Welcome to the Psi Encyclopedia! We aspire to provide a comprehensive introduction to academic parapsychology, which studies the range of psychic experiences collectively termed ‘psi’. The existence of psi phenomena – and the related idea that consciousness is independent of the physical body and so may survive death – is strongly disputed by materialist scientists, yet parapsychologists are convinced they have evidence for these things. The Psi Encyclopedia presents this evidence in nearly 750 signed articles by over 80 authors, many of them senior academics, arranged in categories and subcategories that highlight the major interests of the field.
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.
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.
Animals in Psi Research
Describes informal observations, early tests and modern lab experiments looking at animals' psychic capabilities.
Mediumship and Multiple Personality
The personalities of mediumistic communicators are similar to dissociative identity disorder.
Society for Psychical Research (SPR)
Membership organization founded in London in 1882 for the scientific investigation of claims of psychic phenomena.
European Children with Past-Life Memories
European children speak of past lives less often than Asian children do, yet the cases are very similar.
Anthropology and Psi Research
Anthropologists have long been fascinated by belief in the supernatural, a near universal aspect of human culture.
Recent Additions
Ouija Board
Ouija boards have sometimes allowed for veridical communications from apparent spirit entities and for automatic writing in creative productions.
Susan Gerbic
American studio photographer who exposes what she believes to be pseudoscience through a special brand of 'guerilla skepticism'.
Cyril L Burt
One of Britain’s most influential psychologists, Burt (1883–1971) believed that psychic phenomena merited scientific attention
Julian Ochorowicz
Polish philosopher, psychologist and inventor (1850–1917), who made notable investigations of physical mediumship.
Minot Judson Savage
Savage (1841–1918) was a Unitarian minister who sat with Leonora Piper and was involved with the early American Society for Psychical Research.
Noah’s Ark Society for Physical Mediumship
The NAS originated in a home circle in 1990 and indirectly fostered the later Scole Circle.
Martin Johnson
As a major European experimental parapsychologist, Johnson (1930–2011) helped build the programme at the University of Utrecht.
Milan Ryzl
Milan Ryzl (1928–2011) was a pioneer in exploring hypnosis as a facilitator of ESP, best known for his extensive work with Pavel Stepanek.
Cold Spots
Sudden sensations or measurements of temperature variations recur in reports of apparitions, séances and hauntings.
Dieter Vaitl
German consciousness researcher who directed the Institute for Frontier Areas of Psychology and Mental Health (IGPP) for two decades.
George P Hansen
Hansen has critiqued both belief in and scepticism of psi. His Trickster Theory tries to explain the instability and elusiveness of the phenomena.
Edward William ‘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.
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ESP & Psychokinesis
Extra-sensory perception (ESP) comprises telepathy, clairvoyance and precognition. Psychokinesis (PK) is the direct influence on matter by mind alone. Both ESP and PK have been tested in the laboratory and studied in real life situations. They are thought to be united as capabilities of consciousness, distinct from the physical body. Together they constitute psi, in the strict sense of the term.
Richard Sheargold
Richard Sheargold (1911–1988) was an English psychical researcher with particular interests in electronic voice phenomena.
Richet’s ‘La Suggestion Mentale’
In a 1884 paper, physiologist Charles Richet pioneered the use of statistics in telepathy tests.
Dermo-Optical Perception
This article describes scientific research into the phenomenon of ‘seeing’ colours by touch alone.
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.
Pam Reynolds (Near-Death Experience)
This near-death experience of an American woman is regarded as especially significant.
Peter Fenwick
British neuropsychiatrist and neurophysiologist (1935–2024), leading authority on near-death and end-of-life experiences.
Lucid Dreaming
This article surveys research on dreams in which the dreamer is aware of being in a dream and sometimes can control the dream.
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.
Indridi Indridason (medium)
Icelandic trance medium (1883–1910) who produced physical phenomena comparable to DD Home.
Seaford Poltergeist
Poltergeist-type disturbances in 1958 in Seaford, Long Island, New York, centering on a 12-year-old boy.
Sauchie Poltergeist
Poltergeist disturbances centering on an 11-year-old girl. in a Scottish village in 1960.
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.
Rakesh Gaur (reincarnation case)
Indian child case about which two investigators reached different conclusions, hence an important case for sceptics.
Erlendur Haraldsson
Icelandic psychologist (1931–2020) who investigated end-of-life phenomena, mediumship, and reincarnation.
Reincarnation Cases with Intermissions of Less Than Nine Months
These cases raise questions about when reincarnation occurs.
Researchers & 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.
Montague Keen
Montague Keen (1925–2004), a journalist and later a farmer, was a leading member of the SPR who investigated crop circles and mediums.
John Randall
British educator (1933–2011) who conducted ESP experiments and was a regular contributor to SPR publications.
William Bengston
American sociologist and practitioner of ‘energy healing’ (1950–2025) who engaged in successful laboratory tests.
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.
College of Psychic Studies
British Spiritualist organization, offering mediumship training and courses related to consciousness, healing and the psychic arts.
Heartmath Institute
California-based research institute investigating the relationship between heart and mind.
Institut Métapsychique International (IMI)
Since 1919, France's IMI has made important contributions to psi and mediumship research.
Sceptical Views
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.
Martin Gardner
American critic of parapsychology and paranormal claims (1914–2010), a founding member of the modern sceptical movement.
Blackmore-Sargent Controversy – A Reconsideration
This article presents a new analysis of cheating accusations made by Susan Blackmore.
Susan J Blackmore
British psychologist, consciousness researcher and psi sceptic, who has frequently appeared in the media promoting her views.
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, the Miscellaneous Anomalistic subcategory. Other subcategories list articles on psychics and mystic and on important articles, books and journals in the field of parapsychology.
Padre Pio
Italian Roman Catholic friar and mystic (1879–1968) known for producing 'stigmata', bleeding sores recalling Christ's crucifixion.
Pavel Stepanek
Czech ESP subject who performed consistently well in experiments carried out in Prague and in the US during the 1960s.
Ninel Kulagina
Russian woman (1926–1990) whose apparent ability to move objects by psychokinesis was investigated by parapsychologists.