Torbjorn S. 's reply to Hanno Essén and Garvarn - on the bad reputation article
Garvarn "The Laugher" is a notorious online skeptic in Sweden. He runs his own blog "Garvarns Blog" and is closely associated to the leading skeptical organisation "The Swedish Skeptics" (VoF) who systematically and publicly debunks journalists, academics, physicians and researchers that stepped outside mainstream. Garvarn has featured himself as a ghostwriter and VoF use him armed with a hidden tape recorder to spy on spiritual groups in Sweden.
Text: Torbjorn S. updated 2010-05-24 (svensk version)
Read more: Garvarns Blog | www.vof.se | Hanno Essén
The purpose with Garvarns Blog is to create worst possible negative online reputation for certain individuals claiming the reality of paranormal phenomena. Garvarn has aimed at researches, TV personalities and even an american astronaut, Edgar Mitchell.
The board of The Swedish Skeptics (VoF) consists of skeptical professors and doctors from several universities in Sweden. I asked the chairman of VoF professor Hanno Essén if he knows the identity of Garvarn. He replies he doesn't know and he doesn't want to know. The fact that the editors of VoF's newsletter Folkvett (freely translated into People's Sanity) n:o 1, 2008, write they are well aware of Garvarns identity and they use him to spy on spiritual seances in Sweden. That doesn't concern Hanno Essén.
When I ask Hanno Essén if he can do something about VoFs causing me bad online reputation he is not interested to take any actions at all. Not even to erase a single one of the almost 1000 postings in their web forum where my name is mentioned in a negative context.
I ask myself why would a professor Hanno Essén from The Royal Institue of Technology (KTH) be involved with an organisation that use a ghostwriter by the name "The Laugher" with the intention to create bad reputation for certain people and to spy on ghost talkers. Isn't that immature? Be your own judge.
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Reply to Garvarn
Garvarn in 2008 wrote the article "Torbjorn S. 's Oyster". The article is a clear cut case of negative online reputation management. Let's see what he writes.
Garvarn: One of the more remarkable public figures on the Swedish paranormal scene is 43-year-old Torbjorn Torbjorn S. . Renowned for his crusade against "pseudoskepticism" and "scientism". Torbjorn S. is the owner, publisher, and editor of Soul Travel Magazine, a webzine dedicated to the "sciences of human consciousness and anthropology" and related topics such as "psychology, parapsychology, neurobiology, quantum physics".
Torbjorn S. : I have done research on many subjects over the years as an investigating journalist and project manager. Some of these subjects could be labeled as "the unknown". Other subjects have been intelligent houses (smart homes), environmental protection and bioenergy (energy from organic matters).
The problems with bad reputation at my part has one source i.e. an organisation called "Vetenskap och Folkbildning" (VoF) freely translated into "Science and the People's Education". Due to the quite revealing result when doing a word by word translation of VoF they decided to name it "The Swedish Skeptics". They also have a newsletter called "Folkvett" which is translated into "People's Sanity". How about that?
 My purpose with Soul Travel Magazine was to publish an e-zine about cutting edge research on the mind and consciousness. The bilingual e-zine also touched upon cosmology, philosophy and space exploration. Unconventional theories and speculations were allowed. The aim was to challenge the readers intellects. So we did.
This e-zine was disliked from the start by people associated with "Science and the People's Education" working to protect the more old fashioned materialistic worldview.
Read my review of the movie "Peaceful Warrior" (Dan Millman)
Garvarn: Although he claims that "there are several people associated with Soul Travel Magazine" it is obvious that the webzine is a solo project; all editorial material is by Torbjorn S. 's pen and the list of "editors" he occasionally produces when pushed in this matter is a compilation of names never seen on the pages of Soul Travel Magazine before, or since. He just likes to give the impression that the webzine is more than it really is.
