1

REMOTE VIEWING APPLICATIONS: AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

Remote Viewing Applications: An Historical Overview and a New Survey

Debra Lynne Katz1 and Patrizio Tressoldi2

1
University of West Georgia, Carrollton, GA; International Remote Viewing Association
2
Science of Consciousness Research Group, Studium Patavinum, Dipartimento di Psicologia
Generale, Università di Padova, Italy

Draft of 11-7-20

Author Note
Correspondence concerning this paper should be addressed to Debra Lynne Katz.
Email: [email protected]
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REMOTE VIEWING APPLICATIONS: AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

Abstract
The primary purpose of this review and exploratory survey of experienced remote viewers was to
discover which types of projects they are engaged with today, and to what extent, and to
understand their backgrounds, methods, approaches, practices, philosophies, beliefs, and
phenomenological experiences related to this work. Another goal was to discover whether (and if
so to what extent) the original definitions and tenants of remote viewing defined within its
specific historical context have changed. One-hundred-six remote viewers participated in the
survey, although not all responded to every question. We consistently had between 70 and 73
responses per each question. Responses were analyzed through the use of a mixed methods
approach, which included an ethnographic examination of reported remote viewing applications
work over its 50-year trajectory, a quantitative assessment of multiple-choice survey responses,
and a thematic analysis of the open-ended responses. The main findings are that remote viewing
applications are wide, spanning from business to scientific and intelligence applications, and for
the use of personal, corporate and public agencies. Twenty-three percent of the participants
declared that their remote viewing job was paid but with a range from 0 to 100%. The range of
the training and experience with remote viewing was expansive, and the majority used mixed
methods, depending on the project. We found that most respondents expressed both awareness of
and respect for the scientific priniciples related to blinding and separation of roles, yet there was
a range of views regarding the practicality of adhering to these for application purposes.

Keywords: remote viewing applications, survey, mixed methods

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REMOTE VIEWING APPLICATIONS: AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

Remote Viewing Applications: An Historical Overview and a New Survey
The main aims of this study are to offer both an historical and a recent overview of the
many aspects of remote viewing (RV) practical applications.
The Origins and Applied Remote Viewing Work at the ASPR
Remote viewing has a rich and colorful history, having been birthed in research labs and
funded, developed and utilized as an information gathering tool by numerous U.S. intelligence
and military agencies from approximately 1972 through the mid-1990s. Although the testing and
use of psi for practical purposes within diverse cultures is well documented (Honorton, 1975;
Schwartz, 2016; Struck, 2016), applied psi and remote viewing within the historical context we
will be discussing began when Ingo Swann, recruited as an experimental subject, joined forces
with Janet Mitchell, Karl Osis, and Gertrude Smiedler at the American Society for Psychical
Research.
Having had spontaneous exceptional experiences as a child, Swann decided in his later
30s to seek out assistance from researchers who he hoped could help him gain insight into his
intuitive potential. From approximately 1970 through 1973, ASPR researchers conducted
numerous experiments with Swann. Their aim was to study psi-based perceptions in relation to
Out of Body Experiences (OBE). Initially, target materials were confined to the lab where Swann
was tasked with describing hundreds of different types of objects placed upon a shelf about 10
feet above his head while he was hooked up to monitoring equipment.
During this time at ASPR, researchers observed “learning curves” when adding new
types of materials to describe, under varying environmental conditions. Mitchell noted that
Swann was not simply a subject upon whom a treatment would be applied, but rather an active
participant whose input led to discoveries within their lab. These included the usefulness of
receiving feedback after every trial so that adjustments could be made by both the viewer and to
the experimental protocols (Mitchell, 2017), and the importance of sketching (Swann, 1987).
This type of collaborative effort would characterize the work of remote viewing not just within
the ASPR lab at that specific time, but within all arenas in which remote viewing would go on to
be practiced, leading up to present day. Mitchell noted that on occasion Swann’s attention would
wander outside the lab, such as when while tethered to his equipment in a windowless room, he
stated there was a woman wearing an unusual outfit standing outside their building. Researchers
were able to confirm he was correct. In 1971, Mitchell also noted that Swann correctly described
unexpected weather conditions in Tucson, Arizona, while located in New York. He also tracked
the movements of researchers in real time as they made their way through museum exhibits and
on one occasion correctly described them getting stuck in a corridor when the museum
unexpectedly closed early.
The Formation of the Stanford Research Institute
In 1972 Swann joined forces with physicists Targ and Puthoff, who were in the process
of seeking a contract with the CIA. Together they formed the psycho-energetics program at the
Stanford Research Institute (SRI), which was to become known as the research and training arm
of the U.S. government’s clandestine remote viewing programs. During this time remote viewing
evolved through the creation and testing of emerging experimental projects, much inspired by
Swann’s early work and ongoing collaborative efforts by multiple parties within SRI, as well as
between other research labs (Nelson, et al., 1996) and with the aid of hundreds of supporting
parties within the U.S. government and private sectors.
Within this creative environment there were many different interests being explored,
from proving psi to determining how it could be most useful, and understanding the mechanisms
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REMOTE VIEWING APPLICATIONS: AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

behind it. However, no matter what the task, or who was tasking it, Swann remained focused on,
and continued to document changes to his own internal mental processes and related bodily
somatic responses, and the ways these were impacted by adjustments to protocols as well as to
influences from social and environmental factors, within the lab and outside. These observations
would go on to form the basis of his development of controlled remote viewing methodologies
(Swann, n.d.).
While more traditional parapsychological experiments were also carried out at SRI
involving forced choice tasks, archival research efforts demonstrate there were largely four
different types of projects that could be credited as those that led to renewed funding and
development of operational/applied remote viewing efforts. These would include the now iconic
outbounder experiments; coordinate remote viewing (under project name Scanate); controlled
remote viewing”; planetary remote viewing; and analytics development (letters, numbers, colors,
etc.) (Swann, n.d.).
Outbounder Experiments
Outbounder experiments were carry-over from Swann’s work at the ASPR. They
involved sending a researcher out to a distant location (outbounder) and having another
experimenter act as an “interviewer” or monitor (Targ & Puthoff, 1977). Together, the
interviewer and remote viewer would get into a relaxed state and the interviewer would direct the
viewer/participant to use their imagination to make contact with the “outbounder.” A main
approach was to invite the viewer to move around from different vantage points –up above 500
feet looking down, moving to the right or the left, moving through doors, looking inside desks, or
even turning on lights.
One of the first published reports of remote viewing was that of Targ and Puthoff (1974)
entitled Remote Viewing of Natural Targets. This reported on the outbounder approach with
former police detective Pat Price as a subject. They wrote: “A study by Osis led us to determine
whether a subject could describe randomly chosen geographical sites several miles from the
subject’s position and demarcated by some appropriate means (remote viewing)” (p. 604). The
SRI co-directors constructed their target pool based on:
the theory that natural geographical places or manmade sites that have existed for a long
time are more potent targets for paranormal perception experiments than are artificial
targets prepared in the laboratory. This is based on subject’s opinions that the use of
artificial targets involves a trivialization of the ability compared to natural, pre-existing
targets. (p. 605)
They found:
Pat Price’s ability to describe correctly buildings, docks, roads, gardens and so on,
including structural materials, color, ambiance and activity, sometimes in great detail,
indicated the functioning of a remote perceptual ability. But the statements contained
inaccuracies as well as correct statements. (p. 605).
Targ and Puthoff (1976) further summarized the results of 50 experiments of subjects,
both experienced and new to this sort of task, to view remote geological locations and buildings
up to several thousand kilometers away. At the locations were “buildings, roads, laboratories
apparatus, and the like.” They asserted:
The development of SRI of a successful experimental procedure to elicit this capability
has evolved to the point where visiting government scientists and contract monitors, with
no previous exposure to such concepts, have learned to perform well; and subjects who
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REMOTE VIEWING APPLICATIONS: AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

have trained over a one year period have performed excellently under a variety of
experimental conditions. (p. 330)
Locations included sites such as museums, a city hall, a miniature golf course, a nature preserve,
the BART transit system and a shielded room. They found no decline in psi by increasing the
distance between remote viewer and target.
In this same report, Puthoff and Targ (1976) described 12 additional experiments carried
out by five different subjects; two of them were “visiting government officials.” The target
material included real objects that researchers would visit with and interact with, while the
remote viewers were tuning in. Here again, the remote viewers were “interviewed” by a
researcher such as Targ, who was blind to the actual target. This interviewing process involved
inviting the subject to mentally interact with the object through intent, and visualization, and
explore it through imagined movement commands and then to produce a sketch. Subjects
recorded their responses verbally and in writing at this time. Targets included, “a drill press,
Xerox machine, video terminal, chart recorder, a random number generator and typewriter.”
Results were significant across both groups –the experienced remote viewers, and the
inexperienced, visiting subjects. Some of the newer subjects’ sketches were said to be
“exceptional.” However, newer participant’s results were found to be less consistent than the
experienced subjects (p. 345).
Coordinate Remote Viewing --the Birth of Operational Remote Viewing
Riding on the heels of these positive results, a series of projects, still largely classified,
were carried out “to determine the utility of remote viewing under operational conditions.”
Project Scannate was the brain child of Ingo Swann, who after his initial few months at
SRI being run through standard parapsychological experiments using machines, began to feel
they were getting off track with the funding sources original aim, which was to discover whether
remote viewing might be a viable tool for information gathering (Kreiss, 1977; Swann, n.d.).
Based on his past experiences at ASPR, Swann questioned the dominant theoretical framework
at the time held within all of parapsychology: that a telepathic connection had to be present
between sender and receiver in order for psi-based information to be accessed. He pleaded with
SRI directors to conduct a series of trials that would demonstrate that a viewer could be
successful having nothing more than coordinates, such as latitude/longitude coordinates. After
much pushback, they agreed to run him and another viewer through such trials, and it
immediately became clear, to them at least and their “clients” with the CIA, that they were onto
something (Swann, n.d.).
Whereas Project Scannate had used National Geographic photographs as photo feedback
evidence for the coordinates, now some real-life targets were given to Swann and Pat Price. One
such target was a vacation home on the east coast, which unbeknownst to the taskers and CIA
contacts initially, was just a few miles from a sensitive military installation. At first it seemed
like the experiment was a failure, as instead of a vacation home Price described a military
installation. However, Ken Kreiss (1977), CIA project manager, sent an agent to the site and they
discovered there was in fact a highly sensitive and secret military installation in the area. He
noted:
The evaluation was, as usual, mixed. Pat Price, who had no military or intelligence
background, provided a list of project titles associated with current and past activities
including one of extreme sensitivity. Also, the codename of the site was provided. Other
information concerning the physical layout of the site was accurate. Some information,
such as the names of the people at the site, proved incorrect. (p. 10)
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REMOTE VIEWING APPLICATIONS: AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

