ESP, Hauntings, And Poltergeists, continued...


In terms of why Hutchins might be seeing Wayne's ghost (if that's who it is . . . and not some ghostly impersonator), it may be because of the triangle, as Roll points out, between Hutchins, the "Wild Goose," and John Wayne. Wayne, of course, was quite attached to the "Wild Goose," as Hutchins has been, it seems. Hutchins has felt as though he were the caretaker of a museum, personally committed to the boat. Such strong feelings of attachment have shown up in other apparition and haunting cases, and this might explain why no one but Hutchins has seen the apparition (although that caterer did report hearing the footsteps that one time).

But, given that Hutchins is the only real witness to frequent events, and given that much of the information received by the psychics could be derived from what is termed "common knowledge," it would be difficult to say whether Hutchins' subjective paranormal experience was evidence of any sort other than slightly suggestive that John Wayne's ghost stalks the "Wild Goose."


The Columbus Poltergeist

In March of 1984, there began a lengthy news coverage of a single apparent poltergeist case. Tina Resch was fourteen years old at the time of the first news reports out of Columbus, Ohio, telling of the physical disturbances going on in her family's home. While the poltergeist occurrences in the Resch home have apparently come to a halt, the case, investigated by the aforementioned Bill Roll, is hardly over, since Tina is still evidencing both unconscious and controlled psychokinesis. This is an interesting case, not only because it made big news, but also because of the controversy surrounding it (and Tina's ostensible abilities) and Roll's work with Tina to turn her uncontrolled, negative psi into a positive force for Tina.

Again, with the use of the NEXIS system, I've been able to keep close track of this case as it hit the wires.

In early March 1984, the Resch household was beset by physical disturbances of unexplained variety. Light switches would go on and off by themselves, clocks began to reset themselves, and objects began to move of their own volition, the magnitude of the events getting bigger and bigger. Reporter Mike Harden and photographer Fred Shannon of the Columbus Dispatch went out to the house and joined the family in observing heavier and larger objects, from glassware to lamps, begin to move about.

Shannon himself was faced with trying to photograph objects in motion when they (the objects) apparently didn't want to be photographed, and so had to be a bit sneaky in getting a picture. One nice shot did come out, and appeared all over the country. It was a picture of Tina sitting down while a phone receiver flew across her body.

Electrician Bruce Claggett was brought in to check and recheck the electrical system of the house, especially the moving light switches. Even when taped down, the switches seemed to move by themselves, the tape disappearing completely.

The events seemed to occur more frequently when Tina was present, and in fact did not occur when she wasn't around. Of course, this would be expected if Tina were indeed the agent of the RSPK. According to a UPI story from March 7, 1984, Joan Resch (Tina's foster mother) had acknowledged that Tina had recently been upset by her desire to locate her biological family and her inability to do so. This created a bit of tension within the home.

So, household objects would hurtle through the air, sometimes crashing against the wall with abnormally loud noises, furniture would rearrange itself, and appliances (a television and a microwave) were seen to operate even when not plugged in. All in all, a lot of breakables were broken. As in any typical poltergeist case, the crashing of the objects was abnormally loud and the objects would often fly in unusual trajectories, often turning corners while in the air. The electrical effects, not traditionally associated with poltergeist cases, gave this case an interesting twist, in light of the research of Robert Morris (at Syracuse University) and Michael Shallis (of Oxford University, England).

Then a March 9 release from UPI related how a television crew had taped Tina surreptitiously pulling a lamp off a table, grabbing it by its cord. However, such things are commonplace in poltergeist cases, where the agent (or sometimes another person, generally a child) may add a little fraud to the mess of what's happening. Often it is another conscious channel for the release of tension (for if the person isn't caught, whatever happens is usually blamed on the poltergeist or a "ghost"). In this situation, Tina was very tired and was trying to get the media people to leave, and, thinking that such a stunt would give them cause to give up their coverage (who wants to cover a fake poltergeist, after all), saw her chance with the lamp. Given the circumstances, such a rationale does make sense, although the critics of this case would say that this was just an excuse to cover up for her being caught in the game she'd been playing all along.

In the meantime, the Committee for the Scientific investigations of the Claims of the Paranormal (CSICOP) was planning on sending out an investigative team to show that there was nothing paranormal going on by conducting an "objective" scientific inquiry.

At the same time, the Resches were pursuing a different path with their case, filing a claim with their insurance company to replace the damaged objects in their home. This brought in a new twist for poltergeist cases, given that according to Nationwide Insurance, in an AP story from March 9, 1984, "damage caused by 'recurrent spontaneous psychokinesis' isn't always covered under most homeowners' policies." More on the insurance angle in a moment.

On March 10, a UPI release discussed the opinions of the CSICOP investigators from nearby Case Western University, astronomers Nicholas Sanduleak and Steven Shore. They wanted to conduct a scientific investigator to determine the situation's legitimacy, and also mentioned that such an investigation would include magician James "The Amazing" Randi, who has an outstanding $10,000 reward for anyone who can prove they have psychic abilities (to his satisfaction, of course). It was mentioned that Tina would be eligible for the reward if she passed their tests.


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