Torbjorn S. : Initially we were three journalists associated to Soul Travel Magazine and a few more individuals. To protect them from VoF I hid their identities. The e-zine was my product to 95%. I ran it as a hobby project. Sometimes I had help when arranging lectures and filming. I have video interviewed two former intelligence agents from the US and some leading researchers. Their names are Joseph McMoneagle, Lyn Buchanan, Dean Radin, Robert Hastings and others. I have also met with a chief scientist within parapsychology from the former Soviet union.
Garvarn: To the Swedish public, Torbjorn S. is perhaps best known for his participation in the psychic TV-show The Unknown, where his OBE skills were put to the test on two occasions. Yes, not only does Torbjorn S. report on miracles, he produces them too.
Torbjorn S. : Yes, these features could be considered to be miracles but only to the old fashioned worldview. With the right practise and the best training program at hand extra sensory skills may be achieved. I used The Monroe Institute's Gateway Voyage Program and also practised Remote Viewing developed by SRI International (former Stanford Research Institute) the leading think tank in the US. I kept a journalistic approach to it but of course became more of a research subject as time went by.
Left photo: target photo. Right photo: my choice. The angle and timing of the chosen photo is very close to target photo.
Garvarn: The first test was conducted by the TV production company Nordisk Film in May of 2003 and aired 18 months later on TV4. Why the post-production time equivalent to that of a multi-million dollar feature film project, you may ask. Well, the test was to identify an image with strong emotional content by remote viewing, or self-guided OBE, as Torbjorn S. prefers to call it. The target image was placed in a locked room at the facilities of the production company.
Torbjorn S. sat at another location for a week, letting his "mind", "spirit" or "consciousness" fly to the target image. A physical walk would probably have cut down the time to a day but that would have been out of protocol, I guess. Anyway, Torbjorn S. finally sent an e-mail to the production company, containing the message "WTC, 9-11" and an enclosed image of the twin towers in flames and smoke he had found on the internet. Ka-ching! The target image was indeed the twin towers after having been hit by the planes. What a success! Or was it?
Torbjorn S. : Yes, it was a total success. People were astonished. I was astonished. Read more here
Garvarn: First of all, my theory is that producer Caroline Giertz deliberately stalled the broadcast more than a year because she knew that it would be a better show if more time had passed between the actual 9/11 event and the show. She knew that 2003 would have been too soon, people would have watched the show and very likely guessed 9/11 themselves. Giertz and Torbjorn S. will of course find my suggestion outrageous, but I don't think it's too far-fetched.
Torbjorn S. : No, Caroline Giertz was the producer from Nordisk Film. Buyer was TV4 and they decided when to air the episode. Garvarn's conspiracy theory is not valid.
Garvarn: Secondly, in conjunction with the above, should the test have been conducted in a methodologically sound way, it would have been a sensation. A one hour special episode of the show would have been called for, aired shortly after the test! Instead, the audience got a re-enactment of the test 18 months later. Yes, that's right - a re-enactment. What really took place during this test, we will never know. But Torbjorn S. of course refers to this as a "successful experiment".
Torbjorn S. : It was a successful scientific experiment (single blind). It is true the experiment as shown on TV was a reconstruction of the original experiment since the actual test was not filmed. The reconstruction had to be done. In reality the experiment was more scientific than it appeared on TV. When I chosed the correct picture of the target photo the film team was not at all present. No cold reading here.
Garvarn: The next test was conducted by Jan Dalkvist, senior lecturer at the Academy of Psychology at Stockholm University, assisted by Dan Larhammar, neuroscientist at Uppsala University. This time two images was to hang in a room at the academy and an adjacent room was to have a pool of 100 different images posted. Torbjorn S. was asked if it was okay that some of the images were of revolting nature, something he consented to. Of course, Torbjorn S. failed miserably and there was no end to the rationalizations he presented.
 Torbjorn S. : I failed. I have been very clear on that from the beginning.
