts of each order at

436 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research the workbench near the north end of the room preparatory to putting the objects in a box and wrapping them for shipment. At dat time I recorded on the tape that my method of main- ining a constant vigilance and continuously describing the changing scene might be inhibiting the poltergeist activity and that I therefore was shutting off the tape recorder for a time. W.G.R. had given me some notes that Miss Smith had prepared on the earlier stages of the case. I began reading these, occasionally making a tour of inspection about the room and generally remain- ing observant. A disturbance occurred at 10:55 a.m. At that time I was at the desk in the south part of the room. My notes about it made imme- diately afterward are as follows: “Bul Roll had just gone to front [part of establishment] to get me some coffee. Crash [heard] as tray fell and broke [close to the middle of Aisle 2; see Fig. 1]. I did not see it fall, did not see J. at the instant, but saw him at once afterward. No motion anywhere to catch attention. I have been attentive to motion in room, can see most parts of room through cracks of shelves (over boxes, etc.). Regarding this event, I cannot say it was not caused [normally] by someone. It seems likely to be a part of the total pattern. .. . Julio put up new tray on same shelf, at W.G.R. suggestion.” My notes contain a sketch showing that Julio was working, at the moment this crash occurred, in Aisle 3, somewhat north of the point in Aisle 2 where the tray fell and broke. Thus he was sepa-" rated from the object by the shelves of Tier 2 that faced Aisle 3 and by the twelve-inch board that formed a partition separating the two halves of the shelf with the tray. The replacement tray that Julio put on the shelf stood about ten inches back from the edge, against the dividing board running the length of the shelf. I examined this object immediately afterward and found nothing unusual about its placement. I then went back to my observation point and ie § making a running descrip- tion on tape of the normal activity occurring in the room. Incident IT; Zombie Glass Broken (Event 180) The next disturbance occurred at 1:13 P.m., when a sound of breaking glass was heard. W.G.R. had once more gone out of the room and was just entering. I immediately investigated the noise and found the shattered pieces of a tall drinking glass on the floor in the north end of Aisle 4. I was not looking directly at Julio at the instant the noise occurred, but I immediately afterward obser- ved that he was at*the north end of Aisle 3, having just entered that aisle. Thus he was again one aisle removed from the point of if The Miami Disturbances 437 the impact and separated from it by one of the tiers of double es. Both Julio and a second shipping clerk, Mr. Curt Hagemeyer, been working at the shipping desk near the north end of the Roce during the: period just before this event took place. Mr. Hagemeyer was standing on the north side of the ch and facing pon in the pon direction of where the glass was broken. Julio (as he later reported) had been preparing an order for shi ment. This included nine tall glasses that he had placed on the bench, and he had turned away to collect other objects. The only other person in the room was Miss Iris Roldan, the assistant shipping clerk, who was seated at the desk in the front of the m. » When I asked Julio if he knew where the glass had been, he led the he to the bench where he had been working. There we counted eight glasses. He said that a moment earlier there had eam nine The glasses were known as Zombie glasses and were painted with palms, etc., by the lady artists in the firm. I was not looking directly at Julio at the instant the noise occur- red, and he could have tossed the glass when shielded from my by boxes that were stacked at the north end of Tier 3. Mr. Hagemeyer said that he had not seen anything unusual. Incident IIT: Replacement Spoondrip Tray Broken (Event 181) After W.G.R. and I had discussed between ourselves and with others who were present the circumstances surrounding Incident II and after we had completed photographing and notetaking concerning it, approximately a further hour went by during which nothing unus iiagpened. Then W.G.R., who was still consider- ing the possibility that his presence was an inhibiting factor, told falio and me that he was going outside for a stroll. Five minutes after he had left, at 3:00 p.m., the spoondrip tray that had been on the target area of the second shelf of Tier 2 near the north end fell into Aisle 2 and broke. This was the tray that Julio had placed on the shelf at the suggestion of W.G.R. to replace the one that had fallen from the same spot and broken late in the forenoon. Both investigators had examined the replacement object at the time and both of us had periodically inspected it afterwards in the course of our individual “touring” of the premises to inspect objects in different parts of the room and to insure that everything in normal order. : Dating the period preceding this event I was observing the activity in the room and recording a running description of the situation on tape from my position in the southwest corner of the

