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Magnetic field measurements for power frequencies were measured continuously over two 24-hr. periods for a small house in which two adults who exhibited above normal occurrences of complex partial epileptic-like experiences had reported 'waves of fear', tactile sensations, nightmares, apparitions, and a sensed presence. The experiences occurred within an area in which irregular amplitude modulations between 1 microT and 5 microT (50 mG) from 60-Hz sources, with durations of a few seconds to several tens of seconds, were measured. This case suggests that transient, complex temporal patterns of power-frequency magnetic fields generated by less than optimal grounding in dwellings and telluric currents may be sufficient to evoke experiences in the brains of sensitive individuals. Cultural labels, applied by the experients, then affect the explanations and expectancies for these experiences.

A total of 45 litters were exposed during their entire prenatal development to one of two complex patterns of magnetic fields whose strengths varied within one of four intensity ranges between 10 nT and 1000 nT or to sham-field conditions. The litters exposed to the most complex pattern, composed of 50 200-msec. presentations of different pulses for 10 sec. every 50 sec., displayed more ambulation in an open field at 21 days of age than the litters that had been exposed continuously to a repetitive frequency-modulated field or to sham-field conditions. This treatment explained 25% of the variance in the numbers of squares traversed. The results suggest that complexity of the applied magnetic field during prenatal development may be more important than intensity for permanently affecting neuronal organization and behavior.

A left-handed Roman Catholic female adolescent with a history of early brain trauma reported nightly visitations by a sentient being. During one episode she experienced vibrations of the bed, an external presence along the left side that moved into her body, inner vaginal (not clitoral) and uterine sensations, and the sense of being impregnated by a force she attributed to the Holy Spirit. After the latter experience she felt an invisible baby superimposed upon her left shoulder. Analyses of the measurements for magnetic anomalies within her bedroom indicated an electric clock about 20 cm from her head while she slept. The complex form of the 4 microT magnetic pulses generated by the clock was similar to shapes that evoke electrical seizures in epileptic rats and sensitive humans.

The hypothesis was tested that compensatory susceptibility to electroencephalographic driving and entrainment by weak (1 microT) time-varying, externally applied complex magnetic fields would occur in normal subjects following successive stimulation by different patterns. 43% of the volunteers showed evidence of driving during the application of the complex magnetic fields and indications of resonance (entrainment) during the first 10 sec. following the cessation of the fields. The volunteers who exhibited driving and entrainment could be discriminated from those who did not by their more frequent reported experiences of fear and odd tastes during the stimulation. They were also more likely to have a preexposure history of a sense of presence and to experience intense meaningfulness when reading or writing prose or poetry.

Intermittent bursts of weak magnetic fields whose patterns simulate normal amygdaloidal-hippocampal activity were generated by computer over the right or left temporal regions of men and women during partial sensory deprivation. As predicted, women but not men reported greater apprehension during right-hemispheric but not left-hemispheric stimulation. Intrusions of right-hemispheric processes have been hypothesized to affect self-esteem adversely. These results also support the role of the right parahippocampal region in the production of panic attacks.