New Thinking Allowed with Jeffrey Mishlove

An Insider's View of Parapsychology at UCLA with Barry Taff

Barry E. Taff holds a doctorate in psychophysiology with a minor in biomedical engineering. He worked at UCLA's former parapsychology laboratory from 1969 through 1978. He also was investigated as a psychic subject, the results of which were published in Behavioral Neuropsychiatry. He is author of Aliens Above, Ghosts Below: Explorations of the Unknown. His website is www.BarryTaff.net.

Here he describes psychic experiences he had beginning in childhood. They involved clairvoyance that seemed akin to x-ray vision. This led him to seek out Dr. Thelma Moss, at UCLA, where he was subject to a variety of tests and eventually became a member of the laboratory staff. While at UCLA, he conducted regular classes in psychic development. He also describes explorations of psychic dreams and precognition.



This is the first in a series of interviews with Taff. As an added bonus, here is an article written in 2012 by Taff about his time at UCLA, which includes a more detailed account of the final anecdote mentioned in the interview:
http://www.teemingbrain.com/2012/11/15/l...ology-lab/

^ FYI for the curious - his website is suspended.

This is the first in a series of interviews with Taff.

Here is the second (of four):

Poltergeist Agents with Barry Taff

Barry E. Taff holds a doctorate in psychophysiology with a minor in biomedical engineering. He worked at UCLA's former parapsychology laboratory from 1969 through 1978. He also was investigated as a psychic subject, the results of which were published in Behavioral Neuropsychiatry. He is author of Aliens Above, Ghosts Below: Explorations of the Unknown. His website is www.BarryTaff.net.

Here he describes a variety of experiences involving recurring, spontaneous, psychokinesis that he attributes to individual, living human beings. He suggests a sophisticated hypothesis involving geomagnetic anomalies coupling with the unusual brain activity of certain individuals -- particularly those subject to seizures. He also provides details of an investigation that was later fictionalized into a motion picture, The Entity.

^ FYI for the curious - his website is suspended.

It's back up now:
http://barrytaff.net/

Ernesto Bozzano and Spirit Survival with Carlos Alvarado

Carlos S. Alvarado, PhD, is a Research Fellow at the Parapsychology Foundation, and Adjunct Research Faculty at Sofia University. He is on the editorial boards of the Journal of Near-Death Studies and the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research, and is the Book Review Editor of the Journal of Parapsychology, and an Associate Editor of the Journal of Scientific Exploration. Alvarado is also the recipient of the 2010 Parapsychological Association’s Outstanding Contribution Award, the Parapsychological Association 2017 Outstanding Career Award. He is author of the book, Charles Richet: A Nobel Prize Winning Scientist's Explorations of Psychic Phenomena.

Here he shares his interest and passion for the work of the Italian scholar, Ernesto Bozzano, who was a foremost proponent of the spirit survival hypothesis. He touches on many of Bozzano's interests including bilocation, transcendental music, hauntings, telekinesis, mediumship, apparitions, and deathbed phenomena. While Bozzano accepted and wrote about living agent psi, he argued strenuously that this could not account for the many phenomena that were documented in the literature of spiritualism, mesmerism, and psychical research.

American Hoodoo with Paul J. Leslie

Paul J. Leslie, EdD, is a psychotherapist in private practice in Aiken, South Carolina. He is professor of psychology at Aiken College. He is author of The Art of Creating a Magical Session: Key Elements for Transformative Psychotherapy, Low Country Shamanism: An Exploration of the Magical and Healing Practices of the Coastal Carolinas and Georgia, Potential Not Pathology: Helping Your Clients Transform Using Ericksonian Psychotherapy, and Shadows in the Session: The Presence of the Anomalous in Psychotherapy.

Here he shares his investigations of hoodoo or conjure practitioners in the Carolinas and Georgia. His perspective is not that of a practitioner, but rather that of a sympathetic psychotherapist interested in understanding the prevalent, yet hidden, culture he found himself surrounded by in South Carolina. He traces the origin of hoodoo to the African cultures of the slaves brought to America. He shares stories of several colorful figures and offers a variety of details regarding hoodoo conjure practices.





Alien/Human Interactions with Barry Taff

Barry E. Taff holds a doctorate in psychophysiology with a minor in biomedical engineering. He worked at UCLA's former parapsychology laboratory from 1969 through 1978. He also was investigated as a psychic subject, the results of which were published in Behavioral Neuropsychiatry. He is author of Aliens Above, Ghosts Below: Explorations of the Unknown. His website is www.BarryTaff.net.

Here he summarizes his thoughts on the literature of ufology, and also shares a number of relevant personal experiences. One striking episode involves an ostensible alien abduction of a woman with whom he was intimately involved. Another episode includes a mysterious pregnancy. Yet another episode involves a personal encounter, in the waking state, with alien entities. He explores the disturbing hypothesis that aliens have been engaging in genetic experiments with humans for more than a 100,000 years.

