The Archaeus Project

    The Archaeus Project was one of the groups active in paranormal fields in the 1980s and early 1990s. It was founded in 1982 in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area (Bakken, n.d., p. 74), and during its early years it focused heavily, though not exclusively, on the paranormal. It conducted investigations, sponsored lecture series, held conferences, established a library, and published periodicals and monographs.

    Its journal, Archaeus, was published in five volumes from 1983 to 1989. It carried papers from a variety of contributors, with names familiar to paranormal researchers, including (in order of first appearance): Eldon A. Byrd, Jack Houck, James McClenon, John Thomas Richards, Dennis Stillings, Robert C. Beck, Jule Eisenbud, Andrija Puharich, Elizabeth A. Rauscher, Otto H. Schmitt, George P. Hansen, W. E. Cox, Robert E. L. Masters, Earl E. Bakken, Hilary Evans, Martin S. Kottmeyer, Peter M. Rojcewicz, Michael Grosso, Alvin H. Lawson, Michael A. Persinger.

    The Archaeus Project began as a discussion group in the home of Earl Bakken, a highly successful inventor-businessman who co-founded Medtronic, Inc. (Bakken, n.d., p. 73). They were soon joined by Dennis Stillings, who had earlier built the collections of The Bakken, now a renowned library and museum focusing on electricity and life (Bakken, n.d., pp. 70-71; Stillings, 2001). Stillings went on to become the director of the Archaeus Project.

    The group had a number of other members with significant mainstream accomplishments. Otto Schmitt, an eminent biophysicist, was one of the early members involved with paranormal investigations. The November-December 2004 issue of IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine devoted over 40 pages to Schmitt and his work, including an article by Stillings. John E. Haaland, a former Corporate Vice President of The Pillsbury Company, was another member. In 1998 Haaland and members of Robert Jahn’s PEAR laboratory at Princeton University  received a patent for an electronic random-number generator used to control a game toy or computer display (Bradish et al, 1998). Archaeus Project member Karen Olness, a professor of pediatrics,  has received honors for improving children’s health around the world.

    In 1993 the Archaeus Project moved to Hawaii as its focus shifted to more mainstream healthcare-related matters. In 2001 it became a sole proprietorship owned by Dennis Stillings. It has not since been active in paranormal areas, though Stillings retains his personal interest.

George P. Hansen

References

Bakken, Earl E. (n.d.). One Man’s Full Life. Available at: http://www.earlbakken.com/content/publications/one.mans.pdf. Accessed March 8, 2008.

Bradish, G. Johnston; Dobyns, York H.; Dunne, Brenda J.; Jahn; Robert G.; Nelson, Roger D.; Haaland, John E.; Hamer, Steven M. Apparatus and method for distinguishing events which collectively exceed chance expectations and thereby controlling an output. U.S. Patent No. 5,830,064. November 3, 1998.

Stillings, Dennis. (2004). Otto Schmitt and the Archaeus Project: Adventures in the Anomalous. IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Magazine, Vol. 23, No. 6, pp. 57-59.

Stillings, Dennis. (2001). The Bakken: A Library and Museum of Electricity in Life. Journal of Scientific Exploration, Vol. 15, No. 2, pp. 255-266.

Links

A short history of the Archaeus Project is given at:
http://www.archaeusproject.com/main.shtml

A short history of The Bakken is given at:
http://www.thebakken.org/about-us/history.htm

Click here for online issues
of the journal ARCHAEUS