438 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research room. This record continued right up to the instant when the tray fell and broke. The point on the shelf where it was standing was not visible from my observation point. I could, however, see Julio. He was working in the south part of Aisle 3 and was separated from the disturbance by the tier of double shelves. I could see both his hands. In one he held a clipboard, and the other was by his side. At the time of the incident he was walking toward my position. No one was in Aisle 2 where the tray fell and broke, and Julio was the nearest person. I was not able to conceive of any way in which the falling of the tray could have been caused to happen in a normal manner. Incident IV: Alligator Ashtray Broken in a Different Location (Event 182) About twenty minutes after the preceding incident, while W.G.R. was still away and after I had completed making a record on tape and in my notes of Incident III, I was again at my obser- vation point taping a running description of the normal activity in the room. At 3:15 p.m. there was a sound of breakage from the east side of the room about the middle of its length. I immediately went to the spot, the north end of Aisle 1, and found on the floor a souvenir oe was decorated with an alligator. It had been broken in its but not completely shattered. Julio and other members of the staff said that it had been on the long shelf that extended along the length of the east wall of the room. There were three other similar ashtrays still on the shelf. Julio was at the north end of Aisle 2 at the time this disturbance occurred, and he was separated from the spot where the ashtray fell by the northern end of Tier 1. The only other person near the point where the tray fell was Mr. Laubheim, one of the proprietors. He was standing at the east end of the workbench with his back toward the location of the disturbance. Others who were working in the room at the time were at a greater distance, and it is not possible for me to fix the location of each one precisely, No suspicious circumstances were observed preceding the event, and no evidence was found of any way in which it could have been caused to happen normally, Incident V: Sailfish Ashtray Broken in Same Location as Incident IV (Event 183) The fifth and final event to occur while I was in the room during the first day of my visit was similar to the preceding one: A sou- venir ashtray decorated with a sailfish, one of the three left on the shelf of the cast wall tier after the preceding incident, fell at the same place in Aisle 1 and shattered. This happened at 3:30 p.m, The Miami Disturbances 439 fifteen minutes after the previous disturbance and while .G.R. was still away. He returned only a few minutes after this ent took place. , ks was ei of all of the events that happened while I was there, I did not directly observe the initiation of the motion nor any part of it. The first sign of the disturbance was the sound of the crash, and the location was determined by finding where the breakage of the object had occurred. My notes are lacking in specific information about which persons were in the room and where they were located, but Julio said he was in Aisle 2 nearer its southern end. rite | ; Following the last of the five incidents that occurred on Friday, W.G.R. persuaded the proprietors to keep their business open on Saturday. They agreed to do this with a skeleton crew, including Julio and Mr. Hagemeyer. W.G.R. and I came in shortly before 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, but Julio did not arrive until approxi- mately 9:30. My notes made at the time contain the following statement: “I would say that the atmosphere is much more relaxed it was yesterday], so it is doubtful if anything should be expected to happen.”’ But later events showed that my pessimistic judgment was not justified. There were two striking disturbances: one when I was in the room alone with Julio; and the second when W.G.R. and I were both present with Julio and Mr. Hagemeyer. Incident VI: Glass Pickle Jar Broken (Event 184) This event occurred at 10:55 a.m., while W.G.R. had left for fifteen minutes to encourage the phenomena. I was talking with ulio south of Tier 2. At that moment there was a crash of break- in glass in the west side of the room. I went immediately in the direction of the noise, entering Aisle 4 from its south end. About two-thirds of the way up the aisle I found on the floor shattered glass that appeared to be the remains of a large-sized jar. The ‘metal cap was still screwed = the threaded opening, and the f thick was still in one picce. ’ forthe okies sapd nett at about the same place as Incident Il. This ti the conte Be Cee NS ee of objects during the earlier phases of the . wT asked Julio if he revi where the jar had been before it crashed on the floor. He ap to think a moment, then he led the way to the north end of the room and pointed to a spot on the table near the back door. There we found a circle on the table that was relatively free of dust. W.G.R. and I found later that the base of the jar fitted the circle on the table, so the jar could have been Standing there previously.

