Author's note: This pasta is a retelling of what happened in my dorm room after I decided to give the experiment a try. You may want to read my other pasta, Ganzfeld Experiment, that describes the procedure before reading this. If you don't, I explain it anyway...
Our crude setup.
Before I begin, I'll explain what the Ganzfeld experiment is. The Ganzfeld experiment was used as a technique to test for ESP (extrasensory perception). It was used in the field of parapsychology which was big in the 1970's.
The point of the Ganzfeld effect is to put you into sensory deprivation (removal of stimuli to the senses). This is usually done by putting half-ping pong balls over a subject's eyes and having red light shone over them. The subject also wears a pair of noise-isolating headphones and has white or pink noise played.
This goes on for thirty minutes and a person tries to send a message by speaking to the person while everything is recorded by hand or by video. We made a few alterations to the procedures to better fit to what we had to work with (using a bed instead of a chair, speaking to him for only ten minutes, but keeping under sensory deprivation the same way as the original experiment.)
I found a red light bulb and a ping pong ball upstairs in the dorms.
When I had come up with the idea, my roommate, Travis, had wanted this to be done to him because, apparently, there have been sayings that strange things happen to people within the Ganzfeld effect. (I'm pretty sure he just wanted an artificial "high")
The experiment was kind of interesting. Most of the experiment was recorded - definitely the parts that were of interest; I may or may not upload the video, however - the recording quality is rather shameful.
Regrettably, about four other people heard about the experiment and decided to come in and watch. We started the experiment with two laptops with white noise, in case the other crashed.
The spectators became a major distraction. This was because before the start, Travis said that he hoped the Ganzfeld effect caused him pornographic hallucinations. Travis was under and I know he could not hear them, and they left around minute fifteen. We (Paul stayed) had decided to extend the experiment to forty-five minutes rather then thirty. At minute twenty, Travis raised his arm and seemed to mutter to himself... This caught us by surprise.
I let this continue for one minute before asking questions - totally random questions such as, "Where are you from?" "What are you doing?" "Why are you here?" He responded to all of them on queue, and would sometimes be writing in the air with his right hand. It was not until the minutes toward the end where Travis began to answer the questions I asked him, even though not correctly, he usually addressed the question.
But then... He started asking me questions... He asked eerie things like, "Who are they?" a few times as well as, "Why are they here?" "When are they coming?" and, "Can they be stopped?" I came up with random answers, kind of disturbed by this. After asking him, "Who are you referring to?" and getting no response other than "Them" or, "They," I let him write in the air for another few minutes before switching the lights back on.
I asked Travis what he remembered. He said that he remembered his vision going to black, but not all the way (normal) and having a creepy experience. He said he was possibly dreaming/hallucinating/visualizing normal socialising, but remembering nothing else. We had the conversations recorded and he knew about none of them. He had no idea why he said the things he said or how he was able to.
This whole thing creeped me out - not anymore, however.
Travis hasn't been himself since that day though. I've become disconnected from him since then, probably because I'm not his roommate anymore. I would always remind him of the experiment, fooling with him, saying, "You're strong subconscious will eventually steal your whole mind, and you will cease to be Travis and be some insane being," which horrified him. But things like this experiment just aren't natural... I think we should all face it and stop trying to disprove it: There are just some things in this world you just can't explain.