By Nemo C Mörck, Associate Editor
At the time of writing, the Psi Encyclopedia (PE) includes more than 750 entries, including about 350 biographies of researchers and authors. The biographies are now subcategorised into 30-year age cohorts, providing a picture of the historical development of parapsychology.
There are some stylistic differences to the entries, and their depth necessarily varies, partly due to varying amounts of biographical information being available. Going forward, we will be adding more information about life and career development, trying to give a better sense of who our subjects are and how they became engaged in parapsychology.
Søren Kierkegaard argued that life can only be understood backwards. The causal chain can only be unravelled once a life has been lived. To some extent, biographical research can be likened to detective work, trying to figure out how the dots connect.
I have contributed just four entries, about John Björkhem, Martin Johnson, Haakon Forwald, and Marcello Truzzi, all of them deceased. Björkhem became famous in Sweden and appeared in weekly magazines. Much about him is known, thanks to one of his granddaughters, Linda Björkhem-Bergen, and to a historian, Carl-Magnus Stolt. Both kindly read my entry – research is often a collaborative process.
When I wrote about Johnson’s life, I had to rely on what he himself related in interviews and during talks. In Sweden, he supervised Nils Wiklund’s master’s thesis. Wiklund was interested in parapsychology at the time, but became a sceptic. He read and commented on my entry. I also got feedback from Sybo Schouten, with whom Johnson worked in the Netherlands.
Forwald was a different story. Basic biographical information about him is available, but were it not for Diana Robinson’s correspondence with him and her later article, a part of his life story would have been lost. I searched through two Swedish newspaper archives for notices about all three. I found much about Björkhem’s activities, less about Johnson, and little about Forwald.
The fourth entry I wrote was about Marcello Truzzi. He intended to write an autobiography but passed away before he had the chance to do so.1Clark (2003). However, I had reviewed Truzzi’s correspondence with Martin Gardner, so I had some idea about his views when I started my research.2Mörck (2018).
Nowadays, YouTube is filled with interviews and talks, but many of the people covered by the PE were active at a different time and some of them were far more private individuals than others. I like to do my own research before I consult reference works. Encyclopedia entries can indicate if you have missed something. However, they are not always correct. For example, Hans Gerloff noted that his wife, who had no children, had been given a son in one encyclopedia and complained that the entry about him was mutilated.3Gerloff (1965).
We who work for the PE strive to make the entries accurate. We appreciate feedback, so if you see something, say something. Do let us know if we have overlooked or misunderstood anything.
We are planning to include comprehensive bibliographies of works by and about our subjects, attached to the biographies as separate files. These bibliographies will be modelled after those compiled by Rhea White and, appropriately enough, she was the first person to receive one. The bibliographies are part of our effort to increase the value of the PE for research and education – however, that is a subject for another blog.
Works Cited
Clark, J. (2003). Marcello Truzzi (1935–2003). [Full text.] The Anomalist.
Gerloff, H. (1965). The Crisis in Parapsychology: Stagnation or Progress? Tittmoning Obb., Germany: Walter Pustet.
Mörck, N.C. (2018). Review of Dear Martin / Dear Marcello Gardner and Truzzi on Skepticism, ed. by D. Richards. [Full text.] Journal of Scientific Exploration 32/2, 41.