Double Interview: The paranormal research team of Nicholas A. Reiter and Lori Schillig

Together these Ohio researchers have authored an exciting new book that will soon-be-published for the first time. Entitled “The Bridges of Avalon: Science, Spirit, and the Quest for Unity,” this book will detail some of their most thought-provoking experiences and theories.

by Brent Raynes

Part 2 — Lori Schillig

Editor: Lori, just what is it you do as a psychic or intuitive visiting a haunted site or paranormal hotspot with Nick or any other investigator?

Schillig: I consider myself a clairscentient. I seem to be most effective visiting locations where there has been some level of emotional upheaval in the past that I can tune into. It is sort of like walking into a room of strangers and sensing the dynamics of the group’s interaction. You can tell who is upset, who might be repressing something, who tends to be violent, etc. Except, there are no people in the room. Interestingly, I do not seem to function at a high level of accuracy in the out-of-doors, which makes me believe that I am picking up some sort of residual energy that has imbedded itself in the surroundings of a structure.

I prefer to know nothing about the case that we are investigating. Going into the situation virtually blind helps to validate any impressions that I do achieve and that can be corroborated historically.

I often use dowsing as a tool for locating areas where the imagery seems to be stronger. This is no different than the old-timers who dowse for water. It’s just a matter of setting your sights on a different target, which I perceive as some form of anomalous or residual energy. It is then intriguing to see if Nick can pick up any deviations in the norm with his scientific equipment (magnetic anomalies, etc.)

Editor: How did you come to possess the abilities you use?

Schillig: I believe that everyone has some degree of intuitive abilities. But if you don’t exercise them, you lose the capacity to utilize them. People may be intuitive in different areas. One person may actually see anomalies, while another may have auditory perceptions. Someone else may actually be better in a precognitive fashion or in remote viewing. You have to find the area that you excel in and not be afraid to hone these talents.

Editor: What have been some of your most memorable, interesting paranormal/supernatural experiences?

Schillig: My most memorable/interesting cases involve the two that still leave me scratching my head. In all of our cases, we are looking for elements of the survival of consciousness. We have found almost no evidence of this. Most hauntings seem to be either residual energy patterns (like images on the broken record of time) or psychokinesis caused by living human beings. However, we have had one or two cases that are not so clear. In these cases, verbal contact with the alleged spirit seemed to bring about its disappearance when nothing else worked. The skeptic in me feared that the power of suggestion created during this verbal exchange with an alleged spirit may have allayed the stress enough in the current residents of the “haunted house” to cause the situation to die down. However, in one of these cases in particular, the owner of the home had no idea that I had performed this verbal directive for the spirit to leave and “go to the light.”

We never promise to make someone’s haunting go away and we never charge money for our visits. I actually discourage individuals from employing “psychics” to perform these feats because they usually don’t work. They don’t work because there is nothing with consciousness present. It is old/residual energy. Or if it does work, it is usually a temporary placebo effect.

Editor: Is there some sort of personal satisfaction or gain that doing this kind of work gives you? What is the motivation?

Schillig: My greatest satisfaction has come in two areas. One - easing someone’s mind that they are not going crazy by confirming things they sense and cannot explain. Two - poltergeist cases are my favorite, because I have learned that in almost every case we have been able to find the core reason behind the emotional upheaval in the life of the occupant and point out to them the symbolic connection between the specific incidents in the home. Therefore, it becomes sort of a psychoanalysis session. Once we can make the connection between the object moving (for example) and how it is symbolic to a personal issue in their lives, they seem to lose an element of fear, and the problem goes away. We have actually helped people who have attempted exorcisms because they believed they had a demon in their home, only to find out after our intervention that they were simply wrestling with personal demons from issues in their life that was causing psychokinesis in the psyche’s attempt to draw attention to this issue. Many of these cases are detailed on our website <www.theavalonfoundation.org>.

My motivation is to open minds and to learn.

Editor: What do you think has been your most important discovery or finding in the work that you do?

