TENHAEFF, W.H.C. EXPERIMENTS WITH MRS. LOTTE PLAAT-MAHLSTEDT TO TEST HER GIFT OF EXTRASENSORY PERCEPTION

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 nature and only partly veridical. Although such dreams are ob-
 viously of a clairvoyant, paranormal nature, Dunne denies this and
 attempts to explain such dreams by an intricate theory of time. - -
 G.Z.
 01374. Dietz, P.A. Is everybody in possession of the gift of extra-
 sensory perception (E.S.P.) Tijdschrift voor Parapsychologie,
 1928/29, 1, 97-108.
 Extrasensory perception is a term that was coined around the
 time the pioneers of psychical research were busy with the
 investigation of the occult, the phenomena of spiritualism, and the
 like. Other terms, old and new, were advanced to describe certain
 phenomena that could be regarded as belonging to the ESP group,
 but that did not encompass the entire subject. Other groups of
 phenomena belonging to what was termed ESP include telepathy,
 clairvoyance, precognition, and a few others. Discussing the
 question of whether all or most people worldwide are more or less
 paranormally gifted, Dietz advances the opinion that a greater
 percentage of people possess paranormal gifts to a certain degree.
 In support, he cites the fact that most people have some musical
 talent, some idea of rhythm, etc. Of course, there are a number of
 people who are completely devoid of any feeling or interest for
 music. The above, in Dietz`s opinion, might well be the case
 concerning paranormal faculties. Most people might be para-
 normally gifted to a certain degree; highly gifted persons, on the
 other hand, seem to be very rare. Dietz's point of view appears to be
 upheld by the fact that there are many cases in which ESP
 manifests itself only once during a person's entire life. - G.Z.
 01375. Tenhaeff, W.H.C. Experiments with Mrs. Lotte Plaat-
 Mahlstedt to test her gift of extrasensory perception. Tijdschrift
 voor Parapsychologie, 1929/30, 2, 1-80.
 In 1928, Tenhaeff Was able to test the medium Mrs. Lotte
 Platt-Mahistedt for several weeks. Together with Tenhaeff, dozens
 of well-educated men, journalists, medical doctors, judges, etc.
 were present and participated in these experiments in which the
 medium was offered a "psychometric" object (an envelope, opened
 or sealed, a pencil, a pocketbook, etc.), and asked to describe the
 owner of the object. The results obtained were quite positive
 because far more hits were registered than misses. A remarkable hit
 was the following: With regard to the object offered, the medium
 said: "This lady is all the time getting hold of her wrists. Is she going
 to commit suicide by cutting her wrists?" The truth was that this
 lady was very much afraid of being buried when still in a condition
 of apparent death. She insisted that her wrists be cut before being
 buried. Based on communications of 2 centuries ago concerning
 dowsers experiencing subjective sensations when finding themselves
 above certain ore veins, coal, mineral deposits, and the like,
 Tenhaeff decided to test Mrs. Platt to see whether she was sensitive
 to certain chemicals and substances (mercury, silver, gold, sulphur,
 etc.). These substances can be found in various homeopathic
 medicines. The results of these experiments in which the medium
 had to identify which metals were present in the bottles presented
 to her were highly successful. According to the experimenters
 (Tenhaeff and several other persons), there was little doubt that
 Mrs. Lotte Platt was highly paranormally gifted. - G.Z.
 01376. Dietz, P.A. Have the dead anything to do with the
 paranormal? Tijdschrift voor Parapsychologie, 1929/30, 2, 240-
 247.
 It is the opinion of Dr. Dietz that the claims of the spiritualists,
 that is, that all mediumistic performances are brought about by the
 "spirits" of the dead, are not based on actual facts. On the contrary,
 paranormal phenomena are the result of certain faculties of living
 human beings. On the other hand, Dietz goes onto say, there seem
 to have been some rare occurrences pointing to discarnate
 influence. As an example he cites the manifestations of apparitions
 that year after year appear at some locality. But these apparitions
 should not be regarded as spirits of the dead - the still-surviving
 personalities of deceased persons. Rather, they are a kind of
 dream a dreamlike state having its own life and repeating itself all
 the time. Dietz also thinks that a number of cases of alleged spirit
 communications that have occurred during seances with Mrs.