440 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research This incident differs in several important respects from others that happened while I was present. It occurred when Julio and I were the only two people in the room and when we were together and engaged in conversation. I had been watching Julio during the period of approximately an hour since he had first arrived in the morning. During that time I had observed nothing unusual in his actions. The jar was a relatively large one (approximately two quarts). It would have been to invite detection if such a large and “unusual” object had been placed on the shelf among the souvenirs, Pg it obviously did not belong, and rigged in any way to make it fall. Assuming that the jar moved from the back table, this was the greatest distance that any of the disturbed objects traveled while an investigator was present. The distance was approximately twenty- two fect. The circumstances before the event and our close in- spection of the situation immediately afterward did not reveal any normal explanation of how the jar came to fall onto the floor and break when it did. Incident VII: Target Zombie Glass Broken with Both Investigators in the Room (Event 185) At 11:03 A.M., approximately seven minutes after the distur- bance involving the breaking of the glass jar, W.G.R. (who had returned at 11:00 a.m.) and I were standing just beyond the north end of Aisle 4 facing east. Julio was standing at the end of Tier 3 close to Aisle 3. He was facing us, four feet away, and the three of us were talking in general terms about developments connected with the case. We heard the sound of glass breaking in Aisle 2, and we went immediately to that location. There we found frag- ments of a drinking glass scattered on the floor near the north end of the aisle. This was a Zombie glass like the one that had been broken the previous day in Incident II. We had taken it from the general stock and placed it on the shelf in the place where the two epocndip trays had been before they were broken (target area 5). ¢ used the glass because there were no more spoondrip trays and because this kind of glass had been involved in several earlier disturbances. Both investigators had inspected that area frequently between the time when the glass was placed on the shelf and when it was broken. We never found any indication of anything unusual about the situation, and we discovered nothing immediately after the disturbance that could suggest any ordinary basis for the event. Mr. Hagemeyer was working at the shipping desk. He was parti- Cipating in the discussion and was facing Julio at the time the glass fell and broke. No one else was in the room. The Miami Disturbances 441 Incident VIII: Plastic-Covered Zombie Glass Disturbed But Not Broken (Event 194) We continued our observations i the Sap Ry ce onan an 30. Nothing unusual happen uring the for r erat che middle ota day a local psychologist, Dr. K., whom W.G.R. and I had visited over the weekend, came to the location on our invitation. We spent some minutes talking with him in the room where all the events had taken place, Then Dr. K. went to the front of the establishment. W.G.R. also left to encourage the nomena. : Earlier in the day I had gone around the room to the different locations at which objects had been “thrown” from the shelves most often in previous disturbances. At each place I used postal twine to tether some of the target objects. I tied one object in cach of target areas a, 6, and c. The length of the string by which the object was attached to the shelf was chosen in such a way that the object would be stopped just short of reaching the floor. The purpose was to see whether any of the objects that had been attached by string would become involved in disturbances, I pro- oa this plan the previous evening and W.G.R. had approved it, ut he suggested that it would be important in each instance to have another similar object at each place alongside the one that had been tied. This way, in the case any disturbance ; we would be able to observe whether it was the object attached by string that was moved or the unattached object sitting beside it. One object I had tethered was a Zombie glass of the same kind as the one broken in the preceding disturbance (Incident VII). A similar glass was placed alongside. During the forenoon, when W.G.R. and Julio were in that area and were talking about the two glasses, Julio suggested that it would be interesting to see what happened if the unattached glass were wrapped in plastic. With our approval, he picked up a plastic that was available and placed it over the second drinking glass. The two glasses were twelve inches from the edge of the shelf. At 2:35 p.m., when W.G.R. had left the aie encourage the events and Dr. K. was out of sight in the front office area of the building, and when I was in the middle of Aisle 3, a loud noise was heard from Aisle 2. No one was in Aisle 2 at the time. I went immediately to that area, while Dr. K. came hurrying into the room from the front, where he also had heard the noise. Mr. was on the north side of the shipping desk facing south and talking with Julio, who was on the other side of the shipping desk. We found the glass wrapped in the plastic cover ii the floor, still in the plastic bag, four feet from its position on

