Psychometry

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Psychometry (from Greek: ψυχή, psukhē, "spirit, soul"; + μέτρον, metron, "measure") is a form of extra-sensory perception in which a psychic is said^{[by whom?]} to have the ability to obtain information about an individual through paranormal means by making physical contact with an object that belongs to that individual. As of 2009^[update] the phrase "token-object reading" has superseded the term "psychometry" so as to avoid potential confusion with the branch of psychology called "psychometrics".

Joseph Rhodes Buchanan coined the word "psychometry" in 1842.^[2] Buchanan developed the theory that all things give off an emanation.^[3]

"The past is entombed in the present, the world is its own enduring monument; and that which is true of its physical is likewise true of its mental career. The discoveries of Psychometry will enable us to explore the history of man, as those of geology enable us to explore the history of the earth. There are mental fossils for psychologists as well as mineral fossils for the geologists; and I believe that hereafter the psychologist and the geologist will go hand in hand, the one portraying the earth, its animals and its vegetation, while the other portrays the human beings who have roamed over its surface in the shadows, and the darkness of primeval barbarism. Aye, the mental telescope is now discovered which may pierce the depths of the past and bring us in full view of the grand and tragic passages of ancient history."^[2]"

Demonstrations of the concept of psychometry became a popular part of stage acts and séances; with participants providing a personal object for "reading" by a medium or psychic.

Psychometry served as the basis for Johnny Smith's visions in Stephen King's 1979 novel The Dead Zone and in its subsequent 2002 television adaption.

[edit] In fiction

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (April 2009)

• In the 2009 action film Push, psychics called Sniffs can relive a person's past and their location by touching or sniffing objects
• In the 2008 book Evermore by Alyson Noel, Ever can touch people and know their thoughts and past actions
• In the 2008 book Deadly Little Secrets by Laurie Faria Stolarz, Ben can sense things through touch.
• In the 2003 HBO television series "Carnivàle", Professor Lodz can read thoughts and dreams through contact with a person or object.

• In the 1994 film, The Crow, Brandon Lee plays a spirit of vengeance of the murdered Eric Draven. Among other powers, his character can see important events surrounding people and objects when he touches them.

• In the comic-book film Hellboy, the character Abe Sapien possesses psychometric powers. (The original comic-book version of Abe Sapien does not have this power.)

• In the television show Charmed, Phoebe Halliwell can see the past or future by touching an object: her visions always concern the objects touched

• In the 1988 movie Vibes, Jeff Goldblum plays a psychometrist accidentally teamed with a spirit medium, played by Cyndi Lauper

• In the 1976 television series Children of the Stones, Peter Demin plays a psychometric child trapped in an English town surrounded by a stone circle

• Marvel Comics character Adrienne Frost, the older sister of telepath Emma Frost, uses psychometry to become an immensely wealthy corporate sociopath. Emma kills Adrienne when she threatens the lives of Emma's students.

• Longshot, another Marvel Comics character, has the ability to see the past and future of a person by touching an object that person has been in contact with.

• In the Maximum Ride book series the character Nudge has psychometric abilities

• Chiba Mamoru from the Sailor Moon manga has psychometric powers

• Terror Inc., an assassin who can acquire the memories and abilities of certain people by harvesting their body-parts and attaching them to himself; gained his hearing acuity just by using the outer ear of a submarine operator

• In the movie The Meteor Man, Jefferson Reed (Robert Townsend) gains various superhuman powers from a meteorite, including to ability to psychometrically and psychosomatically memorize by touch the contents of a book; by touching a book about karate, he can perform every karate move in it. Unfortunately, this power lasts only ten seconds.

• In the anime series Trinity Blood, Sister Noelle Bor has the ability to sense memories and past events by touching objects

• Miho Karasuma, a supporting character in the anime series Witch Hunter Robin, has psychometric abilities

• In the Richard Bach book The Last War: Detective Ferrets and the Case of the Golden Deed, the main character's parents help her develop psychometry by exercising her imagination as a young ferret.

