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.

Parapsychology in Psychology Textbooks

Describes how psychology textbooks persistently misrepresent the field of parapsychology.

Experimenter Effects

Parapsychologists have come to believe that experimenters play a major role in influencing the outcome of psi tests.

Feeling the Future (Precognition Experiments)

A ground-breaking ESP study that appeared to show a precognitive effect was reported in 2011.

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.

Natasha Demkina

Russian woman who claims the ability to view inside human bodies and correctly diagnose diseases. Scientific tests have had mixed results.

Felicia Parise

American woman who taught herself to move small objects by means of psychokinesis and was observed doing so in test conditions.

Croiset Archive

Details of correspondence, reports, films and other materials relating to the Dutch psychic Gerard Croiset (1909–1980).

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.

Psychedelics and Psi

A gradual easing of restrictions means that psi research with psychedelics, once prevalent, could soon resume.

Thoughtforms

Describes the concept of an entity created directly and exclusively by the mind, whether unconsciously or consciously.

Clinical Parapsychology

Therapeutic approach that aims to provide support for people disturbed by anomalous event experiences.

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.

Mediumship and Pathology

During the 19th and early 20th centuries, some in medicine regarded mediumship as an abnormal condition.

Mediumship and Multiple Personality

The personalities of mediumistic communicators are similar to dissociative identity disorder.

Thompson-Gifford Case

19th century case of a jeweller who was driven to produce high quality paintings in the style of a recently deceased landscape painter.

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.

Jagdish Chandra (reincarnation case)

An Indian boy remembered a previous life as the pampered son of a corrupt official in a distant city.

Dreams and Past-Life Memory

Apparent past-life memories may surface in the dreams of both children and adults, but rarely are they detailed enough to be verified.

Dilukshi Nissanka (reincarnation case)

Child reincarnation case in which statements about a previous life were written down before investigations.

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.

Andover Poltergeist

Poltergeist disturbances in a household in Andover, southern England, in 1974.

Drummer of Tedworth

Poltergeist case investigated by Joseph Glanvill (1636–1680), one of the first to receive serious scrutiny.

Stans (Switzerland) Poltergeist

Mid-19 century poltergeist case, in which disturbances tormented a Swiss family for weeks.

General Topics

This section lists articles on a variety of topics that are not found in any of the main categories, from brain research and altered states of consciousness to dowsing, crop circles and other anomalistic phenomena.

Cottingley Fairies

1920s hoax by two girl, who persuaded Sir Arthur Conan Doyle that they had photographed themselves playing with fairies.

Anomalistics

Anomalistics is the study of anomalies unexplained by science, similar to Forteana, but with a greater emphasis on scientific evaluation.

Crop Circles

The intricate patterns that sometimes appear in crop fields have been attributed to various factors, including supernatural ones..

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.

Henri Bergson

Influential French philosopher (1859–1941) who was strongly interested in psi phenomena.

Carl Sargent

British parapsychologist (1952–2018) whose successful ganzfeld telepathy experiments were attacked by a prominent sceptic.

Ramsés D’León Macías

Mexican parapsychcologist who has carried out research in presentiment and psychokinesis.

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.

Institut Métapsychique International (IMI)

Since 1919, France's IMI has made important contributions to psi and mediumship research.

Australian Institute of Parapsychological Research (AIPR)

Australia’s oldest extant psi research organization, founded in Sydney in 1977.

Heartmath Institute

California-based research institute investigating the relationship between heart and mind.

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.

Harry Houdini

The legendary stage magician (1874–1926) was hostile to Spiritualism and wrote books about his debunking of mediums.

Susan Blackmore

British psychologist, consciousness researcher and psi sceptic, who has frequently appeared in the media promoting her views.

James Alcock

Canadian psychology professor, amateur magician and career psi sceptic, member of the Executive Council for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry.