ARTICLES

Alan and Diana Bennett

Alan and Diana Bennett were the two main mediums involved in the famous Scole Experiments. Alan is a carpenter and Diana runs a healing practice, both have lived in Norfolk for well over twenty years. During childhood both experienced various paranormal phenomena, including discarnate contact. They became involved in the Scole Experiments after replying to an advert for sitters for a physical circle with Robin and Sandra Foy. Previously, the group had experienced limited phenomena, but soon after Alan and Diana's inception "energy swirls", trance communications and apports began to appear. The Scole Group has now discontinued but Alan and Diana have produced Scole-like phenomena during their own private sittings. Please visit the AA-EVP website for more details.

Reflections on "The Scole Experiment"

 - Alan and Diana Bennett -

          OUR INTEREST in Spiritual matters spans many years and goes back long before the Scole Experiment was conceived. For myself, as a child, I was aware of many things outside of the normal range of those around me. I would see or speak with forms of those that had passed on but this never happened to me in a frightening way, I hasten to add. It was more frightening to be having these experiences when others were not.

Alan also had unexplained experiences, as a child. One occurred when he was in his cot, a young couple came and looked at him and smiled. He remembers seeing through them, as if they were formed from tiny specks of light. These images are as fresh today as the time they were experienced, like a sort of spiritual imprint on our minds.

Each house we occupied since we married has had 'interactive energies' of various types. Lights would go on and off of their own accord, during the day and night. We were aware of 'other' presences, which were no particular problem really so we happily co-habited with them.

While our children were young we moved to Norfolk into a particularly 'active' house. We did all sorts of improvements, which may have triggered this off. Even then Spirit took care not to scare the children and only played with the lights when they were not around. They would be turned on in another room and left on until we turned them off, only to find them on again later! Several occasions they turned the light off when we were in the room, which can be annoying not to mention unnerving. Eventually we found that by asking for the lights to be put back on, they were. One memorable night we were both levitated in our armchairs but it only happened to us once and was never repeated thankfully, as it was a bit unexpected!

Some years later, we decided to build a new house, a house with no associations, we were tired of 'active' houses. During this phase of our lives we were exploring mediumship, reading lots of books and going to demonstrations etc. We decided to meditate regularly and sit together, each giving focus to the other in turn. Our development proceeded at a steady pace alongside our busy lives. On one occasion a light bulb blew and an initial was burnt onto the inside of the glass globe. This happened to be the initial of the communicator at that time. This really intrigued us and we discussed our thoughts regarding studying this kind of phenomena. Soon after this a loud audible rap was heard coming from the table, as if in answer. This made us investigate physical psychic phenomena as tangible objective proof of the survival of the human spirit. However, the time was not right, our lives were too occupied with other matters.

So, we continued to focus on our development. The channelling and communication was getting better as we were now sitting together twice weekly on a regular basis. We found the energy was particularly good when we focused together for a common purpose. Again, the lights would flicker or go out during these sessions or at times bulbs would fly out from their bayonet fittings, and land across the other side of the room, unbroken! After this happened twice we tried hard to see if we could make this happen 'normally', but it never did.

The energies were becoming more apparent in the room in other ways too. Sometimes it was difficult to see one another, as the swirls of energy became so dense and colourful. One day a really funny 'teleport' arrived in our hallway. The previous day the middle of our toilet roll holder had broken, just a minor 'inconvenience' (pardon the pun) as our nearest hardware shop was over five miles away. The next morning, there in the middle of our hall floor, lay a brand new wooden one, better than the one we had! We were very grateful! It fitted perfectly!

One day we saw an advert for sitters for a physical circle with Robin and Sandra. We telephoned them an arranged to meet later that week. Some members had left the group and we were invited to join the rest, now that the group was being reformed. At that time we were happy to give energies to help to get some phenomena started and we continued like this for some time but with only limited results.

What none of us knew was that Spirit had destined us all for some new and exciting work. They conspired to create a situation one night when only Alan, Robin and myself were present. "Oh well", said Robin, ever the positive enthusiast, "tonight, anything goes"! On that memorable night Spirit opened a door to 'energy' work.

I felt myself going deeper and deeper as if I was stepping back from myself and being engulfed in a soft loving energy. The atmosphere. was 'electric' and I remember seeing energy swirls in front of me. I felt physically big and my back and head were erect and aligned. I knew that I was going to be used, and tonight 'anything goes', so I just surrendered to the wonderful feeling and let go. Manu (a spirit helper, I had previously been unaware of) came through and spoke to us. A coin was 'teleported' and he said this was a token of greater things to come. I have no idea how long he was present and it took a while for me to gradually come back to a waking state.

Many patient weeks followed and Alan's development began to flourish. Manu came when it was appropriate as the energy was being shared.

Alan had different experiences to mine when going into trance, he described the initial stage as similar to the sensation of falling backwards with your eyes closed. He felt perfectly comfortable with this, as there was an overwhelming feeling of love that 'cocooned' him from any anxieties. He can remember floating, flying, and swimming all at the same time, and in what he describes as a sea of perfect bliss. Patrick, was the first of Alan's guides to speak and soon settled in, bringing us information (and humorous comments) on a regular basis. Patrick once described the sensation he experienced when coming through as 'like swimming through warm custard'! An experience most of us would not wish to try in reality, but you can see what he was trying to express.

We both agree that these experiences gave us insights into other 'states of consciousness', where time and space ceases to exit as we know it. Each of us felt different, the whole group's energy had changed, it seemed somehow 'lighter' working with energy. A trust built up well between the communicators and the group. Much of what was said was based on good evidence of survival and this gave a solid foundation both for us and the other sitters in the group. We were being taught and guided to live our lives in a more spiritual way. Gently coaxed and reminded to meditate and to always link up at night with the 'Universal Harmony'. This seemed to aid them to link with us in the sleep state, though this did not deplete us in any way.

As time went on the phenomenon developed and the spirit lights began. Glad as Alan and I were to be a part of all this wonderful work, our only disappointment was not seeing these things like the others. Then one day the communicators said that for the next session we would not be used in deep trance so we could have a different experience. So, when this special time came we were able to see a limited 'light display'. We will never forget this and could well understand the 'oh's and ah's' we heard when we listened to the taped recordings of future sessions.

 

Related Material

Home | Intro | News | Investigators | Articles | Experiments | Photographs | Theory | Library | Info | Books | Contact | Glossary | Search

 

Some parts The International Survivalist Society 2004

contact@SurvivalAfterDeath.info