American Hoodoo with Paul J. Leslie

Paul J. Leslie, EdD, is a psychotherapist in private practice in Aiken, South Carolina. He is professor of psychology at Aiken College. He is author of The Art of Creating a Magical Session: Key Elements for Transformative Psychotherapy, Low Country Shamanism: An Exploration of the Magical and Healing Practices of the Coastal Carolinas and Georgia, Potential Not Pathology: Helping Your Clients Transform Using Ericksonian Psychotherapy, and Shadows in the Session: The Presence of the Anomalous in Psychotherapy.

Here he shares his investigations of hoodoo or conjure practitioners in the Carolinas and Georgia. His perspective is not that of a practitioner, but rather that of a sympathetic psychotherapist interested in understanding the prevalent, yet hidden, culture he found himself surrounded by in South Carolina. He traces the origin of hoodoo to the African cultures of the slaves brought to America. He shares stories of several colorful figures and offers a variety of details regarding hoodoo conjure practices.





Alien/Human Interactions with Barry Taff

Barry E. Taff holds a doctorate in psychophysiology with a minor in biomedical engineering. He worked at UCLA's former parapsychology laboratory from 1969 through 1978. He also was investigated as a psychic subject, the results of which were published in Behavioral Neuropsychiatry. He is author of Aliens Above, Ghosts Below: Explorations of the Unknown. His website is www.BarryTaff.net.

Here he summarizes his thoughts on the literature of ufology, and also shares a number of relevant personal experiences. One striking episode involves an ostensible alien abduction of a woman with whom he was intimately involved. Another episode includes a mysterious pregnancy. Yet another episode involves a personal encounter, in the waking state, with alien entities. He explores the disturbing hypothesis that aliens have been engaging in genetic experiments with humans for more than a 100,000 years.

Bad Aliens!
 Barry Taff's experiences and conclusions regarding the nature of aliens seems completely negative and without any spiritual component
He seems not to mention any of the other theories regarding a more benevolent connection or even how our own beliefs and psychologies influence our perception of aliens and how that changes and evolves over time as with John Mack and others.

His analogies all seem to derive from the idea of advanced technologies parallel to our own but more advanced and how our present day technologies would seem magical to people of past generations. I wonder how much his own personal beliefs and values have affected his experiences and understanding of ufo's, alien abduction, the paranormal ect. Also the end of the interview seemed rather abrupt and did not have the usual warm fuzzy " thank you for being with me and thank you for being with us.

I wonder how much his own personal beliefs and values have affected his experiences and understanding of ufo's, alien abduction, the paranormal ect.

He says, right after saying:

Barry Taff's experiences and conclusions regarding the nature of aliens seems completely negative and without any spiritual component

What, do Mcdonalds fry jockeys have a spiritual component?

If his experiences are taken at face value it'd be challenging, to put it mildly, to call what he and those around him went through with the alleged aliens anything but negative. Thus I'd say his current viewpoint makes sense, from his perspective. Besides, why would anyone assume that "aliens" function as a single monolithic hivemind with singular goals? If any involvement is occurring, its easily possible that there could be many factions involved with their own motives and methods. Likewise with spirits, as in, people living on another plane of existence.

I have had my own experiences with things claiming they were aliens, I haven't really talked about them much, but a lot of them were also very negative. I don't  trust that "they" have any truly good intentions for anyone here. If they do, it would likely only be because it aligns with their own self interest and goals, whatever they may be. Like how a farmer only cares about their livestock's wellbeing because no one's gonna buy starving, diseased cows.

That being said, some experiences were neutral or positive and appeared to be genuinely so. Even so, I remain wary. The actions of alleged alien craft, for example, generally show a total lack of respect. Doing what they do seemingly only because they can because no one here can do anything about it. And the overly spiritual, religious connotations often used when talking to people is highly manipulative by its very nature. As if they can't just talk to people like equals, they need to treat them like children, or idiots, or idiot children.

Thanks for sharing your perspective. 
I'm no expert in ufology(what ever that is) but I have perused various reports and theories for a few decades. It seems there are various camps/positions regarding the nature of ufo's and aliens from nuts and bolts to messengers from a parallel dimension who have appeared to us in cultural forms appropriate to the various myths and technologies present in the culture - faeries, elves, gnomes, big foot, greys, preying mantis etc. Regarding benevolence vs manevolent or just plain disregard: John Macks research seems to indicate some kind of spiritual evolution many abductees experience over time where initially they are terrified and perceive the aliens as menacing and cruel but over many subsequent abductions the aliens appear more benevolent and appear to have a message to humanity to wake up regarding the destruction of the planet.
Then there is the view of barry taff and others which projects the way human science researcher's treat lab rats from a cold detached approach - maybe true but I wonder how much of it is influenced by a misanthropic predisposition.