About Psi Research
‘Psi’ (the Greek letter ψ) is the modern collective term for the psychic functions of telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition and psychokinesis. Psi phenomena were studied by Fellows of the Royal Society, among others, in the late seventeenth century, and were noted in the late eighteenth century in relation to hypnosis. In the second half of the nineteenth century, scientists such as Robert Hare, William Crookes and Johann Zöllner began to uncover more evidence in their experiments with séance mediums. Systematic study began in 1882 with the founding in London of the Society for Psychical Research, which, besides investigating the claims of spirit mediums, carried out surveys of ‘spontaneous’ phenomena – experiences of telepathic connections, ghosts, apparitions and poltergeists, precognitive dreams and the like – and conducted the first formal experiments.
In the 1930s the focus switched to statistical experiments. This approach was pioneered by Joseph Banks Rhine at Duke University in the US. The Society for Psychical Research, Parapsychological Association and other privately-funded organisations continue to investigate psychic claims and carry out experiments, publishing the results in their peer-reviewed journals.
About the Psi Encyclopedia
There is now a large research literature that validates the existence of psi as an anomalous, fleeting and little understood aspect of human experience. Psi researchers believe that it has been demonstrated many times over, and in a variety of contexts. But this remains controversial, since psi appears to contradict long-accepted scientific principles. In particular, accumulating evidence of links between mental experience and biological brain functions lead many to believe that the brain is the sole source of consciousness. Some scientists are known to sympathize with psi experimentalists, who use well-established statistical methods and robust methodology, while the possibility of psychic experience has been taken seriously by many eminent scientists, writers and others, including Nobel prize-winners. However, career sceptics campaign against psi research in books, in the media, and on the internet and in Wikipedia, disparaging it as ‘pseudoscience’ and disputing its conclusions.
The Psi Encyclopedia is being created by the Society for Psychical Research, funded by a bequest, to provide a more informative view of psi research (also referred to as ‘psychical research’ and ‘parapsychology’), one that reflects the findings of experimenters and investigators. The project began in 2014 and by 2026 offered more than 700 entries totalling nearly two million words, written by more than eighty authors and experts.
Types of entry include:
- overview articles about generic topics (eg experimental parapsychology, mediumship research, near-death experiences)
- articles that explore aspects of those topics, key researchers, etc.
- case studies of key experiments and investigations (children who remembered a past life, poltergeist disturbances, mediumship episodes, etc)
- lists (people, events, experiments)
Some case studies include pdf versions of the original research report from which they are drawn, giving readers the opportunity to understand the researchers’ methods and reasoning in greater detail.
The Psi Encyclopedia is edited by Robert McLuhan, who can be contacted here, and developed by Ian Rons and Circle Interactive. Details about contributors can be found here.
Work in Progress
The Psi Encylopedia is a work in progress. If you have expertise in an area that remains to be covered, as a researcher or author, and would like to contribute, we would be glad to hear from you. We welcome suggestions for topics related to scientific research that are not so far included.
Images
The Psi Encyclopedia uses photographs acquired from a variety of sources. Every effort has been made to ensure that no copyright has been infringed. However, if you believe this is the case for an image for which you hold the the copyright, please contact the editor.