+ 194 ogy minished by increasing communication and collaboration with for- eign parapsychologists. Puerto Rico'® Early psychical research in Puerto Rico was strongly influenced by the nineteenth-century Spiritualist movement that had also spread to other countries. Mediumistic séances in which raps and communication with the spirits were common drew attention mostly from people with a religious interest. . It was perhaps this influence that led Agapito Morales to publish in 1904 a more critical examination of these phenomena. In his booklet Breve Tratado de Hipnotismo, Magnetismo, Espiritismo y Suges- toterafia, Morales contended that all those occurrences could take place without assuming the action of spirit agencies. He interpreted possession as being autosuggestion and attributed paranormal phe- nomena to our own psychic faculties. He considered that all of the experiments made until today demonstrate that there is an invisible force in our being that is capable, for instance, of playing a guitar, lifting a table, or lifting our own bodies. According to him this force is under our control. He also believed that mediumistic communi- cation could be explained by means of telepathy between the me- dium and the sitter. Another major influence in the formation of a more empirical and critical approach to parapsychology was the work of Francisco Ponte, a dentist who became president of the Puerto Rican Feder- ation of Spiritists. Ponte visited Europe in 1912 to familiarize him- self with the work of several Spiritualistic centers, as well as psychi- cal research centers. He had had the opportunity to participate in mediumistic séances in Italy with famous mediums such as Lucia Sordi and Eusapia Palladino. During these séances he witnessed manifestations of apparent telekinesis and materializations (Alva- rado, 1987; Ponte, 1914). Later Ponte returned to Puerto Rico and tried to reproduce the same phenomena with local mediums. He reported some of his find- ings on materializations of body parts during séances to Walter Franklin Prince, then Research Officer of the ASPR. Ponte’s work was important because of the critical and empirical approach he brought to his research on séance phenomena (Alvarado, 1979a). This section on Puerto Rican parapsychology partly summarizes information contained in an article by Alvarado (1979a). | i The Journd NP PLONES,, or Release 2001/03/07 : C|A-RDP96-00792R000700730001-0 . Parapsychology in the Ibero-American World 195 The theoretical ideas of Ralph U. Sierra are also interesting. Sierra, who was interested in the psychology of ESP, believed that to develop telepathy it was necessary to develop first an internal state of tranquility so that the electrical activity of the brain did not interfere with the telepathic process (Sierra, 1966). Some of the most important developments, however, took place during the last two centuries. At the educational level, it is impor- tant to note the work of Celinda Madera who, during the 1970s, offered a series of courses and lectures at different campuses of the University of Puerto Rico. Madera’s courses focused on the human- istic and transpersonal aspects of psi. She herself had received train- ing at Duke University’s Parapsychology Laboratory (Alvarado, 1979a). In 1974, Nestor A. Rodriguez Escudero, a lawyer, published a series of essays about parapsychology and Spiritualism in his book Los Caminos de Dios. He discussed a great variety of paranormal phe- nomena. His main objective was to show that parapsychology dem- onstrates the spiritual aspect of man (Rodriguez Escudero, 1974). Another development in 1977 was the creation of the Instituto de Investigaciones Psicofisicas at the University of Puerto Rico, May- agiiez campus. Founded to conduct investigations in parapsychology and related areas, the Institute carried out studies of various param- eters of Kirlian photography and of the effects of hypnosis on ESP. However, these research investigations were never made available for publication. During this period Alfonso Martinez Taboas began to publish a newsletter Explorando lo Paranormal, a semipopular mag- azine later edited by Carlos Alvarado starting in 1976. Martinez Taboas and Carlos Alvarado wrote articles on parapsy- chology in Spanish for the Spanish journal Psi Comunicacién: they also published in other journals. Their articles covered a wide range of topics. Among these, Alvarado wrote on experimental studies of OBEs (1976), historical precedents of the so-called psychic discov- eries behind the Iron Curtain (1978), the use of historical knowl- edge (1979b), and on J. B. Rhine (1980). Martinez Taboas published a review of the problem of repeatability in parapsychology (1979), critiques of psychological and physiological concepts of poltergeist research (1977, 1980, 1984; Martinez Taboas & Alvarado, 1981), and a discussion of the concept of parsimony applied to parapsy- chology (1983). The work of Martinez Taboas and Alvarado has been very im- portant in the effort to bridge the language barrier between the Spanish researcher and the non-Spanish-speaking researcher. This Approved For Release 2001/03/07 : CIA-RDP96-00792R000700730001-0