In 1977, Kress declared therefore that remote viewing was promising but remained to be seen
how useful it would be as an intelligence gathering tool.
A number of reports have revealed the types of projects that were undertaken by remote
viewers. A classified 1983 Defense Intelligence Report on Project Grill Flame (Puthoff et al.,
1983) wrote:
RV is the ability of certain individuals to access and describe, by means of mental
processes, information blocked from ordinary perception by distance and shielding.
Targets for RV have ranged from small objects in nearby light-tight canisters to remote
technical facilities at intercontinental distances, from numbers generated at random by a
computer, to nuclear tests in a foreign country. Successful viewings for the
DOD/Intelligence communities include: A secret NSA facility, including code word
retrieval; Soviet R & D facility at Semipalatinsk, USSR, known to have ongoing
operations; static tests of Minutemen and Poseidon solid-propellant missile firings in the
Western United States; circumstances regarding the release of Iranian hostages. (p. 11)
The authors noted that since 1976 over a dozen “seminal papers” had been “carried out
and reported in the literature, the bulk of which had been successes” (p. 15). Under the heading,
“Value of data” was written,
In the FY ’81 -Fy ’83 V evaluation process in conjunction with its DOD sponsors (DIA,
Army INSCOM) has investigated U.S. capabilities in applied intelligence applications,
both to determine the potential for application in the U.S. efforts, and to provide data
useful in the threat potential of corresponding Soviet/East-bloc applications. To carry out
this task, SRI pursued application tasks that were of interest to the intelligence
community and have responded to quick-reaction requirements set by DOD
representatives monitoring the progress of the work. (p. 32)
They reported that investigations have shown:
that remote viewing, both at SRI and ARMY INSCOM personnel, has in many cases
provided meaningful descriptions of East-bloc targets of interest to the intelligence
community. Evaluation by appropriate intelligence community specialists indicates that a
remote viewer is able by this process to generate useful data corroborated by other
intelligence data. As is generally true with other human sources, the information is
fragmentary and imperfect, and therefore should not be relied alone but is best utilized in
conjunction with other resources. Although efforts to establish the exact degree of
accuracy and reliability are not yet complete, the data generated by the RV process
appear to exceed any reasonable bounds of chance correlation or acquisition by ordinary
means and therefore constitutes an exploitable information source. (p. 32)
In a follow up report, Puthoff (1984) wrote:
As a result of the material being generated by both SRI and CIA remote viewers, interest
in the program in government circles, especially within the intelligence community,
intensified considerably....leading to an ever-increasing number of clients, contracts, and
tasking, and therefore expansion of the program to a multi-client base, and eventually to a
join services program under DIA leadership. (p.10)
Establishment of Ft. Meade Remote Viewing Operational Unit and RV Training
In Sept 1977, U.S. Army’s remote viewing program Gondola Wish (the first of many
different names) was established at Ft. Meade Army Base, in Maryland. The work environment
was set up per Swann’s instructions that remote viewing personnel work as part of a team in an
isolated environment where they had the freedom from non-interference to focus only on remote
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REMOTE VIEWING APPLICATIONS: AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

viewing, while maintaining separation of roles in terms of viewers, monitors, analysists and
clients. The program was overseen by Lt. F. Holmes “Skip” Atwater at the direction of the ACSI,
Maj. Gen. Edmund Thompson. As SRI did not yet have its formal training program in place,
Atwater established a training program of his own that incorporated some of the practices and
lessons learned at SRI, but was also influenced through other sources, including his time spent
with Bob Monroe of the Monroe Institute (Atwater, 2001). This methodology would later go on
to be referred to as Extended Remote Viewing. Atwater believed that one cannot prove that one is
actually leaving their body during an OBE or RV experiment, but that one can make use of
imagined visualizations of extending oneself outwards to a distant location and moving around,
much in the way the outbounder experiments were conducted (Atwater, 2014). For this
methodology, viewers are brought into a deeper, more relaxed state bordering sleep. The viewer
would always be accompanied by a monitor/interviewer who would record the session, take
notes and make suggestions. A summary report would be typed up and then analyzed and passed
on to the “client.”
Six months later the project name was changed to Grill Flame. In October 1978 U.S.
Army’s INSCOM was tasked by the ACSI with developing a parapsychology program of its
own. In late 1978-1979, a few viewers were selected for project Grill Flame. In 1979 the first
operational remote viewing session was conducted (Smith, 2015). In December 1982 U.S.
Army’s RV project’s name was changed to Center Lane.
During the late 1970s Puthoff and Swann had been conducting ongoing research and
development into Coordinate Remote Viewing training at SRI, which would go on to be called
Controlled Remote Viewing. With Puthoff as his supervisor, Swann was awarded a training
contract that stated he was the proprietary owner of this methodology (Swann, n.d.).
In 1983, with Swann as instructor, two individuals from the Ft. Meade Unit began their
SRI based CRV training; in 1984 a second group of CRV candidates began training.
Controlled Remote Viewing is a stage-based method that was in development throughout
the entire training period. It is a highly structured methodology which was not intended to make
someone psychic but to decrease incidents of “analytic overlay” (Swann, n.d.). It was also
intended to serve as a replacement for viewers who might not have the luxury of being monitored
by others in the future. It also served to allow for viewers to make greater use of their somatic
unconscious reflexes (through ideograms, sketching and clay modeling).
A report dated August 1984 and entitled, Defense Intelligence Agency: Directorate for
Scientific and Technical Intelligence, noted both the value and the differences between these two
approaches.
The report noted that:
Within the DOD, the intelligence community is the prime user of data gathered by remote
viewing. Because intelligence must be gathered surreptitiously and requires access to
forbidden and guarded places, remote viewing provides an excellent, and sometimes the
only, means of getting the desired information. (p. 33)
A formerly classified report dated March 1984 and entitled, Science Panel Report, SRI
Studies, a program review noted:
A considerable variety of material was presented with photographic backup in support of
the validity of the perceptual method. Much of this was highly impressive. The data
showed the effects of training on the success rate, which typically reached a sustained
plateau at a level higher than prior to training, both for groups of subjects as well as for
individual trainees. (p. 4)
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REMOTE VIEWING APPLICATIONS: AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

Still, multiple documents in the Swann archives at the end of 1986 under the leadership
of Puthoff (Swann, n.d.) suggest that a formal assessment by a completely independent
committee of the SRI training methods was planned but never completed by SRI directors,
partially because they had not yet developed suitable protocols for testing in a way that could
ensure the testing procedures themselves would not impact results. There were also pressures by
the funding agencies to move the training along faster so that the viewers could begin to apply
what they were learning to more classified projects that the SRI researchers were not able to be a
part of. Swann was resistant to this and in the end, per his contract that agreed CRV was his
proprietary methods, kept all his students lesson notes and transcripts. Therefore, his students
(McNear and Smith), would go on to recreate his training from memory and pass it on to other
viewers in the military unit (Smith, 1998).
As the years progressed, there was a mixture of viewers who had directly trained with
Swann (Smith, 2005), and later his students in CRV methods (Williams, 2016), which underwent
some modifications, while some were “exposed” to Swann’s methods (McMoneagle, 1998) but
continued to use extended remote viewing methodologies or other approaches in conjunction
with monitored sessions.
Applied Projects within the Military Declassified
Since the defunding of the above programs in the mid-1990s, many books and documents
have been released by both remote viewers who were part of the programs —Smith, and those
who were involved in the research arm of the programs— (Targ & Puthoff, 1977; Targ &
Harary, 1984; May & Marwaha, 2018). While many of the projects still remain classified and
have not been included, these materials at least demonstrate some of the types of operational
targets that were utilized. These included describing a Russian military installation that
unexpectedly revealed existence of a previously unknown type of Typhoon Russian submarine
(McMoneagle, 2014), and searching for the Pan Am Flight 103 that crashed in Lockerbie,
Scotland in 1988 (Morehouse, 1998). Buchanan (2009) revealed other operational targets
included drug interdictions cases in alliance with the U.S. Navy Air Stations join task force; and
collecting intelligence on foreign military leader’s plans and tracking their activities. These
included Muammar Gaddafi, Saddam Hussein and General Manuel Noriega. Other applied tasks
involved searching for missing hostages such as Col. Rich Higgins, who was kidnapped by
Hezbollah terrorists in Lebanon; William M Buckley, who was kidnapped by Shiite guerrillas;
and General Dozier, taken hostage by Red Brigade terrorists. Viewers were also tasked with
describing Chernobyl nuclear incident.
External Field Work Projects
Swann and other remote viewers participated in a variety of applied projects financed by
independent investors and researchers, outside of the purview of the government. These were
referred to as “field work” involving hidden items as the target material.
Some of the most highly publicized projects were sponsored by the Mobius Group,
established in 1977 by Stephan Schwartz. The first of these was Deepquest —a submarine RV
experiment jointly conducted by SRI International. From 1979 to 1981 Stephan Schwartz
spearheaded the Alexandria Project, a remote viewing archaeology project in Egypt involving
buried artifacts (Schwartz, 2013). Another project was the Columbus Caravels Project, which
was designed to locate and excavate the remains of the last two Columbus missing ships from St.
Ann’s Bay, Jamaica (Schwartz, et al., 2019).
Other less publicized projects discussed in the Swann archives were under the file names
Ft. Huachuca Treasure Project and the Robert Jones Buried Treasure Project. Several projects
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REMOTE VIEWING APPLICATIONS: AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