• In the young adult fiction Dark Visions Trilogy, by L. J. Smith, the character Laurie Frost has the ability of psychometry. She forms part of a psychic strike team hired to perform various crimes, and uses her powers to answer questions when her team is under suspicion.

• In the Goth series by Katie Maxwell, the main character Fran is a psychometrist

• In William Mize's mystery series (nominated for a PWA Shamus Award), Denton Ward is a psychometrist.

• Kaos, the son of mad scientist Desty Nova in Yukito Kishiro's Battle Angel Alita, appears as a very unusual psychometrist in that not only can he read the memories of objects but can also absorb the talents and skills necessary for their creation; he gained the ability to play music through a Yamaha DX7 digital synthesizer once owned by Alan Parsons, the swordsmanship of Ryukisai Tachibana from his Muramasa katana, as well as the ability to recreate an entire wedding dress from its fragments. Desty Nova's hypothesis for the mechanism of psychometry:

Thomas Bearden to concept of Tesla (longitudinal) waves, discovered by Nikola Tesla, as opposed to normal electromagnetic waves (Hertz waves, transverse waves). Scalar waves are longitudinal gravity waves, a neutral form of energy in which electricity, magnetism, and gravity come together in four-dimensional space (the time domain).

If we assume that the human brain is endowed with the functions scalar wave transmitter, human emotional energy is constantly being imprinted on surrounding objects (and places) as scalar waves, and the information is stored as a four-dimensional gravity potential. The psychometrist's brain is especially effective as a scalar wave receiver, and can detect waves of various frequencies.

If [this hypothesis is] proven correct, anyone has the potential for psychometric powers if the conditions are met. Furthermore, most supernatural phenomena — premonitions, telepathy, clairvoyance, ghosts — can be handily explained by the "brain = scalar wave transmitter = psychometry" hypothesis.

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• In the novel The Witching Hour, the first of Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches trilogy, protagonist Michael Curry receives the power of psychometry as a means to lead him to back to New Orleans and involve him in the plans of the Mayfair's ghost Lasher, which haunts their Garden District manor.

• In the novel The Dead Zone by Stephen King, Johnny Smith suffers an accident which puts him in a five-year coma. As he awakens, he begins to use his newfound psychometric powers to help the police in solving many cases.

• In the New Universe comic-book Psi-Force, one of the members Lindsey Falmon ("Overtime") has psychometric powers

• Ten-year-old Sannomiya Shiho, from the anime/manga "Zettai Karen Children", possesses extremely powerful psychometric abilities.

• In the Pokémon video game Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness, the main character holds a form of psychometry named Dimensional Scream, which activates in various points within the main story; this ability, when in physical contact with someone or something, allows the character to see into the past or future in the story.

• In the anime/manga Ghost Hunt, also known in novel form as the Evil Spirits series, the character Oliver Davis has psychometric abilities in addition to telekinesis.

• On the early-1980's superhero comedy-drama The Greatest American Hero, the lead character possesses psychometric powers when wearing his super-suit. He refers to this ability as "getting vibes" off an object.

• In the Fingerprints series of youth novels by Melinda Metz, the character Rachel "Rae" Voight can receive the thoughts and emotions of others by touching the fingerprints left on a object handled by them.

• In Chuck, the main character has the ability to 'Flash', or have a memory blast when coming into contact with or sighting something

• In Legal Drug, Kazahaya has the ability to relive the history of a person or object by making physical contact with it

• In the Star Wars Expanded Universe, the Kiffar (a near-human species) possess certain psychometric abilities

• In the manga Skip Beat!, Reino of Vie Ghoul can see into another person's past by touching them.

[edit] See also

• Retrocognition
• Extra-sensory perception
• Parapsychology

[edit] Bibliography

• Colin Wilson: The Psychic Detectives: The Story of Psychometry and Paranormal Crime Detection (1984)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Psychometry Experiment, a paranormal history project that gives Toronto, Hamilton and Niagara area residents in Ontario, Canada the opportunity to participate in psychometry-reading
• Glossary of psychometry application