442 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research the tier. Surprisingly, the glass had not broken. The noise was apparently caused sears | by the falling of the glass, but we could find no evidence of how it might have been caused to fall in a normal manner. Incident IX: Target Alligator Ashtray Broken in Aisle 4 (Event 195) Two minutes afterwards, while Dr. K. and I were still in Aisle 2 ining and discussing the situation in which the wrapped glass had fallen, we heard a noise from the west side of the room. was facing south and Dr. K., north. We both immediately turned in opposite directions in Aisle 2 and approached the source of the noise. Thus I came to Aisle 4 from the north while Dr. K. was entering it from the south. There was no opportunity for anyone to leave that area of the room without being seen, and the aisle was empty when we got there. Besides us, only Julio and Mr. Hagemeyer were in the room. On the floor near the point where the glass of Incident II and the glass jar of Incident VI had been broken (below target area a), we found the remains of an alligator ashtray that we had placed previously on the shelf above that spot in target area a. No physical explanation of how the tray fell could be found. Incident X: Shot Glass Moves (Event 196) For some time after the two preceding disturbances that Dr. K. also experienced, he was talking about possible investigative procedures that might bring future disturbances under more direct observation. He had not yet become informed regarding the consistent manner in which the disturbances appeared to “avoid” being seen and the unsuccessful efforts to photograph an object in motion. Our discussions were still continuing when two news- paper reporters arrived and wished to get a story on the scientific investigation of the case. W.G.R., Dr. K., and I were talking to the reporters in the southeast corner of the room, near the front entrance, when a loud, sharp explosive sound was heard from the east side of the room toward the back. From where we had been standing we only needed to turn our eyes in the direction of the sound to be able to see the spot where the breakage occurred. When we investigated, we found that a small shot glass had been shattered in Aisle 1 near the north end of Tier | where the two animal ashtrays had fallen and broken on Friday. Immediately, as we heard the crash, W.G.R. observed that Julio was in Aisle 2. Since the event happened at some distance from him and he was separated from the point of the breakage by Tier 1, The Miami Disturbances 443 could not have caused it in any way we could discover. When we ecied where glasses of that sort were kept, Julio led the way to a section of the wall tier toward the north end of the room (target area c), where some of the glasses were standing on the shelves. This deem was approximately nine feet from the spot where the fragments of the token glass were scattered. One unusual feature of this event was the loud sound that accompanied the disturbance. The noise was much more like an explosion than like the crashing of the glass against the cement floor. The bottom part of the glass had penetrated the side of a dboard box that was standing on the floor against the east side of Tier 1. The fragment of the penetrated the east side of the cardboard box about cight inches above the floor and remained ed there. At the time of the disturbance Mr. Hagemeyer was working at the shipping desk in the northern part of the room. It is conceivable that he could have tossed the glass to cause it to fall into the north end of Aisle 1, but in case he had done so the glass would have struck the floor at an angle that would have caused the fragments to scatter toward the east wall of the room, In that case we find it difficult to conceive of the fragment moving westward with the force to cause it to penetrate the cardboard box. Dr. K. pulled the glass loose from the box and attempted to ress it through the cardboard at another spot. He reported that it required considerable force to make the fragment cut through the cardboard. There was no collision mark on the box itself and no evidence on the floor of where the glass had struck, which seemed somewhat surprising in view of the force that seemed to be indi- cated. These circumstances suggested the possibility that the “exploded” in the air. Pettis condiodes the description of ten disturbances that took place while I was in the room where they occurred. While the descriptions have been brief, I have tried to include all of the known facts that scem relevant to efforts to interpret them. Comparisons of these events with those that occurred during earlier and later phases of the case and discussion of the investigation as one “possibly involving genuine RSPK events are presented in other sections of this joint paper.

444 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research Part V W. G. Roti Tue Turrp STAGE OF THE PARAPSYCHOLOGICAL Stupy (One Investicator) J.G.P. left Miami on Monday afternoo i wer “3 ee of Ebay 1, Spheres prin en I arrived on the scene Tuesday morning, January 31, I reduced the target areas to the three which had- beearehe most active: (a) the northwest end of Tier 3, second shelf (an empty Tab bottle, the cowbell tied to the shelf, and an orange with a Zombie cocktail pin stuck in it); (6) the northeast end of Tier 2, second shelf (two Zombie glasses—one in a plastic bag, later removed, and one tied to the shelf—a water globe, and a spoondrip tray); and (c) the bottom shelf of the wall tier (two damaged ashtrays, one intact ashtray tied to the shelf, an alligator that had — an ashtray, an empty Coke bottle, and an empty Tab _ As before, I made a practice of examining the shelves period- a and always when somebody in the business had walked by that area or when I had been out of the room. Six target objects Seaarepae 203, 205, ee and 216) moved that day and the Was present and no one was near, and six (Events 204, 206, 212, 219, and 220) moved when I was sens or did net have adequate observation of those present. The greater relative frequency of disturbances while I was in the room appeared to a that ssc pesemair had become less inhibiting. examined the other tiers to see that everything was pushed — seg am and = = place and ya dace sacs no er foreign materials, I did thi iodi the investigation, gn did this periodically throughout ¢ twenty-eight incidents that took place during this stage of my second visit fall into three main categories: (a) fifteen events took place when I was absent or did not have the area under full control (Events 197, 202, 204, 206, 209, 210, 211, 212, 218, 219, 220, 221, 222, 223, and 224); (b) eight events with targets and non-targets took place when I was present and