involved oil explorations; these were classified under the files names: the Halbouty Oil
Exploration Project; the 1976 Ghana Exploration; the 1976 Coppermine River Exploration; the
1981-1985 Washburn Oil Exploration, and the Ada Oil Company Sites (Knowles & Katz, 2019).
Founding of IRVA
The International Remote Viewing Association (IRVA) was organized on March 18,
1999, by former SRI researchers, military remote viewers and other RV practitioners at a
meeting in Alamogordo, New Mexico, in conjunction with the first professional conference on
remote viewing in Ruidoso, New Mexico. IRVA’s primary goal is to provide an unbiased
approach relative to information, training, research and education regarding remote viewing.
As IRVA’s president, Atwater (2002) wrote in an early newsletter:
Applications now involve remote viewing in areas as diverse as commercial forecasting
and the development of successful business strategies, medical diagnosis, criminal
investigation and forensics, financial investing, scholarly inquiries, historical
explorations, and much more. The ‘reality’ of remote viewing is no longer in question,
except in the most determinedly skeptical circles. (p. 2)
A review of applications-based projects published in remote viewing related publications,
and conference proceedings spanning the past 20 years, revealed that remote viewers have been
active in a number of areas:
Locating Downed Aircraft. For example, Mindwise Consulting searched for the downed
plane of Amelia Earhart and crew using remote viewing (Thompson-Smith, 2014).
Crime Solving. Coronado (2018), former IRVA president and current board member,
discussed her numerous experiences working with 50 police departments across the United
States as well as international agencies and the FBI.
Healing and Medical Applications. Husick (2018) reported a project in which remote
viewing was used to understand and help twins with autism. Calabrese (2002) presented on use
of RV for remote diagnosis and healing; Klieman (2004) demonstrated how RV can be used for
healing by utilizing the whole human consciousness; and Atunrase (2013) discussed a project in
which viewers were tasked with a cure for cancer.
Humanitarian Work. Remote viewing has been used to assist an adopted son
understand the circumstances of his adoption by helping him locate his birth mother (Husick,
2017). In the Project Blind Awareness, blind children learned to use remote viewing to locate
their parents on another part of the campus. (Liaros, 2004). Angela Thompson-Smith (2015)
reported on Remote Viewing in Humanitarian Aid Work in Haiti, an inter-group effort to form a
team to locate missing men.
Presidential Elections. Katz and Bulgatz (2013) designed a project to determine whether
11 remote viewers, utilizing a double-blind protocol, could describe a human subject in enough
detail so raters could choose between 2 potential candidates in order to predict the outcome of
the 2012 United States Presidential Election. In 2017, Katz, et al. conducted another double-
blind Associative Remote Viewing project, in which 41 experienced remote viewers were tasked
with describing a feedback photo they would see at a future date.
Scientific-Based Projects. In 2012, Hitomi Akamatsu went to Hawaii for on-site,
intensive training with the Hawaii Remote Viewers’ Guild. She demonstrated a remarkable
ability to see, sketch and describe things that were physically distant, without any foreknowledge
of the target. During her advanced training she was given a blind tasking, the creation of the
Higgs-Boson subatomic reaction, the so-called “God Particle.” Hitomi went into a room alone
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REMOTE VIEWING APPLICATIONS: AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

and worked for hours, assembling more than 40 pages of sketches and descriptions (Allgire &
Akamatsu, 2013).
Morse, et al. (2011) as researchers acting as viewers, completed hundreds of binary trials
to see if they could consistently determine whether tomato plants were healthy/unhealthy or
contained a virus/did not contain a virus.
Katz and Beem (2015) reported on a double blind free-response, exploratory experiment,
where 39 remote viewers used their intuitive skills and training to describe a bacteriophage,
which is a virus that attacks bacteria.
Other projects have attempted to use remote viewing to explore matters of concern to
remote viewing projects. Several have attempted to demonstrate whether viewers are directly
tuning into the reality of a target, or rather to the “taskers intent” (Allgire, 2009; Smith, 2020).
Business Consulting. Alexis Champion, CEO of IRIS Consultancy Services, at the 2020
International Remote Viewing Association reported that his company has had over 90 clients
since 2008 and been involved in more than 120 projects and interventions. Clients included
banks, industries, museums, energy, nuclear, transportation, police & tribunal, traders, think
tanks, universities, artists. Their work has been featured in over 25 European media companies.
He defined different situations he felt applications were best suited to: emergency situations,
innovation, art, archaeology and history, communication, human resources, finance,
entrepreneurship, industry, crime solving and judiciary (Champion, 2020).
Creative Projects Using Employees and Artists as Viewers Through Training and
Project Development. More recently, IRIS’s projects have involved consulting with companies
to train their own staff in using intuition to come up with creative solutions and innovations. For
example, in the Watch Project their customer was a major French bank: La Societé Générale,
who was seeking to design and build a prototype for a watch that could do micropayments.
Facilitators trained staff how to remote view and then tasked them to describe a mystery object
as it would be on December 31, 2015. In another collaborative project with the cultural
administration of the city of Bourges, IRIS facilitators taught artists to use their own intuition to
create works of art related to an archaeological site (Champion, et al., 2019).
Music Composition. Nancy Smith was a remote viewing group manager. Her husband,
Sam Smith, was Associate Principal Cellist of the Boise Philharmonic Orchestra and music
professor at College of Idaho. Together with the aid of Marty Rosenblatt, founder of the Applied
Precognition Project, they created Music from the Fringe. This effort was a three-day
collaboration of composers, artistic directors, remote viewing directors, analysts, and four cellists
who were taught remote viewing skills as part of a creative process to compose music (Smith &
Smith, 2014, 2016). The music would go on to be featured in the documentary Third Eye Spies
(Mungia, 2019).
Planetary Targets. Many remote viewers have been tasked with planetary targets. While
Sherman and Swann’s 1973 experiment had them describing unknown aspects of Jupiter (but
knowing that it was Jupiter they were describing), many others involved complete blind tasking
where the viewers only received a target number and other simple frontloading that the target
was a location. Thompson-Smith (2014) reported on viewing the ring anomalies of Saturn.
Brown (2012) conducted a study that explored the creation of the asteroid belt. Most recently,
McNear (2020) presented a compilation of 18 remote viewers’ transcripts describing Mars. They
had been tasked for different projects, by different managers, spanning the past 40 years, yet
displayed remarkable correspondence.
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REMOTE VIEWING APPLICATIONS: AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

Esoteric Targets. An esoteric target is one that would be an exploration of a spiritually
oriented, unexplained or exceptional experience. Atwater (2001) and Smith (2005) explained
occasionally esoteric targets would be given to viewers at the Ft. Meade unit in order to break up
the tediousness and seriousness of their operational targets. Sometimes this was done out of
personal interests by the taskers. Williams (2019) explained esoteric targets can be controversial
and should only be given to viewers once they have established a track record for accuracy with
verifiable targets. More recent projects involved exploring the possibility of life on the Sirius star
system and UFO sightings by a 747 freighter flight crew (Atunrase, 2015). Brown (2020) has
done extensive work in this area covering projects such as Area 51 and the Phoenix Lights.
Stock Market and Forex Trading Predictions. Associative Remote Viewing (ARV) is
a particular application of remote viewing that utilizes a protocol involving the pairing of
associated photos, objects or sensory input with potential outcomes of a future event. Viewers
tune into that which has been associated with the final outcome in order to allow for a prediction
to be made about it, rather than the outcome itself. ARV dominated the remote viewing scene for
the past two decades in terms of the number of projects formerly reported on in peer reviewed
scholarly journals, as well as informal research and applied use of it being done by groups and
individuals. This is most likely because of earlier reported successes by the early remote viewing
researchers from SRI and others that would follow.
In his recent article discussing the origins of remote viewing (Schwartz, 2020), stated he
had turned $5,000 into $150,000 over the course of 42 weeks. In 1982, Keith Harary and Russell
Targ used ARV to forecast changes in closing prices of the silver futures market. They made
nine consecutive correct forecasts, which yielded earnings of more than $100,000 (Harary &
Targ 1985). Harary and Targ repeated the experiment the following year but were unsuccessful
on all nine trials. Some speculated that shortening the time interval between trials, which resulted
in viewers having to perform a subsequent trial before receiving feedback for the preceding one,
may have impaired performance (Targ, 2012; Houck, 1986). Also in 1982, Harold E. Puthoff
used ARV to predict the daily outcome of the silver futures contract for 30 consecutive days.
Seven remote viewers conducted from 12 to 36 trials per person over the entire series. Each day,
predictions were made using consensus judging. Twenty-one of the 30 trades were profitable,
yielding profits of $250,000 (Puthoff, 1984). Katz, et al. (2018) reported on a yearlong endeavor
by the Applied Precognition Project involving to create wealth by predicting FOREX currency
moves with ARV. More than 60 remote viewers contributed 177 intuitive-based ARV
predictions over a 14-month period. Investors, many of whom were also participants (viewers
and judges), pooled investment funds totaling $56,300 with the stated goal of “creating wealth
aggressively.” However, rather than meeting that goal, most of the funds were lost over the
course of the project.
Most recently, Müller, et al. (2019) won the IRVA-IRIS Warcollier Prize for an ARV
related proposal. This provided them with $3000 of funds, which helped to finance their
subsequent wagering attempts. The main research objectives were to determine the hit rate for
predictions of the German stock index DAX (Deutscher Aktienindex) with Associative Remote
Viewing (ARV); to test the hypothesis whether feedback is a necessary requirement for
predictions with ARV, and to explore factors which might influence the quality of the viewer’s
perceptions in ARV sessions. In addition, they wanted to “identify a design for subsequent
studies in the sense of a proof of principle study” (p. 2).
Sporting Event Predictions. In 2015, Samuelson recruited several members of the
Rosenblatt’s Applied Precognition Project and attempted to replicate Smith, Laham, and
12

REMOTE VIEWING APPLICATIONS: AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

Moddel’s project (Samuelson 2016). Performing a conceptual replication of the University of
Colorado’s project, group predictions were rated using a simple judging method. Samuelson’s
group predicted professional sporting events rather than stock market fluctuations. The goal of
exceeding their 65 percent hit rate also differed from the University of Colorado group’s goal of
making money. After 26 trials, the group had 13 hits, 7 misses, 4 passes, and 2 pushes —
maintaining, but not exceeding, their 65 percent accuracy rate.
Most recently, Katz, et al. (2019) conducted a yearlong, double-blind study using
dreaming as a precognitive tool developed by Graff, within an ARV protocol. With 56 trials, 28
group predictions yielded 17 hits and 11 misses, which a binomial test showed to be at chance
levels. Nevertheless, the overall monetary gain was almost 400 percent of the initial stake. Two
dreamers had high individual hit rates (76 percent on 17 trials and 64 percent on 25 trials).
We devised a survey for experts in remote viewing who used it in practical applications,
in order to have a more recent overview of these.
Method
Survey Construction
In designing our novel survey, we examined projects discussed in the scientific, archival
and popular literature and culture spanning the past 50 years since the inception of remote
viewing as defined above. These past projects along with their methods, approaches, and
philosophical underpinnings informed our multiple-choice question construction as we operated
from the hypothesis that we would likely see, at least to some extent, a continuation of these
themes or reminiscences of them, through present day remote viewing applied work. Still, we
anticipated there could be some changes related to the decentralization-deinstitutionalization of
remote viewing from its shift to governmental and military culture into a far less structured one.
We also anticipated there could be changes related to developing technologies.
Therefore, for most of our questions we included a comment section asking respondents to
explain their responses or select an “other” option with a prompt to explain their responses.
There was ample space for complete and detailed answers. In this manner we could satisfy the
project’s purpose, which was to discover whether that which is reflected in the past literature
seems to be applicable to the present day remote viewing professionals, and also to learn what
we can about their current practices, behaviors, attitudes, approaches and methods that may not
have been previously revealed.
Copy of the survey is available at https://www.surveymonkey.com/results/SM-XX7Y82S67/

