‘Psi’, the Greek letter ψ, is the modern term for psychic phenomena. The existence of psi – and the related idea that consciousness is independent of the physical body (and so may survive bodily death) – are disputed, as they seem to violate well-established natural laws. However, researchers are convinced they have evidence for these things, posing a challenge to materialist science. The Psi Encyclopedia presents their reasoning in over 700 signed articles by 86 authors, many of them senior academics. It also provides links to books, articles and videos that are free to view.
Featured
Stephen E Braude
American philosopher and parapsychologist (1945–2026) remembered for his field investigations of apparent psychokinesis.
Meditation and Psi
Traditional Yogic teachings state that a person who attains a higher state of consciousness will manifest psychic powers.
Psychedelics and Psi
A gradual easing of restrictions means that psi research with psychedelics, once prevalent, could soon resume.
Psi Research in China
Recent experimental and theoretical work in China includes successful attempts to train ESP abilities in blind children.
Clinical Parapsychology
Therapeutic approach that aims to provide support for people disturbed by anomalous event experiences.
Psi for Financial Gain
Anecdotal accounts and lab tests suggest that psi can at times be used to advantage in gambling and financial speculation.
Coover Telepathy Experiments
Early telepathy experiments, once thought a failure, now considered statistically significant.
Key Topics
Psychology and Parapsychology
Explores the overlap between psychology and parapsychology, such as personality and other variables linked to psi.
Eminent People Interested in Psi (list)
A list of some 200 scientists, thinkers, writers, and artists who took seriously the possibility of psi.
Remote Viewing
An experimental form of clairvoyance, in which a suitably trained person attempts to visualise the topography of a distant scene.
Near-Death Experience (Overview)
This article describes anomalous mental events reported by people who have survived a near-fatal accident or illness.
Reincarnation: An Introduction
This introductory article covers beliefs in reincarnation, evidence for reincarnation, and sceptical views of the research.
Psychokinesis Research
Overview of experimental research on mind-matter interaction, which began with dice-throwing and now employes random-number generators.
American Society for Psychical Research (ASPR)
The oldest parapsychological organization in the United States, founded in 1884, now practically defunct.
Animals in Psi Research
Describes informal observations, early tests and modern lab experiments looking at animals' psychic capabilities.
Recent Additions
Edward ‘Serjeant’ Cox
EW Cox (1809–1879) was an English lawyer, publisher, writer and researcher of psychical phenomena.
Soul Weighing Experiments
Attempts have been made to confirm the existence of a soul by seeking a change of weight in bodies at the point of death.
Battersea Poltergeist (1928)
Disturbances reported in a small house in Battersea, London, investigated by Harry Price.
AWARE NDE Studies
AWARE and AWARE II were large-scale studies testing for veridical perceptions recalled by hospital patients during NDEs.
Robert Bigelow and the Bigelow Institute for Consciousness Studies
Billionaire American businessman whose foundation funds research on post-mortem survival.
Christopher Robinson
British psychic said to possess precognitive dream ability of use to UK police and security services.
The Telepathy Tapes
Podcast series exploring claims that certain nonspeaking autistic individuals possess telepathic abilities.
Psychische Studien (journal)
Early German psychical research journal (1874–1925) that contained reports of experiences and investigations.
Allan Kardec
French educator (1804–1869) whose work with mediums led to the development of Spiritism, today highly popular in Brazil.
Neuroimaging and Psi
Recent advances in brain imaging technology have been exploited in several lines of psi research.
Center for Research on Consciousness and Anomalous Psychology (CERCAP)
Under Etzel Cardeña at Lund University.
Reincarnation and the Population Problem
The idea that increases in population are a problem has been addressed in various ways.
Witchcraft
Traces the development of witchcraft as the socially proscribed practice of magic, from Antiquity to the present day.
Planned Reincarnations
Planned reincarnation suggests that next-life circumstances can be chosen not just between lives but prior to death.
Alexander Nikolayevich Aksakov
First Russian psychical researcher, a government official who studied mediums and psychics.
FJM Stratton
British soldier and astrophysics professor (1881-1961) who investigated hauntings and other psychic phenomena.
Àlex Gómez-Marín
Alex Gomez-Marin is a Spanish physicist and neuroscientist with research interests in parapsychology.
Garret Yount
American researcher who explores the links between molecular biology and aspects of consciousness, including energy healing.
Explore the Psi Encyclopedia
ESP & Psychokinesis
The term extra-sensory perception (ESP), introduced in the 1930s, comprises telepathy, clairvoyance and precognition, acknowledging that these categories may considerably overlap. Psychokinesis is the direct influence on matter by mind alone, without physical action. All have been successfully tested in the laboratory and studied in real life situations.
UK (Non-University) Paranormal Research
Overview of non-university organizations that carry out psi research.
Meta-Analysis in Parapsychology
Meta-analysis is a statistical procedure that combines studies in a particular area of research to provide more robust findings
Presentiment
An unconscious form of precognition that can be demonstrated with techniques commonly used in research on psychophysiology.
Gifted People
Most people may only experience a psychic event once or twice in their lives, but for a few it’s a natural ability, which some develop as a professional career. Two types feature in the Psi Encyclopedia: those who have demonstrated telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition or psychokinesis in some way, and those who believe themselves to be in communication with the deceased.
Sean Harribance
Trinidadian psychic of Indian descent who participated in ESP and PK experiments with American researchers from the 1970s.