But of course I am not happy with the skeptics (Dan Larhammar, VoF and Jan Dahlkvist) who arranged the experiment used photos of human body parts, human corpses and severly abused infants mixed with photos of sunsets and semi porn. I was asked if intimidating photos were okay but could never imagine the level of gore. I also must complain because the experimentors changed the settings during the actual experiment. It was totally out of protocol. Skeptics are known to interfere with experiments for some reason.
Actual photo from the test room. Click to enlarge.
Läs mer om experimentet här (more photos)
Garvarn: He didn't know the images in the pool room was to be that nasty. An image of a burning scyscraper filled with people comes naturally, but a body part - no, no.
Torbjorn S. : In the first successful test (TV4 Plus, 2004) the photographical scene was a buildling at long distance. When you do remote viewing you get close to the target itself if the target photo is a close-up. Close encounter with a dead mutilated body may cause a remote viewer to throw up if extra sensory contact is achieved.
In the second test (TV4 Plus, 2005) I was going to pin point two photos. The two target photos were placed in two rooms at the same time during six days out of 11 days. That was totally out of protocol. The descision to use two target photos instead of one, which is normal in remote viewing, was the result of bad negotiation between me and the skeptics. No one has ever - to my knowledge - been able to pin point two target photos at the same time.
In the third test (TV4, 2009) I again together with a friend (T.B.) succeded in pinpointing the target quite well. This experiment I haven't presented yet on the web but I will produce a documentary.
More details
 Garvarn: And Joe McMoneagle, one of the men that used to play psychic spy in the US military and now retro-fits his way through life, assured Torbjorn S. that using two target photos was a mistake, it causes mental confusion. Imagine that. A man who claims to have "remote viewed" foreign military installements has trouble separating two images from each other. Mental confusion indeed...
Torbjorn S. : Joe McMoneagle has demonstrated remote viewing over a hundred times during scientific circumstances on live TV shows all over the world. Most of the times he has produced astounding results.
More on Joe McMoneagle
Garvarn: Apart from the OBE tests and some guest appearances in talk and radio shows, Torbjorn S. spends most of his time on the internet, where he rules with sovereignity over his own forum linked to the webzine. It is a forum open to the public and as long as you don't post opinions or arguments that Torbjorn S. has trouble refuting, you are welcome. Many a member has experienced a sudden ban or having their posts erased.
Torbjorn S. : During the time I had my forum we sometimes had severe problems with skeptics trying to cause harm to the discussions. They acted as "internet trolls". In order to protect the forum I had to ban skeptics from the forum.
Garvarn: But in Torbjorn S. 's defense, he deletes or edits his own posts too, if attention has been brought to their obvious flaws.
Torbjorn S. : I have the same rights to edit my own texts as any other journalists have when publishing articles on the web. Most of the time its about correcting misspellings. It's also important to update articles if any facts needs to be corrected.
Garvarn: And he doesn't mind being thrown out from other forums, although his version of the reason often differs from the adminstration's in question. I am not sure why, but a while back, Torbjorn S. 's forum was abandoned by most of the woo-woos. I don't know what Torbjorn S. did, or who he offended, but the forum has failed to regain its former popularity and is now just a sad playground for a devoted few.
Torbjorn S. : I have been thrown out of three forums and then been accepted again. It has to do with the combination of sharpness at pen combined with a lack of diplomacy. Sometimes I have by mistake been linking to images at other sites or I have been linking to my own stuff.
Garvarn: But Torbjorn S. struggles on and uses multiple nicknames to give the impression of a crowd.
Torbjorn S. : I usually use my own personal name when I write on forums but due to the stalking problems by skeptics I have sometimes used nicknames. My take is that the subject of interest should be the focus not the person. The dialogue and the mind to mind research should be where to put attention. Skeptics have developed a special debunker style tactic to attack people in order to trash the subject and the opponents themselves. In order to avoid this it helps to discuss incognito.
