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.

Moritz Dechamps

German researcher investigating quantum effects in the context of micro-psychokinesis experiments.

Nicola J Holt

British psychologist and psi researcher, whose work has focused on the relationship of psi to creativity and other personality traits.

N’kisi (pet telepathy)

Successful telepathy experiment carried out with an African Grey parrot which had been taught to speak several words.

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.

Bruce Greyson

American psychiatrist at the University of Virginia who is the world's leading authority on near-death experiences.

Sylvan J Muldoon

American who wrote about his out-of-body experiences, which occurred throughout his life, and which he was able to control.

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.

Perspectival Postmortem Awareness

How could a deceased person view events in the physical world in the absence of a body with sense organs?

Tina Resch (Columbus Poltergeist)

Focus of poltergeist-type phenomena at her home in Columbus, Ohio, in 1984,

Poltergeists (Overview)

This article provides an introduction to poltergeist research, describing major cases and theoretical perspectives.

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.

Native American Children with Past-Life Memories

Collection of cases of the reincarnation type among Tlingit and other native North American cultures.

Katsugoro (reincarnation case)

Famous 19th century Japanese case, the subject of three separate contemporary investigations.

European Children with Past-Life Memories

European children speak of past lives less often than Asian children do, yet the cases are very similar.

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.

David Fontana

Psychologist and psi researcher (1934–2010) who wrote extensively about transpersonal psychology, dreams and survival of death.

Renée Haynes

English historian and psychical researcher (1906–1994) who wrote extensively about psi phenomena and coined the term ‘boggle threshold’.

J Malcolm Bird

American mathematician and parapsychologist (1886–1964), involved in investigations of the medium Mina Crandon in the 1920s.

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.

Exceptional Experience and Consciousness Studies (EECS)

Based at the University of Northampton, this is the largest centre for parapsychological research in the world.

College of Psychic Studies

British Spiritualist organization, offering mediumship training and courses related to consciousness, healing and the psychic arts.

Institute of Noetic Sciences (IONS)

American research institute co-founded in 1973 by astronaut Edgar Mitchell to research human potential using scientific methods.

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.

Richard Wiseman

British psychology professor, media personality and bestselling author who is a high-profile critic of parapsychology.

Martin Gardner

American critic of parapsychology and paranormal claims (1914–2010), a founding member of the modern sceptical movement.

Susan Gerbic

American studio photographer who exposes what she believes to be pseudoscience through a special brand of 'guerilla skepticism'.

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.

Witchcraft

Traces the development of witchcraft as the socially proscribed practice of magic, from Antiquity to the present day.

Richet’s ‘Traité de Métapsychique’ (‘Thirty Years of Psychical Research’)

A classic review of the literature, published in 1922.

Christopher Robinson

British psychic said to possess precognitive dream ability of use to UK police and security services.