Ingo Swann - Magnetometer Psychokinesis Tests

Magnetometer Psychokinesis Tests

When Ingo Swann arrived at SRI Harold Puthoff decided he would first be tested for psychokinesis, PK. On June 6, 1972, the two men paid a visit to Dr. Arthur Heberd and his quark detector, a magnetometer, at the Varian Physics Building. The well-shielded magnetometer had a small magnetic probe in a vault five feet beneath the floor. The oscillation had been running silently, for about an hour tracing out a stable pattern on the chart recorder. Putoff asked Swann if he could affect the magetometer’s magnetic field. Swann says he focused his attention on the interior of the magnetometer and was getting nothing.

Then there are different versions of the following events. Puthoff states that after about a five-second delay, Heberd says it was a ten to fifteen minute delay, the frequency of the trace recorder oscillation doubled for about 30 seconds (reportedly a common occurrence due to variations in the shared helium line to the lab). Heberd continues, when the curve burped, Swann asked, "Is that what I am supposed to do?" Swann said he responded,"Is that an effect?" Then according to Heberd, Swann crossed the room taking his attention away from the chart recorder. Swann says he took his mind off the machine and was sketching. Others watched the recorder to see if the irregularity would be repeated. It was. Puthoff asked Swann, "Did you do that too?" Here Swann says he again responded, "Is that an effect?" According to Puthoff Swann said he was then tired and couldn’t “hold it any longer” and let go. The chart recorder pattern returned to normal.

More supportive sources say that Heberd supports Puthoff's version that in the second instance Heberd suggested he would be more impressed if Swann could stop the field change altogether. Heberd denies he told James Randi that he never suggested it. Swann recalls he heard, “Can you do that again?” from Puthoff. Only Swann says his feats frightened some doctoral candidates, claiming that two "virtually ran" from the room and one collided with a "totally visible" structure support.

No evidence exists to support Puthoff's claim that the effect was repeated at will under observation.

Puthoff writes Dr. Heberd suggested all along there must be something wrong with the equipment. The following day it was certain the magnetometer was malfunctioning. "The equipment was behaving erratically; it was not possible to obtain a stable background signal for calibration." Therefore the experiment was not repeated. Swann relates this SNAFU in his book, Remote Viewing: The Real Story. In his CIA report, paranormal expert, Dr. Kenneth A. Kress, does not record anything about Heberd's malfunctioning suggestions. Kress only writes, "These variations were never seen before or after this visit." Though Swann was to spend a year at SRI, in their book, Targ and Puthoff present no further data and, Swann does not mention he was involved in, any other PK experiments with the magnetometer than those that occurred and were recorded on June 6, 1972.

Immediately after Puthoff wrote a brief paper in a draft form. Rather than publishing the results in a scientific journal inviting peer review, this paper was circulated hand to hand throughout research and academic institutions across the U.S.A., and Puthoff accepted invitations to speak. This paper caught the attention of the CIA and two spooks paid a visit to Hal Puthoff at SRI and met Ingo Swann. Later this paper was published as a part of a conference proceedings.