The SORRAT MINILAB EXPERIMENTS, conducted between 1961
and 1981 document the hidden world of parapsychology research
initially started by Dr. Joseph Banks Rhine of Duke University
in Durham, North Carolina. With the establishment of Parapsychology
as a science by Dr. J.B. Rhine, new models were developed to
test claims of extra sensory perception which included statistical
methods involving the use of cards and coins.
Having reviewed the extensive records of well documented
physical paranormal phenomena that began in the year 1848 with
the Fox sisters in Upstate New York, parapsychologists wondered
why these classical paranormal phenomena had ceased. The Society
for Research in Rapport and Telekinesis (SORRAT) was founded
by J.G. Neihardt in 1961 to investigate these questions. Initially,
sittings similar to seances were held at Neihardt's home in Columbia,
Missouri. The familiar table movements and other gross physical
phenomena occurred. As the experiments proceeded, parapsychologists
working with Neihardt decided to create a new model for conducting
experiments to determine if the classical physical phenomena
that had been so widely reported in the previous century could
be re-produced in a way that could be scientifically verified.
This research program, while initially suggested by Dr.
Rhine, was designed by William Edward Cox, a close associate
of Dr. Rhine, and John Thomas Richards Ph.D., a professor of
English with an avid interest in Parapsychology. Cox, Richards,
and other associates worked together to design the MINILAB. This
new testing environment took the form of a specially designed,
securely locked box in which tripwires were installed. On these
tripwires the experimenters placed target objects. The tripwires
were then connected to lights and a movie camera that would turn
on and film any activity that took place inside the locked box
when movement took place in the MINILAB.
These modern parapsychologists developed new methods of
producing physical paranormal phenomena that did not require
the physical presence of seances or sitting mediums. Placing
the MINILAB in the basement of J.T. Richards home in Rolla, Missouri,
they would examine the film in the movie camera periodically.
From 1979 through 1981, their efforts were rewarded with success.
The range of phenomena captured on film includes ink pens that
were filmed standing up by themselves and writing answers to
questions posed by experimenters on letters placed inside the
MINILAB. The letters were placed in self-addressed stamped envelopes
which were then placed inside the MINILAB which was secured with
padlocks that were filled with superglue.
Despite the fact that the MINILAB could not possibly be
opened and was left alone for long periods of time in the isolation
chamber, when the film was examined, the letters could be seen
mailing themselves (vanishing). The persons to whom the letters
were addressed began receiving the letters and in many cases,
the letters that were received were letters that had been sent
by experimenters other than the one who had received it. In addition
to the letters, films document balloons repeatedly inflating
and deflating, rings linking and unlinking, spontaneous combustion,
and numerous other phenomena.
The impeccable credentials and ethics of all involved in
conducting these experiments, combined with the meticulous construction
of the MINILAB to prevent any possibility of fraud serves to
underline the genuine mystery uncovered in this documentary.
