My Library

DR. GERTRUDE SCHMEIDLER - OCTOBER, 1971 I had briefly met Dr. Gertrude Schmeidler in September at Zelda’s Virgo party, and later encountered her at a gathering given by Bert and Sharon McCann of the infrared photo fame. Schmeidler was a noted psychologist, parapsychologist and researcher. She was also a wonderful and sensitive human being. Schmeidler’s credentials as a psychologist were distinguished and her interest in parapsychology dated from the winter of 1934-35. In 1942, she began her famous "sheepgoat" experiments. Those experiments involved a quite large sample of people who believed in ESP (the "sheep") and an equal sample of people who didn’t believe (the "goats.") Both groups were identically subjected to a number of standard ESP tests under controls which passed muster regarding psychological testing. The eventual results "suggested" that those who believed in the possibility of ESP did better at ESP scoring than those who did not. The disbeliever (skeptical) group had lower, sometimes very lower, scores regarding the tests, while the believer group had higher scores. I was already familiar with Schmeidler’s work, having read up on it, and I had longed to meet her, but had never found a way to do so. To me, the sheep-goat results were consistent with