(Note, this was one of the books Laura recommended in the spirit board/K&B thread.)
Unleashed: Of Poltergeists and Murder: The Curious Story of Tina Resch
by William Roll, PhD, and Valerie Storey (2004)
Tina Resch made headlines in 1984 when her home began to be plagued by so-called poltergeist activity. William Roll was the parapsychologist brought in to investigate, and his book, Unleashed, is an account of the events leading up to his arrival, the ones that occurred during the week he spent at the Resch residence, his later research with Tina on her psychokinesis abilities, and the later controversy surrounding the death of her three-year-old daughter.
The Resch case was a highly documented, multi-witness poltergeist case. Dozens of witnesses observed household items flying through the air (often striking Tina in the back of the head or elsewhere on her body), heavy furniture moving on its own, objects disappearing or changing their location, as well as loud sounds. While Roll admits that Tina could have staged some of these events for attention (a camera crew caught her pulling down a lamp after they had unsuccessfully waited hours to see 'the force' in action), all the witnesses admit to observing phenomena that Tina could NOT have staged. The Resch house became uninhabitable, with glasses breaking, food flying around the kitchen, and appliances going haywire (even when unplugged). A local news photographer even got a photograph of a telephone in mid-flight while he had been observing Tina. The strangest events (to me, at least) were those involving flying objects that had to turn corners to reach their landing place, eggs that came through the fridge door before flying into walls, and objects that flew very fast through the air, only to land gently and precisely, stopping abruptly.
What fascinates me the most (aside from the high strangeness of the events in question) is Roll's insightful analysis. Despite others' suspicions of possession or evil spirits, Roll, due to his previous research in RSPK (random spontaneous psychokinesis, AKA poltergeist activity), points out that most poltergeist cases involve young people, often with intense emotional disturbances. And as the book shows, Tina had a traumatic life. I'd even call it one long string of bad luck. (Interestingly, Dr. Richard Broughton, who did some unsuccessful PK experiments with Tina, discusses the possible relationship between luck and ESP/PK in his book "Parapsychology: The Controversial Science".)
Tina had been psychologically, physically, and sexually abused (by her adopted mother, father, and step-brother, respectively), and seems to have had an eating disorder (her parents forced her to eat large portions of food, yet her mother would make disparaging comments about her weight while denying her to eat smaller portions). A psychological investigation showed that she did not make a clear distinction between herself and her environment (she was also clumsy), and was prone to dissociation (probably due to the abuse she had lived through), as well as signs of ADD and mild Tourette's. Roll has seen such correlations in his research. The involuntary misfirings or 'discharges' in the brains of people with epilepsy-like disorders often show up in people with RSPK. They events also seem to occur with sympathetic nervous system functioning (not parasympathetic, e.g., when they are asleep). Roll thinks there is a connection between this faulty brain 'wiring' and RSPK, that somehow the emotional state builds up and discharges, and communicates this information to inanimate objects, modifying their information in turn (e.g., gravitational information, electrical, kinetic, etc.). The phenomenon also seems to fall off with distance.
The events often mirrored Tina's (subconscious) emotional state. For example, events in the house mirrored a fateful encounter she had with her father just before the strangeness started, when he chased her in a circle on the first floor of their house with the intention of beating her. The phenomena was often playful around people who gave Tina much-needed attention (like Roll, her brother Craig, and the electrician Bruce), but violent towards her parents' possessions, and against herself. Tina was torn between anger towards her parents, the guilt that brought up, and her identification with her parents' criticisms (she was no good), possibly triggering the many events where objects would strike her with force -- a form of self-punishment. It was as if Tina's PK was a way of communicating what she could not say, a release for emotions that had been bottled up and whose only release was some kind of spontaneous 'short-circuit' with the physical environment. There were also some symbolic events, such as phone problems (Tina had no 'real connection' with people) and events occurring while she was on the 'love seat' (she did not feel loved by her family).
Sadly, at the time of the book, Tina was serving life in prison for a murder she clearly did not commit. Just one more example of extremely bad luck (and bad choices). After a series of abusive relationships, she came home one night to find her daughter severely beaten (she later died in the hospital). It turns out that her boyfriend at the time had sodomized and beaten the small child (he admitted to this). But both Tina and he were arrested. Tina spent over two years in prison awaiting trial, after being assigned a great lawyer who couldn't care less about presenting a good case in her defense. Eventually, he persuaded her to enter a plea bargain. It's really a sad story how it all turned out, and quite amazing to see how events in Tina's life seemed to work against her. I wonder if there is not an element of self-fulfilling prophecy to her story, akin to her RSPK events, but instead having to do with the events of her everyday life.
Roll and Storey's "Unleashed" (****) is a great account of a classic poltergeist case, a tragic true crime account, and an insightful psychological study. I couldn't put it down. It also includes a chapter showing what a blowhard and charlatan James Randi is, which is always a plus.