 Piper as the medium should probably be regarded as an authentic
 contact with a deceased person, although one can never be sure.
 Because we know very little about the reach of the psi faculties of
 mediums, it is quite possible that a medium can know practically
 anything concerning a deceased person by means of his or her ES P
 gifts. Dietz regards the alleged physical manifestations of dead
 persons (the moving of objects, stopping of clocks, etc.) as a kind of
 convulsion of the dead or dying person. The last vital powers are
 set free and produce the physical manifestations. These manifesta-
 tions are not consciously produced, and very soon come to an end.
 But everything the alleged spirit tells us about conditions, etc. in
 the life to come are nothing but products of the medium's
 imagination. - G.Z.
 01377. Dietz, P.A. A successful psychometric experiment with the
 clairvoyant E. Hanussen. Tijdschrift voor Parapsychologie,
 1930/31, 3, 70-76.
 In 1930, Hanussen (who later would often be consulted by
 Adolph Hitler) visited the Netherlands and gave seances in several
 Dutch towns. When he gave a public seance at The Hague, Dietz.
 was very keen to be present, as he wanted to test Hanussen's
 paranormal faculties. Dietz was, however, unable to be there, but
 he sent his wife to the seance with a psychometric object. The object
 was a letter written in 1796 by the clergyman, Jan Scharp, living in
 Rotterdam. Scharp was well-known in Rotterdam where he had
 been preaching for many years. In the spring of 1796, he was called
 to visit a prisoner who had committed a number of daring thefts,
 stealing quite a lot of money from two rich citizens. He was
 condemned to be hanged. To his surprise, Scharp found that the
 prisoner was a very friendly man who was highly educated and had
 read the books of Spinoza and Voltaire. The two gentlemen
 became close friends. Although he had had an excellent education,
 he soon began to indulge in debauchery and lost all his money. In
 despair, he jumped on the first ship he could find, and came to
 Rotterdam. On May 20th he was to be hanged, but the night
 before, he got hold of a knife and cut his throat. Dying, but still
 alive, he was hanged. A few hours before his suicide he wrote a
 letter to Scharp, and it was this letterthat was handed to Hanussen
 in an unsealed envelope to be used as a psychometric object.
 Hanussen did not take the letter out of the envelope, but held it in
 his hand all the time. His impressions were the following: When he
 started talking it was clear that he found himself in a state of great
 unrest. Walking nervously up and down, he said: "Had a very
 eventful life; a great inner struggle; this man was very much
 misjudged; he died a long time ago but he is still not forgotten; he
 possessed great mental gifts, a genius." A few minutes later
 Hanussen continued: "A life that ended with a cry of despair; what
 a terrible end." Finally, he called out with a loud voice: "Suicide!"
 During these words Hanussen repeatedly gripped his throat with
 his fingers. According to Dietz, Hanussen's impressions were
 correct with regard to the most important points of the prisoner's
 life. Dr. Tenhaeff was present during the Hanussen seance. -- G.Z.
 01378. Dietz, P.A. Stigmatization produced by Paul Diebel.
 Tijdschrift voor Parapsychologie, 1930/31, 3, 145-155.
 Paul Diebel, a German by birth, was a soldier who fought
 against the Russians during World War I. He was taken a prisoner
 of war, but he was able to steal the uniform of a Russian officer and
 flee. He was caught and condemned to be shot: because he was
 wearing a Russian uniform, he was believed to be a spy. The night
 before he was to be executed he cut his wrists. When the Russians
 found him, they believed him to be dead and put him in an empty
 truck. There he came to his senses and saw that the bleeding had
 stopped. The owner of a mill took care of him and allowed him to
 stay with him until the end of the war. Diebel became convinced
 that by pure will power he could make any part of his body bleed,
 or any wound bloodless. When Diebel gave public sittings in
 Holland, Dietz persuaded him to give a private sitting that would
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