Psychically Tapping the Past in "Window to the Past"

Window to the Past, Hans Holzer, paperback

Hans Holzer wrote numerous books in the 1960’s that I read as a kid on hauntings he’d investigated. Window to the Past: Exploring History Through ESP, by Holzer, who died recently, examines some historic sites in the style he often used: bringing in a psychic medium to pass along whatever information is gleaned, then later checking it against the history connected with the site to confirm names, dates, and details.

The results are interesting although it does remind me of Dr. J.B. Rhine and his early experiements with psychic mediums at or before Duke University.  He was dissastified with the inability to check on what they claimed to see. Rhine adopted another approach,  carefully controlled laboratory experiements which were able to produce results that even hardened skeptics generally admit indicated the presence of an ability extending beyond what the normal senses control and, thus, Rhine made his mark on the field of parapyschology.

Holzer does do his research, making certain usually that his own knowledge of the location is kept fundamental so that the medium can’t somehow take advantage of what he knows. Often, the results are quite good, even though many inferences have to be made from the clues given. It’s not cut and dried.

Still, quite interesting.

So what is it that occupies Holzer’s interest here? How about the true location of Camelot and the origins of Arthur, King of the Britons? Or the spirits that live aboard the USS Constitution? The true story of the Lincoln assaassination? Or where the Vikings landed in America? Or the reasons Vice President Aaron Burr haunted his old home. 

Not bad, right? There is at least some interesting speculation here, even if you don’t feel up to accepting Holzer’s conclusions. Certainly he was there with British witch Sybil Leek and other mediums as they tapped into the locations they visited…and he was thoroughly convinced or the reality of what he was experiencing.

Holzer’s books have a different feel to them. Books about hauntings today usually stick to objective reports of ghosts and the associated history without emphasizing first-hand experience.  Holzer was very hands-on with his books about his investigations, and this 1968 book is a perfect example.

Nice, light reading with a different approach to a familiar subject. Check Amazon and Half.com for some of his titles since a specific book such as this might be difficult to find.  One book of the last 10 years or so, available at relatively low prices, gathered a number of Holzer’s books of the era in one huge hardback edition called “Ghosts.” Look for that.