Approved For Release 2003/09/10
: CIA-RDP96-00792R000700350001-2
THE SOCIETY FOR PSYCHICAL RESEARCH
, Adam and Eve Mews, London W8 6UG
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THE GUARULHOS POLTERGEIST: A REASSESSMENT OF
ANDRADE’S (1984) MONOGRAPH
by Mighei.-Ange Amorim
ABSTRACT
A presentation is made of an RSPK investigation conducted over several years, in
the
suburbs
of Sao
Paulo,
Brazil. A
monograph
describing
the
case,
and
interpretations of the phenomena, was published in Portuguese by H. G. Andrade
and
his collaborators
at the IBPP,
in
1984. Based on the phenomena reported
during the interviews of family members and other witnesses, Andrade interprets
the case in terms of discarnate agents and black magic rites. The purpose of the
present pages is to describe the Guarulhos poltergeist in some detail, and to explore
an alternative interpretation of the phenomena, one based upon the living agetrC*
hypothesis,
and
related
factors,
such
as
religious
context,
expectanciesf’and
possible personality disorders.
*
*
*
*
OFFICERS 1989-1990
President
Dr Alan Gauld, M.A., Ph.D.
vice-rresidents
Dr John Beloff, B.A., Ph.D.
Professor A.
T
Ellison D Sc fFWl r P
M
"ATortc
y
'A
M
'r
E
f
A. T. Oram, F.C.A., Professor D. J. West, M.D., Litt.D, M.R.C. Psych.
Professor Ian Stevenson, M.D.
Hon. Secretary Ralph Noyes B.Sc.
H0,L TuaSUnr A - D ' C°™ll, M.A.
Secretary Eleanor O’Keeffe
Honorary Computer Research Coordinator Betty Markwick, B.Sc.
Honorary Spontaneous Cases Liaison OfficerJohn W. Stiles
Honorary Education Officer Bernard Carr PhD.
Local Centres and Research Coordinator Jane Henry, B.A.
While recently some Western authorsijrom foreign countries seem to be more
and more interested in ‘Brazilian Psi’
1 whether from a clinical, anthropological
or research perspective, some local investigators are also active in the field. For
50 years H. G. Andrade, director of the Brazilian Institute of Psychobiophysical
Research (IBPP), and his collaborators have dealt primarily with spontaneous
cases like poltergeists. In 1984 he published an extensive review of a case, taking
place
in
the Greater Sao
Paulo,
in a monograph
entitled ‘O
Poltergeist de
Guarulhos’. Andrade and his collaborators did not witness the RSPK events
themselves but visited the family 7 times (between 1973 and 1984) and collected
about 6 hours of tapes from various witnesses, some of whom were members of
the family and some not. They also took numerous photographs of damaged
objects and people who had been physically attacked. The aim of this paper is to
present
this RSPK
case, apparently
rich
in macro-PK events,
to the larger
parapsychological community and also to present alternative interpretations of
the reported events. As we shall see, Andrade opts for a ‘spiritist’ account; yet the
living agent hypothesis, which he considers ‘a reductionist hypothesis’
(p. 69),
may be more parsimonious.
The investigated poltergeist is ofspecial interest on several accounts. First, the
disturbances extended over a period of
1 years (a chronological summary will
follow outlining the main events). Second, they seemed
to follow part of the
family despite several relocations. Finally the RSPK case involved particularly
dramatic
phenomena,
like
spontaneous
fires,
apports,
possession
trances,
apparitions and cut phenomena on furniture and persons.
0037-1475/90 $3.00
Editor: John Beloff
The Protagonists
Marcos
a plumber, aged 29 years, inhabitant of Guarulhos.
Noemia
his 21 year old wife, the mother of baby Ruth (18
months).
Review Editor:
Kathleen Wilson Korner
Approved For Release 2003/09/10
In Brazil, there is a relative absence of the academic, secular parapsychology of North America
. _
‘Lg/
1 v
a ! I
m
i lir_
ri\ a!
schools
of the Catholic Church and
the
Spiritist
. bli GmUrii9
rOW< i92anilOOih0
Wjlo^
For an analysis of this situation, see Hess (1987).
© Society for Psychical Research
193
Journal of the Societyfor Psychical Research
Approved hor Keiease
Pedro
Judite
Eliza
Adauri
Antonia
The parents of Noemia
Lamartine Ribeiro
Maria
[Vol. 56, No. 820
father of Marcos, a builder and amateur exorcist
aged 55, who lives with his family in a house on the
back plot of Marcos’s house.
Pedro’s wife, aged 54, the mother of three daughters
and two sons whose ages range from
1 1 to 20, none
of them are married.
a
15 year old girl who came to stay with Marcos
family.
a
year
old
boy who
witnessed some
of the
incidents.
a married woman and a Catholic who lives next
door to the Marcos family,
who live in Artur Alvim.
minister of the Pentecostal Church (Assembleia de
Deus) to which the Marcos family belongs
his wife.
s
CIA-RDP96-00792R000700350001 -2
July 19901
The Guarulhos Poltergeist
as well. They stopped after the intervention of the Church minister. But, in mid-
September
1976,
after four months of calm other phenomena began
to recur
sporadically
(throwing
of
objects
and
stones,
disappearance
of
money,
spontaneous fires and Ruth’s possession fits). Ihese grew suddenly in intensity
during a two week stay ofa
1 5 year old girl (named Elza) with the family; she also
contracted the possession-fits. Finally (beginning October 1976), following an
especially troubled night, the family asked for help from the Church and from
Pedro, and, apparently, an effective exorcism ended the outbreaks.