Garvarn: Torbjorn S. once claimed to know my real name. He had compared some posts on a couple of forums and flaunted the name all over. He was of course wrong and, as opposed to Johan Lundberg, he realized it.
Torbjorn S. : My tactic to "kidnap" one of the central skeptics associated to VoF and then put the light on him helped to push the real Garvarn out into the open. In May 2010 Garvarn for the first time appeared in an audio interview arranged by Skeptikerpodden. I believe this is the real man behind the mask. He is a 30:th something well educated and well spoken intellectual who match the mean writings on Garvarn's Blog.
Garvarn: But he takes great pride in busting identities, because his cause is just. He knows the Truth and those who question him are enemies of the Truth. Because of that, exposing the real names of people who have chosen to be anonymous is just. And the people who oppose him are in general part of a Great Conspiracy aimed at suppressing the Truth of remote viewing, OBE, the afterlife, etc.
A fellow skeptic was indeed exposed by Torbjorn S. which caused some mild, but still, suffering for his family.
Torbjorn S. : The fellow skeptic "C" of Garvarn that was exposed by me had for many years in several forums been stalking a known TV personality (Terry Evans) calling him a fraud. Since the skeptic (also active within the VoF editorial office) never could prove the target person to be a fraud the skeptic himself I recon became the criminal. So I exposed "C" by name in an article (which I had legal right to do). Then he cried wolf and I erased his name in the article within days. "C" was a former CEO of a known IT company in Sweden.
 My forum (Soultravel Forum) was in Dec 2005 attacked by a VoF skeptic, he called himself PsychoDad, who posted anti semitic texts in order to intimidate my forums members and especially targeting two jewish women (who wish to stay anonymous). The postings were traced by IP number to the university of Chalmers in Gothenburg.
Since one of my forum members (L) reported the attack to the police I had to forward this case to Chalmers. They took it seriously and one individual was inquired. I asked their legal expert (ref Fredrik von Homeyer) to play down the case and he did. Ref number: 2005/1384 (2006-01-03).
This happened during a period when Soul Travel Magazine, my forum and my private firm web site (www.sasser.net) were all hacked several times (2006-03-01, 2006-03-09). I haven't documented all incidents. My firm web site was (2006-03-02) linked to a kiddy porn web site (PsychodPed.info) that we (including the web company Dreams Come True, ref J. Bourque Olivegren) and the current internet provider forced to close down emediately (2006-03-02). The skeptic "C" from VoF contacted at that time my internet provider and tried to close down my e-zine. My forum's content was also totally erased by an intruder who managed to sort out my admin password during summer 2005.
Someone even placed a sharp military grenade outside a former address of mine (street: Torbjorn Klockares gata 21, where I used to live). The grenade was secured by the Swedish military in co-operation with a special police team (2006-05-05) using a remote controlled bomb robot. If the grenade was aimed for me is still unclear. Maybe not. During the event I was living within the secured area (Falugatan 20) some 50 meters from the bomb site.
Remember the only enemies I have are VoF members or individuals like Garvarn closely associated to VoF.
Garvarn: Since the minister of culture at the time, Bengt Goransson, attended the founding of the Swedish anti-pseudoscience society, VoF, in 1982, Torbjorn S. claims that the society in reality is an extension of the Social Democratic Party and, in effect, Swedish Secret Intelligence.
Torbjorn S. : It is true that the former Minister of Culture Bengt Goransson at the socialist party was one fo the founders of VoF in 1982. Anyone can get the papers from the administration at the Royal Institute of Technology and check for themselves.
I have never claimed any connection between the Swedish Security Service and VoF but one source told me the Swedish Security Service do work with something they call "mental sanitizing". It has to do with primarily mapping the ideological image of Sweden, pinpointing groups of concern and then infiltrating these groups for further study.
I must say that is similiar to what VoF activists do when stalking target individuals, penetrating discussion forums on the web, causing "flames" and spying inside groups using tape recorders. They must have fun when playing secret agents.