Participant Recruitment
We used a Snowball Sampling Procedure (Babbie, 2004) in that we relied on participants
to recruit other participants to take the study. We were interested in polling only those who
would fall under the stricter definition of remote viewing, and not just any type of psychic
practitioner such as an intuitive or clairvoyant reader or medium. Therefore, rather than posting a
link to the larger social media platforms we narrowed our recruitment activities to focus on
members of the International Remote Viewing Association, and to those involved in the Applied
Precognition Project Professional Level Program (pre-cog pros). For these groups a link was
openly distributed to participants. Meanwhile, we also invited some who ran social media groups
to get the word out about the survey, but for these groups rather than providing a direct link to
the survey, they were asked to contact one of the present researchers for pre-screening to
determine if they truly qualified for the study.
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REMOTE VIEWING APPLICATIONS: AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

In order to lend confidence to the confidentiality aspect of the study, prospective
participants were also assured that their names and email addresses would not be required, nor
would any identifying information be asked about their clients.
The survey was accessed via an online link provided by the SurveyMonkey program.
Upon entry to the survey, there was a statement that explained the project’s purpose, advised
prospective participants of the nature of the study, and requirements for participation. Only
respondents who have participated in real life applied/operational remote viewing projects other
than for training practice or research purposes were invited and allowed to participate.
Our instructions/participation declaration provided a definition of remote viewing as
operating within the historical context of the word. We specifically excluded psi-based
practitioners that do only intuitive, psychic, clairvoyant, or mediumship readings on clients
seeking personal information about themselves. We explained this exclusion was not due to any
biases, but because we wanted to narrow our focus to those who participate in remote viewing-
based projects for other purposes. Those that do both kinds of intuitive work (psychic readings
and remote viewing applied sessions) were encouraged to participate but told that they should
only discuss their remote viewing related activities, as much as these could be separated. Those
whose responses indicated they did not meet the requirements for the first question were
automatically taken to the end of the survey. All others were allowed to move forward with all
questions. In all, there were 47 questions. Average completion time was calculated to be 26
minutes. There was an average of a 67 percent completion rate.
Results
For the sake of reducing the length of the paper, here we report only a part of the
participants’ responses. A more complete report is available at:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/results/SM-XX7Y82S67/

Participants’ Demographic Data

One-hundred-six remote viewers participated in the survey, although not all responded to
every question. We consistently had between 70 and 73 responses per each question.
Respondents included 59 men and 42 women, and two non-gender specific.
One-hundred participants signed a participation and confidentiality agreement. However,
after the first page of demographic data, 10 did not continue.
Only seven participants were under the age of 34. The remaining half were divided
between ages 35-55 and 55 and older, with twenty participants over the age of 65 (19.61%).
Eighty-five respondents were Caucasian (82.52%); 4.90% were Hispanic or Latino. Only
three were Asian (2.94%). Two American Indian or Alaska Native. Eight (7.84%) indicated
“another race.”
Main professions reported were: tax analyst, financial auditor, investors, insurance claims
adjuster, economic development consultant, systems analyst, business school professor, software
developer, software engineer, geophysicist, medical surgeon, registered nurse, pharmacist,
nutritionist law enforcement officers, teachers, artists, etc. Several of these indicated there were
presently retired. Only five indicated as their main professions that they were psychics, mediums,
remote viewers, and RV project managers.
Respondents reported they were originally from the United States (64), UK (8), Canada
(5), Germany (5), South Africa (3), India, Saudi Arabia, France, Finland, Scotland, Switzerland,
Poland, Netherlands, Italy, Ireland, Mexico, Guatemala, Thailand, Sri Lanka, They reported the
countries they currently are located in include: United States (69). Canada (5), UK (7). Germany,
14

REMOTE VIEWING APPLICATIONS: AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

India, South Africa (2), Australia, France, Guatemala, Saudi Arabia, Scotland, Spain, Sri Lanka,
Switzerland, Mexico, Italy, and Ireland.
Remote Viewing Experience and Training
When asked to define themselves as far as their psi-based work, 50 (51%) indicated they
call themselves exclusively a “remote viewer,” 39 (38.24%) indicated “more than one,” 1
indicated “a clairvoyant,” 3 (2.94%) indicated “a medium,” 8 (7.84%) indicated “none of the
above.”
Out of 87 respondents, when asked how long they have practiced remote viewing, only 1
responded: “less than 6 months,” 3 indicated “less than one year,” 13 (14.94%) responded “1 to 2
years,” 13 (14.94%) responded “2 to 5 years,” 13 (14.94%) responded “5 to 10 years,” 13
(14.94%) responded “10 to 15 years,” 15 responded (17.24%) “up to 20 years,” 16 (18.39%)
responded “more than 20 years.” Fifteen did not respond.
When asked “How many total RV sessions have you completed in your life, including
practice?” Eighty percent stated more than 100 sessions. Over half stated more than 300. The
distribution of the percentages is displayed in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Distribution of responses related to the question: “How many total RV sessions
have you completed in your life, including practice?

When asked how much training they received, 90 percent indicated they had received some
training, with 80 percent having received a moderate amount to a lot. Only nine percent
responded “none at all” (see distribution of responses in Figure 2).

Figure 2: Distribution of responses related to the question: “How much training have
your received?”

When asked, “What meditative, intuitive or other development methods have you used prior to
any RV training if any?” Eighty-two responded. Of these, 72 (87.8%) had diverse responses.
15

REMOTE VIEWING APPLICATIONS: AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

Their backgrounds included: Edgar Cayce’s teachings, Celtic shamanism, target training,
channeling, focusing daily on intuition/gut feeling, “brain machines,” autosuggestion, self-
hypnosis, breathing, singing, meditating on target, TM, tea leaves, precognitive and lucid
dreams, healing, Sufism, mantras, Monroe Gateway program, Buddhist mantras, Alan Watts
meditation approach, running energy and grounding techniques, oracles, kriya yoga, clairvoyant
reading and healing training with the International School of Clairvoyance, mediumship, Qigong,
prayer, telekinesis, random event influence, pendulum, mindfulness, hata yoga, visual arts, Zen
yoga, Tai Chi, and vision-questing (fasting) with traditional medicine community.
When asked what their training has been in, 73.5% responded Controlled Remote
Viewing (CRV) or a derivative/similar methodology such as Scientific Remote Viewing from the
Farsight Institute (SRV), Hawaii Remote Viewers Guild Method (HRVG), Trans-dimensional
Systems (TDS); 29.89% responded Extended Remote Viewing (ERV) or similar; only
Associative Remote Viewing (ARV) 20.69%, whereas 31% responded “other methods” such as:
dream remote viewing, self-taught, mediumship techniques, automatic writing, and various
remote viewing courses with instructors that teach a combination of methods. A few indicated
they learned through watching online videos.
When asked, “Have you modified any RV training method you received for specific
interests or applications?” Eighty-seven responded; 44 replied “Yes” (50.57%) and 43 people
(49.43%) said “No.”
Among the explained responses, the range was from combined methods to simplified
techniques (especially for ARV projects). For example, one wrote, “For ARV I used a very
abbreviated form of RV in order to get quick answers (note feelings, connect, sketch, describe in
a few words, note AOL, end) all usually within 5 minutes. Another wrote, “ARV does not need
all the steps and long sessions utilized in much of CRV.”
There were a few themes that emerged as a reason for changing up their methods. One
was to work on different types of projects that they felt the original training protocols were
geared towards, “such as for missing persons or working on classified cases,” or “making binary
decisions,” or “medical RV,” or “making crypto predictions.”
Another theme was that they wanted to be more spontaneous than the methods they
learned called for, in being able to “remote view on the fly” or to get “quick answers.” One said,
I take targets from the public, which means I had to create a strategy to nail the targets
consistently with great accuracy in a short period of time that includes doing hyper
detailed drawings that is comparable to police sketches.
Dreaming and Applied RV
When asked, “Do you ever use dreaming to help you with your remote viewing
applications work?” Thirty-eight responded “never” (43.18%); 4 responded “once” (4.55%); 35
responded “occasionally” (39.77%); and 11 responded “frequently” (12.50%). One viewer
stated, “Sometimes spontaneous dreams provide additional information.”
Applications Categories and Topics
In Figure 3, we report the percentages of participants who declared to use RV for the
different applications divided for their duration.
16

REMOTE VIEWING APPLICATIONS: AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

1.00
0.80
0.60
0.40
0.20
0.00

last 24 months prior last 24 months during and prior last 24 months
Figure 3: Percentages of participants using RV for different applications in the last 24 months,
prior the last 24 months and during and prior the last 24 months.

Financials. Forty-seven (64.3%) out of 73 viewers responded that they had used remote
viewing for stock market related predictions: Types of trades, stock market increase/decreases
included “S & P 500”; “SPY”; “Forex”; “DOW”; “commodity markets” and “cryptocurrencies,”
which some referred to as “cryptoviewing.” Some viewers also indicated they had predicted the
rise and fall of particular stocks.
It was reported these were done with groups, for clients and themselves. Some of the
most frequently mentioned groups were the Applied Precognition Project, Daz Smith’s
Cryptoviewing Group and the ARV Tournament App.

Figure 4: Number of participants declaring to use RV for predicting sports games, horse racing
and Casino games

Out of 72 respondents, 47 (65.2%) indicated they had predicted sporting events (see
Figure 4). These included the “Superbowl,” “European soccer games” and “basketball.” Several
hundred sports games outcome predictions with ARV prior to the last 24 months. “There is more
money to be made in the markets,” one stated, “I’m doing a year-long trial for sports betting
testing different forms of ARV.” Thirty-seven (51.3%) predicted horse racing outcomes.
17

REMOTE VIEWING APPLICATIONS: AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

Twenty-two (30%) predicted casino games: “Roulette” (black or red), “Craps” (pass line or don’t
pass). Several viewers wrote into the “other applications” comment box that they had used
remote viewing for lottery type projects. These included “Colorado lottery” and “Pick 3.”
Comments included: “I use ideograms to predict lotto numbers. Got all numbers 3 times in a
row.” And “third attempt at a single-ticket purchase on our local Pick3 was a perfect hit
(1:1000). Have yet to fully replicate.”

