Paramusicology : an investigation of music and paranormal phenomena.

The purpose of this thesis is to explore musical anomalies that are allegedly paranormal
in origin. From a wide range of categories available, three areas are investigated:
• music and telepathy
• music written by mediums professedly contacted by dead composers
• music being heard where the physical source of sound is unknown and presumed
to be paranormal.
In the first part a method of sensory masking (referred to as ganzfeld) is used to study
the possibility of the emotional or physical content of music being capable of mind
transference. A further experiment presents additional results relating to the highest
scoring individuals in the previous trials. No systematic evidence for the telepathic
communication of music was found. In the second section a number of mediums and
the music they produced are investigated to examine the truthfulness of their claims of
spiritual intervention in compositions and performances. Methods of composition are
investigated and the music is analysed by experts. For the final part of the thesis
locations are specified where reports of anomalous music have been asserted and
people claiming to have heard such music are introduced and their statements
examined. Literature from a variety of data bases is considered to ascertain whether
the evidence for paranormal music consists of genuine material, misconceived
perceptions or fraudulent claims. Only a very few examples of fraud are discovered,
but seemingly genuine anomalies are generally found to consist of mistaken identities
or the embroidery of anecdotal facts. It would appear that human susceptibility and
enthusiasm for the paranormal are responsible for most of the data discovered.
The results bring together information on two subjects that have not previously been
seriously linked.