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picture this a silent room bathed in
warm candl light a group of Scholars
leaning forward eyes closed hands on a
trembling table suddenly a loud knock
shatters the Stillness the air turns icy
no one speaks could they have just
conjured something or something one this
is the philli experiment what if I told
you that you could create a ghost not
summon one not invite one but create one
in
1972 a group of researchers and
paranormal enthusiasts in Toronto set
out to do just that no seances no Ouija
boards instead they used the power of
their own minds to conjure something
someone out of thin air his name name
was Phillip at first Phillip was nothing
more than an idea a fictional character
invented down to the smallest detail his
life his loves even his darkest Secrets
but what began as an experiment in
imagination took a shocking turn the
group began experiencing things they
couldn't explain cold breezes in a
sealed room disembodied knocks and
objects that moved on their own
was this proof of the
supernatural or could the human mind be
far more powerful than we ever imagined
could we through sheer belief create
something that shouldn't exist the
answer might change everything you know
let's find out
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in the early 1970s the Toronto Society
for psychical research led by Dr ARG
Owen wanted to test a bold idea imagine
a time when science and the Paranormal
danced together in a delicate Waltz when
people still believed that perhaps the
Mind held secrets we hadn't unlocked the
goal wasn't just
curiosity it was to challenge the very
fabric of what we thought was possible
they believed that paranormal phenomena
ghosts hauntings polorized weren't
necessarily spirits of the dead but
could instead be manifestations of the
human
mind to Test's Theory the group created
Philip Al's Ford every detail of his
life was carefully crafted close your
eyes and imagine him an aristocratic
Englishman from the 1600s
walking through the echoing Stone Halls
of his estate his face is lined with
sorrow his eyes haunted by a love he
could never save he was married to a
woman he didn't love and his heart broke
the day Margot a gypsy woman he adored
was taken from him accused of Witchcraft
and condemned to the
Flames her cries never left his mind a
ghostly chorus of regret
heartbroken and consumed by guilt
Phillip took his own
life the group memorized Philip's story
they envisioned his face his personality
his world every week they gathered in
the same room a ritual of
imagination now imagine the room a
circle of chairs surrounding a polished
wooden table the air hums faintly with
anticipation candles flicker
their glow soft but insistent casting
Long Shadows on the walls a quiet
determination fills the space as this
group of educated rational people
focuses their Collective energy on a man
who never
existed they spoke his name described
his life and conjured His Image as
vividly as a portrait painted in their
minds for weeks they focused their
energy on Phillip during me meetings
sitting around a table speaking to him
as if he were real to them he is real an
aristocrat with a tragic past burdened
by guilt consumed by love and ultimately
destroyed by all of it they speak to him
in Earnest tones their voices brimming
with
conviction Phillip are you with us they
ask at first it was
nothing weeks passed in
silence then one night it happens a
faint knock a chill that crawls along
the backs of their necks the room goes
still breath held collectively as if the
very air is waiting for philli to
respond The Knocks grow louder the table
trembles at first it's subtle almost
imperceptible but then it moves with
purpose sliding across the floor as if
pushed by invisible hands to Skeptics
this might sound like a clever parlor
trick but here's a thing this wasn't a
dark Seance in a Dusty Victorian parter
this was a modern experiment conducted
in a well-lit room with no hidden wires
no concealed
mechanisms and what's even stranger the
group never wavered in their belief that
Philip was fictional they knew he wasn't
real yet somehow they brought him to
life or at least something that acted
like
life the story of Phillip Bears a
striking resemblance to something
written decades earlier in 1931 French
explorer and spiritualist Alexandra
David Neil published a book titled with
Mystics and magicians in
Tibet in it she described her
experiences studying esoteric practices
among Tibetan Monks one practice in
particular stands out the creation of a
topa a topa is a being brought into
existence through sheer
concentration the monks believed that
intense Focus meditation and
visualization could manifest a fully
formed entity capable of independent
thought and action David Neil even
claimed to have created her own topa a
jolly monk-like figure who eventually
became unruly forcing her to unmake him
through further meditative effort if a
topa could be brought into existence in
the mountains of Tibet could the same
principle apply in Toronto half a world
away could Phillip be a modern topa born