satisfied that no one could have caused the occurrence by simple trickery, but when I had not examined the area where the movement originated imme- diately prior to the event and therefore could not conclusively rule out the possibility of interference with the object prior to its movement (Events 199, 200, 201, 205, 208, 213, 215, and The Miami Disturbances 445 217); and (c) five movements of target objects occurred when I was certain that no one was near the target area at the time of the inci- dent and that no one could have interfered with the target objects prior to the occurrence (Events 198, 203, 207, 214, and 216). From the point of view of evidence for parapsychological effects, the incidents in the third category are most important, followed by the second and first categories, in that order. The main respect in which the third category differs from the second is that the area where the movement originated was con- trolled in the former but not in the latter. If a target area has been left unsupervised prior to a movement originating from it, then this is similar, from an evidential standpoint, to movements originating in unspecified areas. In the same way, it makes no substantial difference whether or not objects that move when no investigator is present are target objects, because it would be nearly as easy to tamper with these as with other objects. Conse- quently, target objects are found in both the first and second categories. Though I did not supervise the occurrences in the first category, I was ops able to question witnesses to them immediately after the events. In ten of the fifteen cases, 1 was able to question the witnesses to them immediately after the events. In ten of the fifteen cases, the observers were convinced that Julio was not near enough to have caused them normally. The witnesses were Mr. Laubheim (Event 197), Mr. Lewis (Events 202, 209, 210, and 211), Patrolman Mills (Events 209, 210, and 211), Mr. Drucker* (Event 212), and Miss Smith (Events 221, 222, 223, and 224). With regard to disturbances in the second category, as a rule we were only able to make a careful examination of the object and, sometimes, the area it came from after the event. Since we never found anything suggestive of trickery, we considered the question whether some chemical or device that would disappear from sight was responsible. A substance with this quality which is easily available is “dry ice” (frozen carbon dioxide). During the morning of February 1, Miss Smith purchased a large re of dry ice which we used to attempt simulating the events, | found an easy and effective method of causing a flat object such as an ashtray to fall off a shelf. If the ashtray is perched over the edge of the shelf with the ice used as a counterweight to keep it in place, the ashtray will fall when the ice dissolves. On one occasion when I timed this, it took seven minutes for the ashtray to fall, more than enough * Mr. Drucker and Patrolman Mills had come in that day in response to a request to investigate a burglary that had taken place during the previous night. Mr. Laubheim's movie camera, some costume jewelry, some petty cash had stolen. There were also signs of amall fires on various parts of the concrete floor. Julio was suspected, but not charged.

446 Fournal of the American Society for Psychical Research time for the “magician” to leave the scene. However, some vapors were emitted in the process and a large piece of undissolved ice remained and was found on the floor with the ashtray fragments. We never found any such pieces of ice after the disturbances nor did we ever see ashtrays or other objects perched on the edges of the shelves. I also placed pieces of dry ice under the objects in the hope that the pressure of the gas would cause a movement. However, they remained in place. To save space, I shall only describe the incidents that fall into the second and third categories: Target Tab Bottle Moves (Event 198 ) On Tuesday, January 31, at 9:22 a.m., when I was measuring in the northwest area of the room, a Tab bottle, which had been in the Tier 3 target area a fell into Aisle 4, about two feet from the tier in a northwesterly direction, I had my back to Julio at the time, but was close enough to Tier 3 to know that neither he nor Mr. Hage- meyer was near the areca at that time nor had been able to enter it surreptitiously beforehand. I turned my head at the sound of the crash and saw Julio at the north end of Tier 2, seven feet from the bottle’s position, and Mr. Hagemeyer at the shipping desk. Three Boxes Seen to Fall (Events 199, 200, and 201) At 10:07 a.m. I saw three boxes fall into the south area of Aisle 3. I was standing north of Aisle 3 and Julio was behind me. Mrs. May was entering the room through the southeast entrance, Miss Roldan was at her desk, and Mr. Hagemeyer close to her. I did not see where the boxes came from, but was told that they belonged in the north part of Tier 3. They weighed about a pound each. I could find no way in which anyone might have caused this incident normally. Julio was standing right behind me (he briefly had his hands on my shoulder), None of the three others were near the event and no one else was present. There was apparently also no opportunity that morning for anyone to prepare the event fraudu- lently. This was the only time I saw objects in motion. Target Zombie Glass Falls (Event 203) At 11:27 a.m., a Zombie glass from the target area 6 on Tier 2 broke in the middle of Aisle 2. This glass had previously been in a plastic bag which I had removed. The other glass was still fastened with the loose string. The glass which moved had been twelve inches from the edge of the shelf and there was a spoondrip tray, a water globe, and some notebooks in front of it. During this event The Miami Disturbances 447 there were three people in the warehouse aside from myself: Miss Roldan who was at her desk, Mr. Hagemeyer who was in the southwest corner of the room, and Julio. At the time of the event, Julio was sitting on his haunches at the north end of Aisle 3, lacing a plastic alligator on the bottom shelf of Tier 3. 