Denys Parsons (1914-1995) was an author, musician and psychical researcher who participated in psi experiments.
Life and Career
Denys Parsons won a scholarship to Eton College and then took degrees in chemistry at the University of London and the Imperial College of Science and Technology. He worked for the National Research and Development Council which aimed to exploit the benefits of technology developed during World War II. In other activities he developed a system of musical notation (the Parsons Code of Melodic Contour)1 and published popular books of humour, puzzles and practical guides.2 From 1973 to 1980 he was head of press and public relations at the British Library.
Psychical Research
Parsons was an active member of the Society for Psychical Research during the 1940s and 50s, serving on committees and advising on technical matters. He carried out numerous experiments and studies in subjects such as dowsing,3 psychokinesis,4 and mediumship5. In his later years, he maintained little contact with the SPR, seemingly ‘disappointed by the failure of careful experimental research to further understanding or produce consistent, reproducible results.’6
Melvyn Willin
Selected Publications
Review: Experiments on the paranormal cognition of drawings. III. Steps in the development of a repeatable technique. W. Whately Carington (1944). Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 33, 84-85.
Experiments on PK with inclined plane and rotating cage (1945). Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research 47, 296-300.
Attempts to detect clairvoyance and telepathy with a mechanical device (1946). Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research 48, 28-31.
Report on the questionnaire (1946). Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 33, 270-71.
Correspondence: [Psi faculty] (1947). Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 34, 58-59.
On the need for caution in assessing mediumistic material (1949). Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research 48, 344-52.
Reviews of the Journal of the American Society for Psychical Research (1949-50). Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 35, 90-1; 115-16; 250-51; 288-89; 314-15. (1951). 36, 530-32. (1953-54). 37, 170-71; 208-9; 291-92. (1955). 38, 192-95. (1958). 39, 190-92; 300-1; 328-29. (1959). 40, 33-35.
Correspondence: [water divining] (1951). Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 36, 451-52.
Book review: Ghosts over England by R. Thurston Hopkins (1954) Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 37, 389-90.
Book review: Clock without Hands by Ronald Edwin (1956).
Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 38, 221-24.
Cloud busting: A claim investigated (1956). Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 38, 352-64.
Examination of a dowser (1959). Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 40, 12-17.
Review of Manor House experiment (1959). Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 40, 59-63.
Book review: Water Witching by Evon Z. Vogt and Ray Hyman (1960). Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 40, 260-65.
The black boxes of Mr de la Warr (1961). Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 41, 12-31.
A non-existent building located (1962). Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 41, 292-95.
Book reviews of Ghost and Divining Rod by T.C. Lethbridge, and Le Signal du Sorcier by Y. Rocard (1963). Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 42, 197-200.
Book review: Paranormal Borderlands of Science edited by Kendrick Frazier (1981). Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 51, 173-74.
Book review: Miracle Mongers and their Methods: A Complete Exposé by Houdini (1981). Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 51, 178.
Book review: Science, Good, Bad and Bogus by Martin Gardner (1982). Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 51, 318.
Dowsing: A claim refuted (1982). Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 51, 384-86.
Literature
Parsons, D. (1945). Experiments on PK with inclined plane and rotating cage. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 47, 296-300.
Parsons, D. (1949). On the need for caution in assessing mediumistic material. Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research 48, 344-52.
Parsons, D. (1959). Examination of a dowser. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 40, 12-17.
Salter, W.H. (1958). Correspondence: Tribute. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 39, 331-32.
West, D.J. (1995). Obituary: Denys Parsons. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research 60, 415.