ARPAST.org

ARPAST is a science-based research group dedicated to furthering our measured understanding of anomalous and unexplained phenomena. Our goal is not to "prove" or "disprove" the existence of "ghosts" or "spirits." To carry such an agenda would be to presume an understanding of that which is not currently completely understood. 

We are NOT "ghost busters," nor do we do "interventions", "cleansings", or "exorcisms." BEWARE - those who claim to provide such "services" are irresponsibly propagating fraudulent claims. Since paranormal phenomena remains mostly unexplained, how could anyone effectively provide those services with any certainty of success?

To that end, our mission is to document, collect, and analyze environmental and corroborated data surrounding paranormal events, using scientific methodologies, state-of-the-art equipment, software applications, and custom relational databases, while ruling out or uncovering any possible explanatory causes for such phenomena.

Utilizing this unique methodology, we hope to reveal and examine correlations while uncovering statistical trends which may lead us to better understand the mechanics of such phenomena. We believe that this, in turn, may lead to a better, objective understanding of the nature of the phenomena as well.

By ARPAST President / Founder Larry Flaxman (larry@arpast.org)

Psychics - True or False?

The topic of psychic abilities is likely as controversial as politics or religion. How many of us have visited with a psychic…paid their often exorbitant amount of money… and then were horribly disappointed by their lack of specific details and over generalized comments?

Why does it seem that many psychics seem almost predatory in nature - feeding off those blinded by grief and seeking closure with a loved one who has passed? And yet, there are defenders of the genre, even when faced with the fact that no psychic has EVER been able to reliable replicate or produce results that stand up to scrutiny.

A non-profit organization called The James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF) has announced that it is publicly offering $1 million to celebrity "psychic mediums" including James Van Praagh, Allison DuBois, Sylvia Browne, Carla Baron, John Edward, and others if they can prove their abilities in controlled experiments.

"James Van Praagh and Allison DuBois have turned the huckster art of 'cold reading' into a multi-million-dollar industry, preying on families' deepest fears and regrets," said James Randi, founder of the JREF and a renowned magician and skeptic.

The JREF's Million Dollar Challenge Director, a mentalist performer named Banachek, said, "We're issuing a challenge: If one of you can demonstrate your 'psychic' abilities on randomly chosen strangers -- not celebrities -- under mutually-agreed conditions, without relying on known cold-reading techniques such as fishing around with vague questions, and without just using Google -- we will donate our million dollars to you or to the charity of your choice."

Wouldn't you think that if there was a legitimate psychic out there that they would apply and easily walk away with a cool million bucks? Think about it - that should be easy money if they had truly had legitimate abilities.

From skepdic.com: "The fact is that most parapsychologists have given up trying to find a single person with a single paranormal ability. They study groups of people and collect gobs of data, hoping to find a statistic not likely due to chance, which they then declare to be evidence of psi because it is their hypothesis that if the statistic is not likely due to chance then it is reasonable to conclude that it is due to psi. In other words, they've gone from being duped by con artists to duping themselves."

Do your own research... there are thousands of websites that discuss the psychic phenomenon (pro and con)... make up your own mind.

ParaExplorers – The word itself is a juxtaposition of the concept of a “Pair of Explorers.” This play on words perfectly describes our mission and overall goal. We are two explorers who have embarked on a lifelong journey of knowledge, information and facts. Two souls united with the common objective and purpose of discovering universal truths regarding the world we live in.

Mystery, intrigue, and the unknown have been inextricably linked to the human experience since time immemorial. Within the context of rational science, there has been little serious interest shown from mainstream disciplines.

We are reminded of the legendary Star Trek preamble used in the title sequence of the original Star Trek:

“Space - the Final Frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: To explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. To boldly go where no man has gone before.”

Our ambitious goals are singularly focused, and closely mirror those of Captain Kirk’s intrepid starship explorers. Rather than exploring extraterrestrial, alien landscapes, we will instead focus on exploring strange new worlds right here on earth. Worlds which hereto forth remain wholly unexplored and uncharted. We will investigate both new and ancient civilizations and cultures. We will study all manner of unexplained phenomena in a scientifically objective manner.

We will boldly go where no man, or woman, has gone before.