JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC EXPLORATION A Publication of the Society for Scientifi c Exploration (ISSN 0892-3310) published quarterly, and continuously since 1987 Editorial Offi ce: Journal of Scientifi c Exploration, Society for Scientifi c Exploration, Kathleen E. Erickson, JSE Managing Editor, 151 Petaluma Blvd. So., #301, Petaluma, CA 94952 [email protected], 1-415-435-1604 Manuscript Submission: Submit manuscripts online at http://journalofscientifi cexploration.org/index.php/jse/login Editor-in-Chief: Stephen E. Braude, University of Maryland Baltimore County Managing Editor: Kathleen E. Erickson, Petaluma, CA Assistant Managing Editor: Elissa Hoeger, Princeton, NJ Associate Editors Carlos S. Alvarado, Parapsychology Foundation, New York, NY Imants Barušs, University of Western Ontario, Canada Daryl Bem, Ph.D., Cornell University, Ithaca, NY Robert Bobrow, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY Courtney Brown, Emory University, Atlanta, GA Jeremy Drake, Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA Roger D. Nelson, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ Mark Rodeghier, Center for UFO Studies, Chicago, IL Daniel Sheehan, University of San Diego, San Diego, CA Publications Committee Chair: Garret Moddel, University of Colorado Boulder Editorial Board Chair, Prof. Richard C. Henry, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD Dr. Mikel Aickin, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ Dr. Steven J. Dick, U.S. Naval Observatory, Washington, DC Dr. Peter Fenwick, Institute of Psychiatry, London, UK Dr. Alan Gauld, University of Nottingham, UK Prof. W. H. Jeff erys, University of Texas, Austin, TX Dr. Wayne B. Jonas, Samueli Institute, Alexandria, VA Dr. Michael Levin, Tufts University, Boston, MA Dr. David C. Pieri, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA Prof. Juan Roederer, University of Alaska–Fairbanks, AK Prof. Peter A. Sturrock, Stanford University, CA Prof. Yervant Terzian, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY Prof. N. C. Wickramasinghe, Churchill College, UK SUBSCRIPTIONS & PREVIOUS JOURNAL ISSUES: Order forms on back pages or at scientifi cex- ploration.org. COPYRIGHT: Authors retain copyright to their writings. However, when an article has been sub- mitted to the Journal of Scientifi c Exploration, the Journal holds fi rst serial rights. Additionally, the Society has the right to post the published article on the Internet and make it available via electronic and print subscription. The material must not appear anywhere else (including on an Internet website) until it has been published by the Journal (or rejected). After publication, authors may use the material as they wish but should make appropriate reference to JSE: “Re- printed from “[title of article]”, Journal of Scientifi c Exploration, vol. [x], no. [xx], pp. [xx], published by the Society for Scientifi c Exploration, http://www.scientifi cexploration.org.” Society for Scientifi c Exploration Website — http://www.scientifi cexploration.org Journal of Scientifi c Exploration (ISSN 0892-3310) is published quarterly in March, June, Sep- tember, and December by the Society for Scientifi c Exploration, 151 Petaluma Blvd. So., #301, Petaluma, CA 94952 USA. Society Members receive online Journal subscriptions with their membership. Online Library subscriptions are $165. JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC EXPLORATION A Publication of the Society for Scientifi c Exploration AIMS AND SCOPE: The Journal of Scientifi c Exploration publishes material consistent with the Society’s mission: to provide a professional forum for critical discussion of topics that are for various reasons ignored or studied inadequately within mainstream science, and to promote improved understanding of social and intellectual factors that limit the scope of scientifi c inquiry. Topics of interest cover a wide spectrum, ranging from apparent anomalies in well- established disciplines to rogue phenomena that seem to belong to no established discipline, as well as philosophical issues about the connections among disciplines. The Journal publishes research articles, review articles, essays, commentaries, guest editorials, historical perspectives, obituaries, book reviews, and letters or commentaries pertaining to previously published material. JOURNAL OF SCIENTIFIC EXPLORATION A Publication of the Society for Scientifi c Exploration Volume 31, Number 4 2017 EDITORIAL 547 Editorial STEPHEN E. BRAUDE RESEARCH ARTICLES 551 Same-Family Cases of the Reincarnation Type in Japan OHKADO MASAYUKI 572 A Test of an Occult-Themed Séance: Examining Anomalous Events, Psycho- BRIAN R. LAYTHE somatic Symptoms, Transliminality, and ELIZABETH COOPER LAYTHE Electromagnetic Fields LUCINDA WOODWARD HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE 625 William Shakespeare: A Study of the