This book is an attempt to bring the many and varied phenomena of the paranormal into the realm of understandable science. I realize that this is no easy task and the reader should therefore view what is to follow as the mere formulation of tentative working hypotheses for the topics treated. If paranormal phenomena (a term I use to collectively refer to all hyperphysical, psychic, parapsychological, supernatural, or supraphysical events) are ever to be included within the bounds of physical science, then research in the subject must progress far beyond the current voluminous compilation of case histories. Indeed, to eventually determine the physical truth regarding these events, we must initially engage in speculation which meets two basic criteria. Firstly, this speculation must not be random, but rather be guided by intuition toward the concepts which offer the greatest promise of advancement in paranormal science. Secondly and even more importantly, all proposals for the causative mechanisms of the various paranormal phenomena should be capable of experimental verification or denial.
It is an unfortunate fact that much of the material in this new area of human knowledge is subjective in nature and only rarely repeatable under laboratory conditions. This reality has discouraged most of the scientific orthodoxy from pursuing the subject.
The field has therefore been left to the private investigators who, through their writings, have done an excellent job of recording and preserving the data, but have not managed to significantly advance the theoretical basis of the subject whic