Garvarn: Although the VoF doesn't want to be called "skeptics" (they prefer "anti-pseudoscience activists" or something in that line), Torbjorn S. regards them as part of a skeptic movement that is a global joint venture against the psychic and spiritual powers that rest in each one of us. Powers that in some way, I'm not sure how, opposes a threat to traditional science and society at large (allegedly in the minds of those in power).
Torbjorn S. : It wasn't hard to figure out VoF is a part of a greater international secular movement. I have on live TV confronted the chairman of the secular Humanist organisation in Sweden, Christer Sturmark. He claims VoF and the secular humanists are linked. He claims the Swedish secular humanists is part of an international movement. VoF has in many ways imitated the tactics of the skeptical mother foundation in the US, formerly called CSICOP (pronounced "sycop" i.e. "psychic police") now using the name CSI (referring to crime scene investigations).
Garvarn: So the VoF is Torbjorn S. 's prime target. And as they are part of the governmental, high finance, and military complex, they are omnipotent and able to direct all possible, and impossible, counter measures towards Torbjorn S. in his struggle for Truth. Apparently, Torbjorn S. has never reflected on why such an almighty and powerful organization limit themselves to a quarterly member journal designed like a notebook and has virtually no public impact except for their annual "deluder" award. But then again, most of their work probably has to be done in secret. Swedish Secret Intelligence, you know...
Torbjorn S. : You should write a manuscript for a thriller.
Garvarn: And Torbjorn S. knows these things - he claims to have connections in both the Swedish and American Intelligence. Among other things, he has knowledge about CIA sending personnel for telepathy training. So they can communicate with aliens.
Torbjorn S. : I have already commented on my connections.
Its not until you have these contacts with the people that for years worked within real life top secret projects you get an idea of what goes on behind the curtains inside the intelligence community and military. For instance remote viewing and telepathy have been used in numerous occations to assess the intention and motives of unidentified flying objetcs and intelligences that wont reveal themselves. This hide and seek game goes on frequently all over the world.
The Monroe Institute that do research on non-local communiactions is situated near the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. SRI International (US largest think tank) developed remote viewing (also controlled OBE) and the techniques are taught at the Monroe Institue and at IONS a research institute founded by the former astronaut Edgar Mitchell. One focus is the extraterrestrial factor. CIA send on a regular basis their own people to the Monroe Institute for training. CIA is allways on the look-out for talents.
You do the math.
Garvarn: As Torbjorn S. views his activities as being "journalistic research" and rejoices at every personal or private detail he can "dig up" about his opponents, it might be interesting to look at what Torbjorn S. is up to when he's not fighting the global skeptic conspiracy. After all, if it's out there on the internet, how personal can it be? Especially for a public figure like Torbjorn S. .
Torbjorn S. : Read more about the obvious connection between VoF and Big Pharma (in Swedish): Skeptikerforeningen Vetenskap och Folkbildning delar säng med läkemedelsindustrin
Garvarn: Parallell to Soul Travel Magazine, S. also runs a shareholding company called Sasser Media Lab, presented at www.sasser.net - the Soul Travel Forum is located on the same domain. This company, that last fiscal year had no employees, offers editorial services, web production services, print work, articles, documentary filming, and event production. Although the look of Soul Travel Magazine raises serious doubts regarding the competence in some of these areas, there's nothing strange about it. But when S. states the partners in "his network", it gets really funny.
The first company is Vascaya, which probably is misspelled and should be Vascaia. Now, Vascaia is a company that offer the services of a network of independent consultants. But Torbjorn S. is not mentioned in any of their listings of associated consultants. So, in what way is Vascaia Torbjorn S. 's partner? The SM Lab web page doesn't say.
Torbjorn S. : I had several meetings at Vasaia and was related to them for some time. No commissions came in my direction so we mutually ended the co-operation.