not from ancient spiritual practices but
from a groups shared belief and focus
intent all right but here's what I don't
get if the monks could control their
tulpas through meditation why was
Phillip so
unpredictable I mean knocking on tables
sliding Furniture that's not exactly
polite Behavior that's a great question
and that's what makes the Philip
experiment so fascinating unlike Tibetan
Monks who spent years honing in their
mental discipline the Toronto group was
experimenting without a spiritual
framework their goal wasn't
Enlightenment it was to test the limits
of human
consciousness what's even more chilling
is what Alexandra David Neo warned about
in her book the danger of a too gaining
autonomy she described how her Topo
began acting independently developing a
will of its own could the same have
happened with Phillip was he more than
just an
experiment the more the group interacted
with Phillip the stronger his presence
became and yet there was always a
strange emptiness to it all Philip never
spoke never gave them anything beyond
what they already believed about him he
never contradicted his fictional story
it was as if the group's own thoughts
and expectations were reflected back at
them Amplified through the phenomenon
they created so here's the question was
Philip an echo of their Collective
imagination a psychological trick or did
they stumble onto something far more
profound proof that the human mind can
reach beyond the limits of reality
itself and if Philip was real even for a
moment what does that mean for the
stories we tell ourselves every
day are we shaping the world around us
more than we
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realize so what's really going on here
did the group really summon Phillip or
was something else at play let's break
this down a bit one of the most
compelling explanation ties the Philip
experiment to an ancient concept the
tulpa as I previously mentioned in the
high snow covered mountains of Tibet
monks have practiced this mysterious art
for centuries the topa is no ghost no
trick of the senses it is being crafted
entirely through thought the process
requires intense Focus visualization and
an unwavering belief over time the topa
becomes so vivid in the mind of its
creator that it manifests in the
physical world an independent sentient
entity but if toas are real they're not
just limited to Tibetan monasteries or
1970s
experiments over the years there have
been Eerie reports that suggest toas
might be more common than we think take
for instance the case of the imaginary
friends study psychologists observing
young children found that some took
their imaginary companions to
extraordinary levels of detail these
children would claim to hear Whispers
notice small objects moving or even feel
a presence in the room room in certain
cases parents corroborated these claims
noting physical changes Furniture
shifted toys relocated as if the
imaginary friends had become
tangible and then there's the infamous
case of Jeff the talking Mongoose in the
1930s a family on the aisle of man
claimed to be haunted by a strange
mischievous entity Jeff described as a
talking Mongoose would appear
sporadically moving objects making
noises
and even holding
conversations some paranormal
investigators dismissed Jeff as a hoax
but others believed he was a
manifestation of collective belief and
fear a TOA inadvertently created by the
family now take these alongside the
chilling case of the Slender Man what
started as a harmless online contest in
2009 spiraled into something far more
Sinister people shared Eerie stories
doctored images and even video sightings
of this impossible tall faceless figure
and then came the real life horror two
12-year-old girls in Wisconsin lured
their friend into the woods stabbing her
in what they claimed was an offering to
Slender Man was this proof that belief
magnified by the internet could create
something with real world consequences
and then there's the case of paranormal
investigator John ke's ultraterrestrials
beings that seem to materialize through
belief and
expectation ke theorized that what we
perceive as ghosts Cryptids or even UFOs
might not come from external Realms but
are manifestations of our own minds
shaped by culture fear and
Imagination okay but here's the kicker
if belief can create something as
harmless as a monk or as terrifying as
Slender Man wears the line how do you
control what you
create well that's the danger David Neil
warned about in her book a TOA might
start as a benign creation but once it
gains Independence it can act
unpredictably if the Philip experiment
did in fact create a topa the group may
have unknowingly invited a force they
didn't fully understand but there's
another possibility one that's just as
fascinating some Skeptics suggest that
the phenomena attributed to Philip could
be explained by
psychokinesis the ability to move
objects or influence the physical world
with the mind it's a theory that ties
into the subconscious mind where belief
stress and emotion can manifest in
surprising
ways what if the group's intense focus
and expectation triggered psychokinetic
