'SPREADING THE GOSPEL' OF ESP

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: STARGATE
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010075-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: November 4, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 9, 2014
• Sequence Number: 75
• Publication Date: February 1, 1975
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2014/01/09:
CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010075-3
OF CAL
TO:
6)",
? YOU WER CALLED BY? El YOU WERE VISITED BY?
OF (Organization)
PHONE NO.
11 PLEASE CALL ?310. CODE/EXT.
? WILL CALL AGAIN D IS WAITING TO SEE YOU
? RETURNED YOUR CALL WISHES AN APPOINTMENT
MESSAGE
STAT
RECEIVED BY
STANDARD FORM 63
REVISED AUGUST 1967
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2014/01/09:
CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010075-3
GPO 1971 0 - 442-316
63-108
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010075-3
'Spreading the Gospel' of ESP
F. Regis Riesenman (M '40)
would be a wealthy man if he chose a
career as a professional gambler. He can
shuffle a pack of cards, memorize the
order of its contents in 10 seconds, re-
shuffle the pack several times and
predict which card you will pick out
at random. He can tell you exactly
how many cards are left in a cut deck
by brushing it lightly with his thumb,
or simply by looking at the cards from
across the room.
But Dr. Riesenman is not a gambler
(although people tell him he is "10
times better than Kresgyn"). He is a
practicing psychiatrist and a self-ap-
pointed expert on parapsychology. He
uses his knowledge of magic and card
trickery to expose fakes who claim
psychic powers. And he is convinced
that only a few men and women, like
his friends Jeane Dixon and Un Geller,
are genuine psychics.
Dr. Riesenman has been interested
in psychic phenomena for more than
50 years, long before psychologists
began to take ESP seriously. "I've
always been about 50 years ahead of
my time in everything," he boasts. He
is now phasing out his psychiatric
practice in Arlington, Va. to devote
himself full-time to parapsychology.
What is ESP? A new energy, Dr.
Riesenman says, that so far has defied
the efforts of researchers to under-
stand it.
"It's the fifth state of matter," he
explains, "intangible, nothing you can
touch or feel." The unit of energy
that allows psychics to read minds,
bend spoons, identify criminals and
cure disease has tentatively been
labelled the "tachyon" or "psitron."
"It cannot be screened by lead or
mercury shields. It can only be ex-
plained by the application of quantum
mathematics or quantum physics."
Dr. Riesenman theorizes that the
psitron is similar to the neutrino, a
subatomic particle that has no mass
but can be identified by instruments.
However, although researchers at Stan-
ford, Yale and Columbia are looking
into the problem, no instrumentation
has been developed to monitor psychic
energy.
28
1
ofi
Dr. Riesenman, a devout Catholic,
believes that the ability of some
oriental mystics to control the autono-
mous functions of their bodies (such
as heart beat and respiration) can be
explained by parapsychology. And he
thinks that research into psychic
energy can yield benefits for medical
science.
Everyone has some psychic ability,
he says, and training in Eastern medita-
tion techniques, mind control and self-
hypnosis can help people treat the
symptoms of disease. "More and
more people will learn how to use
what psychic powers they have," he
predicts.
Dr. Riesenman himself once was
afflicted with Bell's palsy, a disease he
says he was able to cure in eight hours
by reciting a prayer.
Some police departments have found
ESP a useful tool in criminology;
one psychic employed by the Chicago
police has solved 37 murders. Another
psychic, a friend of Dr. Riesenman,
identified a murderer in Washington
simply by touching a photo of the
victim.
"Each psychic becomes a sending
and receiving television and radio set,"
he explains. "Every individual has a
'life force' at a unique frequency that
leaves its imprint on any object he
touches. We emanate this life force
from our fingers and breath. A
psychic is sensitive to this. With this
life force (or 'vibration') perceived,
the psychic knows the individual's
past, present and future.
"When the psychic visits the scene
of a crime, he simply tunes into traces
left by the criminal. Similarly, he can
learn about the spirit world by tapping
its collective vibrations."
Even genuine psychics are not al-
ways accurate, however. Dr. Riesen-
man, for example, doesn't believe Jeane
Dixon's prediction that a nuclear holo-
caust will destroy much of the world in
the early 1980s. "Jeane is good in
assassinations and deaths. She's 100
percent on that," he says. "A lot of
the psychic's ability to predict the
future is based on intuition, ability to
use reason and information." Overall,
Jeane Dixon's predictions are accurate
70 percent of the time, says Dr.
Riesenman.
The psychiatrist first began to read
books about ESP when he was 12
years old. "I was interested in this, but
thought it was nothing but coinci-
dence," he says. His skepticism turned
into belief and he read every book and
article available in the field. A con-
vert to parapsychology, Dr. Riesenman
now says he is "spreading the gospel"
of the new science.
--Andy Lang (C'75)
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2014/01/09: CIA-RDP79-00999A000200010075-3