Figure 5: Number of participants declaring to use RV for predicting weather, politics, news and
other

Weather Events. Out of 71, 39 (54.9%), see Figure 5, responded that they had
participated in predictions involving weather events or disaster forecasting. Respondents
answered: “development of the global climate”; “direction of storms, requirements for
infrastructure repairs.”
Elections. Out of 70, 38 (54.2%) used remote viewing to predict political elections.
Comments regarding elections included, “UK elections,” local elections,” “Brexit outcome,”
“Predicted Trump presidency February 2016 (during R. Primaries).”
Covid Pandemic. Several remote viewers indicated that they had used remote viewing to
understand various aspects of the Covid virus and ongoing pandemic. Statements included,
“Covid-19 mandates will be over”; “I did a Covid-19 project back in mid-January (completely
blind) highly accurate”; “predicting the course of Boris Johnson's Covid infection (trinary
ARV).”
Other Predictions. Within this category we included the “black swan event leading to
BTC/Stock crash beginning on February 14th 2020 (significant financial return)”; “finding out
what happened to Kim Jong Un earlier this year (TDS)”; “predicting the Saudi oil attack six
weeks before it happened.” Several people indicated they did not feel free to respond due to
confidentiality purposes. We were surprised at this since we were clearly not asking for client
details.
Business Consulting. Out of 77, 35 (45%) people reported having done remote viewing
for business consulting. 31 (40%) reported they had participated in these projects recently, with
13 (16.8%) exclusively in the last two years, and 18 (23.3%) both during the last two years and
before that, with only four (5%) reported they had only done this prior to the past two years.
Therefore, it appears business consulting is growing in popularity amongst these remote viewers.
Some indicated feedback was not always available. Respondents indicated that they had
used remote viewing to help clients with a variety of aspects of their businesses, including:
18

REMOTE VIEWING APPLICATIONS: AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

“when to buy or sell investments”; “marketing trends, tariff negotiations, technology choices”;
“projects for business owners that needed more information before making a financial and
marketing decisions”; “optimal trajectories.”
Some comments indicated a lack of access to feedback: “Internal business investigation
identifying fraud or stealing. Sessions have provided clues to person of interest. Feedback was
limited; person was associated with the prime suspect.”
Some respondents indicated they have worked for the same clients for many years:
Over the past 20 years I have worked projects for numerous business clients including a
9-year business client. The projects worked ranged from straight business-related
projects, i.e., buying and selling, staff evaluations, and market evaluations to personal
interests of the client.
RV for Medical Diagnosis, or Treatment. Medical applications (“Med Apps”) include
the use of RV for either understanding the cause, present condition, or solution to a person’s
physical or mental health. It also includes attempts at influencing an outcome, referred to by
viewers as “remote influencing” or “healing.” Out of 76 respondents, 42 (55%) of these indicated
they had engaged in remote viewing for medical applications purposes, 16 (21%) had done so
exclusively in the last two years, 21 (27.6%) reported having done Med Apps both in the last two
years and prior to it, with 5 (6.5%) of these having done so only prior to the last two years. Some
viewers indicated they had used this for seriously ill people who would go on to recover. For
example, one stated, “I once had a real big success in getting a coma client awake gain (where
the life supporting machines already should be shut down).”
Meanwhile, other viewers indicated they use remote viewing to help other medical
professionals: “We have run several large projects looking at if RV can support medical
practitioners, along with the ethical considerations.”
Some viewers spoke of “influencing” or healing: “I have participated in a community
‘remote influencing’ project against Covid-19, but it was small scale and I am very skeptical
about remote influencing in general.” And, “I have been involved in projects involving remote
influencing for health and well-being.”
Others mentioned mental health:
Investigating the mental health of a subject who remains anonymous to me, who had
been behaving erratically and the tasker wanted clarity on the situation. This was not
specifically for diagnosis or treatment. Turned out that the subject probably had PTSD.
Pets. Several respondents indicated they had utilized remote viewing for the diagnosis
and healing of pets. One said: “Pet has lifelong hormone allergy. I remote viewed the animal –I
got something about the tick/flea treatment. Vet changes treatment, lifelong health problems of
animal immediately stop.”
Who Is the RV/Healing Work For? It appears respondents use remote viewing for Med
Apps for themselves: “Self-healing, self-diagnosis and removal of disease or symptoms”; for
family members: “husband”; “daughter”; “for a family member that needed information before
making a decision about a surgery.”
Ethical Considerations. There were several mentions of ethical considerations such as:
“Have taken part in some of these over the years, always with permission of the person being
diagnosed or treated, and always in a group situation.” Some of those who indicated they do not
use remote viewing for medical applications said this is because they are concerned about the
implications of being incorrect, or not wanting to be perceived as practicing medicine without a
license. A couple people said their work in this area was confidential.
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REMOTE VIEWING APPLICATIONS: AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

Criminal Investigations. Out of 77, 37 (48%) respondents reported having participated
in remote viewing projects involving criminal investigations: 12 (15.5%) reported during only
the last two years, 12 reported in the last two years and after that, 13 (16.8%) reported only prior
to the past two years.
Applications included: “Kidnapping cases as far as who is responsible, method, state of
victim”; “missing persons”; “finding dead bodies”; “identifying lost people”; “arson”; “fugitive
location”; “homicides: personality profiling”; “missing children”; “forecasting terrorist events”;
“theft (whodunit, how to capture them, how to retrieve stolen items, etc.).”
Who Did They Work With? Participants indicated that they worked with detectives,
law enforcement, local police, remote viewing groups, remote viewing instructors, worked
directly with clients in need or family members seeking help with a missing relative. Comments
included: “working with a detective”; “working with a team”; “FBI”; “work with two
organizations that work with law enforcement”; “for clients”; “for law enforcement”; “cold
cases” and “giving information to the family not police.”
 Experience level:
High: “I have over 500 case files for homicides and missing persons.”
Low: “One day aspire to do this.”
 Sentiments:
“Not financially beneficial”; “I feel adversely working with criminologists who
immediately make you a suspect when you have any unknown information that is
true.”
 Resistance to discuss theme:
“Confidential”; “Again, this is an ongoing case so I'm unable to mention details”;
“Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) in place.”
Intelligence Investigations (Other Than Police). Twenty-seven (36.4%) out of 74
remote viewers responded that they had engaged in intelligence investigations other than police,
9 (12%) reported being engaged in this work exclusively in the last two years, 10 (13.5%) stated
they had done this work in the last two years and prior, and 8 (10%) reported they had done this
work prior to the last two years. Several of the viewers who had participated in this work
indicated they could not describe due to NDAs. Among the topics covered:
Searching for Missing People, Pets, Items. The percentages of participants declaring to
use remote viewing for searching missing persons, pets or other things are presented in Figure 6.
20

REMOTE VIEWING APPLICATIONS: AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

Figure 6: percentages of participants using RV for missing people, pets, items

Missing people: Out of 77 respondents, 57 (74%), see Figure 6, indicated they had used RV for
looking for missing people, these included, “missing students”; “a lost male in the mountains”;
etc.
 Missing pets: Twenty-eight (36.3%) had searched for missing pets: “lost dog”;
“bird”; “cat.”
 Missing objects: Fifty-one (66%) had looked for objects, such as “missing guns”;
“books”; “plane”; “jewelry”; “earphones”; “wallets.”
It is interesting to note that different categories of questions produced more spontaneous
comments regarding success levels (meaning we did not ask them to discuss this). This was
noted in this category along with categories in which the lottery was mentioned.
Viewers reported using remote viewing to help themselves (finding purse, car keys, etc.). One
indicated they prefer to help the client to find the objects themselves. Others indicated they were
able to find items for others very quickly.
Scientific Investigations.1 Seventy-five responded, 35 (46.6%) said “yes.” Of those who
said “yes,” 14 indicated in the last two years, 14 indicated both in the past two years and earlier,
and 6 indicated only prior to the last two years.
Participants interpreted this in two different ways: (a) projects whose purpose was to
advance a field of science other than remote viewing, and (b) research projects related to remote
viewing considerations.
Topics that remote viewing had been used for to advance scientific knowledge in all areas
included: “A cure for cancer”; “EMF/gravity/light and brain function”; “Covid and other
diseases or syndromes such as OCD, etc.”; “CrispR genes...that’s a big one and we’ll see that in
our lives”; “levitation”; “the ability to reconstitute stone”; “super elastic metals”; “future
technology AI”; “Remote viewing Coronavirus, Remote viewing other virus”; “choice of
scientific technology in industry and for purchase (I am an engineering manager)”; “I am
managing our RV group which is working on a Covid 19 Dream Project to increase immunities,
with very fascinating results.”
Research to advance knowledge of RV or Psi was also mentioned. This included: “I ran
an informal project to investigate whether remote viewers can detect a wholly audio target.”
Archeology or Treasure Hunting: Finding Items either on the Ground or in the
Water. Thirty-one (15.8%) stated they used RV for archeology or treasure hunting, 12 indicated
in the past two years, 7 indicated in the past two years and prior, 12 indicated prior to the past
two years.
Viewers mentioned the things they looked for, and who they worked with, and the
approaches they took. It was mentioned by some that they never knew what exactly was being
looked for. A mixture of results were reported, some saying artifacts were found and others not.
Some said they were not found but the clients found them useful.
Dowsings. “Dowsing water holes on the farm better than hired pros”; “dowsing, not
remote viewing.”
Archaeology. “Did some work for archaeologist Patrick Marsolek. My results weren't
very good”; “artifacts, some dino bones”; “what is below existing structures, only on land”;
“Recently was tasked by a senior teacher to describe archaeological site prior to excavation. Was
1
This would not include being a subject in an experimental study, but rather using RV to explore a scientific topic, in order
to advance science.
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REMOTE VIEWING APPLICATIONS: AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

