Abstract

Investigates the 2 phases of the E. Zugun (Poltergeist) Case, focusing on (a) establishing the total number of phenomena by evaluating original reports to identify indicators of possible fraud; (b) analysis of a documentary film on the phenomena which Dessoir claimed to prove fraud; (c) scrutiny of the alleged exposure, analysis of which showed that it is not tenable; (d) evaluation of Zugun\'s psychoanalysis, which had an impact on the transformation of the phenomena; and (e) investigation of the frequency distribution of the phenomena, the question being whether the distribution of maxima and minima showed an internal periodicity or any correlation with external variables or if it is entirely random. Whereas Countess Z. Wassilko (1966) hypothesized that the frequency distribution was an anticipation of the female menstrual cycle, Schrenck-Notzing hypothesized a coincidence of the maxima of phenomena with the full moon. Neither of these hypotheses can be maintained, nor! could any correlation be found when probing modern hypotheses of geomagnetic fields or IST-Local Sidereal Time. This case is a methodological example for applying quantitative methods on an apparently qualitative case.