The Elusive Force
A Remarkable Case of Poltergeist Activity and Psychokinetic Power

by Anna Ostrzycka and Marek Rymuszko, Translation by Joel Stern

Trade Paperback, 174 Pages, 10 Illustrations

$14.95, ISBN: 978-1-949501-26-1

Genre(s): Psychic Abilities

A UNIQUE CASE OF PARANORMAL ABILITIES
In the spring of 1983, a thirteen-year-old Polish schoolgirl named Joasia Gajewski suddenly began to exhibit astounding paranormal abilities (often beyond her conscious control) that mystified and frightened the people around her. The inexplicable, often destructive psychokinetic effects she randomly generated (even in her sleep!) met with disbelief, exasperation, and superstitious fear. Attempts by local authorities to ascribe these puzzling events to physical causes (settling of walls, geopathic anomalies, etc.) proved superficial and unsatisfactory.

Eventually Joasia's plight caught the attention of several courageous, open-minded Polish scientists. Over a period of forty months, they administered tests and conducted numerous experiments with her under controlled laboratory conditions. Their detailed studies, though ultimately inconclusive, did succeed in confirming the girl's remarkable powers, which she continued to manifest long after the end of puberty-a singular case in the annals of parapsychology.

"Joasia's case may be one of the most interesting in decades... this book is a valuable addition to the database." - Dr. Richard S. Broughton

About the Author:

ANNA OSTRZYCKA is a Polish journalist and publisher with an interest in unexplained phenomena and extraordinary human capabilities. In 1990 she and her husband founded the New Age magazine entitled Nieznany Swiat (The Unknown World). She also runs a publishing house of the same name and a bookstore-gallery in Warsaw. The Elusive Force, written with her husband, is her first book.

MAREK RYMUSZKO (1948-2019) was a prize-winning reporter, publicist, columnist, and writer. He was the author of several books, as well as a theater play, and co-author of a film script, “Wielka majówka.” Between 1990-2019 he was the editor-in-chief, owner, and publisher of the magazine Nieznany Swiat (The Unknown World), which he founded with his wife, Anna Ostrzycka.

The Translator: For 28 years JOEL STERN was a staff translator/reviewer in the Office of Language Services at the U.S. State Department in Washington. He worked mostly with Slavic languages but occasionally with Hungarian, Rumanian, and German. From time to time he also translated literary works, including the short stories of Polish SF writer Stanislaw Lem and a novella by Soviet satirist Mikhail Zoshchenko.

Confronting the Elusive Force: A Phenomenological Analysis of a Modern “Poltergeist” Outbreak

This proposed new study by James Houran and Brian Laythe will use as its Case Material the story told in The Elusive Force: A Remarkable Case of Poltergeist Activity and Psychokinetic Power. The case is thought to be an important example of what the late experimental psychologist Gertrude Schmeidler called "the tough cases" that need to be addressed. 

THE ELUSIVE FORCE on Astonishing Legends. 

The Astonishing Legend hosts lead an informative roundtable discussion of the case with clinical therapist Brandon Massullo, psychologist James Houran, and Joel Stern, who not only witnessed the psychokinetic powers of the Polish teenager himself but who also translated the book on this case from the Polish.. "This story is a hidden gem," says Houran, who has investigated poltergeist cases and is the editor of the Journal of Scientific Exploration. He believes that had western scientists known about the case at the time, they possibly "...could have cracked the code...on what poltergeists ultimately are."

See also Joasia Gajewski: The Elusive Force at Seance Science. 

Foreword by Richard S. Broughton

1. What Happened in Sosnowiec in 1983?
2. Short Circuits, Resonances, False Starts
3. Just Like Us, Only a Little Different
4. First Comprehensive Studies
5. The Cold Eye of the Camera
6. Room 309
7. No Possibility of a Hoax
8. A Flurry of Polish Poltergeist Activity
9. A Final Note

Appendix 1: Hypotheses
Appendix 2: Dr. Egely's Experiment
Suggested Readings
Index

What they're saying:

"This case is one of the most important I have seen in a long time. It is one of the best-documented and well-investigated examples of Recurrent Spontaneous Psychokinesis (RSPK), also known popularly as “poltergeist” activity that has emerged to date...Joasia’s case is so rich because not only did she unleash such extremely powerful forces, but also such a variety of phenomena, too numerous to mention here, from spontaneous water appearing on walls to unexplained fires and shattering light bulbs whose filaments glowed long afterwards, to flying objects making right turns in mid-air...What makes Joasia’s case even more important is that Dr. Gadula did what, unfortunately, few researchers have done in other countries: He brought in other physicians, scientists, and researchers for a multi-disciplined study of the teenager...Kudos to Anna Ostrzycka and Marek Rymuszko for bringing the details of this remarkable and important case to the Polish-speaking public and to Joel Stern for his excellent translation." — Rosemarie Pilkington, Journal of Scientific Exploration

"A thought-provoking, quick read, The Elusive Force is replete with photographs, interview excerpts with eyewitnesses and even the debunking of other 'paranormal' activity in nearby Polish towns, proving those to be hoaxes. If this type of activity captures your imagination, I suggest you read it — you will most likely find it fascinating." — David Trawinski, Polish American Journal 

"...well written and enjoyable to read...To many of us in parapsychology, Joasia is ... obviously psychic and has very high levels of psychokinetic (PK) energy. Just shaking hands with her gave an 'electric shock' or jolt, and she 'crackled' with finger-snapping sounds. People standing close to her reported feeling their hair stand on end and felt a distinctive shiver down their spines as if the air was electrified; poltergeists do this too. This elusive energy is the elusive force referred to in the book’s title, and science does not know what this energy is." — Robb Tilley, The Australian Journal of Parapsychology

"...what is important is that Joasia’s case is now one of the few [poltegeist cases] that were documented and witnessed under satisfactory conditions by a variety of competent experimenters from different fields, whose initial attitude to the phenomena tended to be sceptical...The Elusive Force offers an important contribution to the task of formulating the right questions to ask about phenomena that clearly take place—but should not in the world as we think we know it." — Zofia Weaver, Journal of the Society for Psychical Research

"...this book presents a fantastic description of poltergeist phenomena that exceeds any individual investigation that has been described by parapsychologists in the past...The case of Joasia Gajewska is one of the most phenomenal reports of long-lasting poltergeist activity that has ever been published." — John Kruth, Journal of Parapsychology