able to describe layout of site, buildings, occupants, time frame of occupation, and activities
there. Feedback from the site was positive.”
Precious Metals. One participant said:
Have used geo-location techniques for optimum gold retrieval site in the past. Blind map
used, final coordinates were within a mile of a multi-million dollar gold mine, where they
cut off half the hill to strip it of precious metals.
Underwater. “Under sea exploration”; “Under water”; “In ERV, I found the sunken
Bismarck, and heard people screaming. There were dead bodies in the bow.”
Objects. “A part from the old aircraft.”
Treasures. “Trying to locate a lost treasure in PA for a client. Was a viewer, first blind,
then frontloaded. Client felt sessions corresponded with landmarks but the treasure was not
found.” “Hired by a client to find missing money he buried and then left the area and came back
and it was gone.” “These types of projects are problematic as treasure hunters do not want to pay
upfront for projects and often disappear following the receipt of RV information.”
Television, Radio, Media Projects. Out of 77, 30 (38.9%) responded they had been
involved in TV, radio, media projects. Of these, 20 had participated in the last two years, equally
divided between just in the past two years and the past two years and earlier; 10 of these
participated only prior to two years ago.
The themes identified were TV news, Television/Video programs, Radio/Podcast, Social
Media/Website/, Print, Lectures, and Documentaries. They responded they were involved in
either group work and as individuals. Reasons cited were both to speak about their work, do
demonstrations of remote viewing and for real cases. They shared some specific and general
show titles. These included the following: CBS Sunday Morning News; Oprah Winfrey channel;
Vice TV show Mister Tachyon (episode 1); “My solved cases (13) were re-enacted for Court
TV's TV Show Psychic Detectives.”
Applications Involving Esoteric Targets.2 Out of 75 total respondents, 47 responded
that they had participated in remote viewing applications involving esoteric targets. Twenty had
indicated they had participated in the last two years in these projects; 16 in the last two years
and previously, and 11 prior to the last two years. Types of esoteric targets mentions had to do
with UFOs, alien lifeforms, planetary bodies, and mysterious locations, such as “Skinwalker
ranch”; “underground tunnels” and “caverns”; “subterrain pyramids”; “mysterious ruins”;
“portals”; odd places in “Antarctica” and “the great pyramids of Egypt.”
There were also unusual objects explored, such as the “origin of the Nazca mummies”
and “ancient artifacts.” Other targets mentioned were odd occurrences and events, such as “cattle
mutilations”; “strange sounds in Kiev”; “lights in the sky.”
It was expressed that clients and viewers sometimes wanted to know these things not
because they expected feedback, but “fulfill someone’s curiosity”; for “passion for discovery”;
and for “the fun of it.” Sometimes these were for paid projects, sometimes volunteer, sometimes
part of professional groups; some were for media related projects.
It was expressed that many of these types of targets were done as group work while
others were done individually.
For these targets as well, several viewers expressed that they did not feel free to discuss
these projects, simply stating “NDAs were in place”; “confidential”; “can’t discuss.”

Characteristics of RV methods
2
Unexplained phenomena, situations, conspiracies, mysteries, UFOs, ghosts, etc.
22

REMOTE VIEWING APPLICATIONS: AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

Working Within a Group. Out of 73, 51 (69.8%) did in fact indicate they work as part
of a group, with the group leader as the one who interfaces with the client: 18 stated this was
how they worked in the last two years, 22 in both the last two years and prior to that, and 11
indicated they worked in this way prior to the last two years. The leaders of the groups
mentioned included “project managers,” “teachers” and “friends online.” One respondent wrote
they worked with “good friends. We trade off assigning targets and review data together.”
Several respondents indicated they work with more than one group.
Working Directly With Clients. Out of 73, 48 (65.7%) said they work and interface
directly with clients: 23 indicated they have done this only in the past two years; 14 indicated
they had done so during and prior to the last two years, and 11 indicated they had only done so
prior to the last two years. Some statements included: “They are clients who found me through
my website.” “I have worked with others in the past, as I used to delegate paid work to viewers
that I trust. I now work solo, as I find it is no longer necessary.”
Working With a Partner Who Interfaces With the Client. Out of 73, 32 (43.8%)
indicated they worked one on one with a partner who interfaces with the client: 13 indicated this
has been exclusively within the last two years, 12 both within the last two years and prior to that,
and seven prior to the past 24 months. While not much information was shared about these
partners, in some cases they were spouses or a friend.
Some respondents indicated that the reason they work in groups is to avoid frontloading –
knowing too much about the target. For example, one said: “Every client is different. I prefer to
work with private investigators, other remote viewers, active or former law enforcement agents.
If a client has frontloaded me too much, I will be tasking my team and be the project manager.”
“Partner is communicating with client; I get only coordinates and neutral frontloading.” “Much
depends on what each situation requires. I try to get tasked blind –forewarn I want as little data
as possible.” “Use a tasker where possible. Or task another viewer or group.”
Mixture of All Three. One participant said:
Many different groups; sometimes they are project managers so they interface directly
with clients so I am kept blind and not exposed to frontloading. Often though I also work
solo and interface directly with clients. Sometimes I'll call up a friend and ask them to
help me with this or they will do that for me.
Working with a Monitor or Solo? Within the remote viewing programs at SRI and
within the military units, remote viewers almost always worked with an experienced
monitor/interviewer to help guide them during a remote viewing session (Swann, n.d.; Katz &
Bulgatz, 2013). We wanted to find out if this is true of remote viewers today. It appears that
many more viewers work solo now than they did previously.
When asked to indicate if they work solo, out of 66 respondents, 53 (80%) responded
they worked solo. Only 13 respondents indicated they never work solo. When the question was
posed differently and asked if they use a monitor, out of 61 respondents, 35 (57.3%) indicated
they have never worked with a monitor, 11 (18%) responded they presently work with a monitor,
11 responded they have always worked with a monitor, and 4 stated “yes, but only prior to the
last two years.”
Working as a Remote Viewer, Project Manager, or Judge/Rater? Respondents were
also asked if during applied work they are typically acting as a remote viewer, a project manager,
or a judge/rater but not a project manager. Out of 71, all but two (97%) replied they work as
remote viewers, 35 (49.2%) responded they have served as project managers and 32 (45%)
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REMOTE VIEWING APPLICATIONS: AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

indicated they had acted as a judge/rater. We did not ascertain the percentage of time they spend
in these roles.
Several respondents indicated that they switch between roles. Comments included: “I've,
been a group manager, viewer, monitor, tasker, data analyst and student –each role is different
with different roles and jobs within the relationship.” “I have worked as a viewer with a group
picking lottery numbers.”
Blinding Procedures
As noted above, remote viewing was defined as using psi within a protocol that involves
scientific principles, such as blinding procedures. Participants were asked, when doing
applications work (such as when a client is involved) as opposed to RV practice targets or
research targets: “Do you feel it is always possible or practical to use blinding protocols?”
Thirty-six (43.37%) responded “Yes,” 47 (56. 63%) responded “No.”
Preference for Working Blind Explained
Those who responded “Yes, it is always possible to work blind,” explained: “Non-blinded
(e.g. frontloaded) remote viewing brings with it a whole raft of problems. I have never had
difficulty using remote viewing under blinded conditions.” Others said: “I really only want the
digits. Blind targets work. Frontloaded targets are not as reliable.”
Attitudes about adherence to blinding protocols fluctuated from a hard lines approach to
those who saw such approach as dogmatic and less practical. For example, one respondent
answered:
A viewer kept blind to a target can be re-tasked. One definition of remote viewing is free
response anomalous cognition within a double-blind protocol. Research on RV demands
double blind. A tasker can cue a target so that the viewer will produce focused data. By
altering the cue and re-tasking, more focused data can be produced. In applications that's
very important. However, in a time-critical situation the tasker might feel that polluting
the viewer to the target in some way and perhaps get less focused data is a fair trade-off
for speed. In a time-critical situation, a blind viewer may not be the best viewer, and is an
exception to blind viewer practice.
Meanwhile another wrote:
It is simply not possible when working directly with someone, most people do not know
RV protocols and simply want you to view whatever it is right away. Even some people
involved in instructing ESP do not know anything else about RV besides that it is a
scientific sounding word for “clairvoyance” to know about target coordinates or blinding
protocols or frontloading.
Working with Frontloading Was Noted to Be a Higher Skill. Skill level was
mentioned by some in the ability to work blind, and more frequently by others in reference to
having the ability to work with some frontloading. For example, one respondent said:
I can’t do frontloaded targets because I can’t help myself but then try and guess! I would
like to be able to do it one day though as think it would be useful especially maybe in
terms of helping find missing children.
Preference for Blinding, Except for Particular Projects or Circumstances. Another
theme for many who responded that they do not always approach targets blind was that they do
prefer to work this way except under particular circumstances. For example, one wrote: “I
always prefer to use blinding practices, unless I'm trying to find something. I need to know up
front what I’m looking for, so that's the only time I prefer not to go blind with target.”
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REMOTE VIEWING APPLICATIONS: AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

Time Constraints and Client Pressures. A number of viewers pointed to time
constraints, and the manner in which clients interacted with them as reasons they do not always
work blind. One wrote: “At times limited frontloading saves time and could save a life in a
missing person situation. However, the most successful early RV company (TDS) always used
just a target number –no frontloading.” Another wrote: “There are some projects where time is of
the essence (e.g., missing persons, disasters) in which some frontloading is necessary to get on
the signal line faster and get requested information to the tasker faster.”
Those who said they do not always work with blinding sited practicality as the largest
reason against it. One wrote:
Too difficult to obtain blinding in such an active world. I believe that one needs to do
“on-the-fly” to obtain quick and accurate answers. By taking the data as it comes quickly,
rather than interpretation, I can eliminate frontloading or other noise.
Degrees of Blinding. Others spoke of “degrees of blinding.” One wrote:
There are degrees of blinding. You may be frontloaded to know that an item of interest is
an object to be found, but you may be blind to the nature and circumstances. I consider
this similar to ‘picture drawing’ of the kind described in Rene Warcollier's work or done
by Upton Sinclair's wife. Participants were blind to a picture or simple drawings but
attempted to replicate a distant, unseen picture by mental means. The fact that they knew
it was a picture did not seem to cause a problem for them, and there are many, many
examples on record.
In alignment with this, other said that they like to have minimal information up front but
just enough to help them focus.
Timing Throughout the Length of the Project. Others explained that it was more
important for them to be blind up front but they would relax this requirement later. For example,
one wrote:
I prefer not having information of the target up front. Then, when the session is finished
and delivered to the client, if they feel they need to have more information about
something in specific, it would help me to have only a little bit more info about what they
want me to look further, like the nature of the target....Maybe it is not always possible or
practical to use blinding protocols but I feel that this helps me to gain confidence at the
beginning of the session, if the information make any sense to the client doing it.
Frontloading –Levels of Information up Front. A related question was: “When doing
applications work, what level of frontloading do you prefer to work with?” Frontloading is
defined as having some foreknowledge of what the target entails. Over half of the respondents
(45) responded “No frontloading” (53.57%). These largely corresponded with those who
indicated they always work blind.
Thirty-two (38.10%) answered, “Minimal but I do prefer to know the nature of the project
(for example is it finding a missing person vs. for financial applications).” Four responded
(4.76%): “I like to know more specifics (such as for a missing item, what exactly is the item –a
ring or a wallet or treasure) but still limited.” Only three responded (3.57%): “I like to know as
much as possible about a target and what is known before proceeding with using RV to find out
what is not known.”
Themes that emerged were:
Respect for Blinding. “Any frontloading necessarily brings the logical mind into play, and that
is never a good thing in RV.” Another wrote:
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REMOTE VIEWING APPLICATIONS: AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

