PARTICIPANT 053 GUIDE TO SCORING 0 = There was nothing generally or specifically accurate in the participant's reading of the object. Correctly deducing or guessing one thing, such as the gender of the object's owner or how much/little the object was used, also did not count as that information could be obtained via 50/50 chance or by inspecting the object. +1 = At least one specific thing (physical description or action) or a few general things (abstract or emotional) were accurate in the participant's reading of the object. Specific things would include accurate descriptions of something physical or an action. General things include more abstract or emotional concepts. +2 = Several specific things were accurate in the participant's reading of the object. There may be some general things that accompany these specific things that are also accurate. Despite that, at least 50% of the reading was inaccurate, or the reading was too brief and lacked detail to determine it as being any more accurate. +3 = Generally, the reading was on target. Several specific things were accurate as well as general accuracy. Generally, 25% to 40% of the statements made in the reading could be inaccurate or ambiguous. +4 = The reading was overall on target. This would include general accuracy throughout the reading with less than 25% being clearly inaccurate statements, with an allowance for one or two ambiguities. Most importantly, several specific things were clearly accurate. +5 = This would be a reading that was completely on target with a majority of statements being specifically accurate with an allowance for general statements as well. There would be no inaccuracies in the reading. Nobody scored this high in the Psychometry Experiment. OBJECT H - "BOY AND GIRL STATUETTES" WHAT PARTICIPANT SAID/WROTE 1 From an older woman 2 Not very happy 3 Bitter woman? 4 (Do not like objects at all - do not want to touch them - sadness, irritation from them) OBJECT H - ACTUAL BACKGROUND OF OWNER/OBJECT OWNER: This object was lent by a Roman Catholic housewife born in 1935. Originally from northern Italy, she has lived with her husband in Hamilton, Ontario since the late 1950s. She and her husband are retired, and own many rental properties for income. They are active in their cultural community, have three daughters and four grandchildren – three male and one female. They raise rabbits for food in their backyard, and have a garden. She is well-known in her family for her cooking, and serves very traditional rural, northern Italian dishes. She and her family have gone to resorts throughout the Caribbean and Latin America, but otherwise her travels have been limited to Canada and Italy. STORY OF THE OBJECT: She lent two small porcelain busts, one of a boy, the other of a girl. Made in Venice, they were given as a gift when her husband’s brother and his wife visited Canada in 1972. They are displayed on shelves in their living room with family photos and a few other mementos. The bust of the girl was broken when one of her grandchildren accidentally knocked it off a table where it was displayed in 1999. The woman interpreted this as a portent that her youngest daughter was dead – which never came true – and she was only relieved when her grandson confessed to breaking it. This story is a favourite in the family. RESULT = +1 The owner is an older woman. But no further specific information on the object, circumstances, or owner's life came to light in this reading. OBJECT G - "PERFUME BOTTLE" WHAT PARTICIPANT SAID/WROTE 1 Feels like the perfume is [a woman who was volunteering at the registration desk for the Psychometry Experiment], or someone close to her 2 A last minute thing to put in a box 3 Because another object broke or was lost? 4 (So-so feeling from this object, nothing too strong) 5 If this is [the volunteer's], she didn’t particularly like it, but it was a gift OBJECT G - ACTUAL BACKGROUND OF OWNER/OBJECT OWNER: This object was lent by a female of Chinese descent born in 1984 who lives on her own in a sixth floor condo in downtown Toronto. She graduated a few years ago with a university degree in the fine arts, actively shows her artwork, and works a retail job part-time. She has travelled through Europe, the U.S., China and Hong Kong. She has a boyfriend who does not live with her. She has not had any psychical experiences. STORY OF THE OBJECT: The object she submitted was a bottle of perfume with a dent in it. Her mother gave it to her one day, but she disregarded it because she does not wear perfume and she crammed it into her bathroom cupboard. One day, it fell out (thus the dent) and she found a note in the box that she hadn’t seen from her mother telling her she was so happy her daughter had grown into a woman. This was meaningful, because her mother is not the type of person who openly expresses such feelings. Also, the daughter had recently lost her virginity – and her grandmother had died around that time. Had the object not fallen out of the cupboard, it would never have had such meaning. RESULT = +3 This is a very unusual reading. First of all, the woman who