Etta Wriedt
American direct-voice medium (1859–1942) of considerable power, according to observers who attended sittings in the US and Britain.
Alex Tanous
Alex Tanous (1926–1990) was a noted New England psychic and parapsychologist, who contributed to out-of-body research.
Mind & Body
This category contains articles that treat consciousness in relation to the body. Major topics covered include healing and psychotherapy; dreams and dreaming; and out-of-body experiences, end-of-life experiences, and near-death experiences, all of which suggest that consciousness may have an existence independent of the physical body.
Psychomanteum (Mirror-Gazing)
Describes explorations by Raymond Moody with a mirror-gazing technique for therapeutic purposes.
Dream Incubation
Dream incubation is the modern term applied to dreaming for purposes of problem solving, healing and divination.
Robert Crookall
English geologist (1890-1981) who promoted out-of-body experiences as evidence of ‘astral projection’ and postmortem survival.
Survival of Death
Life continued in a spiritual or purely mental form after bodily death is a staple of religious beliefs worldwide, and likely is as old as humanity. The question of evidence for it has been central to the Society for Psychical Research since its founding in 1882. This category includes articles on mediumship as well as general topics related to the survival question. Other survival-related topics appear under other category headings.
The Super-Psi Hypothesis
Claim that psychic functioning is more extensive than supposed, able to explain most evidence for survival.
The Hodgson Report on Theosophy
Controversial report on Helena Blavatsky by Richard Hodgson for the SPR, which alleged fraud.
Philip Psychokinesis Experiments
Landmark 1970s experiment in which a Canadian sitter group created PK phenomena.
Reincarnation
Reincarnation beliefs are widespread in the world and in recent decades researchers have found what they believe is evidence of them through the study of people (mainly children) who claim to have lived before. This category includes case studies and overviews of phenomena that appear regularly in the cases. Some articles deal with past life regression as well.
Wael Kiwan (reincarnation case)
Lebanese Druze case involving a child who recalled the life of an identified individual who died by suicide in the USA.
Xenoglossy in Reincarnation Cases
In reincarnation cases, xenoglossy involves the use of language spoken in a past life but not learned in the present.
Replacement Reincarnation
In replacement reincarnation, a person remembers the life of someone who died after he or she was born.
Haunting
Location-based hauntings have been relatively little studied by parapsychologists, but the frequent incidence of apparitional episodes (the appearance of a deceased family member) attracted the attention of early researchers. Much interest has also centred on so-called ‘poltergeist’ episodes, of powerful domestic disturbances now often attributed to involuntary psychokinetic effects by living agents.
Enfield Poltergeist
Celebrated 1970s case in a north London suburb, in which poltergeist disturbances were documented over a two-year period.
Worksop Poltergeist
Original report by an SPR investigator of poltergeist-type disturbances in 1883 in Worksop, in the north of England.
Angelique Cottin
French girl who was the centre of psychokinetic disturbances that made an international sensation.
Scientists & Authors
Here can be found more than 300 biographical profiles of key figures who have been involved in psi research and parapsychology as field investigators, experimentalists, theorists and commentators. Many have scientific and academic backgrounds – in psychology, physics, biology, philosophy, engineering and other disciplines.
TW Mitchell
TW Mitchell (1869–1944) was a medical psychologist and psychotherapist interested in multiple personality disorder.
Gabriel Guerrer
Gabriel Guerrer is a Brazilian experimental physicist who has investigated the possible influence of consciousness on matter.
Robert Strutt (Lord Rayleigh)
British physicist (1875-1947) who designed a method of using infrared photography in the investigation of physical mediumship.
Organizations
The oldest organizations devoted to parapsychology were member organizations like the Society for Psychical Research, established in London in 1882. Since JB Rhine founded the Parapsychology Laboratory at Duke University in 1930, there have been university-based units as well. This category comprises both historical and contemporary bodies concerned with research and education in parapsychology.
Bial Foundation
Foundation set up by Portuguese pharmaceutical giant to support research in neuroscience, psychophysiology and parapsychology.
Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health (IGPP)
The IGPP is a German parapsychology organization based in Freiburg.
London Dialectical Society
19th-century rationalist debating club whose 1871 investigative report showed certain PK activity to be genuine.
Scepticism
Sceptics argue that psychics and mediums achieve their effects by trickery, that psychic experience is an illusory effect caused by a combination of brain misperceptions and confirmation bias, and that evidence of psi in laboratory tests can be attributed to poor methodology. This category includes biographies of leading sceptics as well as general articles discussing their allegations.
Michael Shermer
Well-known American author, media personality and career sceptic, founder of the Skeptics Society and its magazine Skeptic.
James Randi
Canadian-born conjurer (1928–2020) and public scourge of psychics, faith healers, parapsychologists and practitioners of alternative medicine.
James Alcock
Canadian psychology professor, amateur magician and career psi sceptic, member of the Executive Council for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.
General Topics
This category contains articles on a variety of topics that do not fit well in any of the main categories, from dowsing to crop circles and other anomalistic phenomena.
Eminent People Interested in Psi (list)
A list of some 200 scientists, thinkers, writers, and artists who took seriously the possibility of psi.
UFOs/Aliens and Psi
Review of the research literature on UFO sightings and alien encounters, which may include claims of psi phenomena.
Electromagnetism and Paranormal Phenomena
Electromagnetism may be implicated in reports of seemingly paranormal phenomena.