Abstract

One of the greatest desiderata of psychical research is to obtain a Permanent Paranormal Object (PPO). Such an object would be impossible to create by normal means under any circumstances; its existence alone would testify to a paranormal origin, without needing any reference to its history.

The problem with targeting effort towards producing a particular PPO is that it is hard to conceive of a PPO without some reference to a world model. Given the range of implicit model assumptions, it is reasonable to suppose that only a proportion of the PPOs that are being pursued will actually be possible.

The literature of spontaneous cases forms a useful tool in this regard, as it gives an indication of the range of phenomena for which there is anecdotal evidence. Unless the assumptions underlying suggested PPOs are made explicit, it would be easy to direct effort towards producing a PPO that would require the real-world to display behaviour that is without precedent in the literature.

There is merit in examining the implications of various PPO models carefully in the light of anecdotal evidence of what is likely to true about the real world. This would allow PPO attempts to be focused on those areas most likely to succeed or to produce information that can be used to discriminate between alternative models.

This paper examines some of the most sought after PPOs and discusses what it would and would not tell us about the world, if such objects could be produced. Next, some suggestions are made for various categories of PPOs that would illustrate different forms of paradigm failure. It is hoped that these guidelines will assist researchers involved with physical mediumship to set sensible and useful targets for their experiments.