Notable members
Arthur Findlay, founding member
Catherine Amy Dawson Scott, founding member
The International Institute for Psychical Research (IIPR) was a short-lived psychical organization based in London that was formed in 1934. It was criticized by scientists for its spiritualist leanings and non-scientific approach to the subject. [1] [2] [3]
A predecessor to the International Institute for Psychical Research was the Survival League founded in 1929 by Catherine Amy Dawson Scott and Shaw Desmond. [4] After the Survival League dissolved, Desmond, Shaw and Arthur Findlay founded the International Institute for Psychical Research in 1934. [5] [6] [7] The institute attracted scientists such as its first President Grafton Elliot Smith and Vice-Presidents Julian Huxley and Ernest MacBride although they resigned after a few months as the lack of scientific method and the spiritualist leanings of the institute became clear. [1] [2] [3]
Arthur Findlay was Chairman and D. F. Fraser-Harris was Research Officer. [8] Fraser-Harris, Huxley, MacBride, Smith and other members such as Ernest Bennett and William Brown had resigned by June, 1934. [1] Huxley described the institute as "not very scientific". Smith stated that he resigned because the institute was meant to have set up a scientific laboratory to investigate claims of psychical phenomena but it was never built. [1] Findlay a spiritualist was criticized for his non-scientific approach to the subject. A review in the Nature journal noted that he had "little conception of the critical attitude of science towards the evidence which he presents and the explanations he gives of the phenomena he describes." [8]
Nandor Fodor replaced Fraser-Harris as Research Officer, a position he held until 1938.
In December, 1938 the institute merged with the British College of Psychic Science becoming the Institute for Experimental Metaphysics. [9] It changed name in January 1939, to the International Institute for Psychic Investigation (IIPI). [7] The famed novelist and poet Hilda Doolittle joined the IIPI in 1941. [10] Occult writer Ralph Shirley was Vice President of the IIPI. [11] Its librarian was palmist Beryl Butterworth Hutchinson. [12] The institute struggled during World War II and its library and records were destroyed by bombing raids. By 1947 the institute had collapsed. [3] [7]
The International Institute for Psychical Research utilized a séance room for testing spiritualist mediums.
In 1935, Lajos Pap a medium famous for producing apports was investigated by Nandor Fodor. He reported that the phenomena were fraudulent and not evidence for the paranormal. [13] During the séance a dead snake appeared. Pap was searched and was found to be wearing a device under his robe, where he had hidden the snake. [14]
Icelandic medium Ingibjorg Lara Agustsdottir was tested in October, 1937. The results were negative, the phenomenon was "both fraudulent and farcical". [15]
The International Institute for Psychic Investigation published the quarterly journal Psychic Science. During 1945-1947 it became the Experimental Metaphysics.
The Society for Psychical Research (SPR) is a nonprofit organisation in the United Kingdom. Its stated purpose is to understand events and abilities commonly described as psychic or paranormal. It describes itself as the "first society to conduct organised scholarly research into human experiences that challenge contemporary scientific models." It does not, however, since its inception in 1882, hold any corporate opinions: SPR members assert a variety of beliefs with regard to the nature of the phenomena studied.
Spiritualism is a new religious movement based on the belief that the spirits of the dead exist and have the ability and the necessary means to communicate with the living. The afterlife, or the "spirit world", is seen by spiritualists, not as a static place, but as one in which spirits continue to evolve. These two beliefs—that contact with spirits is possible, and that spirits are more advanced than humans—lead spiritualists to a third belief: that spirits are capable of providing useful knowledge about moral and ethical issues, as well as about the nature of God. Some spiritualists will speak of a concept which they refer to as "spirit guides"—specific spirits, often contacted, who are relied upon for spiritual guidance. Emanuel Swedenborg has some claim to be the father of Spiritualism. Spiritism, a branch of spiritualism developed by Allan Kardec and today practiced mostly in Continental Europe and Latin America, especially in Brazil, emphasizes reincarnation.
Mediumship is the practice of purportedly mediating communication between spirits of the dead and living human beings. Practitioners are known as "mediums" or "spirit mediums". There are different types of mediumship or spirit channelling, including séance tables, trance, and ouija.
Eusapia Palladino was an Italian Spiritualist physical medium. She claimed extraordinary powers such as the ability to levitate tables, communicate with the dead through her spirit guide John King, and to produce other supernatural phenomena.
In parapsychology and spiritualism, an apport is the alleged paranormal transference of an article from one place to another, or an appearance of an article from an unknown source that is often associated with poltergeist activity or séances. Apports reported during séances have been found to be the result of deliberate fraud. No medium or psychic has demonstrated the manifestation of an apport under scientifically controlled conditions.
The Ghost Club is a paranormal investigation and research organization, founded in London in 1862. It is believed to be the oldest such organization in the world, though its history has not been continuous. The club has traditionally investigated ghosts and hauntings, but has diversified into UFOs, dowsing and cryptozoology.
Rudi Schneider, son of Josef Schneider and brother of Willi Schneider, was an Austrian Spiritualist and physical medium. His career was covered extensively by the Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research, and he took part in a number of notable experiments conducted by paranormal researchers/debunkers, including Harry Price, Albert von Schrenck-Notzing and Eric Dingwall. Some of these researchers declared him to be a fraud while others were unable to find evidence of trickery.
The American Society for Psychical Research (ASPR) is the oldest psychical research organization in the United States dedicated to parapsychology. It maintains offices and a library, in New York City, which are open to both members and the general public. The society has an open membership, anyone with an interest in psychical research is invited to join. It maintains a website; and publishes the quarterly Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.
Arthur Findlay MBE JP was a writer, accountant, stockbroker and Essex magistrate, as well as a significant figure in the history of the religion of Spiritualism, being a partial founder of the newspaper Psychic News and also a founder of the International Institute for Psychical Research. In his will he left his home, Stansted Hall, to the Spiritualists' National Union.
Eva Carrière, also known as Eva C, was a materialization medium in the early 20th century.
Nandor Fodor was a British and American parapsychologist, psychoanalyst, author and journalist of Hungarian origin.
James Hewat McKenzie (1869–1929) was a British parapsychologist, and the founder of the British College of Psychic Science. McKenzie was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 11 November 1869 and died on 29 August 1929, in London.
Walter Franklin Prince was an American parapsychologist and founder of the Boston Society for Psychical Research in Boston.
Hereward Carrington was a well-known British-born American investigator of psychic phenomena and author. His subjects included several of the most high-profile cases of apparent psychic ability of his times, and he wrote over 100 books on subjects including the paranormal and psychical research, conjuring and stage magic, and alternative medicine. Carrington promoted fruitarianism and held pseudoscientific views about dieting.
Trevor Henry Hall (1910–1991) was a British author, surveyor, and sceptic of paranormal phenomena. Hall made controversial claims regarding early members of the Society for Psychical Research. His books caused a heated controversy within the parapsychology community.
Einer Nielsen (1894–1965) was a Danish physical medium and spiritualist.
Lajos Pap (1883–1941) was a Hungarian carpenter and spiritualist medium.
Thomas Everitt (1823–1905) and Mrs Thomas Everitt (1825–1915) were prominent British spiritualists.
Charles Drayton Thomas also known as C. Drayton Thomas was a British Methodist minister and spiritualist.
The Psychology of the Occult is a 1952 skeptical book on the paranormal by psychologist D. H. Rawcliffe. It was later published as Illusions and Delusions of the Supernatural and the Occult (1959) and Occult and Supernatural Phenomena (1988) by Dover Publications. Biologist Julian Huxley wrote a foreword to the book.