1 was Sctiveses five and six feet from him and facing him when this event happened. He had no visible contact with Tier 2. The position of the glass was four feet from his back. It moved away from him. None of the objects in front of the glass were disturbed. It there- fore must have risen at least two inches to clear these. Target Sailfish Ashtray Breaks as W.G.R. Returns (Event 205) A shipment of beer mugs came about 11:00 a.M.—a welcome replenishment since there were none left. One of these was added to the target objects in area a, At the same time a new target area Jf was established on the northwest corner of the shipping desk when I placed a box of ten beer mugs as a target object there. On several occasions objects prepared for shipping in that area had been disturbed. At 12:20 p.m., the beer mug (Event 204) from Tier 3 area a fell while I was in Mr. Laubheim’s office and Julio and Mr. Hagemeyer were alone in the warehouse. Julio said he was at the north en of Aisle 3 and went down Aisle 2 to fetch me so that I might be the first to examine the mug. After I came back in response to this incident, and was south of Aisle 1, a sailfish ashtray (Event 205) from the target area on the wall tier area c broke in the north end of Aisle 2 with a loud noise. Julio had just left Aisle 2 and was headed toward the door, Mr. Hagemeyer was behind me, When the ashtray broke, I was face-to-face with Julio so he could not have thrown it at that time. I considered the possibility that he had removed the ashtray while I was outside and then thrown it into Aisle 2 immediately before I saw him so that the crash coin- cided with our meeting. However, the fragments of the ashtray on the floor were spread in a fan-like pattern with the base of the fan, the area of impact, nearest Tier 1. This suggested that the origin of the movement was in the northeast part of the room rather than Julio’s position at the southern end of Aisle 2. At 12:40 p.m, a replacement beer mug for the broken one was placed in area a and the sailfish ashtray that had been in area c was replaced by a similar but damaged one. Box of Target Beer Mugs Moves (Event 207) At 2:40 p.m., the box with the ten beer mugs placed as a target object on the shipping desk crashed to the floor two to three feet

448 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research away. At the time, Julio was north of Aisle 3 and walking south toward me, I was in the south end of Aisle 3 eleven to twelve feet from Julio and looking directly at him. The box left the desk in a northwesterly direction (i.c., away from Julio). The glasses spilled on the floor and three broke. Julio was five feet from the box and Mr. Hagemeyer was in the southeast corner of the room, behind me. No one else was in the room. Alligator Ashtray Breaks in Front Part of Building (Event 208) There had been no movements of objects in the outer office up to this time, But at 5:05 p.m. on January 31, when Julio was stand- ing outside Mr. Santovania’s office, facing me and only a foot away, an alligator ashtray about five feet behind him fell to the floor. The only others present were Miss Smith, who was in the rest room and Mr. Santovania, who was in his office. I had been with Julio for at least ten minutes prior to this occurrence and was certain that he had not staged the event—at least not during that period. Iron Beer Bottle Moves (Event 213) The next day, Wednesday, February 1 at 11:00 a.m., Miss Smith and I were next to the shipping desk facing south and Julio was sitting on his haunches, at the north end of Aisle 3, facing us in partial but not complete view when an Iron Beer bottle fell into Aisle 4. No one else was in the room. Julio said he had finished the bottle ten minutes before and placed it on Tier 3. We found a moist ring on the shelf where he said he put it. The bottle had moved about three feet in a northwesterly direction. Only the neck came off. Tron Beer Bottle Falls (Event 214) Following the hypothesis that an object that had been disturbed once was likely to become a target again, we placed the Iron Beer bottle in target area a of Tier 3. At 1:23 p.m., it fell again into Aisle 4. By that time there were several people in the warehouse. Dr. K., Miss Wolfe, and Mrs. May were in the southeast corner. Mr. Laubheim and Mr. Hagemeyer were on opposite sides of the shipping desk and Mr. Robert Dow, an employee of a transport company, was by the back entrance looking out. Julio was in the south end of Aisle 3, and I was by the front desk five fect from him and facing him. Miss Smith was next to me. When the sound was heard, I was looking directly at Julio, who had a cardboard box in one hand and a pair of scissors in the other. I could see no way in The Miami Disturbances 449 which he could have caused the incident, which took place about eight feet behind him on the other side of the tier. Nor, I believe, could he or anyone else have interfered with the bottle before the event. Sailfish Ashtray Moves (Event 215) A couple of minutes past two, I was in the front area of the warchouse between Miss Smith and Dr. K. and again Julio, who was north of Aisle 2, when we heard a crash and found a sailfish ashtray broken on the floor north of the shipping desk. There was no one in back of the room and Julio was in full view of me with no occasion, as far as I could determine, to have staged an occurrence since the previous incident. We did not know where the ashtray had come from. Target Beer Mug Falls (Event 216) The same day, at 2:09 p.m., a beer mug broke in Aisle 4. It came from the target area a on Tier 3. The previous day, I had replaced the unbroken mug with one that had been damaged when the box of mugs fell to the floor. I had put it between the cowbell and a Fanta bottle, placing two small cartons in front of the three target objects. At 1:30 p.M., on February 1, there had been a change: Julio asked if he might replace the broken beer mug with a new one because “maybe he [i.e., the “ghost’’] don’t