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Spectrophilia: Safe sex with nobody, or is it no body?

So now it’s called “spectrophilia” (at least that’s far better than necrophilia) is it?   As opposed to spectral rape or being visited by an incubus or succubus.  A rose, or in this case or, a petunia by any other name in this case.

As the saying goes “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence”, and when it comes to something as rare and obscure as spectrophilia, such evidence is certainly lacking, just as with The Entity case (chapter two from Aliens Above, Ghosts Below: Explorations of the Unknown) from 1974-75.

By the time you’ve read this you’ve probably already seen Ghostly Lovers on The Travel Channel.  Interesting and utterly unique in terms of the subject matter, although I won’t be surprised to see several copycat shows on cable within several months.  What else is new?

Nevertheless, what exactly happened to these three women?  Did any of the women interviewed on this show really have sexual intercourse with a discarnate intelligence, i.e. a ghost?  Is there any way to clinically validate or objectifying such occurrences?  How common are such deeply personal experiences?

Over the last forty-three years of working in this field on almost 5,000 cases, I have come across several where individuals claimed such incredible experiences, one of which, of course, was Doris Bither in The Entity case.  If you read my book, you’ll understand how difficult it is to document and verify such bizarre claims.  Virtually impossible.

In the case of Doris Bither (The Entity case), she claimed to have been repeatedly and forcefully raped by three male entities, two held her down while the larger, third one raped her.

We were unable to prove or disprove her claim of ghostly sexual encounters as they occurred long before we began investigating her case in August of 1974.  Had it not been for our experiencing various other types of paranormal phenomena within her home on subsequent visits, we would have written her case off as that of a woman suffering from a psychotic break.

In my book, I go into elaborate detail of this most unusual case, and my conclusions are not what you might think.  In another case, some years later in West Hollywood, California, we ran across a couple living in the the old home of Ozzie and Harriet Nelson who claimed a wide variety of paranormal encounters with a sexual orientation.

The one that stuck in my mind was of the lady claiming that she’d been repeatedly fondled and groped on many occasions while in bed.  As these events never occurred to this woman prior to living in this house and her background was very normal, free of pre-existing paranormal encounters, left me shaking my head as to what was actually transpiring with her.

What helped us evaluate this case a little more objectively was the occurrence of many other types of paranormal events in this particular house.  Could we prove it or disprove it, NO.  There were no corroborating witnesses other than the lady who was making the claim. Whatever this was, it eventually ceased, which is fortunate and common.

If we move to the summer 1987, this writer ran into a potential situation of spectrophilia while house sitting in Studio City, California.  If you’re interested in reading all the juicy details of my personal encounter, you’ll have to read chapter four, “An All Too Human Haunting” of my book.

As this situation was also surrounded by numerous other types of paranormal phenomena in this beautiful house, it somewhat helped clinically validate a portion of what occurred.  In fact, there are even photographs helping objectify the events in this case.

As far as Ghostly Lovers is concerned, I firmly believe that if we had the opportunity to personally interview and investigate each of the ladies on the show, we might have learned much about the true nature of what’s really going on here, and their claims might have taken on an entirely new light.

My first impression after watching lengthy interviews with each of the three women before agreeing to appear on the show, my first impression was that these ladies were in need of psychiatric intervention with high doses of anti-psychotic medication.

Remember, that when it comes to people making the incredible claim of spectrophilia, one must eliminate virtually every other possible cause of such an event long before one even considers the possibility of a sexual encounter with a non-corporeal being.

Before we assume something is paranormal we have to ensure that it is not simply a normal event that we’re misinterpreting.   We’ve all heard of smoking after sex, but having sex with smoke is another matter altogether.

On a more personal note, such alleged encounters are totally free of any real-world responsibilities, as there are no concerns whatsoever over STD’s, condoms, spending the night, or emotional discord prior to or after the event.  A perfectly safe relationship, and a dead one too, if you’ll excuse the pun.

By Dr. Barry Taff

Dr. Barry Taff, who holds a doctorate in psychophysiology with a minor in biomedical engineering, worked as a research associate at UCLAs former parapsychology laboratory from 1969 through 1978. During his 41-year career, Dr. Taff has investigated more than 4,000 cases of ghosts, hauntings, poltergeists, and he has conducted extensive studies in telepathy and precognition which led to the development of the original protocols and methodologies for what was later coined remote-viewing. He is the author of Aliens Above, Ghosts Below.

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