Garvarn: The next partner is Event Market. And this company actually has Torbjorn S. listed. It may even have you listed. The thing is that Event Market, www.eventmarket.com, is a web portal where anyone can register for the price of 4,320 SEK. So in reality, Torbjorn S. is a client of Event Market and the services they provide is exposure. How that amounts to a partnership evades me completely.
Torbjorn S. : Event Market intermediates lectures for their customers. It was a partner since I wrote articles for their site too.
Garvarn: The next partner is Coreworkers, a communications and media agency. No visible connnection to Torbjorn S. at all, but it looks impressive. Who knows?
Torbjorn S. : Coreworkers is my commissioner related to Arla.
Garvarn: Dreams Come True is a web host and development company. Again, no reference to Torbjorn S. . Maybe it's Torbjorn S. 's website host. That would make me partner with Telia, one of Sweden's largest internet operators. Wow...
Torbjorn S. : Dreams Come True is technical web firm who I frequently task to solve technical problems concerning forums, installations, CMS and PHP-programming.
Garvarn: So Torbjorn S. is, in part at least, blowing smoke. But what about his references? Well, if you disregard the obvious fakes, like "The Health Industry", "The Bio Energy Industry", "Companies of the Health Industry", "Projects of the Energy Department", and "The Bio Energy Companies", there is also Arla, Swedens largest dairy products company. What kind of web production has Torbjorn S. done for them? No answer.
And what article has Torbjorn S. written on commission from Expressen, Sweden's second largest tabloid? No answer. And what event production services has he provided Kulturhuset in Stockholm with? This time there is an answer.
Torbjorn S. worked 18 months full time with "exhibition support and administration" in 2005 and 2006. I actually remember this, because Torbjorn S. was listed as "Janitor" on Kulturhuset's web site at the time. But I guess it sounds better if you have worked with "exhibition suppport".
Torbjorn S. : I was employed for several years in the bioenergy branch. I worked with or produced many web sites for small, middle sized and big organisations such as the Swedish Energy Agency, Arla, LRF and so on. I was the web editor in chief at the Danish Bank during 2008-2009.
I have written some 250 articles the last 10 years and around 1993-95 I wrote a debate article for Expressen which was a fun and simple task to do.
I took some time off from the IT industry in 2005 (due to "mouse arm") to work physically full time at Kulturhuset which is Swedens biggest cultural center. I was dealing with administration, exhibition support and I built an Italian styled kitchen since I am keen in carpentry. I called myself the janitor as an internal joke. I did a lot of things in that house. It was a great time of my life.
Garvarn: When you check some of the references, you realize that they are located at the same address as Torbjorn S. , and they turn out to be his own companies or projects, old, bankrupt, or suspended. A kind of in-breeding, I guess.
Torbjorn S. : Smarta Hem Media AB (Smart Home Media) went bankcrupt in 2002 due to burst of the IT bubble. Our sponsors (Skanska, Ericsson, Vattenfall) withdraw the finances. Aquagruppen Miljoprojekt (The Aqua Group Environmental Project) was discontinued when the projects were finnished.
Garvarn: It seems as if Torbjorn is living, in part at least, in a make-believe world. There are monsters and conspiracies, he is the Hero and if he imagines or writes things up, they become real. The world is his oyster. What a colorful asset to the debate on paranormal phenomena.
Torbjorn S. : Garvarn tries hard to build the picture of an incompetent individual living in a make believe world. Either you believe in a person hiding behind a cartoon like figure with the name Garvarn (The Laugher) or you believe in me that can prove everything I claim.
Garvarn came out of the closet in May 2010 during a podcast interview. He is still too caucious to reveal his true identity but at least we can hear his voice.
Text: Torbjorn Sassersson
Scientific evidence and research on paranormal phenomena
Garvarn wanted by Akadementia
Läs mina artiklar om rykteshantering
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