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: CIA-RDP96-00792R000700760001-7
196
The Journal of Parapsychology
Parapsychology in the Ibero-American World
197
is particularly true of Alvarado’s book reviews (1984a, 1985) and his
discussion of language-barrier problems in parapsychology (1989a).
Moreover, Alvarado, a former research assistant at the Division of
Parapsychology (now the Division of Personality Studies) at the Uni-
versity of Virginia, has maintained a constant flow of information
on parapsychological activities in Latin America to research centers
in the United States for the last eight years. In addition, among the
Ibero-American parapsychologists, he
is the one who has publisher!
most extensively in the English-language journals and the only one
ever to be elected a member of the Board of Directors of the Para-
psychological Association.
Mexico
Mexico has been knc^n for a long time as the land of the sacred
mushroom or peyod, a p«rit used by the Indian shaman t^Aduce
an altered state of conscioumess, which allegedly facilitates^^ man-
ifestation of psychic powet^kThis country has
also hdp a major
source for many parapsychomncal researchers intm^ed in unor-
thodox psychic healing practi^L Famous curandajpr(healers) such
as Maria Sabina and Dona Padftta have been^fftensively
investi-
gated
by
Stanley
Krippner anc^ther famjgF parapsychologists
(Krippner & Villoldo, 1986).
Although Mexico has been a m!»r s«rce of study for many
parapsychologists from foreign count'^j^^sychical research has not
flourished there as
it has in other cm||R^s such as Argentina and
Spain. Moreover, even though the^mnt^is located on the south-
ern border of the United States a^T has b^a subject to very strong
American cultural influence in almost every »pect of life, the dom-
inance of the United States
not been a factor
in the develop-
ment of parapsychology. I^®Jthough in the Umked States there are
more parapsychologicalj^arch centers than anwhere else in the
world, very litde is kn^^in Mexico of their resea^h. Most of what
is known about seri^rparapsychology comes from ^tin American
countries such asjplzil. For example, the writings oWDuevedo are
well known in ^»cico, and also most of what
is kno%i generally
comes from j^»lar magazines.
Early ef« to study psychical research within a scienlfcc frame-
work in Minco began in 1919 with the isolated efforts oKsuch re-
searcheiMB the German-born medical doctor Gustav Page^echer,
the fir^Ksearcher to conduct serious psychical research in Agxico.
Pagerflrecher was a very well-known and respected physician in the
Approved For Release 2003/09/10
old, Prince was so impres^
lish them in the Journal
Prince later published
Mexican medical community
as
well
as
in
political
circles.
In the
course of hisVreer he delivered speeches before two presidents of
Mexico, Diaz a*l Obregdn (Allison, 19«).n
A
respected ikember of the medi«l
profession,
Pagenstecher
said he had been ^materialist for form years when he had his first
encounter with theVranormal.
It w#during a hypnosis treatment
of one of his patientAwho had inso#iia that he discovered the re-
markable psychical giftL>f Maria Ih#es de Zierold. Pagenstecher be-
gan a series of psychon*ric expeffinents with her in 1919. The re-
sults were so striking th* he bnfight them to the attention of the
Mexican medical
society,^^hiclgpippointed a commission
to verify
them. Pagenstecher also cWcij©d
to write
to the ASPR and send
some o£*the results he haJjgbtained. The results induced Walter
Franklin Prince, Research Ggfccer of the ASPR, to go to Mexico to
investigate the case. After ^e^s of experimental sittings with Zier-
wim the results that he decided to pub-
'the^PR in 1920 (Pagenstecher,
1920).
ther p;\er in which he discussed the ex-
periments
in which he^articipateqMPrince,
1921b). Moreover, the
ASPR published a mJlograph by Agenstecher entitled Past Events
Seership: A Study of pMchometry (PageStecher, 1922).
According to Wffliam Roll (1967)\
>agenstecher contributed to
two major areas injparapsychology:
[He was],
as fi»as
I know the
first inve^gator to use hypnosis as a
means to cultiJjte ESP in a gifted subject.
. .Vagenstecher’s studies were
also,
I believJfthe
first to indicate that the \arapsychological) associa-
tion of objoMi may be governed by the same^ws that govern the (psy-
chological)«Mociation of ideas,
(p. 238)
Pagenstjfher showed great courage in undertaking these exper-
iments. Hafeopardized his professional standinges well as his med-
ical practjjfe by trying to substantiate the claims f\Zierold’s psychic
abilitiesJFhe Medical Commission appointed to instigate the case
was sk<*tical of the reported phenomena. Fortunat^, however, rite
Comrrjfsion’s leading experts obtained successful rAults in the ex-
perimmts
in which
they
participated (Gomezharpc% de Trevino,
1990).
>> Obregdn was a revolutionary military leader, iater President of Mexico. Walter
Franklin Prince (1921a)
relates an interesting psychic experience witnessed by Ob-
reg6n, about a precognitive dream Obregdn’s brother had about the death of their
mother.
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