From this day on (Stage 4) until the seventh and last interview of the witnesses
by Andrade and his collaborators on 21 April, 1984, the only occurrences noted
were an occasional disappearance of money and
the movement of objects.
Meanwhile Pedro died on 29 July,
1979. The disturbances seemed
to have
definitively ceased when Noemia had a vision of an invisible assailant (nob
dated), and had a dialogue with him; as a result of this ‘encounter’ she decidgd'fo
adopt a more spiritual life style.
Chronological Landmarks
The first set of disturbances (Stage
1) started on 27 April
1973 and ended
apparently by
itself, on
1 May,
1973.
It consisted mainly^f the cutting of
was Marcos’s
aPPariti°"S ' Th'
ac4y
The second set of events (Stage 2) started at the end of April 1974 with the
stoning ofthe house and the cutting ofpeople, and ended on 25 October 1974 fn
th
meantime Pedro and his family moved temporarily to Guaf^zes leaving
only Marcos, Noemia and Ruth in the front house However, Pedro dS^return to
l llsPKnh
“ eX
?
rCIS™against the ‘invisible agent’ which seemed to stop
all RSPK phenomena there for two months. In the same period Marcos Noernm
(pregnant at the time) and Ruth went
to Noemia’s parents home (ifSr
vim) where the troubles began again (cutting phenomena, the disappearance
luivWhev Teft thfh
8" °f0bjf
ts)
‘ After the birth of^eir second child Raquel (3
J
y)
hey left the house in August and stayed some days in Pedro’s house
n
pc“
e
.
S Xl
f
Guarulhos. After4 (TeE
f
peace some ot the RSPK phenomena resumed, consisting essentiallv of RmL
Taubat7
le
P
ft h
eSS
f
0n:
!
ike
MarC°S ’ Wh°
t0°k a J°b for one month
in
laubate
left his family in Suzano at Noemia’s
sister’s home-
the outbreaks
continued here too. On an esoeHaHv t-ouhl-H
/•
.
outpreahs
objects
etc
1 the fa mil,,
h jT
}
t
b
,
tmvoiving movements of
The third set of events (Stage 3) began on 28 March, 1975 and consisted or
August^ 975* Marcos’ ’ TT"®'and ‘apports’ of objects and of stoning. On 30
ftugus
1975 Marcos s family moved into a new house (the third) located in
uarulhos which Marcos himselfhad built with his father; nevertheless ‘apporf
ke phenomena involving rosemary branch
194
Reported Phenomena
\
(1) Cutting phenomena. Stage
1 began with extensive parallel cuts in the upholstery
of the furniture and in the mattresses, as if these were being ripped apart by a
pocket knife or enormous claws. Initially, it was thought that the cuts were being
produced by a three year old boy, Pedro’s grandson. The little boy was taken
away, but the activity didn’t stop (p. 4). The phenomenon happened either in the
presence
or
in
the absence
of people. The opening of the upholstery was
witnessed at least by: ‘Pedro (p. 5), Noemia (p. 5), and Adauri— a boy (sixteen)
from the outside (p. 7); none of them could see who or what was producing the
cuts. In Stage 2, cuts were found many times in the form of a cross, on pillow,s,
clothes
hung
out,
purses,
slippers,
blankets— even
those
folded
in
the
wardrobe— on Marcos’s document case (p. 12) and on two Bibles (pp. 26-27);
but in these cases the cuts were not witnessed while they occurred. People also
began
to be
cut. Marcos awoke with his
left arm bleeding On 2 May, 1974
(between 2 and 3 a.m.). On the same afternoon, an 18 months old daughter of a
friend’s wife was cut on the calf of her leg (pp. 14—15) while she was inside the
house with Ruth, at the bedroom doorway and the adults were chatting in the
yard. From this day on (Stage 2), Marcos suffered one more cut on the left side of
his forehead whereas Noemia had her face cut practically every morning. These
cuts were extemely thin, three or four at a time, and she noticed them by feeling a
burning sensation on her face (pp. 15—16). During the time the family stayed in
Guaianazes (August 1974) Noemia had her face repeatedly cut while she went at
night to Pedro’s Church. On October 1974 another child suffered a deep cut in
his thigh, while his mother was praying with Noemia in the bedroom of Marcos s
house in Guarulhos. They looked for a blade on the bed where the boy sat but
didn’t find one (pp. 27-29). In Stages 3 & 4 no such phenomena occurred.
(2) Apparition phenomena occurred during the entire RSPK case under different
forms. In Stage
1, during one cutting event Pedro stated he had the vision of the
forearm ‘of a wild beast, a monster, not a man. It was very strong and big; sharp-
Cl
QP&I f2 cm, black, shiny and curved. The fur was
195