While the connection between psychokinesis (PK) and aerial phenomena is generally
dubious, they are inextricably intertwined in Jeffry Mishlove’s new book,
The PK Man. This book is a well balanced report of the life of Ted
Owens, a man who seemingly displayed remarkable powers.
Ted Owens was a self-proclaimed psychic who ostensibly produced effects
on an unparalleled scale. Most of us are familiar with assertions of micro—like
what has been demonstrated in the Princeton PEAR Laboratory— and macro PK
ala Uri Geller in which spoons are bent. However, the claims of Ted Owens
included moving hurricanes over substantial distances and breaking long-term
droughts in large geographical areas. To his credit, he usually announced
ahead of time what effects were going to take place, and specified the timeframe
of the occurrence.
Owens’ relationship to UFOs fell in two distinct areas. There were times
during which he seemingly made UFOs appear so that others could see them.
There are numerous people who have verified observing UFOs that Owens stated
would appear. The other aspect is more circumspect. According to Owens,
his powers were derived from a special relationship he maintained with “Space
Intelligences.” In fact, he claimed to be the sole ambassador between Earth
and these entities that allegedly inhabited large UFOs that circled the
Earth but are invisible to us.
In general it would be easy to totally disregard anyone making such bizarre
claims as being obviously crazy. During Owens’ life, that is exactly what
did happen to him, and for a large part it was his own fault. In the book,
Mishlove points out the Ted Owens was his own worst enemy. Owens assumed
a very high profile and was easily upset whenever people did not take him
seriously. He first came to the attention of Hal Puthoff when he was in
the formative stages of the remote viewing program. Hal acknowledges that
he received much written documentation from Owens and found it intriguing.
However, having a very sensitive program in an embryonic phase, a loud,
abrasive individual with a penchant for attention was exactly what they
did not need. Puthoff kept some records of what Owens sent him but did not
establish formal communication with him.
At that point Jeffery Mishlove, then a parapsychology grad student at the
University of California - Berkeley, came along and began a detailed investigation
of the life and claims of Ted Owens. For the next twelve years, until Owens
died in 1987, Mishlove was in contact with him and had the opportunity to
observe many unusual events. There were both hits and misses.
To Mishlove’s credit, this book takes a hard, rational look at Owens and
his feats. There are few that stand out as quite spectacular. There are
far more that are hard to determine whether or not Owens had any real effect
on the events, or if he just happened to predict they might happen. For
instance, some of his claims about weather were couched in terms of 90-day
windows. Frankly, a lot could happen in that timeframe. Many of his claims
are at best supported by circumstantial evidence. But some of those circumstances,
especially when aggregated are hard to dismiss.
One of the most spectacular events reported in the book is what appears
to be Owens’ prediction of the Challenger accident. It was well-documented
that he predicted that the next space shuttle flight would be destroyed—and
Challenger was that mission. Harder to understand is the reason Owens provided.
According to him, the Space Intelligences did not want the mission to go
up and therefore they destroyed the shuttle. This points to what I believe
many skeptics and believers fail to acknowledge when studying psychic phenomena,
the difference between actual events/observations, and the reasons many
psychics give for those events.
Another interesting prediction may have been that of the political demise
of Richard Nixon. Four years before Watergate, Owens predicted that he would
leave the Presidency in disfavor and under most unusual circumstances. It
did take four years for this to come to pass. However, there was no precedence
for a President leaving office under such circumstances so it cannot be
claimed that he knew something like that might happen.
Overall Mishlove gives Owens about a one-third to two-thirds hit rate.
In The PK Man he uses an analogy similar to that of Gary Schwartz
who talks of his superstars on The Dream Team comprised of five top psychics.
Schwartz uses Michael Jordan as an example. He didn’t hit 100% of his shots,
he just got more than anybody else. So too with Owens, he seems to have
hit far more than most. Mishlove uses a baseball model suggesting that Owens
wasn’t a perfect hitter, just far better than the others.
One point of interest is an observed connection between emotion and PK
events. Jack Houck who has been teaching PK for many years also found this
connection early in his studies. In Owens case, the results of his temper
could be pretty extreme. According to the book he attacked Cleveland Ohio
with a psychically generated weather vengeance that brought about severe
damage to the city. In fact, it was Owens’ temper that seemed to cause a
lot of his problems. His response, by his own claims was to cause extremely
bad weather in the geographic area that he felt had wronged him. Mishlove
also describes an incident when he got crossways with Owens that led to
some adverse consequences.
Later Owens designed a training program to teach others how to contact
the Space Intelligences. Mishlove was one of those who took the course.
In The PK Man he outlines the entire course. He also discusses the
reports from others who had been trained by Owens.
A very important chapter deals with the implications of the study of Ted
Owens. It is here that it becomes crystal clear that Mishlove has not been
naively taken in by Owens through the longevity and closeness of their relationship.
Rather, he offers several thoughtful insights into possible explanations
about Owens’ claims and the unusual events that he witnessed or documented.
Mishlove gets high marks for remaining objective in a difficult situation.
The PK Man addresses topics of interest to those who study phenomenology.
One key point is the interrelationship between various aspects of phenomenology
that many believe to be separate and distinct.