like old one.” I had carefully checked Julio’s replacement and could discover nothing suspicious about it. When it left its place, clearing the obstacles in front, Julio, as so often before, was facing me. I was by the front desk facing Aisle 3; Miss Smith and Dr. K. were to my right. No one else was present. Julio was walking south in Aisle 3 with a broom in his hand. The mug moved in a north- westerly direction, its place of origin being about four feet from Julio and the direction of movement away from him. " Zombie Glass Breaks (Event 217) At 2:33 p.m., Julio and Mr. Aaron Levine, a customer of Tropi- cation Arts, were in the outer office area, between the entrance to the warehouse and the bookkeeper’s office, and I was in the ware- house looking at them through the door when an object, probably a Zombie glass, broke in the outer office behind them in the same area where the sailfish ashtray had broken earlier. It did not seem possible that Julio could have caused the occurrence without detection when the sound was heard, since I was mae him. But I could not definitely rule out the possibility that this event

450 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research had been staged, since 1 had not had Julio under constant obser- vation prior to the event nor had I examined the area the glass came from previously. With my departure, and because of the suspicion that had been aroused that Julio had been connected with the break-in during the preceding night, he was dismissed from his employment at the end of the day on February 1. This action brought our joint study to an end while the disturbances were still continuing.* Part VI Discussion AND CONCLUDING REMARKS As we stated at the beginning of this paper, the objective of this report has been limited to secking an answer to the question of the basic nature of the disturbances that took place at Tropication Arts in Miami during January, 1967, Can the events all be reason- ably attributed to known and ordinary psychological or physical causes, or must they be taken seriously as evidence of parapsycholo- gical occurrences? _ The first question that arises in connection with a case of this kind is whether the events were caused fraudulently. Regarding the disturbances that took place while one or both of us were on the scene, we can make a statement that will limit the areas that need to be discussed. No evidence was found in connection with any of the disturbances indicating that an object was ever moved by any magical means or trick devices or was pushed or thrown with the intention to deceive anyone about the nature of the event. Nor did we ever find anything to suggest that unsuccessful attempts at trickery had been carried out. On the issue of fraud, therefore, this leaves only the question as to whether all of the events (or at least most of them) were produced by such clever trickery that not even one person amo the large number of witnesses ever detected the fraud. When events take place outside the laboratory, and not under the strict control of the investigators, it is difficult to state categorically that the conditions excluded beyond all doubt the possibility of fraud. * In case some readers may have had their suspicions aroused by our reference to the circumstances leading to Julio's dismissal, we will point aan that questions regarding his personality as related to his role in the case will be covered in the second paper. However, we will say explicitly here what we hope has been clear throughout this report: Our work on this case involved no ions of Julio's honesty, and even i he were a sil tichster we are satisfied he could not have au toe were to iti cove Shae disturbances per rgd observe under controll ‘The Miami Disturbances 451 (Indeed, most parapsychologists, and scientists generally, would that this ideal is not reached even in the most carefully designed and controlled experiment in the laboratory, and that scientific discoveries do not depend upon having “foolproof” ents.) _ In considering the bearing of evidence such as is provided by the Miami case upon the question of fraud, we are not faced with an either-or issue. Rather, the assessment of the evidence is a matter of the weighing of probabilities. How likely is it that one or more persons in the warehouse could have been able repeatedly to perpetrate a fraud, without detection, when numerous skeptical observers were trying to uncover fraud? We were present when several events occurred which, in our inion, provide strong evidence against the fraud hypothesis. W ¢ have given detailed accounts of the circumstances surrounding these events to enable the reader to form his own judgment about the interpretation of the findings. When we were able to discover any way in which particular events could have been produced normally, we have so stated. Considering only those events that took place while one or both of us were on the scene (either in the warchouse at the moment the disturbances occurred, or nearby and therefore able to interview witnesses immediately afterward), we share the opinion that simple fraud or trickery is so unreasonable that it is scientifically unacceptable as an explanation of all of these disturbances. Nor is it ible to attribute the movement of the objects to the operation of known physical forces of a nonpersonal nature. Earth tremors due to either earthquakes or changes in underground water level, atmospheric vibrations, or other conceivable forms of turbulence, cannot explain the events as a whole. The reasons are simple but compelling: such physical forces would have acted less selectively in time and space upon objects in the warehouse. The events showed patterning in four main respects. First, there were particular times during which the disturbances tended to occur: namely, when Julio was present. Secondly, there were particular locations in which the disturbed objects tended to land after they were moved. Thirdly, there were particular storage ints in the warehouse from which objects were displaced. inally, the forces were selective regarding the kinds of objects that were affected. Any one of these features would alone be sufficient to throw doubt upon any nonpersonal physical explan- ation. Taken altogether, they make such an explanation quite implausible. The interpretation of the case must therefore be given in other terms. In raising earlier the question of fraud, we intended to present