was volunteering at the registration desk for the Psychometry Experiment that day indeed had lent an object to the experiment which this participant did not look at (Object C - see below description), but it was not this object. Another interesting aspect of this reading is the feeling the participant got that another object was broke or lost. As per below description, the lender of Object C did lose the original object submitted to the Psychometry Experiment in the mail, but it was later recovered. As for line 5, the owner of Object G (being read here) didn't particularly like the gift that was given to her when she received it. Only later did it have personal meaning for her. It is hard to rate such a reading because it seems to draw on details from another object and a person she met before participating. It does stand out, however, as significant, and thus gets a +3 rating. Description of Object C Owner mentioned in above reading: The owner of this object is a Caucasian, Catholic female born in 1958. She was raised and still lives in the Niagara region of Ontario. She is married with two sons and daughter (all currently in their 20s), and has a dog. She has worked in a variety of administrative jobs. She has travelled in North America. She reported having a variety of highly intuitive experiences in her life, including a religious vision. Description of Object C: This woman submitted a replica of a British Royal Family sapphire brooch. It was given to her by her youngest son in 2005 as a Christmas present, purchased from his place of employment. It is kept in a small cardboard box in a chest on the top of her dresser in her bedroom. She values the object because her son put a lot of thought into selecting it. The original brooch had been given to Queen Victoria. The son felt this was significant because it was given to the Queen on the day after his mother’s birthday. The first object this woman submitted for the Psychometry Experiment was lost in the mail (but luckily later retrieved), so she submitted the brooch instead. OBJECT E - "PIPE" WHAT PARTICIPANT SAID/WROTE 1 I see the owner of the pipe standing in a doorway, looking out onto huge gardens - gets pride from gardens 2 Gold tooth 3 Old car in garage (1940s) 4 Blue siding on house 5 Two sons 6 One daughter died at a young age 7 Wife very ill, bedridden at some point 8 Stakes of old newspapers in garage 9 Missing tip of toe - or entire toe 10 Same name as father and grandfather 11 Soft-spoken man OBJECT E - ACTUAL BACKGROUND OF OWNER/OBJECT OWNER: This object was lent by a Caucasian male school teacher born in 1976, raised, and still living in the greater Toronto area. He was educated at Trent University, and then attended teacher’s college in Thunder Bay, Ontario. He lives with his girlfriend in a suburban house. He loves baseball, history and is a musician. He has not travelled much beyond Ontario. He has not had any paranormal experiences, although he has recently been active in volunteering to investigate them. STORY OF THE OBJECT: The object is a pipe that the man purchased at a novelty shop across from the Toronto Reference Library in 1996 or 1997. It was kept on top of a bookshelf, either beside or in a wooden case. The object is significant in its novelty. He and his friend, both smokers, each purchased the pipe as something different, thinking it would make them look sophisticated at bars and concerts. He used to relax and smoke the pipe while he was a student at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario. His mother also enjoyed it when he smoked the pipe. He used Captain Black Tobacco when he smoked it. He even used the pipe as part of an attempt to stop smoking cigarettes. RESULT = 0 Owner of object and experimenter found no correlation between what was perceived from the object and the object itself or the owner's life. OBJECT B - "GLASS BALL" WHAT PARTICIPANT SAID/WROTE 1 (Feel vibration when I held it. Feel drawn to it, like I could stare at it forever…) 2 Feel like some powerful people have held it previously (psychically powerful) 3 It’s been dropped and surprisingly did not break 4 Normally kept in a dark blue box 5 Doesn’t feel very old 6 Dog lives in home where this ball belongs 7 Big screen TV? 8 Wood shelving, it sits on shelf OBJECT B - ACTUAL BACKGROUND OF OWNER/OBJECT This was a “control object” in the experiment, purchased by the experimenter, Chris Laursen, new from a shop that has good from around the world on Queen Street West in Toronto, Ontario. Once purchased, it was kept in the original bag and hidden away behind books in one of his bookshelves. It was only removed once the Psychometry Experiment commenced, at which point, it was stored on a shelf in boxes with all of the other objects used in the experiment. The idea was to see if those reading could perceive this was a control object in some way. RESULT = 0 Although it is interesting that the participant mentioned a shelf (it was kept on a bookshelf behind books), the experimenter found no correlation between what was perceived from the object and the object itself or the owner's life.