Video THE “AMNEVILLE’S RSPK CASE” (2019)

Voici la vidéo d'une de mes interventions au congrès PA 2019
Evrard, R. (2019, juillet). The "Amneville RSPK case": An illustration of social elusiveness ? Parapsychological Association 62th Annual Convention, Paris, 4-6 juillet 2019.

THE “AMNEVILLE’S RSPK CASE”: AN ILLUSTRATION OF SOCIAL ELUSIVENESS

Renaud Evrard¹,

¹University of Lorraine, Nancy, France

Abstract

During the summer 2014, at less than 2 kilometers from my house, started a seemingly RSPK case which attracted media attention in France and abroad. An old couple with a teenage nephew observed unexplained displacements and destructions of objects in several rooms of their house. Neighbors, policemen, and journalists quickly arrived and added their own testimonies which deepened the strangeness. In few months, the case was partly “solved”, not through a scientific enquiry, but by the self-accusation of the old “hysterical” woman and a trial that concluded a dismissal of all charges (“non-lieu”). Without having the possibility to interview the protagonists themselves, despite two attempts, I stayed as an observer of the social treatment of this paranormal story. I collected all press articles, video reports, online discussions, and also informal local discussions to document the various socio-psychological reactions at the different steps of the case. Following the Model of Pragmatic Information’s application to RSPK case (Lucadou &  Zahradnik, 2004), I will illustrate the four phases of this case: surprise, displacement, decline, and suppression phases. This model allowed me to make public predictions which were verified. Then, I will focus on the “suppression phase” where there is a kind of social influence to restore normality instead of the disturbing paranormality. I suggest to call this action “social elusiveness” (Evrard, 2012) and to discuss its place in parapsychology.

Le texte complet : 

Evrard, R. (2019). The "Amnéville RSPK case": An illustration of social elusiveness? In : G. Mayer (dir.), N equals 1. Single case studies in Anomalistics (pp. 377-393). Berlin : LIT.