Unleashed: Of Poltergeists and Murder: The Curious Story of Tina Resch
by William Roll, PhD, and Valerie Storey (2004)
Tina Resch made headlines in 1984 when her home began to be plagued by so-called poltergeist activity. William Roll was the parapsychologist brought in to investigate, and his book, Unleashed, is an account of the events leading up to his arrival, the ones that occurred during the week he spent at the Resch residence, his later research with Tina on her psychokinesis abilities, and the later controversy surrounding the death of her three-year-old daughter.
The Resch case was a highly documented, multi-witness poltergeist case. Dozens of witnesses observed household items flying through the air (often striking Tina in the back of the head or elsewhere on her body), heavy furniture moving on its own, objects disappearing or changing their location, as well as loud sounds. While Roll admits that Tina could have staged some of these events for attention (a camera crew caught her pulling down a lamp after they had unsuccessfully waited hours to see 'the force' in action), all the witnesses admit to observing phenomena that Tina could NOT have staged. The Resch house became uninhabitable, with glasses breaking, food flying around the kitchen, and appliances going haywire (even when unplugged). A local news photographer even got a photograph of a telephone in mid-flight while he had been observing Tina. The strangest events (to me, at least) were those involving flying objects that had to turn corners to reach their landing place, eggs that came through the fridge door before flying into walls, and objects that flew very fast through the air, only to land gently and precisely, stopping abruptly.
What fascinates me the most (aside from the high strangeness of the events in question) is Roll's insightful analysis. Despite others' suspicions of possession or evil spirits, Roll, due to his previous research in RSPK (random spontaneous psychokinesis, AKA poltergeist activity), points out that most poltergeist cases involve young people, often with intense emotional disturbances. And as the book shows, Tina had a traumatic life. I'd even call it one long string of bad luck. (Interestingly, Dr. Richard Broughton, who did some unsuccessful PK experiments with Tina, discusses the possible relationship between luck and ESP/PK in his book "Parapsychology: The Controversial Science".)
Tina had been psychologically, physically, and sexually abused (by her adopted mother, father, and step-brother, respectively), and seems to have had an eating disorder (her parents forced her to eat large portions of food, yet her mother would make disparaging comments about her weight while denying her to eat smaller portions). A psychological investigation showed that she did not make a clear distinction between herself and her environment (she was also clumsy), and was prone to dissociation (probably due to the abuse she had lived through), as well as signs of ADD and mild Tourette's. Roll has seen such correlations in his research. The involuntary misfirings or 'discharges' in the brains of people with epilepsy-like disorders often show up in people with RSPK. They events also seem to occur with sympathetic nervous system functioning (not parasympathetic, e.g., when they are asleep). Roll thinks there is a connection between this faulty brain 'wiring' and RSPK, that somehow the emotional state builds up and discharges, and communicates this information to inanimate objects, modifying their information in turn (e.g., gravitational information, electrical, kinetic, etc.). The phenomenon also seems to fall off with distance.
The events often mirrored Tina's (subconscious) emotional state. For example, events in the house mirrored a fateful encounter she had with her father just before the strangeness started, when he chased her in a circle on the first floor of their house with the intention of beating her. The phenomena was often playful around people who gave Tina much-needed attention (like Roll, her brother Craig, and the electrician Bruce), but violent towards her parents' possessions, and against herself. Tina was torn between anger towards her parents, the guilt that brought up, and her identification with her parents' criticisms (she was no good), possibly triggering the many events where objects would strike her with force -- a form of self-punishment. It was as if Tina's PK was a way of communicating what she could not say, a release for emotions that had been bottled up and whose only release was some kind of spontaneous 'short-circuit' with the physical environment. There were also some symbolic events, such as phone problems (Tina had no 'real connection' with people) and events occurring while she was on the 'love seat' (she did not feel loved by her family).
Sadly, at the time of the book, Tina was serving life in prison for a murder she clearly did not commit. Just one more example of extremely bad luck (and bad choices). After a series of abusive relationships, she came home one night to find her daughter severely beaten (she later died in the hospital). It turns out that her boyfriend at the time had sodomized and beaten the small child (he admitted to this). But both Tina and he were arrested. Tina spent over two years in prison awaiting trial, after being assigned a great lawyer who couldn't care less about presenting a good case in her defense. Eventually, he persuaded her to enter a plea bargain. It's really a sad story how it all turned out, and quite amazing to see how events in Tina's life seemed to work against her. I wonder if there is not an element of self-fulfilling prophecy to her story, akin to her RSPK events, but instead having to do with the events of her everyday life.
Roll and Storey's "Unleashed" (****) is a great account of a classic poltergeist case, a tragic true crime account, and an insightful psychological study. I couldn't put it down. It also includes a chapter showing what a blowhard and charlatan James Randi is, which is always a plus.