activity without their knowledge the
knocks the table movements could they
have been caused by the group itself not
Phillip
but here's a Twist the group always knew
that Philip wasn't real he was their
creation a fictional character born from
their imagination and yet they
interacted with something that felt very
real and if belief alone can blur the
lines between fiction and reality what
else might we be capable of
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creating philli experiment is
fascinating no doubt it's the kind of
story that makes you question the
boundaries of reality the power of the
mind and even the nature of existence
but were the findings shared in this
experiment
real no they were not when you start
peeling back the layers the cracks in
the story become impossible to ignore
let's start with the claims the group
reported hearing knocks in response to
their questions and seeing the table
move sometimes violently they did
described feeling cold drafts and even a
presence in the room but is there really
any solid evidence that these phenomena
were anything more than a
performance first let's talk about the
setup the group conducted these
experiments in a room that was well lit
and free from any obvious tricks sounds
impressive right but here's the thing a
well-lit room doesn't mean a controlled
environment there were no third party
oversight no controlled conditions and
no measures to prevent unconscious
influence without these safeguards how
can we separate genuine phenomena from
group psychology or outright
trickery now let's focus on the table
movements this is classic seon style
theatrics studies in group psychology
and the idea motor effect and
unconscious physical response show that
people can inadvertently move objects
like a table without realizing they're
doing it in fact experiments is far back
as the 19th century debunked Seance
tricks by revealing how subtle movements
from participants could create the
illusion of Paranormal Activity and the
knocking easily replicated a shift in
weight here a subtle movement of the
legs there and you've got all the
ingredients for a ghostly tap okay but
what about the cold drafts if the room
was sealed where's that chill coming
from well good question wend cold cfts
are notoriously subjective a slight
opening in a door a shift in air flow
from an HVAC system or even the natural
cooling of the room during a long
session could create that sensation and
let's not forget the power of suggestion
if one person claims to feel a chill
it's almost guaranteed others will start
to notice it too whether it's real or
not but here's the most damning piece of
evidence against the Phillip
experiment the group knew philli wasn't
real from the start they admitted he was
a fabrication a thought experiment
turned into a seance and if you're
sitting around the table convinced
you've summoned the ghost how much of
what you see and hear is influenced by
your
expectations this is where the
phenomenon of confirmation bias comes
into play seeing what you want to see
and dismissing anything that doesn't fit
it's the same trick at work during a
Ouija board session tiny unconscious
movements create the illusion of
external force and the more you believe
the more convincing it becomes even
today experiments show that when people
are told to expect Paranormal Activity
their brains fill in the blanks they
hear sounds that aren't there feel
Sensations that aren't real and even
report seeing things that don't exist
now look I'm not saying toas aren't real
Tibetan Monks spend years in meditation
honing their mental discipline to levels
most of us can't even
imagine if anyone could create a being
through sheer willpower it's them but
the Philip experiment these weren't
Tibetan Monks this is a different story
this wasn't an ancient spiritual
practice it was a group of well-meaning
but untrained individuals sitting around
a table essentially playing pretend and
that brings us to the final question if
the group created Phillip through belief
why didn't he ever do anything they
didn't expect he never gave them new
information never deviated from the
script everything he did aligned
perfectly with their expectations so
what you're saying is if Philip wasn't
real then this wasn't just an experiment
it was a group of people convincing
themselves of something they wanted to
believe exactly and when you strip away
the mystery what you're left with isn't
proof of the Paranormal it's a lesson in
how powerful our minds can be
but not to summon ghosts but to trick us
into seeing what isn't there so was the
Philip experiment a groundbreaking
exploration of the mind's power or just
a clever paror trick dressed up as
science you decide but one thing's for
sure belief is a powerful thing and
sometimes it's the only ghost in the
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room thank you so much for hanging out
with me today my name is Ralph that's
Wendell and this has been Divergent
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great night
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