Philip was an aristocratic Englishman living in the middle 1600s at the time of Oliver Cromwell. He had been

a supporter of the king and was a Catholic. He was married to a beautiful but cold and frigid wife, Dorothea,

the daughter of a neighboring nobleman. One day, when out riding on the boundaries of his estates, Philip

came across a gypsy encampment and saw there a beautiful dark-eyed, raven-haired gypsy girl, Margo, and

He brought her back secretly to live in the gate-house near the stables of Diddington Manor - his family

home. For some time he kept his love-nest secret, but eventually Dorothea, realizing he was keeping

someone else there, found Margo, and accused her of witchcraft and of stealing her husband. Philip was too

scared of losing his reputation and his possessions to protest at the trial of Margo, and she was convicted of

witchcraft and burned at the stake. Philip subsequently was stricken with remorse that he had not tried to

defend Margo and used to pace the battlements of Diddingtonin despair. Finally one morning his body was

This of course is a very tragic tale that contains many elements normally associated with reports of historical

ghosts. It is however a complete fabrication. The true story of 'Philip' is actually a remarkable experiment that

was conducted in the early 1970's by The Toronto Society Of Psychical Research. The purpose of the

experiment was to see if a wholly fictitious historical character - ghost could in fact manifest itself through the

Dr. A.R.G Owen, a member of the Department For Preventative Medicine and Biostatistics at the University

of Toronto and psychic researcher who specialized in poltergeist cases was the group's scientific advisor. He

is quoted in the introduction to 'Conjuring Up Philip' assaying, 'It was essential to their purpose that Philip be

a totally fictitious character. Not merely a figment of the imagination but clearly and obviously so, with a

The opening paragraph of this article is the basic storyline that was concocted by one of the group's

members named only as 'Sue' - a former nurse with the Canadian Armed Forces. Further details including a

sketch were added on as the group discussed and immersed themselves in Philip's invented biographical

data. Contradictions such as Philip being reincarnated several times yet also being seen walking the

battlements of Diddington every century or so were carefully woven into the story. And while a Diddington Hall

really does exist in Warwickshire, England the group made sure that the real location's history in no way

resembled Philip's home. In essence the group sought to create a 'collective hallucination' of Philip through

subscribing to a common mental picture of him and his surroundings. They meditated on his appearance, his

The experiment went on for months with absolutely no success. The group would sit around a table and

merely concentrate - much like the spiritualists of the 19thcentury. And then one day it just happened. There

was a knock on the table, which at first was felt more than heard. All of the group's eight members felt the

vibration. This was followed by a number of distinct knocks that were in fact heard and felt. Skeptical at first,

the group felt that these knocks were perhaps inadvertently the result of one of the group's participants. They

quickly changed their minds when the table itself began to move around the room. When a startled member

asked aloud, 'I wonder whether Philip is doing this,' a loud knock was heard as if in response. Philip, a made

The group devised a plan in which one knock would signify a yes and two knocks would indicate a no. Soon

after they began enjoying 'spirited' conversation with Philip. This 'entity' that they apparently conjured up

'exhibited likes and dislikes, had strong views on some subjects and was hesitant on others.' They

questioned 'him' on his personal life. And once when an apparently too personal question was asked in

It was noted that the ghostly sounds and movements of the table seemed closely related to the thoughts of

the group. If they were in agreement to what an answer should be the resulting 'yes' knock was quick and

loud. If there were doubts amongst the group's members the result would be a corresponding hesitation in

As their experiment progressed the participants would engage in teasing and joking with Philip. The table

movements and knocks became more frequent and it was reported that the table would occasionally rush up

as if in greeting to late comers and even trap members in the corner of the room! Philip apparently was the

cause of lights turning off and on by themselves and other strange anomalies as well.

The experiment captured the attention of local media with group and 'ghost' featured on the CBC television

A 16mm movie was produced by the group in 1974 entitled Philip: the Imaginary Ghost. It explains how the

In conclusion the experimenters succeeded far beyond their wildest expectations. However, in the end they

were never able to prove the 'how' and the 'why' behind Philip's manifestation. Was Philip a direct result of

the group's collective subconscious or perhaps did they conjure an actual entity that simply latched onto the

story' We may never be able to actually answer these questions in regards to this particular case. However,

the Philip phenomenon remains not only a groundbreaking experiment, but an important historical account of

Footnotes:

Further experiments with a different group were carried out in 1974, the story used with these was of a

French Canadian girl by the name of Lilith who went to France during WWII and became a member of the

The Lilith experiments saw similar results to the Philip one in just 5 weeks. Perhaps this was due to the fact

that the Owens were able to formulate shortcuts in method based on the earlier experiments and the new

During the 1974 Christmas party held by the organization members of both the Philip and Lilith groups got

together and in jest called out, 'Is anybody there'' They received a knock in response and in further jest they

asked, 'Are you Father Christmas'' Reportedly a long conversation with Santa Claus ensued! According to the

Owens this last episode 'illustrates the wonderful child-like approach taken to the phenomena and the fact

Sources:

Psychic Mysteries Of The North - A.R.G Owen (c) 1975

Conjuring Up Philip - Iris Owen and Margaret Sparrow (c)1976

Into The Unknown - Will Bradbury (c) 1981