Poet and Five Famous Contemporaries Who between Them Used the Rune Ciphers to Reveal His True Identity DAVID L. ROPER ESSAY 677 Shakespeare: The Authorship Question, a Bayesian Approach [reprinted from 2008] PETER A. STURROCK OBITUARY 687 Yvonne Duplessis, 1912–2017 RENAUD EVRARD BOOK REVIEWS 691 Evading the Challenge of Psychical Research William James: Psychical Research and the Challenge of Modernity by Krister Dylan Knapp MICHAEL GROSSO 700 Ancient Ocean Crossings: Reconsidering the Case for Contacts with the Pre-Columbian America by Stephen C. Jett DAVID DEMING 546 Table of Contents JSE 31:4 703 The Dream Interpretation Dictionary: Symbols, Signs, and Meanings by J. M. DeBord JACQUIE E. LEWIS 707 Astrology and Popular Religion in the Modern West: Prophecy, Cosmology, and the New Age Movement by Nicholas Campion GERHARD MAYER SSE NEWS 712 Bial Foundation Announcement 713 SSE Masthead 714 SSE Annual Meeting 2018; Aspiring Explorers Program 715 Index of Previous Articles in JSE 735 Order forms for JSE Issues, JSE Subscriptions, Society Membership 738 Instructions for JSE Authors Journal of Scientifi c Exploration, Vol. 31, No. 4, pp. 547–550, 2017 0892-3310/17 EDITORIAL lthough this issue of the JSE, as usual, contains a diverse cocktail Aof interesting papers, two of those papers are sufficiently out of the ordinary to deserve a few comments. In this issue, we fearlessly address— for the second time in the JSE’s history—one of the thorniest and most interesting topics in English literature—namely, the debate over Shakespeare authorship. As some current SSE members are undoubtedly aware, many have challenged the orthodox view that the works of Shakespeare were written by the person traditionally identified as the author—that is, William Shaxpere of Stratford-upon-Avon. SSE stalwart (and my editorial predecessor) Peter Sturrock tackled the topic in the JSE in 2008 (Sturrock 2008), and then several years later followed that up with a book on the subject (Sturrock 2013). What Sturrock did brilliantly was to demonstrate how one can invoke Bayesian probability theory to challenge the orthodoxy in a compelling way. For this issue, we reprint that paper and combine it with a penetrating new work on the subject by David Roper. Roper approaches the matter from a different angle than that adopted by Sturrock. He draws on the science of cryptography to argue that the true author of the Shakespeare works was Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford. (This is also the conclusion emerging most naturally from Sturrock’s book.) Roper argues that Sixteenth- Century techniques of using codes and ciphers were both common and quite well-developed, and that these permitted concealing secret messages within apparently innocent passages of prose or poetry. Moreover, Roper marshals a great deal of historical evidence for the claim that de Vere and others had good reason to conceal de Vere’s authorship of the works attributed to Shaxpere. So I hope our readers will enjoy this excursion into what should be largely unfamiliar territory for most of them. I know I learned a great deal from these papers, and I’m pleased that the JSE can make a scientific contribution to this venerable debate. As I see it, the papers by Sturrock and Roper together constitute a fascinating and impressive full frontal assault on the orthodox view. Although most JSE readers will not have immersed themselves in the grubby particulars of the Shakespeare authorship debate, perhaps some have seen the 2011 dramatic feature film Anonymous, which presented a sporadically factual story portraying de Vere as the author of Shakespeare’s works. (The film’s reason for de Vere’s anonymity is not the one proposed by Roper.) And if those readers are Internet nerds like your loyal Editor, 548 Editorial they may have seen the review by the late and lamented Roger Ebert, who objected to the film’s premise, which he argued was “profoundly mistaken” (http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/anonymous-2011). Ebert cited what he considered to be two compelling objections to the film’s portrayal of de Vere as the author of Shakespeare’s works. He wrote, “In a New York Times article, the Shakespeare scholar James Shapiro has cited a few technicalities: (a) de Vere writes and stars in ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ when he was 9 years old, and (b) ‘he died in 1604, before 10 or so of Shakespeare’s plays were written’.” However, as you might have guessed, the matter seems to be rather more complex than this. In fact, I consulted this issue’s two experts for their responses. Sturrock noted, “For many plays, we know when they were printed, and sometimes when they were first performed, but that does not tell us for sure when they were written. We know the latest that plays could have been written, but not the earliest” (personal communication September 30,