DOES RESIDUAL ENERGY REALLY EXIST?
During the 19th century, there was a movement where mediumship and spirit communication became quite popular. In fact, it became its own kind of religion. It was known as spiritualism. One of the core beliefs in the spiritualist movement was that a person survives the death of their physical body by ascending into the spirit realm. For those who had lost faith in traditional Catholic values, spiritualism offered them a new religion and they were referred to as spiritualists. When you read the paranormal history books, people will often be able to tell you about famous figures within spiritualism from England and even the US, but they don’t know much about the work that was done here in the land of Oz. It is time to change that, so let’s meet 5 famous Spiritualists from Down Under!
By Jane Rowley
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n the 4 years I have been at the Haunted Antiques Paranormal Research Centre (HAPRC) as the residential Medium, I have found that despite having many paranormal encounters and discovering many new things regarding the Spirit World and how it works, I have not encountered any energies that could be considered as Residual. I have questioned the notion of Residual energy for many years, and seeing Spirit since I was a child, I do not recall engaging with anything that was not a ‘real’ energy. I have come across many spirits, creatures, the Fae and energies from
darker realms, but nothing that I would class as a ‘replay’ of a former energy that has been ‘stored’ or ‘recorded’. Of course, as always, this article is based on my own opinions, experiences and research.
What the conditions are, no one seems to know but the ideas were shared by a few 19th century intellectualists and psychic researchers, such as Charles Babbage, Eleonor Sidgwick and Edmund Gurney.
In the paranormal world many people refer to the ‘Stone Tape Theory’ - the theory that ghosts, and hauntings are similar to tape recordings and the energies of traumatized souls being trapped in the materials of their surrounding environment at the time of their passing (stones, bricks, slate floors etc.), only to be released at some point in the future, to keep replaying their experience as a residual energy, and over time they fade away. I have always been skeptical of this theory as it is not compatible with what I have experienced and what I have researched. So, where has this theory come from?
In 1837, polymath Charles Babbage published a work on natural theology called Ninth Bridgewater Treatise. Babbage speculated, that spoken words leave permanent impressions in the air, even though they become inaudible after time.
The idea that environmental elements are able to store traces of human thoughts or emotions was introduced by several 19th century scholars and philosophers. They tried to find a natural explanation for supernatural activity. It was believed that during emotional or traumatic events, energy can be projected and “recorded” onto rocks and other items and “replayed” under certain conditions.
An interesting read, regarding Natural Religion, Mathematics, Physics, God and Miracles... The concept of “place memory” was a consideration in the early days of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR). Place memory was thought to be an explanation for ghostly apparitions, seemingly connected with certain places. In the late 19th century, two of SPR’s investigators - Edmund Gurney and Eleonor Sidgwick, presented their views about certain buildings or materials being capable of storing records of past events, which can be later play backed by gifted individuals. There was much speculation in the early days, but nothing actually proven. So why is the concept of The Stone Tape theory still around today? The theories from the early days were the inspiration for a television play written by Nigel Kneale called “The Stone Tape”. The Stone Tape was directed by Peter Sasdy and starring Michael Bryant,
HAUNTED MAGAZINE
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