~ = “196 The Journal of Parapsychology is particularly true of Alvarado’s book reviews (1984a, 1985) and his discussion of language-barrier problems in parapsychology (1989a). o 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 8S on parapsychological activities in Latin America to research centers e? in the United States for the last eight years. In addition, among the © Ibero-American parapsychologists, he is the one who has published IK 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. 007 0 Mexico -00792R Mexico has been knd@n for a long time as the land of the sacred © mushroom or peyotl, a pint used by the Indian shaman tog#duce Q_ an altered state of conscioulgess, which allegedly facilitategg@#fe man- Qiifestation of psychic power@ This country has also bei’ a major source for many parapsychol@gical researchers inteyg@ed in unor- <thodox psychic healing practic, Famous curandegf¥ (healers) such Oas Maria Sabina and Dona Padgita have been d@tiensively investi- nr Bated by Stanley Krippner and@pther famg & parapsychologists o(Krippner & Villoldo, 1986). q i” c2 Although Mexico has been a magpr sffrce of study for many Lparapsychologists from foreign countr®@psychical research has not Oflourished there as it has in other copies such as Argentina and Spain. Moreover, even though the punt is located on the south- a¢rn border of the United States ag has be #2) subject to very strong @American cultural influence in i ost every hsp ect of life, the dom- Minance of the United States gS not been a M&tor in the develop- genent of parapsychology. EyaM though in the Urtted States there are more parapsychological y@fearch centers than anWyhere else in the Ovorld, very little is knggf in Mexico of their resear@h. Most of what Lis known about serig@ parapsychology comes from Watin American Gountries such as Mfazil. For example, the writings o®Quevedo are qrell known in Mexico, and also most of what is knol generally somes from pg@alar magazines. , Q Early eff™@s to study psychical research within a scienl¥gc frame- ork in fico began in 1919 with the isolated efforts ouch re- searche the German-born medical doctor Gustav Pagelecher, the firgiesearcher to conduct serious psychical research in Mexico. Pagen®techer was a very well-known and respected physician in the 9 R Parapsychology in the Ibero-American World 197 Mexican medical community as well as in political circles. In the course of his \greer he delivered speechps before two presidepts of Mexico, Diaz af Obregén (Allison, 194p)."! — A respected Wyember of the medigfl profession, Pagenst@her said he had been materialist for forgMf years when he had higirst encounter with the fgranormal. It wg during a hypnosis treaffent of one of his patients\vho had insogffnia that he discovered ifs re- markable psychical giffof Maria Rgfes de Zierold. Pagensteches be- gan a series of psychontgric expe f ments with her in 1919. TIg Te- sults were so striking thaj he brffight them to the attention dPthe Mexican medical society, Whic i appointed a commission to verify them. Pagenstecher also difci fd to write to the ASPR and Stnd some of,the results he had@fbtained. The results induced ter Franklin Prince, Research Giicer of the ASPR, to go to Mexicp to investigate the case. After @SeMes of experimental sittings with Ber. old, Prince was so impress@i wik | the results that he decided to%ub- lish them in the Journal ff the ABPR in 1920 (Pagenstecher, rag Prince later published 4 gO ther pager in which he discussed thgrex- periments in which hefparticipated& (Prince, 1921b). Moreoverg the ASPR published a m@@ograph by Pagenstecher entitled Past Events Seership: A Study of Pygchometry (Pageriecher, 1922). S According to Wi iam Roll (1967), Pagenstecher contributg to two major areas infyarapsychology: oO bd j vr [He was], as faiyas I know the first inve§igator to use hypnosisgs a means to cultigae ESP in a gifted subject. ..¥Pagenstecher’s studies Mtre also, I believg the first to indicate that the Wparapsychological) ass@ia- tion of objegfs may be governed by the same ws that govern the ¢psy- chological) gssociation of ideas. (p. 238) o Pagenstgfher showed great courage in unde taking these eer- iments. H@ffeopardized his professional standing§as well as his ngd- ical prac He by trying to substantiate the claims fd\ Zierold’s ps}thic abilities @# he Medical Commission appointed to i jestigate the ‘Hse was skeatical of the reported phenomena. Fortunatdly, however, the Comn§sion’s leading experts obtained successful réguits in thetex- perimffits in which they participated (Gomezharpe@ de Trevgxo, 1990). <x " Obregén was a revolutionary military leader, later President of Mexico. Walter Franklin Prince (1921a) relates an interesting psychic experience witnessed by Ob- tegén, about a precognitive dream Obregén’s brother had about the death of their mother.