I don’t want to know it’s a missing person. I go into every single target knowing that
there’s a potential for blood, gore, sex, criminal activity, or whatever. I made peace with
that a long time ago and I’m the guy you want around who just enjoys viewing, I’m
tough, I’m not some over sensitive shrieking violet who has melodramatic traumatized
experiences.
Difference Between Working Practice Targets vs. Applications Work, the Desire to Focus
on the Correct Information in an Economical Way. Many viewers indicated that they just like
to know the target type to know what to focus on during their session and make the best use of
their time. For example, one wrote:
I work mainly with binary financial outcomes, so I like to know enough to know
beforehand if it is worth my time. If I were to start viewing for outcomes that I knew
were worth my time, and not necessarily for monetary gain, I would need to know less. I
believe that the less I know about the target, the more my unconscious mind does the
work.
Examples of Some Frontloading. “When I found a young lady in the Bali earthquake in
2018 all I used was a ring her mother had, the information it held was clear and concise. Another
target, all I was given was a name.” “My applications work has been with lottery draws and safe-
cracking, so I do know the nature of the project, but that is all. I do not know the results until
after the feedback sessions are complete.”
Mitigating Frontloading. “If I'm front loaded, I will do more than one session, generally
three. In case the frontloading was counterproductive.” “Ideally all viewers are blind; however,
in some cases they know it may be for example a medical, or research, but nothing else. We
mitigate this as best as we can.”
Mixed Feelings about Which Is Better. One viewer wrote:
I've been experimenting with having as little information as possible and having as much
as possible and haven't yet come to a conclusion. Sometimes my mind works better with
a lot of information. Other times it can produce analytical overlay.
Outputs of RV Applications
As response to the question: “When a client expresses being pleased with your
operational work or what you have submitted, what do they seem to appreciate about it?” Several
viewers mentioned that clients appreciate their accuracy. Under this heading would be that they
provide accurate details, clarity and consistency. Another theme was professionalism in
reporting, summarizing, describing and communicating.
Several viewers indicated clients most appreciate their sketches. One indicated she
searches online for photos of famous people that match her images in her sessions and clients
seem to like this.
Another theme had to do with how clients respond emotionally. A few indicated that
clients are often amazed and surprised at the level of accuracy or the information coming in. One
viewer indicated clients often cry; another, that clients appreciate that they are taken seriously for
their interest in these topics. Some of the comments included that clients appreciate: “being in
target, outlining the emotional situation, proving they are not ‘crazy’ for asking someone to use
ESP to help them.” “Those who come to observe are amazed by the relevance of the session to
the target.” “I make people cry. People just read it and weep. There it is –on paper. Read it and
weep. Or laugh! Sometimes people will be asking some funny questions too.”
Respondents indicated clients report that remote viewing helped them to have a new
perspective and solve problems: “information they didn`t considered, a new perspective on
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REMOTE VIEWING APPLICATIONS: AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

things/info/data”; “that I/we could help them solve their problems which could not be solved
otherwise.”
A couple respondents mentioned that their clients appreciated they had helped them
financially. One wrote: “RV data corroborates information about their situation that I could not
have possibly known. They also appreciate when a financial recommendation actually making
them money (of course).” Other things that were mentioned by respondents that clients had
expressed about their work was that they worked with blinding procedures. One respondent
wrote: “Most was done through TDS where we as viewers did not received specifics.”
Success. As response to the question: “How would you define ‘success’ in applied remote
viewing projects?”, the respondents most commonly defined “success” in terms of accuracy and
helping the client or project manager through providing “useful” or “accurate” data. Many of the
responses suggested that it was the client who defines the success of the project more than
anyone else. There were also some viewers who felt that the definition of success can change
depending on the situation. For example, one wrote: “Success is very subjective and dependent
on the project and client. In our commercial work, we often received little feedback other than
the client was happy with the data.” Another shared: “Each project is different, so success is
generic in your question. You’re only as good as your last session or project. That’s how I define
success.”
Not all definitions of success were outcome based. Rather, several viewers mentioned
their own performance throughout the course of the project. This included possessing the ability
to summarize, to meet deadlines, or provide clear communications, along with their ability to
remain neutral, calm, and effectively manage their own insecurities and distractions. Some
defined success in terms of how others in the project were performing, such as those responsible
for tasking, targeting and providing feedback. Out of 64 responses, only 4 (6%) mentioned
money or earnings. Only a few remote viewers seemed to indicate the topic of success did not
concern them, or that they feel successful every time they do a session. Below, these themes are
broken down further into subthemes, followed by the viewers’ comments.
Accuracy. Many viewers did express being concerned with accuracy, “nailing” the
target, being on target, being “correct,” etc.
Specific Scores by Which Success Was Defined. One viewer commented:
I have done 7 out of 7 on the Targ Scale. That is a great achievement, and unquestioned
connection with a double-blind target. When you see that, there is no doubt that all this is
true. That is a real emotional trip!
Mentions of “Accuracy.” “Accurately describing the target.” “More than accuracy if the
received data actually enabled the success of the project's objectives.” “Accurate size, shape and
location. Do not grade text or numbers.” “Did I/we describe and sketch the target accurately?”
“Nailing the target and bringing back solid accurate useable data.” “Viewing what is accurately
in the location (present and past), and conveying as much pertinent information as possible.”
Being on Target, Matches to Feedback, Correctness. “Factual data that is confirming
in some meaningful capacity.” “Consistency with some known or expected aspect of the target.”
“Being on target.” “Receiving feedback that shows on signal line performance.”
Client or Tasker Related Comments: What the Client Wants or Needs. “The viewers
find clearly what the tasker wants”; “assisting the client to get what he/she needs to know, find or
do.” “For me a successful project is the one that gives useful, specific, detail information for the
client, so they can apply it as best suits them.”
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REMOTE VIEWING APPLICATIONS: AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

Client or Tasker Satisfaction and Feedback. “The client feeling pleased with the
outcome or the locating of the object/person.” “A happy tasker.” “Giving a client certainty on a
specific decision that turns out correct.” “When I receive emails from past clients months later
that detail positive outcomes, that's a success in my book.” “Validating feedback.” “How close I
come to the feedback.” “Being re-tasked –offers of new projects.”
Helping and Being Useful. “Being on target and helping someone with that
information.” “The client finds the information was what they were asking about and positive
results help them move forward in the right direction towards the goal they were trying to
achieve.” “Helping the client get what they need.” “Did I/we provide helpful information?”
“Bringing unknown information that helps client achieve the goal.” “Helping meet the goal –
sometimes lost is found; or a successful prediction for ARV. I also feel successful if I provide
many details in a session.” “Some are better than others for sure!” “Giving my clients answers to
their questions.”
The Manner in Which Work Is Carried Out by, or Experienced, by the Viewer. A
variety of subthemes were identified. These included: working through the process, keeping
records and data, good summary, not being afraid to take risks or work on challenging subjects,
having perceptions come in clearly (seeing clearly), being doubt free, timeliness. Responses:
“Working through the entire process which takes work and dedication.” “Seeing the project
through to the end which includes the write-up or presentation.” Providing and receiving good,
clear communication with the client or tasker throughout the whole project, etc.” “Clarity of
summary, willingness to be right or wrong, but clear.”
The Way the Project Was Managed in Terms of Tasking, Feedback, Timeliness. “By
choosing the correct target to help the tasker put it in context of the project.” “Good targets
(amenable to viewing).” “Success would be a good viewing, combined with a good judging, with
an accurate outcome.”
Money vs. Experience. There were only four mentions of success in terms of money,
with two indicating this did not matter very much. “Making money” and “It's always nice to win
some lottery money.” One participant said:
It's always nice to win some lottery money, but personally I just enjoy the process. I am
part of a good group and we have fun even if we don't win money. Remote viewing is
fascinating and mind-bending and I love when I get it “right.”
Belief That All Sessions Are Successful. There were only two respondents who seemed
unconcerned with success or evaluating their sessions. “Every session was a success; I don't
regard them any other way. The result is the result. End of.” “Consciousness works through
induction. I receive what I receive, I write what I write. You get what you get. It is what it is.”
Differences in Belief About if Everyone Has Talent or Just Some People. “I believe
everyone has talent, and no one is always 100% correct all of the time.” “Everything is success
because success is something that follows something and becomes visible at the right moment. It
is what it is.”
Enjoyment. As response to the question: “What do you enjoy most about RV
applications work?” We got these categories of responses:
Extremely High Intensity Emotions and Sentiments. A number of viewers expressed
that remote viewing makes them “high.” The words that were used expressed an extreme
intensity of positive emotion in which words such as “love,” “thrill,” “most fascinating,”
“everything,” “all,” were most commonly used. The next most common words were those
referencing personal development, insight and learning. “Appreciation for helping others” and
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REMOTE VIEWING APPLICATIONS: AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

“feedback” were also expressed: “Everything. It is the most fascinating thing I have ever
learned.” “I love it all.” “All aspects.” “The way how it works, there is an inner threshold and I
like it to step over and back.” “It gets me high.” “Remote viewing gets me high. I guess I’m like
a sensation junky.”
Personal Growth and Learning. Comments included: “That we can have any
understanding, knowledge or wisdom that we desire.” “Always something new.” “Getting a
deeper understanding of myself.” “Learning about my subconscious mind.” “The process and
learning.” One viewer wrote:
I feel it helps me get over my Fear of Being Publicly Wrong (FOBPW) —a term that I've
coined. I don't want ego to get in the way. I don't want to have to be right all of the time. I
need to let go of the results and focus on the process. It also adds an air of excitement that
I think aids positive results, a la Jack Houck's theories of psi functioning and emotion.
Helping Others. “Being helpful to society (and totally blown away clients is fun too!)”
“The sense of fulfillment and closure I give others.” “For regular RV, if you can help the client
realize their goal.” “The opportunities to help others.”
Feedback. “Being done and getting feedback!”; “Immediate Feedback”; “The confirming
feedback.”
Metaphysical/Spiritual. “I meet lot of.... feel the presence of .... I can't define it or
them.” “Discovering the unknown.” “Just reaching beyond this dimension and pulling stuff
through, in stark contrast to the probability of getting it right as often as we do.” “The puzzle of
it.”
Challenges. As responses to the question: “What do you find the most challenging about
RV applications work?” Themes that emerged for this were as follows with some comments
under them:
Viewer Related. Viewers frequently shared frustrations over their own inadequacies.
These were most often related to difficulty turning down their logic and allow information from
subconscious to flow through. A lack of patience, focus and confidence was also cited. A few
indicated they are aware they are not or cannot reach 100 percent accuracy and this was
frustrating. They wanted to understand this more. Below were some of the most representative
comments:
Challenges With the Psi Aspect and Accuracy. “Being confidently patient for the data
to come in.” “My left brain trying to label everything.” “Getting past AOLs. (analytic overlay).”
“Staying on signal line and not being attracted by something that may pique a personal interest.”
“All my weak areas.” “Interference when focusing.” “Consistency.” “Getting out of my head.”
Challenges With Reporting and Summarizing Data. “Writing the summary,
sometimes more data comes in.” “Good reporting.”
Client Issues and Challenges. One viewer commented:
It’s stressful because I could do 20 hours of work, but I’m not in control of what the
client does with the information and if they don't do the right thing, or if it is a situation
where they just can't or won't follow through (like something stolen by a stranger taken
far away) that's not my fault that we will not know the outcome. Its feels then like
something went wrong, but I may have done a great job but just still wasn't possible to
get the feedback and that is disappointing, and then it makes me feel bad about charging
for services but then what am I supposed to do if I just spent hours of time working on
this? In RV this is called “The Search Problem.”
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REMOTE VIEWING APPLICATIONS: AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