452 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research this issue in its simplest form: Were the disturbances brought about through conscious and deliberate trickery? Here we will point out that the evidence against conscious fraud weighs equally against the interpretation of unconscious fraud. We failed to detect any evidence of fraud of either kind, and the methods of observation were effective for exposing fraud regardless of whether it was ted consciously or unconsciously. We do not claim that our method provides the only or best procedure to control the events. For example, it would have been interesting to see if anything would have happened to target objects placed in a closed and sealed space such as a plexiglass box. We were, as stated before, deterred from attempting to make a continuous movie record of the critical areas by the failure of the local TV crews to photograph an actual disturbance. Instead, we looked for ways of adapting our procedure to the nature of the disturbances as suggested by the course of the events themselves. We were impressed by the fact that several observers of events before our arrival stated unequivocally that they had seen objects Start to move. One disappointment we experienced during the parapsychological investigation was that in no instance were we able to observe a disturbed object when it started to move. Nor was this claim made by anyone else who was in the warchouse during that period. The other main line of approach in our investigation, and one that had already been initiated by some of the observers before our arrival on the scene, was that of placing target objects as “decoys” for later events. We chose as target areas locations that had already been involved in a number of preceding disturbances, and we chose objects of the kinds that had been favored in earlier events. While one or both of us were on the scene, in ten tests arranged in this way that were fully supervised by us, the desig- nated targets were moved in later events. The selection of a limited number of target areas in which we placed objects of our choice greatly increased our effectiveness as observers. While we were in the warchouse we kept those areas under constant observation from general vantage points, and we followed the rule of going to each area to make a detailed inspection of the object after we had seen any member of the staff or any visitor go near it. When we were both out of the warehouse for a time, immediately after returning to the scene, we inspected the objects that we had placed as targets. Thus we were able to say for all of the events in which the ten arran fully super- vised by us were disturbed that no thread or other trick device could have been used to cause those objects to move. Immediately after each disturbance, of course, we inspected the location again. The Miami Disturbances 453 Thus, we verified that the object which we had put in the target area and had kept under constant scrutiny was no longer there. We also looked again for evidence of any chemical or mechanism which could have caused the motion, dt tin both where the object had been standing and where it had moved to on the floor. The facts concerning cighteen events in which target objects arranged by W.G.R. or by both investigators were later disturbed are summarized in Table | (see p. 430 above). Initially, we were impressed by the statements made by obser- vers before we entered the case, at least to the degree of deciding that the disturbances were worth investigating. After we arrived on the scene, the large number of further events that took place (even though less frequent than when we were not there) soon led us to appreciate this case as one offering an exceptionally good opportunity to make a parapsychological study of apparent R disturbances while they were occurring. In our judgment, the Miami disturbances can most reasonably be interpreted as a case of RSPK. : ; From the scientific point of view, our being able to use success- fully and repeatedly the method of setting up target objects in defined areas and then maintaining close vigilance over those areas until those objects were later disturbed makes this case one that, in our opinion, adds appreciably to the growing body of evidence that poltergeist phenomena are a suitable and rewarding area of scientific inquiry. REFERENCES 1. Benver, H. “Der Rosenheimer Spuk—ein Fall spontaner Psychokinese.” Zeitschrift fiir Parapsychologie und Grenzge- biete der Psychologie, Vol. 11, No. 2, 1968, 104-112, . “Neue Entwicklungen in der Spukforschung. Zeit- schrift fiir be cee und Grenzgeliete der Psychologie, Vol, 12, No, 1, 1969, 1-18. : 3. ole F., anp Zicua, G. “Physikalische Untersuchung des Spukfalles in Rosenheim 1967." Zeitschrift fur Parapsychologie und Grenzgebiete der Psychologie, Vol. 11, No. 2, 1968, 113-131. 4. Owen, A. R. G. Can We Explain the Poltergeist? New York: Publications, 1964. . fa 5. opp ape Rott, W. G. “The Seaford Disturbances, Journal of Parapsychology, Vol. 22, June, 1958, 79-124. 6. Roit, W. G. “The Newark Disturbances.” Journal A.S.P.R., Vol. 63, April, 1969, 123-174.

454 Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research 7. Rott, W. G. “Poltergeist Phenomena and Interpersonal Relations.” Journal A.S.P.R., Vol. 64, January, 1970, 66-99. 8. Rott, W. G., anp Stump, J. P. “The Olive Hill Poltergeist.” Theta, No. 27, Fall, 1969, 3-4. (Abstract.) Psychical Research Foundation Division of Parapsychology Duke Station Department of Psychiatry Durham, North Carolina 27706 University of Virginia Charlottesville, Virginia 22901 Printed in Belgium by the St. Catherine Press Ltd., Tempelhof 37, Bruges