‘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.
Twin Telepathy
Suggestions of telepathy between twins often appear in the popular press, but there is as yet no sustained research in this area.
Psi Research in North America
Key organizations and individuals involved in psi research in the US and Canada, from the 1930s to the present.
Psychometry
Clairvoyance facilitated by holding an object, which enables a psychic to describe key incidents associated with it.
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.
Patience Worth (Pearl Curran)
Author of critically-acclaimed novels, poems and other works that were said to be channeled from discarnate entities.
Sai Baba
Sathya Sai Baba was an Indian religious leader known worldwide for 'miracles' such as materializing sweets and ornaments.
Eusapia Palladino
Nineteenth century Italian trance medium (1854–1918) who produced psychokinetic phenomena of striking strength.
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.
Eben Alexander
Near-death experience described by an American neurosurgeon that attracted media attention and controversy.
Deathbed Visions Research
Describes research into the phenomenon of deathbed visions by psi investigators Karlis Osis and Erlendur Haraldsson.
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.
Drop-In Communicators
Communicators unknown to both medium and sitters who provide enough information for their identification.
Mediumship and Spirit Possession in Cross-Cultural Perspective
There is great overlap in the expression of mediumship and spirit possession.
Copenhagen Fire
Early nineteenth-century mediumship case in which a communicator in Iceland reported a fire then underway in Denmark.
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.
Gnanatilleka Baddewithana (reincarnation case)
Sri Lankan case studied by two teams, with past-life memories recorded before verifications.
Rylann O’Bannion (reincarnation case)
An American girl's memories of dying when an aeroplane crashed into her home were confirmed by an autopsy report.
Dutch Children with Past-Life Memories
List of 31 cases of Dutch children who spoke of previous lives, investigated by Titus Rivas and his team.
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.
Angelique Cottin
French girl who was the centre of psychokinetic disturbances that made an international sensation.
Worksop Poltergeist
Original report by an SPR investigator of poltergeist-type disturbances in 1883 in Worksop, in the north of England.
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.
Arthur Balfour
Tory politician and philosopher (1848–1930) with an interest in psychical research, specially mediumship.
Hoyt Edge
American philosopher who has carried out psi research, principally in the area of psychokinesis.
Harry Price
Harry Price (1881–1948) was a popular British lay investigator of hauntings and mediums, whose work frequently caused controversy.
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.
Society for Psychical Research (SPR)
Membership organization founded in London in 1882 for the scientific investigation of claims of psychic phenomena.
Rhine Research Center
Successor to the Parapsychology Laboratory at Duke University, dedicated to psi research, education and community activities.
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.
Blackmore-Sargent Controversy – A Reconsideration
This article presents a new analysis of cheating accusations made by Susan Blackmore.
James Randi
Canadian-born conjurer (1928–2020) and public scourge of psychics, faith healers, parapsychologists and practitioners of alternative medicine.
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.
Forteana
Collective term for anomalous or paranormal-seeming phenomena, as exemplified in the writings of Charles Fort (1874–1932).
Jott: Phenomena of Spatial Discontinuities
The everyday misplacements of objects may sometimes have a non-normal cause.
Dowsing
Traditional method of locating underground water or minerals by the movement of a pair of metal rods, a forked stick or a pendulum.