Hi everyone! My name is Chris and I am a Canadian historian studying the social history of the paranormal.

I am going to conduct an independent experiment on psychometry in the coming months. Psychometry is when people get psychical impressions from specific objects related to the object's history, its owner or other aspects connected to the object. I plan on writing a paper on the results of this experiment.

The actual experiment will be limited to people in the Toronto, Canada area. However, I am currently seeking objects to use in this experiment from people worldwide. If you are interested in lending a personal object about which you could tell a really good and unique story... and being privy to what complete strangers perceived from your object, read on...

A bit about the project
This is a project that I will complete by the end of this summer. My goal is not to prove nor disprove psychometry. Call it an experiment of curiosity, if you will. I simply wish to test a range of people, from those who claim to have no psychic experiences to those who have psychic experiences regularly. I will record the results and in the end will compare them with the actual recollections written down by the owners of the objects - which will include biographical details about them as well as indepth detail on the object they are submitting. It should be fun and interesting! Who knows what may happen - past researchers have yielded truly fascinating results in similar psychometry experiments.

Call for objects
I am currently seeking objects to be included in this experiment. You would lend me the object until the end of August, at which point it would be returned to you. The object should have some special meaning to you - though I would rather it not be a valuable (expensive) object. It also should be able to fit into a shoebox.

Once I accept the object you propose to lend, I will e-mail you a biographical questionnaire to complete, and will ask you to write a page or two detailing the meaning of the object and its history. You will write this information and seal it into an envelope which would be mailed to a third party (so that I will have no knowledge of the object's history). We can arrange for delivery of the object to me separately.

I ask that you cover the shipping and postage (and recommend insurance) to send the object to me. I will cover the cost of having the object returned to you (including insurance).

* Note: For those in the Toronto area, it is okay if you wish to lend an object for the experiment and also participate in it - I plan on collecting about seven or eight objects from all sorts of diverse people, and each "reading" will be of five of these objects. If you contribute an object, it will simply not be included when you participate in this project.

Questions?
If you have any questions, simply send me a private message. But do not describe the object's history - though it's okay to tell me what the object is since I'll be taking care of it and handling it during the experiments. Once I have collected enough objects for this experiment, I will be detailing its protocol and seeking volunteers to participate!

Thank you so much in advance to those interested in assisting with this project.

very best,
Chris

Hey Chris, i dont mean to be rude, but can you give any proof that you're not some guy just trying to get stuff from other people? (ie. despite the fact you said not expensive, knowing people, they'll send at least a few expensive things) again, i dont mean to be rude, but y'know <.<

Hmm.... Is this more of an expirament on human psychiatry or science? Either way I would be very interested in your results.

Hi Sheath:

No offense taken at all. It's an issue everyone has to consider, especially with such a notice on the Internet.

In terms of demonstrating who I am, I can present the reputation I have in writing on the social history of the paranormal for Sue Darroch and Matthew Didier's Paranormal Blog. They co-founded Paranormal Studies and Investigations Canada (PSICAN), for which I am a volunteer researcher and media liaison. Although I am conducting this experiment as an independent historian and paranormal researcher, I am asking that Sue and Matthew supervise the terms and conduct of the proceedings. You can read my column at http://seminars.torontoghosts.org/blog/index.php?cat=20

At this time, I am merely putting this out for those who may be interested. Among those folks, I will be choosing a maximum of eight objects from those who offer to submit objects for the experiment. I have already collected some of the eight. Again, I am avoiding objects of monetary value, so it is unlikely any such objects would be included in the experiment. Then I would approach finalists with a contract for them to sign to before they send anything to me.

If any of you have any further questions, feel free to ask them here or send me a private message.

Hope that helps.

cheers,
Chris

Hi everyone: The call remains open for lending objects for this experiment. I will be accepting proposals for objects up until mid-March. Feel free to PM me if you have an object to propose (you can tell me what the object is - but nothing else please). It would be great to have objects from many different places for the experiment, so I hope to hear from you if you're interested.

I'll be away for a week, but will check up on PMs upon my return March 12.

very best,
Chris