Tasking. Another area that viewers found to be challenging had to do with tasking
instructions by project managers or clients. Tasking could refer to the secret, non-disclosed
question that is not revealed to the viewers as in project using blinding protocols, but it can also
refer to the frontloading or explanation of viewers in terms of what information is needed.
Emerging themes were that respondents often felt that the tasking was confusing, or that upon
receiving feedback they felt that the tasking did not reflect what ultimately was needed to be
known. This was sometimes the fault of project managers and sometimes by the client
themselves.
Respondents shared the following: “Sometimes, the projects aren't clear, or the targets
aren’t great.” “Convincing taskers to write excellent cues prior to giving out the tasking.”
Lack of Feedback. “Receiving no feedback or nothing else besides a smiley face and a
"thank you!" “Clients not understanding the process or how to select targets or lack of feedback.”
“No feedback.” “Not always getting feedback.” “I don't always get feedback.”
Time and Deadlines. “It's sometimes hard to meet constant deadlines, you can get burn
out if you’re not careful.” “Finding time to regularly and meaningfully meditate.” “Time
restraints.” “Finding the time and peace to work.”
Training Issues. “My lack of formal training.” “Keeping in practice.”
Emotional. “Work on missing persons and criminal cases takes an emotional toll that I
have found it difficult to manage. For the most part, I've stopped doing those kinds of targets.”
“Emotional impact after feedback or people who are alive at the time of the session but still
found too late.”
Working With a Group. “That I work in a group. We have to rely on each other being
‘on’ during each session. If I'm not feeling 100% myself, I worry that I'll ruin our entire session.”
“No one to work with.”
Preferences. As responses to the question: “Which RV techniques, approaches, methods
do you prefer to use for your applied projects? Please describe.”
Responses overwhelmingly demonstrated a preference for working with a combination of
methods, most often with CRV as one of the methods paired by either a CRV derivative (such as
TDS, HRGV, SRV); or ERV, or dreaming or a less structured method. Some viewers listed as
many as working with four different methods. Some said they switch methods depending on the
tasking and project goals, others mentioned they will use combined approaches within the same
session.
CRV was by far the most popular method to work in exclusively, 15 viewers mentioning
they prefer to do CRV exclusively, except perhaps when doing ARV sessions. One shared they
prefer to use different approaches but when doing sessions for a CRV instructor will use these
protocols. Only one viewer said they prefer to use ERV exclusively; only one stated this for
TRV, and only one for Dream ESP. However, several said they do prefer to combine these
methods with other methods.
Several viewers mentioned they do like ARV, however they did not all indicate their
method of psi that fits into the ARV protocol.
It should be noted that even for the responses where viewers said they use only their own
methods, it is clear to the researchers that from some of the language used such as “ideograms,”
“AOL,” that these at least borrow concepts from CRV. Other methods mentioned were
“dowsing.”
Themes. These were the themes that most commonly came up in participants’ responses:
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REMOTE VIEWING APPLICATIONS: AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

ARV. “I like the quickness of ARV for many simple applied projects, but CRV is needed
to ferret out the unknowns.” “Doing ARV quickly is good, but even that takes too much time to
be that useful in making profits. 62% does validate my intuition though. Just using straight
intuition (gut feeling) is easiest, still working on that.”
Hybrid (combined methods). “I use a combination of CRV, NRV and clairvoyance.”
“Use ARV and SUARV. A mixture of CRV and TDS (often switching back and forth between
the two within a single session) with some of my own little tools thrown in.” “Standard CRV
methods, up to Stage V data. CRV and dowsing, CRV and ERV, Dream RV. I like to confirm
data by dreaming on a target.” “TDRV method for regular RV projects.” “Natural RV, CRV,
ARV using either of those, some additional tools, like HRVG's locational system.” “CRV to get
on signal line, then ERV for more details.”
Other Less Common RV Method or Never Heard Before. “CRV and occasionally
ERV in a sensory deprivation tank.” “CRV, my own ARV protocol.” "Phantom ARV." “The
DINGUS method: Digits, Ideograms, Notes, Graphics, Summary. I have the world’s most simple
and stupid way to go straight for the jugular.” “Easy. Simple. Stupid. Honest. I got a good simple
and stupid way to get the target by the balls. I’ll put that target’s nuts in a vice.” “My own
methods for the lottery.”
Just Go for It. “After 40 years of working with my mind, I just use it.” “No effort, just
seeing clearly –I am beginning to think that it is a function of our brain/consciousness; we are
doing research on this.” “Just focus and isolate the focus, and focus will lead you to different
environments, vortex method, movement.”
RV Income. As responses to the question: “What percentage of the applications work
you did was for payment?” Out of 63 responses, 23.4% was the average number, with a range
from 0 to 100 percent.
 How often to you receive feedback for your applied/operational remote viewing
work? Seventy-three participants responded. The mean was 66%.
 Of the feedback that you receive, how often would you say you receive positive
feedback? Choose the option that is closest to the choice. Seventy-two participants
responded. The mean was 71.3 %.
 Of the feedback that you receive, how often would you say you receive positive
feedback? Choose the option that is closest to the choice: 73 responses. Average
number 72%.
 Do you keep statistics on yourself as a remote viewer as far as success rate? Out of 71
respondents, 66.2% responded affirmatively.
We did not define “statistics” for them but rather asked them to explain. Viewers
responses varied from stating that they keep track on their own, or through others’ databases or
that simply other instructors, organizations, or project managers or online apps programs that
keep their stats. Many said they only track their financial/ARV related stats, as its not as easy or
even possible to track this for applications work.
Some of the following comments are representative: “Success rate for me is about 90-80
percent. I maintained a relational database which I began using in 1989. I have maintained
detailed accounts of projects, from targeting, assumptions, trials and validation.” “My current
ARV hit rate is less than 60% after a yearlong slump. This is automatically tracked in a database.
I have not been tracking my CRV hits.” “62% for binary –mostly prior to last 24 months.”
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REMOTE VIEWING APPLICATIONS: AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

 Even though you do applications work, do you continue to do RV practice sessions?
Out of 72 responses, 55 (76.3%) answered “yes,” and 17 (23.6%) responded “no.”
Discussion
Even if it is impossible to know whether our sample is representative of all remote
viewers who currently use remote viewing for practical applications, what emerged from their
responses is that RV is used extensively and its applications span from business to scientific and
intelligence applications for personal to corporate and public agencies use. Confidentiality and
NDAs were mentioned a lot.
Even if for our participants only 23.4% declared that their RV job was payed but with a
range from 0 to 100%, it seems that for some of them this is a real professional job. It is clear
that both the type of applications and the income deriving from their use depend on the skill level
of the applicants as for any other professional skill. A client returns for a new service only if the
previous one(s) was deemed satisfactory.
If we look at the training of our sample we observe a wide diversity with people declaring
to have from a less than one year to more than 20 years of training and less to 50 to over 2000
RV completed sessions. These training differences count in the definition of the remote viewer
skills.
What appear new in these practices? Viewers working on their own, without monitors in
terms of the actual conducting of the RV sessions was definetly a newer thing. However, in
terms of the overall project set up many continue to work in groups, or at least with taskers.
What stood out was that majority of participants use many methods and mix them up, or
over time change them, with 15 just using CRV exclusively. That was by far most stable, very
few only use ERV.
Applications that seem to have grown in popularity compared to past reported project are
those that involve searching for different normal household objects and pets, and projects
involving lottery number predictions. Predictions related to new forms of currency such as
cryptocurrency/bit coins have been taken up by remote viewers in recent years. Still, respondents
did not indicate that money was a primary motivating factor for being involved in RV
applications work.
We were impressed by the expressions of strong enthusiasm, excitement, and personal
benefits of remote viewing during applications work. The phrase “remote viewing makes me
high” was repeated several times, as were words such as “thrilling” and “love” and “fascinating.”
While we would fully expect someone to enjoy and find benefit from an activity they are doing
long term, we did not expect to find a word that is usually equated with euphoric producing
substances, or such extreme levels of positive emotion.
Our participants gave different definitions of success, not just accuracy driven. There was
mention of statistics and record keeping without details provided. Some stated they kept data for
themselves, some stated by group managers or through various computer applications, but these
were more often for financial based applications involving ARV, which allows for binary calls
that more closely parallell quantative-based parapsychological projects. Participants indicated
keeping stats for other types of applications was more challenging, although there was
“databasing” mentioned.
Our final conclusion is that remote viewing continues to be carried out in the spirit in
which it was intended, for practical use and as an informational gathering tool, by articulate,
thoughtful, and engaged participants. Future projects might do in-depth interviews with
questions of group leaders, or survey clients themselves. Also doing more case studies of single
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REMOTE VIEWING APPLICATIONS: AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

projects, or perhaps some case collectives of applications work would be useful. Obtaining more
details about projects undertaken most recently (past two years) would also be useful. Finally,
given remote viewers seem to be able to articulate which training methods are useful to them,
making conscious choices about which approaches work better for different applications and
situations, it appears that further formal investigations into present day training methodologies is
not only justified, but long overdue.

We’d like to thank the International Remote Viewing Association for being a co-sponsor of our
project.
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REMOTE VIEWING APPLICATIONS: AN HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

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