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Philip Aylesbury, the aristocratic ghost of the Cromwellian era, was created in 1972 by British scientist Dr. George Owen and his team to challenge the boundaries of paranormal research. LES HEWITT tells us about the amazing experiment
Do you believe in the existence of ghosts?
For some, that may be a rhetorical question. Even the most casual readers here are more likely to agree with this idea. For centuries, the study of ghosts, hauntings, the afterlife, poltergeist activity and parapsychology has been pursued with an almost insatiable devotion.
Much of this study and theory has explored the origins of those souls who believed they had never fully died; who they were and why they remain. In 1972, an enterprising British scientist by the name of Dr. George Owen, however, teamed up with other leading researchers of the time to explore the potential of whether ghosts actually existed.
This small team met regularly and worked with each other to create a manifestation of a long-dead English gentleman who had never actually existed in a physical realm. Essentially, this group worked to create a fictional ghost and then attempt to make this form appear during a séance in front of witnesses!
Not a single member of this octet, called The Owen Group, had any psychic ability or ability. Although all members of this group were experts in their own particular walks of life, few were scientific in nature. Although a large percentage were academics (accountants, engineers and legal advisors), among the others there were also students and even a housewife.
Over the course of several weeks, the group worked together and created a profile of the individual they wanted to create. This eventually led to a biographical history of the man.
Philip Aylesbury is born
The name given to this man was Philip Aylesbury. He was a minor aristocrat who lived in England during the reign of Oliver Cromwell. The Catholic was married to Dorethea, a daughter of a neighboring nobleman. Aylesbury was a staunch supporter of the king.
One day while driving around his estate, he chanced upon a gypsy camp and immediately fell in love with a young, raven-haired lady named Margo. He invited her to the gatehouse of his mansion without informing anyone.
For a while this arrangement remained a closely guarded secret. When Dorethea realized what was happening under her nose, she accused Margo of witchcraft and stealing her husband. This put Philip in an awkward position. He chose to protect his own reputation and stay ahead of Margo’s life, and therefore refused to intervene. Margo was convicted and sentenced to death. She was burned at the stake.
After her execution, Philip became increasingly sad and guilty because he refused to act in her defense. As time passed, Philip did little more than routinely walk back and forth along the battlements of Diddington, his childhood home. This routine ended when he was discovered at the base of the battlements. The fear had finally reached its peak.
The biography they developed was only the first stage of this process. When the work was completed to their satisfaction, an artist from their ranks was commissioned to embellish it with a portrait of what the nobleman would have looked like if he had ever existed.
Now it was time to start the real work.
The group began meeting in September 1972. They would meet and discuss everything about Philip. Nothing was left uncovered. His life and death, his infidelity and loyalty. All members of the group also meditated and tried to visualize their own hallucination. All this work was carried out in a fully illuminated environment.
For most of the next year, hardly anything happened. Sporadic reports of some form of contact were recorded, but nothing substantial ever happened. A change in approach was needed and it was collectively decided to continue with the experiment, but under different conditions. Subsequent attempts would be conducted under classic séance conditions.
The Philip experiment
When the experiment restarted, each participant sat around a round table with dimmed lights. Sample images of how Diddington was thought to have been built were introduced. Songs were sung. This increased effort yielded more positive results almost immediately.
Their first successful contact came with a single tap on the table they were using. It was the very first of many reported answers to simple yes/no questions that came from all members present. One of the very first confirmations established was whether or not this was ‘Philip’. According to everyone present, that was the case.
The more the Owen Group continued, the more events increased. Additional details were obtained from progressive séances. With each session, Philip even began to take on some form of personality. The table started to move and, as incredible as it sounded, also tipped over on one leg.
However, all information revealed during these sessions was a collective effort of the participants. Nothing new or groundbreaking has been done to make this effort more credible. Many of these sessions were recorded, but there was no additional voice on these recordings. It was really just the word of the group.
To address this, the group agreed to invite an audience of 50 witnesses to independently confirm that the events occurred as described. An additional television crew was also invited to witness p4oceedings as part of a documentary. Philip was also only too happy to help. In addition to knocking on the table, Philip managed to influence the lighting, produce audible sounds in different parts of the room and even make the table levitate for the television cameras to capture.
For professionals who explore the limitations of the human mind, there are those who insist that science has not yet scratched the surface of what the mind can and cannot do. Is it even possible that the Owen Group managed to conjure a ghost from the ether, give it a name, and then present these findings to the watching world? If so, can anyone accomplish this feat?
If they made contact with the other side, who responded? Has a passing benevolent energy – or worse, a malevolent energy – exploited these efforts for its own gain? Either way, it can be a pretty scary thought.
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