Gerhard A. Mayer1 & Sonja Nowara
Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health, Freiburg, Alemania
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There is a long, although not often addressed, discussion in the parapsychological literature about the fear of psi. One area is the reactions of skeptical scientists and journal editors to experiments and articles by parapsychologists, with the former being devalued as pseudoscientific and the latter being rejected or censored. However, the fear of psi is not only found outside our field of research, but also within it. For most people, assuming that the existence of psi is connected to themselves gives rise to a variety of fears related to the uncontrollability of the world. This presentation reconstructs a historical case: in 1982, Carole Compton, a young Scottish nanny working in Italy, was charged with arson and attempted murder after five unexplained fires broke out at her workplaces. Parapsychologist Hans Bender assessed her in prison and concluded it was an RSPK case. The burn marks showed atypical features that fire experts could not explain. The court chose to accept an irrational explanation rather than consider parapsychological models, convicting her without clear evidence. The case reveals how Western judiciary systems, grounded in classical causality principles, face a profound dilemma: if mind-matter interaction is accepted as real, questions of causation, responsibility, and guilt arise that evoke medieval witch trials.
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Gerhard A. Mayer is a researcher at the Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health (IGPP) in Freiburg, Germany. His work focuses on spontaneous case research, poltergeist phenomena, and the social reception of parapsychological events.
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The Parapsychological Association is an international professional organization of scientists and scholars engaged in the study of psi (or ‘psychic’) experiences, such as telepathy, clairvoyance, psychokinesis, psychic healing, and precognition. The primary objective of the PA is to achieve a scientific understanding of these experiences.
Follow the PA: https://linktr.ee/parapsychologicalassociation
Donate to support the mission of the PA:
The Parapsychological Association is an international professional organization of scientists and scholars engaged in the study of psi (or ‘psychic’) experiences, such as telepathy, clairvoyance, psychokinesis, psychic healing, and precognition. The primary objective of the PA is to achieve a scientific understanding of these experiences.
Follow the PA: https://linktr.ee/parapsychologicalassociation
Donate to support the mission of the PA: https://donorbox.org/support-the-parapsychological-association
Published on May 5, 2026