Schillig: I have excerpts from our upcoming book “The Bridges of Avalon” describing what we have coined Resonant Reconstitiution and Ectogenesis: The Theory of Resonant Re-Constitution

As our cases rolled onward and we encountered further evidence that the living were as big a component in the phenomenon of the haunting as anything else, a corollary to Ectogenesis arose. We have referred to this alternately as ‘Resonance’ and ‘Reconstitution,’ although more appropriately they may be combined into what we now refer to as Resonant Re-Constitution. Evidence for this phenomenon was found in several cases that were more suggestive of PK, however these events were occurring in houses where enough human history was present to presume the possible involvement and influence of deceased or former residents. In other words, we were presented with a curious and potentially meaningful blend of influences. Under further scrutiny and in at least two of these cases, we found that there existed similar life-patterns of current residents, to those of former and/or deceased residents. A chronology and qualitative analysis of haunting events also indicated an escalation of anomalous activity at times of emotional stress. However, we were also observing that the case subject involved was not among the demographic groups pinned down earlier as being primary generators of poltergeist activity/spontaneous PK.

In a case from early 2001, a divorced woman in her 40’s was living alone in a house in the Cleveland, Ohio area. The house in question had been the childhood and early adult home of a rather famous and tragic murder victim, although it was certainly well known that the later headline-grabbing murder did not occur in the same area. In this sense, it seemed as though there was little evidence to suggest that anyone had actually ever died in the home. However, from personal and historical testimony, combined with cold-scanned intuitive impressions, we established a reasonable life profile of those earlier residents. This profile included domestic violence, emotional neglect, and abuse, which may have indeed played a role in the tragic events to occur in later years.

Lori: ‘I did not intuit the presence of an actual deceased human spirit or ghost, however, I sensed very strongly the images of the past and came back with a good score for names and events later confirmed. This was combined, however, with a peculiar character of indeterminacy in time. I found it difficult to correlate the images of people and names with time. It was almost as though there was a fusion of past and present.’

On the other side of the situation, the divorcee who had called us to investigate was sincerely describing physical phenomena that were not suggestive of a benign and low-level imprinted pattern. There was intent and intelligence present. Spontaneous furniture movement, pile-ups of household items in curious formations, glimpsed shadow figures, and a discontinuous nature all would have suggested a highly coherent ghost. The breakthrough came when our host opened up to us with the details of her divorce and the past few years of her life involving emotional and physical abuse!

Our host and her ex-husband had essentially divorced after a number of years of emotional issues that had indeed included physical abuse and violence. We began to see that the core issues involved with the most recent owners were echoing what was historically known about the original owners and family! There was a resonance here of a very special type. And perhaps this resonance was giving new life to old or latent attractors in the house - reconstituting them like one would add water to dried fruit. In essence, this may have reanimated an Ectogenesis manifestation started so many years ago by an unhappy house full of folks destined for a tragic spot in local history.

This was probably the case that drove the point home the hardest, although we realized that there had been elements present in several others. We offer the following sequential model for this phenomenon:

l. The process of Ectogenesis proceeds to the point where embedded patterns or imprints of previous resident’s lives and personas are firmly in place, although the self-organization threshold of the attractor may not be achieved.

2. This attractor may be fairly low-level and benign to most observers, and it may not have enough coherency or energy content to manifest in any physical ways.

3. If a new resident or owner moves in and this person or family is in an emotionally healthy state with fulfilling and busy lives, the old attractor may never be noticed beyond an occasional creepy feeling or subtle sensation of presence in specific areas of the house.

4. However, if the new resident is in a state of emotional stress that has parallels with circumstances or situations from the earlier period, then we postulate that a resonance is set up - a resonance of pure pattern and form!

5. By means of this resonance, like a conduit or pipeline, the process of Ectogenesis starts up again with the old imprint or attractor being fueled and reconstituted, eventually passing the threshold of self-organization. Thusly do manifestations of a dramatic and independent flavor come to pass. We now believe that elements of this principle may be at work in a comparatively large percentage of cases. It may be that few attractors reach self-organizational ability or tulpa status; however, along the way, it is certainly likely that sporadic and surprising physical manifestations could occur anyway!

In its mildest form, Resonant Re-Constitution may account for the majority of what is usually reported as ghostly activity. In several cases, we have observed that the case subjects may not fit the puberty/menopause poltergeist group. Yet the weirdness tends to run rampant when emotions in the house are in high gear: fights, impending divorce, a birth, a death, the stuff of life - resonating through time like a knife through butter.

To Read The Theory of Ectogenesis by Reiter & Schillig, click here.