Psi Encyclopedia

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.

Mark Boccuzzi created this short video that explains what we are about.

Featured

Robert McLuhan

British journalist, a prominent interpreter of parapsychology for general readers and the principal architect of the Psi Encyclopedia.

Francis Bacon and the Occult

Francis Bacon (1561–1626) believed in the possibility of psi but opposed its investigation on theological grounds.

photo of N'kisi, an African Grey parrot involved in ESP experiments

Animals in Psi Research

The psi abilities of animals have been reported in informal observations and tests, including modern lab experiments.

Eminent People Interested in Psi (list)

A list of some 200 scientists, thinkers, writers, and artists who took seriously the possibility of psi.

Psi Research in Brazil

This article traces the development of interest in psi phenomena and parapsychological research in Brazil.

Why Do Ghosts Wear Clothes?

Sceptics use the fact that apparitions appear fully clad as reason to doubt them. This article discusses why they might.

Maroczy Mediumistic Chess Match

Match played between a living Russian grandmaster and a deceased Hungarian one.

Key Topics

Ingo Swann, one of the first remote viewers

Remote Viewing

An experimental form of clairvoyance, in which a suitably trained person attempts to visualise the topography of a distant scene.

Near-Death Experiences (Overview)

This article describes anomalous mental events reported by people who have survived a near-fatal accident or illness.

Society for Psychical Research (SPR)

Membership organization founded in London in 1882 for the scientific investigation of claims of psychic phenomena.

Psychokinesis Research (Overview)

Research on PK has progressed from early tests with dice to random number generators, field studies, and quantum experiments.

Clinical Parapsychology

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

Early reincarnation beliefs in the West are associated with the Greek philosopher Pythagoras in the sixth century BCE

Reincarnation: An Introduction

This introductory article covers beliefs in reincarnation, evidence for reincarnation, and sceptical views of the research.

Psychedelics and Psi

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

Altered States of Consciousness and Psi

ASCs have long been known to be associated with psi experiences.

Recent Additions

Dealing with the Stacking Effect

When several test participants respond to the same target, their trials are statistically dependent.

Peter Underwood

British paranormal researcher long associated with the Ghost Club, author of more than 50 about haunting phenomena.

Gustav Theodor Fechner

German pioneer in experimental psychology who proposed an influential theory of immortality.

JB Rhine and the Replication Crisis in Research

Rhine anticipated reforms associated with psychology’s replication crisis.

Cyril L Burt

Influential but controversial British psychologist (1883–1971) who believed psychic phenomena merited serious attention.

Elizabeth Jane Puttock (Elizabeth d’Esperance)

British medium whose materialisation séances attracted both supporters and critics.

The Widow’s Mite

Veridical mediumistic communications about a misplaced ancient Roman coin that suggest postmortem survival.

Isaac K Funk

American clergyman, editor, publisher and lexicographer who was well-known for his psychical investigations in his day.

Psychical Research before 1882

Several investigators of séance phenomena helped prepare the ground for the creation of the SPR in 1882.

Cromwell Fleetwood Varley

Telegraph engineer (1828–83) who tested Florence Cook with apparatus of his own invention.

Rhea A White

American parapsychologist, librarian, bibliographer, and editor of the Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research.

Melvyn John Willin

English musician, psychical researcher and SPR audiovisual archivist whose work has centred on music-related anomalies.

John Björkhem

Swedish priest, physician, hypnotist and psychical researcher (1910–1963) who experimented with hypnosis and psychometry.

Thomas Warren Campbell

Originator of a theory of everything (TOE) that presumes consciousness to be at the root of all there is.

Boston Society for Psychic Research

Organisation that split from the American Society for Psychical Research in 1925, reuniting with it in 1941.

Marcello Truzzi

American sociologist known for distinguishing open-minded scepticism of psi phenomena from simple debunking.

Ada Goodrich Freer

Clairvoyant who contributed to studies of crystal-gazing, second sight and hauntings in the 1890s.

Placement Effects in Psychokinesis Tests

Haakon Forwald tested whether his willed psychokinesis could deflect thrown dice and other cubes.

Haakon Forwald

Norwegian-born Swedish engineer and inventor who conducted innovative placement PK experiments with dice and cubes.

Visualizing the Supernatural

This 2025–26 museum exhibition traced 250 years of visual culture surrounding apparitions, mediumship and the occult.

Explore the Psi Encyclopedia

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. Together they constitute psi, in the strict sense of the term. Subcategories group together overviews and general topics in psi studies, tests of ESP and PK, and researcher biographies.

Twin Telepathy

Suggestions of telepathy between twins often appear in the popular press, but there is as yet no sustained research in this area.

drawing of the fictional Philip by a member of the group

Philip Psychokinesis Experiments

Landmark 1970s experiment in which a Canadian sitter group created PK phenomena.

Mikhail Petrovo-Solovovo

Russian diplomat and psychical researcher (1868–1954) known for interest in physical mediumship.

Mind & Body

This category contains articles that treat consciousness in relation to the body. Subcategories focus on consciousness and psi; dreams and psi; and distant healing and psychotherapy. Also included are sitter groups and macro-psychokinesis as well as poltergeists, often assumed to relate to discarnate entities but now known more often to have living agents. A final subgroup is concerned with out-of-body and near-death experiences and events reported on the threshold of death.

Emanuel Swedenborg

Swedish engineer, philosopher, seer and psychic (1688–1772), who wrote about his encounters with spirits.

Robert Crookall

English geologist (1890-1981) who promoted out-of-body experiences as evidence of ‘astral projection’ and postmortem survival.

Apollonius of Tyana

Itinerant first-century preacher and healer reputed to have performed miracles and supernatural feats.

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. Subcategories focus on hauntings and apparitions and on psychic (also called mental) mediumship.

Spichermatt House, Stans, Switzerland: home of the Joller family

Stans (Switzerland) Poltergeist

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

Charles Bailey

Charles Bailey (1870–1947) was an Australian medium known for an ability to produce ‘apports’ of great variety.

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.

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. Subcategories highlight case studies, past life regression, and biographies of major researchers.

People Who Knew Each Other in Past Lives

Investigators have found several pairs of people who remember knowing each other in earlier lives.

James Leininger (reincarnation case)

Famous American case in which an initially sceptical father researched and verified his son's past-life memories.

Experimental Birthmarks and Birth Defects

The practice of marking cadavers in hope of stimulating birthmarks has been reported throughout East Asia.

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. The biographies are grouped in subcategories by 30-year age cohorts, highlighting contemporaries.

Annekatrin Angelika Puhle

German researcher whose work touches on cultural history, dreams, apparitions, magic and anomalous light experiences.

Carl Sargent

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

Harold E Puthoff

American physicist and parapsychologist, a key figure in the US government-funded Star Gate remote viewing programme.

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.

Rhine Research Center

Successor to the Parapsychology Laboratory at Duke University, dedicated to psi research, education and community activities.

Nineteenth-century table turning session

London Dialectical Society

19th-century rationalist debating club whose 1871 investigative report showed certain PK activity to be genuine.

Parapsychology Foundation (PF)

US-based forum, founded in 1951 by Eileen J Garrett, that supports parapsychology internationally.

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.

Blackmore-Sargent Controversy – A Reconsideration

This article presents a new analysis of cheating accusations made by Susan Blackmore.

Cold Reading

Discusses the psychological strategies that can be used to simulate a mediumistic communication or psychic reading.

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.